Zeke didn’t remember what he’d been dreaming before he woke up, but it must have been really depressing to leave him in such a rotten mood. Or maybe he should blame his bad mood on his irrational attraction for Josie, or her refusal to listen to his warning about Gardner. Not that Josie couldn’t take care of herself under normal circumstances, but running into a man like Gardner wasn’t a normal circumstance. Not when he was a rich theater owner and Josie was in need of a job. Josie might think she could take care of herself in any situation, but Zeke had lived long enough to know that a woman who didn’t have a man she could depend on was vulnerable.
But that wasn’t his worry. Even if he’d wanted it to be, Josie wouldn’t allow it. He listened intently, but heard nothing to alarm him. He lay back down. It took a few seconds to get comfortable again, but the moment he stopped moving, he heard a sound in the brush surrounding the wagon. There was no way he could go back to sleep until he found out what it was.
Chapter Eleven
The sound of Dusky Lady blowing through her nostrils woke Hawk. Even though he heard nothing to alarm him, he rose to his knees and immediately reached for his rifle. Dusky Lady was hobbled. If a cougar or something else was stalking the mares, she was the one least able to defend herself.
“What is it?” Suzette asked, her voice husky with sleep.
“Something has disturbed the horses,” Hawk said as he slipped his feet into a pair of moccasins. “I’m going to see what’s wrong. Stay here and keep warm.”
“Wait. I’ll come with you.”
She started to throw aside the blanket, but he stopped her. “You’re not dressed.” He reached for the extra rifle next to his saddle. “Keep this beside you until I get back.”
“I want to help.”
“You can help by staying out of danger.”
Being careful to avoid patches of dried leaves, Hawk melted into the brush, moving through the thickets of tamarisk and willow and avoiding the thorns of mesquite and prickly-pear cactus until he could see the horses silhouetted against the horizon in the moonlight. The mules grazed on, seemingly impervious to any potential danger, but the mares and the saddle horses were on their feet and alert, their heads turned away from the river. Hawk saw nothing, but he heard something moving toward them from the direction of the mountains. No cougar or other predator would make so much noise.
It could only be somebody attempting to steal the mares.
Moving quickly and staying close to the ground, Hawk ran to Dusky Lady.
“Easy, girl,” Hawk said softly. “As soon as I get rid of these hobbles, I want you to hightail it up the trail. I’m gonna draw those low-down, horse-thieving scalawags out in the open where I can get a shot at them. We’ll catch up with you in the morning.”
With deft fingers, Hawk removed the mare’s hobbles. He still saw no sign of intruders, but the horses hadn’t returned to their grazing. Whatever had spooked them was still out there. Hawk gave Dusky Lady a slap on her haunch. “Get going.”
The mare whinnied, shook her head up and down, then started down the trail at a trot. The mules continued to graze, but one after another the mares turned and followed Dusky Lady. Almost immediately Hawk heard a shout and saw a man burst from a juniper thicket and run out into the open yelling at someone still concealed to get moving before the horses got away. Hawk sank to his knee, took careful aim, and fired. The man threw up his arms and fell to the ground.
Immediately the quiet of the night was shattered by a fusillade of rifle shots.
Hawk dived behind a low bank amid bullets hitting the ground all around him. Once over the bank, he crawled quickly on knees and elbows until he was about twenty yards from where he’d fired the first shot. Working his way through the underbrush on his belly, he lay perfectly still until he saw three men moving toward the river. Incredibly, the mules had gone back to grazing as soon as the echoes of the rifle shots died away. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about them going berserk.
Hawk knew Zeke was out there somewhere, probably with Gardner right behind him. If these three men were the only thieves, they shouldn’t have any problem driving them off. Taking time to make sure his aim was perfect, Hawk fired at the closest thief. Then he backed up until he was over the bank once again, but this time he sprinted toward a large cottonwood on the edge of the river. From that vantage point he could see that the man he’d shot was down on the ground, groaning and holding his leg. Hawk didn’t want to kill the man, but he did want to make sure he never tried to steal any more horses.
