Chance Reddick Box Set 1

by David Archer

  The church service was nice, though it lacked the fire and brimstone preaching that Chance had grown up with. This preacher was more mellow, and almost seemed like he was being careful not to offend anyone. After the service, he made a point of shaking hands with Chance, and trying to ask a few questions. Chance brushed him off, and they all went over to Harold’s to get the traditional Sunday, after church soda pop.

  Chance took the opportunity to walk around the building and check on his car, which was sitting right where he had left it. He unlocked it and climbed inside, then started it up and pulled it around to the front of the building. He went back inside while Gabriella made a few purchases, then carried her boxes out to the back of the pickup truck. When they were ready to leave, he showed her his car and it was decided that Tommy was big enough to ride back to the ranch with Chance.

  When they got back, Chance waited for an opportunity to speak to Gabriella alone, but it didn’t come for a couple of hours. When it finally did, they were in the backyard sitting on the tailgate of the truck, watching the boys as they fed the chickens.

  “I spoke to Oscar this morning,” Chance said. “He admitted that he’d been here, but I get the feeling Baldizon doesn’t know about that. He promised me he wouldn’t say anything to Baldizon, but sooner or later the old man is going to want to know what I’m doing out here.”

  Gabriella took hold of his hand and clutched it tightly. “And we’ll figure out how to handle that together, when the time comes,” she said. She tilted her face up for a kiss, and Chance was happy to oblige.

  The rest of the day went smoothly, and they had another wonderful evening together with the boys. This time, though, Gabriella sat much closer to Chance, and she had refused to let go of his hand when she decided to head up the stairs to her bedroom.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  It was about two months later, near the end of July, on a clear, warm Saturday. The sun was just beginning to climb its way into a cloudless sky. The trees were reaching out to feel its rays, while casting their shade on everything below. The early morning dew still clung to the ground, and as the sun’s rays glistened on the water droplets, it added a silvery gleam to the land.

  Gabriella was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying another cup of coffee while Chance and the boys had gone off to the barn to saddle the horses. The three of them had decided to take a ride up the draw, where Chance was going to give Tommy and Andy some shooting lessons using the .22 caliber rifle.

  Her mind wandered back over the events of those previous two months. It seemed to her that their whole lives had changed somehow from the time Chance first came along. The love that had developed between them made him part of the family, rather than just another hired hand.

  From the first time she had seen him, she had felt a strange attraction to him, something that she did not think possible after her husband’s death. The boys had become extremely fond of him, and as for herself, she had realized from that long night when he had told her the truth about himself that she loved him. She had wanted to tell him so several times, even before that night, but she had always held back for fear that he might not feel the same towards her. The last thing she wanted was to scare him away.

  All of her doubts had disappeared that night, however, when he had told her the truth; he had been sent out there to try to find the money that the Zetas cartel still thought her late husband had stolen, but he had finally come to realize that she didn’t have it and knew nothing about it.

  Her husband had not been good to her. Maybe it was because it was an arranged marriage, or because she was married at such an early age. Maybe if she had been a few years older it might not have been so bad, but she had very few good memories from her marriage. He had had a bad temper which was displayed quite often, and she had worn the bruises on more than one occasion. If there was only one thing she knew for sure, it was that Chance was nothing like her husband.

  Benny’s death had dealt a severe blow to her life. Besides the dramatic emotional setback, she had been forced into taking over the entire financial and working operations of the ranch. This was something that she had never bothered herself with because Benny had always seen to such things. It took her over a month before she realized she could not handle all the work on the farm by herself, and when she did hire a man, he was more interested in getting into her bedroom than in doing the work she had assigned him. Eventually she fired him. It had been the same story for the past two years. She had gone through more than twelve hired men, and now, thank God, she finally had a real worker helping her, and he had turned out to be one of the finest men she had ever known.

  Things had been different with Chance from the very first day, because she had fully expected him to start flirting with her before dinnertime. He hadn’t, and in fact had acted like a perfect gentleman. She had wondered at first if he even found her appealing, but that first Sunday after he had made love to her, he had confessed that he had tried to prevent that very thing from happening by plunging into his work.

  She remembered the feeling that flowed through her body when he told her this. She felt so close to him, she felt young and alive again, and that her life had some meaning once more, for here was a man who respected her and who had kept his distance until neither of them could hold back their desire any longer. Moreover, he treated her like a woman, like a real lady, always concerned about her welfare.

  Yes, if only Chance would stay and settle down here, she wished. But she had no intention of confronting him with the question. She loved him and prayed that he would not go. Yet she always remembered what he had said to her that first day when she had hired him. “I’ll work for you, but if I get the urge to move on, I will, and if you don’t want me working for you anymore, then all you have to do is say so, and I’ll be gone.” It was something like that. At the time, she hadn’t thought twice about it, but now it haunted her.

  “Oh, dear Lord,” she prayed, “please don’t let him leave me. I love him so.” Tears came to her eyes as she considered the possibility of Chance deciding to move on. She didn’t really believe it was likely, not after the way they had both confessed their feelings, but neither of them had made any promises about the future.

