Dark Warrior: Kid (Dark Cloth Series Book 2) (17 page)

Range War

Late into the morning, one of the maids came to get Kat.
At first, she appeared so excited that Kat couldn’t understand a word she said—first because of her accent—and second because she seemed highly agitated. Finally, she managed to convey to Kat that a buggy had pulled up to the livery, and they had
bad
company.

“Bad company,” the maid yelled in rapid Spanish. The girl’s eyes were wide with fright, when she told Kat who had got out of that buggy. She stared at Kat. “They head this way as we speak,” she said, gesturing wildly.

“What? Who?” Kat said. She turned and glanced at Jake, then quickly headed down the stairs after the maid.

The magistrate met her at the door, with papers in hand. He told her that she and her friends were to be escorted off the property. Kat would have flown into a fury, right then, if Jake hadn’t given a soft command, from where he stood at the top of the stairs. She turned to stare at him.

“You’ll only land yourself in jail,” he said, coming down the stairs. “And then,
who
will protect your grandfather.”

Kat spun around to face the magistrate. “If we leave, they’ll continue to poison him. Don’t you see that? You’re allowing them to murder my
grandfather
.”

“If that is true, you will need to file a complaint, so that we may begin to investigate,” he told her.

“We did,” she hissed. “Weeks ago. I’ve yet to see you do anything about it.”

“I’m sorry, missy,” the man said. “But you have to leave.”

Kat turned to stare at Jake. She couldn’t believe
this was happening.
They should have taken their chance, last night. They should have gone ahead—and moved him. Now, what were they going to do?

Jake stepped up near to her. You’re going to have to wait,” he said.

Kat shook her head. “I won’t leave him here,” she told him.

Jake peered down at her, through slate-grey eyes. She could see that he was sorry. “You don’t have a choice.” He nodded at Kid, who’d just stepped into the manor. His gaze swept the foyer and settled on Kat.

He came up beside her, taking her hand. “Let’s talk,” he said.

She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to fight. She looked up at Kid—then over at Jake. The hardest thing she’d ever had to do—was rein in her temper, right then. Her blade felt warm, strapped to the inside of her calf. She bit her lip. She stared at Jake. She trusted that Jake knew a lot about the laws of these towns. Instinct told her that he was likely right. She needed to follow his guidance—but she’d never found anything so difficult than to do just that—now. Finally, she nodded and let Kid lead her out the front door.

“Your things will be sent to wherever you’d like,” the magistrate called after her.

Kat missed her step. She stopped, biting down, hard, on her tongue. Once more, she could feel her blade, warm against her skin. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t dare. If she did, she wouldn’t stop.

Kid squeezed her hand, but he didn’t try to pull her forward. She had to be the one who forced herself to walk again. She had to work to put one foot in front of the other—make herself walk out to the barn with the magistrate looking on—watching—making sure they mounted up and rode on.

In the end, she found herself, Kid, Jake, the men and healer they’d hired, put off her grandfather’s estates, just the same. And there didn’t appear to be one thing any of them could do about it—but watch helplessly from the end of the drive.

Kat stared at the manor, from where they had stopped, just off her grandfather’s property. This simply couldn’t be happening. How could this be happening? Her brain couldn’t seem to take it all in. They’d been put off the property—and her grandfather still lay locked inside—now at the complete mercy of whoever had poisoned him.

Kid held her, as if he were afraid to let go—afraid of what she’d do if he did. He pulled her close to him, staring toward the manor himself. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. She was crying—and for once—she didn’t care.

She continued to stare at the manor. What were they going to do? What could they possibly do? She knew whoever had poisoned him before would likely redouble their efforts, now, given the opportunity to finish the job. They would kill him before they’d even worked out how they could possibly rescue him. Why wouldn’t they? If he recovered—he could testify against them.

Her grandfather lay dying in that manor—and there didn’t seem to be one damn thing she could do about it.

A menacing foreboding flood through her. She knew that if she didn’t find a way to rescue her grandfather, there’d be a bloodbath, and then she’d likely hang—or whatever they did with murderers, here, back East.

She heard Jake and Kid talking, like their voices were far away. They’d realized that they may as well go into town and get a room. They couldn’t do anything to stop her uncle, standing out here, watching. The only thing they’d accomplish here—was annoying the magistrate.

