"Jed Danvers was hunting in the backcountry to the east beyond Topaz, and he's sure that he saw a band of them. A few of them even had the symbol tattooed on them." The sheriff said.
“How many were there?”
The sheriff could only scratch his head at Cassandra's question. "He didn't rightly say. Soon as he saw them, he fled in the opposite direction, so he could live to tell about it. He ain't stopped running either. He said he was taking his wife and kids and going to Flagstaff to stay for a while. The man was still scared hours after seeing them.”
The woman that the undertaker was helping steadied herself now and whipped her head about looking from person to person in the crowd.
"If the Omegas are here then they've come to kills us all! That's what they do. They won't rest until they kill every single white in Arizona!”
"Pull yourself together ma'am," Lijuan said shaking her head. "Not even the Omegas could wipe out an entire town even if every last one of them were to assemble and try.”
The woman pushed her way over to Lijuan and looked down on her only to take a step back when met with the scowl on the young Asian woman’s face.
“When Black Hawk starts taking scalps he isn’t going to care whether you’re yellow or black or Mexican by the look of this one," she said casting her gaze to Honor and Catalina. "You're not one of his then you're as good as dead! We've heard the stories about them all the way up here!"
Lijuan's eyes narrowed, and she set her jaw as she spoke. "You don't have to lecture us. We know all there is to know about Black Hawk and his bloodthirsty band!"
Cassie took a deep breath, thinking how much she loved Lijuan but they didn't need her to be the volcanic hellcat she was known as back home. Not only that but she didn't want to be sharing with a town full of strangers the sorted history between Black Hawk and his Omegas and the Wilde family stemming all the way back to the day when the love of Black Hawk's life had chosen their father Whip over him. The look she gave Lijuan shut her down immediately, and Cassie steeled herself to once again become the take charge kind of woman that she was.
"All of you need to calm down. Even if what your friend saw was indeed Omegas, there is no reason to believe they pose any threat to this town. Now from what I know, Fort Spooner lies beyond the general direction Carbury reported seeing them in. If anything, they are a scouting party going to check out the fort. Black Hawk has been itching for another victory since their attack on Fort Bliss!"
Another murmur rumbled through the crowd at the mention of Black Hawk’s bloody victory. The renegade had mounted a surprise attack on the fort on the opposite side of Lake Bliss. As the fort burned, wholesale panic had ensued on the side of the lake that held the resort town which had sprung up years earlier when a consortium had created a desperately needed man-made lake by damming up a river that once ran through an arid valley.
Fears that the resort town itself would come under attack had proved unfounded as Black Hawk had managed a hasty retreat when several platoons of reinforcements from Fort McCallister arrived, that had included her younger brother Dutch. The damage was already done, however. Lake Bliss was still reeling and sent into a downward economic spiral as visitors to the town dried up overnight. When it would recover was anyone's guess.
A man with wild eyes stepped close to Cassie and the sheriff. “Any injun not afraid to take on a whole fort wouldn’t think twice about massacring a town of innocent civilians!”
Cassie held out her hands in front of her much like the Sheriff had done and adopted a soothing voice. “It was the fort they were interested in by Lake Bliss. They left the town alone. While I can’t make any promises, you are likely safe here.” A smattering of support rippled through the crowd and Cassandra seized on it.
"Sheriff, get a telegram off to the fort and tell them to be on alert. Maybe they will send some men out here for some additional protection. The rest of you should arm yourselves, but that's just a precaution. This whole thing may amount to a whole hill of nothing!" These suggestions further buoyed the spirits of the crowd and more than a few cheers reached the ears of the Wilde sisters.
For her part, Catalina crossed her arms with a ghost of a smile on her face and just listened. Long winded or not, she loved to watch her older sister in action, and it always awed her to a degree. Her whole life she had looked up to Cassandra just because of moments like this when she was so strong. Still even Cassie's best moments like this could be threatened by the proverbial bad apple, and Catalina snorted in derision as just such a person opened their mouth. It was made worse by the fact it was another woman. Such an attitude wasn’t all that different from the one held by the woman they had dealt with some weeks ago, Phoebe Belafonte.
