Apache-Colton Series

by Janis Reams Hudson

  When he returned to her side, he checked her bonds. The slight tug he gave the rope tore another scab loose from her wrist. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out. To take her mind off the pain, she said, “Your friends didn’t stay long.”

  Caleb presented her with what she read as a smile of satisfaction. “No,” he said. “They didn’t.”

  When he didn’t volunteer any further information, Serena kept quiet. The day, and then the night, passed uneventfully. Then more days and nights. He’d finally begun to untie her during the day, when he could watch her. Her wrists, hands and feet silently thanked him. So did her mind. Now she could think about escaping.

  But he never gave her the chance. When she was untied, he watched her every movement. When he left to hunt for game, or when he slept, he tied her to a tree.

  After about a week, Serena decided Caleb was much too sure of himself. It was time to give him something to worry about. That evening, over roasted rabbit, she said, “Interesting spot you’ve picked to lead Matt to. Do you still think he’ll come?”

  Caleb just smiled. A secretive smile. An I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile.

  “I can assure you,” Serena went on, “he won’t come. But that doesn’t mean someone else won’t.”

  “Someone else? And who might this ‘someone else’ be?”

  Serena smiled. “For some odd reason, you seem to think Matt’s the only relative I have. You forget about the other half of my family.”

  “What other half?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “The half that roams this part of the country raiding and killing everything in sight.”

  “If you’re tryin’ to scare me with stories about bloodthirsty Apaches, forget it. Even I know all the Apaches are cooped up on reservations nowadays.”

  “All?” Serena raised a brow as she spoke, and her lips quirked. “Now, where in the world would you hear a whopper like that? You’ve heard how nervous the army is these days, with Nana running loose.”

  “Why should that worry me? Everybody knows he’s in Arizona. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in Mexico. Besides, I don’t believe half of what I hear about him. People are jumping at shadows. One old man with a handful of followers can’t be that dangerous.”

  Serena smiled wider. “Don’t kid yourself. That old man is as dangerous as they come. And just to give you warning should he by chance show up, he happens to be a personal friend of my mother’s, and therefore, mine.”

  Caleb laughed outright. “Your mother! Next thing you’ll be telling me is she’s the one who’s going to rescue you.”

  Serena let the smile fade from her lips. “For your sake, you’d better hope she doesn’t. Have you never heard the legend of Woman of Magic?”

  Caleb paused with his coffee cup halfway to his lips, then set the cup back down. “Who hasn’t? She’s that white woman the Apaches all treat like she’s some kind of goddess. You’re not trying to tell me she’s—”

  “My mother. Yes.”

  “I’m shaking in my boots.”

  “You should be,” she said softly. “The other thing you should know is about this nice little canyon you’ve chosen to hide in. Do you know what they call this place?”

  “Sure. Canyon de los Embudos.”

  “That’s right,” she said. “As far as it goes. Canyon of Tricksters. Canyon of Deceptions. But it happens to be a favorite hideout of the Apaches, because it’s so hard to find. What do you suppose will happen if Nana and his men, or some other band of Apaches rides down into this canyon and finds you holding me captive?”

  Caleb stared at her a long moment, then took a sip of coffee. “Glad you warned me. Tomorrow I’ll start scouting for another way out of here, while you stay tied to that tree.”

  Serena tossed a rabbit bone into the fire and smiled at him again. “You can scout all you want. You won’t find another way out. The Apaches have their own name for this place. Cos-codee.”

  “Which means?”

  “No escape.”

  The name wasn’t accurate, of course. There was another way out. Serena had heard about the secret Cos-codee Pass up on the cedar ledge at the far end of the canyon. She’d also heard it was ten times more difficult to locate than the way they’d come in. But only the Apaches knew of its existence. If and when her chance for escape came, that’s where she would head. The trail from there led to Pa-Gotzin-Kay, another Apache hideout higher in the Sierra Madres, but only a half day away.

