by Gary Jonas
Jack meant to slip back to Roulette, but the woman’s crying held him. “It’s bad, it’s so bad. I can’t feel ‘em at all anymore.”
“You be quiet now. That aint helpin you none.”
“You don’t care. You’re just gonna let me die out here, aint ya?”
I’m not going to do this. I am not going to do this. I am not doing this. Jack put his hand on his Colt and took a step towards the women.
A blow to his back sent him down. He tasted snow and rotting pine needles as a hand on the back of his head pushed his face to the ground. The hand curled into a fist and yanked his hair until he was staring back at the fella who’d caught him unawares – big, scar-faced and mean. Hot breath hit Jack’s face. “You the one been on our trail? What the hell you done with Lily?” The voice was rough and deep, yet it was unmistakably feminine. Well, this isn’t a man at all. This here is my good time gal.
“I owe you a silver dollar,” Jack said.
Nancy punched him. “Don’t you mess with me! Where’s Lily?” Her fist flew at his face again, but Jack reached back and caught it. If he’d been alive, she might have broken his arm, but his uncanny strength stopped her. He bucked her off and threw her into the snow. She rolled with a kind of strong grace and reached for her gun. Jack already had his Colt out and pointed at Nancy’s head. She slowly moved her hand away from the gun on her hip.
“Look, let’s be civilized and talk this out,” Jack said.
“Let’s not,” a voice said behind him. Jack felt the rifle’s barrel nuzzle between his shoulder blades. “You put your gun down now, mister.”
Even this close, a shot wouldn’t kill Jack, but it would certainly ruin his night. Then there would be all that explaining to do about not dying. Well, I’m already in this thing, so why not? Jack dropped his gun. Nancy swooped in and picked it up. She studied the handle before tucking it into her belt. She drew her own gun and pointed it at Jack. “Pat him down,” she told the woman behind him.
“Who are you?” Nancy stood eye to eye with Jack; she was tall and lean and angrier than a trod-on rattlesnake.
“I am Marshal Jack Talon, and despite what you may think, I do not mean you ladies any harm.”
“No harm, huh? Then what did you do with Lily? You got her somewhere, unharmed?”
“I don’t know who this Lily is, or what’s happened to her. I am alone in these mountains, just trying to make my way through.”
“That so? Well, I don’t see no provisions. Hard to make your way through these high Sierras without ‘em.”
They’re back thataways with my horse.”
Nancy’s bright eyes narrowed. “What I think is, you been on our trail, Marshal, tryin’ to get yourself a reward. What am I worth these days? They got a poster of me yet?”
“I couldn’t tell you. But your friend...” Jack glanced behind him.
“My name’s Orela,” the woman said, and Nancy hissed at her.
“Your friend Orela here did not find a poster on me, because I am not hunting you. Did you, Orela?”
“No sir. Nancy,” the name drew another hiss, “I didn’t find a thing. He sure is cold, though.”
Fresh weeping broke out then, and Nancy sighed and glanced behind Jack. “How bad is she?”
“She’s gonna lose them toes. They’re black as Jade’s hair and they stink,” Orela answered.
“Godammit.” Nancy looked back into Jack’s eyes. Hers held so much fury they seemed to glow. “All right, Ore. You keep an eye on her, make sure she don’t go off in these damn woods and get herself lost and dead, though I think we’re safer now we got the Marshal here cornered. I’m gonna go with him back to this imaginary horse of his and see if he’s got Lily there, too. So help me God, Marshal, you done anything to her, you are gonna wish you never been born.”
“I wish that on a regular basis already. Let’s go.”
***
Jack led Nancy back to Roulette. The horse had wandered, grazing where the grass still poked through the snow. Jack found him easy enough. He always seemed to know where Roulette was, even before he’d been turned. While they walked, the wind picked up, blowing a bank of clouds ahead of it that cloaked the moon. Roulette nickered nervously; whether it was the sudden darkness or Nancy’s unfamiliar scent, Jack couldn’t tell.
“Lily?” Nancy called out. “You here?” She was answered by wind and distant wolves. She turned to Jack. “You got her bound and gagged?”
