Once an Outlaw

by Raine Cantrell

  Jessie turned to study Ty, the suspicion forming, but she was afraid to voice it. If it was true…

  “Ty, who is your brother?”

  His grin disappeared. With serious regard he answered her. “My brother is the man two boys found and brought to a widow.”

  “His name?” Jessie’s voice was a bare thread of sound. She could hardly swallow past the sudden dryness in her mouth and throat. “Tell me.”

  “His name’s Logan.” Conner answered before Ty did. He watched her carefully, judging her reaction as she grabbed hold of the fence and stared at him.

  “It’s obvious he was here, and just as obvious that he’s gone,” Conner added. When she looked up at him, his whole manner changed. She had taken the news hard.

  “I thought he was an outlaw,” Jessie said, more to herself.

  “He’s…Like your story about the boys, this, too, is long and complicated. Do you know where he went?”

  “No. Conner, he’s—” Confused, Jessie rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know when he left, sometime during the night,” she said after a few seconds. “Please, I’ve got to find the boys. They never do this. Kenny would not break his promise to me.”

  “You’re real sure Logan didn’t say anything about where he was heading?”

  “I said as much, didn’t I?” Jessie heard the shrill note in her voice. “Give me a moment, please. I know he had found one of the men that left him for dead. He didn’t kill him,” she added quickly before Conner could interrupt. “But he did take back his horse. The one that was stolen from him.” Jessie shot Ty a helpless look. “He went after the others, didn’t he? And he could be in trouble?”

  “We don’t know, Jessie. Conner has an idea that the reason they left Logan to die was because they found out who he was.” Seeing the confusion fill her eyes, he added, “It’s just like Conner told you. Long and very complicated. I had promised Greg I would look in on you and see how you were doing. Despite your differences, he does care about you. We’re scheduled to meet Logan in a few days. When he came home—”

  “Home?” Jessie looked from Ty to Conner. “You’re right. This is too much for me to take in now. I’ve got to find the boys. I have an idea where they are, so you are both welcome to stay here and wait.”

  Adorabelle came trotting up to Jessie when she saw the gate open. “No, girl. You stay here.” She gently pushed the mare’s nose and led the brown horse through. Ty was right behind her.

  Jessie mounted and Ty held a quick, whispered conversation with Conner, then announced to her that they would go with her.

  “Just in case the boys aren’t where you expect, Jessie, Conner is an excellent tracker.”

  Jessie rode out and the Kincaid brothers followed.

  A blue-gray finger of smoke finally led Logan to the line shack. He remained hidden behind the bare up-thrust of rock about a hundred yards away. There were only three horses in the newly erected corral. One of the men was missing, and he figured Monte as the likely choice.

  The smell of frying bacon sent his stomach growling and he thought of the jerky and water that he’d eaten a few hours ago.

  While he’d been searching for this place he’d thought of Jessie, and of the plans he’d made with Conner.

  Logan didn’t want to wait to catch this gang in the midst of robbing another shipment and payroll from their mine. He wanted justice now. But he knew his kind of justice had to wait until all the suspicions and facts were confirmed and he had the name of the man behind the robberies. Conner wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Three to one weren’t the best odds a man wanted, but they weren’t impossible ones.

  Tallyman appeared in the doorway, scratching his belly. His suspenders were looped on either side of his hips, his union-suit sleeves had been ripped off and he wore blue army-issue pants with the yellow stripes. Logan cupped his hand over his horse’s muzzle. Tallyman looked around, stretched and yawned, then disappeared around the corner of the cabin.

  The opportunity to lessen his odds was too good to pass up. Logan moved out, keeping to whatever brush and rock cover he could find to circle around the back of the line shack.

  The shouts and yells were so unexpected that at first Logan made no sense of what he was hearing. The impossibility of Kenny yelling for Marty to run was cut off by a roar of fury coming from Tallyman.

  A shotgun blast split the air. Logan felt his blood freeze. No longer keeping to cover, he came around the back of the line shack at a dead run, half dreading what he’d find.

