They were on their own. Hiking up her skirts, she ran for the house, shouting for Tony to run as she did.
He stood frozen in the middle of the yard, staring at the approaching men. She couldn’t leave him there. Changing direction, she hiked her skirts up higher and ran faster. She had to get to Tony first. She could hear Melinda Sue yelling at Tony. She could see her tugging at his arm. She could see the riders coming hard, but she couldn’t move fast enough. Everything she did was so slow. So very, very slow.
She screamed Jackson’s name again like a talisman. Desperately hoping that maybe, maybe he was close enough to hear. That he’d come back and make this a bad dream. Picturing his face, she held it close in her mind, keeping her screams inside now because she didn’t have the breath to spare. She had to get to Tony.
By the grace of God, she reached Tony first. Grabbing him by the arm, she whirled him around.
“Listen to me, Tony. You’ve got to snap out of it. You’ve got to get Melinda Sue to the house.” He just stood there. She slapped him across the face. He blinked.
Please. Let him be here with me now. “Get in the house, Tony. Lock the doors, just like we practiced.”
Her handprint stood out in stark relief on his cheek. “Mimi—”
“Just run!”
With a nod, he grabbed Melinda Sue and, half dragging, half carrying her, ran for the house. Mimi spun back around. The riders were almost upon them. She saw pounding hooves, bearded faces with beady eyes, and guns. Oh, my God, so many guns.
The riders spread out around her. She ran in front of them, waving her arms, trying to scare the horses in order to buy the children time. The horses were too well trained to spook. The men too in control. All she could do was stand there waving her arms in a futile distraction and pray the children made it to the house.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. She whirled around so fast her skirts twisted around her legs, tripping her. She bumped into a horse. The impact knocked her forward. When she caught her balance, she saw Kevin standing on the porch, one of Jackson’s revolvers in his hand. Tony and Melinda Sue were almost to the house.
“Kevin, no!”
Either he couldn’t hear her or he was too angry to care. The riders pulled up the horses. The one in front drew his gun and took aim. She followed the trajectory. Dear God, he was going to shoot Kevin. What kind of man shot a child? She spun in a circle, looking for anything. Spotting a rock, she grabbed it and threw it as hard as she could. It hit the gunman on the side of the head. The shot went wild.
Cupping her hands around her mouth, she screamed, “Get in the house, Kevin. Get in the house!”
Tony made it to the steps. Tossing Melinda Sue to Kevin, he grabbed the gun out of his hand and shoved him to the door. Then he started running back. To her.
“No, no, no, no, no.”
From behind her came a bit of advice. “If you don’t want him dead, then I suggest you tell him to put the gun down.” She didn’t turn around to look at the man speaking. She didn’t dare break eye contact with Tony.
“Tony, put down the gun.” She didn’t think he’d do it. He had that same wild look in his eyes she’d seen before at Mac’s. It was bloodlust.
“Put it down, Tony. They’ll kill us if you don’t.”
He didn’t lower the barrel. “They’ll kill us if we do.”
She held out her arms wide as if through sheer force of will she could keep the gunmen behind her and Tony safe. “No, they won’t. At least not until they get what they came for.”
“Smart girl.”
And that fast, she remembered him. He was one of Mac’s flunkies. A nobody in his operation. She briefly turned to the leader. “Shut up, Rob.”
The barrel wavered. Tony was considering it, at least. “Please, Tony.”
The metallic cock of a hammer echoed in her ear, and the cold press of iron bruised the back of her head. She stood very, very still.
“Do it, son, or I’ll blow her brains out right here.”
“Please, Tony.” They couldn’t die like this. “Please.”
Tony placed the gun on the ground. He looked so much like Mac right then with that hate in his eyes. If she’d ever doubted the rumors of Tony being Mac’s son, she didn’t anymore. She kept her tone even, but she couldn’t do anything about how her voice shook. “Go in the house now, Tony.”
“Stay right where you are.”
Tony looked to her for direction. With a motion of her hand she indicated for him to stay. One of the riders took a position beside Tony. The other one rode around the back of the house.
She turned to the two flanking her and pointed toward the man. She didn’t recognize any of them. “Where is he going?”
“Just making sure there’s no surprises.”
“There’s nobody here except us.” She thought he smiled. It was hard to tell behind the grimy beard. “I don’t have any reason to lie,” she told him.
He rested his arm across the saddle horn. Even to her untrained eye, she could tell he took much better care of his guns than he did of his appearance. His sleeve was stained and filthy.
“You don’t exactly have a reason to tell the truth.”
“What do you want?”
He looked her over from head to toe. “I think we both know what I want.”
It spoke to the depth of her terror that she hoped he was just here for rape. That hope was short lived.
“You’ve led me a merry chase. Quite frankly, it’s an embarrassment that you managed to get this far.”
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed about things you can’t help. You’re either born smart or you’re not.”
The kick came so fast she didn’t see it, let alone have a chance to avoid it. There was a sense of impact, pain, and then a network of stars exploded behind her right eye. Clutching her cheek, she stumbled backward, but she didn’t fall. She would be damned before she’d fall.
