by Chloe Carley
She’d just placed her boot on the first rung of the ladder when she felt a presence behind her and a large hand came over her face, covering her mouth and nose. Riley screamed and clawed at the hand, dropping her book, and kicking her legs as she was bodily lifted off the ladder.
“Agh!!!” Her muffled screams didn’t even bother the horses. She tried kicking the person behind her, but his menacing voice whispered in her ear, paralyzing her.
“Keep fighting me, wench, and I’ll kill you here and now. Tseena won’t be very happy, but then again, he’s never happy. If I killed you right now it would save us all a lot of time and trouble. So, I changed my mind. Fight me. Go ahead, fight!”
The arms holding her tightened painfully, but Riley could only focus on the man’s earlier words. Tseena won’t be very happy.
That must mean this was one of the men in her brother’s gang. If Roy knew she was here, maybe he’d sent this man to bring her to him. She could talk to Roy and get him to see the error of his ways. There had to be some way of helping him. She held still, refusing to rise to the man’s insulting actions and words.
“Not going to fight, are ya? I should have known you and that other gal were all talk. You think you can dress like a man, but you sure don’t act like one. I’m going to remove my hand and if you scream, I’ll simply knock you out and toss your unconscious body over the back of the horse. Do you understand me?”
Riley nodded her head as much as she could and bit her tongue to hold back the automatic scream that wanted to spring forth the second his hand moved from her face. She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened.
This wasn’t just any outlaw, it was Slim! The imposter had wormed his way onto the ranch … for what purpose? To kidnap her? To figure out what the men and the town were doing about the intended robbery?
Suddenly, Riley was consumed with fear for Gideon and the others. If Roy knew she was here, and Slim had been on the ranch for several days, he most likely had found a way to communicate what was happening.
Roy would know the men were ready for him to show his face. Gideon and his friends and family wouldn’t stand a chance. They were most likely riding into a trap and she had no way to warn them!
“Get on the horse.” Slim shoved her toward his mount.
Riley climbed into the saddle, only to cringe when Slim swung himself up behind her and caged her in with his arms.
She’d liked the feeling of being held in Gideon’s arms, but being this close to Slim and smelling the acrid tang of body sweat and horseflesh, made her nauseous something fierce. She swallowed convulsively a couple of times and ducked her head, managing to get her nose beneath the edge of her bandana to filter out some of the horrid stench.
Slim led his horse out of the barn and urged him to a fast walk toward the far western trail.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, clinging to the horse’s mane for fear of falling off and being trampled by the large animal.
“Shut up! No talking!” Slim snarled behind her.
“Slim! Riley!” Carl’s weak voice called to them from the door of the bunkhouse.
“Don’t say a word!” Slim spat at her as he kicked the horse into a gallop.
She saw this as her only chance, and she screamed with all the air she had in her lungs. She felt her head explode seconds later as Slim’s fist collided with her temple. Her vision went dark and she tried to stay alert, but the pain in her head wouldn’t be denied. She felt herself falling sideways and she thought she screamed again, but then it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Chapter 18
Carl’s wounds were so painful, and yet, he’d heard a horse outside and hoped to catch the men before they left for town.
He knew he was too late when he opened the door to the front room of the bunkhouse and saw the sunlight streaming in the windows. He went to check out the sound of the horse, stepping out of the bunkhouse just in time to see Slim moving away with Riley held in front of him.
She looked terrified and Carl knew instantly that something terrible was happening. He hollered out, hoping to draw Slim’s attention, but when the man kicked his horse into faster motion, and Riley screamed out, Carl’s heart sank.
He couldn’t ride after them if he tried. With the stitches in his side and around his back, he wouldn’t even be able to get himself into a saddle without lots of help and pain. He stumbled toward the house, intending to send Sara Jane for help. The only sound he heard upon entering the front door was the sound of Mrs. Lawson singing in the kitchen.
“Hello? Mrs. Lawson?”
The singing stopped and her voice called back, “Carl? Is that you? Why are you out of bed?”
“Mrs. Lawson, Slim stole Riley. Where’s Sara Jane? She needs to go get help.”
“What?”
“Can you come out here? I don’t think I can make it much further…” Carl reached for the closest chair and leaned heavily upon it. He could feel a trickle of warmth running down his side and knew without looking that at least one of his stitches had come loose.
