by Jeanne Rose
So Sam hadn't come alone, and he hadn't brought army men. Maybe he had come just for her. "The bandits saw your flashing mirrors."
"The heliograph. I was wondering about that."
She stared into the darkness. "Ben and Javier are out there?"
"I hope so. They scattered when the bandits attacked tonight. But one of them might have been wounded and neither can track."
Louisa digested this information, also hoping the young men were safe and sound.
"They should have stayed put where I told them to," complained Sam. "I should have stayed on the mountain myself. I was stupid and crazy to try to sneak up on the camp so soon. I just had to try to get closer, to see if I could smuggle you away."
"You were crazy, huh?" Madly in love?
"I've been out of my mind for days. I couldn't get over the fact that I should have been at that corral like I said I would be. Then this never would have happened."
She didn't want to hear about guilt; she desperately desired a declaration of love. "Now who's blaming himself? You came for me – that's enough."
"No, it's not enough. It was my duty to not only find you but to free you. Instead, I managed to get captured myself."
Duty? So Sam had come after her out of duty!
Already emotional, Louisa felt a jolt of pain, as sharp as if she'd been stabbed with a knife. She jumped to her feet. "I can't believe you're spouting off about duty in a situation like this! They could kill us both! Don't you have a heart and feelings?"
Sam looked surprised. "Louisa!"
But she turned her back, stalking off. She didn't realize Tezco was approaching until she met him face to face.
He didn't appear happy. "What were you doing with the captives?"
She bit back her temper. "Only talking."
"With the blond soldier."
"So?" She shrugged, started to walk off.
But Tezco caught her by the arm. "I remember him from New Mexico Territory. You were dancing with him, weren't you, querida?" He jerked her closer, his grasp like iron. "Is he your lover, perhaps?"
Louisa's hurt and anger faded some more. Tezco claimed to be a thief, not a murderer, but who knew what he'd do to a man he saw as a rival?
"He was only a would-be suitor."
"You are trying to protect him."
She could tell the Mexican was angry and tried calming words. "I don't want to see anyone hurt, not even you." She assured him, "That man was never more than a suitor." Not seeing any other choice, she lied, "I don't want to be with that man. I don't like him."
"But you still do not wish to be with me?"
As put out with Sam as she was, she was going to have to flirt with the bandit to keep him from doing harm. She lowered her eyelashes, tried to smile engagingly.
"You are handsome, Tezco, and brave. What woman would not want you?"
Appearing surprised, he smiled, his teeth flashing white against his tan skin. "And what is this? Do you speak of yourself? You have forgiven me for stealing you away? For the hardships of the trail? For shooting the jaguar?"
"It's not up to me to forgive. I only hope you'll be kinder in the future."
"If you ask prettily, I will be."
Taking hold of her chin, he raised her face for a kiss.
Now what? Louisa thought, panicking, her pulse racing. She'd gone too far.
A strident voice interrupted them. "Tezco!"
Louisa had never been happier to see Xosi.
"I must talk to you...alone." The Mexican woman glared at her brother's captive. "It is important. Very important."
Reluctantly letting go, Tezco nodded. But he assured Louisa, "I will come back."
And what would she do then? she wondered, her mind awhirl. Unless she could figure out a way to keep Tezco at arm's length, Sam's arrival had created a very serious problem.
AS SAM WATCHED THE scenario being played out before him, he called himself every kind of fool. Even as she'd gotten angry and risen in a huff, he'd realized Louisa had wanted him to tell her he loved her, instead of prattling on about duty.
Now he had to sit helpless and watch her smile and flirt with the bandit leader. Though bound, he was tempted to struggle to his feet and launch himself at the other man.
Not that doing so would help him...or Louisa.
Hot with jealousy, especially when Tezco took hold of the woman he truly did love, he still was able to rationalize, understand that she was probably doing what she thought she must. Her stiff back and guarded expression surely meant she feared Tezco, rather than liked him.
