"I wanted to hear your voice. It brings back such pleasant memories." He paused. "And I have someone here who wants to hear your voice too. I'm giving the phone to him now."

"Elena?"

Oh, my God. She closed her eyes. "Luis."

"You've got to do what he says." Her brother's voice was broken. "I can't stand any more pain. He says he'll kill me."

"Why should I care? You betrayed me, Luis. You told Chavez about Barry."

"I couldn't help it. I was hurting. I needed a hit. Dominic shouldn't have told me. He kept it from me all these years. He shouldn't have told me. I didn't want to do it."

"But you did it. You didn't care about me or Dominic or Barry. All you cared about were those damn drugs." She blinked back tears. "Well, I can't care what happens to you now. I have to worry about the people you served up to Chavez."

"You do care." His voice was desperate. "Remember when we were children? All the good times. Help me, Elena."

"By giving up my son? You've got to be crazy."

"I couldn't help what I did. You were always the strong one. You never understood. I can't stand pain, Elena. They'll hurt me."

"I'm sorry, Luis," she whispered. "I can't help you."

"You have to-"

He broke off as Chavez took the phone.

"What a hard woman you are, Elena," Chavez said. "He really sounds pitiful. Doesn't he touch your heart?"

"You might as well let him go." She tried to steady her voice. "What made you think I'd give up Barry for a man who betrayed me? Do you think I have any feeling left for him?"

"I thought it was possible. You're an unusual woman, but surely you have a certain softness for the brother you grew up with. You shared danger and good times. Yes, you probably feel something for him."

"I feel nothing for him."

"Then you won't mind if I toy with him, will you? He's a weakling, but maybe he has a little of you in him. This may take longer than you think. I'll have him call you back after I see just how weak he is." He hung up.

Luis.

She thrust the phone at Galen. "He. had my brother talk tome."

"So I heard."

"He's going to hurt him." She tried to keep her lips from trembling. "I don't care. I don't care anything about him. He deserves it."

"Yes."

"I tried to get him off drugs. I did everything I could. He wouldn't listen. It's not my fault." Tears were running down her cheeks. "I can't do it, Galen. I can't help him."

"I know." He pulled her into his arms. "Shh, I know."

"You don't know." Her hands clenched his shirt. "I cared about him. I think I still care about him. I don't want to, but he made me remember-"

"What's wrong?" Dominic was frowning as he climbed the porch steps. "What's happened, Elena?"

"Luis." She pushed Galen away and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Chavez has Luis with him, Dominic."

He stopped in shock. "Luis."

"He's going to hurt him."

It took Dominic a moment to recover. "But Luis helped him." He shook his head as if to clear it. "That won't make any difference, will it? Sometimes I forget how evil Chavez is."

"I don't."

"Can we save him?"

"Not without giving up Barry. And you know I can't do that."

"There has to be something you can do."

"He's using Luis to bait a trap. He wants Elena as well as Barry," Galen said. "If she tries to go after Luis, he'll snap the trap. Besides, we don't even know where he is."

"Could he still be at the ranch?"

Galen shook his head. "I called the DEA as soon as we got to the airport and told them where Chavez could be located. He'd left the ranch by the time they got there."

"You didn't tell me that," Elena said.

"The DEA wasn't as good as a bullet, but I thought they might buy us time until he bought his way out of jail."

"You should have told me."

"Why should I give you bad news? I hoped we'd get lucky."

"Too much to ask."

"Is Chavez going to call back?" Dominic asked.

"Yes." Elena rose to her feet. "I'm going down to the lake to Barry. I need to." She wanted to be close to Barry, to touch him.

She hurried down the steps and down the path.

"I want to roast Chavez over a slow fire," Galen said as his gaze followed Elena. "How close were she and Luis?"

"Very close as children. It was the two of them against the world. Later they grew apart. Her father openly favored Elena, and that hurt Luis and made Elena feel guilty. Luis wasn't a bad boy. He was just weak. When he got on drugs, Elena did everything humanly possible to help him. Every time she'd turn her back, he'd be back on them." Dominic shook his head. "It's a terrible thing Chavez is doing to both of them."

"I don't care what he's doing to Luis. The bastard betrayed her."

Dominic nodded. "I'm sure he had no intention of hurting Elena."

"I'm not sure about anything." Galen stood up. "Except that after she thinks about it, she may decide to try to do something to help that son of a bitch. Even if she doesn't, I don't want her torturing herself because she had to choose between her brother and her son. I don't want any tinge of guilt touching her."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have a few options open." He gazed at Elena sitting on the bank talking to Barry. She was smiling, but he could see the strained tenseness of her muscles. He had never seen her completely relaxed, totally content. Christ, he wanted to see her like that.

"I want to help," Dominic said. "After all, I'm to blame for trusting Luis in the first place." His lips twisted. "I wanted him to change, to come to us and start a new life. Instead, I almost ruined Elena's life. I have to make amends."

"I'm drowning in all the guilt bubbling around here," Galen said. "You were only guilty of bad judgment, and Elena isn't guilty of anything. Luis wouldn't be in this situation if he hadn't betrayed her in the first place. She knows that, rationally, but her emotions may be a different matter." He turned to go inside. "If I can use you, I will. But you're not as qualified as Judd in this kind of situation. Your morals would get in the way."

"Second fiddle to Judd again." Dominic grimaced ruefully. "I'm not as gentle as you might think. Let me help."

"I'll let you know." Galen glanced at Elena again. She was looking past Barry at the setting sun, but he knew she wasn't seeing it. She was thinking about her brother and the load Chavez had dropped on her shoulders.

Time to get to work. He'd make some calls and then, later tonight, after Elena had gone to bed, he'd talk to Judd.

"You're going to go after him?" Judd shook his head. "Let Chavez put him down. The sniveling bastard deserves it."

"You're probably right. In any event, I'm going to scout around to make sure Luis is really in dire straits before I decide whether or not to go in."

"Go in where? You know where Chavez is?"

"Miami, or near there. He went there directly from the ranch. Manero just found out he's cruising around the coast on a yacht called The Prize."