Blaze! Western Series: Six Adult Western Novels

by Stephen Mertz

  "He has Abigail!"

  "That's right. He has Abigail," Kate went on, agreeing with him to take some sting from his words. "If we do this right, we rescue Abigail and get ourselves out in one piece."

  "How?"

  J.D. and Kate looked at each other. That was a question without an answer. Exchanging lead with the outlaws had been possible—dangerous, but possible—before. Not now. Blackmun would use the girl as a shield in any pitched battle. If they didn't start shooting at each other and tried to negotiate, the outlaw leader had all the chips. The only chip. Jesse would do anything his brother wanted to gain Abigail's release.

  For two cents, J.D. would trade Jesse for the girl and get on back to town with her. Jesse hadn't contributed much in the way of help so far. He had lent his strong back to toppling the boulder down on the horse, but mostly he had moped about and refused to give them information they could use.

  "What more do you know about Ben that'll help us?"

  Jesse looked hard at J.D. again and shook his head.

  "I done told you everything."

  "If you join his gang, he'd make you his second in command, wouldn't he?" Kate pursed her lips.

  "What are you gettin' at? I'm blood. That's the reason he wants me back."

  "How's Uly going to react to that?"

  "Kate, you've got a great idea!" They hugged each other. Then J.D. said, "Uly has Abigail, but if you dicker with him, Jesse, that the two of you will just disappear, he stays on as Ben's right-hand man."

  "More likely, I make him an offer like that, Uly kills me and rapes Kate. He can make up any damn story he wants to tell Ben. If he caught wind of you two ridin' with me, you'd be called the killers, and Ben wouldn't rest until the both of you were dead. Uly gets everything he wants that way."

  Horses on the trail caused J.D. to crowd the others away and keep their mounts from being seen. Uly Borman rode past first, his attention on Abigail. She rode between Uly and the other outlaw.

  J.D. had to move fast when Jesse jerked free and tried to run after them. He caught up and shoved Jesse on the shoulder from behind as hard as he could. Stumbling, then falling caused a bit of a clamor, but neither of the outlaws heard and Abigail was stolidly looking straight ahead. They rode around a bend in the trail, giving J.D. the chance to grab Jesse by the collar and pull him to his feet.

  "We work together. If you want to keep your bride alive, you'll do as I say. Going off half-cocked is going to get her killed."

  "They have her!"

  "They won't keep her. They won't because the three of us will rescue her. Where do you think they're going?"

  "Back to their camp, maybe. Or they'll come back this way if they can't get by the boulder."

  "Either way, we know where they are, and they don't know we exist." J.D. told the lie easily enough to quiet Jesse's anger. By now Ben Blackmun had to know it was only his horse smashed by the boulder and not also his brother. The outlaw might think that Jesse had skedaddled, but he had to guess that someone had helped him get free of the camp. Two dead sentries and considerable exchange of gunfire spoke to that.

  Jesse sank to the ground, holding his head and shaking all over. J.D. and Kate moved away to talk quietly.

  "Blackmun will use the girl to get Jesse back into the gang," J.D. said. "He has to know who she is."

  "She probably blurted it out the instant she was caught." Kate looked at Jesse. "Do you think he'll hold up? He's mighty shaky after all he's been through."

  "He either shows a backbone or the one he loves most is dead by his brother's hand. I worry that he'll try to take on Ben without any kind of a plan."

  "So what's your plan, General Washington?"

  J.D. smiled grimly. To win a war, all Washington had done was retreat, and that strung out the British during a vicious winter. When the French fleet had sailed into view, the Brits had surrendered. Not only was it getting toward the end of summer and no convenient blizzard was likely to strike, they couldn't depend on anyone rescuing them. Marshal Nesbitt wasn't the kind to stray far from his town. Out here he had no authority. Where the county sheriff might be or any federal deputy, he didn't say. All J.D. knew for certain was that they had to pluck Abigail from Blackmun's clutches themselves.

  Doing it without adding a few ounces of lead to their bodies would be more than a chore. It might be a miracle.

