“Nonsense. There are plenty of beds. I will sleep with Storm. If he becomes restless, I will move in with Drew.”
Drake smiled at Bill. “Looks like we’re assigned top bunks, McAfee. My wife gets the other lower berth.”
Bill stood and stretched. “Never seen the like of this way to travel. Sure beats a bedroll on hard ground.”
Later, Storm lay dozing with Rena cradled in his arms. Their movement slowed and stopped. He opened the curtains and peered outside where the harvest moon lit the countryside.
No lights from a house.
No buildings to indicate a town or station.
Nothing but prairie.
“Rena, honey, something’s wrong.” He slid from bed and met Drake coming for him.
Drake held his revolver. “Not supposed to stop way out here. Something’s up.” He awakened Bill.
Storm extinguished the lantern at one end of the car. Drake hurried to do the same at the other end. He peered outside. “Car holding the horses is still attached.”
Drake gazed out the front of the car. “Nothing in sight from this end but the moon reflecting on the rails.”
Pearl pulled a wrapper together and tied it. “I hate train travel.”
Drake put an arm around her. “Now, Pearl. This has nothing to do with you. Whoever disconnected our cars from the rest of the train is targeting Storm and Rena. Maybe McAfee too.”
“Our children? What shall we do?” Rena peered around the car as if looking for a hiding place.
Pearl took her by the arm. “We can’t get the children completely out of harm’s way but we can put the girls up with Drew.”
Drake hurried to lift a sleeping Lottie up with her brother. “Come on, Susie. You need to go up here for a while. Don’t come down unless your Mama or Papa or Aunt Pearl or Mr. McAfee or I tell you. Can you do that?”
Her little face puckered and her eyes welled with tears. “Is somebody gonna be dead?”
Storm smoothed his hand along her back. “We hope not, Susie, but there might be a bad man nearby. Stay up there until we say otherwise. Try not to wake Lottie.”
Rena wrung her hands. “How can we shield them from stray bullets?” She rushed over and removed tea things from a silver tray. “This will help, but we need more.”
Storm grabbed a valise. “Luggage. Make a wall with our bags and valises.” Swiftly, he proceeded to do that. “Kids, pretend you have a fort. Go back to sleep and we’ll wake you when it’s time for breakfast.”
Susie sniffed. “If we’re not gonna be dead.”
“You’ll be all right if you stay where you are.” He closed the curtains. “Mama and I will be all right too.” He hoped he spoke the truth. Anger boiled in him and he wished he could twist the neck of the person attacking them. No one had the right to endanger his family.
Bill looked from Storm to Drake. “Are we gonna sit here and wait for someone to strike?”
Storm stared out the window, but saw no one. “Appears to me he’s already struck. All he has to do is wait for another train to come along and hit us.”
“I’m not sitting here like a target. I aim to act.” Drake grabbed a rifle and checked to see if it was loaded. “I’ll slip out and draw his fire so you two know where he’s hiding.”
Bill held up a hand. “Wait. You both have families, I don’t. I’ll make a rush for the horse car and hope that’s not where he’s waiting for us.” He picked up his rifle and checked the load.
Rena dug out her revolver. “Pearl and I can cover one end of the car while you men cover the other.” She looked at Pearl. “I’ll bet you know how to shoot.”
“I do and I will. No one is going to take us so easily.” She pulled a revolver from her doctor bag. “Never know when I’ll need to be out late by myself, although Drake is adamant that I not travel alone at night.”
“Darn right, I am.” Drake smiled at her.
Storm saw the look that passed between his sister and her husband. Genuine love radiated between them. He knew that’s what he felt for Rena, and believed she returned his affection. Would they still be in love in ten years? Would they live through tonight?
With a large exhale, Storm braced himself to cover a door. The half wall of the car’s vestibule offered protection for a crouched man. The metal also promised a dangerous ricochet when bullets struck.
