by Aimée Thurlo
A voice echoed one word in her mind, Destiny.
Blocking the voice, Nydia ran to help Jake move bookcases and tables against the doors and windows. “Can we hold out?” she asked him.
“It’ll depend on how quickly we get help. Can you shoot?”
“Yes.”
“What are you more familiar with, a rifle or a pistol?”
“Rifle.”
“There’s one in that closet and some ammunition, but don’t shoot unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Do you think we’ll get any help?” Nydia asked. “You know the people of this town better than I do.”
“Joshua’s brothers aren’t going to sit idly by. We’ll get help.”
“We can’t count on them,” she said, then explained how Gabriel and Lucas had been lured away. As she did, Jake slowly nodded. “Had you known, would you still have helped us?” she added.
He grinned. “Of course. I served in the Rangers. We don’t run from fights. Goes against the grain, you know?”
“Joshua is talking about giving himself up, if things get bad.”
Jake turned another desk on its side, then wedged it beneath the knob on the front door. “It may turn out that he has no choice, but we’re far from that point right now. Let’s see what they throw at us, then we’ll worry about what to do next.”
“Fields, can you hear me?” A voice came through the gloom outside. “You’re surrounded. Send Joshua Blackhorse out. We have no quarrel against you.”
“So it starts,” Jake said, motioning for her to get the rifle.
Joshua came up. “Do you have any other weapons?”
“My .45, in the file cabinet next to my desk, bottom drawer. The clips are in the drawer above it.”
Joshua went to arm himself as Nydia stood by the window. “Did you recognize the voice?” she asked.
“It’s Darren Wilson, I think,” Jake answered.
“It’s seven against three,” the man insisted. “Give it up.” As if to make his point, three shotgun blasts were fired at them. The door shook from the hits, and the massive door handle fell half out of the wood.
Fear surging through Nydia made her senses painfully sharp. Her hands began to tremble as she thought of her son arriving in Four Winds, greeted by enemies. Lanie was his only hope, unless they got out of this soon.
“Don’t shoot back,” Jake cautioned. “We can’t afford to waste ammo unless they try to come inside.”
Nydia glanced at Joshua, who held one arm close to his side as if movement was painful.
The voice that came out of the night shouted another warning. “Give it up, Jake. If we have to, we’ll burn you out. If you stand with a killer, you’ll share his fate.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Joshua said quietly. “I’ll turn myself over to them first.”
“It’s too soon to throw in the towel,” Jake said. “We’re far from finished here. First, they have to come up to the building, and that’ll mean stepping into our sights. If one or two of them take a bullet, they may rethink their plan.”
Suddenly, a woman’s voice rang out clearly. “Stay inside, you three. You’re not in this fight alone. Nobody’s getting close to that building, not unless he’s willing to risk his own life.”
Nydia looked at Joshua in confusion. “That sounded like Lanie!” Just then the cellular phone that Lanie had given her rang.
“It’s me,” Lanie said. “The mayor’s got John. He stopped the bus just out of town, claiming that the town was closed due to a police emergency, and got him out. He won’t hurt him, Nydia. If he even touched that boy, the others would turn on him and he knows it.”
Nydia stopped listening. All she knew was that John was in the hands of their enemies. She didn’t struggle as Joshua took the phone and spoke to Lanie.
Darren’s voice suddenly rang out. “Give it up, Mrs. Blackhorse. This isn’t a scuffle on the school grounds. This matter is out of your hands.”
“She’s not alone, Wilson,” another voice warned loudly.
“Ralph is with us,” Joshua said, identifying the voice as he put the cellular aside.
“There are plenty of others here, too,” Sally, the owner of the diner, added after a heartbeat.
“Nobody’s taking Joshua Blackhorse anywhere.” Ricky Miller’s voice was firm as he added his vote to the others.
Joshua looked at Nydia, then at Jake. “It’s as it was long ago.”
“What is?” Jake asked.
