Apache-Colton Series

by Janis Reams Hudson

  Dani had obviously had another one of her visions. Matt would be the last to scoff at what she saw in the flames. He’d seen it happen too many times, and she was never wrong.

  But Benito had ridden with the herd. While he confirmed what Dani’s vision had told her, that Travis had been locked in the San Carlos guardhouse, what Benito told them about Serena made Matt’s blood chill.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Two months late, but eagerly welcomed by the sunbaked ground, the August rains came. To Serena they were both a blessing and a curse.

  The curse was, she was damned uncomfortable draped head to toe in a poncho, and the rain cut down her visibility, at times to mere yards. Riding out ahead of the herd as she was, not being able to see very far ahead was dangerous.

  On the other hand, the rain had brought the army’s pursuit of Geronimo to a standstill. It shouldn’t have. It wasn’t raining that hard. But the first patrol she spotted had made it less than halfway down Sulphur Springs Valley before stopping. Serena and her crew had passed them hours ago. There they had sat, huddled in their tents, waiting for the rain to stop.

  Obviously they weren’t in much of a hurry to catch up with Geronimo. By the time they stirred themselves, he would be across the border.

  Serena was glad she hadn’t told her father what she planned. He would have forbidden her to halve their crew, cut out a couple hundred head of cattle, including old Bonehead, and follow Geronimo into Mexico.

  Her father would have more than forbidden it. He would have convinced Matheson to lock her up, too.

  When Matt found out— No. She wouldn’t think of Matt. She couldn’t.

  The men behind her with the herd had volunteered to come with her. Not that they were particularly happy about it, but they were loyal in the extreme to the Triple C and the family.

  Jorge had argued strenuously against her plan. Only by threatening to ride to Globe and hire men on her own was she able to get him and the others to agree.

  They had hit the trail more than an hour before sunup, and another argument had immediately erupted when the men realized she planned to ride out ahead herself.

  “It’s not safe. Your father, not to mention your mother and brothers, will practice every known Apache torture on all of us if anything happens to you,” Carlos claimed.

  “Nothing will happen to me,” Serena told them. “That’s why I have to ride ahead. If we catch up with Geronimo, if he’s got men guarding his back trail, any one of you would be killed on sight. They’ll recognize me.”

  She had won that argument, too.

  That afternoon, as they neared the cutoff to Tombstone, which lay ten miles west of the trail they followed, the drizzle turned into a torrent. Serena smiled grimly. Geronimo’s trail, until then plainly visible, would be wiped out.

  She rode back to the herd to help with the cattle. Booming thunder made them nervous. Not to mention the effect of the lightning dancing off nearby rocks.

  “Keep them moving,” she shouted to the men.

  Personally, she wouldn’t mind a bit if the herd stampeded, as long as they ran south.

  The rain pounded all afternoon with no letup. One of the men riding drag caught up with her.

  “My horse picked up a rock, so I had to drop back for a spell. Saw riders, more than thirty of ‘em, coming out of Antelope Pass.”

  Serena frowned. Through Antelope Pass lay the trail to Tombstone. “Which way did they head?” she had to shout to be heard over the driving rain.

  “Headed this way,” he shouted back. “Front rider was Clum. Recognized Virgil Earp and his brothers, plus some men from the sheriff’s office.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Hodges nodded. “I spend a lot of my time off in Tombstone. I’m sure.”

  Serena grimaced. She did not want to encounter a vigilante posse from Tombstone. “Keep the herd moving south. The faster the better.”

  Before full dark, Serena passed three more cavalry companies camped along the trail. She didn’t stop to chat, and they were too busy trying to keep dry to notice a lone rider. What they thought when the herd passed them, she had no idea.

  She and her men ate in the saddle, a miserable meal, since their food got soaked on its way to their mouths.

  Just before it got too dark to see, Serena reluctantly rode back to the herd. Unless the rain quit and the moon came out, they couldn’t go farther that night.

  Exhausted as she was, as she knew the men and animals must be, she prayed for a strong wind to blow the storm on east.