  "The camp," Kate said decisively. "Blackmun will return to his camp on the other side of the boulder."

  "Getting around that rock with his horses is going to be a challenge."

  "We can do it, too."

  "And if we beat him back to that campsite, we can lay a trap." J.D. tried to think of a better plan. Nothing came to him.

  They got Jesse on his feet and went to find another way up into the canyon, to Blackmun's camp without taking the trail festooned with outlaws.

  * * *

  Night fell fast, the tall peaks cutting off summer sunlight early. The going got rough, and by the time they reached a vantage overlooking the outlaw camp, Blackmun and all his men had returned. The small figure dressed in white huddled off to one side had to be Abigail. Before, Blackmun had stationed one sniper to watch over his brother. J.D. saw where two were in the rocks above the camp with a clear shot at the girl.

  "What are we waiting for? She's down there. I see her. That's her favorite blouse. It's got some fancy embroidery up on the collar and—"

  "Calm down," J.D. advised. "We know that's her. We also know your brother's laid a trap for us if we charge in to grab her." He pointed out the two snipers. "There's likely to be a third back by the horses to keep us on foot if we do manage to rescue her."

  "He's a smart one," Kate said. "Ben's learned from before when we snatched you from under his nose."

  "I shoulda died then. That would have kept all this from happening." Jesse looked more miserable than ever.

  "It would have made it worse. Abigail wanted to find you. If you were dead, who'd there be to save her?" Kate said exactly the right thing to settle Jesse. He was amenable to whatever they tried. For a few minutes. They had to decide fast or his short fuse would burn down a fiery temper and set him on course to make his own rescue.

  "How close can you get to her without being seen?" J.D. judged where Jesse might creep up a muddy stream bed and get within a hundred yards. That was a long sprint, but Jesse had to do it.

  "I know how to sneak up on the camp. I was a prisoner there long enough to know the lay of the land." He pointed out a better way to get close to Abigail. "It'll take me a half hour, but I can do it. What then?"

  "Kate and I will draw their attention. We can take out both the sentries above the camp. Don't try to get to the horses since we don't know where that third guard is. He's completely hidden from us if we stay here."

  "Then come with me. Let's all go in together and—"

  "We do that, the snipers pick us off. They can see into the camp better than anyone in the camp can see them. From here, we have a chance to stop them. When we do, we'll keep the way out clear for you."

  "You need to be up here in the rocks looking down to do that." Jesse hitched up his drawers. He looked like a clown with only his long johns showing above his waist and no hat, but no rodeo clown had ever been this determined.

  "Should we wait until almost dawn?" Kate knew the outlaws would be less alert then.

  "We do it now," J.D. said. Keeping Jesse on a leash that long wasn't possible. He couldn't blame him much. If it had been Kate down there, he'd feel the same way. She shouldn't remain their prisoner for one second longer than necessary. Then those responsible would pay dearly for their crime.

  "A half hour. You watch real close, and I'll signal you."

  "No!" J.D. kept his own nerves in check. "That would warn them. You get into position as fast as you can, then wait for us to open fire."

  Jesse slipped into the night. J.D. heard him making his way lower, heading toward a low ridge he intended to use as cover. If those had been Indians in t
he camp, all would be waiting for him to show himself. As it was, the outlaws had been ridden into the ground today and had endured their leader's wrath. The only bright spot for them had to be catching Abigail.

  "Will he get into position to save her?"

  "Hell, how should I know, Kate? His entire life's riding on this. He might get careless, but I'm betting he will be ready. The question is, can we take out the two guards so he's not mowed down?"

  "The sniper higher in the rocks makes a harder shot. You want to match for who gets him?"

  He kissed her.

  "You have a better chance."

  "Why, husband dear, are you saying I'm a better shot?"

  "Nope. You're worse. But you're luckier. If you don't hit the guard, your bullet'll go bouncing off rocks all around. One ricochet is all it'll take to put him out of business."

  "You're luckier than me," she said.

  "I can take him if you want."

  "I mean you married me. I can hit him without all this rock bouncing you're prattling on about."

