Rocky Mountain Cowboy

by S A Monk

  Hawk didn’t seem to be paying her much attention, but he didn’t push her away, either. Jenny took a step back involuntarily. Cindy lifted her head, placed a proprietary hand on Hawk’s uninjured shoulder and sent her a small smile that was clearly dismissive and gloating.

  Jenny couldn’t bring herself to engage in a confrontation with the woman. The fear of being humiliated before the man she loved made her turn and walk back the way she had come. She knew she was being a coward. But no matter what she told herself, she just wasn’t sure about Hawk’s feelings for her, definitely not enough to challenge Cindy Caldwell for his attention. It all came back to the fact that if the man really wanted to get rid of his so-called ex-girlfriend, he would, instead of constantly allowing her to cozy up and hang around him, usually with her hands all over him.

  And whatever Hawk had wanted to tell Jenny, he probably wasn’t going to say it in front of his lover of fifteen years. She’d been hoping he was ready to make some kind of commitment, personal or business, to her. Apparently not.

  Okay. So what! Big deal! She’d handle this setback, too, damn it! She decided to go home. It had been a long, tumultuous day, and she was exhausted from the chaotic assault on her emotions.

  By the time she got within sight of Becky and Scott, she was fighting tears. Disgusted with her inability to prevent them, she yanked open her purse and pulled out her sunglasses. The sky was getting darker and more threatening by the moment, and here she was wearing dark glasses. How inconspicuous was that? Shit! Keep the anger coming, she told herself. It would get rid of these blasted tears and keep her head up.

  Becky stopped her, perceptive as always. “How’s Hawk?”

  “Being taken care of,” Jenny answered succinctly. “It looks like he’ll be okay.”

  “Scott said he won the five thousand. No one else stayed on for the allotted time or scored as many points as he did.” Becky leaned out around her to look at the ambulance behind her, in the distance.

  “Great! He’s good at scoring points.” Jenny couldn’t conceal the edge of bitter sarcasm that tinged her words. Her friend narrowed her eyes and peered more closely at her, probably trying to see what was going on behind her dark glasses. “Look, I’ve got to go,” she rushed on before anymore inquiries could be made. “I’ll call you in a day or two, and we’ll arrange a time to go look at that shop with the realtor.” She gave Becky a quick hug and Scott a nod. “See you both later.”

  Becky watched her go, looked toward Hawk, finally saw Cindy Caldwell, then looked at her husband. “Let’s go ourselves,” she said with a tug on his hand, her words laced with contempt. “Otherwise, I’m going to march over there and say something to your friend that ends the friendship! Men can be such undeserving, thoughtless, insensitive, stupid idiots!”

  “Hey!” Scott followed his wife, but looked back over his shoulder, bewildered. “What’s up? What happened?”

  Jenny spotted her shiny red Corvette and nearly ran to it. Snowflakes were beginning to fall, tiny crystals that dusted her jacket, her hat, her eyelashes. Tucking her head to avoid the havoc of them swirling in the wind, she was startled when her progress was suddenly cut off. Steve Walker stepped into her path, caught her arm, and turned her abruptly into the opposite direction.

  “Hey! Steve!” Jenny ground the balls of her booted feet into the gravel to stop him from dragging her along. “What are you doing? I was headed home.” He looked at her with a mixture of regret and impatience, then slid his arm around her shoulders and jammed something blunt and hard into her side. “Steve?”

  “You should have stayed in L.A. Jenny.” With a hard shove, he gave her a push in the direction he wanted her to go. “Now, I have to insist you come with me. This way. No trouble now. I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone else if you try to cry out.”

  “What the hell are you doing, Steve?” she demanded as she looked down to see a handgun pressed against the side of her waist.

  “Why didn’t you just stay the hell out of that damn half-breed’s problems? Come on!” he insisted in a low threatening growl that carried too much desperation. “My truck is over there.” Just as they reached the driver’s door, a furious gust of wind blew her black hat off her head. Jenny gave a little cry and started after it, but Steve yanked her against him and pulled open the door to his truck. “Leave it and get inside!” With his hand on her back, he shoved her inside.

