by Ivy McAdams
“Help!” she screamed at a pair of men that watched her go by.
One looked as white as a sheep while the other glowered.
“Let those people go,” the angry one shouted. “Less we need to take this matter into our own hands.”
Tom wheeled his gun around on the passenger and shot him square in the chest. Sadie screamed, and the car buzzed with shocked and terrified voices as the man dropped to the floor.
“Move,” Tom snarled and shoved Papa the last few feet to the front of the car.
He slung it open and stepped outside. Clay followed, lowering Sadie to her feet and taking a firm grip on her arm.
Her insides had run cold. They'd shot a man. A stranger. Were she and her father going to be next? Her head screamed to follow all directions to keep herself safe, but her instincts had her determined to fight her way out.
She wrenched against Clay’s grip, but he pushed her forward like she was a simple rag doll.
Papa and the filthy murderer stood at the edge of the car platform. Tom fit a pair of fingers to his lips and blew a harsh whistle. Clay followed suit, and Sadie plugged her ears with a gasp.
“What in the blazes are you two doing?” she spat. “Let us go.”
“We have better things in mind for you, Miss Tanner,” Tom shouted over the thunder of the tracks below. “You’re going to make us a lot of money.”
She skewed her face at him angrily. They barely had enough funds to make it through the winter. That is if they didn't actually starve. They had nothing of value the men could take.
She lifted a hand to question his idiotic statement when the sound of hoofbeats lifted above the shrill train wheels on the track. She frowned, leaning nearer to Papa to see over the edge of the platform.
The head of a black galloping horse appeared not ten feet from the edge of the track.
Sadie blinked in surprise.
“What the―”
Before her shock could settle, a buckskin with a flashy cream coat came along behind it.
“Your chariot awaits,” Tom cackled over his shoulder at her.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the sharpness of his laugh. The way his eyes pierced through her and dismissed her as if she were a mere trinket he’d picked up from the street.
“You don’t mean to…” Papa coughed and inched away from his captor.
Tom pushed Papa up to the edge of the platform as the horse drew closer.
“Don’t be yellow, old man. I know you’ve ridden a horse before.”
Sadie gasped, realizing their intent.
“Are you crazy?” she gasped, pulling against Clay’s grasp. “We can’t get to that horse. We’re going too fast.”
“Shut her up,” Tom snarled, waving his gun again.
Clay’s grip on her arm tightened, and she pressed her lips together with a soft prayer.
“Now, are you ready, old man?” Tom asked. “I’m going to count, and we’re going to jump.”
“Down there?” Papa sputtered.
“Right onto the back of ol’ Hound Dog. He’s done this dozens of times. He’ll be fine.”
“B-but I can’t make that jump.”
“You can, and you will. When I get to three. Else we’ll throw Miss Tanner here off the other side, you hear?”
Papa’s eyes met hers, big and full of concern. Then he gave a stuttering nod. “Yes.”
Tom holstered his gun, took a firm grip on Papa’s upper arm, and lined them up as he counted. On three, both men leapt off the side and landed hard on the horse’s back. Tom straddled the saddle while Papa hit the cantel with his stomach, snatching for a hold to keep himself upright.
Sadie’s hands flew to her mouth with a gasp, but Tom reached back to help haul Papa up onto the edge of his saddle. Then they pulled away from the train and slowed.
“Oh, my lands,” she breathed, fanning at her face with her hand. “That was insanity.”
A soft grunt of a chuckle rattled in Clay’s chest. “We’re next.”
Sadie turned on him with a nervous hiss. “Are you kidding? We can’t―”
“We sure can.”
His blue eyes sparkled at her, and for a moment, she felt compelled to believe him. But no―it was outrageous. Jumping off a moving train? She didn’t have a death wish.
His fingers closed around her bicep, and she jerked her arm. But his hand was like a vice on her, and she bit back a cry as his fingers pinched into her skin.
