The stuff was atrocious!
She heard a slow clap and slowly walked towards the front doorway of the boarding house. The effects of the noxious drink were almost unbearable as she started to feel a little woozy.
Walking out the front door, she immediately turned towards what she thought was north. It really didn’t matter because the plan was to get abducted as quickly as possible so Jack would rescue her.
She had some glorified image taking shape in her mind that seemed to curl her very toes as she closed her eyes in happiness. Jack would charge in on his horse, his shirt unbuttoned down to his navel revealing all those rippling muscles she’d felt when she hugged him. He would shove the bandito away, swoop her into his arms, and ride off into the sunset with her in his lap.
There would be no annulment, no more arguments, and no large fuzzy spiders. Just her and Jack, happily ever after. She didn’t want to say goodbye to him and didn’t want to analyze why. She just wanted to live in that dream forever and ever at this moment.
“Ohhhh thish seems jest deeeevine,” she breathed aloud and cracked open her eyes to see a horse bearing down on her. Was it Jack? Were her dreams coming true?
“Maybe I’ll gimme anudder whishkey…” she breathed, holding her hand before her mouth and exhaling on it, wincing at the strong smell of alcohol.
“Thish will na do. Imma sinky… I mean stinkey… hee hee,” she giggled as she turned down an alleyway. “Imma take a shortcut n’get oudda here. Can’t cash’me! Oh no… you can’t cash’me! No sireee!”
Meghan straightened up and winced. Her stomach burned in protest and she felt a wave of nausea roll over her, causing her to place her hand on the nearest solid object so everything would hold still.
“Immade a mishtake,” she whispered, closing her eyes again. “Imite fallof da’road, iffn imna careful! Oh noes,” she breathed and began to cry. “My wegsr not workin. Imma sit ear.”
Meghan sat there in the alleyway against the wall, as the world spun around her. This was a mistake and however did men drink that poison? Large hot tears ran down her cheeks as she desperately tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t work.
“Ohmufgosh they’re broken!” she cried pitifully, looking around sightlessly before realizing her eyelids were closed again. “My wegsr broken and imma stuck – but imma not bwind. Ohnonono! I can hold dem open. Shee?”
She grabbed her eyelashes and lids, pulling them upwards only to see boots in front of her. “Shee? I shee sumpftin! Boots! Ishee boots – but who’s? Herrrro?”
“Hello, my pet,” a man said, before slipping a mask over her head and picking her up. Meghan didn’t have any energy and nothing seemed to be working right. Her fingers felt weird and she was really concerned that her eyelids had shut again of their own accord.
“Ohnoes! Imma blind agin…ugh… imma gun’be shick too,” she gagged before throwing up in the bag that was over her head. It took a moment to realize what was going on and if she had been crying before, she was wailing pitifully now.
“Ishhhh imma hairrrrr…!”
That was the last thing she uttered before she fainted dead away.
Chapter 8
“Jack! JACK!”
He turned quickly around from the clerk’s counter at the mercantile where he’d been haggling with the man over the price of a pretty bonnet he’d seen in the window for Meghan. He wanted to surprise her and thank her for her friendship and working with him.
“He’s got her,” Joker said, taking several deep breaths.
“That’s not funny,” Jack said, annoyed, and turned back to the clerk. “Seriously, I’ve got four dollars on me and there’s a pull in the ribbon. Just take the four bucks and be happy that I’m not asking for more.”
“Sir, the tag clearly says that the bonnet is four dollars and eighty cents.”
“You are going to lose a sale for eighty cents?”
“You are losing a bonnet for eighty cents.”
“Jack? Are you listening to me? He’s got her!”
He glanced at Joker’s pale visage and felt bile rise in his throat. Meghan had disappeared? That was fast!
“What happened?”
“She took a big shot of whiskey and walked…”
“WHAT?”
Joker shrugged nonchalantly.
“The woman can hold her whiskey. I was a little impressed and might have paid,” he confessed with a mischievous smile. “I think she needed a little courage for what you have planned.”
“And now she is out there… with him?”
“Sir? I’ll take the four bucks,” the clerk interrupted as Jack started to walk out the door.
“I’ll be back.”
“I wouldn’t pay more than three for that thing. I don’t know that Meghan will look good in brown anyhow – and there is a lot of brown ribbon on that bonnet.”
“Three! I’ll take three dollars.”
“Do you want it for her?” Joker said evasively, looking at Jack. He fought back a smile as he looked at his friend. The man was slick. He quickly fished three dollars out of his pocket, leaving the single bill still there. “You watched them go?”
“Yep – and if we leave now, we’ll follow just out of sight.”
Jack handed the three dollars to the clerk and grabbed the bonnet, not waiting for him to wrap it up. He folded it in half and tucked it into his waistband.
“Let’s go – and you can tell me why my wife was drinking whiskey… from you,” Jack said with an edge to his voice as he glared at Joker’s smiling face. The man was a bit too free and easy-going sometimes. Something like that would not be acceptable with Meghan’s life hanging in the balance. Espinoza was well known for smuggling captive women out of the area… but he was also known for his temper, something that he’d neglected to mention to Meghan for fear of scaring her off.
