“They’re headed for the Red River,” he told the others.
For the next two days, the deputies took almost the same path they had covered before as they tracked the outlaws north to Tishomingo. And then for the next four days they backtracked on the same well-traveled road they had used to get to Tishomingo, losing sight of the tracks at times, picking them up again further along the trail. Not once in all that time did they see Lina or the outlaws, but Tom assured them that they were making progress and that the foursome was still riding together.
It wasn’t until they reached Sallisaw, near the Arkansas border, that things changed.
“Lina’s not riding with them anymore,” Beck said after examining the tracks for several miles after he first discovered that the unshod pony’s tracks were not with the others.
Remington became alarmed. “What does that mean?” he asked. “Do you think they killed her?”
“Maybe not,” Beck said. “Maybe she escaped from them.”
Chapter 15
The deputies backtracked to the place where Tom had first discovered that Lina’s tracks were missing. After walking in all different directions, carefully examining the ground, he finally found Lina’s tracks again.
“Lina’s alive,” Tom said.
“Thank God,” Ned sighed.
“She escaped from her captors. The tracks seem to be headed for Tahlequah.”
“I think she’s heading home to Osage,” Remington said. “My guess is that she’ll go through Siloam Springs.”
“I think you’re right about her heading home,” Shaw said. “But Tahlequah would be out of her way.” His arm was healing nicely and hardly hurt anymore.
“She probably went that way to throw the outlaws off guard if they tried to follow her,” Beck said.
“She’s smart enough to do it,” Ned said.
“Now we’ve got a big decision to make,” Tom said. “Do we follow Lina, or do we follow the outlaws?”
“There’s no question about it,” Remington said.
“We go after Lina. Once we find her, we can always go after the outlaws.”
“Then do we go to Tahlequah or Siloam Springs?” Beck asked.
“Siloam Springs,” Ned said. “I know she’ll be there and it’ll cut out a lot of time. If we’re closing in on them as fast as you say we are, Tom, we might even beat her there.”
“We will beat her there, if my calculations are right,” Beck said.
The men headed for Siloam Springs and got there early in the morning of the third day.
Siloam Springs was quiet when they arrived. The deputies took up a position in a grove of trees where they could watch the road from Tahlequah.
They waited and waited. The hours dragged by and the men were sure they had made a wrong decision. They were about to leave when they saw a lone rider heading toward them.
Twenty minutes later, Lina Miller rode up, totally exhausted. Her horse was lathered, almost ready to cash it in.
“They’re right behind me,” she cried. Ned helped her down from her saddle and she fell into his arms. “I just knew they were going to catch up to me today,” she sobbed. “They’re trying to kill me.”
“It’s all right now, Lina,” Ned said as he wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll help you.”
“I know you will,” she sobbed. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Tom Beck is the best tracker around. He knew at every turn in the road just where you were going. He told us that you escaped from the outlaws near Sallisaw.”
Lina pulled away from Ned, “That’s amazing,” she said.
“Tom also told us you were going to Tahlequah,” Ned said.
“I did,” she laughed. “I didn’t want them to know I was going back to Arkansas so I went the long way around.”
Ned Remington looked off in the distance and saw the spools of dust kicked up by the fast-approaching horses. “They’re coming fast,” he said.
Lina and the two deputies turned and saw the riders.
“Give me a rifle or your spare pistol,” Lina said to Ned.
“You’re in no condition to fight, Lina,” he said. “Just stay out of sight and let us handle it. Besides, I want these men alive.”
“Why?” she asked. “Haven’t they killed enough?”
“They’re going to trial,” Ned said. “I want them to stand trial in front of Judge Barnstall.”
“All right,” she said. “I won’t shoot to kill. But let me help. Please.”
Reluctantly, Ned gave her an extra pistol and the ammunition to go with it. They all tucked back into the grove of trees.
As the riders came on fast, Ned kicked Lina’s horse and sent it out onto the trail. The trick worked. The outlaws charged.
“Shoot low,” Ned said. “Try to hit the horses, not the men.”
He took aim and shot Paco Gaton’s horse in the leg. The horse faltered and went down. Gaton slammed to the ground and the horse rolled over on his legs.
Lina shot Peter Van Hook’s horse right out from under him.
Norville Haskins whirled his horse around and made a break for it just as Remington took aim. Ned adjusted his aim and shot at the retreating horse. His shot was high and he hit the rider instead. Haskins tumbled from his saddle, a bullet in his back.
Van Hook was up and running and Tom Beck chased him down, tackled him to the ground. Beck dragged him back over to the trees and Frank Shaw helped him put the handcuffs on.
Paco Gaton cursed a blue streak as he struggled to free himself from the weight of his downed horse. Ned and Beck walked over and pulled the animal’s legs off of the outlaw. They shackled him on the spot.
Haskins was still alive and not badly wounded. The bullet passed through the fleshy ring of fat just below his ribs. He crawled into the thick brush while the others were busy with the other outlaws.
A few minutes later, Remington heard the click of a cocking pistol. He turned around just in time to see Lina running toward the brush. He knew the clicking sound had come from the brush. He glanced around and didn’t see Haskins on the ground where he had fallen from his horse. And then he knew. Haskins was in the brush, prepared to kill one of them.
“No, Lina!” he called just as the girl disappeared into the brush.
A shot rang out and Ned was certain that Lina had been killed,
Ned and Tom approached the brush cautiously. The brush rattled and they jumped back just as Lina emerged from the thick brush, carrying the pistol.
“I—I only had one bullet left,” she said in a shaky voice.
“What about Haskins?” Remington asked. •
“He’s in there. Dead.”
“Did you have to kill him?”
“Yes. He was going to kill one of you I fought off his advances when I was with them. He hurt me very badly. He has been trying to kill me all along. I hated him. That’s what finally gave me the courage to escape from those dreadful murderers. I wanted to kill all of them. I still do.”
“You’d better give me that pistol,” Ned said.
She looked over at the two prisoners with hatred in her eyes. “Yes, maybe I should,” she said bitterly.
She handed the Colt to Ned.
Ned let out a sigh of relief. He spun the cylinder around and saw that there was still one shot left. He looked at Lina.
“That was for me, if I missed,” she said softly. Remington looked hard at her for a long time. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
“Let’s go,” he said gruffly. “Tom, mount ’em up.”
“Sure,” said Tom. He glanced at Lina and shook his head. “I’m sure glad she’s going to come willin’,” he told Ned.
“So am I, Tom,” Ned said with a smile. “So am I.”
THE END
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About the Author
Robert Vaughan sold his first book when he was 19. That was 57 years and nearly 500 books ago. He wrote the novelization for the miniseries Andersonville. Vaughan wrote, produced, and appeared in the History Channel documentary Vietnam Homecoming. His books have hit the NYT bestseller list seven times. He has won the Spur Award, the PORGIE Award (Best Paperback Original), the Western Fictioneers Lifetime Achievement Award, received the Readwest President’s Award for Excellence in Western Fiction, is a member of the American Writers Hall of Fame and is a Pulitzer Prize nominee. Vaughn is also a retired army officer, helicopter pilot with three tours in Vietnam. And received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, The Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal for valor with 35 oak leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
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Red River Revenge (Remington Book 1) Page 12