“Mimi!” Tony stepped forward.
Eyes watering, she waved him back. “I’m all right. Just stay there.”
He teetered on indecision.
Rob tapped the barrel of his revolver on the iron of the saddle horn. Once, twice. Three times. “You won’t be all right for long if you don’t give Mac what belongs to him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You might lie to Mac and get away with it, but I know better.”
He kept tapping that barrel. Over and over. The metallic click resonated in her head like a countdown.
The throbbing in Mimi’s cheek was nothing compared to the anger in her heart. She’d been taking crap from men like this for her whole life.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you’re going to be dead if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”
She wanted to spit in his face. She wanted to take that gun he kept dangling as a threat and blow his brains out. “By your logic, the longer I hold out, the longer I’m likely to live.”
The other man leaned forward in his saddle and spit. “For my part, I’m hoping she holds out a long time.”
He made her skin crawl with his beady eyes and snaggletoothed leer.
“Go to hell.”
“I guess she told you.” The leader smiled. His whole face disappeared inside the filth of his beard when he did. She suppressed her shudder through their laughter. Every time their horses shifted, she shifted, too, trying to keep herself between them and Tony, but there were three of them and only one of her, and eventually she and Tony were surrounded.
Had Jackson heard the shots? Was he on his way?
“Mimi?” Tony asked.
“Just stand behind me, Tony. We’ll figure this out.”
A series of crashes came from the house, followed by a high-pitched scream. “Mellie!” She spun around. “Tell th
em to leave her alone.”
“I doubt they’d hear me from here.”
Balling her hands into fists, she swallowed back panic. “Please.”
Rob shrugged and kept tapping that gun. “You can end all this. Just tell me where the box is.”
Giving him the box wouldn’t gain her anything. What she’d said to him held. Her best chance of survival lay in dragging this out. Or bluffing. There was always bluffing.
More crashes came from the house.
What were they doing in there? “I don’t have the box here.”
“Where is it?”
She licked her lips. “I won’t tell you until I see Melinda Sue and Kevin and make sure they’re all right.”
“It’s your own hide you ought to be looking out for.”
She shrugged. “If anything happens to the children, I’m not going to want to live.”
He didn’t respond immediately. Just kept tapping that muzzle. His horse stomped his foot. A fly buzzed by. Time crawled.
“They all say that.”
“They aren’t all me.”
“You’ll reconsider, just like them,” Snaggletooth sneered.
Ignoring him, she kept her gaze locked with Rob’s. She’d learned from Mac that the secret to a good bluff was the resolution with which you backed it.
Rob huffed and backed his horse up a couple steps. “Fine.” Putting his hand to his mouth, he hollered, “Donald, bring those kids out here.”
It seemed an eternity before a man came around the side of the house riding his horse, Melinda Sue propped up in front of him. She was squirming and kicking, but her little muscles were no match.
Kevin walked beside the horse, clothes torn, hair falling in his eyes, but his head was still high and his glare was still strong. They hadn’t defeated him. It was up to her to keep it that way.
“See. They’re fine. Breathing and everything.”
Jackson, where are you?
* * *
• • •
The echo of a gunshot bounced across the hills. The buck Jackson had a bead on sprung to the left and vanished into the bush. Another gunshot followed that one. It was hard to tell the direction the shooting was coming from, but a hunter didn’t space shots that way, and those reports were from different guns. There was nothing between here and town except Bentley’s place.
Shit.
Spinning around, Jackson retraced his steps, sprinting back toward Lady. Branches slapped at his face and brambles tore at his clothes. He leapt over logs and splashed through streams, one thought driving him on.
Mimi.
Little Lady was standing right where he left her, munching on grass. When he broke into the clearing, her head snapped up.
“Hup-hup.”
She tossed her head and trotted toward him.
Grabbing the rein and the horn with practiced smoothness, he leapt into the saddle, keeping his rifle clear. The little mare was in motion before he even had a chance to squeeze with his knees. And she was heading home.
“Good girl.”
Lying low over her neck, he urged her on, cursing when the terrain forced her to slow, pulling back on the reins when they got close to the edge of the woods. He leapt off, dropping the left rein, knowing Lady would wait because he’d trained her that way. He reached into the saddlebag and pulled out his spyglass. The ten feet to the edge of the woods felt like ten miles.
Resting his rifle against a tree trunk, Jackson quietly pulled open the spyglass. Keeping the lens shaded in the foliage to prevent reflection, he surveyed the house. The indistinguishable figures in the distance took on sickening clarity. Four well-armed men dressed in dark clothing on horseback surrounded Mimi, Kevin, and Tony in the yard. From the glint of sunlight on steel, he knew weapons were drawn. A heavyset rider was holding Melinda Sue up in front of him. She was kicking and swinging for all she was worth.
Just riding in wasn’t an option.
Stay calm, Mimi.
So much for the connection between them. Mimi was suddenly swinging at the man holding Melinda Sue. He heard the child scream. He saw Mimi go down in a tumble of skirts. The whites of her petticoat flashed beneath the horse’s legs. She might’ve tripped. She might’ve been kicked.
