He smiled. "My questions have frightened you. I assure you that I was merely curious."
Maybe so, but caution still wasn't a bad idea. She wouldn't give him any more information that he might be able to use against her and it would be smart not to let him lead her far into the desert. She glanced around. "How far are we from where you saw Alex last?"
He pointed. "Only about a mile that way."
"Which way did he go from there?"
"That way."
Alex could track a snake across granite, but she couldn't track an elephant across sand. There was no point going any further in the opposite direction from where Alex was traveling. In fact, it probably made more sense to stop and camp. Alex had seen the two horsemen following them when she was totally unaware of them. If Alex was anywhere he could see them, he probably already knew where they were.
She looked at Jose. "Did Alex buy food from you too?"
He nodded. "And I gave him water."
"See that cluster of boulders over there on the rise? We're going to camp there and build a fire."
Jose frowned. "But the men he follows will see it."
She lifted per brows. "Precisely. So will Alex."
Jose nodded hesitantly. "So they will all come to you."
She sighed. "That's the plan." She turned her horse that way. "Come on."
Why hadn't she thought of it earlier? Probably because she was still acting like the pursued. In fact, that was what she wanted to be right now - pursued by Alex. She could still wind up a captive if she wasn't careful. She had no intention of sleeping by the fire. What she intended to do was build a good fire and climb up in the rocks above it where she would have a good view of anything approaching them.
When they reached the rise, Carmen gathered some wood. This time she included some ocotillo that Alex had warned her about because it produced heavy smoke when it was burned.
Jose watched her with a certain amount of trepidation. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of drawing the men to them. When Carmen had a good fire going, she grabbed the rifle and climbed up into the rocks. It might be hours before anyone responded. Jose hobbled their horses nearby and climbed into the rocks near her.
It was a good idea. The smoke climbed high into the air. The only problem was that the sun beating down on the rocks overheated her. She should have done this at night.
She squinted her eyes against the bright sun and watched the desert. Nothing moved as far as she could see. There were live things in the desert. She simply didn't see them. How much was she missing?