by Anna Zogg
He paused only a moment, his expression changing from the urgency in her tone. Immediately, he picked up his pace, Blister bounding alongside him.
When her son reached her, Lenora grabbed his shoulder. “Get inside the house. Take Blister. Hurry!”
While he and his dog bolted toward the front door, Lenora ran to the barn to retrieve her shotgun. She grabbed some of Cole’s stored ammunition. It didn’t take her long to return to the house.
Again, she thanked God that Jeb hadn’t stolen the rifle and shotgun.
Panting hard, she slammed down the crossbar on the front door. In moments, she shuttered her bedroom window. “Toby, help me with these.” She grabbed the panels beside the fireplace and put them into position over the two windows in the great room. They slid into the grooves Amos had crafted. Once they were secured, she called Toby into her bedroom. Blister followed, panting from the growing tension.
Together they pushed the heavy dresser off the rug until the trapdoor was fully exposed. They lifted the panel and retrieved ammunition from the small opening. She didn’t have as much as she liked, but enough to let Jeb know she wouldn’t surrender easily.
Afterward, she shut the door to her bedroom. With her rifle in one hand and the shotgun within reach, she pushed back one shutter to peek out the window. Nothing could be seen. That didn’t mean Jeb and his men weren’t out there. She left it open to keep watch.
“Toby, go check the latch on the door in the roof. Make certain it’s secured.”
“Yes’m.” The quaver in her son’s voice betrayed his fear.
She flashed him a tight smile. “Don’t be frightened. We’re perfectly safe in here. I’m just being cautious.”
“Okay, Ma.” He scrambled up the ladder while his dog barked and whimpered.
“Hush, Blister.” Lenora’s sharp voice silenced him instantly. She softened her tone. “It’s okay, boy. Toby’ll be right back.”
“It’s locked.” Her son’s voice called from above.
“Okay. Come down and stay low. Understand?”
“Yes’m.” He soon squatted beside his dog, hand stroking his fur.
The room returned to silence except for the sound of Blister’s panting. Lenora continued to check all the windows, wishing now she had one at the back of the house. What if Jeb or his men were approaching from that way?
The agonizing minutes passed.
“Ma, will we...?” A suppressed sob cut off Toby’s whisper.
Lenora threw a glance at him. His young mouth trembled, eyes bright with fear as he sat on the floor by his dog.
“Come here.” She held open one arm, inviting him into her embrace.
He rushed to her, burying his face against her shoulder as he knelt beside her.
“It’ll be all right, son.” Battling her own fears, she caressed his back. “Hackett wants to take us to his ranch, understand? Our lives aren’t in danger. We’re just not going without a fight.”
When he lifted his face, she smoothed the tears off his skin with a gentle thumb.
“Are you sure, Ma?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She didn’t speculate aloud that Jeb would wait to hurt her—hurt them both—after they were at his place, surrounded by a dozen men. Lenora would not allow herself to be taken. Once in his clutches, he would make certain she died a thousand deaths.
Better to die here—once—than there.
“My stomach hurts, Ma.” Toby clutched his middle.
“You’re probably hungry. Why don’t you have the rest of your birthday cake?” She nodded in the direction where a piece sat on the table.
“But that’s Cole’s, remember? We were saving it for him.”
“I know.” She peered out the window as she spoke. “I’m sure he’ll understand. And I can always make another.”
He sniffed. “Ya think he’s okay?”
She resisted offering him a flippant answer. “I’m not sure, Toby.”
“Should we pray for him, Ma?”
She squeezed his shoulder. “That would be a wonderful idea. You start, but I’m going to pray with my eyes open so I can keep watch.”
“Dear God,” Toby began, head bowed, eyes closed. “Please watch over Cole. Keep him safe. And us too. And Porky, Sheba, Nips and Rowdy. And please help Blister not to be so scared.” His dog pressed against him, whimpering.
“And Lord, bring Cole safely back...” Lenora’s voice died as the sound of thundering horse hooves reached her.
She straightened, listening.
Not one. But a half dozen? One seemed to be closer. Why? Or were they coming from opposite directions?
Her questions were soon answered by a horse flying into the yard. Footsteps stomped up the steps—two, three at a time. Though she expected it, the loud pounding on her door made her jump.
She leaped up, pointing her rifle at the door. “Get off my porch this instant or I will shoot.”
* * *
Lenora and Toby are in danger.
The thought beat against Cole’s brain in time to Rowdy’s hooves striking the ground. He pushed his horse, knowing that every second counted. Though the miles flew under him, time dragged in agonizing slowness.
Please God, keep them safe.
After Cole had escaped through the back door of the telegraph office, he had whistled for his gelding. Amid a few more haphazard shots, he’d ridden out of town, beelining for the ranch. Whoever had betrayed him in town had likely informed Hackett or one of his men.
That meant the outlaw knew Cole was missing from the ranch, leaving Lenora and her son vulnerable.
I put them in danger. Dear Lord...
Just like he’d done with Andrew. If something happened to them, it would be his fault.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
His plea kept in tempo with Rowdy’s hooves. The sun slowly slid toward the horizon.