“Flinthawk’s story,” Nydia said slowly. “The medicine man who was almost lynched, but was saved by the townspeople.”
Jake gave them a startled look. “You’re right. History is repeating itself. The teacher, the saloon owner and the others, each a new version of the old.”
“But what of my son?” she managed to ask in a thin whisper. “In Flinthawk’s story, the rancher’s son was nearly killed. That’s part of the reason they wanted to lynch the medicine man.”
“That part of the story will not repeat itself. My sisterin-law is right. Your son won’t be harmed. Hurting him will only defeat their purpose,” Joshua said firmly.
“If a fight is what you want, then that’s what you’ll get,” Darren’s voice rang out.
“Wait!” The shout rang out like a whip. “This is getting out of hand. It’s me, everyone, Mayor Burns. I’m coming out into the open. Hold your fire, especially you in the library. There’s a young boy with me I think you all should see.”
Fear screamed inside Nydia. She knew her son was out there—with Mayor Burns.
“Mom?”
The sound of John’s voice went straight to her heart. She sprinted for the door, but Joshua’s arms closed fast around her.
“Let me go! My son is right in the middle of this. Don’t you see? Burns is the enemy who’s been hunting us all along. He killed your father!”
Joshua nodded, realizing the truth. Burns blamed the Blackhorse family for the trouble that had claimed the life of his son. It was the only thing that made sense. But the revelation was anticlimactic, considering their situation. “Listen to me,” Joshua said, his voice soft but commanding. “It isn’t your son they want. Burns has convinced them I’m a killer. It’s me they want. I’ll go.”
“You can’t! They’ll kill you. It’s my son, I’ll go.”
“Stop thinking with your hearts!” Jake snapped. “They won’t harm a child. The others in town would turn against them in a flash, and they know it. What they want to do is force both of you out in the open so Burns can have Joshua killed.”
“You’re right, my friend,” Joshua said. “Our best chance lies in doing what they’re not expecting. Right now, they’re trying to manipulate you,” he told Nydia, “because the ones Burns has duped see you as my accomplice. But I’m their real target. Let’s use that knowledge and turn it to our advantage.”
Chapter Twenty
Joshua stood beside Nydia as she called out to the mayor. “Don’t hurt my son!”
“He’s not hurt, ma’am,” Bob Burns answered. “I want him away from this as badly as you do. The situation here is too volatile.”
“Then let him go.”
“Come out, and we’ll negotiate.”
“First, I want to make sure you haven’t already hurt him. I want to talk to my son now, but not by having you stick him in the middle of a shooting gallery.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Take him to a telephone, somewhere inside where he’ll be safe, and have him call the library.”
“All right. I’ll see what I can do.”
Making sure the small room he entered was completely dark, Joshua slid a bookcase away from the window with his good arm. His side throbbed painfully, but the herbs he had applied had stanched the flow of blood. As he peered out into the darkness, he saw Mayor Burns take the boy into Charley’s garage.
Joshua joined the others and gave them the news just as the phone on Jake’s desk rang. Nydia picked it up before it even
finished the first ring. “I’m here.”
“Mom?”
“Are you okay? Has anyone hurt you?”
“No, but don’t come out. They’ll shoot the singer, and then Grandfather—”
She heard a cry, then Burns got on the phone. “I would strongly suggest that you disregard his advice. No matter what else happens, I personally guarantee that the singer won’t be walking away from this.”
She glanced at Joshua, and he nodded. “If I convince him to come out, will you let me and my son go?” she whispered, biting off the words as if they left a foul taste in her mouth.
“I think that can be arranged.”
“Give me ten minutes.”
“You’ve got five before we take action.”
Nydia hung up the phone. “That murderer has only given us five minutes.”
“What’s your plan?” Jake asked.
“It’s dark now, so I should be able to slip out through the side window unseen. You’ll go out the front,” he said, looking at Jake. “Go slow and unarmed and tell them Nydia and I will follow. While they focus on you, I’ll circle around until I’m across the street from the garage. Nydia will come out two minutes after you, slowly, like before. While all eyes are on her, I’ll make my move and enter the garage.”
