The Loner: The Blood of Renegades (19 page)

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Authors: J. A. Johnstone

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BOOK: The Loner: The Blood of Renegades
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Chapter 35
 
“What in the world!”
The startled shout came from somewhere nearby and caused Selena to gasp and jump away from Conrad. Kingman strode to the bottom of the porch steps and stared at them. The light coming from inside the cabin revealed his face was twisted in lines of surprise, confusion, and anger.
“Dan, please,” Selena began. “I wasn’t—”
“I saw what you were doing,” Kingman cut in. “It seems pretty obvious.” He swung his gaze toward Conrad. Anger dominated his expression. “And you, Browning, I reckon you lied to my face earlier. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t come back to get some extra ammo before I started out to the pass.”
“You’re wrong, Kingman,” Conrad said flatly. “Nothing happened here except Selena was thanking me for my help. That’s all it was.”
A disgusted snort came from Kingman. “Thanking you?” he repeated. “Is that what you call it? Looked to me like she was about to
thank
you right into bed! Was that story you told me about being a grieving widower a lie, or do you just not give a damn about your wife’s memory?”
Hot rage bubbled up inside Conrad, but he tamped it down and kept his voice calm and steady. “You’re not thinking straight. If I was going to make a play for your woman, I wouldn’t do it right out here in the open where anybody could see us, like you just did, now would I?”
“You thought I’d already ridden out to the pass,” Kingman shot back. “You thought nobody else was around.”
“Dan, that’s not true,” Selena insisted. “You’ve got the wrong idea. Maybe I was too impulsive, but I was just talking to Mr. Browning, and I felt so grateful to him for everything he’s done. I . . . I didn’t think, I just . . . I’m sorry. It didn’t mean anything. I swear.” She glanced at Conrad. “No offense.”
“None taken, I promise you.”
“Well, this is sweet as all get-out, but I don’t believe you,” Kingman said bitterly. “Either of you. There’s nothing I can do about it now because we need everybody to help us beat Hissop and Leatherwood, but I promise you, Browning, when this is over, you and I will settle this.”
“If you’re bound and determined to make a fool of yourself, I suppose I can’t stop you,” Conrad said coldly. He stood and watched as Kingman turned and stalked off into the darkness.
“What have I done?” Selena murmured in a voice taut with pain. “I never meant for this to happen. I never meant to hurt either of you.”
Conrad could have told her if she didn’t mean to hurt anybody, she ought to have better control of her emotions and impulses, but he didn’t see how that would help anything. “Maybe he’ll cool off by morning.”
“No. You don’t know Dan as well as I do. Once he gets his mind set on something, he won’t change it.”
“He decided he was wrong to try to kill me and Arturo,” Conrad pointed out.
“Yes, but you forced him to change his mind by saving his life, and mine.”
“Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” Conrad asked.
While he couldn’t answer that question fully, he had a pretty good idea of some of the things the new day would bring with it . . .
Blood, and destruction, and death.
 
 
Conrad was up before dawn the next morning. When he left Arturo sleeping in the other bunk and went outside, he didn’t see Kingman anywhere, but he didn’t look for the man, either. There was no point in going out of his way for a confrontation.
He saddled a horse and rode up to the pass. A man holding a rifle stepped out from behind a boulder to challenge him, then lowered the weapon as he recognized Conrad.
“Oh, it’s you, Mr. Browning,” the sentry said. He was one of the men who had stayed behind in the valley when Conrad and the others went to Juniper Canyon to rescue Selena and the other women.
“Any sign of Hissop and Leatherwood?” Conrad asked.
“No, it’s been mighty quiet all night,” the man reported. “I reckon they’ll be here before the day’s over, though.”
Conrad nodded. “I think you’re right.” He looked at the fuses hanging down the walls of the pass. Everything appeared to be just like he’d left it the day before. The red cylinders of dynamite were hidden in the cracks where he had placed them, and the fuses themselves were almost the same color as the rock walls, so they weren’t very noticeable. Of course, once the fuses started burning, the sputtering sparks they gave off would be visible, but Conrad hoped the avenging angels would be charging into the pass in such heat of battle they wouldn’t see the fuses until it was too late.
