by Lauren Wood
Slowly, James made his way around the corner with his ear pressed up against the wall trying to place the voices. They were male voices and they sounded very stern.
“Tell me where he is.” The first voice threatened. James could hear one of the drunken men stammering but couldn’t form any words.
“You know the problem with rats is that they have a very distinct scent. So distinct that regardless if you tell me where he is or not, I will be able to sniff him out. Now, listen carefully. The only difference between you telling me where he is or me sniffing him out to find him is that one less person will get hurt. Do you hear me?” The second voice was deeper and shallow. Whoever this was, wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with.
“Do what he says.” The first piped up.
“Is there something I can help you fine gentleman with?” James entered the room to see two giant men standing along the bar. He could tell from the stallion sewn into their gun holsters that they belonged to the biggest outlaw gang in the state, the Fader Hallow Gang. These were not people you wanted to have on your bad side.
“Well, there he is.” The second man spoke in his booming voice. “The rat has surfaced.” He took a step toward James. “If it isn’t James Wiltshire in the flesh. I would recognize you anywhere. You look exactly like your wormy father.” He spat on the floor. “Boy I thought you already had it all? The money. The women. Hell, this town is named after you.” At this point he was so close that James could almost see what he had eaten for breakfast that morning still stuck in his yellowed teeth.
“May I ask to what pleasure I owe this visit?” James suggested.
“Smart guy.” The first man slipped in.
“You know exactly why we are here and the sooner you hand him back to us, the sooner we will leave.” He nodded and took another step into James.
“I can’t say that I do. Please, enlighten me.” James played back.
“My name is Big Ray.” The second man said. “This here,” he motioned toward the first man “is Baby Nicky. You may have heard of us before or maybe you haven’t. If you haven’t heard of us I suggest you pay attention, this could very well save your life.” He crouched down so that he was standing eye to eye with James placing his hand over his gun holster. “Give me my fucking horse back and I will give you your fucking life. The word on the street has it that they saw my horse tied up just outside of your tavern this morning. You better think twice before you answer me boy.”
“I think you are mistaken. I don’t have your horse.” James calmly noted but on the inside he began to panic. Shit, Annie had stolen a horse from the worst gang in the entire state. Thanks to that, he was a dead man walking. James knew that even if he admitted the horse was hiding in the back of his stable, this man was going to kill him. He had to think up a plan, fast! The only chance he stood at keeping his life was to get the horse back to the Fader Hallows without them knowing it was him. “Would you gentleman care for a brew? We always love new guests at our tavern!” James made his way around the counter to pour them a drink. The entire time his head felt as though it was spinning so quickly it may unhinge from his body at any given moment.
Big Ray grunted. “We don’t want your swill.” He nodded toward Baby Nicky. “Let’s get out of here Nicky. Don’t think this is the last time you’ll hear from us. We want that horse back.” He spat on the floor at James’ feet. “This is only the beginning.”
Just like that, they were gone. James collapsed on the floor in a pile. His heart was racing and he couldn’t seem to bring air to his lungs quickly enough. What had this girl done?
“You are James Wiltshire?” He heard Annie’s voice ring out. “As in the James Wiltshire? How ‘come you never told me that you were famous?”
James sighed and scrambled to his feet. Trying to keep calm he responded, “You heard that entire conversation but the only thing you really heard was that I’m James Wiltshire? Nothing about the biggest outlaw gang in the state, if not the entire country, planning to bury me? You didn’t catch any of that?”
“Well sure, but why didn’t you tell me who you were?” Annie stood in front of him clucking her tongue, arms akimbo.
Ignoring her inquisition, James paced behind the bar. “Annie we need to get out of here with that horse, immediately. I don’t know what they want with it but they cannot know that we ever had it.”
“Taking the horse again doesn’t seem like a very good plan.” Annie scoffed.