The sound of a rifle shot brought Zeke bolt upright. The burst of gunfire that followed had him on his feet and reaching for his rifle. Hawk had gotten him into the habit of wearing moccasins to bed so he wouldn’t have to stop to put on his boots. He crossed immediately to the wagon.
“Somebody’s after the horses.” He hoped Josie was awake enough to hear and understand him. “Stay here until I get back.”
Josie stuck her head from between the canvas flaps. “What about Suzette?”
“Hawk will take care of her. Gardner can stay with you.” Since the man hadn’t awakened, he probably wouldn’t be any good in a fight. But when Zeke rounded the wagon, he saw that Gardner’s bedroll was empty. “Gardner’s not here. He may have gone to see what the shooting’s about, but I don’t trust him.”
He didn’t want to leave Josie, but she knew how to handle a rifle. Since Hawk had bedded down close to the river, Zeke decided to circle around the other way and try to catch the horse thieves in a crossfire. He didn’t like the ominous quiet that had fallen after the initial burst of gunfire, but he knew Hawk wouldn’t make himself a target. There probably weren’t five white men in the Arizona Territory who could find Hawk when he didn’t want to be found, and Zeke had the advantage of being difficult to see in the dark.
Before long, Zeke caught the sound of whispered conversation on the light breeze blowing from the south. The sound of boots on rocks and clothes brushing against branches and thorns told him the thieves weren’t used to walking quietly through the desert landscape. He’d moved into position to the east of the thieves when Hawk’s rifle shot had broken the stillness. The moans of the wounded man were momentarily drowned out by return gunfire. They sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness that followed.
“I think my leg’s broken,” the man said.
“Dammit, this was supposed to be easy. We come in while they’re sleeping and run off the horses before anybody wakes up.”
“How bad is Munson hurt?”
“Bad enough he ain’t breathing.”
“Where the hell is that guy with the rifle?” a third voice asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m getting the hell out of here. If Gardner wants them horses, he can get them himself.”
Anger boiled up from Zeke’s stomach. Why hadn’t he paid attention to his instincts instead of putting his uneasiness down to jealousy over Gardner’s attention to Josie? That woman was messing up every part of his life. The sooner he could be rid of her, the better. Pushing his anger aside for the moment, he worked his way through a tangle of plants until he was directly behind the thieves. The mules were grazing on the far side of an open area, but Zeke didn’t see any sign of the mares or the riding horses. He was tempted to put bullets into the two men still on their feet, but Hawk was obviously hidden across the clearing. There was virtually no chance he’d miss at such close range, but Hawk might not know it was Zeke shooting and might return fire.
“I’ve got both of you in my rifle sights,” Zeke said, speaking from his place of concealment in a mesquite thicket. “Drop your rifles.”
The men turned and fired blindly into the thicket, but Zeke dove behind a large rock.
“That wasn’t very smart. Drop your rifles, or I’ll start shooting. And I won’t miss.” To emphasize his point, Zeke fired at the rifle held by one of the men. When the bullet shattered the stock, the man yelled and threw the rifle to the ground. The other man dropped his rifle and r
aised his hands.
“Hawk, you over there?” Zeke shouted.
“Yeah,” came the answer. “Want me to plug them from here?”
The two men whirled to face the second voice coming at them from the darkness.
“No. I say we tie them to their horses and drop them off at Redington. Let the Redfields and the Sozas take care of them. They’re not especially fond of horse thieves.”
“We didn’t steal any horses,” a man with dirty blond hair said. “We was just riding through minding our own business when whoever’s hiding in those trees by the river shot Munson.”
“Tell it to the Redfields,” Zeke said.
“Where the hell are you?” the blond demanded.
“Where I can keep an eye on you. Come on out, Hawk,” Zeke called.