“I’ll make sure nobody hurts Nydia. Don’t worry about that. Just do what you have to,” Jake said.
“There’s got to be another way!” Nydia whispered, her voice trembling. “You’re still hurt. You’re no match for anyone.”
“Wounded, I’m still more than a match for Burns and Wilson. Just don’t start having any second thoughts. There’s no more time to waste.”
Just then she heard the voice within her clearly. The singer needs your faith. Destiny calls to all of us.
Frustration tore through her. She wanted answers, not riddles. She saw Joshua looking at her and forced a smile. This was no time to sidetrack him. “I’m okay. Go and don’t worry about us here.”
Joshua went to the side window and slipped outside before Nydia noticed he had left the .45 on the floor.
“You forgot your pistol,” she whispered harshly into the darkness, reaching for the weapon.
“I’m going to try and save a life, not take one. Leave the gun there.”
His words sliced through her. She realized how easily that decision could make those words his last. Her heart ached with the knowledge that he was going out there, ready to sacrifice himself to save her son, a boy he’d never even met.
Destiny. Once again, the word came unbidden to her thoughts.
JOSHUA MOVED silently along the side of the post office, getting ready to cross Main Street. He wouldn’t fail Nydia. no matter what the risks. Her son wouldn’t be harmed. If he forfeited his life, yet accomplished that one thing, he would be satisfied.
He heard the shouts as Jake stepped out into the street. But then the voices were suddenly obscured by the rumbling of an approaching vehicle, blowing its horn.
Even before Joshua peered around the corner, he recognized Shadow’s truck from the familiar screech of gears. As it passed by in the dim light, he saw two people inside. Lucas was driving. It was less than a second before he recognized Gabriel as the passenger.
Relief was sudden and welcome, and almost made him forget the fiery pain at his side as he raced across the street to Charley’s garage. His two brothers were safe and nearby. Now the odds were more equal.
From his vantage point behind a gas pump, Joshua heard people cheering as Lucas screeched to a stop. Gabriel and Shadow jumped out, using the vehicle as cover between the crowd and the vigilantes. His eldest brother walked over to the armed men, his hand resting on the butt of his gun, and loudly ordered everyone to put down their weapons and go home.
As his brothers took charge of the situation outside the library, he made his move. Joshua slipped into the garage through the open repair bay. Up ahead, he could see a young boy standing between two armed men. One was the mayor, the other Darren Wilson.
The boy turned his head as if sensing Joshua’s presence, and his eyes lit with recognition. Joshua gave the boy a nod of encouragement, then signaled him to remain quiet as he crept closer, hiding from view behind a car.
His side and left arm throbbed, making his movements clumsy. As he slipped past a counter covered with tools, he brushed against a screwdriver set that had been carelessly left on the very edge, and it rolled off onto the concrete floor with a clang.
As the men turned toward the sound, the boy acted. John clamped his teeth down on the hand of the man who held him, Darren Wilson. With a yowl of pain, Darren pushed the child away, right into the mayor. Burns cursed and slapped John hard, knocking him into a stack of tires.
Outrage twisted through Joshua, and he hurled himself at the two men, knocking them to the ground in a heap. Wilson stayed down, but Burns scrambled to his feet and tried to make a run for it. Joshua grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up into the air with his good hand. “Why?” he asked, fighting the urge to toss the man across the garage. “Why did you kill my father? You barely knew him.”
“Revenge,” he gasped. “It was the evil your family brought into this town, that skinwalker bowl, that resulted in the death of my only son. I was going to finish you all off, father first, then sons.”
Hearing someone move behind him, Joshua tossed the mayor aside as if he weighed no more than a rag doll, and whirled around in a fighting crouch.
“Whoa!” Gabriel said, jumping back. “I’m on your side. Wilson isn’t going anywhere. You put him to sleep.”
