Sharon Poppen

by Hannah

  As she eased up alongside a shocked Liam, Conlon and his men raped her torso with their eyes. But as she’d hoped, the scars of the still red and raised variety of bite marks, dozens of burn marks and the patchwork of tiny knife slashes shocked many of them. Embarrassed or filled with pity, or both, many of them eased back and turned away.

  “Fuck! She’s …, she’s … Christ. How did she survive all that?” One of the cowboys verbalized what many were thinking.

  Hannah held her head high. She smiled. “I survived. And, I will again.” She reached up and touched Drake’s cheek. “Take me. Now.”

  He smiled and pointed his gun at Liam’s head. “As soon as I take care of this.” He cocked his gun.

  Hannah took a step closer to Drake and put her hand over the gun he held to Liam’s head. In doing so, she pressured her leg against Liam’s calf. She could only hope Liam felt the gun tucked in her boot.

  With her lips against Drake’s throat, she murmured, “Drake, fire that gun and we’ll have his blood and brains splashed across our faces. And, I want to taste you,” she touched his crotch, “not him.”

  Drake laughed and turned to Conlon. “What did I tell you about the bitch? She was just waiting for me to bring out the whore in her.”

  Conlon and his men were backing away. One was already mounted up, while the others were definitely heading toward their horses. “What the hell’s going on?” Drake demanded.

  The distraction allowed Hannah to shove Drake’s hand away from Liam. The gun went off and Conlon went down.

  Liam fell to a crouch and grabbed the gun from Hannah’s boot. He gave a mighty shove into Drake who fell backwards with Liam sprawled atop him. The impact of Drake’s butt hitting the ground jolted the gun from his hand. It landed a few feet away.

  Hannah pulled her gun from the other boot and aimed it at Drake’s head as Liam rolled to his side and jumped up. Drake started to do the same, but Hannah fired into his thigh. “You aren’t going anywhere today, except maybe to hell,” she screamed. She fired again into the same thigh. “For Caleb!” She fired again. “For Caroline!” She fired again. “For the Mexican woman.”

  Everything was happening so fast that by the time Liam was at her side yelling, “Hannah, Hannah,” Drake’s screams drowned out his words. Liam tucked his own gun at his waist and gripped her arm. “Stop. Hannah, stop.”

  Conlon’s men had mounted and were already spurring their horses across the desert, away from Conlon’s ranch and away from Blanco. The sheriff and Cooper were checking on Conlon while Daniel rushed up to help Liam calm Hannah.

  Liam’s grip got Hannah’s attention and pulled her from her trance of hateful vengeance. She dropped the gun and would have crumpled to the ground if not for Liam’s quick action in pulling her into his arms. She sobbed uncontrollably against Liam’s chest as he eased her dress top back up into place.

  Despite his pain-laced groans, Drake inched himself toward his gun. Daniel noticed and picked it up. He turned at the sheriff’s report.

  “Conlon’s dead.” He and Cooper came to stand with Daniel above the writhing and moaning Drake who’d curled into a tight fetal position.

  “Sheriff,” Liam spoke over Hannah’s sobs. “Tie him up.”

  “He’s not going any –

  “Tie him up,” Liam demanded. “That bastard is like a cat with nine lives and I don’t want to chance it that this isn’t number nine. Tie him up.”

  “He’s right, sheriff,” agreed Daniel who was already heading for the horses. When he returned with the rope, they stretched Drake out flat on his stomach. His blood soaked thigh would keep him from walking so they’d only roped his hands behind his back. His screams and moans had ceased, but his eyes raged with pain and hate.

  Hannah’s sobs had abated. She kissed Liam’s damp shirt. “Thank you. Thank you for keeping me from …”

  Liam hugged her closer.

  “I’m alright now.”

  His expression reflected doubt.

  “Really.” She managed a slight smile. “I’m alright.”

  He kissed her forehead and loosened his grip.

  She stared at Drake. His left thigh was covered in blood. Her eyes took in the deep rise and fall of his chest as he struggled for breath. But it was when she looked into his eyes that she shivered and moved back against Liam’s comforting presence.