Hawk emerged from the trees along the river, his rifle leveled at the two men left standing. Zeke kept his eye on the man with the broken leg just in case he went for his gun. Zeke was not happy to see Suzette step out of the trees not far from where Hawk had emerged. In a situation like this, a woman was a complication they didn’t need. She carried a rifle, but did she know how to use it? He thought of Josie back in the wagon and hoped she had stayed put.
Zeke emerged from hiding. “Where are the horses?” he asked Hawk.
“I sent them off with Dusky Lady. We’ll pick them up in the morning.” Hawk turned to the thieves. “Where’s your boss?” he asked.
A warning look passed between the two men before the blond answered, “We ain’t got no boss.”
“I heard you say Gardner was the one who wanted these horses.”
“I don’t know no Gardner,” the blond said.
Zeke wasn’t going to waste time arguing. “Now put your hands behind your backs while my partner ties you up.”
The blond looked apprehensively at Hawk. “He ain’t going to scalp me, is he?”
“Not unless you try to get away.”
Zeke waited impatiently while Hawk tied the hands of first one man and then the other. “What are you going to do with him?” he said pointing at the man with the broken leg.
“Leave him there. I expect the coyotes will soon make sure there’s nothing left to find.”
“You gotta take me to Redington,” the man pleaded. His hat had fallen off, revealing a head of thick, curly black hair.
“Why? They’d only hang you as a horse thief.”
“We didn’t steal no horses,” the blond said again.
Zeke was about to ask Hawk what he wanted to do with the thieves until morning when he heard the sound of a woman’s voice raised in protest. Josie! Hawk jerked his head in the direction of the wagon. Zeke was already moving. Where minutes before he’d moved with stealth, now he barreled his way through the brush, using his rifle to push aside thorn-laden branches that snagged at his clothes and skin from all sides. Why had he left Josie? What man would worry his head about horses when there was a woman like Josie around?
The sounds of the struggle grew louder when he rounded a tamarisk thicket. He burst through the underbrush to find Josie fighting off Gardner.
The moment Gardner saw Zeke, he swung Josie in front of him. “Stay back.” His pistol was pointed directly at Zeke.
Zeke skidded to a halt. “Don’t be a fool. We caught your men, so there’s no way you can get away with Josie.” Zeke moved back and forth, zigzagging, constantly in motion so Gardner was forced to keep twisting to hold his gun on Zeke.
“Close your eyes, Josie.” Zeke hoped Josie could figure out his message before Gardner did. “I don’t want them open when I blind Gardner.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Gardner demanded.
The words had hardly escaped Gardner’s mouth when Josie closed her eyes, threw her weight to one side, and jabbed Gardner in the ribs with her elbow. She succeeded in distracting him long enough for Zeke to grab a handful of dirt and toss it into Gardner’s face. Coughing and clutching at his eyes with one hand, he fired wildly with the other, but Zeke was able to knock the gun out of his hand. A second fist sent Gardner to the ground. A third and fourth guaranteed he would stay there. Several more would probably have followed if Josie hadn’t pulled Zeke back.
“You’ll get in trouble if you hurt him real bad,” Josie said.
“I ought to kill him.”
“I agree, but there’s no point in your getting hanged.”
Zeke got to his feet, brushed the dirt off his pants. “Do you have some rope I can use to tie him up?”
“You can’t do that to me,” Gardner protested, still attempting to get the dirt out of his eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What do you call trying to carry off a woman against her will?”
“I was just trying to protect her, and she misunderstood.”
“I’ve never misunderstood a man like you.” Josie handed Zeke a rope she’d gotten out of the wagon.
“A man in my position doesn’t have to carry off women,” Gardner shouted when Zeke jerked him to his feet and yanked his arms behind his back. “I can have almost any woman I want.”
“Josie doesn’t qualify as almost any woman,” Zeke growled as he bound the rope around Gardner’s wrists.
“You’ll regret this,” Gardner said. “I’ll put a reward on your head.”
