by Chloe Carley
“But you don’t have to keep doing them! Just stop. Stop what you’re planning to do in the town and let’s go back to Missouri. You can cut your hair and shave … No one will even know what you did.”
“I will know what I’ve done,” he informed her quietly.
“Roy, you’re all the family I have left. Please, don’t do this.”
“Sis, this is why I wanted you far away from here. This is our last job, and then everyone’s going their own way. If I survive this robbery, I was going to come to you in Missouri. Buy a little farm and start all over.”
“We can still do that. I can get a job as a nanny or maybe as a schoolteacher…”
“You hate working with kids,” he reminded her. “Or has that changed?”
Riley shook her head. “No, it hasn’t changed, but I could do it while we got settled. Just to bring in some money …”
“It’s a nice idea, but it’s just an idea. Not reality.”
The sound of booted feet approaching made Riley’s mouth snap shut. She hated not having her sight and wondered briefly if this was how a blind person felt—lost and uncertain. If this experience had taught her anything, it was to never take something like her vision for granted again.
“We need to go,” a harsh whisper reached her ears.
“I know,” her brother whispered back. “Get the boys and mount up. I’ll be right there.”
“What are you going to do about her?”
“She’s my problem, not yours.”
Riley appreciated her brother making that clear to the newcomer. The voice sounded evil. Riley decided she might be glad she couldn’t see his face. If it matched the way his voice sounded and made her feel inside, then not seeing him was a blessing in disguise.
“And if something happens to you in town?” the other man whispered.
“Then you make sure whoever survives comes back here and sets her free. After today, everyone’s on their own and the Johnston gang is no more. She won’t be able to hurt anyone with what she knows then.”
“I still say we should kill her…”
Booted feet scraping across the wooden floorboards sounded ominous, as did the sound of a slight scuffle.
“Touch a single hair on her head and you’ll receive much worse than Slim did,” Roy warned in a harsh growl that made the hair stand up on Riley’s arms. Her brother sounded so menacing, she no longer had to wonder how he’d managed to strike fear into many people’s hearts. He struck fear in her heart and she loved him.
“Whatever. Two minutes and then we need to ride.” Riley heard the footsteps move away and felt Roy next to her once more.
“I’m sure you overheard all of that, so you know that I’m going to come back for you.”
“Roy, let those men go and do what they’re gonna do. You and I could ride out of here right now and be in Missouri by next week.”
“That’s not going to happen. I’m the leader of this gang and it’s my duty to …”
“Duty! What about your duty to me? To honor God and value life? What about those duties?”
Riley could sense that her time to convince Roy to do the right thing was coming to an end. He was set on this course of action and she was trying desperately to come up with any excuse for why he should stay here. Throwing God and Roy’s honor back in his face probably wasn’t the best way to accomplish that.
Riley thought maybe she’d gone too far when Roy didn’t immediately answer her, but then she heard him whisper softly, “I’m sorry, little one. I’ve let you and our parents down, but this is my lot in life now.”
She felt a brush against the top of her head and heard his footsteps walk away.
“Roy? Roy? Don’t leave me here like this. Roy! Roy! Please come back. You don’t have to do this.”
Riley continued to call out until her voice was hoarse and her wrists and ankles were chafed, the warm stickiness she felt indicating she’d rubbed the skin off in her attempt to loosen the ropes enough to escape their hold.
When calling for her brother didn’t work, she began to cry. She was angry at her brother for abandoning her like this. She was angry at her parents for dying. Most of all, she was angry at herself for failing to convince Roy to turn away from his outlaw activities.
Time moved slowly by. The temperature rose, but without her eyesight, Riley had no concept of the time. She gave into the exhaustion pulling at her and let her chin drop toward her chest as sleep claimed her. This time by her own choice.
*****
Two miles away …
“What do you mean Riley has been kidnapped?” Gideon asked his pa in a very controlled and measured voice. His fists were clenched by his sides and his body appeared frozen, but inside he was seething with the desire to hurt someone. How dare anyone touch Riley! She’s mine and off-limits.
“Our suspicions about Slim were correct. He’s one of the outlaws and he took Riley.”
“How do you know Slim took her?” Gideon asked.