“I don’t have time to explain. Just get the horse ready and I will meet you outside in ten minutes. Do not leave the stable, stay out of sight.” James darted up the stairs and Annie pouted her way to the back door.
“Can you believe this man?” She suggested to the drunken man at the bar. He didn’t flinch.
Annie stomped her way across the yard toward the stable all the while grumbling and mumbling under her breath. “What an arrogant and ignorant man. At least I can count on you Puppet.” She fussed with Puppet’s mane. “At least you listen to me and understand me. You never snap at me.” Annie kissed him on the neck. A few moments went by and Annie fidgeted impatiently waiting for James to return. “I reckon he isn’t coming back. This is all a ruse.”
“Does your mouth ever stop moving?” James appeared with a large bag that he threw over his shoulder into the cart.
Annie puffed, “I’m sorry sir but what have I ever done to you to deserve such attitude?”
“Maybe when you put my life in danger by taking a horse out of the desert that wasn’t even yours? Just maybe.”
“If you hate me so much why didn’t you just tell them where the horse was? Why didn’t you snitch on me?” Annie folded her arms across her chest. “Tell me sir James Wiltshire.” She rolled her eyes.
“To protect you.” He stated so obviously. He walked over to Annie and reached behind her to grab a saddle. Slinging it over Puppet’s back and buckling it on.
“Why would you care to do that?” Annie pried.
James remained quiet. He mounted the horse and reached out his hand for Annie to grab. He slung her up onto Puppet’s back and didn’t say a word until they had reached the edge of town. “Because up until that moment, I could have sworn I was falling in love with you.”
Annie kept quiet. She felt disappointed in herself. How could she have been so foolish? All of her life her Daddy handed her everything on a silver platter. Hell, she didn’t even know how to boil potatoes. Every poor decision she had ever made, Daddy was sure to bail her out. More than ever, her heart ached for just one more conversation with him.
The desert was humid and the sun angrily beat down on them. Annie scanned her surroundings only to see more barren desert and the odd cactus here or there. Neither of them had dared to breath a word since they left Wiltshire. Puppet trudged forward with the rickety cart bouncing around behind them. Finally, Annie couldn’t stand the silence any longer.
“I’m sorry.” She blurted.
“Go on.” James pleaded.
“I’m sorry for making such a mess for you. I never meant it. You have been nothing but kind to me since I showed up at your tavern this morning. You have only been a little bit rude but I am eager to look past that. We all have our moments of doubt.” Annie paused, bobbing side to side with each step Puppet took. “I don’t understand why those angry men needed Puppet back so badly. I imagine they have many other horses they could use.”
James thought on that for a while and then it hit him. There was something special about this horse. Annie was right. There was no way they would go through all of the trouble to threaten his life if there wasn’t something more to it. James pulled back on the reins forcing Puppet to stop in his tracks. “My Lord, Annie you’re right.” He dismounted Puppet and began to pace back and forth.
“Why thank you!” Annie beamed but immediately became puzzled as to what he could be talking about. “Tell me again what exactly I am right about?”
“There has to be something more to it! It’s not just t
he horse. The horse must mean something to them.” He continued to pace until Annie was sure he would burn a hole in the soles of his shoes.
“Maybe he’s their pet! We used to have a pet mule back at home, we would have done anything to get him back if someone took him. They probably miss Puppet!” Annie was so proud of herself. She felt as though she had just solved the mystery. It all made so much sense.
“Annie you are a genius!” James bolted toward the cart and began rummaging through its contents.
“My Daddy always told me that.” She smiled. “So why don’t we just take him back? I’m sure they will be thrilled! They will be so happy that they may not want to kill you anymore James.”
James continued to rifle through the cart. “There is no way we can just return him now Annie. They can never know that you took that horse. We need to think of a way to get Puppet back to them without them knowing.” He reached down and flipped the cart over onto its side spilling all of the contents into the sand.
“James! What do you think you’re doing?” Annie jumped down off Puppet’s back and scrambled to pick up her belongings.