  “What, Hannah? He’s tied up. He’s probably bleeding to death. Nothing to be afraid of now.” Liam draped his arm protectively about her shoulders.

  She shook her head no. “Look at his eyes. He’s making plans.”

  The men did as she asked. Drake managed to curl his lip into a weak corner smile. “She’s right,” he rasped.

  “Damn you.” Liam took a couple of steps toward him, but Daniel walked between them.

  “Let it go, Liam. He’s done.” Daniel put his hand on Liam’s arm. “He should be praying, not planning. He’s done for.”

  “He’s right.” The sheriff motioned for Cooper to come alongside him. “Let’s toss him over a saddle and drag his sorry butt back to my jail.”

  While Drake was loaded onto a horse, Hannah helped Liam mount up and climbed up behind him to ride double. She circled him with her arms and allowed herself to relax into his back.

  The makeshift posse mounted up and went to gather Cooper’s boys before heading back to town.

  Chapter 38

  Drake’s Last Stand

  Despite Drake’s occasional agonized moans, they made good time and the sheriff had hopes of getting back to town before it got pitch dark.

  A particularly loud cry of pain preceded a plea from Drake. “I’m dying. Need water. Water …” He groaned.

  The sheriff reined in and slowed to a crawl, and then stopped completely.

  As he dismounted, Liam yelled, “What the hell are you doing?”

  Grumbles of disbelief and complaint rained down on the sheriff.

  “Man needs water,” the sheriff insisted.

  “So what,” challenged Daniel.

  “So if we don’t give him some, we ain’t no better than him. Takes an uglier man than me to deny a dying man water, no matter he’s the devil himself.”

  Hannah tensed the moment the sheriff dismounted and slid off the horse she was sharing with Liam. She made sure she was on Liam’s side with the bad arm, so he couldn’t reach for her.

  “Hannah, what are you doing?”

  She walked toward the sheriff.

  “Daniel, help me. I need to get down.”

  Hannah turned to Liam. “No, stay where you are. I’m fine.” She tried to give him an assuring smile, but knew her calmness was scaring him more than her rage. She knew he could see the planning in her eyes.

  “Daniel!” he yelled.

  “Everybody stay put,” roared the sheriff. “I’ll just give him some water and we’ll be on our way.” The sheriff opened his canteen and tried to get some water down Drake. But with his stomach down on the saddle, the angle of his throat was wrong. “Damn! Cooper come help me with this.”

  They pulled Drake from the saddle and set him flat on the ground. The sheriff stooped to offer the water. Drake took several swigs as he appeared to toss and wiggle in pain.

  Hannah had a funny feeling about the way he was moving. She was trying to get a good look at his tethered wrists, when the sheriff screamed in pain.

  “Son-of-a-bitch! My finger! You bit it! You bastard!” The sheriff roared in agony.

  Things happened so fast Hannah had trouble believing her eyes. Drake’s hands were free. In a horrible moment of regret, Hannah remembered that they had not searched Drake. They’d tied him and threw him on the horse, but never searched him for hidden weapons. Now, he wielded a Navaja-Flick-knife. The handle was small, but it flicked out a deadly pointed blade.

  The sheriff’s baby finger was covered in blood and dangling from his hand. Cooper looked at the flick-knife now buried in his forearm. His son Tim ran to help his father. Drake, who’d managed to come
to a sitting position, grabbed the boy. He pulled his knife from Cooper’s arm and held it against Tim’s neck.

  Liam managed to slip from his saddle. He and Daniel rushed toward Hannah.

  “Stay back,” Drake growled, “or the boy meets his maker.”

  “Stop! For God’s sake! Do what he says,” Cooper begged.

  The sheriff had dropped to his knees and was desperately trying to stop the bleeding and keep his finger attached to his hand. “You son-of-a-bitch! You ‘bout bit it off!”

  “Shut up, lawman! Shut up or I kill the boy.”

  The sheriff bit his lip and glowered.

  Aside from a lot of heavy breathing, not a sound challenged Drake’s order to shut up.

  “That’s better.” Drake smiled. “Now, if Hannah will come help me up, I might let this young’un live.”

  “No!” Liam took a step forward.