“I’ll take this end. Rena, you cover my back. If he fires at me, you trade with Drake. If he fires at Drake, I’ll trade places with Pearl.”
Bill readied for his dash. “I think he’ll be with the horses or have that car covered so we can’t offload them and ride for safety.”
“Imagine you’re right.” Storm raised his arm to signal. “Get ready. Go.”
Bill opened the door and dashed low toward the freight car holding the horses.
Gunshots greeted him.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Storm spotted the source and fired. “He’s in the freight car. We can’t get to him without endangering the horses.”
Drake rushed over and whispered, “I’m going out the other end and circle around to his back. Have to be careful we don’t hit one of us in crossfire. Where’s McAfee?”
“Lost sight of him. He hit the ground when shooting started.”
Drake asked, “Was he hit?”
“Don’t know. Hope not.”
Rena had crawled forward on her stomach. “He jumped, but I do not think he was injured. He ran around the side there.” She pointed with her gun barrel.
“Okay, you two keep him busy while I join McAfee.” Drake ran to the car’s other end.
Storm fired as Drake slipped out the far door.
Rena fired two shots. “How much ammunition do we have?”
“We’re well supplied.” He fired again at the last place he’d seen the gunman, careful not to send it into the horses’ area.
“This is not going to work, is it? You cannot shoot your horses. He has them as his protection. We must keep him from coming inside this car. And we do not know when another train comes on this track.”
“Give us a chance, honey.” Had his bride lost belief in him?
Look at yourself, Kincaid. You’ve a bum leg and are fighting a madman. Why should she have confidence in you?
“We are like pigeons on a telegraph line waiting for him to pick us off one at a time. If he fails, the next train will do the work for him.”
“As far as we know there is only one man, but there are five of us. The odds are in our favor.” He hoped they stayed that way.
“Ja, but I do not want to be a sta . . . what you call this kind of number.”
“Statistic?” Storm fired toward the base of the freight car.
“Ja. You must not become a statistic.” She fired at the gunman. “I do not want again to be a widow. You promised we would grow old together.”
“I aim to keep that promise.” He glanced at her.
Moonlight set her hair aglow. Her appearance of frail beauty contrasted with her aiming her revolver and getting off a couple of shots. In spite of his leg throbbing, powerful energy surged through him. Danged if he’d let some miscreant undermine his happiness or harm his family.
“We’ll have to get in the car with him. You stay here and fire. I’ll go out the way Drake did and circle around. Between the three of us men, we can take this killer down.”
He started to rise, but she pulled him toward her. “I must have one of your lip kisses before you leave me. This will be for good luck, will it not?”
His lips crushed hers in a passionate exchange. “Consider it a promise.”
Pearl touched his arm as he passed her. “Should I help Rena keep him busy?”
“No, he might take the chance and slip in here as easily as we leave.”
The harvest moon let him see the despair and anxiety on her lovely face. “All right, but I don’t like being left out.”
Storm hugged his sister’s shoulders and opened the door. “You aren’t. You’re keepi
ng guard.”
“Take care.”
He heard Rena’s gunfire as he dropped quietly to the ground. Keeping to the shadows in the moonlit night, he crept along the Pullman car. While Rena kept up an exchange of gunfire, he saw Drake.
Drake signaled him forward. He dashed, hit the ground, and rolled toward his brother in law. They crawled under the car to where Bill waited.
As if he knew their location, the killer inside the car fired through the horse car’s floor. They rolled until they were at the car’s rear wheels.
Storm whispered. “I don’t like the way this is shaping up. McAfee, you wiggle to one side of the main door. Drake, you take the other. When I give the signal, open the doors and I’ll hop inside.
“You forget, my friends, that I’m the one who’s single. I’m also a sharpshooter. When I give the signal, you two open the door and I’ll blast the bastard. I figure if I shoot from the rear into the car, I’ll miss the horses.”
“He’ll be among the horses the second he hears that door sliding open. I don’t want Thunder shot, but we have to get this man before he kills one of us.”