“We don’t have much time.” His voice had lowered. A stern whisper. She felt herself leaning in to hear him better. “I’m going to jump. You are going to follow me.”
“No, I can’t,” she whimpered, tugging away.
He held her still. “You will. If you don’t jump after me, we’ll take your pappy on down to the river, and you’ll never see him again.”
A tremble tickled up through her feet and legs, and she nodded. She couldn’t let these hoodlums have her father. He was the only family she had left in the world. Or at least the only one that cared about her.
“You ready?” Clay asked, moving her closer to the edge.
The ground rushed by beneath them at a blurring speed. Her stomach turned. The wheels on the track screamed, and the horse beside them snorted out heavy breaths. It was growing weary.
Sadie swallowed her nerves.
A commotion in the car turned their heads. Through the window, most of the passengers were on their feet, pointing. A train car worker held a revolver out in front of him as he stalked down the aisle.
Sadie’s breath caught in her throat. She could be saved! But what of Papa? She peered out over the edge to look for him, but he and Tom had fallen far behind. If she let the trainsman take her, would the thieves hurt Papa?
She set her teeth, ready to consent, but Clay wasn’t waiting any longer. He stepped up to the edge and leapt off the platform. He landed squarely in his saddle, the satchel on his shoulder flapping into his lap, and the horse fell back a step to readjust as he gathered his reins.
“Come on!” Clay called, holding out a hand for her.
He was moving as fast as the wind. Sadie clenched her fists and slid her toes up to the edge. Clay turned to check the car behind her, then shouted again.
“You gotta do it now!”
She took a sharp breath, bent her knees, and pushed off the platform. Leaping through the cool air, completely separating herself from the train, seemed like utter insanity. She screamed and cursed herself as she flew, crossing her fingers, praying to the Lord above, and hoping like mad that Clay could snatch her out of the air.
She hit him hard in the chest, and he grunted but managed to get his arms around her. She slid down into the saddle in front of him, legs in the air and arms around his shoulder. Her body rocked and drummed along with the churning hoofbeats below her. She was a mess, but she’d made it. Relief and a wave of thanks washed over her.
It lasted but a moment before she realized her new predicament. Pressed up against a strange man with her legs flailing in the air over one of his arms. Her dress was in disarray, hopefully at least covering her legs. She writhed against his chest.
“Set me straight,” she called out.
“Stop bucking around,” he grumbled through clenched teeth. “We’re fine.”
The galloping beats beneath them slowed as Clay veered them away from the train and up onto a grassy hill. The horse fell into a bouncy trot, and Sadie held tighter to the outlaw's chest, cursing him.
They came to a halt on the knoll. Clay adjusted his seat in the saddle and lowered her to the ground. Sadie’s boots hit the earth, and she crumpled into the grass. Her heart pounded, and her breath sputtered as she chased to catch it.
She’d never done anything so utterly insane and idiotic in her life. She clutched at handfuls of grass to ground herself. The most danger she’d ever been in was the time that grizzly bear decided it wanted the elk she was hauling in with Papa. That was an easy decision to make though. Give the bear the
deer.
The day she and her fiancé Robert had faced off with the vicious lone wolf had been pretty thrilling as well, though nothing as ridiculous as jumping out of a moving train.
She shook her head and took a long breath. Clay’s boots hit the ground next to her, followed by hard fingers on her shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
She spun and backed away from the man. “Are you crazy? We just jumped off a train!”
Clay sat back on his heels to stare at her. Then he shook his head and tugged the black mask down his face, revealing a strong square jaw covered in a smooth layer of dark stubble and locks of sandy hair pulled loose beneath his black hat. His lips twisted in an amused smirk.
“I might be crazy, but you did okay. I assume that was your first time.”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to follow his words. “What?”
“First time jumping off a train. I’ve done it a heap of times.”
Her wide eyes rolled in disbelief. “Are you trying to get killed?”
