by David Archer
That was the choice. Either way, Chance couldn’t afford to let him live. If he got away, Chance would soon have a whole army swarming in around them and then, too, he might even grab the boys as hostages, using them as bait for his surrender. But which way should he play it? That was the question.
Turning around, he looked for Gabriella. She was nowhere in sight. Thank God, she had finally done what she had been told to do. He decided that his best bet would be to lie in wait just inside the door so that he could watch the fields near the road. Not only that, but if the man didn’t find him inside, he would eventually have to come outside.
By lying down just inside, he had a full view of the yard and fields, and he would be able to see anyone coming toward the barn. He only hoped that Gabriela had found a good hiding spot where she wouldn’t be found.
Slowly the minutes ticked by and nothing happened. The strain of anticipation made itself strangely felt on Chance’s nervous system. The throbbing pain of the wounds didn’t help matters much, either, yet there was nothing he could do but wait it out. Sooner or later, something had to happen, and it would all depend on who could outwait whom.
It seemed like almost an hour before Chance thought that he had seen something move. He wasn’t sure, feeling that his imagination could be playing tricks with him.
No. There it was again, in the grass, heading toward the small entranceway to the barn. Chance prepared himself to make one final play to end the battle, yet he wanted to be sure that it wasn’t Gabriella, who might have become impatient with the long waiting.
In another minute the suspense was ended. From the grass, a man rose to a crouch. This definitely was not Gabriella. Chance watched as his enemy came closer.
While the killer moved to enter the barn, Chance sprang to his feet and emptied his pistol in the direction of his last assailant. The man’s body jerked violently four times before it fell in a dead heap.
Relieved at the outcome of the situation, Chance leaned against the wall and took a moment to relax. Looking down at his thigh, he shook his head at the sight of the blood which had run all the way down to his ankle. Without giving it another thought, he made his way limping back to find Gabriella.
“You can come out now, Gabriella. It’s all over.”
She stepped out from a corner of the barn where she had hidden herself in the midst of a pile of hay. The stuff stuck to her clothes, her hair, and to the wet, red liquid on her arm.
“Are they all…?”
“Yes. Let me take a look at that arm.”
Tearing the sleeve away from her shoulder, he examined the ugly hole.
“How does it feel?”
“It hurts like hell.”
“Here,” he said taking off his shirt. “I’ll bandage it up with this. As for the bullet, it passed all the way through, so at least we were that lucky. Go lie down in the house and, this time, please don’t argue with me. I know what I’m doing. Okay?”
“But I want to help you!” she insisted.
“It’s better if you don’t get involved with what I have to do.”
“But I’m already involved.”
“Damn it, no,” he shouted.
“All right. All right. At least let me take a look at your leg and bandage it up.”
“Oh, okay. Just hurry up. Here,” he said, tearing off part of the dead man’s shirt, “tie this around my leg. You can look at it later. I’ve got to clean up this mess before someone comes around on an unexpected visit. If you really want to help, you can back the pickup truck over here so that I can load up the bodies.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
“Questions, questions, I’ll tell you later. Now get going.” Not wanting to make him any angrier than he already was, she obeyed without another word. Together they piled the corpses into the back of the pickup. When they were finally finished, Gabriella went off to the house obediently while Chance removed the bloodstained dirt in the driveway. He threw the dirt on top of the hay he had used to line the bottom of the pickup so that it would not get stained. Then after throwing the shovel into the back, he drove off to the remotest part of the old box canyon.
The throbbing in his leg forced him to take frequent breaks from his digging. It took him over two hours to dig the six-foot-deep grave wide enough for the corpses, and almost another two hours to deposit them and the hay inside the hole and then replace the dirt. He worked cautiously, jumping into the grave several times to pack down the loose earth and then finally making sure that the extra dirt was spread out over the field.
When he got back to the house, it was three o’clock. Only an hour before the kids would be home from school. He decided that he had better step up his pace if he wanted to get everything cleaned up before they got home. Gathering up all the guns, he placed them all inside their hiding spot again, and piled everything he could think of on top of it to keep it concealed.
“Now the only thing left to do is clean up the bloodstains in the barn before I get cleaned up myself,” he said aloud.
He set to work, first removing the reddened hay from Gabriella’s hiding place. He had trouble with the stains on the floor since some of the blood had soaked into the wood. There was nothing he could do about that, short of painting the barn floor. He covered the areas with loose hay, hoping that no one would stumble on them for a while. Then he moved the Chevrolet into the garage and left the pickup outside.
Once inside the house, he did not stop. He gathered up a couple of clean rags, bandages, some newspaper, and the tiniest, sharpest knife they had. After spreading the newspaper out on the floor, he called Gabriella while he poured boiling-hot tap water into a glass bowl.
“Take off your blouse and lie down on the floor with your arm over the paper.”
“Shouldn’t we call a doctor to do this?”