“You said you had a pet mule?” James tried to distract her. The cart was completely upside down at this point.
“His name was Sisco. I miss him dearly.” Annie reminisced.
“Well you had a pet mule and so do they. Puppet is their mule.”
“Puppet is not a mule! He’s a beautiful mustang.” She ran her hand along Puppet’s back.
“I don’t mean he is physically a mule Annie. I mean he is hiding something for them.” At that, James pried up the boards under the cart. Annie’s jaw hit the sand and she jaunted forward to get a better look at what was inside.
“There must be millions of gold pieces in there!” Her eyes shone with desire.
“And weapons too.” James reached into the loot and pulled out a loaded pistol. “No wonder they wanted Puppet back so badly.”
“James I have never seen such riches in all of my life. We always had just what we needed, never more. What should we do with it?”
“We should return it.” He slammed the board shut and reached over to flip the cart back on its wheels.
“But I thought you said they could never know we had Puppet.” Annie didn’t understand.
“They can’t. We need to get this back to them in secret. We need a plan.” James scratched the back of his head trying to muster up any ideas.
Overhead the moon was showing his face. The sun had dipped below the horizon until morning. Soon it would be completely dark.
“We will think of something in the morning. I am going to start a fire. There are blankets in the cart, we can sleep on those. Go tie up Puppet and remove his saddle.” Annie rocked on her feet, staring at James. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t exactly know how to take a saddle off… I have never done it before. My Daddy always took care of that sort of thing.” She nibbled on her lip nervously.
“Fine, you go start the fire, I will tend to Puppet.” James started to walk toward the horse. Annie continued to stare at him blankly. “Let me guess,” he stopped in his tracks with his back to Annie, “you don’t know how to start a fire either?”
Annie shook her head.
Without complaint, James grabbed her hand and walked her toward Puppet. “I am going to show you how to do this so watch me carefully.” James carried on every task that needed to be completed. When he finished Annie clapped her hands with excitement. “That was fantastic.” She beamed. “Where did you learn all of that?”
With the fire crackling, Annie and James huddled close to keep warm. James looked over at Annie, the light from the flame casting shadows across her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled in the night and he truly could see her beauty. When she wasn’t mumbling about, he could see an intelligent, stunning woman. Someone who he could imagine watching grow old and gray. He stared as she tucked her long wavy hair loosely behind her ear. Completely mesmerised yet confused about how this woman made him feel.
Annie looked up and caught his gaze. She either didn’t notice or didn’t bring it up because she remained silent.
“My name is James Wiltshire and I grew up in Wiltshire my entire life.” He began, tracing patterns in the sand around him.
Annie looked up at him, puzzled.
“Back at the tavern, you asked me to tell you my story.” He stood up and walked around the fire to sit at Annie’s side. He opened his blanket to her and she tucked herself under his arm.
The night was quiet with nothing but the moon and the stars looking down at them.
“When I was just a boy, both of my parents were taken away from me. We never had any money and I suppose my father struck a bad deal with an outlaw gang. They certainly made him pay. As you can probably guess, it was the Fader Hallows. They came into my house while we slept and set it to flames. I barely made it out. The last I saw of my parents was two men with their hands cupped over their mouths dragging them through the fire.” James stopped to catch his breath.
“My Lord, I am so sorry.” Annie sympathised.
“It was a long time ago Annie, it’s alright.” He pulled her closer and she rested her head on his shoulder. “After that I was placed in an orphanage until I turned sixteen. The entire time I was there, I traded and worked to save up as much money as I possibly could. I bought Wilty’s Tavern when I was just sixteen. Of course it wasn’t called Wilty’s back then, I think they called it the Honey Mill. But anyway, long and short of it is that that was how I started to build my name. Since then I have purchased the majority of property and businesses in Wiltshire. The townsfolk eventually petitioned to have the town’s name changed. I can’t say that I was completely in agreement. I consider myself a fairly modest man.” James scratched the back of his head. “I have never told anyone this story before.”