  Bewildered but certain she was in danger, Jenny started to scramble to the other side of the bench seat to escape via the passenger door. A huge male figure blocked her exit. Seated against the door was one of the men she had seen at the Cattlemen’s meeting, then again outside Brad’s office, in town. He was the younger of the two; the one with the weightlifter body and the personally menacing stare; the one Hawk had warned her about a week ago.

  He smiled. She tried to back out the way she had been pushed in. Steve quickly slid in after her, thwarting that effort, too. His companion grabbed her and yanked her hard against him. She fell, off balance, onto his chest.

  “The name’s Joe, Missy,” the big man laughed, sliding a beefy arm around her to keep her locked against his massive chest. “We’re going to spend a day or two together— just the three of us. So, be a good girl, and maybe I can make our time together pleasant.”

  The way he began touching her hair and face made Jenny cringe. She struggled against him. Steve started the engine and turned to Joe furiously. “Let her go, damn it!”

  “Shut up, Walker! If I’m going to babysit, I’m going to enjoy it.”

  “Not while I’m around. Now, get your hands off her! You want me to pull outta here, do as I say.”

  The second Joe released her, Jenny scrambled to the center of the seat. Even wedged between the two men, it was safer than being sprawled atop the big gangster so he could play with her. Lord, what did they want with her? And where were they taking her? For a couple of days, no less! Were they kidnapping her, for heaven’s sake? Why?

  Panic rose inside her as Steve pulled out of the arena parking lot, spitting up gravel in the wake of his spinning tires. She started to voice her questions, but never got the chance. Startling her, the big man beside her wrapped an arm around her neck and brought one hand up to her face to press a cloth over her nose and mouth. Jenny fought furiously against imminent suffocation. The cloth reeked of something sweet and strong. Chloroform? Ether? Before she could figure it our, she slid into oblivion.

  CHAPTER 26

  Hawk was getting tired of Cindy fussing over him by the time the EMT finished cleaning and bandaging his shoulder. He wanted to get rid of her. The damn woman just wasn’t going to exit their relationship easily. He’d known her since high school, so he hated to get nasty about it. He felt he owed her more than that, but his patience was at an end. And he was annoyed that Jenny hadn’t come over to check on him. He’d seen her in the stands, looking wide-eyed and frightened. Where the hell was she? She was the woman he wanted fussing over him, not his ex-girlfriend.

  “Cindy, go get me a big cup of coffee and pick up my prize money.” He figured that would keep her busy long enough for him to find Jenny.

  “Scott already picked up your money, and I need a ride home.” She pouted theatrically.

  “Well, where’s your damn brother?”

  “He didn’t come today, and my car is at home. Something is wrong with it.”

  “I can’t take you home this time. Try to find someone else to give you a lift.”

  “Everyone is leaving,” she fussed. “I’ll get you some coffee, but I really am stuck here if you don’t give me a ride home.”

  Hawk swore under his breath as she strode away toward the concession stand. Still swearing under his breath, he proceeded to stiffly put his shirt and vest back on.

  The EMT chuckled as he watched Cindy walk away. “You look like you got female problems, buddy.” Reaching around his patient, he stowed away his medical bag in the back of the ambulance. “That pretty dark haired gal didn’t l
ook too pleased to see that sexy blonde one. Must be tough— having two good looking women chasing after you. Send the one you don’t want my way, will ya?” Finished, he slammed the double doors of his emergency vehicle closed. “Get over to emergency room at the hospital now and get those stitches put in, okay?”

  Hawk wasn’t worried about stitches. If Jenny had come looking for him and seen him with Cindy again, she’d probably gotten angry and left. Damn it all to hell! He picked up his hat, dusted it off, and slammed it on his head, then headed for the arena. The stadium was nearly empty. The rodeo was over. He’d won over $5,000 by winning both the team roping and the bull riding, but for the moment, he didn’t care. Finding Jenny was more important. He had a small box in the glove compartment of his truck that he’d meant to give her this afternoon. His gaze searched for her and came up empty.

  Next, he headed over to the participant section of the parking lot, and spotted Scott loading his horse into his trailer. He arrived just as his friend shut the rear gate. “Hey, have you seen Jenny? She was with Becky.”