  The scene before him was a nightmare come to life. Kenny took a blow from Tallyman’s fist and sprawled in the dirt. Held in Tallyman’s other hand by the back of his shirt, Marty swung wildly as another roar erupted. Kenny rolled and made a grab for his shotgun, but Logan, who hadn’t realized that he’d drawn his gun, couldn’t shoot for fear of hitting either of the boys.

  He shouted for Kenny to get out of the way. Logan went after Tallyman, who spun around and dropped Marty to the ground. The man outweighed Logan by a good fifty pounds, but he didn’t have rage boiling inside him. And Logan knew he’d have to take him fast before the other two showed up.

  Frustrated at not finding the boys at their former camp, Jessie had led the way to the hidden valley where she kept her cattle, growing frightened when Conner had confirmed what she knew. There was no recent sign that Kenny and Marty had come this way.

  It was Ty who halted them as the faint echo of a shot filled the air. Ty who shared a worried glance with Conner, then attempted to reassure her.

  “It’s likely those boys went hunting.”

  Jessie didn’t answer him. She relied on her own instincts. They weren’t telling her to be calm, they were screaming at her to find those boys.

  And then she remembered Logan questioning her and her telling him about the abandoned line shack. Had the boys discovered it, too?

  “Ty,” she called, urging her horse around, “a little while ago you said you came to see me because you were heading up this way to go to your mine.”

  “That’s right. I told you we’ve been plagued with robberies.”

  “Would it be north of here?”

  The bright glitter in her eyes, the desperate edge of her voice alarmed him. “Yes.”

  “There’s an abandoned line shack north of here. I just remembered that Logan asked me about it. No,” she said quickly before he cut in, “not because of those men—it had to do with the boys. I told him I hadn’t been up there since the first time I found it, but what if—” Jessie stopped and closed her eyes. Dear Lord, please let me be wrong. Please let me be making a terrible mistake.

  “Jessie?” Conner called. “What’s wrong?”

  “No more questions. Just come with me.” She set her heels into the horse’s sides. “If you two have any prayers, say them. Pray we get there in time.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Marty was scared. More scared than the night he’d helped Kenny bury their folks. He didn’t want to cry. Kenny would tease him if he cried. But Kenny wasn’t here to see him.

  He’d run when Logan had yelled at him to, but he hadn’t gone far. Logan was fighting the man who had grabbed him and Kenny. He’d kept calling for Kenny to come with him, but Kenny had gone for his shotgun.

  Only he’d never reached it. Two other men had come running from the shack. One of them had hit Kenny, and he didn’t get up. Then they’d pulled Logan off the big man and held his arms while the black man had punched and punched Logan. There’d been no one to tease him when he’d covered his ears and squeezed his eyes closed.

  They were all inside the shack now and he didn’t know what to do. If he ran home to get Jessie, they could leave and take Logan and Kenny with them. Then he wouldn’t know where they were. He knew they might come out looking for him again.

  He’d have to be brave and think of what Kenny would do.

  Inside the shack, Kenny wasn’t feeling very brave. He hurt all over from trying to stop these men w
hen they had beaten up Logan. At least he was awake. Logan lay beside him out cold. One of the men sat on a crate near the door. It was the only way out. The one called Tallyman sat near the table, nursing his cut lip, saying over and over that he’d thought he had seen a ghost when he found himself facing Logan.

  He guessed they didn’t think Logan was any threat, for after taking his gun, they hadn’t bothered to tie him up. Even if he could rouse Logan, they would have a hard time whispering to make a plan without anyone hearing or seeing them.

  Kenny sat with his back against the rough wood wall. Logan lay with his back to the others. More to reassure himself, Kenny wiggled closer to Logan and took hold of his hand. He ducked his head to hide his surprise when Logan squeezed his fingers.

  It was nothing compared to the shock he felt at the poke in his back through the crack in the wall. Marty! It had to be him. But how was he going to tell him that Logan was all right?

  “What ya wanna do with these two?” Tallyman asked.

  “Shoulda killed him when I wanted to,” Zach answered, shooting a murderous look at Logan.