  Sometime around midnight her prayer was answered. Under an innocent canopy of stars and brilliant moonlight, they hit the trail again. Less than two hours after daybreak they crossed into Mexico.

  “You let her do what?” Matt roared.

  “I didn’t let her do anything,” Travis bellowed back, his fists clenched. He stomped back and forth across the porch of the agency headquarters. “I didn’t know what the hell she was doing until a half hour ago when that sorry S.O.B. let me out of jail.”

  “One small woman,” Matt said, glaring at his father and the remainder of the Triple C crew. “One small woman, and the lot of you can’t even get her to sit still long enough to blink.”

  “You’re a fine one to talk,” Travis answered. “You couldn’t even get her to marry you.”

  Matt felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

  Twin gasps, one of surprise, one of outrage, came from Dani and Pace.

  “You couldn’t even get her to stay home,” Travis went on relentlessly, something odd about the anger in his voice. “She didn’t just up and decide to go on a stinking cattle drive. She had half or more of her worldly goods strapped to the back of a pack mule.”

  Another punch to Matt’s gut.

  “Serena was leaving home?” Pace cried. “Running away?” he whirled on Matt. “What did you do to her, goddamn it?”

  Matt kept his gaze glued on his father.

  “It wasn’t Matt,” Travis said tiredly. “It was me. And you,” he told Pace.

  Matt shook his head. “No, it was her. She decided to leave, so she left. That’s all there is to it. But to take a herd of cattle and chase after Geronimo into Mexico, that’s got to take the cake.”

  “You’re going after her, aren’t you?” Travis demanded.

  “Of course,” Matt said instantly.

  “And you’re bringing her home,” Dani added.

  Matt sighed and closed his eyes briefly. The ache in the region of his heart stabbed sharper with each mention of Serena’s name, each thought of her. Bring her home? “No.”

  “No?” Travis bellowed again. “You’re not bringing her home? She seems to be under the impression you’re in love with her. Is she that wrong? Have I been right the whole time?”

  Matt clenched his jaw to keep the words in, but they came out anyway. “No, goddamn it, you haven’t been right. I do love her, more than I thought I could ever love a woman again. I’d kill for her. Hell, I’d die for her. I would even,” he said softly, with pain, “fight you for her. But I will not bring her back. She made her choice. If she changes her mind, she knows the way home.”

  “You just said you were going after her,” Travis said.

  “To make sure she’s safe, that she has everything she needs. Not to drag her home like some runaway child. She knows if she comes home, I’ll take Joanna and leave.”

  “Matt, no,” Dani whispered.

  “It’s the only way, you know that. Serena and I can’t be brother and sister again. I doubt we can even be friends, under the circumstances.” He stared directly into his father’s eyes. “I won’t stay on the ranch and watch her tear herself apart trying to choose between you and me.”

  Travis gave him a sad smile. “Bring her home, Matt. Tell her…tell her I’m sorry. And I am, you know, for everything. You’re a man, you can take care of yourself. I was just…trying to protect my little girl. Tell her…tell her I’ll give the bride away.”

&nbs
p; A strong whisper could have blown Matt over.

  Pace nearly strangled on a curse.

  Before Matt could think to savor the sweet victory of having his father’s permission to marry Serena, Dani gripped Matt’s arm. “Don’t you tell her any such thing.”

  God, another punch to his gut. He looked at Dani, bewildered.

  “This is exactly why I’ve kept my mouth shut and my opinions to myself all this time,” Dani told Matt. “I could have tried to get your father and Pace to see reason, or at least calm down and think, but I didn’t. I kept waiting for you and Serena to make them back off.”

  “Dani…” Travis said.

  “Oh, you tried,” Dani told Matt, “I’ll give you that. But Serena didn’t. Not really. And if she’s not prepared to fight for you, to stand up to her father and brother, then she’s not the woman for you, Matt.”

  “Dani!” Travis cried in outrage.

  She glared at her husband. “And if it takes your own daughter leaving home to make you open your eyes, then I don’t think I’ve got much use for you, either.”