  They argued about their relative skills to keep their minds off the real chore. Finally, J.D. pulled out his pocket watch, held it up and peered at it under starlight. With a decisive click, he closed the lid and stuffed it back into his vest pocket.

  "It's time."

  "If you want the guard higher on the mountain..."

  "I already got the lower one dead to rights. You get set. I'll count to three."

  When J.D. softly said, "Three," they both fired as one.

  He had a perfect sight picture on his target. He still missed by inches in the dark. The outlaw let out a screech like a banshee and stupidly stood, grabbing at his wounded arm. This gave J.D. a second shot. He didn't miss this time. Beside him he heard Kate levering in a third round which was followed by the soft metallic click of her trigger coming back.

  "Took me three shots," she said. "You were right about bouncing the bullet around. That's what happened the first two times."

  "Let's split up. We need to keep the others in camp busy while Jesse rescues Abigail."

  They worked their way apart. Kate got off two more shots into the camp, not aiming at anyone as much as not sending lead in Abigail's direction. Try as she might, she couldn't pick out where Jesse crept up. A quick look toward her husband showed he wasn't having any better luck sorting out who was where in the camp.

  Kate decided a frontal attack worked better than simply firing. If she moved, the muzzle flash wasn't as easily spotted. Unless she had missed a few outlaws, Blackmun, Uly and two others remained a threat to her and J.D.. And Jesse and Abigail, she hastily added. Mostly, she worked best concentrating on keeping herself in one piece. Over the years she had come to respect and rely on J.D.'s skills, but even with that trust, she knew the best course of action was always to know she was a target and to shoot first.

  Slipping and sliding down a shale patch brought her to the base of the hill. She bent low, duck walked to a fallen tree and took a couple more shots into the camp. From the furor there, the outlaws had no idea where the attack came from. Waiting another few seconds gave J.D. time to add to the confusion.

  She rolled over the dead tree and then ran for a pair of junipers nearer the camp. The campfire burned too low to give her light to figure out which of the shadowy figures was an outlaw and which was someone to rescue. A foot-long tongue of orange and yellow flame spat in her direction. The slug tore into the tree beside her. She carefully pressed the rifle into her tree, took aim and fired. The answering grunt told her she had winged the outlaw but not killed him. That made him even more dangerous.

  He might be angry and frightened, but he would also be determined not to die now that the possibility had been visited upon him. He would fire at anything moving in retaliation. She remained in place as the outlaw emptied his six-gun, spraying lead all around. Counting wasn't possible, but after four shots, he had to be empty. She dashed forward, firing the rifle from the hip until it came up empty. There wasn't time to reload. She dropped the weapon and drew her six-shooter. The dark figure ahead rose up, but she held back from firing.

  "Jesse?" She spoke softly, but the word carried.

  "It's me, Miz Blaze. He's got Abigail. Ben's got her."

  "He got you, too?"

  She tried to see behind Jesse, but he kept moving to shield the spot she wanted most to see.

  "Ben's got her."

  She lifted her six-shooter and aimed it at Jesse.

  "I'm going to cut you down if you don't sit on the ground. Now."

  "You're a clever one, lady." The voice came from behind Jesse. "I got both of them. You drop that iron and give yourself up, too."

  Kate's mind raced, going through all the possible ways she could handle this. J.D. still fired sporadically, more to keep the other outlaws confused than to kill them. If he got a shot, he'd take it, but if he hadn't hit the others by now, he wasn't going to. From all she had heard, Uly Borman was a smart man and capable of anything it took to stay on this side of the dirt. Another outlaw might be roaming about, but she thought he stuck close to Uly since that was the best way to get out of this alive.

  Then again, Ben Blackmun had the best hand in this game. He held a gun to Jesse's head and still had Abigail as his prisoner.

  She could fade into the dark and leave Jesse and Abigail to their fate at Blackmun's hand. Or she could start walking forward, six-shooter in hand but at her side. She came to a halt on the other side of the fire. Only red embers glowed. She thought Blackmun had intentionally let the fire burn down to prevent anyone from getting a good shot into the camp.