"What gives you the right to be making decisions and giving orders?! You're just some woman no one here has ever heard of before!" Leaving the side of the undertaker, the belligerent woman moved to get up in Cassie's face, immediately causing even the usually refined Honor Elizabeth to snicker knowing full well what a mistake that was. The woman’s head snaked around on her shoulder as her gaze fell on Honor.
“You find something funny girl?!”
Two to three seconds later, the woman was stunned to find herself splashing into one of the muddy puddles that were everywhere on the street. Mud flew up in her eyes, and she bit her tongue as her jaw impacted with the ground. Gasps erupted in her ears as she spit mud and blood and she could hear Cassandra yelling. "She's not a girl! She's a woman and her name is Honor Elizabeth Wilde!"
The undertaker knelt and helped the woman back to her feet for the second time that day and looked at Cassandra angrily. "You've had your say, now why don’t you all head back to whatever carnival you escaped from?! The sideshow is no doubt missing its featured act!"
Almost as if by magic, Lijuan's hammer suddenly appeared in her hand, and she raised it menacingly only to have her wrist grabbed by Cassandra. "No, Lijuan!"
“What are you talking about? You just threw that loudmouth into the mud!”
“Because she had it coming for talking to Honor Elizabeth like that. We're not here to fight the whole town!" Lijuan tried to wrest her hand free from Cassie's grip, but the oldest Wilde simply tightened her grip. Everyone was staring at the pair of sisters and watched as Cassandra suddenly let go of Lijuan. She knew Lijuan could have broken free if she genuinely wanted to, but she could see her sister was already calming.
“Let’s get out of here. These people can listen to you if they want to or not. I really don’t care. This is our vacation.” She said slowly as she slipped her hammer back into the loop on her belt.
"Truly I agree with Lijuan. I think it best we be on our way." Honor said. "Assuming the sheriff does not wish to try and stop us from leaving as was his wish before."
The sheriff hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and nodded with his head. "Go on. Ya go up there at your own risk. Meanwhile, ya had a good idea of getting word to the fort. I'm fixing to get right to it. Just be careful…and thank ya." He muttered before he turned and started walking down the clapboard sidewalk. With that, the crowd began to disperse. The Undertaker and the woman began to hustle off, looking back over their shoulders the woman displaying an ugly twist to her mouth as she silently cursed the Wilde sisters. Catalina grinned at her and threw her a jaunty wave before they turned their heads away.
Nearby a church bell announced the top of the hour as the four sisters once more took their place in the family buckboard and under Honor Elizabeth’s command the horses pulled the wagon from where its wooden wheels had sunk into the mud and down the street. As they passed the gun store, Sampson was leaning up against a supporting post to the canopy over the shop with a smile on his face as he locked eyes with Cassandra and gave a nod in the direction of Wilde-berry Hill. She returned an approving smile which lingered on her face even as the wagon left Clayton’s Hollow in its wake.
***
To Cassandra it had always seemed like the final leg of any journey was the long
est. It was the anticipation of being so close to your intended destination that seemed to make every foot traveled hard fought for she surmised. So, it was with much anticipation when the wagon trail they were traversing crested and leveled off onto the plateau that spread out before the summit to Topaz.
Soon the group was bouncing along a serene alpine meadow Cassie had pointed out to the others that at the end meadow the terrain would give away to a grove of trees that surrounded the entrance of a small ravine the lead to the cabin. Honor had been animatedly discussing with Catalina, who sat next to her in the front seat, a dress she had on order from far away New York City that was due to arrive soon. Relieved to get off the topic of frilly dresses for a moment Catalina turned to Cassandra and flashed her a smile.
“So, we’re really gonna like this place huh?”
Reaching forward to squeeze her shoulder Cassandra replied, "Oh, absolutely Cattie. My friend picked the most wonderful spot in his cabin. It's right near the edge of a cliff. In fact, it used to be right next to where a waterfall spilled over into, oh I don't know if I had to guess a thousand-foot drop!"