Joshua sank down, aided by the wall at his back. “Finally,” he whispered, pointing to Burns, “you have your killer.”
Noticing his brother’s injuries for the first time, Gabriel shouted for Shadow, then pulled open his brother’s shirt to check the wound. “Hang on, Tree.”
Taking advantage of the sheriffs distraction, the mayor tried to scramble to his feet, but Gabriel was on him in an instant, flooring Burns with an uppercut to the jaw. “You’re going to prison, Mayor Burns,” he said, handcuffing the man to Darren Wilson, who was just regaining consciousness.
Nydia raced through the open bay door, and saw her son at the same time that he saw her. The boy launched himself into her arms.
“Mom, you’re okay! And the singer was excellent! You should have seen him. He pitched that creep aside with one hand!”
Joshua smiled at the reunion, but his gaze turned cold as he looked down at the mayor. “How did you do it? Nydia saw you at the gas station when she first came into town. How did you get to my father so quickly?”
“I already had your rifle, and knew where you’d be. When I saw my chance to have a witness to frame you with, I took Darren Wilson’s pickup-after letting everyone see me leave town in my own car. If anyone had seen Darren’s vehicle racing up one of the back roads, they’d never think it was me behind the wheel.”
“And the tape?” Joshua asked. “How did you manage that?”
“I edited the department’s own recordings, piecing together a phony conversation from some on file in the sheriff’s office when no one was in. It wasn’t hard. I have my
own key, after all.”
“Finally, justice can be done,” Joshua whispered as Shadow reached him. Dark clouds began closing in on him.
“I’m so tired.”
Nydia knelt beside Joshua. “No way, my Tree,” she said, pressing a kiss on his lips. “You’re not fading on me now. Get used to the idea. You hear me?”
Her words seemed to come from far away, but as a blanket of darkness covered him, her voice reached out to him, showing him the way back from oblivion.
NYDIA STAYED outside the examining room at the clinic while Shadow tended to Joshua. Lucas had assured her his brother would be okay, that the bullet had passed cleanly through and he expected no irreversible damage from it.
It seemed an eternity later when she heard a commotion on the other side of the door.
“You can’t go anywhere, Tree,” she heard Lucas roar. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“To find Nydia. I have work to do.”
“Get back in that bed, you big jackass.”
Nydia heard a crash, then Joshua appeared at the door, Lucas trying to hold him back. She blocked the doorway immediately. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Lucas added. “Get back in here!”
Gabriel came through the front door and, assessing the situation, joined Nydia in blocking his youngest brother’s passage. “You’re wounded, so I figure Shadow and I can take you. Don’t turn this into a fight.”
“No fight. But I have to go.” He looked past Gabriel at Nydia. “Your father-in-law, how is he?”
“He’s worse,” she admitted. “That’s why John came. The note that Burns used to lure him here said that I needed his help to get you to come to the rez. John knew his grandfather didn’t have much time left, so he didn’t hesitate.”
“Then it’s time for me to keep my word to you.” He looked at Gabriel. “Am I free to go?”
He exhaled softly, then nodded. “There’s no legal reason to keep you here. But if you insist on doing this, at least let me drive you. I can get a deputy from the next county to cover for me here for a short time. Besides, I owe you,” he added with an easy grin. “If it wasn’t for you getting Shadow to come back for me, I’d still be hiking into town.”
“What did happen out there?” Joshua asked.
“Burns set me up. Seeing his chance to get me alone, he shot out a tire when I was rounding a curve, and my vehicle rolled over. By the time I got myself out and went looking for him, he was long gone.”
“I’m glad we all made it,” Joshua said, glancing at his brothers. “But now it’s time for me to do what I trained for.”
“Before we leave town,” Nydia said, “I’d be grateful if we could make a stop by Tree’s pickup.”
“The peddler’s gift?” Joshua asked.
“Yes. I’m going to take it back to the rez. I’ll figure out what to do with it after we get there.”