  And Pa-Gotzin-Kay wasn’t deserted, Serena knew. Back when the U. S. Government decided to do away with the Chiricahua Reservation in the Dragoons shortly after Cochise’s death, Tahza, the new chief, had agreed to move to the new reservation at San Carlos. But he’d heard terrible things about disease and starvation among the Indians there. He didn’t want his wife and young son to live in a place like that, so he sent them with another thirty to forty members of his band to an ancient Apache hideout, Pa-Gotzin-Kay.

  Those escapees, including Dee-O-Det, Cochise’s old shaman, still lived there in secrecy. Serena remembered hearing that Tom Jeffords, Indian agent at the time, had helped in the endeavor. When Nod-ah-Sti, Tahza’s wife, took her son, Niño, plus Dee-O-Det and the others, to Mexico, Jeffords destroyed the records of the Chiricahua Reservation. No one at San Carlos knew the names of those who fled. Subsequent agents referred to them as The Nameless Ones, when they referred to them at all. But these days, the government never even admitted the existence of a free band of Apaches living peacefully in the Sierra Madres, not raiding or killing, but raising their own food and minding their own business.

  Of course, free was a relative term. They weren’t free to come and go as they pleased, but forced to sneak in and out of the area so no one would learn the location of the stronghold.

  They weren’t even free to keep dogs to warn of the approach of strangers. Barking dogs meant men were near, and the clear mountain air carried the barking for miles. Dogs would alert the Mexicans to the Apaches’ presence.

  No, no dogs. Only old men, women, and children trying to survive on their own.

  Nod-ah-Sti was one of Serena’s best friends. Serena would be welcome at Pa-Gotzin-Kay. If she could get away from Caleb.

  True to his word, Caleb left Serena tied firmly to a tree the next morning and went off searching for a back door to the canyon. When he failed to find one, he searched again the next day. And the next.

  By the end of the week, he decided maybe Serena was right. Maybe there wasn’t any way out but the way they’d come in.

  Late in the afternoon they heard riders approaching. Before Serena could cry out to whomever was coming, Caleb thrust a greasy handkerchief into her mouth and tied it in place with his bandanna. He tied her to one tree, then crouched behind another, rifle in hand, sweat pouring from his face.

  Serena held her breath, waiting to see who came. A moment later her shoulders slumped when Pablo and his brother rode into view.

  Caleb rushed out to greet them. “Did you do it? Is it done?”

  “Sí, señor, it is done.”

  “No trouble?”

  Pablo shook his head and grinned. “No trouble.”

  Caleb visibly relaxed. “Good.” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a small leather pouch. When he tossed it to Pablo, it clinked. “Swap one of your horses for this one,” he said, indicating the gray mare from the Triple C. “Then head on up to Fronteras, or wherever you like. And amigo, thanks.”

  “De nada, señor. Adios.”

  Pablo stripped the saddle from his shaggy brown mustang and placed it on the mare, then he and his brother rode out of the canyon. As soon as they were gone, Caleb began breaking camp.

  “We’re leaving?” Serena asked when he removed the gag from her mouth. “I thought you were convinced Matt would come here. I thought that was the whole idea.”

  Caleb paused in rolling his bedroll and looked at her. A new look that she couldn’t quite read filled his eyes. “It doesn
’t matter anymore,” he said. “I’ve changed my mind. I can kill Matt Colton any time I want. Right now I’ve got other things I’d rather do. I know he won’t come after you now. I’ve seen to it.”

  Serena grew cautious and tried to hide the worry eating at her. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean he won’t come now. There’s no reason for him to. He thinks you’re dead. No one will come for you. They can’t possibly deny the proof I sent them.”

  Her mouth went dry. “What proof?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Have you considered that if my family thinks you’ve killed me, nothing on earth will stop them from tracking you down?”

  Caleb just shook his head as though the idea was absurd.

  “And it won’t be just Matt you’ll have to worry about. He’s not my only brother, you know. I have two others. And a very protective father, not to mention my mother, plus all the manpower the Triple C possesses.”

  She watched with grim satisfaction as Caleb glanced sharply from side to side, as if he would deny her words.