Shae came forward and touched her arm, getting her attention. “You cannot leave him there, child,” she said. “They’ll kill him.”

Kat stared at her for along moment, but she then she turned her gaze back to the manor. She couldn’t stop watching—like taking her eyes off it would cause the worse. “There’s only one way to fight something like this,” she mumbled out loud. “And that simply isn’t done here.”

Shae frowned at her. “There’s another way,” she said. “You just have to find it. Go with them, child. Go find it.”

Kat nodded, walking away and heading toward Jake and Kid. They needed to think. They needed to plan—and they needed that plan—tonight. But no matter how hard she tried to think, panic clamored for all of her attention. She’d never felt panic before.

She didn’t know what to do with it.

Kat only knew that she couldn’t leave here—even for a moment. She just—couldn’t. She was too afraid of what they’d do to her grandfather while she was gone. Kat sat down on the ground, watching the movement at the manor.

After a while, Jake came over to tell her that he’d arranged a hotel room nearby. She shook her head.

“We can’t stay here,” he said. “Sooner or later, they’ll find a way to get the magistrate to make us move.

“Fine,” Kat said. “But, until then, I’m not moving.”

Jake’s gaze narrowed on her face, she could feel it. “You’re not doing him any good, sitting here.”

Kat winced. She didn’t like being reminded of that. She glanced up at Jake now, glowering. “Oh, yeah,” she said, glaring at him, “then, why don’t you tell me exactly what I’m supposed to do.” She blanched, realizing who she’d yelled at. A few short weeks ago, she’d have never dared to yell at Jake—anymore than she’d dare to yell at Hawk.

She’d taken leave of her senses. Worse, she couldn’t find it in her to care.

Jake only held out his hand for her. Kat stared at it for a long moment, unable to comprehend what he wanted her to do—maybe she didn’t want to know. Finally, she put her hand in his, and he helped her to her feet.

“We’ll make a plan,” he promised, getting her to take a step forward

Kat stopped, then nodded, gazing at the manor. She couldn’t imagine the plan that would get her grandfather out of there, but if Jake really thought there might be one—she’d be happy to listen.

She walked alongside him until they reached Kid, who held the reins to a mount out to her. She took them and mounted up. For a long moment, she sat on the gelding, staring at the manor—and finally she reined him around, following after Kid.

On the ride to town, Mandy stared ahead, working hard to keep herself from reining her mare around once more—and going straight after her uncle. She couldn’t stop thinking about the realization—that they likely wouldn’t let her grandfather live through the night. They had the perfect opportunity to get rid of their only real witness to their treachery.

How could she ride away—and just let that happen? She didn’t know how to do that. Nothing in her life, before this, could prepare her to allow such a thing to happen—not when she could prevent it. All she had to do was turn around—and fight.

She stared at Jake—then Kid.

Jake must have realized how dangerously close she’d come to losing the war with herself—because he rode close to her.

“Just hang in there,” he told her. “I’ll explain when we get to our room.”

Kat stared at him. She should have known he wouldn’t just sit back and let this happen. She turned her head, looking over at Kid. She could see the same resolve in his eyes.

She had friends. They weren’t going to let this happen. She just had to hang in there a little while longer—then they’d do something about her traitorous uncle. And when she got her hands on him—he’d regret ever letting her survive, when she’d been the helpless child someone had hidden away from his murderous heart.

When Kat first sensed they were being followed, she looked over at Kid. He nodded, but showed no other signs of paying attention to who it was. Kat glanced behind, spotting the magistrate.

Great, she thought.

So the magistrate worked to make sure she and her friends didn’t plan on returning to the manor—to stop her uncle from murdering her grandfather. That was the moment she knew they were dirty. That was the moment—she knew they were well aware of that would happen, while they prevented her from protecting her family.

No wonder Jake had acted like they were only going to get a room at the hotel and not try to fight them. Her uncle had paid them off—had put them up to this. He intended to make sure he had plenty of time to kill her grandfather—make sure the job had been done right—before he finally stopped having them followed.

When they got to the hotel, Jake had them sit down and eat a lunch. He acted so nonchalant, and thorough, that Kat found it difficult, yet she knew that nothing could be more important than how well she could follow suit at that moment—trusting, now, that Jake had a plan, realizing that Kid had known so all along.

