Fifteen
SEVEN YEARS AGO
Ro never quite knew what Les was thinking, since he always had that silly smirk on his face. He was an asshole, for sure, and a handsome one at that, but he was also a mystery. He was brutal to his men, but he’d yet to act the same way with Ro. He always spoke softly, teasing, never raising his voice in anger, even when she messed up something he’d shown her a million times.
True to his words, he’d started teaching her the dos and don’ts of being an outlaw. He gave her rules to follow, and while she didn’t agree with all of them, she saw their merit. If she wanted to be an outlaw, The Croc was the best person to take advice from. She could admit that.
“What are the rules?” Les asked for the millionth time.
Ro rolled her eyes, but she answered because she didn’t want to see Les take out his anger with her on one of the other crew members. Not that they would appreciate her sacrifice. The other men of the Band of Misfits thought she was useless for anything other than food—far too many scalies in the crew were eyeing her like a wild rabbit. Les kept them at bay. Many weren’t as terrifying as a Spinosaurus.
“Don’t go in without a plan.”
“Next.”
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
“Good. Next one.”
“Don’t leave any witnesses.” Ro pursed her lips on that one and knew she’d never follow it. Bank robbery didn’t have to transform into murder. She had no desire to shoot everyone she came into contact with, but The Croc was notorious for leaving massacres in his wake. Ro had a hard time assimilating the bloodthirsty Croc with the always smirking Les, even though they were one and the same.
“You always say that one with a little hesitation,” Les commented. “Do you not agree?”
Ro didn’t answer. She refused. Last time she’d told him he was wrong, he’d beat one of his crew members within an inch of his life. Apparently, that had been enough, because the man had died later that same day from his wounds. Les had an anger problem. Ro just hoped she was long gone before he directed it toward her.
“Boss, we got a tip that there’s an airship loaded down with coin.” Les’ second-in-command, Charles, interrupted. “It should be passing nearby in a few hours.”
Les grinned. “They’re getting smarter. Rich fuckers think that putting the gold in the sky will keep it safe.”
Charles shook his head. “It was a mistake. The airship is moving too slow. I bet they loaded it too heavy for its size. It’s just a small traveling airship, not a great beast like the ones I saw before.”
“That’s perfect.” Les turned toward Ro and she tensed. “Looks like you get to go on your first hit, Rowena.”
Until that moment, Les had made her stay at the camp with old man Jiminy and a few others. Poor Jiminy was forced to cook for the entire camp, his body not quite as fast as it used to be. More than once, Ro had watched Les give the old man a sharp eye, and she could tell the only reason he was alive was because no one could cook like him. The fact that Les was allowing her to go on this hit meant he was testing her, and that was okay. If she could help pull this off, maybe there was some hope for her leaving The Croc and the Band of Misfits behind. She would never stay here.
Les stepped forward and Ro realized that Charles had slipped away during her musings. The Croc reached up and cupped Ro’s chin, his fingers rough against her skin. “Are you ready, Rowena? Are you prepared to earn your freedom?”
“Yes,” she breathed, her heart kicking in her chest at his touch. It was a stupid reaction, one she’d been fighting, but with the man this close, breathing into her face, it was hard to remember why it was a bad idea.
“You’ll need to wear something around your face to keep your identity a secret.” He pulled a bandana, as red as the hat on his head, from his pocket. “You can use this.”
Ro stared into his bright eyes, at the seemingly human features that could transform into a massive beast at his whim. It was difficult to pair the two, because Ro found she might have liked the man if it wasn’t for the beast hiding beneath his skin. She often wondered if Les realized how much of his Spinosaurus leaked through, how much it twisted his actions, because she’d met other dinos before, and none of them held their other forms barely in check.
Ro wondered if it had something to do with his upbringing. She’d heard whispers that even though he carried a normal name, that he’d been raised by an Apache tribe as a child, and that’s why he’s so in tune with his wildness. She’d like to think it hadn’t made him evil, but even she could see the danger in his eyes. How had the Apache tribe handled having a young monster in their midst? What had they done to be able to control him?