  “Of course, one of my brothers is half Chiricahua, like me. I suppose he’ll let Uncle Naiche know what’s happened. Did you ever hear of Naiche? He’s Cochise’s son—chief of the Chidikáágu’. Chiricahua, to you. I happen to be his favorite niece.” Despite her fear-dried throat, she managed a forced laugh. “Could be because I’m his only niece, but then, this just may be the excuse he’s been looking for to bust off the reservation. I wonder what he’d do to you if he caught you.”

  Caleb tied his bedroll behind his saddle with jerky motions, his jaw clenched tight. “He couldn’t do any worse to me than your brother did to my brother.”

  A prickly feeling ran up Serena’s arms. “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you know I had a brother?”

  “You mentioned one at home and another off at school somewhere.”

  “I also mentioned my oldest brother. The one who came west and was killed. Murdered. He wasn’t much to brag about, but he was my brother. He didn’t deserve what Matt Colton did to him. Nobody deserves that. Not even a stinking rattler.”

  A hard knot tightened in the pit of Serena’s stomach. She didn’t want to know what he was talking about. She didn’t want to know who his brother was, how he died, or what that had to do with Matt. She didn’t want to know.

  But she did know.

  Caleb rambled while he saddled her horse. “We’re one of those alphabetical families. You know the kind, where each kid’s name starts with the next letter of the alphabet. Ma wanted to be sure we at least knew our ABCs. She didn’t get very far, though, before she died. Davy, he’s the youngest. Then there’s me. Ben’s next to oldest. It was the oldest one who came west several years ago. Ma always said the West was wild and dangerous. She didn’t know how right she was. Did I tell you my oldest brother’s name?”

  His gaze locked on hers, and she saw terrible things there. Deadly determination…pain. Fear. Hate.

  “Abraham Miller Scott.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud the name that was a curse in her home, until she saw Caleb’s nod of satisfaction.

  “I see you’ve heard of him. Heard what your brother did to him. Now Matt Colton is going to pay. He thinks I’ve done to you what he did to Abe, and he’s going to be eaten alive by it. Because he’ll know it’s because of him. Because of what he did to Abe.”

  Serena’s heart pounded. Her hands shook. How could he know what Matt did to Abe Scott? Even the family didn’t know. Not exactly, anyway. Pace was the only one besides Matt who knew, and Pace wasn’t talking.

  She licked her lips nervously. “Just what is it you think Matt did to your brother?”

  “Look at you,” he said. “You know what he did to him. I can see it in your eyes. From the description I had, I’d say he learned a few things from the Apache half of your family. You know how long it took my brother to die? Do you?” he yelled. His hatred for Matt, plus horror over his brother’s death, shot from his too-bright eyes.

  Then his eyes narrowed. “You didn’t think anybody knew, did you? Well, I know, goddamnit. It happened right here. Right here!” he shouted and pointed at the ground between his feet. “But your brother wasn’t as careful as he thought. Someone was hidden in the brush, right up there on that rim, watching the whole thing. He came to me and told me all about it.”

  A shudder ran visibly through him. “God,” he cried. “The things he did. It was inhuman, what your brother did to mine. Four days. It lasted four days, before Abe finally died. Christ. I’d rather be burned alive!”

  “You keep on with this, and you just might get your wish,” Serena warned. “Let me go, Caleb. Give me a horse and just let me go. I promise, no one will come after you. It’ll be over. Just let me go.”

  “Never,” he said in a hard, determined voice. “Like I said, you’re only a tool in all this. I don’t want to kill you, but you give me any trouble and I will. Matt Colton’s gotta pay for what he did. And I’m the one who’s gonna see to it.”

  Serena shook her head. “It’ll never happen, you know. He’ll catch you. And he’ll give you plenty of time to regret what you’ve done before he lets you die. Just like your brother.”

  Caleb finished packing the skillet, tin plates and cups, then turned back to her. “What I don’t understand is why. Why did he do it? Why would one man do that to another?”

