Jason’s jaw tightened angrily, but all he said was, “We’ve come for the gold.”
“I don’t have any gold, and I don’t know anything about it,” Carrie said, backing up and keeping the table or a chair between herself and Staples.
“I didn’t expect you would. No man would entrust such important information to a woman.”
Carrie vowed she would repay him for that comment before this day was done, but first she had to figure out how to get away from him. “Why are you here?”
“I told you. For the gold.”
“But-”
“You thought I would try to stop the stage somewhere on the trail?” Carrie nodded automatically. “So, I hope, did Lucas Barrow. But whatever he had planned for us, we’ll be long gone before that kid can find help for you or for Lucas.”
“Where is Lucas?” Carrie asked, trying to show as little interest as possible.
“He’s safe enough. I’ll sell him to his own company if I can. Otherwise …” He left the sentence unfinished, but Carrie didn’t need words to know what he meant. They continued to circle the table.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Carrie said. “Your coffee’s growing cold.”
“I might, if you’ll sit down with me.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You can’t get away. My men are everywhere.”
“I’d still rather not.” He made a grab for her, but Carrie easily skipped out of his reach. Carrie wondered how long they would remain circling when Baca Riggins began to stir. It was only a matter of moments before Baca collected his wits enough to see what was happening, and he moved to cut off Carrie’s retreat. In desperation, Carrie snatched up the coffee pot and threw its still steaming contents at him. Some of the coffee hit him full in the face while the rest soaked through his clothes to his skin. Ignoring Baca’s screams of agony, Jason leapt for Carrie, but she escaped around the side of the table and was able to snatch up one of the knives they used for cutting bacon.
“Ma’am, I don’t generally hold with hurting females, but I can tell you I won’t take kindly to being cut with no knife.”
“And I can tell you I don’t take kindly to having my station invaded, my employees bound up, and my own self threatened.” Jason ran after Carrie, not stopping when she managed to stay out of his reach, but Carrie’s eyes were on Jason and she failed to see that Baca, staggering around as he tried to wipe the coffee from his face and pull off his shirt at the same time, had backed into her path, and they collided. She lost her balance, and in that moment Jason was on her in a flash, pinning her hand to the table and easily removing the knife from her grasp.
“I’ll feel safer with it over there,” he said as he tossed it into the sink they used to wash dishes.
“What are you going to do with me and the others?”
“You ought to let me have her,” Baca raged, the pain from the burns inflaming his mind. “I’d teach the bitch a lesson.”
“I admire her spunk,” Jason said. “She’s certainly worth a dozen of you.”
“I don’t take talk like that from any man,” Baca roared.
“You’ll take it from me,” Jason said as he twisted Carrie’s arms behind her back and stilled her vain struggles to escape. “I only let you come along because I thought your hatred might be useful. Be careful I don’t change my mind. Now why don’t you go see if they’ve found that boy. I don’t think he’ll have time to bring help before the stage gets here, but it’s always wise to be sure.”
“I’m not done with you,” Baca growled at Carrie as he turned to leave. “I’ve got two scores to setde with you now.”
“You come back in here, and you’ll have three,” Carrie shot back, and Baca left the station with the sound of Jason’s laughter ringing in his ears.
“As much as I enjoy your company, I’m going to have to find someplace to store you while I wait,” Jason said to Carrie as he looked around the room for a likely place. “Some-thing tells me the rooms at the back of the station would not be a good choice.” His eye caught the pantry door, and he dragged Carrie across the room, pulled open the door, and looked in. The pantry was a small room with no windows and walls covered with shelves lined with food. There was no escape except through the one door. “This will have to do,” Jason said, and roughly pushed Carrie into the closet and closed the door. It was dark inside and she had no weapons; Carrie knew she was locked in until someone decided to let her out.
Dawn was breaking and Lucas knew if he was going to get Brian to help him, it had to be before the outlaw woke up. He had watched the young man carefully for the last hour and he was sure Brian recognized the danger of his position, but he wasn’t sure how willing he was to go against a man like Jason Staples.