  “I thought I was protecting her,” Travis cried. “She’s our baby. Our firstborn daughter.”

  “Yes, she’s our daughter. Which means you should have known all along Matt was the best thing that could ever happen to her. You keep talking about protecting her from getting hurt, but what about Matt? Do you think this hasn’t hurt him? Are you that blind? He’s your firstborn son, Travis. He’s in love with her.”

  “Save your breath, Dani,” Matt said. “None of it matters. You’re right about her not fighting for me. Frankly, though, I think I’d take her any way I could get her. But I won’t drag her home. I won’t hurt her any more than she’s already been hurt, and watching you and Dad argue over us would kill her. I won’t put myself through the pain of watching her leave me again.”

  “Well,” Pace said with disgust, “while you’re all standing here deciding Serena’s future, she’s running around the Mexican desert, probably getting herself shot at, or worse.”

  “Is she all right?” Dani asked Pace. “Can you hear her? Do you feel anything?”

  Pace flexed his jaw and shook his head while glaring at Matt. “She doesn’t speak to me any more—since him. I can’t hear her, but I know she’s out there. I’m going after her.”

  “Matt’s going after her,” Travis said emphatically.

  “Let him come,” Matt said. “It may take both of us. Knowing Rena, we may have to split up to find her.”

  “Pa-Gotzin-Kay,” Dani said. “She’ll be at Pa-Gotzin-Kay.”

  “That’s right,” Travis said.

  “That’s where we’d all expect her to be,” Matt admitted. “It’s what she would expect us to think. Which is why she won’t be there.”

  But she would be at Pa-Gotzin-Kay. Matt felt it in every bone. Serena was just clever enough to make them all think she wouldn’t go there because it was her most obvious destination. She would have them crawling all over the Sierra Madres looking for her while she sat snug as a bug in the ancient stronghold.

  She would go to Pa-Gotzin-Kay. She had friends there. Nod-ah-Sti, Dee-O-Det, and others. And right now she needed a friend or two. For her sake, Matt hoped she realized that.

  What he would do once he found her, Matt had no idea.

  What he wanted was to make sure she was safe, make sure she knew she could come home if she wanted and he wouldn’t bother her. Then he wanted to turn his back on her and ride away.

  What he feared was that when he found her, he’d end up groveling at her feet and begging her to come home with him.

  His pride told him not to even tell her his father would cause no more problems. Dani had struck a cord when she said Serena should want to fight for him. But pride would be cold comfort for the ache in his chest. The thought of spending the rest of his life without Serena left him feeling hollow inside.

  Regardless, first he had to find her.

  No. That was second. First, he had to ditch Pace.

  Then, when he found Serena, he had to remind himself not to strangle her on sight. What a damn fool stunt, taking off for Mexico with Geronimo on the loose, half the army chasing after him, and vigilante groups from all over the area joining in on the hunt. The mere thought of any one of more than a dozen things that could happen to her sent ice through his veins.

  He and Pace were less than two days behind her, but when it came to Serena’s safety, two days seemed like a lifetime.

  The trail she’d left with the herd through the lush grass of Sulphur Springs Valley was clear and wide. She had pushed the men and animals harder than any trail boss would have dared. He and Pace were almost to Mexico, and there’d been no sign of the herd bedding down for the night. Serena had driven them straight through.

  There were other tracks, too. Serena had driven the herd past at least three different army patrols. Then there were those tracks from Tombstone. Between thirty and forty riders had come out of Antelope Pass and picked up the trail. Serena had managed, so far, to stay ahead of them.

  “I hear Chee is riding with Geronimo,” Pace said as he and Matt rode side by side under a sun that wouldn’t admit summer had faded to autumn.

  “Looks that way,” Matt said.

  “Since he lost Maria, he should find a new wife.”

  “Probably.”

  “He’d make Serena a good husband.”

  Matt clenched his fists around the reins. Rena and Chee? Could she fall for Chee? She’d known him all her life. He was one of the best men Matt had ever met. Honest, strong, smart.

  And he’s on the run.