“Boss, we’re ready,” someone called, and Ro realized just how long they’d been standing there, with Les’ fingers on her chin, staring into each other’s eyes so deeply, it felt like he was memorizing her soul. Maybe he was trying to determine just how much it would be worth when he sold it to the devil.
“Move out.” Still, Les didn’t release her face. Instead, he leaned closer, his warm breath fanning across her skin, a few strands of his hair falling around his face. “Don’t let me down, Rowena.”
“I won’t.”
Les pressed a firm kiss against her lips, so fast, she didn’t even have time to react before he released her and turned. She stared after him as he strode away, her mouth hanging open as she pressed her fingers to her lips. What the hell had that been, she wondered, watching the crew climb onto their steeds, whether dino or horse. Some of the crew didn’t trust the dinosaurs not to eat them when they rode on their back. Those ones rode horses. Apparently, there had to be a rule put in place that the horses weren’t to be eaten. There had been too many accidents when hunting and too many horses became dinner before Les had made the rule.
Lifting the bandana that Les had given her, she wrapped it around her face, obscuring all but her eyes before she followed after. As she walked, she checked her revolver at her hip, and then when she found it loaded and ready, she checked the pistol on her other hip and the knives stashed on her body. A lesson that Les had taught her immediately was to never have one weapon. He made it clear that if she’d had more than just a revolver, she’d never have been thrown in jail in the first place or had to fight the sheriff of Copper Hollow. They might take your obvious weapons from your body, but they couldn’t find them all. It was one lesson Ro understood, and she planned to use it the most. Never be helpless. Never be at someone else’s mercy.
Ro looked around hesitantly, not certain if she should climb up on one of the crew’s horses, or go on foot and get left behind. The problem was solved, however, when Les turned and grinned at her, before the first bone popped. She winced as it was followed by another and another as Les doubled over in pain, his skin expanding and scales spreading along his flesh, as he morphed into the beast she always sensed under the surface.
The crew gave the large Spinosaurus plenty of room, avoiding his sweeping tail and long snout. Ro stared up at the monster in both fascination and fear, unbelieving that she stood with such a creature. Les’ scales were as red as the hat he wore, his skin covered in patterns of pale red stripes and spots. But that wasn’t what amazed Ro. The signs of his parentage were all over his body, the war paints saved for traditional native steeds peppering his form. A white circle went around his eye, making the bright colored irises stand out even more. Handprints dotted his hindquarters, as if he’d been touched by every member of the tribe. He was a walking, talking masterpiece of history. Les Chambers was many things, but she’d never thought of him as a masterpiece before. Now she did.
When the Croc turned and met her eyes, she nearly stumbled backwards.
“Get on my back,” his voice filtered through her mind. It wasn’t out loud, but Ro knew that the others couldn’t hear his words. Les was talking only to her.
When she took a step forward, he leaned down far enough so that she could climb up his neck and sit rig
ht at the space where his sail ended and his neck began. He was warm between her legs, and even though she assumed he’d be cool to the touch, she was glad he wasn’t. He rumbled beneath her as he straightened, rising into the air with her on his back. With nothing to hold on to, Ro leaned forward and wrapped her arms as best as she could around his neck. It did nothing, and if he took a sharp turn, she’d most likely fall off, so she sat up and wrapped her fingers around the sail behind her instead. The position was awkward on her shoulders, but it was better than falling fifteen feet to the hard ground.
“To think, this was all I had to do to get you to ride me,” he teased, taking a step into the desert.
“Oh, shut up,” Ro grumbled, his laughter echoing in her mind. She couldn’t help the smile on her own face. “If I wanted to ride a beast, I could have picked any other.”
His head swung around to meet her eye and she nearly flinched as the snout came too close. She could see why his outlaw name was The Croc, why many saw the resemblance in his face, but she knew better. No croc would be as deadly as this man. “Perhaps I only want you to ride me,” he spoke. “Perhaps, I’d kill any other who tried to slide between your thighs.”