“And whatever do you mean by used to?” Honor said glancing over her shoulder as she continued to drive the carriage.
"The pond I was telling you about. The beavers dammed up the stream that used to flow down through a gully and right over the cliff face. It still does, but it's only a fraction of the amount it used to be Jim said."
"Ah, interesting." Honor Elizabeth said before launching back into her dress talk with Catalina about how she planned to wear it next month during her trip to Carson City where she had been invited by a dashing colored doctor they had met on one of their recent adventures. Cassie leaned back in her seat, folding her arms with a smile on her face. She doubted very much Honor had found the tidbit interesting, but she was nothing if not polite thanks to her days at an all colored finishing school she had attended in the Philadelphia when she was in her teens. Her smile however quickly faded.
This had not gone unnoticed by Lijuan to her right, who leaned forward and turned her head to look at Cassandra, thick strands of her hair swinging away from her head as she tilted it.
"What's the matter, Cassandra? For the last half hour, I can tell something is up with you. If you're worried I'm mad about that little bit with you stopping me from giving that undertaker a beating that would have left him wishing he was as dead as his customers, well don't worry. I might…might…have overreacted. Just didn't like him calling us a carnival act."
Cassandra shook her head and let her know that wasn’t the case. It was something else, to which Lijuan quickly guessed…The Omegas.”
“Yes, the more I am thinking of it, well this really is way far from where they would reasonably turn up. I don’t like it.”
“Wait now,” Lijuan began, raising one of her eyebrows; it wasn’t like Cassandra to second guess herself. “What about scouting the fort? What you said makes a whole lot of sense.”
"On the surface, yes Lijuan but think about it. For them to launch an attack on a fort up here, he would have no choice but to lead his war party across the entire expanse of the Mescalaros Flats to get here to this mountain country. And there is one thing Black Hawk doesn't do is cross terrain that would leave his forces exposed like that. Sneak attacks are his specialty."
Lijuan fell silent in thought, and a warm feeling swept over Cassandra. She loved all her sister equally, but in truth, she would admit only to herself she valued Lijuan's counsel the most, and that was because the woman shared the same strategic thinking that Cassandra did, and she was the one to bounce ideas off from.
"What you say is true. However, we all know Black Hawk is determined to exterminate the white man. Perhaps he’s throwing caution to the wind by selecting this fort as his next attack. Plus, he could be planning to move his forces at night across the Mescalaros. That's probably how this scouting party got here."
Cassie looked up and sighed, "Maybe be none more than we Wildes know what a shrewd bastard that Yavapai can be. That's why he's managed to remain free all these years despite his reign of terror. Listen, never mind all that. Let's forget about it for the moment. We are here to relax. Oh, and there is a great spot for you to fish from on the former beaver pond!"
Knowing Cassie, Lijuan wasn't so sure her sister had really put her thoughts of the Omegas out of her mind, but she went with the flow and asked her about the fishing spot.
"It's right above where the beavers had built their dam. My friend was referring to it as Totem Rock when we took a stroll up by the pond. It would be this giant boulder, about the size of a Conestoga if you stood it up on end, sitting on top of a much smaller boulder. Use to be three he said, but he and a group of friends climbed up and pushed the top boulder off so there would be a flat surface to sit on and fish from above the pond". She relayed to the listening Lijuan.
"Sounds great," Lijuan said before quickly changing the subject. “Now I know there is no way you're going to wait until that picnic to see him so how long before you sneak back into town to lay with that Viking on the porch of the gun shop? Whatever plans he had I guarantee he's going to be sticking close to his shop in hopes you will be paying him a visit." Lijuan's eyes sparkled as she teased her older sister who promptly swatted her on the shoulder.
"I'm sure he has other matters to concern himself with other than me such as the sale of his business. He said he's expecting his payment soon. Some rich dude from Sedona bought his place and the places on either side. All were to be torn down to make way for a dance hall."