Brian looked up at the sky and realized that morning was only a short time away; that seemed to help him make up his mind to do something. He rose slowly from where he had lain all night, his body still stiff from Jason’s kick and his handsome face covered with ugly bruises. Moving carefully to avoid making any noise, he knelt behind Lucas.
“I’ve been trying to figure what Jason would do,” he said as he struggled with the knots, “and I think you’d better get to the station. I think it’s just his style to hold one of those women. I also think he’ll kill you, whether the company pays a ransom or not.”
“What the hell!” exclaimed the outlaw, brought out of a light sleep by Brian’s whispers. “Get away from there.”
“Don’t!” Lucas shouted as Brian went for a gun inside his coat. The words had hardly left his mouth before flame blossomed from the outlaw’s gun and Brian staggered and fell. Almost immediately two more shots rent the air and the outlaw twisted sickeningly in the air and sank back to his bedroll. He didn’t move again. Stunned, Lucas looked up to see Found come running from the cover of the same boulder he had used the previous night. He was followed by Sam Butler.
“Where did you spring from?” Lucas asked as Found finished untying his hands.
“This one will live” Sam said, looking up from a brief examination of Brian’s wound. “The other one won’t, but we ain’t got time to jaw. The boy tells me Staple’s gang has taken over the station. And if I know anything of Staples, he means to hold those women hostage. That Mrs. Simpson is a mighty fine woman, and I don’t aim to see her mishandled by the likes of Jason Staples.”
“Neither do I, but he’s got six men with him and we’re only two. Look, I’ve got ten men stationed along the trail to Tyler’s Mountain. The first one is at the crossroads after you go down Black Mountain. We have a signal set up to draw them all back to the station in case something goes wrong. We have another for danger. The man at the crossroads is named Bill Cody. I want you to go find him and tell him to start the signal relay. Then you two hightail it for the station. Each man down the line will know to give the signal before he leaves his position.” Lucas took a pencil and a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled a short note. “Here. This will convince Bill you’re working with me. What’s your interest in this?” Lucas asked as he stamped his feet hard to get the circulation going again.
“Mrs. Simpson befriended me. I was just about to get my neck stretched for something I didn’t do. She actually got the posse off my tail and made me stay put until my leg healed up. You can ask the boy for the details on the way back.”
“He doesn’t talk,” Lucas said, buckling on his guns. Found was bringing up the horses.
“He does now. Fair talked my ear off coming out here,” Sam said. A groan drew Lucas’s attention to Brian, and he knelt down beside him.
“Sam says you’ll be okay. I’ll send someone to take care of you as soon as I can.”
“Just leave me my horse. I’ll make it on my own.” He paused a moment, then looked Lucas full in the face. “I know I made a mistake” he said, struggling to sit up on his elbow. “I wanted money for my own ranch, and I knew I’d never get it working as a clerk. Katie was right not to marry me. She knew I had
n’t changed.”
“You can enjoy feeling sorry for yourself some other time, young fella” Sam Butler said unsympathetically. “We’ve got some women to rescue, and your Katie is one of them.”
“Be careful. Jason will kill anybody, even a woman.”
Locked in the pantry and cut off from all knowledge of what was happening around her, Carrie felt time pass with agonizing slowness, but she knew she hadn’t been there long when she heard someone enter the station. The footsteps went to several parts of the room as though someone were checking all the windows, then after a slight hesitation they came toward the closet. Carrie’s body stiffened in anticipation, fearful of what was about to happen. She heard the latch lift, and then the door was carefully opened. Baca Riggins’s ugly face stared at Carrie through the opening.
“What are you doing here?” Carrie demanded, determined not to show her fear.
“I’ve got a score to settle with you, lady, and I got a dandy idea of how to do it.” He reached in to grab Carrie and pull her out, but she drew back, and reaching up to one of the shelves behind her head, she heaved a can of peaches at him. Baca ducked and the can sailed across the room, but Carrie threw a second before he could duck again and had the satisfaction of seeing a bright red mark appear across his face where the can had grazed his forehead.