  Looking around, she gave up her daydreaming and began doing her housework. She wanted everything to be just right when her men came home for lunch.

  Meanwhile, in a wooded area close to where he had shot the turkeys, Chance was ready to call a halt to the target practice. After only a few lessons, the two boys were doing fairly well. They paid close attention to everything he told them. They did their best and he could ask for nothing more.

  “Well, boys, I think that’s enough for today.”

  “Aw,” moaned Andy. “Can’t we stay a little longer?”

  “I’m sorry, but we’ve only got a few cartridges left. Remember what I told you before. When you’re practicing, never use up all your shells, because you never know when you might need them.”

  “All right,” replied Andy with resignation. “We’ll get Mom to pick up some more as soon as she goes to town.”

  “Okay, now, you boys ride on back to the house. I’m going to take a ride and check on the stock before I come in.”

  “Can we go with you?”

  “No. It will only take me a few minutes, and your mother is probably starting to get lunch ready for us.”

  The boys mounted and rode off while he sheathed the rifle and collected the battered targets. He smiled to himself as he watched them trot homeward, but his smile didn’t last very long. His thoughts drifted to their mother, who lately always seemed to be on his mind, and soon a deep-furrowed frown replaced the ever-present smile he wore when he was with this family who, it seemed, had adopted him.

  He felt a pang of guilt pierce his body—guilt for the lies that he had told, but which under the circumstances had been necessary. He couldn’t tell her everything, not after he had fallen in love with Gabriella.

  At first, he had thoug
ht that it was just a matter of desire, but it did not take him long to discover that it was much more than just a physical attraction. Chance wanted her. He wanted her for his wife. Often he had wanted to tell her so, but there were too many problems he had not yet solved. He knew he would have to find a way to free her of the cartel before he could ever consider such a possibility.

  It was this that was holding him back, because he did not know how she would react to the truth. Even though he had “confessed” about his involvement with the cartel, he hadn’t told her that he was actually sent out there to kill her. The only hope they had for any sort of happiness was if he could find a way to get Baldizon and the Zetas to leave her alone.

  The only problem with that was that the cartels were not known for their forgiveness.

  The boys had given him Thunder, the only stallion in the group. He had spent many hours in Thunder’s saddle, ever since the boys convinced him to go riding with them. Chance, of course, had almost grown up in the saddle, and he had been able to teach the boys a lot about how to handle orders properly. Each of them was already a fairly accomplished young horseman, and Chance remembered how he was building a reputation when he wasn’t much older than Tommy.

  On top of all that, he had become very fond of both Tommy and Andy, and they seemed to feel the same way. They had recently begun coming to him for assistance with their school problems rather than disturbing their mother.

  The agony worsened daily. Sooner or later, Baldizon would want to know why Chance had never returned from this assignment, and something down inside his gut told him that it was not going to be a good day when it finally came.

  He had never bothered calling Oscar again. He was fairly sure the man had figured out on his own that Chance had no intention of killing Gabriella, so he hoped Oscar would finally help to turn Baldizon’s attention elsewhere. There was no way to know, of course, so Chance simply kept a wary eye out. Anytime a strange vehicle came down the old gravel road, it was a safe bet that Chance would be watching it from somewhere out of sight.

  Baldizon wasn’t his only concern, however. Chance had called his grandmother a few times since he’d been gone, and it seemed there were some questions waiting for him if he ever got home. A detective from over at Hinckley had been by the farm, looking for Chance.

  “Somebody claims they saw a pickup truck that fits the description of yours around where those men were killed,” Grandma said. “And I guess somebody else gave them the description of somebody who looks like you.”

  “Well,” Chance said. “That’s disturbing, because I was pretty sure nobody saw anything.”

  “It didn’t help anything when they found your pickup truck hidden out at the old coal mine. Bryce wouldn’t let them impound it, but I had to pay the tow bill when he had it brought out here.”

  “What’s Bryce got to say about all this?” Chance asked.

  “He ain’t asking,” the old woman said. “To be honest, I don’t think he wants to know anything at all.”

  Baldizon actually worried Chance more than the thought of facing the Hinckley detective. If there was one thing he had learned to do in the last couple of months, it was to tell a lie with a straight face. Still, it meant there was always the possibility that someone could discover where he was, and cops could show up looking for him.

  Chance returned to the house just as the rest of them were sitting down to lunch.

  “We were just getting ready to eat. We didn’t know how much longer you would be,” said Gabriella, smiling.

  “That’s okay. The boys are doing quite well with their target practice.”

  “So they’ve been telling me.”

  “If they keep up the way they’re going, they’ll be experts in a few years.”

  “Oh, Mom,” cried Andy, “we can’t forget to pick up more cartridges when we go to town, today. We’ve almost run out.”

  “Sure. Just remind me when we’re in the store.

  Are you going to come into town with us today, Chance?” inquired Gabriella.