  Before Scott could answer, Becky got out of the truck and marched to the rear end of the horse trailer. “Yes, I saw her— after she saw Cindy draped all over you— yet again! Damn it, Hawk, when are you going to wise up and give that woman the boot?”

  Scott gave his friend a shrug. Becky wagged her finger at Hawk. “You need to get in Cindy’s face and tell her to leave you the hell alone! I know you’re trying to be nice, but nice is costing you a woman worth a hundred Cindy Caldwells. Jenny just doesn’t understand why Cindy is always hanging around, and you’re always obliging her, you stupid dumb cowboy! Now she’s gone, and she’s hurt. Again! So much for giving her that ring Scott and I helped you pick out!”

  Hawk stared at his best friend’s wife. “She left? Because she was angry?”

  “Dah?” Becky exclaimed sarcastically. “Shit! Men! You can be so dense!” At that, she spun on her boot heels and stalked back to the truck. Both men heard her slam the passenger door. Scott threw up his hands and gave his friend a commiserating look. “Sorry, buddy. I guess women got their own way of seein’ these things. How’s your shoulder?”

  “Oh hell, sore, tore up, needs stitches. I’ll live.”

  Scott dug a check out of his hip pocket. “At least you’re $5,000 richer,” he reminded his friend, then grinned lopsidedly. “Well, not really, I guess, not after buying that ring. Hope you get to give it to Jenny. Good luck, buddy.”

  Hawk thanked Scott for picking up his check, then left. In the main parking lot, where the spectators had parked, it was easy to spot Jenny’s deep red Corvette. He walked up to it expectantly, but found it empty and locked. He hoped that meant she hadn’t left. He started back to the rodeo arena and the bleachers to resume his search. Along the way, he saw a woman’s black cowboy hat lying on the ground. He picked it up and immediately recognized it as Jenny’s. It wasn’t a good sign. She would never leave one of her new hats. She loved them. Something didn’t feel right. His gut twisted.

  When Cindy found him and handed him his coffee, he had her check out the women’s restrooms. They were empty. They walked back to the snack bar. It was closing. He searched everywhere he could think of. Jenny was nowhere, and no one that knew her had seen her. But her car was still here. If she’d left, she’d left with someone. But who? And why would she do that? Why would she leave her car? Why would she have lost her hat? Hawk thought he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t have done any of those things. Not voluntarily, his mind whispered chillingly.

  Taking Cindy by the elbow, he dragged her after him to the stock corral where Red Phantom was waiting.

  “I guess this means you’re giving me a ride home,” Cindy concluded, more than a little irritated. “What’s the damn hurry?”

  “Something has happened to Jenny, and I have a hunch your goddamned brother knows what.” Once he had his horse in tow, he directed Cindy toward his truck and trailer. “Let’s go pay Brad a visit. Where is he? At home? At the bank? At his office? I didn’t see him here, today.”

  Cindy frowned at him over her shoulder. “I told you he didn’t want to come today. I don’t know where he is, though! He doesn’t give me his daily schedule. Why do you think Brad would know where your precious partner is?”

  Hawk sent her a cynical look. “You’ve got to be kidding! Whenever I have trouble lately, your brother is behind it. Now, get on your cell phone and find him,” Hawk ordered, giving her a little push to the passenger side of his truck. After putting Red Phantom into the trailer, he shut and locked the rear door, then joined Cindy in the cab of his truck. “Well?” he inquired. “Have you found him?”

  “I’m working on it! He’s not at the bank.”

  Hawk started the powerful diesel engine of his big Dodge, slipped it into drive, and pulled out, throwing up gravel under his wheels as he headed toward the parking lot exit.

  “He’s not at his office,” Cindy announced after the second call.

  “Try home, goddamn it!”

  On the fifth ring, Cindy got her brother at home. She said a couple of words to him, then handed the phone to Hawk. “He wants to talk to you.”

  ∞∞∞

  Hawk decided he wasn’t going into the lion’s den without being prepared. By the time he reached the ranch and pulled up in front of the bunkhouse, it was late-afternoon and snowing fairly hard, enough to begin covering the ground in a blanket of white. By nightfall, the roads were going to be a bear to navigate, but his big four-wheel-drive Dodge was still better than a horse in such conditions. He left Cindy in the front seat of his truck and went inside to find Hank and Eli. They were both watching television in the living room area of the bunkhouse. Hawk shucked out of his blood-encrusted shirt and yanked a thermal one out of the dresser he was using, then went to a closet for a heavy flannel shirt.