“I’ll kill you,” Baca roared, and dived into the closet after Carrie. He grabbed one arm, but she brought another can of peaches crashing down on his skull with her free hand. When he grabbed both hands, she kicked him in the shins as hard as she could. Baca howled in agony and threw Carrie halfway across the room. He was on her before she could regain her feet.
“I swore I’d get even with you and Lucas,” he said, dragging her toward the doorway that led to the back of the inn. “And when I get my fill of you, I’m going to beat your face to a pulp. Won’t Lucas nor anybody ever want to make up to you again.”
“You’re nothing but a sneak and a coward,” Carrie shot back, digging her heels in as he dragged her toward the back rooms. “You ran from Lucas and you ran from Staples, then you come sneaking behind their back to revenge yourself on a mere woman.” Scorn dripped from her words and burned deep into Baca’s pride.
“Shut up before I beat you right now,” he raged.
“It’s a poor man who runs from words,” Carrie said, and suddenly spat into his face. Baca struck at her, but Carrie dodged his blow and bit hard into the fingers that held her prisoner. Involuntary reaction made Baca release his hold, and seeing the flour she had measured out earlier for the biscuits, Carrie threw it full in his face. Baca’s eyes and mouth were filled with the choking flour dust and Carrie used the brief respite to get the long table between them.
“You damned hellion,” Baca roared, and drew his gun just as Staples threw open the door. In a lightning draw Carrie would not have believed if she hadn’t seen it, Staples drew and fired before Baca could squeeze the trigger. Baca’s gun flew across the room and he grabbed at his arm. Carrie could see the blood welling up from a deep crease in his forearm.
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you,” said Staples, “but the stage is coming, and I need every gun I can muster.”
Carrie had almost forgotten about the stage. Bap would be driving today, and he was driving into an ambush he didn’t expect. He wouldn’t have heard the muffled gunshot inside the station and would probably be killed if Carrie didn’t do something to warn him. Making a desperate lunge, Carrie grabbed the rifle Baca had laid down on the table, and running to the window, fired two rapid shots through the panes. They were immediately answered by several shots from the men Jason had hidden around the station. Carrie’s body sagged with relief; the stage was warned it was headed for trouble.
“Only a stupid fool like you would leave a rifle lying around where she could get at it,” Jason swore at Baca as he snatched the rifle from Carrie and threw her into the closet once more. “Get to the window. They know we’re here now. There’s going to be hell to pay before we get that gold.”
Chapter 26
Sam pulled up at the crossroads. The trail was empty and there was no sign of Lucas’s men. “My name’s Sam Butler,” he shouted into the surrounding hills, “and I’ve got a message for Bill Cody from Lucas Barrow.” When nothing but silence greeted his call, he tried again. “Staples has changed his plans, and every man on the trail is needed at the Green Run station.”
“How do I know you’re not one of Staples’s men?” a voice called, surprisingly close to Sam.
“If you know me, you know I have no truck with killers. Besides, I’ve got a note here in Lucas’s hand.” Still only silence. “I can’t wait long. There’s women at that station. If you’re not coming now, we’ll do it without you, and you can just head on back to Denver.”
A tall blond man emerged from the brush at the roadside, his rifle aimed at Sam’s heart. “Drop that note and ride off a piece with your back to me.” Sam complied, and the man picked up the note without taking his eyes off Sam. “Turn around,” he said a moment later. “What’s the message?”
“Staples is waiting for the gold at the station. We’re pretty sure he’s holding everybody there hostage, and that includes two women. You’re to give the signal that will bring the rest of your boys to the station pronto. You and me are to go on ahead. The shooting will warn them to keep their heads down.”
“Why isn’t Lucas here?” asked Bill as a sharp whistle brought his horse loping out of the brush.
“He went ahead to see about liberating the little lady who runs the place. He just asked her to marry him.”