“I don’t have your companion at all, like I told you.”
Nancy searched the area, but she wasn’t satisfied. “True she aint here, but you mighta killed her already.” She cocked her gun and pointed it at Jack’s head. He stood silently, waiting for the blast. Nancy lowered her gun.
“Either you got the best poker face I ever seen, or you really don’t know where she is.”
“I knew you’d come around.”
A blast of wind hit the trees, bringing with it the first flakes of a snow storm. Nancy flinched against it. “I have got myself a quandary, Marshal. You got the look of a man knows more that he’s letting on, but you aint done nothing wrong that I can tell, so I can’t shoot you outright.”
“Much obliged, ma’am.”
“At the same time, I don’t trust you enough to turn you loose.”
“With this storm coming in, you might need an extra hand. Sounds like one of your companions is in a bad way.”
“I do not require assistance, ‘specially from the likes of you. Consider yourself my captive.” Nancy reached for Roulette’s bridle but the horse reared. She took several steps back.
“Best let me handle him.” Jack called to Roulette, and his horse settled. Nancy looked around. Even though the dark didn’t bother him, he could tell she was practically blind now that the storm had stolen the moon. He could have slipped away if it weren’t for Roulette. He didn’t dare chance the horse getting shot.
“You got a lantern in that pack?” Nancy asked.
“Thought you didn’t require my assistance.”
“I don’t require your assistance, just your lantern.”
The three made their way back through the trees, Jack leading his horse with Nancy right behind him, gun drawn in one hand, lantern in the other. The storm picked up, and the howling of it almost made Jack a believer in ghost-wolves. The temperature dropped quickly and Nancy pulled her hat down and her coat closer. Jack remembered to do the same, though the cold was nothing to him.
“So what is a company of ladies doing in the wilderness?” Jack asked, his voice barely beating out the wind. Nancy drew up next to him, the better to hear.
“Same as you, Marshal. Just tryin’ to get through these here mountains.”
“On your way to San Francisco? Seeking your fortune? You’re far from the trail if you are.” Jack studied Nancy’s profile, her scars. Even without them, he could see she’d never been a pretty lass. But her blood called to him all the same. Jack was hungry and wanted to feed something awful. If he knew which way she was aiming, he’d go the other.
“I aint sayin we are, and I aint sayin we aint. And we got our own trail to follow.” Nancy looked up through the trees. “Shoulda been outta here three days ago ahead’a this storm.”
“But one of your partner’s gone missing so you’ve been searching.”
“Yup. That’s the size of it.”
“She take your money? Double-cross you? Or was she your captive, too?”
Nancy made a short barking sound which Jack took as a laugh. “You are a poor speculator, Marshal. Lily is—”
They both felt it at the same time. Watched.
“Think your companions came looking for us?” Jack asked.
Nancy shook her head. “I told them to sit tight and they will do so as long as Orela’s in charge. Besides, we’d know it was them ‘cause Gemma’s noisy as a pig at feeding time. She’s the one gonna lose her toes. Stupid bitch.”
They kept walking but now their full attention was focused on the fore
st. It paid off when they heard a branch snap ahead of them. Nancy glanced down at the lantern, which had suddenly become a liability.
“Put it out,” Jack said. Nancy’s eyes narrowed. Oh mercy, good time gal doesn’t like taking orders he thought, just before she covered the light. She doesn’t like it, but she’s smart enough to do the right thing.
Nancy inclined her head towards Jack’s ear. “If those are friends of yours you tell them right now I got a gun to your head and I want Lily back.” She pressed the barrel against Jack’s temple.
“My only friend’s right here on a lead. I think these might be some men who aren’t too happy about the conclusion to our last game of faro.”
Nancy snorted. “Faro’s all rigged. You a dealer?”
“No ma’am. I just know how to unrig the box.”
“Me and the gals are bein’ followed, too.”
“Might be the same men. You pay a call on Lightning Touch?”
“Naw. Steered clear’a that shithole. Last thing we need’s a camp fulla miners want their ashes hauled. I think someone else been followin’ us, someone worser’n your miners. Thought it was you, but maybe not.” Nancy lowered her gun, but kept it cocked.