She glanced over at Kid, now, as she pushed the food around on her plate. He seemed relieved that she’d grasped what they were about, that she’d calmed down enough to grasp that.

Lunch seemed to drag on forever, but she noticed the magistrate had finally relaxed and had even ordered some wine, and she realized, then, this had been Jake’s plan all along. She looked at Jake with renewed respect, realizing that how glad she was that he was not
her
enemy.

When Jake seemed satisfied the magistrate would stay down there, feasting and drinking, the three of them finally headed toward their room.

Kat found that moment, that walk toward their room, the most difficult. She wanted to get going. She lived every single moment terrified that the lethal dose of poison was being fed to her grandfather at that very moment, as she sat eating and carrying on like she didn’t have a plan in the world of stopping it from happening.

Sullen, Kat kept her gaze forward on the way to the room, but inside, she seethed—and waited—like a mountain lion, who’d followed its prey for many miles—and now had found the moment at hand to finally bring down its prey.

Like the great cat, she could smell the blood of her prey—and she anticipated the hunt, her body tense, and her mind ready for the fight ahead.

She couldn’t wait to get started.

Obsession

A young man reached up and straightened the cuffs on his shirt,
staring at himself in the mirror. He’d done it. He couldn’t have been more pleased. After all this time—it was finally happening—and he’d been the one to make it happen.

So the blond little minx had found a way to have them locked out, he thought. His gaze narrowed on himself in the looking glass, and he grinned, straightening and inspecting his overcoat.

Now—he already figured out how to get even. Now—Kat and her friends were the ones who found themselves on the outside—looking in—and wondering how that had happened. “What will you do now,” he said to no one in particular. “What plan could you come up with now?”

He congratulated himself for his uncanny knack for finding just the right solution—for any problem. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’ll still find a way to stop you.” It doesn’t matter, he thought. By the time they figured out how to get back to the manor—all they were going to find was a corpse.

He’d moved down the hallway to give his man his orders when he heard the thunder of horses before he’d made it down the hallway. Scowling, he headed for a window—in time to see hundreds of horses ripping through the immaculate lawns.

He stared. How could this be happening? How could they have planned something so soon?

A Hidden Enemy

Later, when they had settled in the room,
Kat lay down on the bed, fighting the urge to curl up in a ball. Kid sat down on the bed beside her, rubbing her back. Kat’s gaze traveled the room, not really seeing it. Jake had picked an old tavern with rooms off to one side. She didn’t know what he had in mind by doing this, but she knew him well enough to realize that he had a reason for this, too.

She’d watched Kid talking with Jake, when they’d been standing there, watching the manor from a distance. She didn’t know what the men had been talking about—and oddly enough she found that, at the time, she’d been too tired—too afraid—to care. She hadn’t been able to comprehend how they could possibly keep her uncle from killing her grandfather—without rushing his house, old Wild West style. And here in the East, they were surely going to go straight to jail for trying such a thing.

Then, how would they protect her grandfather?

Jake had stepped out of the room as soon as they’d gotten there. Now, he stepped back into the room, and she and Kid glanced up at him.

“I have a thought,” Jake said, his slate-grey eyes glinting in the shadows of the room.

Kid’s head came up, waiting, and Kat sat up, though her limps felt heavy. Still, they were actually planning. She knew the waiting had come to an end. Now, as the feeling came back to her limbs, she found herself waiting for Jake to speak with growing anticipation.

His gaze narrowed on her for a long moment—as if he assessed if she actually could hear him. “Since we know your grandfather had started to come around—as the poison left his system,” Jake finally said, “we have an idea that he might recover, right?”

Kat nodded, numbly, sensing Kid go still in the darkening room.

“Then, we’re going tonight, to go and take him back,” Jake said.

Kat froze. She’d hoped that’s what he’d intended but tried to prepare for the fact that he might have insisted they try and fight through legal channel. She’d had little faith, and Jake had recognized that they didn’t have time for that. So, yeah, this made sense—and not just to her. Even though, all three of them knew they’d go to jail—throw away the key—if they were caught.

This was what they’d do if this were Cheyenne—but this wasn’t Cheyenne—so just how did he think they could pull this off?