“Just a minute,” her voice came back, breathless, and Carl was almost certain he heard her talking to God, but he couldn’t be sure. He finally sank onto the seat of the chair, closing his eyes as he willed the pain away.
“Carl! Oh dear. You’re bleeding again.” Mrs. Lawson came out of the kitchen, wrapped in a long robe and Carl realized he’d interrupted her bath. He felt mortified, but then he remembered the look on Riley’s face and her scream …
“Slim took Riley.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just exactly that. Slim rode off with Riley in front of him and she was screaming. She didn’t want to be on his horse with him.”
“She was going to the loft to read and Slim was supposed to be checking the cattle in the pastures.”
Carl nodded. “Who else is here?”
“Just you and me,” Pearl informed him. The sound of horses riding into the yard drew both of their attention. “Correction, us and whoever else has just chosen to visit.”
They didn’t have to wonder who had arrived as the front door opened and James and Jace both walked in, stopping dead in their tracks when they took in the scene before them.
James regained his composure first. “What’s happening?”
Carl opened his mouth to speak, but Pearl silenced him with a look. “Slim isn’t who he said he was. He’s kidnapped Riley. Just moments ago.”
James and Jace shared a look. “Which way did they ride?”
“The far western trail.”
“The only homestead off of that trail is the Taylor residence. It’s been vacant for over a year now.”
“Seems like it would be a perfect hideout for men who don’t want to be found,” James added.
“Ma can you handle things here?” James asked his wife, eyeing the small puddle of blood that was forming beneath Carl’s chair.
“I can. I’ll have to stitch him again.”
“I can handle it,” Carl assured everyone. “Please, go get Riley. She looked terrified.”
James turned to Jace. “You go scope out the Taylor place. I’ll ride back to the Sanders and tell Gideon what’s going on.”
“Why are you two back here so soon?” Pearl asked.
“We were stopped at the Sanders place by several of the men from town. It seems a stranger was seen in town yesterday. He visited the saloon and asked bunches of questions, which got the bartender there thinking about the day Slim showed up in town. Doing the very same thing.
“Sheriff Parmele thinks the outlaws somehow figured out Riley was here and know that we’re going to be waiting to ambush them. Plans are being changed right now. We came back to tell you to get everyone inside the house and bar the door. Don’t open it again until one of us comes for you this afternoon.”
“You’re scaring me,” Pearl told them.
“I intended to.” James walked over and lifted down a shot
gun, grabbed the box of shells sitting on the end of the mantle, and handed them to Carl. “Are you well enough to shoot this thing?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Anyone tries to come through that door or the one in the kitchen, you fill them full of lead and ask them what their business is later. Got it?”
“I’ve got it.”
James walked over and hugged his wife, and nodded at Jace. “Take off. I’ll go tell Gideon and one of us will ride out to help you shortly. Stay hidden. Maybe we can get the element of surprise on these degenerates in one area today.”
Jace laid a hand on Carl’s shoulder. “Be strong, son.”
“I will. Be safe.”
Jace slipped out the front door. Moments later the sound of his horse riding away was heard. James nodded at his wife and exited the house, waiting until he heard her put the bar in place before mounting his own horse and returning the way he’d just come.
Carl did his best to hide the amount of pain he was in, but Mrs. Lawson wasn’t fooled one bit.
“Well, it seems there’s been a bit more excitement than anyone was ready for today. Let’s get you stitched back up.” She walked over to the cabinet in the dining room and reached into the top cabinet, pulling a glass bottle forward and down.
Carl eyed the whiskey, knowing she was going to offer it to him and also knowing he should probably decline, but it was the only thing that would dull the pain that was to come. When she arched a brow at him, he nodded once. He needed to be ready to defend Pearl and that meant he needed to stop losing blood now.
He tossed back the shot of whiskey she offered and then took the wooden dowel she also held out. He bit down on it as she removed the soaked dressing and continued to imprint his teeth in the wood as she placed two new stitches where her previous ones had ripped out.
Each time the needle pierced his flesh, he felt like she’d stuck him with a hot branding iron, but then the pain would begin to fade away, only to be replaced by the needle entering his skin in a different spot.
“Last one, son. You did real good.” Pearl patted him on the shoulder as she moved away to grab clean cloths to wash his wound with.
