by Dana Alden
She tried to look away but he grabbed her chin and forced her face to confront his. “Listen, little missy. I know you went to see Samuel. I know he’s dead. I know your boyfriend left for Gallatin City. I know you don’t have anyone.”
He paused and let that sink in, and it sank, all the way to the pit of her stomach. She had never been so frightened.
“The only thing you can do is decide whether you will tell me where my gold is. Once I have it, I will kill you quickly.” His hot breath washed over her face and she saw a dimming at the edge of her vision. “Or you can make me draw out your death. Real slow and tortuous, until you tell me where the gold is anyway.”
Don’t pass out, Amanda told herself.
A distant part of her watched her own self and was disappointed, wishing she had more backbone and didn’t bow to this man so quickly, so easily.
A whistle broke the moment. Ned released her and jerked back quickly, scanning the edges of the camp. He pulled his gun and stood up, close beside Amanda, holding her in her seat on the tree stump with his hand pushing down on her shoulder. She took deep breaths, trying to get her head clear. Several more whistles called out.
“What?” she whispered, not daring to say more.
“Someone is coming. For you. You are not so alone, after all,” he said in a low tone.
Amanda knew only one person would come for her.
As she had hoped and feared. Cal.
“Maybe now you’d like to tell me where the gold is. Because if you don’t,”—his fingers dug into her shoulder—“your friend will die right now. And you’ll earn a long, drawn-out death for yourself.” The fingers released, but the pressure did not. “And you’ll still tell me where my money is first.”
Amanda heard a rumble of thunder. In the distance, to the west, a line of dark grey storm clouds was blowing in. She saw a flash of lightning far off in the distance.
She was more scared of the man behind her than even the lightning headed her way. Far more scared.
“I… I don’t… I don’t know…”
Ned growled. His hand left Amanda’s shoulder to dig into her hair. He yanked her forward off the log shoving her to her hands and knees on the ground. She remained there, staring at the dirt in front of her face, bracing for what came next.
A pair of feet shuffled up to them. Not Cal. She felt a welling of gratefulness that Cal was safe. But it was also a welling of despair, for he’d been her last hope.
She looked up slowly, still waiting for another bout of violence from Ned Bart.
Pastor Frank! What?
He stood with his feet braced slightly, as though poised for battle, but ruined the effect by once again worrying his hat in his hands. He looked at her as he stood squinting in the sunlight, just outside the shade that covered Amanda and Ned.
“Miss Aman—Miss Amanda,” he stuttered, “I—I’m here to help you.” He turned his squint to Ned Bart. “I de—demand you h—hand her over.”
Oh, dear God, thought Amanda. He is a dead man. Oh, poor man.
She grappled for anything to stave off the inevitable reaction of Ned Bart. And then, Pastor Frank dissolved into laughter.
Ned Bart shoved his gun into its holster. He stepped forward and grabbed Pastor Frank in a bear hug. The two men slapped each other on their backs, laughing. When they pulled apart, Pastor Frank was a new man. He didn’t worry his hat. His shoulders lost some hunch. He stood a little taller with his hands braced on his hips. His face was… Amanda struggled to decipher it. Confident? Satisfied?
“Cousin!” said Ned. They hugged again.
“Ned! It’s been too long, boy!”
“Pastor Frank?” Amanda was still on the ground, but she’d sat back on her heels, watching the pastor as though through a pane of wavy glass. He was not himself. Or, he was not the self she had thought he was.
His demeanor changed again, back to the man she had known these past few weeks. He held out his hand to help her rise. She took it, knowing that behind that obsequious, smiling face was a snake, but mesmerized by him anyway. She slid her hand out of his and backed up until the backs of her legs pressed against the log.
He gave her a slight bow. “I’m not actually a pastor, you know,” he mock-whispered in his kind Pastor-voice.
Lightning quick, Frank changed again. He grinned at Ned and gave a deep, theatrical bow. Ned began to clap. “She never suspected, I see,” he said with a nod of approval.
“None of them suspected,” Frank said, hooking his thumbs into his pants pockets. The two men turned to look at Amanda, expectant.