Zeke sat Gardner down on the ground and began to tie his feet. “Make it a big one. I don’t want to mess around with boys looking for just enough money for a night on the town.” Zeke dragged him over to the wagon and began tying him to the wheel.
“I’ve got a dozen men on my ranch that can take you any time I want.”
“Tell them to look for me in Tombstone after Hawk and I drop off these ladies. Now I’m going to see if Hawk needs any help with your horse thieves.”
“I’ve got nothing to do with any horse thieves,” Gardner protested.
“Don’t let him out of your sight,” Zeke said, turning to Josie. “If he tries to get away, put a bullet in him somewhere.”
“Will you be gone long?” Josie asked.
Zeke had gone through at least a dozen emotions during the last several minutes, all of them negative in nature, but he thought he just might have to thank Gardner before they hanged him. For the first time since they’d met, Josie didn’t look or sound like she was angry at him. She actually sounded as though she would be anxious for him to come back as soon as possible.
Fortunately, a lifetime of caution came to his aid before he did or said anything stupid. “It shouldn’t take long. Hawk had them at gunpoint before I left.”
“So Suzette is okay?” Josie looked relieved.
“More than okay. She looked delighted to be holding a rifle on Gardner’s thugs.”
“They’re not my thugs!” Gardner practically shouted.
“They’re certainly not very good,” Zeke said. “If you were going to be alive long enough, I’d suggest you fire them.”
As Zeke hurried back through the brush, he couldn’t decide which part of the situation they were in bothered him most. They were behind schedule returning to their ranch. If they delayed much longer, they faced the possibility that at least one of the mares would drop her foal. That would slow them down even more. He hoped the mares hadn’t run far. Horses wandering unattended, even for a short time, were an open invitation to trouble. It would be better for Hawk to find them and bring them back tonight.
He was also concerned about the difficulty of getting the thieves to Redington. It wasn’t going to be easy to escort five men, even if one of them was dead, while they also had to keep a lookout for the mares and protect the women. He and Hawk were good, but that was stretching things. His biggest worry was that some more of Gardner’s men might come looking for their boss. It seemed unlikely that five men on a ranch would know about a plan to steal valuable mares without someone else knowing about it, too. When the boss didn’t return as expected, the natural thing for his hands would be to go looking for him. Nearly as unsettling was the poss
ibility that tonight’s gunfire would attract the attention of other men just as willing to try to steal the mares.
Then there were the women. But he didn’t want to think about that. At the moment, it was simply more than he could handle.
About the last thing he expected to see when he emerged from the brush was Suzette standing watch over three men bound hand and foot and tied together. “Where’s Hawk?” he asked, looking around for his partner.
Suzette didn’t take her eyes off the men. “Gone to find their horses.”
“He shouldn’t have left you alone with these men.” Zeke didn’t bother to check the ropes. No man had ever escaped after Hawk had tied him up.
“They’re tied up, and I have a rifle.”
“Do you know how to use it?”
“Of course.”
“Would you?”
Suzette gave the blond man a particularly angry look. “I wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind being by yourself?” he asked Suzette.
She nodded her head.
“Then I’ll go after the mares.”
“Okay, it’s settled,” Hawk said to Zeke. “Josie and I will take the men on to Redington, and you and Suzette will follow with the wagon and horses.”
Suzette was not happy about the arrangements. Not that she minded being with Zeke or that Josie would be with Hawk. She minded because Josie’s experience growing up on a farm and knowing how to ride and handle a rifle made her more suited to help Hawk get the prisoners to Redington. She acknowledged the value of Josie’s experience, yet still felt it somehow devalued her. Her reaction wasn’t logical, but that didn’t change how she felt.
“Are you sure you’re comfortable riding ahead of me by yourself?” Zeke asked Suzette when he’d finished harnessing the mules to the wagon.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” She didn’t mean to sound argumentative, but being judged insufficiently experienced to help Hawk had hurt.
The Mavericks Page 15