  "You're mighty big, holding a gun to an unarmed boy's head. Are you going to murder your own brother?"

  "So he told you? Hell, no, I won't kill Jesse. I'll just make him hurt a bunch to teach him a lesson."

  "Let the girl go."

  Ugly laughter answered her. She edged to the side, keeping the pistol hidden as she moved. It wouldn't fool Blackmun, not for a second, but she thought brandishing the gun took away from the outlaw's sense of being in control. If J.D. didn't get a good shot, she would if she stalled long enough.

  "She's my ace in the hole. Jesse'll do whatever I want to keep her from getting roughed up."

  "He was going to ride away and leave her." Kate knew the words had to cut deep if Abigail heard them, but she played for time, for the right shot.

  "I heard his voice when he talks about her. She's the love of his life. He thinks she loves him, too."

  "Is that all you want? For Jesse to ride with you? As your second in command?"

  "He'll have to learn the trade. He's a bit slow on the uptake, so I still need Uly and the others."

  "Hear that, Jesse? Your brother thinks you're stupid."

  This produced the result she wanted. Jesse let out an angry cry, spun and hammered his fist into his brother's face. The assault ended as fast as it began. Ben Blackmun swung his pistol around and buffaloed Jesse. The young man sank to his knees, stunned. Blackmun pointed his six-shooter directly at the kneeling man's forehead.

  "You want me to blow his brains out? Is that why you're making him so mad at me? I'm not going to shoot him. I'll kill the girl."

  Kate saw how Blackmun stepped back to get a shot into shadows away from the camp. She heard truth in the outlaw's words.

  "That's what a coward does. You kill many unarmed girls? What am I saying? Of course you kill unarmed men, so why wouldn't you gun down a helpless woman?"

  "What are you saying?"

  "You killed Parson Thomas. A man of the cloth. A man of peace. Someone with a Bible in his hands, not a gun. That's the kind of coward you are."

  Kate waited for the moment Blackmun swung on her. He was too cagey. She had to risk everything now or there would be bodies littering the campsite, hers included.

  "I'm calling you out, Ben Blackmun. Me and you. Face to face, fastest gun wins."

  "What?" Blackmun laughed harshly. "You're serious? You're challenging me to a gunfigh
t?"

  "I thought so. You're backing down like the milk-livered coward you are. Go on, crawl off and don't let me see your ugly face again."

  "You're a woman!"

  "One with a six-shooter. Or do you only kill unarmed women? Maybe you prefer to shoot unarmed women in the back. I'm calling you out, if you're man enough!"

  She slid her Colt into her cross-draw holster and stepped away to one side of the fire. Her hands hung empty at her sides. Inside she felt a familiar calm descend. She faced a murderer, a back shooter, a man who could never match her in a fair fight. Her mind settled into a killing calm. She knew what had to be done. She had done it before, and this time wouldn't be an exception.

  "This is going to be a pleasure. I want to watch you die." Blackmun kicked his brother out of the way.

  He shoved his six-gun into the holster high on his right hip, widened his stance, then said, "I'm ready whenever you—"

  His hand was already in motion. Kate anticipated the move. She grabbed for her iron, swung it around and got off a shot before Blackmun cleared leather. The pistol bucked in her hand, the muzzle rose slightly, then dropped back. But she didn't shoot a second time. There was no reason to. Ben Blackmun had stumbled and fallen flat on his back. He lay with his pistol clutched in his hand.

  She always had a feeling about her shooting. This had been a killing shot. Kate stepped forward and saw the small red spot on the man's chest, smack dab where she had aimed.

  Kate yelped when a strong hand shoved her forward and grabbed for her Colt. She tried to hang onto the six-gun but lost it. Swinging about she faced Jesse Smith. Or was it Jesse Blackmun again? He pointed the six-shooter directly at her. His finger turned white on the trigger as he pulled back to fire.

  Chapter 9

  "Jesse!"

  This was all she gasped out when he pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped past her head. Her ear began to ring from the report, and blue and yellow dots danced in front of her eyes from the muzzle flash. Worst of all was the gunpowder smell in her nostrils. It made her want to gag.