CHAPTER NINETEEN

Iris could see Sara just ahead of her as Kyrie galloped flat out behind Blaze. In the distance, she could hear the dogs continuing their trail cry. A gunshot suddenly rang out as Iris watched in horror as Blaze went down and Sara with him. Reigning Kyrie to a sliding stop, Iris raised up in her saddle after snatching her rifle from the scabbard. She saw Randall on the top of the next craggy hill aiming his gun again toward where Sara had fallen. Praying for sharp sight and steady hands, Iris stood up in the saddle and fired off three quick shots in succession. Kyrie never moved as he had been trained to do. However, Opus began to buck in response to the shots and Randall was tossed from the saddle as the horse charged on over the top of the hill and disappeared.

As she quickly replaced her rifle into the scabbard and reached for the reins, Iris could still hear the dogs baying that told her they probably had cornered Randall. Cyrano's tenor bugle and Durante's deep bass wove in and out of the hills, but another gunshot was heard followed by high-pitched yelping then silence. Steeling herself for whatever she might find, Iris urged Kyrie back into a gallop as she headed up the trail to find Sara.

Making her way quickly up the trail, Iris spied Sara next to the prone body of Blaze. The horse had been mortally wounded and was struggling to right himself. The bullet hole in his neck had paralyzed the horse. Not hesitating, Iris put an end to Blaze's misery with one shot, hating herself for having to do it. She quickly went to tend to Sara who had the wind knocked out of her and a bruised ankle from where she had landed wrong as Iris quickly assessed her. Iris placed a cold pack on Sara's ankle from the first aid kit she always kept on hand on her saddle.

Iris wanted to find her dogs that were now silent. "Sara, I'll be right back, just sit tight."

Keeping her rifle ready, she stood back up to look further up the trail. Iris made a small cry as she spied Cyrano's prostrate form, rushing to his side only to confirm what she already knew. A bullet in the chest had silenced Cyrano forever. Iris's anguish was just beginning.

She moved back to Sara to check on her friend, knowing she could do nothing for her dog. Where was Durante then? Sara's eyes grew wide as she looked over Iris's shoulder. Without turning, Iris said, "Mr. Randall?"

"Face me or by God I'll shoot her and leave your rifle on the ground," Randall rasped in anger as he trained his gun on Sara. He was bleeding from a bullet wound to the right shoulder from Iris's rifle.

Iris complied and turned slowly to face Randall. "You lose, Nathan, plain and simple. The LVPD is on the way. You can run but you can't hide as the saying goes. What you've done has come full circle on you." Iris stated matter-of-factly. "Why Heidi or the other children?"

"Why not? It was perfect. It was easy. I had my fun. I could enjoy myself at leisure and those kids would never tell. Heidi was special. That's why I had her look like Snow White, her favorite fairy tale. It was an accident, you know. But you had to go and ruin it, you and that jackass detective husband of yours. So now is my chance for payback and believe me I will take my time." Randall chuckled evilly as he raised his handgun.

Durante crawled slowly behind Randall, silent and intent on his target. He looked at Iris…

"Ah-Chanh, Naz-Tsaid," Iris screamed forcefully as she lunged at Randall in a fencing move as he jumped back in dismay but counteracted by knocking Iris to the ground as he pitstol-whipped her with his gun. Durante attacked Randall as he gave a baying roar in response to Iris's command.

Randall flailed to dislodge the biting and snapping jaws of Durante, finally doing so as he shot the bloodhound point-blank in the head and shoving the body off of himself in disgust. As he rose from the ground, he let out a blood-curdling shriek as Iris's well-placed kick just behind his heels with her steel-toed riding boot connected. Randall rolled on the ground in agony as Iris retrieved his gun and Sara limped over to join her as she brought the rifle.

Standing over him, Iris fought the rage building inside her. It would be so easy just to end it here and end it now. She kept the rifle trained on Randall. He looked up at her insolently, silently taunting her, daring her to do what was unthinkable to her. "No, it's not for me to decide as badly as I might want to," she finally said to him.

Just then, Grissom arrived in the Jeep. He had never been 4-wheeling before and Iris's Jeep had taken a beating. Exiting it quickly, he quickly made his way to Sara as she embraced him hard. Grissom saw Iris keeping vigil over Randall, and the heartache reflected in her eyes as he also noted the bodies of the bloodhounds and horse. He quickly checked over Sara as she gingerly tested her sore ankle and Iris who was rubbing at her bruised cheek where Randall had hit her with his gun. Grissom thought to himself these two got into more scrapes, recalling how the women had been held hostage in a convenience store robbery gone badly not long after Iris had come on board at the Vegas CSI lab.

"What were those words you called out to the dogs to go after Randall?" Grissom asked. "I've never heard them before." Sara also looked curiously to Iris as well.

"Back in Dallas, I had the dogs security trained since I lived alone. I could pick the language I wanted to use for the commands and I wanted one that would be near to impossible to recognize. I chose Navajo. Ah-Chanh means to protect and Naz-Tsaid means to kill." Iris said.

"Cool," Grissom replied, shaking his head in wonder, a phrase he rarely expressed.