Unless her discomfort came from guilt.
No, he didn't want to doubt Louisa. She'd been telling him the truth about her relationship with Tezco, Sam assured himself. Cool down.
The only important thing now was a plan of escape. He glanced up at the dark shapes of the surrounding loom of mountains, wondering where Monte Ryerson was and if Javier and Ben would be able to join up with him. In the excitement of seeing Louisa, he hadn't gotten around to telling her about the rancher and his reinforcements, had nearly forgotten about Ryerson himself.
His main hope now was that the rancher would be able to engineer some kind of ambush.
"I SAW A MAN IN MY MIRROR," Xosi told Tezco in all seriousness. "Perhaps he is planning an ambush. We need to do something about him and as soon as possible."
"The mirror again?" The hair on the back of Tezco's neck rose as he recalled what they'd seen in the ancient pueblo...what he encountered all too frequently in restless dreams. "What kind of brujeria is this?"
"I do not know how I am able to see it," Xosi admitted. "But I am certain I do – the man actually exists." She gestured. "He is there, at the mouth of a cave and near the stretch of rock face. He is watching our fires, waiting. We should attack him before he attacks us." When Tezco remained thoughtful, silent, she asked, "Would you like to look in the mirror yourself?"
"No!"
She jumped, startled.
He struggled to speak in a soothing tone. "I believe you." He knew his sister was telling the truth, knew there was something magical about her little mirror. But he simply could not bring himself to look in it at the moment, feared what he might see. "Perhaps this man is one of the soldier's compadres who ran away from us earlier. We should climb the mountain and take him at dawn."
"No, we should go now," said Xosi. "He will not be expecting us and he is, after all, only one man."
"He is the only one you saw."
"Then bring torches. We will sneak up to the cave and light them, smoke the other men out."
Tezco nodded. "I am always respectful of your cunning.
An attack at night will indeed not be expected. I will tell the men."
Xosi smiled, looking happier than she had for days. Perhaps they could finally heal the rift between them, Tezco thought.
Meanwhile, he would make sure that he left enough men to guard the prisoners and make the camp look like it was running normally. He would tell them to stoke the fires and prepare another pot of beans. With all the shooting and the death of Pablo, his band had hardly had a chance to eat their evening meal.
Though Tezco himself was not hungry, at least not for food. Thinking of the way Louisa had flirted with him, he smiled. And wished he did not have so many responsibilities and distractions keeping him away from her. But he felt certain there would be pleasures to enjoy with her in the future. Just as he had been sure that she would change her mind about him if he gave her enough time.
HOW MUCH TIME DID she have? Louisa wondered as she watched most of the bandits divide into two groups and slip off into the shadows. She'd heard something about their plans and feared they were on the trail of Javier and Ben. She prayed the Mexicans wouldn't kill them.
Meantime, she had to launch her own attack. Luckily, a pot of beans still simmered on the main campfire and the bandits were always hungry.
Ignoring Sam, who was sitting some feet away from the other prisoners, she'd approached Roberto and Shorty to ha
ve a few quiet words with them. Then she'd taken out the small packet she'd carried in her trouser pocket for days, unwrapped the rag holding several jimsonweed seeds that she'd collected by sneaking out of bed in the moonlight. She used a rock to crush them against a tin plate. The resulting juice was toxic, though she hoped to use only enough to make the bandits sick.
When she was ready, she gave a subtle sign to Roberto.
The cowboy got to his feet. "Help, help! A snake! A rattler!"
As expected, the few men left to guard the captives came running.
"A snake!" yelled Shorty. "There it is – shoot it!"
The bandit in charge of the cooking turned his back to his pot of beans, straining to see what was going on. While he was engrossed in the commotion, Louisa flitted over to the campfire and dribbled the contents of the plate into the pot. Then she stirred the beans, using a big stick laying near the fire.
"There is no snake!" shouted one of the guards. "You are loco!"
"It went under a rock," insisted Roberto.
