Long Time Gone

by Mary Connealy

  “But I thought Chastain was afraid of losing his half of the land grant, too. He was trying to save it by picking Chance Boden. If Veronica had married Ramone, they might have lost the land. How was it Chastain’s fault that the grant was stripped from the old Don? It sounds like they were friends.”

  “They were not friends! They were partners—something much more important. Chastain stood like a coward, jumping to the tune of the governor to keep his land, and he said nothing to stop my grandfather losing his.”

  “But he couldn’t have stopped the governor, could he?”

  “He could have thrown his half of the land grant in the governor’s face. He could have been loyal. Chastain was a mere cowhand who rode with the Don at the time. My grandpapa knew many influential people and would have been given a land grant eventually. But then Chance rescued someone and drew the governor’s attention. With that act and my grandfather’s connections, they were given this land. And later, when the grant was revoked, the governor who’d arranged it was gone.”

  “Wait a minute,” Angie said. “Are you telling me Chastain, Justin’s grandfather, performed a heroic deed, and because the Don happened to be riding along with him, he was given land, too?”

  “My grandfather had influence. Chastain would never have been considered—”

  “So Bautista took a land grant that wasn’t due him . . .”

  “He would have been royalty in Spain. It was more than his due. It was his right.”

  “. . . and resented that a common man like Chastain had the courage and strength to risk his own life to save another.” Angie couldn’t believe her nerve. She braced herself for Alonzo to strike her. “While your grandfather no doubt stayed safely away from whatever danger Chastain faced. And then managed to manipulate the governor into including him in Chastain’s reward through pressure from cronies.”

  “You know nothing of what you speak.”

  “I know a coward when I hear of one. Bautista was nothing but an arrogant coward. And Ramone, your own father, let Chastain die while his killer, Dantalion, ran free. Another coward.”

  “My father’s face was cut open. He was half blind and unarmed. He knew he’d die if he stayed.”

  “A brave man could have found a way. Who knows how many others Dantalion has killed through the years while your father lived safely in Mexico City.” Angie thought of the wanted poster. Dantalion, under another name, wanted for murder. “Now you’re fighting for the rights of your family, rights earned by the Don grabbing the coattails of an honorable man like Chastain. You claim those rights by shooting at people from cover like the worst kind of coward. You’re trying to kill men who have supported you and respected you, all while they nurtured a viper in their bosom. And the lowest yet, harming women to gain your own ends, like the greatest of yellowbelly weaklings.”

  Alonzo slapped her hard. “No one disrespects the family of de Val.”

  Pain exploded behind her eyes, but she had to go on. The truth was too disgusting to keep inside. “You disrespect your own family with every breath you take.” Her voice rose with each word. “You’re the third generation of contemptible cowards. It flows in your blood like a sickness.”

  He struck her again, this time with the back of his hand.

  Because she knew he would only hit harder, and maybe do worse than strike her, she said more quietly, “No matter how many times you hit me, it won’t change the truth. In fact, slapping a defenseless woman only proves I am right.”

  His gun appeared between them. He had it pointed at the sky, but his eyes burned with rage. His breathing came fast and loud, the only sound she could hear. She braced herself for a bullet.

  Maria’s death came to mind, and Angie realized there had been one de Val with true courage. “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Angie prayed for that kind of courage.

  She sensed God whispering into her heart. Yes, Maria’s act was true love and true courage. But she had done it to protect a decent man, not because she was taunting a dangerous criminal. In her soul Angie knew—now was not the time to die. Not when it would save no one.

  She must wait. She must survive. There might come a time when her sacrificial love would be called for, but not now. So Angie bit back the words she wanted to speak, words that might unleash Alonzo’s killing fury. Yet from his rising rage, she knew it was already too late.

  “Put the gun away.” Watts came up beside Alonzo and ripped the pistol out of his hands.

  Alonzo turned on Watts like a hungry wolf, but Watts reacted to that anger without one flicker of fear.

  Angie saw then she was right. Alonzo was indeed a coward. And while he might hurt a woman, even kill her, he’d never go up against a dangerous man like Arizona Watts.

  “Don’t waste your lead until it’ll do some good.” Watts gave Alonzo his gun back by shoving it into his belly so hard that Alonzo gasped and bent in half.

  Then Watts turned to Angie and grabbed her face with one of his rough, callused hands. He squeezed until she had to fight not to whimper in pain. “Goad the Mexican all you want, girl. He’s a coward just like you said. I shot his aunt and he never spoke a word of complaint. She was betraying us, and I stopped her. Meant to get Boden too, but there wasn’t time. Alonzo’s a coward, but a useful one, so I’ll take his side over yours.”

  Watts terrified her, and he did so without shouting, without hitting, and without drawing his gun.

  “But you oughta be real careful what you say to me, pretty lady. I can see a way we could kill you right now, and so long as the Bodens don’t know you’re dead, we can still beat ’em. Keep that in mind when you’re workin’ your mouth. Arizona Watts ain’t a man you can prod.”

  He released her with a forcible twist of her head that pained her neck something awful. Without looking at Alonzo, who still had his gun in hand, who’d heard the insulting things Watts had to say about him, Watts went back to building up the fire.