Ro froze, feeling the threat deep in her bones. But she was young, still naive, still hopeful, and that’s the reason she smiled.
She should have run screaming in the other direction. She should have never gone along with his plan. She should have never trusted Les “The Croc” Chambers.
The airship floated low over the desert, barely avoiding the large rock cliffs beneath. Whoever came up with the idea to load an airship with such a heavy load had missed the point of using an airship to begin with. If they’d wanted to be safe, they should have made it so the ship could float above the clouds rather than along the land. As it was, the airship had no way to escape as Les and the Band of Misfits stormed forward, their guns up and ready.
“No one fire their weapons until we have what we came for!” Charles shouted, the order most likely coming from Les. It was a smart order, as the airships were in danger of combustion with one, single stray spark. They were badly designed, but as long as they flew high enough and avoided firearms, they were safe. Unfortunately for this one, someone didn’t think things through, and in the Wild West where outlaws and bandits reigned, it was going to be their worse mistake.
Les kept pace with his crew, although he ran at the front of them. Ro could feel his resistance, knew he could run much faster if he wanted, but he held himself in check to keep pace with the rest. She didn’t think it was from some sense of compassion, but rather due to his plan. Always have a plan—that was the number one rule—and Les always stuck to his plans.
“I’m gonna run right up underneath it, and you’ll use my back to jump and catch the ladder hanging down,” Les instructed.
Ro watched the ladder in question trail along the ground one moment, hang another, then hit a tall stone again. Seriously, she thought, they hadn’t even pulled up the ladder.
“Got it.”
Ro pulled herself up on Les’ back, holding on to his sail to make sure she didn’t go flying. She bent her knees as they drew closer, and when the ladder was just within reach, she kicked off, her fingers curling around the second to the last rung. The airship dipped the smallest amount, but it was enough that her toes dragged along the ground for a heartbeat before she pulled herself up to the next step.
Howls went up around her from the Band of Misfits, and then shouts came from the deck of the airship as they realized they were under attack. Someone peered over the edge of the airship at Ro and she drew her revolver.
“No guns!” Les growled in her mind, and she cursed at the reminder. She should have remembered that. Instead, in her haste, she’d almost forgotten the most important rule. She holstered her gun and started to climb just as the ladder swung dangerously. She looked down to see Les in his human form climbing up behind her. “Go!”
Ro climbed as fast as she could, her arms burning from moving up the rope ladder, but she pushed until her fingers grasped the ledge and she was able to peer over. Some of the other crew had managed to get their lassos around the ship, some climbing even as those on the airship started going around and cutting the ropes. Charles screamed as his rope went loose right over a canyon. The scream cut off so suddenly that Ro winced as she pulled herself over, choosing to ignore that one of the crew just died. Les showed no emotion at all as he climbed up behind Ro, with a knife as long as her arm in his hands.
One of the airship lackeys ran forward with a length of steel pipe in his hands, prepared to fight for something he’d never own. These men didn’t make enough to risk their lives, and yet here they were, fighting the Band of Misfits, knowing that their chances of survival were low. The Croc rarely left survivors, and if he did, it was typically one lone person to tell the tale.
Still, Ro wasn’t prepared for Les to spring forward and draw the long knife across the young man’s stomach, his innards spilling out just before he dropped to the ground dead. She gasped, but Les was already sprinting to the next opponent, stabbing and slashing at the young boys. Ro stared at the kid in horror, before Les’ voice dragged her out of her stupor.
“Get a move on!” he shouted at her.
When she still didn’t move, his hand gripped her jaw and he snarled, “I said, move!” When he sprung away again, Ro felt the blood that he’d smeared on her skin, and she fought the gag in her throat as she dove for the holding room, reaching the small trap door that was the easiest and quickest way down.