He rode back down to the settlement to get some breakfast and found that Arturo had gotten up while he was gone and started a pot of coffee boiling on the stove in the cabin they were using. The coffee came from their supplies that had been left in the buggy, as did the bacon Arturo was frying to go with flapjacks.
“How does the situation look this morning?” Arturo asked from the stove.
“No sign of Hissop and Leatherwood yet. It’s just a matter of time, though. As soon as I’ve eaten, I’m riding back up to the pass, and I’ll stay there until they show up. I’m going to be the one to light those fuses.”
“Is young Mr. Kingman aware of that?”
“I don’t care what he’s aware of,” Conrad said. “Some things he thinks he knows, he’s got all wrong.”
“Ah, yes, the kiss. I’m not absolutely convinced that he
is
wrong about that, although of course it’s not really my place to say so.”
“Heard about it, did you?”
“I suspect everyone in the community has.”
Conrad frowned. “Wait a minute. What did you mean when you said you aren’t sure Kingman was wrong about what happened?”
“Well . . . I’m not exactly the most astute observer of human behavior in the world, but I have been around a lot of people in my line of work, and from what I’ve seen I’m convinced Miss Webster does indeed have romantic feelings for you.”
Conrad shook his head. “That’s crazy. She’s married to Kingman.”
“Not officially,” Arturo pointed out. “As Mr. Kingman himself admitted, they simply declared themselves married. There’s nothing really binding about it, either legally or religiously. Technically, Miss Webster is still free to be with whomever she chooses, and at the moment she feels a great deal of gratitude to you. I suggest that it has influenced her emotions to the point where she’s mistaking that gratitude for something else. Add to that a degree of physical attraction, and you have a very confused young woman who’s thinking with her heart, not her head.” Arturo held out a cup. “Coffee?”
“Yeah.” Maybe Arturo was right, but Conrad didn’t like to think so. If Selena actually had fallen for him, it could only complicate things. Once Paradise Valley, if that’s what they were going to call the place, was safe from Hissop and his bloodthirsty avenging angels, it would be a good idea for him and Arturo to get out of there as quickly as possible.
If they
could
get out after the pass was blocked, he amended. He was convinced there had to be another way in and out of the valley. There had been no chance to explore it fully. The idea of being stuck there was unacceptable, and not just because of the potential awkwardness with Selena and Kingman.
Frank and Vivian were still out there somewhere. His children, his lost twins, the two youngsters who were depending on him, waiting for him, whether they knew it or not. He would never give up looking for them.
By the time he finished eating and went back outside, more people were moving around. He spotted Kingman saddling a horse and went over to him.
Kingman glanced at Conrad, then deliberately looked away. His face was set in cold, stony lines.
“I’ve already been up to the pass,” Conrad said. “No sign of Hissop and Leatherwood yet.”
Kingman grunted as he pulled a saddle cinch tight. “They’ll be here.”
“I know. I’m headed back up there now. I want to be ready to light those fuses when the time comes.”
“I’m lighting the fuses,” Kingman snapped.
“We talked about this,” Conrad said. “It’s too dangerous, and folks here in the valley need you too much. Especially Selena.”
He knew it was a mistake as soon as he said it. Kingman turned sharply toward him. “If I get killed, that means you and Selena can be together without having to worry about me. That works out better for both of you.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Conrad said. “I’ve told you, there’s nothing between us, and I’m not staying here. I’m heading for San Francisco as soon as I can.”
“Why don’t you take her with you?” Kingman sneered. “She’ll make a good Gentile slut.”
Conrad’s hands clenched instinctively into fists. He didn’t want Kingman talking about Selena that way, even though he had no real feelings for her except some sympathy and mild affection. Kingman appeared to be on the verge of striking out as well, and the feeling of imminent violence was thick in the air.