“Carl saw them. He heard something and Slim was riding off with her. When she saw Carl, she screamed and tried to throw herself from his horse, but that didn’t work and Carl thinks he might have hit her hard enough to silence her.”
“I’m going to kill Slim when I find him.”
“I understand the sentiment, son, but you need to keep a hold of your emotions and think with your head now,” James advised. “Jace is tracking them and waiting for help to arrive.
What are you gonna do?”
“We’re ready to roll,” Shawn stated as he joined them. The tension was almost palpable and Shawn looked between his pa and his brother before asking, “What’s wrong?”
“They took Riley,” Gideon told him bleakly. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t just leave her to suffer whatever brutalities they have intended for her. And yet, I need to be in town. We all need to be in town.”
Shawn stepped forward. “Leave the town to me and Pa. We can handle things here while you go save your girl. Riley needs you.”
“She’s not my—”
“Yes, she is,” Shawn corrected him. “Everyone can see how taken with her you are. Go save her and then, if you feel you can leave her, come to town. You can pick up whatever stragglers there are. I’ll even ask Sara Jane to leave one or two for you.”
Gideon looked at his father. “Pa?”
“Son, your brother is right. Your duty is to Riley. Go save her or you’ll never be able to live with yourself. We’ll handle things in town until you get back.”
Gideon rushed for the door. He vaulted onto Storm’s back and raced toward the Taylor homestead. He was less than a quarter mile from the buildings when rising dust indicated a large group of riders were headed his way. He guided Storm down into a drainage ditch and silently waited until they passed. He couldn’t tell an exact number, but he counted at least eight riders heading for town.
He waited impatiently until he was sure they were far enough away he wouldn’t be spotted before he urged Storm back up onto the trail and carefully made his way toward the homestead. He left Storm tethered to a large scrub brush and approached the cabin on foot. There was no sign of life from inside it, but he couldn’t imagine a hardened criminal like Tseena leaving a hostage unguarded. He listened for a long moment and frowned. It was awfully quiet inside and that worried him. A lot.
He carefully stepped onto the porch, cringing when the wood creaked loudly. Suddenly, a voice called out from inside, and Gideon felt a sense of relief when he realized it was Riley’s.
He pushed open the door, his pistol in his hand just in case there was anyone else on the other side. He could hear Riley, but didn’t immediately see her.
“Riley? Where are you?” he called out.
“Gideon? Gideon?”
“I’m here, tell me where you are.”
“Gideon? Is that you? Oh, please …”
He checked the first closed room, but it just revealed a tiny bedroom. He checked the second room and that’
s when he saw Riley and his temper soared.
She was sitting on a wooden chair with her arms and legs tied to the spindles. A blindfold covered most of her face and she was breathing heavily. He frowned when he saw how raw her ankles and wrists were and mentally added another sin her brother needed to atone for.
“Hang on, sprite. I’ll have you out of these ropes soon enough.” He withdrew his pocketknife and sliced through the ropes as though they were made of lard. In a matter of minutes, he had her free; the raw skin left behind would need tending, but right now he needed to assure himself she was alright.
He pushed back the blindfold and thought he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life as her eyes wet with grateful tears. “Hey, there you are.”
“Thank you for coming to save me,” she sobbed against his chest, throwing herself from the seat of the chair into his arms, knocking him backwards so that they landed on the floorboards in a tangle of limbs.
“Whoa! Easy there before you hurt one of us,” he cautioned. He righted himself and pulled her back into his arms, sitting her across his lap sideways. “Riley, did they hurt you?”
She raised a shaky arm to her temple and winced. Gideon turned her head to the side and glared in anger. A large dark bruise was already forming on her temple, encompassing the side of her eye, and he knew from experience she would have a black eye by morning, if not sooner.
“Who hit you?”
“Slim. I screamed for help when I saw Carl …”
“Carl told us what happened.” He could see the question in her eyes and shook his head. “I’ll explain everything later, but right now, I need to go back to town and see what help I can offer them.”
Riley’s eyes opened wide and she gasped. “You came for me instead of helping the town! No. Gideon, you have to hurry. Please, go help them. Roy won’t stop. I tried to get him to, but—”
“Shush. I’m not going anywhere without you. When you feel able to ride, we’ll leave and not before then.”