Lijuan leaned forward again tilting her head to look at Cassandra, “Just what the West needs…another dance hall. I noticed you didn’t fess up to when you were going to rendezvous with him and don’t tell me you weren’t planning something!”
Cassandra opened her mouth to respond as Lijuan drew her head back leaving the view clear to the right. She had to blink a couple of times because in the grove of trees she spotted a horse milling about, but it was no wild horse. A saddle rode on its back. At that moment, the buckboard passed into the ravine.
Immediately she began to wonder if her friend was in the cabin. When she had written to him that she wished to make use of it, he had said it was fine. He had no plans to be back this way for a while. Could he have changed his mind? She was sure she had mentioned her family would be with her, so it seemed unlikely he would have planned a surprise visit for a romantic escapade. As her brow furrowed, Lijuan picked up on it that something was wrong.
“What is it?!”
Cassandra turned and looked back and saw the riderless horse had emerged from the woods and was standing in the middle of the road beyond the gully they were now traveling in. Lijuan looked back too and shot her a quizzical look when suddenly the angry rumble of twin explosions filled the air. Behind them, the explosions on opposite sides of the ravine sent rocks and trees tumbling down sealing of that end, just as Cafferty intended.
CHAPTER 8
“A trap!!" Cassandra and Lijuan both shouted at each other. Cassie was reaching for her six guns as Lijuan was about to scream to Honor to get them out of the ravine as quickly as possible, but she knew that was futile with the only way forward lead to the cabin and the edge of the cliff in plain view. Cassie was right; it was a trap and a damn good one.
"Hands in the air!" came a shout as two men with shotguns and two brandishing pistols came scrambling down from each side of the hollow until they blocked the view in front of them that held their intended vacation cabin. Lijuan's eyes shifted to Cassie in an unspoken question as to whether they should go for it.
Cassandra's hands hovered over the handles of the twins she kept strapped around her waist. There was no question in her mind she could take out two of them, but the other two would cut down Honor Elizabeth and Catalina in return. She shook her head.
Cafferty stepped to the front of his group, the rifle in his hand rock steady and he began barking orders.
"You bitches throw dow
n your weapons! And that includes all your special ones. I know all about them especially that hammer your little fortune cookie likes to be toting around! Once you do that, get out of that there wagon with your hands in the air!" he waved the shotgun to emphasize he expected his orders to be followed.
The four sisters exchanged grim looks. None of them liked being bested, but it was happening whether they liked it or not so in short order Cassie's twin guns were joined by the other three sister's pistols, Honor's Bowie knife, Catalina's bullwhip. Lastly was Lijuan's hammer which she was slow to toss over the side, preferring instead to be hurtling it at the head of the man who now had them under his thumb.
"Get your pretty little asses out of there right now!" another of men bellowed, causing the leader to turn and look over his shoulder at one of the men. "Cord, you keep your brother Bull in line. I'm running this here kidnapping!” He snapped.
Cassandra's mouth became a thin line across her face. Cord and Bull could only be the Stevens Brothers. There was a reward out on their head for the murder of a bank teller six months ago in Leland Gulch. Now instead of being on the run, they appeared to be hired guns for whoever this man was.
“Come on ladies. It seems we have an invitation.” She called out from the back seat as she lead the way by swinging her legs off the side of the buckboard and jumping to the ground. Moments later they assembled in front of the wagon, their hands in the air.
Cafferty rocked back on his heels and threw the Wildes a crooked grin, "Now, that's nice and cooperative. Much appreciated girls. Honestly, I expected you to put up more of a fight after the yarns my boss told about you." Cassandra and Lijuan both gave each other the briefest of sideways glances, the pair interested in the tidbit that Cafferty was working for someone else and not the actual ringleader.
“What’s your name? I always like to know who I’m going to kill!” Lijuan called out to the man. This elicited guffaws amongst their captors and Cafferty slapped one of his knees. “Now that’s more like what I was told to expect from you! You’re a funny one fortune cookie!”
Renegades And Revenge: Daughters 0f HBH (Half Breed Haven Book 8) Page 8