It didn’t really matter. These men were going to pay.
Men’s shouts piggybacked on Melinda Sue’s screams. Chaos ensued. For an instant the horses stepped aside. Kevin was on the ground. Tony was struggling against the hold Mimi had on his arms. He followed the trajectory of the boy’s gaze. A gun lay on the ground a little left and in front of him.
“Don’t do it.” But his whisper didn’t carry. With a wrench, Tony broke free. Dropping the spyglass, Jackson grabbed up his rifle, rested it on a branch, and took aim. On a prayer that turned into a curse he pulled the trigger. One of the men went down. More shouts as the men spun their horses around, looking for the source. Shifting his aim to the skinny man with the brown bowler hat, Jackson pulled the trigger. At the last second, his target moved. The man jerked but didn’t fall. The son of a bitch who held Melinda Sue jerked his horse around in Jackson’s direction, holding Melinda Sue up like a shield before him.
Jackson spat. “Bastard.”
And then things got ugly. Tony had the gun and he was pointing at the bandit in the brown hat.
“Damn it, son,” he whispered.
Any doubt that Tony would pull the trigger ended in the next second. Bowler Man jerked and fell off his horse. The report came a split second later. There was no chance to pick off another target. Not without risking hitting Melinda Sue. Instead, Jackson laid down a rapid-fire offense, relying on intimidation rather than accuracy to scatter the bandits.
Whoever the bandits were, they had experience. They didn’t panic. Instead, they laid down a hail of bullets of their own. Diving behind a log, Jackson covered his head. A couple of bullets came close, one chipping the bark off the log. As soon as the bullets stopped, he jumped up. Just in time to see them gallop away, Melinda Sue dangling from the side like a tiny human shield. Mimi and Kevin ran screaming after them. Tony just stood there with the revolver in his hand, as helpless as Jackson. Grabbing his rifle and his spyglass, Jackson sprang into the saddle and followed.
The only use the gang would have for Melinda Sue was as a shield. Most likely as soon as they got to what they thought was a safe distance, they’d drop her, knowing whatever posse was following would be forced to pick her up, giving them the time they needed to get away. It was a good plan, but it wouldn’t save them.
Nobody touched his family and lived.
* * *
• • •
It was dark by the time Jackson got back to the house. Light leaked from the cracks in the building, bleeding out into the barren yard. From the looks of things, every lamp in the house was lit. Bracing his palms on the saddle horn, he stretched his tired muscles. Little Lady plodded toward the house. It was a measure of the grueling pace they’d set that she wasn’t dancing at the thought of oats and a comfortable stall. And it’d all been for nothing. The riders weren’t amateurs. They knew how to throw a trail. And they hadn’t discarded Melinda Sue. There were only a couple reasons why they wouldn’t have dumped her by the side of the trail. Only one made sense. Melinda Sue was a bargaining chip.
“Shit.” Lady flicked her ears. Swatting a mosquito on his neck, Jackson said it again. And again, because, damn it, that little girl was out there at the mercy of scum, probably scared, probably hungry—he swatted another bug—probably being eaten alive, and he couldn’t do a thing about it tonight. Because he hadn’t known what he should have. Because he’d been distracted by big blue eyes, a penchant for sass, and a passionate nature. Because he hadn’t taken seriously the threat Mac posed.
The heavy bar scraped against the door as it was lifted. With a roll of his eyes, he pulled Lady up at the
hitching rail. Now Mimi took precautions. Too little too late. With a heavy sigh, he dismounted. The door swung open and light spilled into the yard. Mimi, Kevin, and Tony spilled out right along with it, rushing onto the porch, coming to a halt at the top of the stairs, where they huddled. No one put into words the question he could see in their faces.
Hooking the stirrup over the horn, he loosened the cinch. Lady groaned in relief. “What’d you do with the bodies?” he asked wearily.
“Pried the cover off the well and threw them in,” Kevin answered grimly.
That was fitting. Snakes should dwell with snakes. “We’ll have to blow it or they’ll take to stinking.”
Mimi held a lantern high. The light cast her face in ghastly shadows. Her right cheek was swollen and black and blue, distorting her expression. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
If the post hadn’t been there to catch her, she would’ve fallen. Leaning heavily, she asked, “How could you not know?”
The question trembled under the weight of her fear. He ripped the cinch strap out of the ring on Lady’s saddle. The leather hissed and slapped as it came free. “We’re going to have to talk about that.”
Tony came down the stairs. “I can take care of Lady.”
After a second, Jackson placed the reins in the boy’s hand. “I’m obliged.” Before Tony could lead Lady away, Jackson put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. “That was good shooting this afternoon, son.”
Tony didn’t look at him. “I didn’t save Melinda Sue.”
“No, you didn’t, but neither did I.”
That brought his head up. There were dark circles under his eyes. The rims were swollen. He’d been crying. “You’ll learn, son, that not all battles are won in a minute. What’s important is nobody died here today, and we’ve got tomorrow to settle up.”
“But Melinda—”
Promises Decide Page 19