“That is my assumption as well,” Crook replied, then glanced at Rayna and found that she was as pale as a sheet. “Are you all right, Miss Templeton?”

The tears she had conquered before were stinging her eyes again. “How can I be all right, General? My sister may have been raped, and she is most certainly living a nightmare. I don’t know where she is or how to get her back or what she is suffering at this very moment.”

Meade reached out and covered her hand, but she balled it into a fist and twisted away from his comforting touch. “Don’t,” she commanded. “I don’t want or need your sympathy. I just want Skylar back.”

Meade retracted his hand and looked at Crook again. He knew the general too well to believe that he hadn’t taken some sort of action to rectify this problem. “What have you done to locate Skylar, sir?”

“I’ve turned the matter over to Case Longstreet,” Crook replied. “He’s taken his uncle and nephew with him, and by now they should have intercepted Captain Haggarty’s detail. His plan was to question Sun Hawk’s family in the hope that learning more about the brave would give him an idea of what he might do or where he’d go.”

Meade felt his first ray of hope dawning. “That’s good news, General. If anyone can find Skylar, it’s Case Longstreet.”

“My thinking exactly.” Crook looked at Rayna again. “I know my apologies are meaningless, Miss Templeton, but my promises never are. And I promise you that I won’t rest until you and your sister are reunited.”

Rayna believed him, and she finally understood why the Apache people trusted and respected him so much. His clear eyes and resolute mien demanded respect. She was only sorry she hadn’t seen it in him earlier.

Crook was an honorable man who would do everything in his power to right this injustice.

Unfortunately, that knowledge did nothing to assuage her fear for Skylar’s safety.

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16

Case caught up with Haggarty’s party at Fort Bowie, where they had been camped for two days to allow for provisioning the soldiers and collecting much-needed rations for the Mescaleros. In two more days the Apaches would be safely ensconced at Rio Alto.

Haggarty hadn’t been happy about giving Case the complete run of the camp, but considering the wording of Crook’s directive, he hadn’t had much choice. Case inquired about the wounded soldier who had been sent ahead to Fort Bowie along with the dispatch that had eventually made its way to Crook. He learned that the soldier was expected to recover. Case considered that very good news for Skylar and Sun Hawk.

He wasted no time questioning Haggarty about the events that had led up to Skylar’s escape, because he knew the captain would resent being interrogated by an Apache—even one who was so close to General Crook. Haggarty would only lie, and Case thought it best not to stir up trouble. He would leave getting the truth from the soldiers to Crook and instead concentrate on what he could learn from the Mescaleros.

Not surprisingly, Case was greeted with looks of suspicion as he made his way to Naka’yen’s campsite. His heart bled for the pitiful condition of the 192

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Mescaleros who had been uprooted from their reservation. He couldn’t understand why the government was so intent on stripping an entire race of people of everything they had—including what was left of their pride.

When he finally found Naka’yen, the old man was the perfect example of the kind of damage the white man could do to an honorable old man.

Naka’yen had kept his people at peace for years and all he had received in exchange were broken promises, and now a broken heart. The old chieftain barely had the strength to sit upright when he saw Case approaching.

Case had had the foresight to bring gifts of food and cloth for Naka’yen.

He knew he could never buy the man’s favor, but at least he could show him the respect he deserved. “I offer a gift of friendship,” Case said, placing the bag on the ground between them.

Naka’yen’s sad eyes studied Case, looking him up and down suspiciously.

“You are an Apache, but you wear the clothes of the white man, and I have seen that you have power over the soldiers. Why should you want to be my friend?”

“Because I have come to help your son.”

Life sparked in the old man’s eyes for the first time, and he sat up a little straighter. “What do you know of my son?”

Case sat facing Naka’yen. “I know that he is in terrible trouble, but that what he did was done for a good reason.”

“He is in love with the girl,” Naka’yen told him. “It was done for her.”

