“Go ahead and kill me,” she dared him. “What is the difference if you take me here or save me for the bad woman? Either way I would rather die! Once I am touched by filth like you, I will have no reason left to live!”
She squinted as he pulled her hair tighter. “Well, little lady, maybe I can accommodate you. My men have been uneasy all day with you along. They want a piece of you, and I don’t know if I can hold them off two more days without risking my own life. I’m thinking it’s not worth the trouble you’re causing with this body of yours—”
“Hey, boss, if you’re going to go ahead with it, hurry it up,” one of the other men interrupted Humes with a laugh.
Humes leaned close and grasped Nina’s face tightly, forcing a hot, sickening kiss. The horrors of her mother’s attack became very vivid for Nina, and she could no longer fight the physical illness Jess Humes’s foul kiss brought her. She turned her head away just in time before being sick. Humes was so engrossed in her that at first he didn’t even realize what had happened. His lips were already traveling over her breasts. He touched her riding skirt to tear it away, then realized it was soaked.
“What the—” He rose up to his knees, looking at her face and seeing she had been sick. “Jesus!” he swore, jumping up. He realized then that the wetness on her riding skirt was urine. He made a face, moving away from her. “Hayden!” he shouted. “Get a pan or something and fill it with water. Throw it on her face. The stupid bitch got sick on me.”
The others burst out laughing, shouting crude remarks at Humes. “She find you that repulsive?” one of them asked.
“You should have let me try first,” another teased. “I’ve never made a woman throw up.”
They laughed more until an angry Jess Humes pulled his six-gun and pointed it at them. “The next man who makes a remark or laughs dies!” he growled.
They all sobered, and Hayden took a coffeepot to the stream to fill it. He brought it over to where Nina lay on her side, shaking and spitting. Hayden untied her from the tree, grasping her around the waist and pulling her away from where she had vomited. He dumped the pot of cold water on her face and neck, pouring it on and rubbing at her until most of the mess was washed away, then pouring some into her mouth so she could rinse it. His nose curled at the smell, and he looked down at her wet skirt.
“I’ll say one thing…” he told her, jerking at her arms and pulling her over to another tree. “You sure know how to make a man lose interest.” He retied her wrists to the second tree. “You might have got out of this one, and maybe it’s for the best, considering what we can get for you, little lady. Once we get you to Hannah’s, she’ll clean you up real pretty. She’s got things you can drink that will make you real anxious to have a man in your bed. You won’t be throwing up then. You’ll welcome us with open arms.”
He chuckled, his eyes raking over her torn blouse before he left her. Nina wiggled closer to the tree, pressing her chest against her tied hands so that she could button the blouse at least part way, enough to keep herself covered. She closed her eyes and curled up then, hating her miserable condition but glad for the sickness and the accident she had had. If it would keep Humes and his men off her, then she would just as soon stay in this dirty, smelly condition. It was the first time in her life she was glad to feel sick.
She kept her face turned away, finally allowing a few tears to come. They were not for herself, but for Emilio. Was he dead? He looked dead when they had left him that morning. He was at least badly hurt, and there was no one to help him. She longed to be a child again, to be home in Mexico with her parents, helping her mother bake bread or helping her father tend the few cattle they once had. Life would never be that good again.
She stubbornly shook away her tears, not wanting Jess Humes to see them. Humes and the others made camp and ate, Humes himself bringing Nina a plate of beans and a cup of coffee. “You’d better eat,” he told her. “I want you to be nice and healthy when I take you to Hannah.”
Nina managed to sit up and lean sideways against the tree. She cast him a dark, hate-filled look. “I am not hungry. Do you wish to have me throw up all over you again?”
His one good eye darkened with anger. “You’re beginning to be more trouble than you’re worth.”
“Then kill me and get it over with,” she sneered. She met his look challengingly and he set the plate aside.
“You make it very tempting,” he finally answered.
“And you make it easy to want to die!” she spit at him.
He laughed almost nervously and rose. “Maybe you’ll eat if I undo those hands.”
