Page 24 of Prime Time

e.

“How many flashlights?” He went to a bureau and opened the top drawer.

“Two I think. What do you think—Is that a gun?”

“Yes. Thanks for waking me. It’s probably nothing, but I’d better investigate.” He pushed the gun into the waistband of his jeans and reached back in the drawer for a flashlight.

“I’m going, too.”

“Like hell.”

“I’m going, and if I don’t go with you, I’ll just follow.”

He stopped at the door, turning around to face her. Even in the darkness—they knew better than to turn on any lights and alert whoever was down by the river—he could see the stubborn set of her chin.

“Come on, then,” he said with no small amount of exasperation. She followed his stalking shadow down the hallway to the stairs. They made it to the back door without mishap and apparently without waking anyone else. “Stay close,” he whispered as he opened one of the sliding glass doors leading out to the pool and terrace.

Moving like cat burglars, they crossed the patio, skirted the pool, and then took the paved path toward the river. Once they had gained the path, Lyon glanced over his shoulder at her. “Still there?”

“Yes.”

He stumbled in the dark when he caught sight of the apparition trailing behind him. “What in the hell do you have on?”

“A nightgown.”

“A very white nightgown. You look like Lady Macbeth. Anyone will be able to see you from a mile off. Anything under it?”

“Panties.”

“Thank God,” he grumbled. “Damn!” he cursed suddenly and viciously. “Do you have on any shoes?” he hissed.

“No.”

“Then be careful of rocks.”

She giggled.

Midway down the path Lyon came to an abrupt halt. Andy ran into him from behind. It seemed only natural that she leave her hands at his waist, where they had reflexively come to rest in an attempt to break her fall. “There’s a light,” he said softly.

The beam of the flashlight darted through the trees like a drunken firefly. The rushing river water masked most other sound, but there was the undeniable murmur of voices. One of them emphasized a word and there followed a chorus of shhhh.

“Step easy,” Lyon said, taking steps forward. Her feet bumped into his as she scooted along behind him, still holding on to the waistband of his jeans.

Through the dense lower branches of the trees they could see several dark figures silhouetted against the moonlit sky and the river, which looked like liquid silver. The figures moved awkwardly, tripping over rocks and nature’s litter beneath the trees. Someone cursed under his breath. There followed a series of smothered giggles. Andy was relieved by the intruders’ bungling. They couldn’t be professional criminals of any kind.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Lyon said in a soft whisper. He turned toward her. “We’re going to have some fun. Play along.”

“But what—”

“Just play along. You’ll see.”

He made a noise like stampeding elephants as he thrashed through the last few trees that separated them from the riverbank. Andy jumped when he roared out, “What in hell is going on here?” Only then did he turn on his super-beamed flashlight. She saw one or two of the trespassers scurry for cover in a large rubber raft she hadn’t noticed until it was illuminated by Lyon’s light.

Three men, about eighteen years old, stood like animals paralyzed by the beams of headlights along the highway, frozen in terror as Lyon bore down on them with gun drawn and light blazing. He came to within a few feet of the first figure, who slowly raised himself up from a self-protective crouch. “You’re not going to shoot us or anything, are you?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lyon said threateningly. “Who are you and what are you doing sneaking around on my property in the middle of the night?”

The young man cast an anxious glance over his shoulder, seeking reinforcement, but his cronies hung back. Something in the raft moved with a rustling noise. “We … we’re students at UT. We were rafting down the river. The guy where we rented the raft said you ranchers didn’t mind us riding past your places if we didn’t pull in.”

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