“Who are you?” she said. Part of her didn’t care. She just wanted to disappear from this nightmare. But part of her did want to know; she wanted to know why this was happening.
“Jedidiah Frank, at your service,” said the man she’d thought was Pastor Frank. It was almost hard to look at him, like seeing someone you’d heard so much about that you thought you knew them, but where the real person didn’t match the one in your head. She looked between the two men. There was a faint resemblance.
“Why?” she asked.
“That cousin of Ned’s that Big Em killed? That was my brother,” said Jedidiah. He leaned in, his eyes steely. “My brother. Get me?”
“That had nothing to do with me,” she cried. Death and violence, lies and traps were swirling about her. She wanted to escape it all.
Ned raised his hand to stop Amanda from continuing. To stop her from becoming hysterical, she suspected.
“It has everything to do with you. I can’t have folks thinking me and mine can be killed without sufferin’ the consequences. You—” he pointed his finger at her, “are a consequence.”
Jedidiah interrupted Ned. “Speaking of consequences, there’s a posse of them headed this way. But I think I can stop them with a little help from our girl here.”
His possessive gaze made Amanda feel sick in her stomach. “Your special friend Cal is leading the charge. Tell me what to say to him to make him turn around.”
The sick feeling in Amanda’s stomach became a leaden weight that threatened to topple her. If she helped Pastor Frank—no, Jedidiah Frank—she was lost. She had no treasure. Her chances of escaping this situation unharmed were slim, but without the gold, Ned would not let her survive.
A loud crash of thunder boomed around them, and a bright streak of lightning lit up the sky. Even Ned took a step back at the powerful weather swirling about them.
Amanda thought about Cal, and how much she cared for and admired him. How much she loved him. No use trying to fool herself now. She didn’t want to put him in harm’s way. But one of the reasons she admired him was that she knew he wouldn’t be swayed by any words passed on by another person, such as the man Cal knew as Pastor Frank. Cal would make sure Amanda was safe, even if she didn’t want him to.
The rain plastered her hair to her head and washed away the tears that leaked out.
“Do you want me to meet Cal, and tell him to go away?”
The two men laughed. But Ned’s laugh turned ugly. He grabbed Amanda’s arm tightly and shoved his face into hers. “No, you’re not going to meet him and bat your eyelashes at him. Think you can escape? You can’t,” he hissed.
Chills ran through Amanda. There was a kind of madness in Ned’s eyes. Carefully, slowly, she said, “I could… I could send a message through Pastor Frank. I think Cal has grown to care for me. I think I can… dissuade him.” Her heart sank at the cruel message she needed to send to Cal, and at how she needed to hurt him. Even knowing she’d try to send a secret message that would tell Cal the truth, she wasn’t sure he’d receive it if he believed the hurtful one.
Ned stepped back. His face untwisted. In the voice and demeanor of a man used to being in charge, he said, “Tell him,” and gestured to the faux pastor. Then he walked away.
Jedidiah Frank faced Amanda. “This better be good. Try to trick me, and I’ll have a knife ready for Cal.” He said it so matter-of-factly, Amanda wondered
if madness ran in their family.
She took a deep breath.
“Tell Cal,” she said, “I can’t be involved with a man who already has a fiancée.”
“Whoa!” Jedidiah grinned. “Now that’s unexpected.”
“Tell him,” and at this, Amanda’s heart began to break, “that I’ve found my own path, and it doesn’t include him.”
“He’s going to argue with me.”
“I know. That’s when you tell him he must believe me… just as…” she pretended to search for a response. “Just as Jim believed in the gold of Alder Gulch. Tell him if we meet again, under the right circumstances—if lightning strikes twice—perhaps we’ll have a future together.”
As if on cue, another bolt of lightning lit the sky, this time farther east. The eye of the storm was passing them by.
Frank eyed Amanda, and she knew he was trying to judge whether the message would work. She explained.