  When she’d escaped Watts and was recaptured by Alonzo, Angie had thought Alonzo was the leader and the brains behind all the trouble. Now she knew different. Alonzo was no doubt more intelligent than Watts, but out here in the West, toughness won out over a sharp brain and a weak spine every time.

  Windy emerged from the woods with three dead jackrabbits, skinned and gutted, hanging from his hand by their back legs. He looked at Angie, skidded to a stop, and scowled. “That ain’t Sadie. ’Lonzo, what are you doin’ with her?”

  “We know who she is.” Alonzo pushed Angie back against the little oak, and she cracked her head against its trunk. “No matter. She’ll do just fine to bait our trap. Now roast those rabbits so we can eat.”

  Using force with her and a harsh voice with Windy were Alonzo’s way of soothing his pride. Angie wondered if a coward’s wounded feelings made him even more dangerous.

  Alonzo pulled her hands behind her back so they were around the slender tree. She slouched, hoping her position, when she straightened, would leave her hands some slack. He didn’t seem to notice and made quick work of binding her. Once his foul hands were no longer touching her, she gingerly rested her hurting head against the tree.

  Carefully she wiggled her hands behind the tree, testing the ropes, while keeping her head bowed so she looked defeated. Afterward she had hope that she could get free. Only not now. Not with three dangerous men within a few steps of her.

  With few other choices, she decided to rest for a while. And while it twisted her stomach to think of food right now, if they offered her part of that roasted rabbit, she’d gladly eat it.

  Because she was going to need every ounce of her strength.

  29

  It took every ounce of Justin’s strength not to start raving like a lunatic.

  The pace Heath had set was brutally slow. For a time they were in heavy woods, where no horse could move faster than a walk.

  “Angie escaped right here.” Heath made a sharp turn back and walked alongside the
line of horses behind him. He went to the edge of the dense forest. In the distance he saw Skull Mesa, which lay directly across the open grazing land. He crouched and studied the ground. “Yep, these are Alonzo’s tracks. He stopped Angie.” Heath looked up at Justin, his eyes blazing with rage. “She ran to him. I can tell. He’s on foot here so I know it’s him. He’s wearing those big Mexican rowel spurs he favors. I’ve seen his prints plenty of times. It’s him all right. The man who took Angie was on Alonzo’s horse . . . well, it could’ve been stolen. But there’s no way to explain this except for what looks to be the clear truth—Alonzo recaptured her and handed her over to Watts.”

  Sickened by the thought, Justin imagined her relief, her hope when she saw Alonzo. Then her horror as she discovered who among the men could not be trusted. A man Justin had allowed to stay on his ranch.

  Justin swore then and there that Alonzo would regret his betrayal for the rest of his life.

  Heath studied the tracks further. “And one of them, Alonzo or Watts, knocked her cold here.” Justin, a decent tracker in his own right, saw exactly what Heath did.

  “Looks like she went down and lay still for a bit, then was dragged away.” Heath paused. “Here all sign of Angie vanishes. Alonzo must’ve carried her because his fancy boots with the big rowels start diggin’ deeper with the added weight.”

  “Anything else?” Justin asked.

  Heath nodded. “There’s no sense in all of us wading through those trees. Ride in the open, parallel to me. Watch for more prints. I think as soon as they’re out of sight of the ranch, they’ll head out here on the grass. There’s no trail in these woods so they’re blazing their own. Once they come out, we can make much faster time.”

  Justin led the way. If they could find where Alonzo and Watts brought Angie out into the open, Heath could leave off his slow pace in the forest and they could all carry on their search together.

  Minutes later, Justin called out, “Heath, I found it! They came out right here.” He then paused, waiting while Heath was hurrying over to meet up with him, Cole, and Sadie. Hope that they would find Angie, that she would be safe, that she would marry him, began to fill every part of his body.

  Turning to Sadie, Justin said quietly, “We have to find her, Sadie. I asked Angie to marry me yesterday. She said no, but agreed to us courting.”

  Sadie’s eyes went wide.

  Cole couldn’t quite manage a smile, considering the situation, but his face brightened and he nodded. “I reckoned you’d think of it at some point. But you’re a slow one, so I was settled in to wait.”

  “I’d hoped to talk more about it with her today, but instead I spent most of the day in town, and then Alonzo stole her away before I got back.”

  Sadie wasn’t saying much. Justin wondered about that. How could Cole have seen how he felt and not Sadie? He thought women were the sensitive ones.

  “I never saw you spend much time with her,” Sadie said finally.

  “Just last night I did.”

  “When?” Sadie glanced back to see Heath emerging from the woods about a hundred feet behind them, leading his horse. He mounted up and came fast.

  “Late last night.”

  “You mean after we all went to bed, you got back up and—”

  “I heard ’em in Pa’s office. They were . . .” Cole coughed. “Uh, they talked some and . . . they were quiet some.”

  Heath approached the group. “You talking about Justin and Angie sittin’ by the fire half the night?”

  Sadie’s head snapped around and she glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It’s been a busy day, honey. I was gonna, truly.”