“Of course not. But there’s danger everywhere.”
“But there’s no need to invite it.”
“You’re right. I should just stay home in my slippers and let life pass by my window.”
“That’s not life going by, blowing its horn. That’s a train.”
Clay scowled, but the corner of his lips quirked up when he looked at her again.
Sadie rubbed her fingers over her sweaty brow. These fellows were insane. They belonged in a hospital. She wanted to run, but it wasn’t as if she could catch the train again. Or get away from the outlaws and their horses.
Hopefully whatever they had in mind for her would be over quickly so she and Papa could be on their way. Before their lives were in danger once again.
Her memory rushed back to the loud pop and the dreadful sight of that man on the train crumbling to the ground. She shuddered. These men meant business, and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of any of their ill decisions.
She’d have to play nice for the time being.
A shrill whistle behind them brought Clay to his feet. The buckskin stomped a hoof, ears on a swivel. Hoofbeats came up the backside of the hill, and Sadie stood as Clay’s companion rode up on his black horse. Papa sat astride the beast behind Tom, clutching at the thief’s ribs.
“Don’t just stand ‘round there,” Tom said as he yanked his mask down around his neck. He had the same handsome nose and brush of dark hair on his jaw as Clay, but the angry scowl on his face ruined his look. “Let’s get out of here before they stop that train and come after us.”
Clay slid the bags behind his saddle and strapped them on. He’d just fitted his boot into the stirrup when something whizzed by. Sadie whipped around with a gasp. A second bullet hit a tree at the edge of the hill, exploding in a spray of wood and a splintered branch. She screamed and hit the ground.
Chapter 3
“What the hell?” growled Tom as he pulled his horse around and spurred into a gallop. “Move it, Clay!”
Clay pulled up into his saddle.
Sadie hunched down with her hands over her head. Who was shooting? She spun in a small circle but saw nothing but empty train tracks in the distance and rolling hills moving up and down over the plains. There wasn’t a town or a residence in sight. No other people for miles it seemed.
Except for those two men on horses that breached the next hill over. They were headed for them, guns drawn. Sadie coughed through a gasp.
“Quit starin’ and get your ass up here,” Clay said, circling his horse around and holding out a hand for her.
She didn’t need near as much coaxing as before. She slapped her hand into his, and he pulled her up onto the back of his horse. She’d barely had a moment to grab hold before they were off. She clung to Clay’s back, eyes pinched shut, trying to imagine she was anywhere else. Not squashed against a stranger with her legs parted and skirts inching up to her knees as she sat astride a galloping horse. Being shot at by marauding outlaws no less.
Robert would be appalled to see her. She tried to put the very idea out of her head. It was a life and death matter. Not a time to worry about being chaste.
“Who is that?” she shouted over the wind and thundering hooves.
“Croakers.”
A shudder snaked through her. The heinous crimes of the Croakers were notorious for miles around. She’d wager all of Wyoming knew of the Croakers gang.
Her throat ran dry and moisture sprang to her eyes. Why in all get out were the Croakers after them?
Being shot at was another thing she’d failed to ever encounter. Life in the west was perilous, and everyone had a gun, but she lived in a civilized society. Or at least she did whenever she actually went into town. Nevertheless, no one had taken a shot at her.
“Hang tight,” Clay called over his shoulder.
She didn’t have time to question him before the horse beneath her crushed through a bed of gravel and hopped over a small stream. She wrapped her arms around Clay’s chest and leaned into him as they climbed the opposite bank.
Her father would be shocked to find her so plastered against the strange man, trying not to topple off the back of the horse. Her knees touched the outside of Clay’s hips, and she pressed her lips together until they throbbed. How dare he put her in such an inappropriate position.
Yet, she didn’t imagine outlaws were known for their class.
They traveled along the edge of the embankment and onto a worn path. Hooves churned the hard dirt. A few gunshots sounded in the distance, and her teeth clenched harder each time.
