Hannah Howell (32 page)
Authors: Stolen Ecstasy
Charlie swore as he caught sight of Watkins’s men closing in. “Now it starts.”
“They ain’t thinking of rushing us, are they? Hell, it’d be like a turkey shoot. Watkins can’t be that stupid.”
“Don’t think he is, Jed. Not one of them’s trying to come into that clearing. I think he’s going to play with us. Don’t shoot too freely. Just keep the bastards pinned there, maybe pick a few careless fools off.”
Leanne shivered, then jumped when the first shot was fired. This was a side of her friends she wished she did not have to see. Charlie and Jed knew the ways of violence, knew the world of guns and killing. It was hard to recognize this hard side of the gentle, shy men who had befriended her. She was not sure she liked it.
Then she shook herself, scolding herself for ill-placed delicacy of feeling. She should be glad of their skill in such matters. They were risking their lives to protect her. The man they faced had every intention of killing them. Including, she thought as her child stirred in her womb, an innocent. Such men had to be faced with a hard heart, with a violence equal to theirs.
As she grew almost accustomed to the sporadic gunfire, handing out loaded guns and reloading the emptied ones, she thought about Hunter. He might be riding to help, but she was not sure how he could find her. She had told him about O’Malley but not exactly where the cabin was, only that it was in the San Juan foothills. Since she felt certain Watkins had killed Charity and possibly Marshal Tuckman as well, there was no one to tell Hunter exactly where the cabin was. Of course, she thought wryly, as another of what few panes of glass remained was shattered by a bullet, if Hunter passed within a few miles of them he would easily hear where they were. Sound carried a long way in the hills and Watkins was making no effort at all to be quiet. She hoped that was not because he was confident no one would be coming to help.
When Grant signaled a halt, Hunter reined in beside him. “Why are we stopping?”
“We go any farther and we can be spotted. If Watkins is there, he might set out a watch. After all, he’s expecting you to come galloping after Leanne. We ought to come up to the cabin as much on the sly as we can.”
Looking around, Hunter saw little cover for six men on horseback. “The best way to do that would be on foot.”
“ ’Fraid so. That copse of trees would be a good place to leave the horses, but it’ll be a good hike up there.”
“There is no alternative though, is there?”
“Not if we want to get there unseen.”
At the copse, they dismounted and secured their horses. They took a few moments to select what they would need if they faced a fight. While Hunter did not enjoy the thought of the added time it would take to walk to the cabin, he admitted to himself that he would do just about anything to deprive Watkins of any warning.
Even as they started out, Hunter saw Sebastian’s skill at tracking. The man made no sound at all as he walked along. To his surprise he saw some of the same skill in Grant. It occurred to him that Leanne’s father had probably picked up a few tricks while ducking his creditors all those years. Falling back a little, he did his best to follow their example. Owen and Leanne’s brothers did the same.
As Grant waved for them to stop, Hunter heard the sound of gunfire. It was both alarming and reassuring. While it meant that Watkins and Martin had found Leanne, it also meant she, Charlie, and Jed were still holding on. Then he saw the man Watkins had put on watch. He had an excellent view from where he sat high on the rocks.
“We try to go by and he’s bound to see at least one of us,” Grant said as all six men crouched together to plan their next step.
“I can see why we had to leave the horses behind,” muttered Owen. “How the hell do we get around him?”
Grant sighed. “That, m’boy, is a puzzle. He sees just one of us before we get him, and he’ll have plenty of time to warn Watkins. It’s a shame Watkins had the wit to see that there’s no better place to set a pair of eyes. I was hoping he’d be so bent on his revenge, he’d do little thinking on protecting his own back. Can’t shoot the bastard either. Might get lost in the sound of shooting already about, but it might not.”
“Then it seems to me we have to shut those eyes—quietly,” Sebastian murmured.