Annie reached for his hands and smiled up at him encouragingly.
“It has taken a lot of sweat over the past ten years to get where I am now.” He paused and looked down at her. He was becoming truly in awe of her. “I am especially happy with where it has led me.” He gently placed a kiss on top of Annie’s head. She looked up at him with her big doe eyes and smiled.
“I hope I didn’t mess it all up for you.” Annie whispered.
“It’s alright, we will figure something out. I don’t exactly know what we will figure out yet but I will come up with a plan.” He assured her. “But it is getting very late, we should get some rest so that we can decide what to do with Puppet on fresh rested minds tomorrow. The next town is only a few hours by horseback. We will go there and come up with a plan. Night Annie.”
Annie’s mind soared, there was no way she could possibly rest. James lay beside her, quiet. He was certainly asleep by now. Slowly Annie slipped out from under the blankets and tip toed her way toward Puppet. Going over James’ instructions from earlier, Annie lifted the saddle up to Puppet’s back and began to buckle him in. She was so proud of herself when she finally finished and climbed up onto his back. James still hadn’t budged. “I’m going to fix this.” She whispered and then rode off into the night.
James blinked away the bright morning sun. The desert was already scorching. Beads of sweat were forming along his brow. James wondered how he had slept so long and rolled to his side to wake Annie. She wasn’t there. Instead he turned to see a double barrel shotgun pointed directly between his eyes. On the other end of it, Baby Nicky stood with a cunning grin slapped on his face. James slowly got to his feet with his hands raised slightly.
“Where’s Annie?” He asked in the steadiest voice he could manage.
Baby Nicky nodded to his left. James turned to see Annie bound in ropes with Big Ray behind her. A pistol rested on her temple. “I warned you.” Big Ray bellowed. “You spoon fed me lies and for that you will have to pay.”
“I’m sorry. We should have just given you Puppet. We didn’t mean any harm.”
“What the hell is Puppet?” Baby Nicky gaffed
.
Ignoring him, Big Ray brought Annie closer. James could see tears welling in her eyes. Without words, he could tell she was trying to apologize.
“You both seem like reasonable men.” James tried to negotiate. “This has all been a misunderstanding. Please, just take the horse and we will pretend none of this ever happened.”
The laugh that bubbled out of Big Ray shook the desert floor. “No, you see James, it isn’t that simple. Now that you have seen what belongs to me, you may feel obliged to squeal such information to the authorities. I’m not a gambling man.” Ray pressed the pistol to James’ cheek. “This isn’t a risk I am willing to take. If you’re wiped off the map then no one would know what is hiding under those boards.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” James tried to cover himself. Maybe if they thought he hadn’t seen the weapons and gold they might turn the other way. Sparing his and Annie’s lives.
“Don’t play stupid, boy!” Big Ray spat. “The girl told me everything.” He grabbed Annie by the neck and pushed her into the ground. James remained quiet, surprised. “She rode into town on that horse and marched right up to me. Figured that would be the end of it.” Big Ray circled Annie who was now lying in the dirt. “Now I may not be a gambling man, boy but I am a business man.” He lowered his pistol and holstered it, sure to flash the stallion embroidery.
“I can’t say I would be willing to do any business with you.” James snapped.
“Don’t be stupid like your father now. I’m offering you a chance at having your life back and you won’t even hear me out.”
James could feel the anger burning in his cheeks. Big Ricky remembered his father. He clenched his fists by his side and bit back the words he so badly wanted to say. “I’d rather die than make a business deal with an outlaw.”
Big Ray leaned in closer so that James could hear him at a dull whisper. “Your town will be up in flames by morning.” He straightened himself and tugged at the waist of his chaps. “The Fader Hallows always take what they want. Let’s go Baby Nicky.” The two outlaws made their way back to Puppet. Just maybe, James and Annie were about to survive this.