  She stared at him, stunned. “You don’t know?” her voice came out in a croak. “You came halfway across the country to avenge your brother’s death, and you don’t even know why he was killed? Is it possible you don’t know what kind of man Abraham Miller Scott was?” she shrieked.

  “Well, let me tell you,” she went on, warming to her subject. “Nearly ten years ago, he murdered a man. The man had just buried his wife and was standing over her grave when your brother bushwhacked him. The man’s daughter saw it all. Later, she married Matt. A few months after that, your dear brother kidnapped her. She was carrying Matt’s child. Your brother hit her in the stomach with a chair. She lost the baby and nearly died.”

  Serena forced down the bile that rose at the memories. “He was arrested, stood trial, and sentenced to hang. But first they had to send him back East someplace, where he was wanted for other crimes. Sometime after that he managed to escape. Your brother was a real charmer.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Three years ago,” she continued, “Abe rode down on Matt and Angela while they were coming home from town, and he shot her. He killed my brother’s wife! The dirty, no-good son of a bitch deserved everything Matt did to him, and more! And you’re going to get the same, if you don’t let me go.”

  “You’re lying, I say. Just trying to save your own skin. I don’t believe a goddamn word.”

  “Yes, you do. I see it in your eyes. You know it’s true.”

  Caleb jerked her up and slammed her into the saddle. “Shut up.” He tied her hands to the horn, finished tying her feet, then mounted and led them out of the canyon.

  It took him hours, a half-dozen false turns, and several vicious cuts from the cacti to lead them out of the cholla forest. When the mass of cactus and lava finally thinned, he turned south.

  Serena glanced over her shoulder and saw the tracks left by Pablo and his brother as those two had headed north.

  Where was Caleb taking her now? She should have kept her mouth shut. At least Matt might have known to look for her at Cos-codee.

  Would she ever see Matt again? Or anyone, for that matter? Coldness crept through her limbs as she admitted to herself that Caleb was more than a little crazed by his quest for revenge. What would he do to her? Would she be able to fight him?

  As the days passed slowly, Matt grew increasingly restless and irritable. He needed to talk to Serena. He didn’t have the faintest idea what he would say, he just needed to be able to look into her eyes, to know what she was thinking, to see her, hear her laugh again.

  A couple of weeks, Pace had said.<
br />
  Matt would never survive. He was already going slowly out of his mind with worry, and she’d only been gone four days. He swore under his breath. Damn it, he’d waited long enough.

  The next morning Matt was in the saddle and riding for Tucson before the sun was fully up. He couldn’t let things slide any longer. He had to talk to Rena.

  Matt hadn’t been in Tucson for three years. Under different circumstances, he would have ridden right through the middle of town and stopped along the street a dozen times to renew old acquaintances. But not today. He skirted the edge of town and came to the Ortega house by the back way.

  Miguel Emilio Ortega made his fortune when the territory was young by freighting otherwise unattainable goods up from Sonora and Chihuahua. When his only daughter, Sylvia, brought home the pretty little blue-eyed Colton girl and announced that Serena was now her very best friend, Don Miguel was pleased to have a connection with the wealthy and powerful Colton family.

  Pleased, until he found out, weeks later, that his daughter’s best friend was a half-breed Apache. The revelation of that particular fact nearly gave him a stroke, for his freighters had been fighting every step of the way against losing their goods and their very lives to the marauding bands of cutthroat Apaches for years. That Serena considered Cochise her grandfather only made matters worse.

  But unlike Ortega’s successful attempts to defend his merchandise, he lost the battle to keep what he then called “the little savage” from his home. Even at that age, when Serena Colton chose to put forth the effort, which was seldom, she could charm the skin off a snake. She didn’t usually bother to dissuade people of their prejudices, but Sylvia had begged her to make friends with her father. It hadn’t taken Serena long to have the man eating from the palm of her hand. Don Miguel had been a good friend of the Coltons ever since.

  But neither he nor his daughter had seen Serena since the day she came home from Tombstone a week ago. The news sent a prickle of unease down Matt’s spine. He was further disturbed to learn that Serena had not mentioned that she planned to come for a visit in the near future at all.