Texas Ransom. Amanda Stevens

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

       Prologue

      A waxing moon rose over the barren countryside as the black SUV bumped along a back road that ran parallel to the border. Two hundred yards away, across the Rio Grande, was Big Bend National Park, a vast terrain of canyons, desert and mountains. A place where a man could stay invisible for days if he needed to.

      Leo Kittering sat alone in the back seat and stared straight ahead as the headlights tunneled through the darkness. He glanced back once, made uneasy by their proximity to the border, but the road was clear. Nothing behind them but a swirl of dust that settled slowly in the moonlight.

      Kittering turned away from the window. His heart fluttered as adrenaline rushed through his veins. He hadn’t felt this exhilarated in years. And with good reason because soon everything would be in place.

      The man and woman…they wouldn’t know what hit them.

      He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, though. There was still a lot to be done. Too many things that could yet go wrong. An operation of this magnitude was a delicate balance of careful planning and guesswork.

      A part of him wished that he could be there when it all went down, but his time for that kind of work had come and gone. He was no longer a young man or in the best of health. But even if he had still been in his prime, he wouldn’t risk crossing the border. If he was spotted and detained by the authorities, the whole plan would be jeopardized.

      Besides he didn’t need to see their faces at the exact moment they realized their lives were over. He could take just as much satisfaction in the aftermath.

      He shifted his considerable weight in the seat and rolled down the window for a breath of fresh air. The man in the front passenger seat glanced over his shoulder. He had a cell phone to his ear, which he lowered for a moment to ask in an anxious voice, “Leo, you okay?”

      The older man grunted, neither confirming nor denying the query.

      The vehicle came to a stop, and to his right Leo could see the glitter of moonlight on muddy water. For years, American tourists and Mexican villagers had crossed the river in nearby Boquillas, a loosely enforced class-B port of entry. Leo himself had come over not far from there, but that had been a long time ago. The crossing was officially closed now, although residents of the tiny village continued to go back and forth with their livestock. And often with even more valuable cargo.

      Leo’s mind churned with memories and emotions and with a sudden unease. “They’re not here,” he muttered as apprehension fingered down his spine.

      “Don’t worry, they’ll show. There’s too much at stake for them not to.”

      I hope you’re right, Kittering thought, his eyes still glued to the water. Because if Gabriel Esteban didn’t come soon, somebody would have to pay.

      As if reading his mind, Hector Reyes—the man with the cell phone—shot him a worried look. “I made the arrangements myself. They’ll show,” he said again, as if he, too, needed reassuring.

      Kittering closed his eyes for a moment, letting the humid air wash over him. He’d brought L.J. here once, when they’d been on a camping trip in Big Bend. The boy couldn’t have been more than seven or eight because they’d still been living in San Antonio at the time. Leo had owned his own business even then, been a well-respected member of the community. Happily married, a settled family man. Then a few risky deals had soured and he’d found it necessary to relocate in something of a hurry to Mexico.

      His wife, Nina, had refused to come with him. She’d tried to turn L.J. against him, too, but the foolish woman had learned the hard way that you did not keep a father from his only son.

      Nina, God rest her soul, had been dead nearly thirty years, and L.J. was gone now, too. But it gave Leo no comfort to imagine that mother and son were reunited in heaven.

      The only thing that gave him any pleasure since his son’s murder was the promise of revenge. It had been a long time coming. But now the day of reckoning was almost at hand.

      “What about Houston?” he growled. “Our contact there can be trusted? You’re certain?”

      Hector Reyes turned again, his gaze meeting Leo’s in the dark. “He knows the consequences of betrayal. Nothing will go wrong.”

      “An operation like this…we can’t be too careful.” Leo sank back into deep thought. He wanted to turn his mind away from the past. He needed to get his head back in the game before the others arrived so that he could be on guard for even the smallest hint of treachery.

      Leo had never met Gabriel Esteban, but his violent reputation preceded him. Leo wasn’t afraid of very many things or very many men. Not after everything he’d seen and done in his sixty-three years on this earth. But the stories he’d heard about Gabriel Esteban chilled even his blood.

      Doing business with an animal like that…

      Leo shuddered.

      His men were jittery, too, especially Hector, who would accompany Esteban and his crew to Houston. Leo didn’t blame Hector