After what seemed like ages, the horse slowed. Sadie opened her eyes. Her arms and legs ached as they relaxed, and she sat up to look around.
Clay dipped his head as an overhang of trees stretched out to cover them. Tom’s black horse was waiting inside the alcove, huffing out loud wet breaths. Sadie blinked wide eyes as she looked the shadowed figure over. Only one man sat upon the horse’s back.
She gasped. “Where’s my father?”
Tom’s face was solid, unforgiving. “He took a bullet. I left him by the river.”
A rush of nerves nearly made her vomit. “You left him? But he needs help!”
“He don’t need no help where he’s at now, lady.”
A yelp escaped her lips. “He’s—“
“Dead. Gone. No more use to us,” Tom grunted.
Another urge to vomit boiled up Sadie’s throat, and she pressed her tight lips into Clay’s shoulder to stifle another anguished cry.
Dead? How could he be dead? Her eyes burned, and the lump in her throat knotted so hard she couldn’t breathe.
They’d just been riding home on the train. Minding their own business. Her fingers began to tremble.
Warm hands covered hers. Clay pressed her fingers into his chest gently.
At first, the touch grounded her, and she wanted to lean into him further and cry. But logic snapped in her brain like a stick across her knee. It was his fault. These men. They'd stolen them for no good reason. Ripped them right off their train and paraded them around in gunfire.
She snatched her hands-free and pushed her palms into Clay's back, fighting to get away from him. She didn't want to touch him at all, the vile murderer.
“No use to us?” she spat. “He was my father!”
Tom glared at her, a dirty snarl on his lips.
She wanted to bite him. She pushed off Clay far enough to swing her leg over the back of his horse and slide down. Her boots rocked as she hit the soft grass, and she nearly lost her footing as she lunged for Tom.
But Clay was on her. His arms wrapped her up from behind, lifting her from the ground and spinning her away from his brother.
“Tom,” he growled. “How about a little couth?”
Sadie’s vision blurred as she clenched her teeth and struggled against Clay’s arms. He hardly even had to squeeze her to hold her still, and she fell hopelessly against him. A new heavier wave of pain hit
her, and she forced back the cry of anguish in her throat. It ached as her body constricted in on itself, but she wouldn’t show these ruthless men her belly just yet.
A hazy Tom gave a shrug of his shoulder. “I needed him for money, and those damn Croakers just decided to put a bullet in him and steal him right out from under me. How’s that for couth?”
Clay shook his head with a grumble.
“Least we still got her,” Tom said, jerking his chin in her direction. “Blindfold her and let’s get out of here.”
“Wait!” Sadie cried, reaching out for him. “We can’t just leave him out here. He needs to be buried.”
The disgusted wrinkle in Tom’s nose made her stomach sink.
“We’re going back to camp,” he said. “He don’t need us anymore.”
The outlaw urged his horse forward and rode out from under the trees. Clay loosened his grip on her and pulled in a labored breath as he watched his brother go. Then he turned to Sadie.
She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to meet them. The last thing she needed was those endless blue eyes begging her to speak to him. But she had to hold it together.
She wouldn’t cry in front of him. She would go about her business, carry out whatever idiotic money-making plan they had, and walk away. They couldn’t break her down. Even if they’d taken the only family she had in the world. Her livelihood. And for what? A few coins?
Monsters, all of them.
She stiffened when Clay took her by the arm and helped her onto his horse. After hopping into the saddle, he twisted around to face her, removing the bandana from around his neck and slipping it over her eyes without a word.
Her world went dark. The cloth smelled of leather and sweat. She let it envelop her, the only thing she had left to ground her to reality.
Clay’s fingers bumbled against the back of her head as he knotted the bandana. It pulled at her hair but stayed firm over her eyes.
The silence drew out. Neither moved or spoke. Then his hand was on her shoulder. A light tough but enough to make her twitch.