Agnes and the Renegade (Men of Defiance) (21 page)

“Good day, sheriff, deputy. What brings you so far north?” Logan asked.

Sheriff Declan handed him a wanted poster. Logan unfolded it. A cold sweat chilled his skin, even in the heat of the hot summer day. The grisly face staring back at him was bearded. The flattened nose sat at an odd angle. The man’s hair had thinned since Logan last saw him. Hugh Landry, goddamn his soul. He was wanted, dead or alive, for a bank robbery in Santa Fe. The poster offered a hefty reward not only for his capture but also for the return of the stolen money. There were several other names listed as his known associates; some of them, Logan recognized as men who’d run with him during his scalp hunter days.
 

The bastard still went by the alias of Skinner, as he had when he’d hit Chayton’s small village four years ago, killing and raping Laughs-Like-Water, killing his little son, leaving their scalped bodies—and those of so many others—to rot in the sun.

“You think he’s in the area?”

The sheriff nodded. “Had a couple teams of bounty hunters come into Defiance. They’d been tracking him and his gang into these hills. I’d like to get him and his boys locked up before those who’re after him make any trouble, ’cause they ain’t much better than the ones they’re chasing. Thought you’d know some likely places where he might like to lay low hereabouts. And I was hoping we could get fresh horses.”

Logan felt a shaft of foreboding slip through him. The Valley of Painted Walls was the perfect hidey-hole for Skinner. “I do know a place. The pass into it is tricky—I think I’d best lead you. Chayton’s taken Miss Hamilton there to paint.” Logan set his hands on his hips and stared at the ground, fighting to calm the rage rising inside him. “I gotta tell you, sheriff—if that bastard’s on my property, he ain’t leaving it alive. I’ve got an ax to grind with him.”

Sheriff Declan looked at Logan from beneath the shade of his wide-brimmed hat. “If you’re gonna try to do my job for me, then you can stay here. Him and his boys, they ain’t gonna fight fair. If we find them, Deputy Rogers and I’ll be the ones takin’ the risks.”

“How many men is he running with?” Logan asked.

“Seven, including him.”

Logan and the sheriff exchanged a long look. “Go swap out your horses, and have one readied for me. I’ll meet you out at the stable in ten minutes. Go on in to the kitchen if you change your mind about the sandwiches.”
 

“Trouble,
señor
?” Maria asked when Logan came back into the house.
 

“Yes. Trouble. When did the ladies say they’d be back from their visit to the cabin?”

“I packed a lunch for them. I do not know when they will be back. What is the trouble?”

“There are some outlaws passing through the area. I don’t want you to be alarmed, but you’re to stay in the house. I’m going to send a few men after the ladies, and then I’m going to escort the sheriff into Chayton’s valley. I want you women to stay in the house and be safe, do you understand, Maria?”

“
Si
,
señor
.”

* * *

Chayton went down to the river to find the herd. They usually stayed near the cave when he was in the valley. The herd wasn’t where he expected it to be. He jogged along the riverbank for a mile, following their tracks. There were no horses. He went up a steep hill, heading for a high point so he could see where they’d gone.
 

The scent of the woods changed as he neared the ridge. Fire. He looked skyward, but could not see a plume indicating a widespread forest fire. That could only mean one thing: someone was in his valley.
 

Chayton moved stealthily forward until he found the camp. Three men were sitting around a campfire. A pot of coffee was steaming, and a couple of fish were sizzling in a pan over the fire. He stayed hidden and watched them, waiting to see if there were more of them away from camp. Why were they in his valley? They were agitated about something. Their grumbled words were hard to make sense of at first. Chayton edged closer. One man was pacing angrily, looking off into the woods near where Chayton hid. He tossed his coffee onto the fire, shooting hissing steam up around the pan.
 

“What are you doin’?” the man by the fire said.

“He ain’t coming back. Jesus, how stupid could we be?”

“We sent Corbin with him as a witness for the stash location. You sayin’ you don’t trust my twin?”