“Cal learned trapping from Jim, but when gold was struck, they came down to the valley together. Cal told me the story and—he’ll know I told you.” She hesitated but figured a dose of truth couldn’t hurt now. “I really can’t be sure if he’ll believe you, but it’s the best I can think of. Please, turn him away. Please, don’t hurt him.” Her voice turned to a whisper.
Jedidiah stepped closer to Amanda, leaning in. “I’ll do what I can,” he whispered, “for you, Miss Amanda. Being a man of God, and all.” He smirked.
A shudder ran through Amanda. She leaned away. Jedidiah put a finger onto her shoulder, on the fabric wet from the rain. He began to draw it down her arm. Amanda stepped away and twisted to face him. She gripped her hands together in front of her.
“How did you find me? In Laramie? And how did you tell Ned where to find us?” She almost sighed with relief when she saw Jedidiah’s eyes light up, ready to tell his side of the story. He grinned.
“Ah, now that’s a story of luck and cunning. Ned had your letter to Big Em in hand. He wrote to me, telling me about your brother, and my brother’s murder, and about how you would likely travel through Fort Laramie. I became Pastor Frank and waited for you. Simple as that. It was dumb luck you wanted to leave your situation, and that Smitty was ready to take the Bozeman Trail at just the right time. As soon as I met you, I sent a letter to Ned and told him my plan. He had just enough time to send some men out to ambush the mule train.” He lost his grin. “It would have worked if Cal hadn’t come along.”
That mention of Cal’s name reminded them both that Jedidiah had to go to intercept Cal. Apparently, Ned remembered too, because bear man Ollie strode up, saying, “Ned says you better get going. Now.”
He only glanced at Jedidiah but stood there menacing at Amanda. The rain had let up, and the heat of the day was returning. Ollie’s animal skins lightly steamed and a rank smell surrounded him. It made Amanda want to gag.
She sat back on the log, wrapping her arms around her waist. Ollie took up sentry near her. Jedidiah walked back out of camp. Ned was conferring with his other men. Here she was, surrounded, trapped, and wondering if Cal would understand her message. It wasn’t very good. It’s not as though she’d had time to plan it.
Would Jedidiah end up killing Cal? Or would Cal try to rescue her, and then Ned might kill him instead? She took a gasping breath, willing herself to stay calm. This wasn’t over yet. As long as her heart was beating, there was a chance she could survive.
But without Cal, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Chapter 20
Cal stood over a patch of mud in the road outside Rumor Rob’s hotel. On it was drawn a crude map. Bozeman, the creek, the East Gallatin River, a few other landmarks, and most importantly, Ned Bart’s supposed camp. The storm had passed through quickly, dropping enough rain to turn the dirt road into a literal drawing board.
He was surrounded by Rob, Smitty and Dick, Sheriff Mendenhall, and four other men who’d been in town that afternoon and were willing to form a posse. It was killing him to leave Amanda out there, at the mercy of Ned Bart and his men. But he recognized what the men had said was true; getting himself killed wouldn’t help Amanda.
A whistle pierced the air. It was Scamp; they’d set him on watch duty. That single, long whistle meant Pastor Frank was returning to town. A moment later, Scamp ran up to the men. He had that eager excitement that came only with youth, with not understanding the consequences of real-life adventures.
“It’s Pastor Frank coming!”
Cal’s throat seized and he couldn’t speak.
Smitty spoke for him. “With Miss Amanda?”
“No, sir. He’s alone.”
Pastor Frank appeared on the road, turning the corner from the north. Cal studied the pastor’s appearance. He hadn’t been roughed up but he didn’t look happy. He didn’t look completely dejected, either. He wasn’t, Cal thought with relief, hauling a body. But he did look concerned. Pastor Frank had seemed interested in Amanda in a personal sense; surely, he’d look grieved if he knew she had been injured… or killed.
Pastor Frank halted his horse just outside the circle of men. Scamp stood at the horse’s head, ready to tie it to the hitching post when the rider dismounted. Frank slid off the horse and landed with a wobble. He held onto the saddle a brief moment, catching his balance. Cal couldn’t stand the delay.
“Well?” he barked.