  From the doorway, Blackleg warned, “You’d better wait for Monte. Still don’t understand why the hell he went after you. Or where these kids came from.”

  “That one,” Zach said, pointing at Kenny, “is the kid from the ranch. Remember I told you he said he ain’t seen no strangers. Lying little—”

  ‘That’s enough, Zach. He’s just a kid.” Blackleg sipped his coffee but once more sent a searching gaze over the front area of the shack. He had a funny feeling about Logan showing up like this. “One of you better go out and find his horse.”

  “You go, if you’re so worried,” Zach snapped. “An’ while you’re out there, find the other little brat.”

  Kenny tried to whistle the two short notes of a bobwhite’s call, a signal he’d been trying to teach to Marty. He couldn’t find enough spit to wet his lips. He grew desperate when he saw the man at the door rise and finish his coffee. Marty’d get caught for sure.

  “Hey, mister,” he called out. “Let me go with you. You’ll spend all day trying to find my little brother. My ma’s gonna tan my bottom for getting into trouble.”

  “You’re gonna have more than trouble or a tannin’ to worry about, boy,” Zach warned.

  “Hold on there, Zach. I ain’t killing no kids.”

  “You telling me what to do, Blackleg?”

  “I’m telling you I ain’t killing no kids. Com’on boy, you come with me.”

  Zach pulled his gun. “Stay right where you are, boy. As for you, Blackleg, you go find his horse.”

  He eyed the gun and then let his gaze rise to meet Zach’s eyes. Shaking his head Blackleg left the shack.

  Kenny slumped down against the wall. He hoped that Marty had heard every word and had run like hell. As the minutes passed and there were no shouts, he began to think Marty was safe.

  It was Conner who spotted the lone rider down below them. He didn’t want to risk the sun’s reflection off his field glasses giving them away, so he left them in his saddlebag. Since there wasn’t enough cover for the three of them, he turned his horse back toward the dry wash they had just ridden out of.

  “Keep the horses quiet,” he ordered, glancing at Jessie. She was pale and silent. He wished he could offer her some reassurances that those boys were all right, but every passing minute made him believe that they were in trouble.

  Ty brought his horse up alongside his brother’s. They were far enough into the wash that a whisper wouldn’t carry. Still, Ty leaned close. “Logan?”

  “Too far to tell.”

  “No more shots,” Ty said.

  “It shouldn’t, but it worries me.”

  They both looked at Jessie, who sat perfectly still, her eyes closed and her hands folded together.

  “Hell of a woman,” Conner murmured, more to himself than to Ty.

  Ty didn’t answer. The sounds of the steady plod of a horse reached them. Both men did no more than pat the necks of their horses to keep them still. Jessie had already forced her horse’s head around and was stroking his muzzle to keep him quiet. The minutes they waited passed with an agonizing slowness before Conner signaled them to ride out.

  Logan found it unfortunate that he was becoming aware of the individual pains in his body. For a little while he thought of himself as one massive hurt, but he couldn’t allow the pain to rule him. He had to get Kenny out of here.

  Squeezing the boy’s hand was all the warning that Logan could give him. With a loud groan he rolled over and came up on his knees. The groan was real—Tallyman’s fists seemed to have pushed his stomach somewhere in the middle of his back. But Zach reacted as he’d expected, rushing over to kick him back down.

  Only Logan was ready for him. He grabbed hold of Zach’s extended foot, twisting it sharply in a move that almost cost him his breath. But there was enough to yell at Kenny to get out.

  Zach went down flat on his back with a thud, his hand scrambling to draw his gun. Logan lunged and landed on top of him.

  Kenny, instead of obeying, jumped up and lowered his head, charging Tallyman before he could get to Logan. He hit the man’s side, grabbed hold of his leg and let fly with the hardest kick to the shin that he could. Tallyman let him go, screaming as Kenny landed another kick to the same leg, then darted around to repeat his damage to the other one. If he hadn’t been so scared he would have laughed to see the big man’s eyes bulge in disbelief while he tried to rub first one leg then the other.