Along with the others, Hunter looked at Sebastian. The man tossed aside most of what he had taken from his horse, keeping only his Colt and a knife. Then he sat down and took off his boots and socks.
“What’re you doing that for?” asked Owen.
Standing up, Sebastian stared towards Watkins’s rearguard. “It’s nigh on impossible to move quietly over rock with boots on. I’m also going to have to do a little climbing to get to him. I climb better in bare feet.”
“Can you manage if you take my Henry?” Grant asked.
Sebastian frowned slightly at the rifle Grant held out to him. “Why take it?”
“If you get up there, you’ll see that you have a real good view of the cabin and what’s around it. Course, there ain’t much cover up there. Hell, ain’t any. Made sure of that. Still, if you’re willing, it’d be a good place for us to have a gun. Just make sure you don’t get your fool self killed.”
“Yes, sir.” Sebastian took the rifle and, an instant later, disappeared.
“Think he can do it?” Grant looked at Hunter.
“If it can be done—yeah. Wonder why Charlie and Jed haven’t shot that man? Isn’t he in range of the cabin?”
“He is. I made sure of that before I started building. I reckon Charlie and Jed are too busy watching what’s closer to the ground. It wouldn’t help us much if they did pick him off. Watkins can stick another fellow up there quick. It’d take a while, more time than we want to wait, to make Watkins feel the cost of keeping a watch is too dear or his men flat refuse to go.”
They fell silent as they waited. Hunter knew they were watching the guard as closely as he was. They scarcely saw the first fleeting hint that Sebastian was there before suddenly the man crumbled to the ground. Within the blink of an eye, it looked as if he was back up. Then an easily read signal aimed directly at them proved it was Sebastian. He had obviously slipped on the man’s coat and hat in hopes of keeping Watkins from seeing there was any trouble.
“Hot damn, he’s good,” muttered Grant, then turned to look at his small army. “Brandon and I are going to the cabin. There’s a way to slip in around the back that’s really well hidden. The rest of you see what you can do about getting behind those bastards. The better a crossfire we can catch them in, the quicker we can end this.”
Leanne was wishing for the hundredth time that the fighting would end when she heard Charlie cry out. She hurriedly looked out to see him clutching his arm. Keeping low to the ground, she scurried over to his side.
“I told you to stay in that shelter,” Charlie rasped as he sank down to sit beside her.
“I’ll go right back as soon as I stop this bleeding.” She ripped away the cloth to check his injury and breathed a sigh of relief. “The bullet went right through. I don’t think it hit anything important.”
“Hit me.”
She smiled as she ripped two strips of cloth from her petticoat, dampened one in the jug of water they kept at hand to ease their thirst and began to bathe his wound. “I meant muscle or bone. This arm will still be more or less usable.”
“Don’t matter if it’s a little stiff. Not my shooting arm. Reckon one of us was bound to get stung.”
“Yes, considering the swarms of bullets that fly through at regular intervals. Is there any progress out there?”
“We’ve trimmed the numbers a little,” Jed answered because Charlie was gritting his teeth against the pain she had to inflict. “I figure Watkins is just waiting us out. He hopes we’ll run out of supplies, especially ammunition. Then they can just walk in. Either that or they’ll get in some lucky shots and we won’t be able to muster enough fire to hold them back.”
“That is rather what I thought. It seems he’s not too worried about anyone coming to our aid.” She finished bandaging Charlie’s arm and sat back on her heels, absently rubbing at the ache in the small of her back.
“Yeah, and maybe he’s just plumb loco,” grumbled Charlie as he briefly tested his arm. “Now, you get back over there.”
Looking at her shelter, she grimaced. “Just what’s in those bags scattered amongst the bales?”
“Ran outta clean hay, so I stuffed them with not-so-clean hay.”
“That’s what I feared. The aroma is growing a little stronger than I like.”
“Better a little stink than a bullet in you. Now get back there.”
“You are becoming quite autocratic, Charles.”