Bill gave a long, low whistle as he climbed into the saddle. “I wouldn’t be in Staples’s shoes right now for all the gold in Colorado.” He fired three evenly spaced shots from his rifle, and then followed it with two very quick shots. “That’ll bring the rest of them” he said, putting his spurs into his horse’s side. “Let’s go.”
Sam was already three jumps ahead of him.
“There’s no use for you looking to me to save you,” Jake said irritably to Katie. “I’ll be hard-pressed to figure a way to keep from having my own hide hung up on the barn door.”
“Why should I be looking to the likes of you for help?” Katie inquired, her eyes flashing derisively. To be sure it would take a man like Mr. Barrow to handle those ruffians. You do be a dreadful poor example of the breed when set next to him.”
“You don’t look so wonderful yourself compared to Mrs. Simpson,” Jake shot back. “That woman would have us out of here in a jiffy.”
“That woman wouldn’t need to. Mr. Barrow would do it for her.”
“You two shut up your arguing. You been at it tooth and toenail most of the night, and I’m sick of it.”
“Why should I be caring what the likes of you be sick of,” Katie asked him impudently. “Any one of me five brothers could whip you whilst they be drunk.” The man glowered at Katie then turned back to watch the yard. “I could whip you meself if you weren’t such a coward as to come at me from behind and then truss me up like a Christmas goose.’ Tis a poor example of men folks you be.”
“I said shut up before I make you,” the man yelled, losing his temper at Katie’s baiting.
“Ye might as well go casting at the moon as to try to shut me up,” Katie said, her glance clearly challenging him. “’Tis a task you’re not man enough to handle.”
“Well just see about that,” the man said, rising from his crouched position and heading back to where Katie and Jake were trussed up across from each other in one of the horse stalls.
“It won’t hurt nothing to let them talk, Sully,” his companion advised without taking his eyes from the road down which the stage would come. “A sharp tongue never cut no ropes.”
“That Irish setting hen is getting on my nerves. My bandanna in her mouth ought to quieten things a bit.”
Katie struggled to get out of reach and then to dodge Sully when he leaned around her to put the bandanna’ in her
mouth. While his back was turned, Jake shook off the ropes Katie had worked loose during the night and threw himself at Sully. The sounds of a tussle drew the attention of the man at the window, and he turned around to see Jake and Sully rolling over in the hay, Jake’s hands on Sully’s throat. He hurried across the stable to help his companion, unaware that Katie had scrambled into the adjacent stall and stood waiting for him, a large shovel poised over her head. When he drew his gun and aimed, waiting for Jake’s back to be to him, Katie brought the shovel down on his head with such force it left an impression in the metal. The man slumped to the floor and Katie scooped up his rifle and took his guns. Just about then Jake rolled over and banged Sully’s head into the six-by-six post at the end of the stall divider and he, too, subsided into oblivion.
The sound of shots from outside drew their attention. “Let’s get them tied up,” Jake said as he began dragging Sully over to one of the twelve-inch support beams in order to tie his feet and legs around it. “It sounds like the stage is coming in. I didn’t do too bad,” he said after the men were safely secured to the poles.
“I suspect you might turn out to be rather respectable as long as you had a good woman to keep your nose to it” tie said as she picked up a rifle and hurried to one of the windows.
“A man never has to wonder why you left Ireland,” Jake fumed. “They chased you out.”
“I came here to get away from drunkards and braggarts” Katie said. “From what I’ve seen, I was better off where I was.”
“It’s for damned sure we were,” Jake snapped. He picked up a rifle and prepared to take out his frustration on the outlaws.
The repeated shots from inside the station told Carrie that the stage had reached the yard. She rattled the door as hard as she could, but the latch was caught. If she could just figure some way to open the door. Baca and Staples would be too busy shooting to pay any attention to her, and she might be able to get away. But she could think of nothing she could wedge between the door and the frame that was strong enough to lift the latch on the other side.
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