He was perhaps a mile from the ranch when he saw a dust cloud shimmering in the distance. Riders? They appeared to have the same goal—Lenora’s ranch. Could he beat them there?
“Come on, boy,” he shouted to Rowdy, hunkering down in the saddle. He gave the gelding more rein and squeezed his sides with his knees. “Come on, you can do it.”
His faithful horse pushed harder.
They rode into the yard, perhaps minutes before the other group. While Rowdy was still moving, Cole grabbed his rifle and leaped off. A quick swipe of his saddlebags followed. Loathe to leave the horse unattended, he slapped Rowdy’s rump to send him away from danger.
“Go, boy!” In three steps Cole bounded onto the porch and pounded on Lenora’s door with his fist.
Her voice came from inside. “Get off my porch this instant or I will shoot.”
“It’s me. Cole. Open the door!”
After a ten-second eternity, the dull thump of the crossbar sounded as a group of men thundered into the yard. The door opened a fraction. Two or three shots fired from the Hackett gang. Cole ducked and shoved his shoulder against the moving panel, forcing himself into the house. Rolling, he avoided the bullets that sprayed against the wall.
Lenora shrieked while he kicked the door shut.
“Bar it.” He was already on one knee and rising. After sliding open one shutter partway, he smashed out a windowpane and fired with his pistol. He heard a yell, the scream of a horse and men’s shouts. Another volley of bullets came their way, shattering more glass. Turning his head to avoid the flying missiles, Cole ignored the sting as something sharp sliced across his jaw.
For the next several moments, pandemonium continued as the men outside apparently tried to organize themselves. Hackett yelled obscenities. A tornado of dust swirled in the yard. Little was visible beyond shadowy forms of both men and horses. Cole took careful aim and squeezed off a round. Another
yell told him his shot connected.
When Lenora moved closer to him, he grabbed her arm to pull her down. “Stay away from the door.” Several bullet holes revealed the wood had splintered. By the time he looked back outside, the dust was settling. No men were in sight.
Still squatting, Cole crab-walked to the other window facing west and opened one shutter a couple inches. His action produced a barrage of shots.
Ducking, he turned and pressed against the wall as he reloaded his pistol. “We’re going to have to wait until dark. They see me before I see them.”
Face pinched, Lenora nodded.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Her word came out a little breathlessly.
“How’d you know I was coming? And to bar yourself in the house?”
She shook her head. “I saw someone signal with a mirror along the ridge and knew something bad was about to happen.”
“You were right.”
A noise outside caught his ear. “Marshal Cole.”
Lenora’s gaze met his. Jeb Hackett was the speaker.
Cole scooted up the wall just enough to yell out the broken window. “What d’ya want?”
“Give yourself up, and I promise we’ll leave Lenora and the boy alone.”
She grabbed Cole’s arm. Lips white, she shook her head with vigor.
He raised his voice. “Can’t say we’re interested. Got a better deal?” He moved away from one window and flattened himself against the thick wall near the other. There the sun wasn’t shining in. Again, he peered out, hoping that while he and Hackett talked no one would blow his head off.
The men remained invisible. Though the house was built up off the ground, the nearby area had an abundance of hiding places. Several glances revealed shooters behind a water trough, boulders and a cluster of trees.
“I see at least ten men,” he said in a lowered voice to Lenora.
Before she could respond, Hackett again yelled. “The only other deal I’m offering is you dying.”
Cole pointed to the table and whispered to Lenora, “Clear that off. I’ll turn it on its side to provide an additional barricade.”
In a hunched position, Lenora did as he bid. He pushed the shutter all the way closed so no one could see inside. After holstering his gun, he toppled the table. “Toby, get behind that. Good.” The youngster, with his arm around Blister, crawled behind the heavy wood. With them safe, he could concentrate on keeping the house secure. “You as well, Lenora.”
She surprised him by shaking her head. “This is my fight, too.”
He wanted to protest, to tell her that his life was nothing without her. But if he died, how much longer would she live? An hour? A day?
“Okay. Stay down. Please.” He rechecked his gun to make certain it was fully loaded. “We’ll wait until dark before we try to pick them off. Right now they can see us long before we see them.”
She nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”
“What’s it gonna be, Cole?” Hackett hollered. “You coming out alive or we dragging out your corpses?”
He again positioned himself by one window. “A contingency of soldiers are on their way from Fort Laramie.” At least he hoped that was true. What if Red at the telegraph office double-crossed him like his boss? For all Cole knew, he could have sent a biscuit recipe to President Chester Arthur.
“They’re six hours from here. Think you’ll last that long?”
So, Hackett didn’t know for certain if soldiers were on their way. At least he didn’t assert they were not. Perhaps the telegraph had gone through?
Cole wouldn’t count on it.
How long could they hold out on their own? Three? Four days?
The outlaw wouldn’t be that patient and would likely try to burn them out. Before that happened, Cole planned to use the trapdoor in the roof and pay the men a visit in the middle of the night. Hackett wouldn’t know what hit him.