“That mean something about how I’m telling you what to do?”
“It does.”
“Too bad.”
“Leanne!”
All three of them froze. As one, they stared at the door at the rear of the house. When Jed and Charlie aimed their guns at the door, she signaled them to hold their fire. There was something familiar about that bellow, but she did not dare to hope.
“Leanne? Answer me, girl. It’s O’Malley.”
Charlie grabbed her by the arm when she started to move towards the door. “You sure it’s him?”
“It certainly sounds like him, and he’d know about the hidden back entrance.”
“One of Watkins’s men could have slipped by us,” Jed murmured. “They know about O’Malley too.”
“Leanne,” the voice called, “I’ve got anise drops.”
She smiled at Jed and Charlie’s looks of confusion. Jed muttered, “What the hell?”
“It’s O’Malley. Even Charity didn’t know about how he always brought me anise drops, so Watkins wouldn’t either.”
Charlie released her, hissing, “Keep real low.” She noticed, as she half-crawled to the door, that while Jed returned to shooting at Watkins’s men, Charlie kept his gun aimed at the back door. Then she stood up to remove the bar and flung it open. She was at first painfully disappointed, for there was only the rock staring back at her. Then O’Malley stepped in, followed by his son Brandon. She laughed as O’Malley swept her up in a big hug while Brandon hastily relocked the door.
Grant was shockingly aware of the roundness of his daughter’s belly but subdued his reaction, covertly signaling Brandon to hide his shock as well. For the moment, the important thing was that she was alive and apparently unhurt. He relinquished her so that Brandon could give her a brief hug. Then he helped cover her and push her to the floor when several bullets hit the walls around them.
“You could say there’s more lead in the air than might be healthy,” Charlie drawled.
Leanne hastily introduced the four men to each other. “It’s so good to see you two, but you’ve stepped into a lot of trouble.”
“We know all about it.” When she opened her mouth to speak, Grant shook his head. “We can talk later. There’s some work to do now.” He helped her into a sitting position, keeping his body between hers and the windows. “You got a safe corner to tuck yourself into?”
“Yes.” She pointed to her shelter. “Charlie and Jed have made me stay in that.”
“Damn good idea.” He nudged her towards it. “Get back in there. Things’ll probably get real hot for a little while.” As soon as she obeyed, he and Brandon scrambled over to Jed and Charlie. “Been at this long?”
“Started soon after daybreak,” Charlie answered.
“He’s playing a waiting game,” Jed said. “Figures he’s got time to set and nip at us ’til we can’t nip back.” He met Grant’s gaze and his eyes slowly widened. “Lookit his eyes,” he hissed, nudging Charlie, who slowly had the same reaction.
Before either man could blurt out anything, Grant turned their attention back to the fight with Watkins. “There’s four men on our side out there. One’s on that lump of rock over there.”
Charlie looked where Grant pointed. “Hot damn, it’s Sebastian.”
“You can recognize him from here?” Brandon asked in surprise.
“Charlie’s got good eyes,” Jed replied. “That must mean Hunter’s here. Circling behind the bastards, is he?”
“Yes,” Grant answered. “Him, his brother Owen, and my other son. Things should happen soon.”
When Charlie mentioned Sebastian, Leanne had needed a minute or two to strangle the urge to race over to the window to look. Only she would have been looking for Hunter, not the others, and she felt like kicking herself. After what he had done to her, she had to be a complete fool to even want to look at him. It annoyed her beyond words that she did want to—badly.
While it was good to have help, any help, she knew this particular help was going to bring its own trouble. She knew it would be foolish to hope she could avoid seeing Hunter. After riding all this way to help, to risk his life to save hers, Hunter was not going to saddle up and go home without at least seeing with his own eyes that she had survived.
“What a Godawful mess,” she muttered. “I haven’t got a single route of escape.”
Hearing her mumbling, Grant looked towards the bales. “You all right, punkin?”
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