  Justin shook his head. “C’mon. Let’s get after Angie.” He turned his horse to follow the tracks. He wondered just exactly what Cole and Heath had heard, but he wasn’t going to ask and didn’t want to be told.

  Heath trotted around him and took the lead. They set a fast pace, yet it wasn’t fast enough to prevent Justin from doing the hardest praying of his life.

  He thought of Maria and how she’d died and prayed no one else would have to offer their life to save the Bodens. Heath pushed faster as if he got jabbed in the backside by God himself and was told to hurry.

  Which only made Justin pray harder.

  Angie prayed harder than she ever had in her life.

  They gave her a few bites of rabbit and untied her hands to let her slip into the trees for some privacy. But Alonzo stayed just a few paces away so she wouldn’t try to run. She did rub her hands together, trying to push back the cold. Though the ropes hadn’t been dangerously tight, and it wasn’t a bitter-cold day, it was growing chillier by the moment as night fell. She was afraid that even if she got lucky and Alonzo tied knots she could loosen, her hands would be useless from the cold.

  She hurried back, hoping this time her hands would be bound with less care. Whether it was the best Alonzo could do, or he was just sloppy, she again had a bit of movement available.

  As she sat, waiting for her chance to escape, she heard Watts say, “Did Dantalion run off, then?”

  Windy leaned back against a rock and lowered his hat until it nearly covered his face. “If’n he did, then we ain’t gettin’ paid. That makes it time to move on. We ain’t gonna be able to kill all those Bodens anyway. You really think we can kill off a whole family—a well-known, well-liked family like the Bodens—and nobody’ll ask questions?”

  Alonzo poked at the fire, burned down to embers, with a sharp stick. “It wasn’t ever gonna be that we kill all of them. Dantalion figured we’d kill the old man and maybe the one son who’s ranchin’ and, with a little pressure in the right places, the Bodens would just give up and move on. Cole and Sadie were already halfway gone off the land.”

  “Not off the mines, though. Cole is the one in charge of those mines, and I doubt he’ll give them up easily.”

  “No one said we’re after the mines.” Alonzo stopped his poking and looked hard at Watts. “Cole has to go too, then.”

  “I reckon,” Watts answered. “But that’s all. And Chance’s death was supposed to look like an accident. Then we hoped to kill the sons and blame it on your pa, Alonzo. That would have been the end of it. To get those sons, we planned to use the daughter, and possibly the wife, to lure out the Bodens and kill them. Whether Sadie or Veronica died during that didn’t matter, but Dantalion didn’t think their deaths were necessary. But we didn’t plan on the daughter getting married to a tough man, or on Justin finding himself a sweetheart. We never planned on so much killing.”

  Angie shuddered to hear of her and Justin being discussed by such vile outlaws. The casual way they talked of killing. She took a deep breath. She’d thought all this time she needed to find her own strength, to stand on her own before involving herself with a man again. But she knew now, after listening to these men and seeing the evil in some taking advantage of the weakness in Alonzo, that true strength wasn’t such a mystery after all. In fact, she decided to claim that strength for herself. And to stay strong, well, that was something she could do, married or not.

  More determined than ever to escape their clutches, she worked at loosening the rope binding her hands. The knots were tight, but she had movement enough that she could pick at them. As she battled her bonds, she waited for her captors to fall asleep.

  “We’re losing the light. I can’t see enough to track anymore.” Heath looked up. He’d reached the end of the grassy trail leading through the woods.

  Justin hadn’t recognized any sign of the riders heading this way. He considered himself well able to read signs, but only Heath’s rare skill had kept them moving on this nearly invisible trail left in the thick grass.

  Heath had found signs, though. And there was no way off the trail short of plunging deeper into the woodlands. So they’d gone on.

  It was dusk now. As darkness battled the light for supremacy, Justin saw that soon it would be impossible to keep going. They might ride off in the wrong directio
n, a mistake that could mean Angie’s death.

  But to stop, to leave her overnight in their clutches . . . Justin wanted to tear down the whole mountain range with his bare hands and rescue her.

  “What’s that?” Sadie pointed to a slick stretch of rock that looked too steep to climb.

  Swinging down off her horse, she rushed to the small bit of color she’d pointed at. Her head came up and she spun around, her eyes wide with excitement. “This is a bead off the necklace Rosita gave Angie for Christmas.”

  Heath dismounted. “Are you sure?”

  Sadie pulled something into view that was hidden inside her shirt collar. “I’m sure. It’s exactly like mine. Rosita gave me one, too.”

  She handed the bead she’d found to Heath, then looked around and picked up a few more lying on the ground. “She must’ve broken the necklace so she could drop these beads and leave a trail.”

  “Let’s go this way until full dark at least.” Justin snatched the beads from Sadie and the single one from Heath. “It’ll get us closer, and if she dropped more beads, maybe she did it only at a turnoff. That way we can stop and pay special attention when we reach one.”

  Heath jerked his chin in agreement.

  They headed on up, and when the moon came out full and bright, Justin’s spirits soared and he felt the righteous hand of God himself lifting them, showing them the way forward.

  30

  They posted a sentry.