“If we do, the police will get involved and there’s no way that I can explain all this to them.”
“All right, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”
He immersed the knife in the hot water while he cleaned the area around the wound and bandaged it up tight.
“There you go,” he said. “Now that didn’t hurt too much, did it?” He watched her wipe away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks.
“I guess it could have been worse. What about your leg?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Well, have you ever removed a bullet before?”
“No, but I’m about to. Now, lie down and don’t argue.”
He lay down and closed his eyes. There was no point in arguing because she could be just as stubborn as he could. He clenched his teeth together as he fought the pain of even her gentle touch around the wound. When she probed for the bullet, he was ready to scream in agony, but he stopped himself when he thought about the pain that Gabriella must have gone through while he had been working on her arm.
“There you go. It’s all bandaged up,” she said. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No,” he moaned as the pain continued to pound throughout his body. “I sure could use a good stiff drink. How about you?”
“Definitely.”
Gabriella stood up and prepared the drinks, filling each four-ounce glass at least half-full of straight rye. They drank in silence as both of them were caught up with their own thoughts regarding the violent events that had shaken their lives this day.
“All right,” said Chance as he set down his empty glass. “It’s time we got cleaned up. The boys will be home soon.”
“How are we going to explain to them what happened?”
“We’re not. If they ask any questions, just tell them that you pulled a muscle in your arm and that I sprained my ankle.”
After they had changed, Chance took the bloodstained rags and clothes into the fields. There he set them on fire and watched them burn. He had just gotten back to the house when the boys came running up the lane.
“Hi, boys. How was school today?”
“Hi, Chance,” they shouted together.
“Did you get much of the hay in today?” asked Tommy.
“No. Something came up.”
While the boys were doing their chores, Gabriella and Chance sat silently in the living room. He stared at her for several minutes. He shook his head at the conclusions he had arrived at. It certainly wasn’t the way he had wanted things to turn out, but there was nothing he could do to change it. As far as he could see, there was only one course of action open to him. He didn’t like it and he knew that Gabriella wouldn’t like it either, but what else could he do?
“Why did you have to kill that young man?” Gabriella voiced her thoughts.
“What?” asked Chance, who was completely unprepared for any type of conversation whatsoever.
“The man in the barn, why did you have to kill him? His gun was empty. He couldn’t have hurt us.”
“You’re wrong there. If he had gotten away, he would have done one of two things. First, he would have reloaded his gun. Then he would probably have hidden downstairs waiting to ambush me. Or second, one of them might have kept us busy while the other guy waited by the road for the boys to come home. Then they would have used the kids as hostages until I surrendered. Either way, once they had me out of the way, they would have come after you.”
“But you didn’t know for sure that he had any more bullets.”
“No? Well, in his coat pocket I found four extra clips. None of these guys would ever start a shootout unless they had plenty of ammunition. Besides, didn’t you hear what he said just before he died?”
“No.”
“They found out where I was through Dr. Naples. That’s why I didn’t want you to call a doctor before. Well, after they got the information that they wanted, they killed him. Fortunately, his wife wasn’t home, otherwise she’d be dead too.”
“Oh, my God!”
“I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you,” said Chance as he changed the subject.
“Tell me what?”
“I love you and the boys very much and I don’t really want to leave…”
“Leave?” shouted Gabriella. “You can’t leave. We need you here. The boys need a man to look up to.”
“I’ve got no choice. I have to go back to Kentucky and bring this situation to an end. Eventually, someone is going to miss those guys, and when they do, there will be a whole army of gunmen swarming around this place. I love you. I don’t want to see you or the boys get hurt, but if I don’t put a stop to this, that’s what’s going to happen.”
“But we were going to get married.”
“And I hope we still will,” he said. “Gabriella, what kind of life could we have if we had to worry about that sort of thing happening all the time?”
“You’re not leaving tonight, are you?” The tears were rolling down her cheeks as she slowly gave in to his reasoning.
“No,” he said as he took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. “Tomorrow will be soon enough. Even if they don’t call in tonight, I doubt anyone is going to be looking for them for at least a few days.”
“Are you going to disappear out of my life forever, or will I see you again?” she cried.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said. “Trust me, I’ll be back.”
“I’ll wait for you no matter how long you’re gone.”
He wanted to comment on that last statement of hers, but he felt that she had already gone through enough heartache for one day. He’d tell her tomorrow before he left. Right now, all he wanted to do was hold her and comfort her.
They sat there embracing each other for a long time until Chance finally said, “I’m getting a little hungry; how about you?”
“I guess so.”
She forced a smile and kissed him before she went into the kitchen. Even though deep down inside her she had been afraid that someday he would have to leave, she still found it extremely hard to accept the fact. If it wasn’t for the kids, she would have insisted on going with him no matter where it would lead her. But since she had no choice in the matter, she would be content to wait until he returned, which would most likely be after he was sure that he no longer had to worry about the cartel.