Well, that told him something. If they had passed by the miner’s camp, they were heading east and away from San Francisco, like himself. Nancy, Orela and Lily must have kidnapped Gemma, maybe the other girl too, from San Francisco. But if they’re holding them for ransom, they sure are a long way from a practical hand-off site.
A pistol fired, then another. Bullets splintered the wood just above Jack’s head. Nancy fired back at one of the flashes and was rewarded with the sound of a man surprised by a sudden lead infusion. Even if he’d been silent, Jack could still feel the man’s life pouring out of him. It took all his reserve not to disappear into the trees to finish him off.
“Get on Roulette, now!” Before she could protest, Jack grabbed Nancy’s arm and pulled her to the horse. He mounted up in front of her.
“What you aimin’ to do? We can’t ride, you can’t see a goddamned thing in this dark!”
“Trust me,” Jack answered, and Roulette took off through the trees, relying on his master’s eyes to keep him from breaking a leg. Behind them they heard men’s voices shouting to each other, and a horse’s whinny.
“We gotta get the gals!” Nancy shouted, and Jack felt her ever-drawn gun against his ribs.
“I’m entertaining the suspicion you still don’t trust me, Nancy. What will it take?”
“You heard. Get me back to my gals and I’ll reconsider my position on your trustworthiness.”
Jack hoped the storm and the dark would slow down the men behind them. He was sure they were from Lightning Touch, but he didn’t know if the Preacher had put them up to this. Either way, by firing at him they had forfeited their lives. He could almost taste their blood now.
***
When they reached the rest of the party, Jack saw the other gals had saddled up.
“We heard shots and got ready to skedaddle,” Orela said. Behind her rode a young girl, the one who’d been sitting on the ground with her legs drawn up. An Oriental, maybe thirteen, maybe a little more. Hard for Jack to tell.
“Weren’t sure who was comin’ back, you or the Marshal.” The woman who must be Gemma sat astride another horse. To Jack’s eye, she didn’t look restrained by anything.
“Oh ye of little faith,” Nancy said, jumping off Roulette and mounting one of the two remaining horses. She grabbed the last horse’s reins. “He aint got Lily but he’s got some enemies might be ours, too.”
“How many?” Orela asked.
“At least two left after I shot one, but I’d say four or five, from the sound of horses. More if they’re doubled-up. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“A little place me and Lily passed on our way,” Nancy looked askance at Jack, “to San Francisco. We can hole up there, sit this weather out. It aint far but it’ll take a while to get to in this storm, maybe three hours.”
Three hours did not bode well for Jack. The sun would be rising about that time.
“Jack, you got a sense in the dark. Which way is southeast?”
Jack was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about assistance. He could hear horses making their way through the trees. Instead, he turned Roulette southeast and led the way. He listened behind for sounds of horses. After about an hour he couldn’t hear them anymore. The blizzard had let up too, though he knew there was more to come. Flakes never stopped falling as they picked their way through the trees. He slowed their pace just a bit, for the sake of Roulette. Nancy pulled up to him.
“What’s this slow-down? If we keep far enough ahead, maybe we can set an ambush. I don’t wanna shoot blind in this dark again. Not if there’s a chance’a hittin’ Lily.”
“You think she’s in their possession?”
“I am hoping she is, ‘cause I do not want to dwell on the alternative.”
Jack thought about the rising sun. “I say we press on to this place you have in mind. Your gals are tired I suspect, and one’s got frostbite.”
Nancy answered with a great deal of regret in her voice. “Yeah, you’re right. Lily always says I think with my gun first. Says it like it’s a bad thing, too. Well, we stay enough ahead, we can fight ‘em from there. I can’t let ‘em know where we’re headed.”
“Sounds like they know that already, and have for a while.”
“No, they don’t. Least I hope they don’t.” Nancy sighed, deep and long. “Lily disappeared right out the campsite three days ago. She had watch. Don’t make sense, just gone into thin air. I’m a light sleeper, I shoulda heard somethin’.”