“If they catch us, we’ll never see the light of day,” Kid said, realizing she’d grabbed onto the idea that they were doing this—and that she clung to it like a lifeline.

Jake nodded.

“But if we get him home…,” Kat said.

“We can get him healed.” Kid finished.

Again, Jake nodded. “And we can bring him back to fight another day, then, not now, in their court system—the way they do things here. Right now, he wouldn’t live long enough to get that chance.”

Kat nodded. “At least it’s a plan,” she said, then hesitated. “But how? How will we ever get him West?”

Jake took his hat off his head, holding it in his hands, pressing on the brim. “Well, now—if we manage to pull that off—well—that’s going to be something….”

Kid grinned. “Then, it’ll just have to be something Old Man Charlie can tell at the campfire for the next ten years.”

Jake gave a ghost of a smile. “We’ll pull him out of the manor—tonight—before they have a chance to poison him again.”

Kat shivered. “That means
right
now
. They’re apt to kill him to keep us from getting our hands on him again.”

Kid shook his head. “They can’t,” he said. “Or the magistrate will know he was murdered.”

Kat shook her head. “First, they really wouldn’t even know who to blame…” She looked at him. “And second, I’m pretty sure that my uncle has paid them off, to look the other way….”

Kid stared at her. “Tonight, then,” he said, looking up at Jake.

Jake nodded. “That’s my thinking too.”

Kat sucked in her breath. “They’ve got to know we’re gonna try and pull this off.”

“If they have half a brain….” Kid said, then grinned. “Too bad we don’t have a bunch of cows.”

Kat almost laughed at that reminder. They’d used a stampede to flush out McCandle.

“No,” Jake said. “But we do have a bunch of horses.”

Kat’s golden brown shot up. “You can’t mean….”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” he said.

Kat stared down at Kid and saw him grin again.

“Good thing grandfather won’t be awake to see what we’re about to do with his well-manicured lawns.”

And they headed out the door.

Two hours later, hundreds of horses raced toward the manor, driven by Jake and Kat. Kid was already melting into the shadows to scout the manor. The horse’s hooves shook the ground, causing the workers to scatter in all directions, searching for safety.

Kat didn’t chase them far. She left Jake for this. In the chaos, Kat broke off near the tree, under her room, where she waited for Kid in the darkening shadows.

When he reached her—Kat, then Kid, scaled the tree that Kid had been using to meet her in her old room. They slipped through the window, under the night sky. Kid slipped silently into the hall, coming up beside the guard, sitting posted at the door, before he even realized Kid was there. Knocking him out, Kid slid him back toward Kat’s old room, where he bound and gagged him.

Pretending to be a maid, Kat tapped on her grandfather’s door. When the door cracked open, Kid hit it, then knocked out the guard inside.
Kat went to her grandfather and propped pillows behind her his back.
Kid peeked out the curtain into the darkening sky.

“When will Jake be back?” Kat asked.

Kid glanced at her. “In about fifteen minutes,” he said. “Are you ready?”

Kat picked up her father’s bag, setting it by the door and nodded.

Jake stepped through the door, silent as a ghost, ten minutes early. He nodded at Kid. Kat picked up her grandfather’s bag. Jake and Kid carefully lifted her grandfather, using a blanket like a makeshift sling to carry him. They crept out into the darkening hallway.

Five minutes later, they exited out the side of the house. They set her grandfather in the buckboard, and Kat got him comfortable while Kid took up the reins and Jake mounted his horse, following the wagon as they quietly slipped out of the yard. When they were well on their way, Jake turned down an old road. The going, unfortunately was a lot more uncomfortable for the old man, but needed.

But they had to get off the main road.

They traveled down old roads for most of the night. More than once, Kat had to wonder how Jake could possibly know where he was going, yet they did eventually come out to a much smaller town than the city her grandfather lived near.

When they arrived at the somewhat seedy tavern that Jake had lead them to, they carried their patient into the room he’d rented.

“Now what?” Kat said, looking around.

Jake checked the window. “Now,” he said, “we wait.”

“How many times will we do this?” Kid asked.

“As many as it takes,” Jake said.

Kat pulled a face. “And remind me why we’re not boarding that train—right now?”

Kid grinned at her. Patience wasn’t her strong-suit, and he knew it. This wait was going to kill her.