That night, they both released all the emotional desire they felt for one another. They ignored the pain of their wounds and made love until well into the early hours of the morning, when they both eventually drifted off to sleep. It was the best that it had ever been. Since both of them knew that it would be a long time before they saw each other again, if they ever did, they put everything they had into those last few hours.
All too soon the alarm clock went off, insisting that they crawl out of bed and begin the new day. Dark rain clouds hung low in the sky, adding its dullness to the unhappy atmosphere that had already developed inside the house.
“Go back to sleep,” urged Gabriella. “I’ll wake you after the kids go off to school.”
“All right,” moaned Chance.
He rolled over and went back to sleep, completely oblivious of all sounds. Not even the thunderstorm, which erupted shortly before eight o’clock, could bring him out of his deep slumber. He finally awoke with a start as his heavenly dream turned into a vicious nightmare.
After glancing at his watch, he leaped out of bed. It was well past noon. He had hoped to be quite a ways away from here by now. He prayed that the delay would not mean that more trouble would befall him at the farm.
Making his way downstairs, he found Gabriella lying on the couch. She was crying. He walked over and tried to comfort her, yet even though he held her in his arms, she still continued to cry. After all, she had earned the right, since it was the second time in her life she was going to lose the man she loved. But what was even worse was the strange feeling she had that he would never make it back to her.
“Come on, now, don’t cry,” he said as he tried to soothe her some more. “I told you that I’d come back. As a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking that maybe, just maybe, if everything works out right, I might be able to swing a deal with Baldizon. After all, it’s to his advantage to stop hunting me, because so far he’s lost quite a few men and if he continues, he’ll lose a lot more.”
He really didn’t believe all that himself, but right at that moment, he’d say anything that might cheer her up a little. After this last stunt, he’d be very surprised if there wasn’t a price on his head. Then again, Baldizon might have too much pride to admit that his men could not handle one lousy fugitive. Either way, he was sure that Baldizon would want to make an example of him in order to show others that defiance against the cartel would not be tolerated.
She calmed down a little and asked, “Do you really think it’s possible?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have said it,” he lied, but it brought a slight smile to her face and for that alone, the lie had been worth it.
While Gabriella was preparing lunch, Chance gathered his few belongings, not forgetting the hidden cache of artillery in the barn. Gabriella gave him one of her own pieces of luggage to use in place of the torn one. After lunch, he strapped on the shoulder harness and the belt holster. Before he sheathed two of the forty-five automatics, he made sure that they were both fully loaded. He slipped a half-dozen extra magazines into his coat and, picking up the two bags, he headed for the Chevy with Gabriella close at his heels.
“Here,” said Gabriella before Chance stepped into the car. “This is what you’ve earned for the time that you’ve been here. You may need it.”
“No. You keep it. You need it a lot more than I do.”
“But you’ll need some money to travel on,” she protested.
“I’ve got more than enough to keep me going for quite a while. You just hang onto that. You’re going to need it, sooner or later.”
“Is there nothing more I can do for you?”
“Just one thing. Take good care of yourself and the boys, and don’t forge
t to give them my apologies. Now give me one more big kiss before I go.”
They clung to each other for a long time. Neither one wanted to break apart, but finally Chance eased her away.
“I’ll never forget you,” he whispered. “I’ll always love you.”
“Me too,” she answered. “I’ll be right here waiting for you to come back.”
He turned to her, not quite sure how to handle this situation which he had dreaded.
“No,” he said forcefully. “Don’t waste your life waiting for me. God only knows how long it will be before I’m free to live in peace again. The best thing that you can do is to find someone else.”
“How can you say that?” she cried with tears in her eyes.
“Believe me, it’s not easy. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t say it at all. But I do love you and I want you to be happy. You can’t very well be happy sitting around the house waiting for me to come back, because it could take years before all this is cleared up. If you love me and if you want to make me happy, you’ll see to it that you’re happy.”
“But…”
“Think about it for a while, and if you don’t agree with what I’ve just said, then you wait. Someday, somehow, I’ll return.”
Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her farewell. Without another word, he climbed behind the wheel of the Chevy and drove off.
Those last few minutes had been quite painful for him, but what else could he have done? He couldn’t possibly have asked her to wait for him because he had no idea when he’d get a chance to come back. Maybe he’d never get the chance and if he didn’t, he surely didn’t want her wasting her life away waiting for a dead man.
TWENTY-EIGHT
He sat within the confines of his motel room, which was situated in the poorer district of Lexington. The whole trip had been quite uneventful. Ditching the Chevrolet in Vegas, he had spent a couple thousand dollars on a cheap car. Just before he left Vegas, he made one phone call, which he hoped would prevent the cartel from taking out its anger on Gabriella and her boys. That call had gone to Mr. Baldizon. He could still remember the conversation as if it had just happened.