No one can hear a preacher who leaves no tracks in the snow if he doesn’t want to be heard. Jack considered telling Nancy about him, but that would lead to other, more difficult questions to answer. He wondered again why the Preacher needed him, if he could pluck someone right out from under this crazy bitch’s ugly nose. Not that he wasn’t warming to her. She did have quick reflexes and amazing aim, and there was more to her than kidnapping; the other gals’ easy attitudes towards her told him that. He just couldn’t see her as a whore though, even in the dark.
Of course, not having her Colt pressed against his person went a considerable way towards his feelings of geniality as well.
“Are you positive Lily didn’t double-cross you?”
“Marshal, she would never. First there’s nothin’ for her to double-cross. This aint what it looks like.” Nancy’s voice lifted just a little. “But it’s reassuring to me to know that’s what it does look like. Second, she would not be alive and free if it were not for my intervention long ago. I saved her from a terrible life, and she aint never looked back.”
“Was Lily a soiled dove?”
“We were all of us soiled doves, Marshal. Some more recently than others. But you will show us respect.”
“I never said I wouldn’t.”
“You keep it that way, you’ll get out of this in one piece.”
Jack picked up the pace again and they rode on without speaking. Behind them now and then Gemma moaned over her foot. Otherwise the forest was quiet, waiting for the blizzard’s next onslaught. Brightness ahead showed them that they’d reached a wide-open valley floor. They came to the edge of the trees and Nancy told them to hold up. The snow in the valley was much deeper without any cover to protect it. Riding through would be more difficult. Jack looked at the sky, where a break in the clouds showed him that dawn was not far off.
“How much farther we got to go, Nancy?” he asked her.
“You’re like a kid in a wagon.” Nancy looked out across the valley. “There’s a trapper’s cabin just a few miles, other side’a the valley where them little hills is. We’re gonna skirt along the trees, keep under cover.”
“But that’ll take longer.”
Nancy narrowed her eyes at Jack. “If we ride as the crow flies, cut straight across, we won’t have any s
helter. They’ll see us. They got Winchesters, they’ll shoot us down like deer.”
The sky between the clouds grew lighter. Jack pulled his collar up higher. “If we make straight for it, we could set up that ambush you want, but we’d have to go quick.”
“Anything to get us off these goddamn horses sooner,” Gemma said. “I gotta warm up my feet, Nancy. They aint lookin’ good.”
“You, me and the whole damn mountain know that, way you been pissin’ and moanin’. We cut across, you might lose your head ‘steada your feet.”
“Well, I’m with the Marshal.” Gemma brought her horse up next to Roulette. In the pre-dawn light, Jack could see her face was round and pretty, and that she had a special smile just for him. Me and a few hundred other fellas she thought she could get something from, I imagine.
“Orela, you with us, too?” Gemma added.
Orela possessed a more delicate beauty than Gemma. Jack realized it was because her eyes hadn’t hardened. She looked back and forth between Nancy and Gemma before she settled on the good time gal. “I’d kinda like to get where we’re goin’ to sooner ‘n later. Longer we’re out here in the open, more chance of us gettin’ hurt, and not just from whoever’s after us.”
“I think it’s Trimpy come to get us back,” Gemma said.
“Trimpy aint gonna come all the way out here for your used-up cunny, so you disavow yourself of that notion right now.” Nancy glared at Gemma.
“You said you ‘n Lily saw this place on your way out?” Orela asked. “Maybe she’s there, Nance, waitin’ for us, knowin’ you’d remember it. Faster we can get to her....” Orela smiled at Nancy, and her smile looked genuine. Nancy’s face brightened just for a moment. She looked out across the valley.
“Hell. Nice goddamned committee we got here. What do you say, Jade Silk Doll?” Nancy looked at the girl huddled behind Orela.
“Coolies don’t get no votes. Don’t know no English anyways,” Gemma said.
“That aint fair! She does too know some.” Orela shouted back.
“Like what?” Gemma laughed, then mimicked a Chinese accent. “Virgin, ten dollar, you pay Trimpy.” Nancy backhanded Gemma before Jack could even think about it. Gemma reeled and howled.