There was no way of knowing what might have happened. At that moment, shots rang out up at the pass, their reports rolling across the valley and echoing from the surrounding mountains.
Chapter 36
 
Conrad and Kingman jerked around at the sound of the shots and stared toward the pass. Then Kingman leaped into the saddle and kicked his horse into a gallop. At that moment, Selena stepped onto the cabin porch. “Dan!” she called as he flashed past.
He didn’t slow down. He didn’t even glance at her.
Conrad didn’t waste any time, either. His mount was still saddled, and he swung up just as Arturo came out of the cabin.
“Grab your rifle and keep it close!” Conrad told his friend. “If they get through the pass, it’ll be a fight!”
He sent his horse thundering after Kingman, who had about a hundred yard lead on him.
It wasn’t really a race, of course. The enemy forces wouldn’t be at the pass yet. The guards had orders to start shooting as soon as Hissop and Leatherwood came in sight. That served two purposes: it alerted everybody in the valley that trouble had arrived, and it would draw Hissop and Leatherwood on, right into the pass where they needed to be for the trap to work.
Conrad’s horse was a little faster than Kingman’s mount. By the time Kingman reached the pass, Conrad was only about fifty yards behind him. Kingman rode all the way through the pass to the boulders at the other end where the guards were posted. More rifle blasts bounced back and forth between the looming stone walls of the pass, setting up quite a racket.
Conrad was only a couple heartbeats behind Kingman in dismounting. They slapped their horses with their hats, sending the animals galloping back out of the pass to safety. Grabbing their rifles, they joined the guards in the rocks. Conrad dropped into a crouch beside one of the men. “Where are they?”
“Down there about half a mile.” The man pointed along the trail on the eastern side of the ridge that meandered down toward the salt flats. Conrad peered around the boulder and spotted about two dozen riders. He saw smoke spurt from rifle muzzles and heard the whipcrack of the shots.
“Their bullets are falling short,” the sentry said. “We’ve got the high ground so we’ve been able to reach them with a few rounds. I think we may have wounded a couple, but we haven’t knocked anybody out of the fight.”
“You’re doing fine,” Conrad told the man. “They don’t look like they’re slowing down, and we don’t want them to.”
As a matter of fact, the avenging angels were charging pretty recklessly. Conrad tried to pick out Hissop and Leatherwood, but the distance was too great. All he could see was a group of trigger-happy killers in dusters and broad-brimmed hats.
“Kingman, take these men and get out of here,” Conrad said as he lined up a shot. He squeezed it off and saw one of the attackers rock back in the saddle. The man managed to stay mounted, so he could have just been grazed.
“Forget it,” Kingman snapped. “You get out, Browning. You’re the one she wants, anyway.”
“You’re crazy!” Conrad argued. “You’ve got it all wrong, Kingman.”
“Uh . . . maybe we should all pull back,” the other guard suggested. “Those riders are gonna be here in a couple minutes.”
Conrad nodded. “Go! Get back to the cabins and gather everybody outside the other end of the pass. In case any of Leatherwood’s men get through you’ll have to finish them off.”
Both guards nodded grimly, and one of them said, “We can do that.”
They took off at a run for their horses. Conrad and Kingman lingered at the mouth of the pass, peppering the attackers with shots and luring them on.
“Blast it, get out!” Kingman said as he levered his Winchester.
“Too late,” Conrad grated. The riders were closer, and their bullets were bouncing and whining around the rocks. “You light the fuse on one side, and I’ll get the other!”
Kingman hesitated for a second before he jerked his head in a nod. He leaped to his feet. “Let’s go!”
Conrad charged back through the pass beside him. Thundering hoofbeats rose behind them. A slug sizzled past Conrad’s ear as he veered toward the left-hand wall of the pass. Delving in his pocket he closed his hand around several lucifers he had placed there earlier. He brought the matches out as he reached the dangling fuse.
He snapped one of the lucifers to life with his thumbnail and held it at the end of the fuse as flame spurted. The powder-laced cord caught instantly, giving off a flare of sparks and a puff of smoke. Another bullet ricocheted off the rock wall near Conrad. He glanced toward the eastern end of the pass and saw the riders crowding into it. Muzzle flashes stabbed from their guns.