  “Is that what you want for your sister? Life on an Apache war trail, with armies from two countries chasing her?”

  “Maybe Chee’ll want to go back to the reservation.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s a hell of a lot better. You’d have Rena living in that disease-ridden place, going hungry all the time, watching her children die before they had a chance to grow?”

  Pace gigged his horse and rode on ahead.

  Matt let him go. But he wouldn’t, he decided then and there, let Serena go.

  It wasn’t the hardships a life with Chee or any other Apache would bring her, that made up his mind. No, he wasn’t that selfless. It was the ball of sickness in his stomach that churned at the thought of Serena in another man’s arms. Serena as another man’s wife. Serena bearing another man’s children.

  No.

  Serena was his. He didn’t care who he had to fight to get her back. Even if he had to fight her. He would not let her go.

  A half-day below the border, Matt and Pace located a small group of warriors who’d broken off the reservation with Geronimo. Yes, they had seen Serena and her cattle. She had replaced her men with Apaches who volunteered to help her distribute the beef among the different hideouts. She had, the warriors stated, sent the Triple C riders back north by a different route, to keep them from running into the bluecoats. If the brothers wished to find her they should go to Cos-codee.

  Matt chafed at the delay. He knew she would be long gone by now, but Pace seemed to think otherwise. If Matt made too much of looking elsewhere for her, Pace would surely follow. And Matt did not want Pace anywhere near when he found Serena.

  So against his will, Matt rode with Pace for Cos-codee. As they wound their way across the ancient lava bed and through stands of cactus, they saw no sign that another human existed within a thousand miles. Silently, Pace cut between the guardian boulders at the entrance to the canyon. Matt followed, and still, all was quiet, until they reached the canyon floor.

  There, men shouted, children shrieked and laughed, horses whinnied, and cattle bawled.

  “Hear those cattle?” Pace asked. “I told you Serena was here.”

  “So you did,” Matt answered. And so she had been. But that didn’t mean she was still there.

  When they reached the encampment, Matt had a bit of luck. It was about damned time something went his way.

 
; Chee was there. Chee, and more than one hundred Apaches from San Carlos, along with a small herd of cattle Serena had left for them. As Matt had known, Serena had been and gone.

  Pace was itching to follow her trail, but this time Matt objected. With Chee to help him, Matt secretly orchestrated a celebration and made sure Pace was included. By sundown Pace was as drunk as any of the other men in camp. Except Matt and Chee.

  After making arrangements with Chee that Pace would not sober up for several days, Matt waited until Pace and a few others passed out, then he mounted up.

  The quickest way to Pa-Gotzin-Kay was the Cos-codee pass along the cedar ledge at the south end of the canyon. But Matt didn’t want anyone telling Pace he’d gone that route. Pace would catch up eventually, but Matt preferred to delay that as long as possible.

  When he left the canyon, he didn’t bother following Serena’s trail. She would have had to zigzag all across northeastern Sonora to deliver cattle to the various strongholds. A second trail stretched before him, longer than by way of the pass, shorter than Rena’s trail, but leading directly to Pa-Gotzin-Kay. Here, outside the canyon, there were no eyes to see which way he went, and his tracks would be lost among dozens of others.

  He took the trail that led to Pa-Gotzin-Kay. And his last chance with Serena.

  On the rocky ledge of ancient lava overlooking the entrance to Cos-codee, a man crouched in hiding. Sweat rolled into his one good eye and made him blink. Frustrated, with madness nipping at the outer edges of his sanity, Caleb Miller Scott wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of a scarred hand.

  He knew he didn’t have much time left. Every day his spells of lucidness grew shorter and shorter. Each time the darkness took over his mind, he had no idea what happened. He only knew that hours, maybe days later, he would suddenly find himself miles from where he’d been, having no idea how he’d gotten there, how long it had taken him, or even where he was.

  But for now, he was sane. Too sane, even in his hatred, to try to kill Colton with so damn many Apaches nearby. Not only would he not get to Colton before the Apaches got him, but when they got him, they’d do to him what Colton did to Abe. His blood turned cold at the thought.