Carl took several shallow breaths, waiting and silently praying for the pain to dissipate. There was still a lingering pain in his side, and after washing his wound and rebandaging it, she helped him change positions so that he was sitting in a chair facing the entire room. To his right was the front door. To his left the kitchen door.
Anyone trying to get into the house would be clearly visible and an easy target. He finally settled down, and she brought him a cup of coffee, laced with more of the whiskey, and a plate of hotcakes.
“I don’t condone drinking in this house or on this ranch,” she informed him. “But whiskey and laudanum are the only ready pain relievers I have, and I need you awake, not sleeping the rest of the day.”
“I could have handled it without the whiskey,” he softly informed her.
“I appreciate your willingness to do so, but being a martyr is rarely a good thing. By the time that little bit of whiskey wears off, the pain from my needle should have faded away. Now, if you’re okay for the moment, I’m going to finish what I was doing when you arrived.”
Carl nodded his head, only then realizing that Mrs. Lawson had treated his wound and gotten him breakfast, all while dressed in her robe and nightclothes. She was an amazing woman of strength and he knew right where Sara Jane got her backbone from. That young woman was his nemesis and always trying to outdo him.
What she didn’t seem to realize was that Carl didn’t want to always be in a competition with her. He admired her and hoped one day she would stop challenging every man on the ranch and give him an opportunity to tell her of his admiration.
For now, he settled back in to wait. Protect. That was his only job right now. Protect Mrs. Lawson. He would do so with his dying breath.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but still … he was willing to put his life on the line for her. The Lawsons had taken him in when his own parents had been swept away in a flash flood. He’d come to their ranch, a skinny kid with nothing but the clothes on his back.
His Uncle Jace had been prepared to leave and make a proper home for Carl to finish growing up in, but Pearl and James had insisted he stay here with them. The ranch was a big family and they had proven that many times over.
The Lazy L ranch was now as much his home as it was Sara Jane’s. It was a place where he’d been free to grow and learn, make mistakes, and build friendships.
He hoped it would also be the place where he started a family one day in the near future. He was in no hurry, but he wanted a chance to get married and raise some children down the road. It was the same thing Shawn wanted, although neither of them had been successful in finding the right woman yet.
Carl thought maybe Sara Jane might be that woman for him, but she was as prickly as a cactus whenever he talked to her.
Right now, he needed to focus on the present. The future would always be there, and Carl needed to heal up before he attempted to even consider finding a woman to court, be it Sara Jane or one of the young ladies from town. That time would come soon enough. For now … he closed his eyes and offered up a silent prayer.
God, I know you’re up there listening. Give the town some extra grace this day and help them defeat the outlaws. Thwart the plans of the wicked men who think to steal and plunder Rio Arriba. This is our home. Help us protect it.
Chapter 19
An hour later…
“I told you not to hurt her.” Roy’s voice filtered into Riley’s dream. She struggled to open her eyes and call out to him, but for some reason everything was dark.She started to struggle--that’s when she realized she was not only blindfolded, she was tied to a chair. Tightly. She couldn’t move her arms or her legs.
She tried to speak, but a gag had been shoved in her mouth. She attempted to push it out with her tongue, but that only resulted in her tasting whatever was on the rag and it was vile.
The sound of voices reached her ears again and she held still and listened.
“She’s not hurt, I just knocked her out. She was going to call for help.”
The sound of flesh meeting flesh, a man’s groan, and then cursing filled the air around her. Riley’s pulse was racing, and she struggled to slow down her breathing. Not being able to see was causing her to panic. She sensed someone standing next to her and froze like a statue.
“Easy, sis. It’s just me. Roy.” A gentle hand removed the gag but left the blindfold in place.
“Roy. You need to help me. That man, Slim, he kidnapped me …”
“I know, but Riley, you brought this on yourself. I put you on a train headed for Missouri. And yet here you are in Rio Arriba. How exactly did that happen?”
“I got off the train. Roy, I’ve been thinking about this. You don’t have to live the life of an outlaw.” She wished she could see him, to try and convince him with her eyes that the road he was headed down only had one outcome—his ultimate death. He could start again, he just had to be willing to walk away right now, before …
“Aw, Riley. I know you just want to help, but kid, the time for that was a long time ago. I’ve done so many terrible things …”