Chapter 1
The Buffalo Bend Saloon, otherwise known by the locals as "The Bend", was packed with the usual crowd blowing off steam. They were celebrating the end of another week; it was another Friday night in Alpine, Texas.
As usual April Hunt was holding court and spending her time with her friends on a Friday night at 'The Bend'. Most of the night consisted of drinking, lots of talking, gossiping, dancing and some food. The crowd was rowdy, the local band played the music loud, but almost everyone came to the Saloon to socialize. It was a great place to mingle and get together. After all none of the drink was watered down, food was good pub grub, and the music was loud in the background, until someone wanted to dance.
April was the most beautiful women in the room and was always the center of attention. Tonight, she was wearing a skin tight, vibrant, almost electric blue mini dress that set off her blue eyes, blonde hair and fabulous figure. The dress wrapped around her prefect figure and would have made her the center of attention anyway. That her father owned a large chunk of the town and the largest ranch in West Texas also helped her popularity.
April had it all. She was the high school homecoming queen two years in a row and the Sul Ross homecoming queen as well. She was the head of the Sul Ross Lobo's cheer leading squad, on the track team, swim team and was set to graduate magna cum laude in pre-Med school in next month. Despite all this she only had a couple of close friends and no real steady boyfriend at the moment. She was very careful about whom she let get close to her.
In addition, April had been a very popular teen and adult model. She had modeled all over the world, but always came back home. She didn't need the money, she did it because she loved being pampered and spoiled, plus it fed her exhibitionist side. She loved having every eye in the room focused on her, and when her swimsuit and lingerie shoots came out the guys in Alpine went crazy. While her beauty was legendary, her brilliant mind, philanthropic and charity work were only known by a few.
It was her intimating beauty and wealth that kept the men away. It was the same reason she was alone tonight. Her rich and powerful father, combined with her devastating beauty intimated most suitors. It seemed most good men never came near her, only the bad boys. She had become good at spotting what the bad boys wanted. Her friends really enjoyed watching her destroy would be suitors. Most of her local friends didn't even know how to play the kind of games that she did.
April had seen her share of grifters and gigolos trying to get to her father through her or just trying to put another beauty queen notch on their belt. She loved being the center of attention, was kind to everyone she met and loved to help people when she could. All of these wonderful traits left her vulnerable to people trying to run scams on her or trying to steal their share of the family fortune. So despite her innocent beauty, her radar was well honed leaving her street smart and wary of anyone she didn't know.
April's group was off to the left side of the stage with lots of hangers on, wandering in and out of April's aura hoping to connect or at least be noticed. The rest of the Saloon was similarly divided into knots of like-minded people and all seemed to having a great time. After all it was a Friday night in Alpine, Texas.
However, there was a lone man sitting at the bar close to the door. He was well dressed in a black button-down shirt, blue jeans, Ostrich Lucchese boots and a black Stetson. He had a beer in front of him, but it didn't look as if he had touched it. To the casual observer he seemed lost in thought or pondering his next apology to his girlfriend.
To the trained observer the only thing that seemed to interest him was April and she was never out of his sight. All of his movements were covert, never drawing attention to the object of his surveillance. He would occasionally talk to other people at the bar, but his eyes always wandered back towards April's area of the bar.
As the night wore on the man's beer just got warm, while April was having a great time oblivious to the man at the bar. When April went out to the dance floor the man in the black shirt turned to keep her in his vision. Likewise, when she went to the restroom, he would walk over to the back side of the saloon to keep an eye on the restroom doors.
His plan was as bold as it was daring and there were plenty of potential problems. However, the one starter requirement was April's unwitting part in his little drama. Without her none of this would make any sense. She was his pawn or maybe his bait.
At about 11:30 April started packing up to go home. As usual some of her friends kept teasing her about leaving so early and some of the other guys in the bar starting making their last-ditch effort to have April come home with them. She knew what she wanted, nearly always got what she desired and right now she wanted to go home alone.
April putting on her long coat was a signal ... she was leaving and that was it. April's close friend Tera made moves to leave with her, but she was told to stay and have a good time. April gave her a hug and air kiss, telling her she would see her later.
The man at the bar waited until April had paid her bar tab. He dropped a ten spot on the bar then he slipped outside, his now warm beer still untouched.
Although April's long coat covered most of her, every eye the place followed her out the door. As she stepped out the door into the brisk November air, she felt alone and wished she had someone she could snuggle with in front of a warm fire. Instead she turned up her collar and headed for her BMW Z3.
April was proud of her car and always parked in a remote part of the parking lot so no one would ding her car. About half way through the parking lot she began to fish her keys out of her purse and looked down to find her keys. While her eyes were downcast looking in her purse, two arms suddenly wrapped in a bear hug. A pungent smelling cloth was pressed over her nose and mouth stifling her startled gasp.
April took a big breath to scream, but as she did her head began to spin and her legs started to buckle. As the blackness started over take her, she remembered strong arms picking her up and carrying her as she blacked out.