Riley pushed away from him and stood up, pulling at his arm as he did the same. “I’m fine. Oh, please. We need to hurry. They know about the money in the jail … Slim said they’ve known about everything since Sunday.” She weaved with dizziness and Gideon steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Easy, sprite.” Gideon could see the concern on her face, and it echoed his own. He took her hand, leading her out of the ramshackle homestead and over to where Storm was happily grazing. Gideon carefully lifted her up, placing her in the saddle and climbed up behind her.
“You okay?” he asked in her ear as he started the horse walking back toward town.
“I’m fine. Gideon, we need to hurry.”
“I know, I was just being cautious in case you were hurt and didn’t realize it.”
“I’m fine. Let’s go save your town.”
Gideon leaned down so that his words went right in her ear. “Let’s go save our town.”
Chapter 20
Roy couldn’t escape the horrible guilt that settled on his shoulders. Not for all of the horrific things he’d done as Tseena. No, this was a different kind of guilt.
Guilt over the destruction of his sister’s hopes and dreams. He’d crushed them as surely as if they’d been a dried nut beneath the heel of his boot.
The only thing that had kept him from giving into her pleas had been the fact that he couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes. It had been a coward’s move, but keeping her blindfolded had allowed him to distance himself enough to go through with today’s plan.
They were only a mile away from the town now; he needed to focus on not getting shot during this robbery. The town knew they were coming and were going to be lying in wait. Roy didn’t care.
“We’re going to stick to the original plan. Light the mercantile on fire just before the stagecoach comes into town and when everyone goes to help salvage it, we’ll move into position with no one the wiser.”
“They’ll be watching for us,” Ollie said.
“Maybe, but the stagecoach isn’t due for another few hours. The mercantile is close enough to other buildings, and with the slight breeze in the air, the entire town might go up in flames on its own this time.”
Ollie grinned evilly and rubbed his hands together. “I do love watching a town burn, although it’s much more satisfying to see it at night.”
“We’ll be long gone by the time the sun sets,” Roy said. “Gather everyone up and let’s make sure everyone knows their job.”
Ollie whistled and a dozen men formed a circle around him and Roy. Roy looked at the group of men, hardened criminals every last one of them. Slim was sporting a new black eye and a split lip, and when Roy moved his eyes to the man, he hastily looked down. Good job, he can learn. Maybe there’s hope for at least one of them in the future.
“Everyone know their job?” Ollie demanded. He called each man’s name and made them repeat what their job was once they reached the town. Satisfied with their answers, he turned to Roy and arched a brow.
“Anything else?”
Roy lowered his voice. “Men, when you leave town this afternoon, you ride straight west until you reach the river. Ollie or I will meet you there with your cut of today’s loot. From there, I don’t care where you go, or what you do, but the Johnston gang no longer exists. Don’t talk about it; don’t brag about being part of it once you cross the border. Forget you even lived this life and make a clean break with your past.
“After today, you’re no longer outlaws. You will have enough money to start over as a respectable member of society. It’s a second chance that not many men get. Don’t waste it.”
“I’m headed for the border if anyone wants to come with me,” Ollie said.
“We’re headed for the gold fields in California,” one of the men and his brother added.
“What about you, Tseena? Are you headed for the southern border?” another man asked.
“Eventually. I need to take care of a few things first.”
“He means he needs to take care of his meddlesome sister,” Ollie sneered.
Roy gave him a harsh look and issued one last request. “If something should happen to me, and to Ollie, I need one of you to go back to the homestead and set my sister free. She’ll be fine on her own after that, but she’s tied up and blindfolded to make sure she stayed away from town until we were finished.”
“I’ll go back and get your sister,” one of the men chuckled with a crude gesture.
Roy didn’t even hesitate. He took one step forward, drew his fist back, and hit the man square between the eyes, knocking him backward and unconscious. He stood with his fists on his hips, waiting for the man to get up so that he could hit him again.
“Tseena!” Ollie exclaimed, rushing forward and checking to see if the man was still alive. “We need every man for this job.”
“Then the rest of them should keep their mouths civil where Riley is concerned. Anyone touches a hair on her head with ill intent and I will personally haunt you until you take your last breath.”
Roy knew he was acting out of character, but this was his last time leading this group of criminals and he didn’t care what they thought of him after today. He despised himself for what he’d become, something he’d not felt before Riley had returned to his life.