The angry man stopped pacing and turned to glare at the lone twin. “No, idiot. I’m saying I don’t trust Landry. He’s got the gold. He’s got his old crew with him from his scalping days. The only thing standin’ between him and freedom is your idiot brother. And we let him go.” He waved a hand toward the woods. “We just let him walk right outta here.” He kicked dirt into the fire, spilling the coffee pot over.

The other men cursed and jumped out of the way of flying debris and hot liquid. “He said there’s no way out of the valley in the direction he went,” one of them pointed out. “He should know. He climbed all over this hell pit country taking scalps.”

“Of course, he’d say that!” The first man began breaking camp.

The hackles lifted on Chayton’s neck.
Landry
was a name he’d never forget. The murdering rapist had returned to his valley. Terror sheared through him as he remembered he’d left Agkhee alone at the cave.
 

He ducked behind a copse of low-growth evergreens as the men mounted and rode off in the direction of his cave. What was the monster doing back in this area? Chayton’s people were mostly gone, reduced to lives on the reservation. There was nothing for a scalp hunter like him here.

Chayton gave a loud whistle, summoning his horse. He could tell from the hoof prints he’d followed that the herd was near. His faithful paint came over the hill. Chayton leapt to the pony’s back and turned him, without bridle or saddle, to the cave where Agkhee was preparing for their return trip.

* * *

Aggie was humming a cheerful tune when she heard Chayton return with the horses. She’d left the bedding as the last thing to pack up and store away; she was hoping to convince him to delay leaving for a little longer. A warm flush colored her cheeks at the direction her thoughts were taking as she stepped out of the cave.
 

The smile on her lips slowly died as she looked at the four mounted men. She frowned. No one was supposed to know about this valley. Who were they? And why were they there? None of them were well groomed. Their shirts were greasy and sweat stained. They looked like they’d been traveling hard for some time. She was glad Chayton was not here. Men like these would pick a fight with him just for the amusement of it.

“Skinner, you rat bastard,” one of the men sneered, winning a dark look from the others. “You’ve been holding out on us.”
 

“Good afternoon, ma’am.” The man who seemed to be in charge tipped his hat toward her. The shifting light on his face showed a flattened nose. “We’re traveling up to Casper. A friend said this valley cut a day off the route, but I don’t agree with him. We’ve been round and round and can’t see any way out of the canyon except by the way we came in.”

Aggie had never been to the other end of the valley, so she didn’t know how to direct them back that way. It was best if she told them how to get out via the high pass she and Chayton had come in by. Maybe they would follow her directions and be long gone before he returned.
 

“There is another way. It’s difficult, however. You might be more comfortable returning the way you came.”

“No.” The man leaned forward in his saddle. The tension around his eyes gave him an edge that made her nervous. She took a step back. “Where’s the other way out?” he asked.

“Ride over to that ridge. Climb to the top of it, then follow the deer trail that leads west.”

The leader gave her a skeptical look. “That ain’t no way out.”

“It is. I’ve come over that trail myself.”

“Can you show us the way?”

Aggie looked from one man to the other. She shook her head. “No. I can’t.”

“That’s ’cause it ain’t a trail, boss. She’s lying.”

The man with the flat nose looked at her. He slanted his head, as if to take her measure. His eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t lie to us now, would you?”

“Why would I?” Aggie’s heart was beating far too fast. These men were dangerous. God, if they lingered much longer, Chayton would return and find them. “You’d best head on your way. My husband will be returning shortly.”

Flat-nose smiled. “You are a font of information.” He slipped his gun from its holster.
 

Aggie’s eyes widened. She backed up a step. He arced the gun from her to one of his friends and pulled the trigger. Aggie screamed as the man’s body landed on the ground with a heavy thud.
 

The flat-nosed man pointed the gun at her. “Get on his horse. You’re leading us out of here. And remember, I shot him—I’ll kill you as easily.”