Espinoza was known as the ‘Hanging Bandit’ because of his history of leaving foes drifting in the wind as a warning. That was part of the reason he’d reached out to Joker for backup.
The easy-going man played by a different set of rules… his own.
Meghan awoke to the foulest stench that made her nose curl. A bucket of water was slowly dumped onto her head, bringing her fully awake as water invaded her ears, nose, and mouth, choking her. Sputtering, she tried to move away from the dousing, only to realize that her hands were bound in front of her. Her plan worked, now she just needed to wait for Jack and Joker to arrive.
“Are you awake, my little drunken princesa,” the heavily accented voice crooned. “You were quite distraught when I came upon you in the alleyway and I hope you are feeling much better.”
Meghan didn’t say a thing; she was still trying to get the water out of her ears and blinking away to focus on whoever was talking to her. Her eyes burned, making her wonder if there was soap in the water or something else.
“You certainly smell much better, no?”
“Thank you for helping me,” Meghan said, unsure how to handle this situation. She’d never considered how to handle it once she was captured or how long she would be in his control. How long had she been here? she suddenly thought, realizing that if she was out, it could have been minutes or hours…
“Of course! A true gentleman never leaves a pequeno angel to fend off evil men,” he said, and Meghan heard quite a bit of tittering around them. Lifting her neck, she tried to crane her head around to see where she was and who all was in the room.
“None of that,” he said firmly, his hand immediately pressing on the side of her head and pushing it down into the mud she now was laying in. Meghan started as she felt it squish into her ear noisily and realized that this man was dangerous as well as aggressive.
“You would do well to rest, little princesa, until it is time to go.”
“Go where?”
“Wherever I choose to take you,” he said slyly. Meghan glanced up to see him watching her. His long thin moustache against his dark skin made him look almost oily in appearanc
e. His cold eyes told her the man had no qualms about subduing women. Oh yes, this was Espinoza.
“Put her with the others and douse her again,” he ordered. “She still smells and now has mud on her. Use one of the hooks to keep her upright this time so she dries out. I need her to look presentable when we reach our destination.”
“Si.”
“Where is our destination?” Meghan asked as they pulled her to her bound feet, dragging her backwards out of the room. Espinoza walked over and grabbed her by the chin, pinching harshly into her skin and holding her face upwards.
“You have a lot of questions, princesa… questions that are none of your concern. You will go where I take you and that is the end of it.”
They glared at each other for several moments. Meghan refused to give in to the tears as he pinched the sides of her jaw harder and harder. It was control with him and he was determined to bend her to his will.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she bit out softly.
She needed to think. If he was aggressive enough to want power and control, then it needed to be something that would rattle him to allow a slip up. If she could find out information, where they were going, or who they worked with, then perhaps they could undo the entire operation. It wouldn’t be just bringing down one bandito… but possibly several.
He released her angrily, as a show of power, and Meghan fought the smile as the move was extremely telling. Oh yes, she had grown up around men wanting power. They were bullies and when they lost control, they lost their tempers. It was a matter of getting him to lose control so he made a stupid mistake.
This she could do… easily.
Meghan was dragged into another room with several women in it. They scuttled quickly to the corner when the door was opened, making her wonder at how long they’d been imprisoned. She was dragged towards a large hook on the wall that looked to be used for butchering… or she prayed that is what it was used for!
They took her wrists and slid the hook between the rope, making the strands cut even further into her wrists. Wincing, she hung there precariously while standing on her tiptoes to keep the rope from being overly tight, causing it to pull on her skin.
A bucket of water was tossed on her person just moments before another bucket was tossed on the women cowering together. Their shrieks of protest were quickly silenced as the hammer to a gun was pulled back, eerily loud in the room.
Meghan fought against yelling at the man as her feet slipped, pulling and twisting the skin at her wrists painfully. Blinking several times to get the water out of her eyes, she was stunned to see them leave the room. They were just leaving her there on the hook like this? For how long? Turning to the women, she nodded at them the moment the door was closed.
“Pssssst,” she whispered, “come help me down.”
“No,” one of the older women said immediately and the others looked to her. Ah ha, the leader of the pack, Meghan thought sourly.
“Please, I’m slipping and these hurt so much.”
“No, I’m sorry but we can’t move you or they will hurt us again,” she said flatly and Meghan felt deflated. They were scared and she understood. She was scared and ready for Jack to swoop in and save the day any moment now.
“How long have you been here? Where are you from?”
“Shhh or they’ll be back.”
“They can’t expect us to sit here silently forever and just take whatever cards they deal us, can they? I mean, that’s incomprehensible that they would believe…”
“Believe it, now hush or you’ll end up like Mabel.”
The other woman opened her mouth and only a guttural sound emerged. Meghan winced as she saw the raw wound on her tongue. The butcher had taken it to keep her silent. She met Mabel’s eyes and saw the raw agony combined with wounded defeat.
“I’m sorry, Mabel. We’ll get you to a doctor when we get out of here.”
“Mhhaphh,” she uttered painfully, as if to say that it wouldn’t matter.
It would matter to someone, Meghan vowed.