“Lenora,” the outlaw called. “Convince that hired hand of yours to give yourselves up. I swear no harm will come to you or the boy.”
Cole’s gaze met hers as he spoke in a lowered voice. “You know how you can tell Hackett’s lying?”
“Yes,” she didn’t hesitate to reply. “His lips are moving.”
“Glad we’re in agreement.” With a grim smile, he nodded. “Keep him talking for a minute. Let them see the barrel of your rifle so they don’t wander closer.”
With her head safely lowered, she pressed her hand to the wall near the window. “Jeb? What will you do with Cole if he gives himself up?”
Cole came up with his own answer. Not invite me to a game of Old Maid.
Half listening to their conversation, he hurried to the other side of the room and braced his back against the wall. With his foot, he pushed the heavy stove toward the door. “Toby, stay low and come help.”
The youngster did as he was told.
“Don’t touch it.” The metal was just hot enough to burn skin. “Use your foot like I am.”
Together, they scooted the heavy iron across the floor to provide a bullet barrier to the front door. Though it was still a couple feet from the panel, Cole felt confident it would help. The stove would also add protection in case Hackett’s men stormed the door.
From the outlaw’s bullying tone, Cole could tell the man grew tired of bargaining.
By now, the sun had sunk below the horizon. He directed Lenora to take her rifle and position herself by the northern window. “Fire at anything that moves. But no wild shots. We have to make every one count.”
“This is your last chance,” the outlaw roared.
“I got a deal for you, Hackett.” Cole peered out the window. When no one fired, he took an extra second to study where his next shots would go. “If you and your men go now, I’ll let you live.”
Not three seconds later, a rain of bullets riddled the house.
Chapter Twenty-One
How much longer can we last?
As the night grew darker, terror nagged Lenora. Though Jeb no longer directed his men to barrage them with fire, they still took occasional shots to remind them the threat remained. Several men had stormed the front door, but Cole had injured too many of them before they’d even gained the porch.
Now it was quiet. More or less.
She crawled across broken pottery and debris to join Toby behind the overturned table. “How are you doing?”
“Okay.” His voice came out small. In the darkness, she couldn’t see his face, but heard the fear in his tone.
I have to be brave. For his sake.
Truth was, she felt about at a breaking point.
“Here is some bread for you and Blister.” She shoved part of a loaf at him, the only thing that she could find that might not be laced with glass.
“Are we gonna die, Ma?”
She fumbled for his shoulder. “Cole will do everything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“I’ve been praying.” His sentence ended with a stuttering sniff as though he could no longer repress a sob.
Fighting tears, she pulled his head closer and kissed him on his mop of hair. “Me, too. Remember that God is greater than anyone in the world. That includes Jeb and his men.”
Before she broke down and gave into her own fears, she crawled back toward Cole.
“How are you holding up?” His whisper came to her through the darkness.
She swallowed her terror. “Well enough.”
“And Toby?”
“Good.” When her voice quavered, she rammed confidence into the tone. “Under the circumstances.”
How she wanted Cole to pull her close. Her heart was so full of what she wanted to tell him that it threatened to spill out. But what could she say?
In t
he small amount of light that came from the outside, she could barely make out his profile. His narrowed eyes never ceased surveying the area. His lips tightened, jaw inflexible.
I must not distract him.
He was keeping them alive and would continue to do so until his last breath. An invisible hand clutched her throat in awe. What had she done to earn such fierce loyalty? And from a man who barely knew her? Or was he merely doing his duty as a US marshal?
If only she didn’t carry the terrible burden of a monstrous secret. Before they died, she wanted to tell him about it. To beg forgiveness for not revealing all she knew. Weeks ago, he could have taken the money to Cheyenne. But she had been too afraid that he would despise her for hiding it. That she would lose him forever.
“Cole?” she whispered. “I need to tell you something.”
He twitched as though he saw movement in the darkness. “Something’s happening.”
She scrabbled toward the other window. A flame sprung into life in the distance.
“Don’t waste ammo,” Cole cautioned. “They’re too far away.”
In fascinated horror, she watched the torch bob across the horizon. “What are they doing?”
Jeb answered moments later by yelling, “You prepared to lose your barn, Lenora? Horses? Livestock?”
Cole joined her at the window.
In terror, she clawed his sleeve. “Will he kill your horses? The cattle?”
He yelled, “You’d be a fool to destroy it, Hackett. Why not just take everything after we’re dead?”
In tense silence they watched the flame disappear behind the barn. A small orange glow sprang to life and grew. Horrified, Lenora watched the blaze crawl up the building and creep across the roof.
“Go check the other window,” Cole ordered in a terse tone. “See what they’re doing while we’re distracted.” In another moment, he lifted his rifle and fired. Twice.
A glance out the side revealed two men materializing out of the shadows and moving closer to the house.
“Cole!”
“Shoot them,” he ordered, busy with what he saw out his window.
Lenora fumbled for her rifle, railing at herself for setting it aside. By the time she retrieved it, the men were under cover.