Aggie hurried to the horse and mounted up. She was so nervous that she gave the horse all the wrong cues, squeezing too tightly with her knees and pulling the reins too hard. Agitated, it reared up. Again she cried out. The man behind her moved forward, into the hip of her horse, urging it forward. They went as fast as she dared through the woods, over hills, across a creek, moving ever closer to the ridge and its terrible, narrow path. All the while she knew, with an otherworldly certainty, that she was not going to get out of this alive.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Aggie entered the woods with them. She didn’t know exactly where the path came down from the ridge. The man in front was heading in the right direction. God, what would happen when they figured out she didn’t know where it was? She looked around, desperately trying to find the trailhead. They moved over the rough terrain, the men going ahead and circling back.
 

“She’s lying, Skinner. There ain’t no way out at this end of the canyon,” one of them growled.
 

The leader, the one the others called “Skinner,” shifted in his seat to look at her. He took his six-shooter from his holster. Aggie felt a tear spill over her cheek. What would her death do to Chayton? He was only beginning to recover from his first wife and son’s death and everything else that had happened to him.

Skinner opened the cylinder to replace the spent bullet. He pointed the gun at her and cocked it. “Truth, woman. Is there a path?”

Aggie nodded. “I have only traveled through here one time. I know we came down from the ridge somewhere around here. Once we find that trail, we can take it all the way out of here.”

He uncocked his gun and holstered it again.
 

“Shoot her, Skinner,” one of the men urged. “We don’t need a witness. We’ll find the path ourselves.”

“True enough. We don’t need a witness, but we sure could use a woman.” He grinned back at his compatriots. “Besides, if she’s lying, I gotta teach her a lesson. Move quickly. The kid’s brother coulda heard that gunshot. If you don’t want to share the gold, we gotta get outta here before the others catch up to us.”

“What about her husband?”

“What about him? I got plenty of bullets left.”

They spread out to find the trail. Skinner forced her to go with him. They moved up and up toward where the switchback opened into the canyon, and it was there they picked up the narrow path. Aggie looked ahead to the narrows, already shaking at the thought of having to travel that way without Chayton’s help.
 

She had no choice but to go forward. If she couldn’t lead the men out of the valley, Chayton would catch up to them. And if he did, he was a dead man.

* * *

Chayton lay low on his horse’s back as he charged through the woods to catch up with the three men. They were riding hard in a direction that would take them right to the cave. Clinging to his pony with his legs, he notched an arrow and waited for the right moment to let it fly. Trees kept getting in the way. The men were hot on the trail of Landry, which worked in Chayton’s favor; Landry was going to meet his fate today, in as bloody and brutal a way as Chayton could make it. The scalp taker was not going to harm another person he loved.
 

The last man in the group moved into a clear space. Chayton shot an arrow into the base of his neck, dropping him from his horse. His mount slowed up and moved out of the way of Chayton’s charging horse. He was closing in on the others when they pulled to a stop. One was pointing up toward the ridge and the pass that led out of the canyon.
 

“Hey—where’d Rick go? He was right behind me.”

“Who cares? Landry’s getting away. Look there! I knew he’d try to get out of the canyon.”

Both men looked up to the ridge where he was pointing. Chayton did as well, and what he saw was chilling. Aggie was riding point, heading into the switchbacks. She was on a stranger’s horse, leading cruel men, riding into terrain that terrified her. He shut his eyes and prayed for his ancestors to protect and guide her through the journey she faced without him.

“I don’t see nothing. The only way out’s the way we came in.”

“He was up there. I saw him. I’m tellin’ you, he was on that ridge.”

“If he was, then he’s ridin’ into a dead end.”

“Yeah? Well, that’ll work in our favor. Let’s go.”

Chayton let them start forward, holding back to keep a little distance between himself and the men. They were all that separated him from Landry now, two men moving with the grace and intent of typical white-eyes. They weren’t seeing the little signs that would lead them to the pass. They fumbled about, moving forward and backward, searching for the way to get up to the place where they’d spotted Landry. Unfortunately, there was too much cover for him to hit them here. If they didn’t find the path soon, he was going to have to move around them and go after Landry and Agkhee. Every second he lost put her deeper in danger. He knew how afraid she was of the switchbacks. And the fact that she was riding a strange horse meant there had been another man in the gang who was no longer riding with them. What had happened to him, Chayton could only guess.