  Tim yelped and a small dot of blood appeared at the tip of the knife. A rivulet of blood crept down the boy’s throat.

  Hannah motioned for Liam to wait.

  “Oh, God,” Cooper moaned. “Not my boy. Do me. Not my boy.”

  Drake ignored everyone as he watched Hannah. He spoke with his eyes and it was a demand.

  She walked toward him.

  “Help me up.” While keeping the knife against Tim’s throat, Drake managed to roll to the side of his good leg. “Listen, pussy, grab me under my right arm. Boy, you do the same to my left arm. Then ease me up. You do it right or you die. Got it, boy?”

  Tim managed an adolescent, “Yes.”

  It was slow and it was awkward, but Drake made it to his feet. Standing on one leg and using Hannah as a crutch for his bloodied leg, he gave orders. “All of you, except young Tim here and the lovely Hannah, mount up and head for town.”

  “Not without my boy,” challenged Cooper.

  A fresh gush of blood appeared at the tip of the knife still at Tim’s throat. “Pa, go. Don’t cross him. Take Josh and go to Ma and the girls. Go.”

  Drake was in control. The men had no choice. Cooper helped the sheriff up into his saddle as Daniel forced Liam up onto his horse.

  “Don’t,” Daniel whispered when Liam resisted his help.

  As they rode off, Liam held his ground and locked eyes with Drake.

  Drake smiled, licked his lips, and pressed them against Hannah’s cheek, while Daniel grabbed the reins to Liam’s horse and forced him to join the defeated posse.

  Once the men were out of sight, Drake told Hannah to take him over to a nearby Cottonwood tree. He leaned against it and released Hannah. “Go get some rope from one of the horses,” he told her.

  The thought crossed her mind that perhaps she could knee Drake so fast that the knife would fall away from Tim’s throat. Then the importance of the word ‘perhaps’ robbed her bravado. She couldn’t risk it. When she returned with the rope, Drake had her fashion a loop and secured it tightly around Tim’s throat, loop it over a thick branch, and tie it around Drake’s left wrist with the end draped into his hand.

  Once that was done, Drake pulled the knife away from the boy, but kept it open and held tightly in his right hand. He issued a warning. “All I have to do is sit down and you’ll swing. So be a good boy and don’t try anything heroic.” He nodded toward Hannah. “And, if you’re a real good boy, I might share a real treat with you.” He laughed. “You like that?”

  Tim glared.

  Drake laughed again and then got serious. “We need to get moving. Sooner or later those fools are bound to find their cojones and turn around. Woman, give me your gun.”

  Hannah hesitated just long enough for Drake to ease down against the tree. Tim gagged and went up on his toes. Hannah handed her gun over.

  “That’s better. Now strip down.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. You fooled me once with hidden guns, this time I’m going to make sure.”

  Hannah glanced toward Tim and back to Drake with a plea for him to not make her do this.

  “Strip!” He inched further down the tree.

  Tim was on the tips of his toes.

  Hannah unbuttoned her shirt and then hurried out of everything except her panties.

  “Everything.” Drake smiled.

  Hannah closed her eyes, but at the sound of a gurgle from Tim, she pulled them down and stepped out of them.

  “That’s my girl.” He ran his hand holding the rope across his crotch. “Now, look what you’re doing to my pole.” He patted himself. “Patience, you’ll have it. Soon.” He eased back up releasing the strain on Tim, who came back down on the soles of his feet and coughed in relief.

  “Now, Miss Hannah, tie that piece of rope around your ankle, and then tie it to the horse’s leg.” Once she’d done it, he told her to lay herself across its saddle, face down.”

  “If the horse bolts and tosses me …”

  “It won’t be pretty,” said Drake. “So, I suggest you do as you’re told, quickly so no one spooks the horse.” He aimed the gun at the ground in front of the horse. “Want to test it out?”

  Hannah mounted up in the position Drake wanted. Aside from the embarrassment of her exposure, she knew that one word, one loud noise and the horse would bolt. She’d be thrown to the ground, and at best, be pulled through the brutal Texas sand. Or worst, she’d be trampled to death. She refused to accept either fate. She made a promise to herself. I might die, but not before I see you take your last breath. So loud did she scream this to herself, she had to risk a glance to be sure Drake had not heard her.