Frank flinched. He turned to face the men. The pastor didn’t quite meet Cal’s eyes. He took his hat off and began to worry it in his hands.
“I saw her. She was unharmed.”
Relief flooded Cal. He actually stumbled back a step.
“Spit it out,” said Smitty.
Pastor Frank squared his shoulders. “I saw Miss Amanda. She is with Ned Bart. They—” He hesitated. “They worked out a deal. Miss Amanda is going to bring him to the gold that Big Em stole, and in return, Bart will let her live.”
Of all the things Cal had imagined hearing, this was not it. Amanda had made a deal with Ned Bart? She knew where to find the missing gold? He felt a mixture of relief and confusion. Disbelief washed over him next.
It must have shown on his face because Pastor Frank rushed to add more to the story. “She got the location from Big Em yesterday. He’s dead, by the way.”
“God rest his soul,” rolled quietly through the group of men.
Frank continued speaking.
“Miss Amanda told Ned there’s more gold than from that one robbery. That’s what Big Em said, anyhow. And Miss Amanda promised it all to Ned, except for enough to get her started in Virginia City. A nest egg, she called it. Ned’s going to deliver her to Virginia City, after. And then, Miss Amanda can make her own way in life…”
Frank sighed and hung his head slightly as if disappointed not to have better news.
Cal watched as the tension dropped from the men around him, even as it rose inside himself. This didn’t feel right. Would Amanda just abandon all her belongings? Abandon Cal?
“You don’t believe this, do you?” Cal looked around at all the men. “She spoke under duress. Ned Bart’s got her and she said what he told her to say.”
The other men all turned to the Sheriff. “I’m inclined to agree with Cal. I don’t think we can trust what Pastor Frank has told us. No offense, Pastor.”
Pastor Frank shook his head. He looked a little embarrassed. “There’s more. She said, because she knew Cal might not believe her, to tell him this.” He looked up, as though trying to find her exact words written in the sky. “She said to tell Cal he could believe me like Jim believed in the gold of Alder Gulch. She said you’d understand this.” Pastor Frank looked relieved to have remembered and delivered the message.
The other men all turned to look at Cal, to assess the value of it. There was pity on the face of some of them, who thought Cal was sweet on a girl now taking up with Ned Bart.
Cal felt a red anger wash over him. This was a secret message. The old trapper Jim had retreated into the mountains when he saw the craziness the discov
ery of gold had created in the men mining in Alder Gulch. He didn’t believe in the gold at all. And now Cal had his truth: he shouldn’t believe the message. Or the messenger.
“Was there anything else?”
“She said,” Pastor Frank recited, “To tell you that if you and Miss Amanda met again under the right circumstances—if lightning were to strike twice—perhaps you’d have a future together.” He said it as if he didn’t believe it. A brush-off.
Cal stood there, taking deep breaths, all the men looking at him from under the brims of their hats. He knew now; he knew exactly what she was telling him. She was going to lead Ned Bart to the twice-lightning struck tree on his property. If Cal should set out to rescue Amanda, then he should head there.
He felt as though a balloon was inflating inside of him. It was filled with such a multitude of conflicting emotions. Relief, that Amanda was alive and communicating with him. Joy, that she hoped for a future with him. Fear, that he wouldn’t succeed in rescuing her. And then last of all came anger. Red hot, seething and raging anger because Pastor Frank was not to be trusted. He wondered if the Pastor had been playing them this whole time, or if Ned Bart had bought him off just now?
But, under the circumstances, it didn’t matter.
Cal drew his gun and pointed it at Pastor Frank. A collective gasp. The other men all stepped back.
“Sheriff,” Cal said, “You’re going to need to lock this man up.”
Murmurs came from the other men, but before anyone could formulate a question, Cal continued, “And then we need to go rescue my Amanda.”
Chapter 21
Amanda sat on her borrowed horse again and tried to lead Ned and his men to Cal’s homestead. She felt terrible bringing these appalling men to Cal’s homestead, but she just didn’t want to die. She could only keep trying to find a way out of this mess. She hoped that Cal had understood her clues and knew where she was going, that he wanted to rescue her.