  Both Eli and Hank came up to him as he dressed, their craggy faces lined with concern.

  “You get hurt at the rodeo?” Eli asked.

  While he buttoned his outer shirt over his inner one, Hawk answered Eli’s questions about his shoulder wound, then waved aside further concern for his injury and told them about Jenny’s disappearance after the rodeo. He went on to explain what Brad Caldwell had told him on the phone.

  “He wants me to sign a bill of sale for the three hundred acres up by the hot springs. Then he’ll tell me where to find Jenny.”

  “The son of the bitch has really gone off the deep end if he’s resorted to kidnapping,” Hank swore. “How the hell does he expect to get away with something like that?”

  “There’s only one way he can get away with it,” Hawk stated grimly. “He’s got to get rid of Jenny, then me when I go after her. He’ll have to stage it so no evidence will fall back on him.”

  “Then somebody will have to do his dirty work for him. Who do you think the bastard is whose holding Jenny?” Eli looked ready to punch a hole in the wall, he was so red-faced with anger.

  Hawk tucked his shirt into the belt encircling his waist, and shrugged.

  “Walker, I’ll bet,” Hank spat.

  “Sure as shit! The son of a bitch!” Eli swore.

  “And probably one of those gangsters Brad’s been doing business with,” Hawk added. “Least that’s what I’m afraid of. This sounds a little too deranged and ruthless for Brad. That guy I saw outside Brad’s office last week must have been six and half feet, easily, and three hundred pounds.” The thought of Jenny at the mercy of the beefy giant made Hawk’s blood run cold.

  When he walked over to the footlocker at the end of his bunk, Hank and Eli followed. From inside the trunk, he withdrew his hunting knife and the leather back sling he had made for it. Hank helped him put his arms through the shoulder straps, careful of his heavily bandaged injury. Then Hank adjusted the leather sheath that hung from a cross strap across his shoulder blades. Hawk handed him the long serrated knife, and Hank slipped it into its holster. The hilt of the custom-made, hand-carved handle reste
d beneath the collar of his flannel shirt. The whole knife fit comfortably between his shoulder blades.

  From the night stand by the bunk he was still sleeping in, Hawk pulled open a drawer and took out the extra set of car keys Jenny had given him, then a box of rifle cartridges. He tossed the keys to Eli.

  “Have Hank take you out to the arena and pick up Jenny’s Corvette. If we leave it there, it may be too much of a temptation for someone to take for a joyride.”

  Eli looked at him skeptically. “You want me to drive that thing?”

  Hawk cast him a quick grin. “Hank can drive it then.”

  “Hank should probably go with you. I can drive my relic out there and leave it. Nobody would want it. I’ll figure out that sports car somehow.”

  “Brad told me to come alone— no sheriff, no help. I can’t risk Jenny’s safety by having one of you go.”

  “You know they’ll be expecting you,” Hank pointed out. “It’s going to be a trap.”

  “Probably, but what choice do I have?”

  Hawk walked to the locked gun cabinet in the room and lifted his hunting rifle out. Then he loaded it. After putting on a down filled parka, he stuffed both pockets with extra shells.

  “Use as much surprise as you can manage,” Eli advised.

  “Keep your head,” Hank added.

  Hawk accepted the advice from both men with a nod as he put his hat back on his head with a yank to secure it.

  Outside, both cowboys helped him unload Red Phantom, then unhitch his trailer from his truck. Eli noticed Cindy sitting in the front seat and scowled.

  “What’s she doin’ here?”

  Hawk left his horse with the old man and answered, “She needed a ride home. Since I’m paying Brad a visit, I decided to get what I needed before going over there. Less time wasted.”

  “Good luck.” Hank said as Hawk walked to the driver’s door of his Dodge.

  “Bring her back safe and sound,” Eli advised with a slap on his uninjured shoulder. “Then go beat the crap out of Caldwell.”