Jake pulled the curtain a fraction, just enough to look out. “They’ll be searching the trains,” he said. “We have to wait until they give that up, till they start trying to figure out where else we might have taken him.”

“What about Liam?” Kat asked.

“I’ll be meeting him tonight,” Kid answered.

“Remember,” Jake reminded. “We’re pretty certain he has nothing to do with this.”

Kid’s lips settled in a grim line, but he finally nodded.

“Maybe I should go with you,” Kat said, watching him.

Kid shook his head. “You need to watch out for your grandfather,” he said. He looked down at her as she drew near to him, and he kissed her. She heard Jake growl at this, and she grinned. So did Kid. He pulled her close to him for a deeper kiss.

He pulled back, still holding her. Finally, he let her go.

“How long will we have to wait here?” Kid asked, looking around the dingy little room.

Kat smothered her smile.

Jake actually grinned at him. “It might be a day. It might be a week, or maybe even two.” He shrugged. “Could even be longer. Depends on how hard they search for him.”

Kid scowled at this, looking again around the dark room.

Jake eyed him. “We’re going to have to lead them in circles—before we can actually try and put him on that train,” he said. “That could take weeks….”

Kid scowled again. He put on his hat and left the room to go and find Liam.

Still stunned at what they’d actually done, Kat stared down at her grandfather. He was deathly sick—worse than ever. They’d been too late to prevent that. She might have brought the magistrate down on her friends for nothing—if he didn’t make it. Right now, she didn’t think he’d live through the night.

Jake immediately sent for a doctor, left and brought Shae back with him. Between the doctor and the healer, the two of them worked a lot of medicine—and magick—over her grandfather for the entire night and well into that morning, but her grandfather had yet to wake. And Kat had serious doubts that he ever would.

A single tear slipped down her face, as she sat down in the chair beside his bed. She took his hand into hers—and there she sat, her eyes closed, talking to spirit as she stayed by his side for the rest of that day. And she slept in the chair that night.

She opened her eyes, sometime early in the morning, to find Shae tipping her grandfather’s head to help him sip some more of her tea. Kat wondered what kind of tea could help counteract her uncle’s poison. She could only hope Shae could pull off some miracle—and find a way to save him.

Kat knew Jake would have to toss him into the wagon at any given time—and haul him somewhere else. Jake had planned for those moments, when they’d be discovered. He counted on this happening. He didn’t plan for
if
it would happen, but when.

The first of those moves came late one morning, three days later.

This first time, they had some warning. Kid spotted the magistrate before they had even reached town. They were well on their way before the magistrate managed to find out where they’d stayed.

Jake had a way of finding men for hire. He seemed to have a knack for knowing who would be loyal to her grandfather. She shouldn’t have been surprised. She learned that this loyalty had more to do with the kind of man her grandfather had been—than how good Jake was at reading men. Either way, at first Kat had thought they’d only attract more attention to them, but she soon found herself relieved to find more and more guards watching for signs that they’d been discovered. In fact, it had been a guard who sent up the alarm in the very next town, proving they could be more useful than she’d have given them credit.

They’d settled in the next town when Jake pulled out a map, and he and Kid planned alternate routes through to Philadelphia. Kid looked over at Kat, stating that they needed to get her grandfather on the train in a smaller town, where there wouldn’t be as much attention drawn to them. And, if possible, they needed a town that wouldn’t be close to another town for many miles.

They’d need the train to travel some distance—so they would have time to find anyone who had followed them onboard.

Kat stared at the map. The only thing she knew for sure was that they’d be dragging her grandfather in and out of the buckboard for many more miles—before he could finally rest on the train. And he didn’t look as though he’d survive the night—more-or-less a trip like that.

She stared out the window, after. When she turned, sometime later, she found Shae watching her.

“You’re doing a good thing, child,” the old woman told her.

Kat choked on tears that had remained just below the surface, unable to respond at first. “I think this will only kill him,” she finally said.

Shae shook her head. “You set him free,” she said. “If he’d remained,” he’d already be dead. If he dies now—he will die with family, who love him, by his side. At least, this way, you’ve given him a chance. That’s more than he would have had.”

Kat stared at her. But she heard the truth in her words, and she nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Shae bowed her head and went to get some tea.