Mabel was so pretty but looked utterly heartbroken at the painful disfigurement that was pushed upon her. As she looked at the women, she saw that they all had been mentally broken at some point during their capture. Some were cowering with great bruises on their faces, arms, and exposed legs… others were nearly catatonic, rocking silently and letting out a whimper occasionally. This was beyond anything Meghan had ever seen and it made her soul hurt so much.
Would they try to break her spirit?
Would it happen before Jack arrived?
Meghan jerked herself awake as the needles and pins in her hands were almost too much to bear. She’d fallen asleep, her knees giving out as she hung there slack against the hook. The pressure from the ropes had cut off her circulation. Her purpled mottled hands were alarming in color and she immediately pushed up on her toes again to relieve the pressure. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the blood rush into her fingers once again.
Where was Jack?
Had he left her after all?
What if she had been abandoned?
She swallowed back the panic and took several deep breaths. Jack wouldn’t leave her, she believed that whole-heartedly with every fiber in her being. He wanted her as a friend when this was all over and she had to believe the sincerity in his request. It hurt so much to think that was all he wanted was to be friends. She wished she’d actually given in and kissed him just to see what it was like.
He was so handsome, so wonderfully obstinate and witty, with such a winning smile that could charm the skin off a snake. It was like a mental challenge to find a way to corner him in something and the playful man was game for it all. He never felt intimidated or got upset; rather he complimented her, calling her ‘clever’ and ‘lovely’.
“Why couldn’t there be more,” she whispered aloud, hoping the words and soulful request carried in the wind. If he wanted out of their pretend marriage, then she would do as he asked without argument… maybe, she thought sadly. She might argue and fight for Jack if he showed the slightest interest in her. The idea of them being a little bit more than friends fascinated her in a way she never imagined.
Her foot slipped in the mud, causing her to fall against the post. A sharp stab of pain exploded in her face as she split her lip and nearly broke her nose against the massive timber log. She was tired, sore, and now cranky beyond belief and reasoning.
“HEY!” she screamed angrily, spitting blood from her mouth. “HEY! GET ME DOWN FROM HERE NOW OR I’LL REALLY START SCREAMING!”
The women in the room quickly moved away from her like they’d seen an apparition. The door burst open and Meghan saw the cold hatred from Espinoza.
“You! Is this your idea of keeping your chattel healthy? By having my hands injured to the point they’ll need to be amputated or is the injured, bloody lip a good selling point for you?”
“SILENCIO!”
“I don’t think so,” Meghan bit out, spitting again. “I want down. I want some water, and I want my husband… not necessarily in that order but I’m going to get all three really soon – and you’ll be a dead man.”
“Get her down,” Espinoza said in a flat, calm manner.
Meghan nearly crowed in delight until she heard Mabel whimpering raggedly in the corner. She paled as she realized they might try to hurt her too. Standing tall, she felt them dragging her out into the yard. The sun was just coming up over the horizon.
A sickening calm came over her as Meghan looked around. They were on a small farm surrounded by high grasses that were nearly waist deep in places because the animals hadn’t eaten it or tamped it down. She didn’t see a fire going to cauterize a wound like Mabel’s… there was actually nothing here but a well and a tree.
With a noose.
“Oh, dear Father in Heaven,” Meghan whispered in horror as she looked at the men surrounding her. They were going to hang her? That split lip and her hands didn’t feel so bad anymore
, she thought in sheer panic.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, turning to Espinoza instinctively.
“I couldn’t care, princesa,” he said coldly.
“No. I’m truly sorry. I will behave and you won’t hear a peep out of me.”
“I still won’t in about five minutes.”
“You can’t hang me,” she balked, feeling tears well up.
“Actually, I can… and I will,” Espinoza replied flatly. “Load the women up and I’ll take care of this one personally. I think I will enjoy this one’s misery as she swings struggling for breath. How long can you hold your breath, little one?”
Meghan balled up her fist and swung blindly at him, connecting with his jaw. The look of surprise almost made her laugh but Espinoza’s maniacal evil glare, stopped her immediately.
“That tickled, princesa.”
“You are a sad, pathetic man and deserve everything you’ve got coming.”
“Too bad you aren’t going to deliver, eh?”
“Yes, it’s too bad,” she said angrily, feeling tears well up as she realized he was going to hang her regardless. It hurt her heart so very much to think of what Jack would go through when he found her limp body dangling from the tree. She hated that he would have to live with the guilt knowing he didn’t save her.
The salty repugnant taste of blood mixed with bile was almost too much to bear and she wouldn’t let Espinoza derive anymore pleasure from her fear. No, it was time to stand tall and die with honor. This man was taking everything from her. Her life, her pride, her hopes and dreams… he was taking a future with Jack from her and it was unbearable.
“It’s too bad indeed,” she repeated, spitting directly in his face.
Horrified, Jack watched the scene unfold before him from his spot where he lay in the grass. He was quite stunned to see Meghan sucker-punch the man and almost jumped out of the grass. Thank God Jack had Joker there to calm him down. He was beside Jack, whispering the entire time.
An Agent for Meghan Page 6