Her spirits lifted at the words. She raised her chin. “I might.”
He nodded slowly. “All right.” He left, and Nina brightened at the thought of having her hands free. Maybe she would find a way to escape after all! But her heart sank when Humes returned with a long piece of looped rawhide.
“You gonna give her a taste of being hanged like the horse thief she is, boss?” a man called Brad asked. By now Nina knew them all by name, hated them all with equal passion.
“I ought to hang her outright,” Humes replied, slipping the nooselike loop over her head. He tightened it enough that she could not possibly slip it over her head, securing it in a knot so tight that to get out of the noose the rawhide would have to be cut first. He shimmied up the tree where she was tied and took the other end of the rawhide and tied it around a tree limb. He climbed back down, smiling wider as he took out a knife and cut the rawhide that bound her wrists together and to the tree trunk. “There you are,” he told her. “Your hands are free so you can eat and drink, and if you need to do something else, you can relieve yourself on the other side of this tree. Try going beyond your limit, and that rawhide will cut right into that pretty little neck. You have enough slack there to lie down on the ground, but that’s about it.”
He walked away and grabbed a couple of blankets, bringing them back and throwing them at her. “You can sleep on your own tonight. I don’t intend to share a bedroll with something that smells worse than an animal.” When he left her, she rubbed at her sore, bleeding wrists, imagining aiming a rifle at Jess Humes’s back. She wished she could bathe and change her smelly riding skirt, but she knew that even if they would let her, she wouldn’t do either. That would mean undressing again, and she could not take the risk of stirring their base desires.
She tried to put her finger inside the loop around her neck, but it was too tight. Humes had left her barely enough slack to breathe and swallow. She reached behind her neck to see if she could budge the knot there, but it was impossible. Her predicament was virtually the same as when her wrists were bound.
She watched Humes. If she could convince him she had changed her mind about cooperating…She would wait until later tonight, when the others were sleeping. Then she would find a way to lure Jess Humes back beside her. If she could get hold of his gun, she could shoot him, then shoot herself before the other men got to her. It was the only way she could think of to avoid what lay ahead for her. If Emilio lived, he would understand why she had taken her life. She could only pray God would also understand.
She sat down, trying to stay calm to avoid the choking sensation the noose around her neck created. It was a terrifying feeling, but she refused to give in to it. Humes wanted to see her grasp at the noose, whimper in panic. She would not give him that pleasure. He looked over at her and she only gave him a look of defiance, picking up the cup of coffee and gulping some down.
Chapter Six
“You sure they’ll be up there?” Clay asked Emilio.
Emilio, riding beside him, nodded his head. He sat bent over on his horse, looking ready to pass out. It was becoming too dark to ride any farther, and Emilio had already warned Clay not to go any closer with all the horses or they would be heard by Humes and his men. He pointed to an area where Clay barely made out what looked like the tops of trees. They seemed to grow up from some kind of deep ravine.
“Many t
imes…outlaws hide there,” Emilio said, his voice growing weaker.
Clay dismounted, walking around to help the young man down from his horse. “I will show you,” Emilio said.
“You’re going to stay right here and lie down,” Clay told him quietly. “You’re badly injured, Emilio. I wouldn’t have let you do this much if I didn’t need your help in finding those men.”
“I have to go…kill Jess Humes,” Emilio grimaced.
“You aren’t killing anyone, because I’m not giving you a gun. Technically you’re my prisoner. Besides, you’re in too much pain to shoot straight.” Clay ordered Private Hanson to come and help Emilio. “Keep an eye on him,” he told the Swede. “I’m going ahead on foot to scout out the place. Keep those camels ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
Clay bent to remove his boots so that their hard soles would not crunch against rocks as he approached what he hoped was Jess Humes’s hiding place. He grabbed his rifle and headed toward the trees, darkness swiftly dropping down on the horizon. Crickets began to sing, and as he got closer, Clay could see a tiny, soft glow among the tree branches. Someone in the ravine had lit a fire.