Swearing under his breath, the cook suddenly turned back to the fire, his eyes widening when he spotted Louisa.
She let go of the stirring stick and tried to smile. "M-mm, these smell so good!"
"You are hungry, Señorita? Let me fill your plate."
"Gracias," she said, handing it over, hoping he didn't notice the bits of seed husk sticking to the sides.
When he didn't, she breathed a sigh of relief and ambled off toward the edge of camp. In the darkness, she dumped the beans out onto the earth and started calculating the amount and kind of supplies a group of seven people would need to survive a trek through the dry wildness of this part of the Sierra Madre.
No, make that eight people.
Louisa realized she'd left out Sam. But then, that had to be because she wasn't used to him being around, not even in New Mexico.
Angry again, she wished there was some way to let him eat a few beans, only enough to make him slightly ill. But, of course, she couldn't really do that. She simply wasn't that cruel.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"DROP YOUR GUN, hombre," ordered the woman bandit who took Monte prisoner. "Then raise your hands to the sky."
Monte didn't see as he had any other choice, since the woman was accompanied by several men as well armed as she. He let his rifle drop, wishing he'd paid closer attention to the subtle noises he'd heard in the dark. But he hadn't expected an attack to come at night, nor for the Mexicans to know exactly where he and his men were.
"If you value your life, do not move," the woman said, coming closer to lift his handgun from its holster.
With a smile, she ran her hands over his torso, buttocks and legs, searching for hidden weapons. She raised his denim pantlegs to make sure he had no knives in his boots and slid her hands up his inner thighs. "Nothing dangerous there."
Angered and a little embarrassed, he growled, "All depends on the circumstances."
"Xosi, is this man alone? Have you searched the cave?"
A new voice. Monte flicked his gaze to the other side of the cave's entrance. More bandits. His heart sank. If he'd seen any prospect of escaping before, he now thought otherwise.
Xosi poked him in the chest with her gun. "Do you have friends hiding the cave? How many?"
"Friends?" repeated Monte loudly. If he couldn't get away himself, he could at least warn the others. "There's nobody else in the cave –"
"Quiet!" hissed Xosi, slapping his face so hard it stung. "I know what you are about!" She turned to the leader of the second group of bandits. "Light the torches, Tezco. I will keep watch over this braying donkey."
Alone, Monte hoped, so he'd have the chance to wrestle her gun away. But again he was disappointed when the bandits separated, some accompanying the one called Tezco with torches, the rest staying behind with this Xosi. He thought of Jake and the other two hands rolled up in their blankets, prayed they'd heard his voice and had already run out the other entrance.
Gunshots and noise told him they hadn't. Damn! Shoulders stiff, he stared into the dark cave until the torches flared back into sight. Jake stumbled toward him, ahead of several bandits with guns drawn. The foreman's head was bloody, expression grim.
Jake came up beside him. "The other two got away. I probably would've escaped, too, if I hadn't been so dead asleep."
Nobody dead. Monte let out his breath in relief. "They shot you?"
"Nah, got tangled up in my blanket, hit my head on a rock."
"I ordered you to remain quiet!" said Xosi, stepping closer to slap Monte again.
His temper flared. "If you do that one more time, lady –"
"You'll what?" Placing a hand against his chest, she leaned in close enough to brush her breasts against his body.
To Monte's chagrin, he was relieved when Xosi stepped back.
"So there were two others?" she asked.
"Yeah, two. And so what?" Monte said belligerently. "They high-tailed it out of here. You'll never catch them."
At least he hoped not. He breathed another sigh of relief when Tezco and the rest of the bandits showed up, empty-handed and swearing mad. His men had been able to get away and had also taken all four horses.
Of course, that left Monte and Jake on foot.
As well as in the clutches of these criminals.
Worse, the two men who'd fled into the night didn't know how to track. If they lost sight of the Mexicans for even a few hours, they'd never be able to keep up. As he was marched down the mountain, Monte hoped that Sam and his crew were still alive and that his ranch hands would join up with them.