Conrad whirled away from the fuse and broke into a run again, zigzagging away from the sputtering cord. He hoped the attackers were focused on his running figure and wouldn’t notice the sparks from the burning fuse. A glance to his right showed him Kingman had succeeded in lighting his fuse, and was racing for the western end of the pass.
Suddenly, Kingman cried out in pain, grabbed at his thigh, and went down. He rolled over a couple times and came up clutching his thigh. Blood welled between his fingers where a bullet had torn the flesh.
Instead of continuing to run straight for the end of the pass, Conrad angled toward Kingman. As he dashed across the pass he fired the Winchester on the run, throwing slugs toward the charging riders as fast as he could work the repeater’s lever.
Kingman waved an arm and yelled, “No, no! Get out of here, Browning!”
Conrad ignored him and stopped shooting so he’d have a free hand. He barely slowed down as he hooked Kingman’s arm and dragged the man to his feet. Kingman yelled in pain as Conrad forced him to run on the wounded leg, but he managed to keep moving as bullets flew around them. Conrad’s steely fingers clamped around Kingman’s arm kept him from collapsing again.
As they reached the mouth of the pass, Conrad glanced back and saw that all of the avenging angels were between the walls, strung out in a line. At that instant, the first charge blew, followed half a second later by the lowest bundle of dynamite on the opposite wall. The terrible roar grew in strength and intensity as the blasts alternated from side to side until all six charges had detonated with cataclysmic results. Huge chunks of rock flew through the air, and even bigger slabs slid and toppled into the pass. Men and horses screamed in sheer terror and tried to get out of the way, but they were too far into the pass to retreat and too far away from the western end to escape that way. With all the sound and fury of the world coming to an end, the pass collapsed on itself, burying the avenging angels for all time.
The wave of force radiating out from the series of explosions picked up Conrad and Kingman and flung them forward, sending them tumbling over the ground. Small rocks and chunks of debris pelted them. Conrad put his arms over his head to protect it as he came to a stop on his belly. Kingman lay a few yards away, trying to cover up in similar fashion.
Conrad couldn’t hear anything except a ringing in his ears. Gradually, that died away, and he became aware only pebbles were pattering down around them. He pushed himself to his hands and knees and looked around. A huge cloud of dust that looked like a massive thunderhead boiled out of the pass and climbed into the blue sky. Conrad knew the charges had worked. The men who had been trapped in the pass were all dead, and the pass itself was closed, probably for good.
But his instincts were crying out to him that something was still wrong. As he struggled to his feet, he realized what it was.
“Kingman! Kingman, are you all right?” Conrad’s voice sounded strangely muffled to his ears, but he could hear the words, which was encouraging. He stumbled over to the man, dropped to a knee, and shook his shoulder. “Hey!”
Kingman stared up at Conrad dazedly. “What?” he shouted. “I can’t hear!”
“Take it easy,” Conrad told him. “Your hearing will come back.”
While Kingman waited for that to happen, Conrad checked his wounded leg. A bullet had plowed a deep, bloody furrow in the outside of the thigh, but it appeared no bones were broken. The wound needed to be cleaned and bandaged, and he would have to stay off his feet for a while, but Conrad thought he should be all right.
“Browning!” Kingman clutched at Conrad’s arm. “Browning, did we get them?”
Conrad nodded. “We got them. But . . . Can you hear me now?”
“Yeah, sort of. Everything sounds strange.”
Conrad’s ears were getting back to normal. He said, “We got them, but there may still be a problem. I didn’t see Hissop or Leatherwood. They may not have been with the others.”
Kingman struggled to a sitting position and gave a little shake of his head as if he were trying to clear some cobwebs out of it. “Hissop and Leatherwood weren’t with the rest of them? But where could—”
Conrad didn’t have to answer that question.
A sudden flurry of gunshots from the direction of the settlement was all the answer either of them needed.

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