His heart raced as he neared the ravine, not with fear but with anticipated dread of Nina’s condition. What had they done to her? Was she still even alive? They had found no body and no trace of a grave all day as they followed Humes’s tracks.
He reached the edge of the ravine, crouching, moving to the left until he could see the campsite more easily. He squinted his eyes, studying the scene below. Four men sat around the campfire drinking whiskey. Clay strained to hear their conversation, wondering where the fifth one was. And none of these men wore a patch over his eye. From the description given him by victims of horse thefts and robberies, as well as from Emilio, he knew Jess Humes wore a black patch over one eye. Where was he? And where was Nina?
“How much you think we’ll get for her, boss?” one of them asked.
Finally the fifth man stepped into the firelight. There was the patch! “Hard to say,” the man replied in a gruff voice. Clay could tell even from his vantage point above that Humes was a big man. “A good thousand, untouched. I’m gonna ask for more than that.”
“Might be worth our shares to just get our money’s worth right now for free,” another man said as he slugged down more whiskey. “It was hard enough getting through last night. You’re asking a lot, Jess.”
“Keep your pants buttoned, Hayden,” Humes answered. “She needs a bath. She wet all over her riding skirt and she still smells like vomit. Wait till we get her to Hannah’s and get her cleaned up. Just remember, I’m the first customer.”
“I think we ought to play some cards to determine that,” said a third man. “Why should you get to be first?”
Humes grinned. “All right. We’ll play a little poker.” He took a watch from his vest pocket. “We’ll play until midnight. Whoever is ahead at that time gets to be Nina Juarez’s first customer in San Antonio.”
They all snickered, and Clay’s stomach turned. What had they already done to Nina to make her be sick? To hear them talk so casually about what would be done with her made him want to kill. He studied the scene a little longer as one man took out some cards and others spread out a blanket near the fire, on which they would play their game. He wanted to be sure of Nina’s whereabouts so that he didn’t risk her getting hurt when he and the others attacked. He trained his eyes in the direction from which Humes had walked to the fire, figuring he might have been with Nina. He caught sight of one booted foot in the light of the fire. He determined Nina must be lying just outside the firelight, probably tied up.
His only comfort was realizing Humes and his men must not have raped her as they talked about leaving her untouched until they reached San Antonio. But how badly was she hurt? And the fact remained that they were drinking. Whiskey was certainly no aid to staying away from a woman. If they drank for very long, all their plans for leaving Nina unharmed would most likely fall by the wayside. There was no time to waste.
He quietly moved away and hurried back to his own camp, grimacing with pain. His socks were little protection against hard rocks and prickly plants. Finding his way through the darkness and over the rough terrain took him nearly twenty minutes.
“You found them, sir?” Corporal Mills asked.
“Yes.” Clay hurried over to where Emilio lay anxiously waiting to hear news of his sister. He knelt close to the young man. “They’re there, just like you said they would be,” he told Emilio. “As far as I can tell, they haven’t raped Nina, but she might be hurt. She’s lying just outside the firelight while they’re playing poker.” He decided not to tell Emilio what the stakes of the game were. “If we move in fast, we can make an easy kill. You just lie here and wait.”
“Be careful, or they will kill Nina,” Emilio said anxiously.
“Don’t worry.”
Emilio watched Clay rise and start giving orders. His feelings for the man were mixed. He told himself that just because Clay was helping him didn’t mean he was a good gringo. He was only doing it because he would be catching some horse thieves, which would probably win him a promotion. He had made Emilio himself a prisoner and would probably turn both him and Nina over to the authorities. Emilio was furious with himself for needing these stupid American soldiers to help him save his sister. The only good that might come of this besides helping Nina was that Jess Humes would be put out of business. If he and Nina could get themselves out of this mess, the whole territory would be wide open to them. Their competition would be gone!