  At the moment, Drake was talking to Tim. “Listen up. I’m going to loosen the rope and allow you to come over to me. We’re going to mount up and get the hell out of here. But, boy, you cross me in any way or try to escape, this gun goes off and Hannah will be at the mercy of a crazed horse. You hear me!”

  “I hear you,” Tim glowered, and then the rope slackened until he could walk to Drake. He helped him mount his horse, and then climbed aboard his own.

  “South,” directed Drake and they moved out.

  *****

  They’d gone about two miles, when Liam reined his horse to a stop. “NO!” he shouted. “This is wrong.” He turned his horse around.

  “My son,” groaned Cooper.

  Liam pulled up alongside him. “Do you honestly think that Drake is going to let your boy live? Do you?”

  Cooper moaned.

  “He’ll use him, brutally, until he serves no more purpose, and then Drake will kill him.” Liam turned to the sheriff. “Tell him what he’ll do with Tim then.”

  Cooper looked over at the sheriff.

  “TELL HIM!” Liam demanded.

  “He sometimes eats his kill.”

  Cooper leaned over the side of his horse and vomited through moans of fear and disgust. Eventually, he lifted his head and wiped his mouth with the blood stained sleeve of his wounded arm.

  “I’m going back!” Liam shouted and shot a challenging dare at each man, including young Josh. He turned and spurred his horse.

  Daniel shook his head slowly and called to his brother. “Wait, I’m going with you. Damn!” He gave orders to the others. “No time to debate my brother’s decision. Sheriff, you take Josh and head to town. Cooper, we’re going to need you. Coming?”

  “Yes. I gotta get my boy.”

  “Pa, I’m going too.” Josh pulled his horse up alongside his father.

  “Son, the sheriff needs you.” He raised his hand to stop Josh’s protests. “No time. Go.”

  Reluctantly, Josh urged his horse over toward the sheriff and they headed toward town.

  When he was sure his son had obeyed him, Cooper looked across at Daniel. “Let’s ride.” He galloped after Liam with Daniel at his side.

  Chapter 39

  Justice

  Drake rode between Hannah and Tim. They’d started off in a vigorous trot, but the jostling increased the flow of blood from Drake’s gunshots. At one point, he halted long enough for Tim to fashion a makeshift
tourniquet around his upper leg.

  Tim used his own belt. While he worked getting it around Drake’s thigh and cinching it tight, Drake kept his gun pointed in the direction of Hannah and her horse.

  “It’s the best I can do.” Tim stepped back.

  “It’ll have to do,” said Drake. “Mount up and let’s go.”

  As they rode, night fell and a full moon took over the sky allowing the trio to travel as well as before the sunset.

  Hannah could see that the belt wasn’t helping much. She wondered how Drake could lose so much blood and keep going. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Drake’s arm seemed to be sagging, bringing the gun barrel down until it pointed at the earth instead of her horse. Almost as if he read her thoughts, the arm came back up and the gun bore down on her, again.

  “Not yet,” growled Drake. “I’ll see you dead, before I head for hell.”

  They rode on in silence. Hannah was so deep in thought trying to conjure up an escape for both her and Tim that she almost yelped at feeling the edge of a knife blade. The small dull blade was sawing at the rope attached to the horse’s leg. Her nude body was draped over the saddle in such a way that her head faced Drake. She couldn’t see Tim, but she knew it was him. She strained her neck up and noticed Drake’s head lolling down toward his chest as if sleeping. The hand holding his gun, hung at his side pointing toward the ground. Just as the rope give way, Drake’s head jerked and his arm came back to the ready with the gun pointed back at her.

  “BOY!” Drake glared at Tim who’d managed to ease his mount just behind Drake. “What’re you doing back there? Get up alongside me.”

  Tim did as he was told, but instead of easing up to Drake’s right, the boy maneuvered his horse between Drake and Hannah.

  “What the hell? Get back.”

  “No,” Tim challenged him.

  “You little …” Drake fired, but his aim and reflexes were slow.

  Tim’s horse reared up as if to buck, but a tight hold on the reins kept the horse down as Tim eased her back away from Drake.