From inside the car, they heard someone call, “I hear you talking, gringos. I will kill each of you and then I will have your women and your gold.”
Each man neared his position.
The killer called again, “You killed my brother. I will have coup. My brother enjoyed slicing on his women. Not me. I have them until they are used up. With two of them, that should take a long time. I hope they are good cooks.”
“You’ll never know.” Storm crawled toward the door as bullets hit the spot he’d vacated.
“Our women would cut you into pieces and feed you to the dogs.” Drake moved quickly to wait for Bill’s signal.
Rapid bullets kicked up dirt and wood from cross ties and zinged off steel rails. Storm gave thanks nothing ricocheted into one of them. Bill crouched at the edge of the rail car where he would have a good view of the interior as soon as the doors opened. Bill signaled and stood up with his rifle aimed toward the opening as Drake and Storm slid open the doors.
Horses thundered off the train in a stampede. A man rode Thunder amid the other three horses. Storm whistled as loud as he could. Thunder reared and turned. Bill fired his rifle.
The mystery man threw a hand up and dropped from the saddle onto the dirt. Storm, Drake, and Bill rushed forward with guns aimed at their assailant. Cautiously, Storm approached the body and kicked the gun from the man’s side.
The man attempted to draw a knife, but Storm stepped on his hand. “Don’t try it.” He knelt to check the man’s wound.
“Done for, Marshal, you lucky bastard. I should have killed you and your family in the hotel.”
“You wouldn’t have made it there either.
He spit on Storm’s boots. “Planned to set the hotel on fire, but wanted to reclaim the gold and jewels you had there. Couldn’t figure how to do both.”
“Not a chance.” Storm tore off a strip of the man’s shirt and used it to clean the boots. “Who are you? Tell us so we know where to send your body.”
The man gasped, his life draining from him. “Running Bear. Brother of man you called Ute from up near Durango. You killed him and stole our gold.”
“Your brother and his friends killed innocent people and stole their money. The gold and jewels did not belong to them or to you.”
Drake touched Storm’s shoulder. “You’re talking to a dead man, son. We have another problem.”
Storm stood. “The train.” He noticed the three mares had clustered around Thunder.
Storm grabbed Thunder’s reins and checked over the gelding. “Soon as I grab a lantern, I’ll ride east until I get to a signal or station. Drake, will you ride northwest and do the same?”
Storm rode to the Pullman car. “Rena, honey, hand me the lantern. I’m riding for help.”
Drake jogged to where Brownie waited. He yelled, “Pearl. Hand me the lantern as I come past.”
“What about me?” Bill called to Storm.
“Watch over the women and children. If you hear a train, get them the hell out of the way.”
Lantern in hand, Drake passed heading west. “And you might get that dead man into the horse car before he attracts critters.”
Grateful for the full harvest moon, Storm rode along the tracks. He had never traveled this way by train. He had no idea where he was or how far from a depot.
He sensed moisture oozing from his leg and hoped it wasn’t blood. Throbbing pain shot from his injury. At least he didn’t have to walk. He thanked Pearl for the laudanum she’d poured down him at bedtime.
Far into the night he rode, having to guide Thunder across the tracks of each bridge trestle they encountered. Thunder didn’t like the crossings any more than Storm did. He visualized them being trapped mid-bridge with a fast train approaching.
His dry mouth craved water and his body yearned for rest. Each breeze tugged at his skin. Chilled night air cooled him, but nervous sweat stained his shirt beneath his jacket.
Dawn approached when he sensed vibrations on the tracks. He and Thunder left the train bed and he lit the lantern. What was his best chance of stopping the train? He pinned his badge on his jacket so lantern light reflected from the metal. Holding the lamp high, he waited for the train.
As the locomotive approached, he waved the lantern back and forth. The train passed as if he weren’t there. He tossed the lantern aside and rode close. While the train moved ahead, he grabbed onto a freight ladder. Swinging onto the car’s roof, he caught his breath. He counted seven cars between him and the coal tender box.