Inside, gold glittered as it caught the sunlight, and Ro sucked in a breath at the sight. She wiped her face on her shoulder and squatted down to peer closer. There was so much gold, she wasn’t sure how they’d get it off if she was being honest.
A few more crew members climbed aboard and joined the fray. One of them transformed into a Velociraptor before her eyes and started tearing through those that fought him. His yellow scales shimmered almost as much as the gold beneath Ro. She turned away and focused on getting into the holding room by slowly slipping her legs over the edge, extending her body down, and finally releasing the ledge and dropping inside. Someone lowered a large canvas bag on a rope, and she started piling all the gold she could inside. When it was full, it was pulled up and another bag dropped down. She repeated the process until sweat trickled down her spine and dripped from the tip of her nose, until she couldn’t see straight, until the glimmering gold forced spots in front of her eyes.
At some point, someone else dropped down to help her. Not Les, but another crew member that completely ignored her except for doing his job. When they’d emptied the hull of gold, they changed their focus to some of the other items in the small room—some food and supplies that would come in handy. All in all, they cleaned the airship out as the Band of Misfits fought above them. A final rope dropped down, and the other man wrapped his fist around it before he was hauled out so fast, that Ro knew one of the dinos had pulled him free. She waited for the rope to drop again, and when it didn’t, she furrowed her brows.
“Hey! I’m still down here!” she shouted, standing on top of the pallet and looking up toward the sunshine. No one answered, and the rope still didn’t drop.
Trying to fight her rising panic, Ro turned and studied the walls, the single door, and the supplies left in the room. The door would be locked from the other side, so it was a useless point of escape. That was the whole reason for going in from above. The only supplies left were a small coil of rope, not long enough to reach the hole above, and a small container of apples. She was tempted to sit down and give up, but that wasn’t her way, so instead, she grabbed one of the apples tightly in her hand and threw it through the hole above. The soft thump as it hit the deck was satisfying as she grabbed more and threw until she was down to the last apple. The fighting above had died down, the screams trickling off to a minimum, and she wondered if she’d been left behind, if Les had used her and left her here to die or hang.
/> Just as she thought the worst, a length of rope dropped inside, and she quickly wrapped her fist around it. Ro was hauled up on deck quickly and thrown over a shoulder. She didn’t even get a chance to see who carried her, but she knew it was Les just by his scent of leather and mint. He ran hard for the edge of the airship, the airship that was still thirty feet off the ground. She focused on the bunching of Les’ muscles rather than the dead and dying bodies behind them. One boy reached for them, his arm cut clean off his body, his blood coating the floor, but still he tried to stop them as he bled out. Ro looked away quickly, only for Les to launch them into the air with a rope wrapped around his hand that sizzled as they dropped. Ro screamed, clinging onto Les for dear life as the ground rose up to meet them. The moment his feet touched the ground, Les dropped Ro to her feet, turned, and pulled out his large revolver, the one with a soft green glow coming from its barrel. He took aim, and everyone held their breath as the airship slowly floated along, until he pulled the hammer back and squeezed the trigger, the boom rocking Ro back on her heels. The bullet hit home in the large balloon, and for a moment, Ro wasn’t sure anything was happening, until the massive boom repeated and the whole airship exploded. She watched in horror as more screams rent the air as some attempted to jump from the burning airship only to find their death below.
“Don’t look,” Les commanded, turning her around quickly. “It’s best not to look.”
Ro let him draw her into his chest, let him hide her face, let the murderer comfort her. And when hiding her face wasn’t enough, she let him distract her with a kiss before he shifted and carried them off into the desert, the Band of Misfits far richer than they’d been before they attacked the airship.
When the nightmares started that night, Ro didn’t tell Les to leave when he moved close, and when he slowly took her clothes off, she never told him to stop.
Rowena Wickham had made many mistakes in her lifetime, many more in the recent times since her father died, but she couldn’t help thinking that she’d made the biggest mistake of her life when she’d let Les Chambers love her.
Rexes & Robbers Page 11