  Once more he came after him and Kenny shoved the table between them. Tallyman couldn’t stop his forward lunge, and went crashing to the floor over the broken wood.

  Logan had his hands full trying to get Zach to let go of his gun. He lay sprawled on top of Zach, fighting the dizzying waves of agony that rolled up from Zach’s fist pounding his side. Both his hands were wrapped around Zach’s and the gun, banging it repeatedly against the floor. He had no breath to answer one of Zach’s muttered curses.

  He could feel Zach gathering himself to attempt a full body heave. The crashing sounds behind him were all the distraction that Zach needed to make good his move. He dislodged Logan halfway. Logan refused to let go of his gun hand despite the added shove from Zach’s free hand that forced him closer to the floor.

  With another heave, Zach rolled Logan over. The position allowed him to land a solid blow to Logan’s jaw. Scrambling a few inches higher, he had both of his hands around Logan’s and managed to rip one of Logan’s free from the gun. Before Logan could recover, Zach had the gun between them.

  Logan didn’t know where the strength came from; he was only glad that he had enough to pull the trigger.

  The shot was muffled. Zach stared at him. Logan shoved him away just in time to see Kenny swing a piece of the broken table and knock Tallyman out cold.

  “You bastard. You gut-shot me.”

  Logan didn’t answer. It was all he could do to crawl over to the wall and stagger upright. Kenny started for him, but he gave a quick shake of his head. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, every breath sending pain shafting through his battered body, Logan worked his way along the wall toward the door.

  “G-get going,” he told Kenny.

  “But—”

  “Move.” Once again he wiped blood from his split lip. He tried to put some anger in his gaze when Kenny handed him his gun. Logan drew the gun from the holster and let the belt fall. He couldn’t spare the strength to wrap the belt around him.

  “Go.”

  “But there’s still one more.”

  As if his words had conjured him up, Blackleg stood in the doorway.

  He took one look at the bodies on the floor, then looked at Logan. “How the hell did you manage this?”

  “You’re s-smart not…to go for…your gun.”

  “I told them I wouldn’t kill no kids. Put the gun down. I didn’t have nothing to do with them leaving you. Didn’t take one thing of yours. You ain’t got
no cause to shoot me, Lucky.”

  “No.” But Logan didn’t explain that it was the name he denied, and only that. He knew he had to get Blackleg out of the way. He couldn’t let him go.

  “Where’s Marty, mister? What’d ya do to him?”

  “I told you to get out.”

  “You’re hurt, Logan. I can’t leave you here. Suppose there’s more of ’em? Who’s gonna help you if I go?”

  “Logan?” Blackleg repeated.

  “Yeah. That’s his name, mister. An’ he’s gonna be all over you like—”

  “Kenny!”

  “Well, I know you’ll take care of him jus’ as soon as you get a second wind.”

  For a moment Logan didn’t know if he wanted to curse the boy’s stubbornness or give thanks for his courage. And he couldn’t deny that Kenny was right. He still didn’t know how he was standing.

  “Go find something to tie him with,” he ordered the boy, motioning Blackleg inside.

  Kenny ran for the pile of gear in the far corner and in minutes returned with a wicked-looking blade and a blanket. He didn’t wait for Logan’s order to cut strips. And when he had enough, he went first to Tallyman and bound his hands behind his back, then tied his feet. He avoided looking at the man still groaning on the floor. Logan ordered Blackleg facedown on the floor. Holding the gun on him, Logan waited until Kenny was finished tying him up. “Now, you get out of here.”

  “But—”

  “No. I’m proud of you, boy. So proud I can’t even tell you right now. Find Marty. Get back to Jessie.”

  Kenny’s face took on a look of sheer mule-thick stubbornness. Logan briefly closed his eyes and prayed for patience.

  “Listen. You nearly got killed, Kenny. You think I could face Jessie if anything happens to either one of you boys? Go. I need to know that you’re all safe and together.”

  Kenny turned and almost made it out the door. Monte Wheeler blocked his way. A sweeping glance took in the wreckage and the bodies, along with the gun that Logan aimed at him.