Case wasn’t particularly surprised by the news. He had assumed there was a bond of some sort between Sun Hawk and Skylar. Otherwise the brave would never have taken such a desperate chance to free her. “Do you know where he has taken her?”

Naka’yen’s gaze became shuttered and unreadable. “He said nothing to me before he left. I do not know where he is.”

“Would you tell me if you knew?”

The old man regarded Case suspiciously. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because I have been sent here by the Gray Fox, who wants to help your son and the woman called Skylar. He knows that a great wrong has been done to her, and he wants to set it right. He wants to return the girl to the white family who raised her.”

“And what of my son?” Naka’yen asked. “He will be killed for what he did.”

“Not if the soldier lives,” Case assured him. “And I have already been told that the soldier will not die.”

A glimmer of hope sprang into the old man’s eyes. “My son will not be punished?”

“I cannot promise that,” Case answered. “But the Gray Fox has given his word that if Sun Hawk’s actions were justified, he will come to no harm. The Gray Fox has never broken his word to us.”

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Naka’yen took the promise seriously, but there was nothing he could say to help this stranger. “I do not know where my son has gone.”

Case believed him. “Would he join Geronimo?”

The old chief shook his head. “Only if he had no other choice. He does not believe that Geronimo’s ways are good for our people, but this long journey may have changed his mind. He counseled our people to peace and urged them to go with the soldiers. We both wanted to believe this would be good for our people, but I think we were wrong. Even before he left, my son had begun to doubt his wisdom.”

“If he counseled peace, he is infinitely wise, as are you, old grandfather,”

Case said respectfully. “The Gray Fox has made no promises about this, but he is already trying to send you back to your own reservation. He does not believe it was right to send you to Rio Alto. He is a powerful man, and many will listen to him. Speak of peace to your people, grandfather, and pray that you can go home soon.”

Naka’yen nodded, and Case began asking questions about Sun Hawk and about the hunting grounds they had visited before their confinement to the reservation. As he’d suspected, this band like many others had ranged from the plains to the north and east, south to the Mexican deserts, and west as far as the White Mountains. As a boy, Case could remember many encounters with Mescalero bands. Occasionally there had been disputes over their rights to hunt game in the territory claimed by Case’s people, but most of their relations had been friendly. He even knew of marriages that had taken place between the separate tribes.

If Sun Hawk was as skilled as his father boasted he was—and Case had no reason to doubt it, considering the efficiency with which he had engineered Skylar’s escape—he was going to be a formidable adversary. Quite simply, he could be anywhere.

“One final question, grandfather,” Case said. “Do you think your son would take Skylar back to her white family at the Rancho Verde?”

Naka’yen’s surprise suggested that he had not considered that possibility.

“Why would he? She killed the soldier who attacked her. My son would never believe that even the Gray Fox would care so much about a single Apache maiden that he would send someone to help her rather than punish her.”

Case stood. “You have been generous with me and I will remember it, old grandfather.”

He turned to leave, but Naka’yen stopped him. “If you seek to know more about the woman, you should talk to her people.”

“Her people?” Case asked.

“The Verdes. If you find their wagon, you will find her Apache father and mother.”

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Case nodded, feeling his spirits plummet as he turned away. Had Skylar somehow been reunited with her real parents? If so, it was not possible that she was his sister, Morning Star. He looked around and located the wagon Naka’yen had referred to. The old man who greeted him in English seemed to have been expecting him. He invited Case to sit and introduced his wife, Gatana, who had a deep gash on her forehead that had barely begun to heal.

Once again, Case explained the purpose of his visit and assured them that he was trying to help Skylar. Any information they could give him would be to her benefit.

“We know very little, Mr. Longstreet,” Consayka told him. “After Skylar killed Talbot, the officers took her to their camp and questioned her for many hours. They questioned others as well about how she had come by the knife, but Skylar told them nothing.” He shook his head sadly. “She paid for her silence dearly. We all heard about the bruises on her face and the blood that ran from her mouth.”