Chapter Seventeen

Dad and my brothers searched the cliff dwellings. It took them four hours to find where Ichabod had stashed Gilgamesh's Tablet and the Aztec artifacts. The Feds quickly confiscated everything and transferred the little bastard to a high-security Federal prison.

Once again, the Feds' press conference failed to mention the Alpha Dogs or the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. They took credit for everything.

With all the craziness going on and my inability to stay awake, Mom and Dad decided to hold off on the family meeting until the next day.

Dante parked me on a patio chaise lounge, so he could keep an eye on me and his brothers who were swimming in the creek. The phone rang and I answered it, "Hello."

"Where the hell are you?" Bert, the Old Tucson entertainment manager, yelled.

"Ah, well…"

"I had to cancel your damn show, and I have some very unhappy tourists."

How did I explain I had been kidnapped? "Ah, well…"

Dante took the phone away from me. "This is Dante Delgado. Tess and Gemma were called away for a police emergency. Due to the sensitive nature of the incident, they're not allowed to talk about it. We'll fly back down tomorrow morning and Tess and Gemma will do two extra shows for free." Dante's eyebrows rose. "You want me to be the Apache warrior rodeo clown again? How much? Okay, you have a deal." He placed the phone back on the patio table.

I grinned. Mom said he had been a big hit with the crowd.

Dante squatted down next to me. "You are keeping the tracker. I'm not living through that kind of fear again."

"Okay." I leaned over and kissed him.

Dante blinked in surprise. "You're not going to argue about it?"

"No. I saw what they did to Ichabod."

Rage flared to life in Dante's eyes. "They planned to do the same to you."

"I know."

"God, Gemma." Dante hugged me tightly.

I rubbed his back. "If you're going to be a cowboy, I need to teach you how to square dance."

"Do you?"

"Old Tucson holds a square-dancing competition every weekend. The prize is a thousand dollars."

Dante grinned. "Yippee-ki-yay."

This isn't the end.