Hoping he didn’t fall onto the tracks, he moved from car to car. When the fireman spotted him, he pulled a gun. Storm raised his hands and jumped onto the coal.
He rolled to his knees. “Federal Marshal. Stop the train.”
The engineer looked back but did nothing to halt the train’s motion.
Storm climbed into the cabin. “I said I’m a Federal Marshall. Stop this train. There are two cars blocking the tracks ahead.”
“How do we know you’re really a Marshall?”
“I’ve got the damn badge. My family is ahead in a Pullman car and the killer who tried to murder us is dead in the cattle car attached. Now slow this train down so you can stop when you see the cars on the track.”
The fireman lowered his gun.
The engineer slowed the train. “How come the cars to be on the track in the first place?”
“We were on our way to Fort Worth and then on to Austin when the killer uncoupled the Pullman car we were in and the one behind it holding our horses. Then he started taking potshots at us when we investigated.”
“Who’s us?” The engineer glanced over his shoulder.
“My wife and kids, my sister, brother-in-law, and a deputy traveling with us. My brother in law rode the other way to try and reach a station with a telegraph.”
“We’re headed to Wichita Falls. Train to Vernon will be along in two hours.”
Storm balanced himself by grabbing the wall handle beside the engineer. “When will one be heading the other way?”
“The one going to Vernon will turn around and head back to Fort Worth. Runs twice a day.” The engineer slowed further. “I see cars ahead now.” He tugged a couple of times on the whistle.
Storm spotted his family standing in a field far to the side of the tracks. He exhaled in relief. Lord, he’d never be able to repay Bill McAfee. Thank heavens they were all right.
Not entirely. Not until the cars were moved. Not until he had them safely at his home in Kincaid Springs.
He closed his eyes and wished for that day. Only a few more days now, unless something else went wrong. And so many things could.
Chapter Twenty Eight
The locomotive screeched, hissed, and ground to a halt fifty feet from the Pullman car. Storm climbed down and walked toward his family. Rena ran to meet him.
He scooped her into an embrace
and held her to him. “Told you I’d come back.” Never had anything been sweeter than the scent of her lavender soap and touch of her soft, ivory skin against his cheek.
She clung to his neck, showering him with kisses in spite of the people watching. “I worried so. Many things could have happened to you.” She ran her hands over his face and hair. “I cannot let you leave me again. Och, this has not been good for your wound. You will have a relapse and put Pearl to more work.”
“I’ll have lots of time to recover once we get home.” He set her down. “Any word from Drake?”
“None. Pearl is worried but she is very brave.”
“She is brave, but so are you. How many wives save their husband’s life?”
“You saved mine first, remember?”
He took her hand. “Let’s go eavesdrop on the workmen.”
The engineer and his crew had assembled to talk over the problem. When he saw them approach, the engineer walked to meet them.
“We can’t couple to your cars because of our pilot. That’s the name of what’s called a ‘cowcatcher’ by most folks.”
“Can’t you remove it?” Storm looked from the engineer to his crew.
One man rubbed his chin. “Reckon we could. It’ll take some time and a lot of elbow grease.”
Storm held his hands out at his sides. “Please, get started. That train’s coming in two hours.”
Mumbling, the men agreed and headed to the train for tools.
“Where are we anyway?” Storm asked.
“Should be a corner of Montague County between Henrietta and Decatur. Smack dab in the middle of nowhere.”
“How far northwest before my brother in law rides into a town with a telegraph operator?”
The man pulled out his pocket watch. “He’s likely come to Bowie by now. Don’t know if a wire dispatch will catch the next train in Decatur or not.”
Workmen with wrenches started on the cowcatcher.
“If they get that pilot off before the next train arrives, can you push us to Bowie and a sidetrack?”
“Yep. But if your fella didn’t get that wire off in time, we’re all in trouble.”
Most Unsuitable Courtship Page 21