  “No. We’re running a little low on meat again, so I figured that I would try and get us some deer meat for a change. They’ve been wandering in and out of the canyon for the last couple of weeks.”

  She grimaced. “But it isn’t deer season yet. I think we’d be better off slaughtering a cow rather than taking a chance at being caught with a deer. The new Ranger has a habit of showing up when you least expect him.”

  “Don’t worry,” Chance said with a grin. “I promise you that I won’t get caught by any snoopy Ranger.” They left right after lunch and Chance watched them drive out of sight. He entered the den, picked up the heavy-caliber rifle, loaded it, and pocketed a handful of extra ammunition. Then he began his long walk into the forest. He had decided to walk instead of riding because he felt that the horse might make too much noise and possibly scare away his hoped-for prey.

  Forty-five minutes later, deep within the woods, he came upon a small clearing. He had seen hundreds of rabbit and deer tracks along the way, and now, after scanning the area, he propped himself up against a tree and settled down for what would most likely be a long wait.

  The stillness around him was almost deafening. His ears picked up the distant chirping of birds and the gentle rustling of the leaves as a soft breeze worked its way northward. It was so peaceful and quiet that it did not take long before he found himself lost in the same thoughts that had plagued him that morning.

  Several times he tried to shake away his thoughts, but his subconscious refused to allow him to do so. The whole worry over Baldizon and the cartel distracted him to the point where he completely forgot where he was. With every passing minute his fears climbed steadily. He had just about come to the conclusion that he was going to have to make a trip back to Kentucky to confront Baldizon on his own, when suddenly, a loud, ferocious roar wrenched him into full conscious awareness of his surroundings.

  There, only a short fifty feet away from him, was a grizzly bear that looked like a giant as he stood on his hind legs. Chance swore out loud, cursing himself for not having paid more attention to what was going on around him. He had been so deep in thought that if the bear had not roared at all, he probably would not have heard him coming. Now, it was too late to do much of anything to change the situation, for the beast was already moving toward him.

  He froze for an instant, wondering why the bear was attacking him. Of course, he had seen stories on TV about how aggressive grizzlies could be, so maybe they didn’t need a reason. Right at the moment it really didn’t matter a hell of a lot because, if he didn’t want to become this guy’s next meal, he’d have to act fast.

  Chance jumped to his feet and repeatedly triggered his weapon as quickly as he could lever new cartridges into the chamber. He had fired only four rounds into the creature when abruptly the mechanism on the rifle jammed. The gigantic bear was only ten feet away now, and Chance cursed himself for not having checked the action thoroughly before leaving the house.

  Well, there was no point worrying about that now. The blasted bear would be on top of him in a few seconds, and if four forty-four-forty slugs didn’t stop him, Chance had no idea what would. His whole life seemed to flash before his eyes. He thought what a shame it was to end up dying through his own carelessness, to have made his ultimate mistake.

  Gabriella! he thought suddenly. If I die now, who’s going to watch after her and the boys?

  He threw the rifle to the ground and reached down to his right leg to take hold of the switchblade that he always kept strapped there whenever he was outside the house. It was a poor replacement for the rifle, but the little pistol in his boot would be even more useless. It was either the knife or nothing. He hit the button to extend the blade, glad that it was a stiletto style with six inches of steel.

  The animal was ready to drop its enormous weight on top of him, but he managed to roll out of the way before the beast grasped him with those powerful claws. Stumbling to his feet, Chance prepar
ed himself to meet his enemy. He tried desperately to guess where they kept their hearts, because he figured he just couldn’t afford to miss.

  The seconds seemed to stretch into hours as he waited for his foe to make the next move, but this guy wasn’t in much of a hurry. Slowly he moved closer to Chance and then began swiping at him with his paws. Of all the things that Chance expected, this was the last. The claws ripped through his shirt and gouged long, deep furrows across his chest. A sharp, nauseating pain swept through him and he could almost feel himself slipping into unconsciousness.

  Gritting his teeth, he fought the ache just as the other claw tore across his left shoulder and knocked him to the ground. He looked up and saw the animal already on its descent. With what little strength he had left, he managed to roll clear and painfully climb back up on his feet. He silently pleaded with his body to put forth every ounce of energy it could muster for one last stand against this foe who had proven himself to be even more deadly than the men Chance had killed.

  Chance waited for the bear to once again stand up on its hind legs. This time he decided that it would be better for him to take the offensive. He lunged at the creature with the knife gripped tightly in his right hand. When he was about a foot away, he thrust the razor-edged weapon forward and upward to the area of the heart. It took most of his strength to force the blade to penetrate through the tough hide. He twisted the knife as he pushed it in up to the hilt, and warm, sticky, blood flowed from the wound and poured over his hand.

  The bear let out a loud roar of pain and the grip he had around Chance loosened considerably. Withdrawing the knife, Chance thrust and twisted the blade repeatedly into the animal until the creature finally fell into a dead heap. Totally exhausted from the life-and-death struggle, Chance collapsed into unconsciousness.