Clay gathered together the corporal, Sergeant Johnson, two more men Emilio didn’t know, and the strange foreigner who wore a turban and a robe. He left another sergeant in charge of the rest of the men and their unusual animal train. The extra three soldiers removed their boots, but the Arab kept on his soft leather sandals. The soldiers checked their rifles, and all five men walked into the darkness, the Arab leading the three camels by their bridles. Emilio wondered if Youngblood’s plan was ingenious or crazy. One thing was sure, the camels would be a great surprise to the outlaws, maybe just enough of a surprise to help the lieutenant get the better of them. He could only pray the plan would work and that nothing would happen to Nina.
Humes threw in his hand, glaring at Hayden, who had quickly taken most of his money. “Looks like I’ll get the prize,” Hayden bragged. “Let’s not leave too late tomorrow. I want to get to Hannah’s place soon as possible.”
Humes lit a thin cigar. “We’ve got a ways to go, and as long as we’re out here, I’m still the boss.” He puffed the cigar, eyeing Hayden.
Hayden crammed the money into his pocket. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Humes grinned. He hated losing at anything, and he was not about to lose at his chance at being first with Nina Juarez. “It means, if I change my mind about waiting, the woman is still mine.”
“I’ve already cleaned out Brad and taken nearly all your money,” Hayden answered, his temper rising. He slugged down more whiskey. “The bet was that whoever wins gets to be first with the woman.”
“The bet was that the winner could be first once we’re at Hannah’s and get her cleaned up,” Humes answered. “It’s still my decision whether or not we wait till then.” He drank some of his own whiskey. “I’m thinking we could strip her and throw her in that creek to wash her off and we could have it over with—kill her and get the hell out of here.”
Hayden rose. “Like hell! You said you were going to wait! And you said whoever won this game could have her first! You lost, Jess, and you can’t stand it. This is just your way of getting around it!”
Humes rose and faced the man, tossing down his cigar. “You suddenly putting yourself in charge, Hayden?” His hand moved toward his gun.
Hayden raised his chin, breathing deeply. “Maybe I am. Whoever is in charge ought to be able to make up his mind, and you don’t seem to be able to do that. That woman’s got your pants so tight that it�
�s shut off the blood to your brain!” he sneered.
Humes stiffened, his one dark eye bloodshot from rage. “I can tell you one thing,” he growled, feeling his whiskey. “When we reach San Antonio, there will only be four of us!”
Hayden slowly nodded. “That’s right. And I’ll be in charge!”
Nina watched from the darkness, thinking that if one of the men killed the other, maybe that would improve her chances of escaping. Suddenly everything seemed to happen at once, the most unusual sight she had ever seen. She wondered if she was dreaming. Hayden and Humes drew on each other, their guns out so quickly that she didn’t even catch the movement. Humes’s gun flashed and fired, and Hayden stumbled backward, landing hard on his back just inches from Nina. His arm flailed backward, and in that split second Nina grabbed his six-gun from his hand.
By the time she cocked the firearm and looked up, three camels suddenly loomed into the firelight, startling the four remaining men. Nina watched in wide-eyed shock as the outlaws’ horses began rearing and whinnying, some of them breaking loose from where they were tied. Humes and the other three men shouted out curses and exclamations.
“What the hell are they?” Brad screamed, sounding like a frightened child.
Nina gasped in surprise when a familiar-looking soldier darted into the firelight, brandishing a rifle. Brad fired at him, just grazing one arm. The soldier whirled but stayed on his feet, coming back around and firing at his assailant, sending the man sprawling. At nearly the same time the one called John started to shoot at another soldier, and the soldier who had shot the first man slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of John’s head. Nina realized then who he was. It was the gringo from Indianola, Lieutenant Youngblood!
There was no time to wonder how the lieutenant had found her. In the midst of all the ruckus, Humes shot at one of the camels but had only grazed it, apparently making it angry. The sight was so unexpected that Nina froze at first, unable to shoot at Humes as she had planned. The wounded camel spit something thick and black right into Humes’s face and he screamed and cursed, while Nina saw two more soldiers appear in the firelight. Two or three shots were fired, and she heard some men ordering others to put down their weapons. As the wounded camel still came at Humes, a man in a turban shouted at it in a foreign tongue.
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