Only when they reached the camp and he spotted Sam did Monte realize the situation was about as bad as it could get.
LOUISA HAD A FEW QUALMS about what she had done, but the situation was desperate.
Having heard shots ringing through the canyon, she feared for the lives of Ben and Javier. Anxious for the bandits' return, she crouched down some feet beyond the firelight, and was surprised when Tezco brought two complete strangers into camp -- a mustached fellow with a cut on his head and a tall dark muscular man who looked like an Indian in white man's clothes.
His face a hard mask, Tezco ordered the new prisoners to be tied up securely and thrown down by the other captives. Then he paced before the entire group.
"How many men are you?" he demanded. "There were two in the cave, two or three by the riverbed. Were they the same? Who are you and what are you after? You will answer these questions or I will make your lives a misery."
When no one offered any explanations, he confronted Sam. "Are these your friends, soldier?"
Sam merely gave the Mexican a cold look, which made Tezco even angrier. Louisa flinched when he made as if to kick Sam.
"Answer me -- tell me the truth!"
"All right, there's a whole regiment of cavalry over the horizon."
"Liar!" Tezco flushed, and his fists balled.
He was going to attack Sam and Louisa could do nothing.
"Wait, brother." Xosi laid a hand on Tezco's shoulder. "There is no reason to lose patience. I will help you question these men." Then she gestured toward the surrounding bandits. "We are strong, we have many guns. No one will dare attack until dawn. We should first post guards and keep watch."
Tezco calmed and nodded, agreeing that they should organize the camp to begin with, as well as make decisions for heading out the next day.
Louisa watched the pair head for the cooking fire and thought nothing could have worked out better for her own plans. Questioning the prisoners would surely keep Tezco busy for a few hours...until he got too sick to see straight, much less talk. Jimsonweed caused nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and blinding headaches.
If the weed worked as it was supposed to, all the bandits who ate even a few spoonfuls of beans would be ill. Some had already helped themselves and others came up to do so as Tezco issued orders, positioning guards about the camp. Xosi placed a big helping for herself on a tin plate.
/> Tezco complained, "We are now short one mount." He told the cook, "Unload a pack horse. We will be low on supplies but the captives need not eat for a day or two."
God must be smiling on her, Louisa thought, having been worried the beans would also be offered to the new captives. To be safe, though, in case Roberto or Shorty didn't get the chance to warn them, she decided to take matters into her own hands. While Tezco remained at the cook fire, she rose quickly and approached the dark muscular man.
"Don't eat the beans," she whispered.
He stared at her curiously, as well he might. But he said, "You're Louisa. I'm Monte Ryerson. Sam joined up with us – we've been traveling together since Texas."
So Sam and Ryerson had joined up to form a rescue party.
Sam. Louisa suddenly felt his eyes on her. But she ignored the little thrill running up and down her spine to ask Monte, "Are there really other men waiting out there?"
"Don't count on it."
Louisa tried not to show her disappointment. "Even so, we'll be able to get away." She glanced behind her, saw Tezco turning in her direction. "Don't eat the beans! Poison!"
She flitted away, crouching down again, this time not far away from Sam. She should warn him, too. "I need to tell you –"
"I know. You wanted me to say I love you."
What presumption. Even in the tense situation, she angered easily. "This is no time for true confessions."
"I wanted you to know, in case anything happens, I do love you, Louisa. I just didn't get the chance to say so before."
"Lie to Tezco, not me," she told him bitterly. "You tried to do your duty. You should be satisfied."
"Louisa –"
She cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. You have nothing to gain...unless you want to make sure I don't leave you tied up while the rest of us escape."
His eyebrows shot up. "Escape?"
Noticing Tezco approaching now, she jumped to her feet, saying for effect, "Don't talk to me anymore. Leave me alone!"
If she'd said that to begin with, when Sam had waltzed into her life again after six years, maybe neither one of them would be in these straits.