Dorothy Garlock (36 page)

“Don’t worry ’bout here. Come night, ’n ya ain’t back, I’ll close up the shutters.”

“Go with Will, little one. Stay close, and do as he says. I will be back for you.” Light put Maggie firmly away from him.

“I want to be with you, Light,” Maggie said and put her arms around his neck. “But I obey my man. I stay with Will and wait for you.”

Light kissed her on the forehead, pulled her arms down from around him, and loped after Jeff.

*  *  *

Annie Lash came awake the instant the water hit her face. Her eyes flew open to see a bearded face inches from her own. A rough hand clamped across her mouth as soon as the man saw that she was conscious, and his arm pinned her to the ground.

“Don’t make a sound or I’ll split yore gullet.” The words were breathed into her face on a putrid breath.

Terror boiled up in her as soon as she comprehended his words, and she tried to squirm away but she was powerless to move. The strong arm held her to the ground. Her feet refused to move. They felt as if they weighed a ton.

“Mmmmmm!” She was too frightened to heed the warning and frantic sounds came from her throat through the hand over her mouth. In full panic, she pushed at the man holding her, hit him with her fists, and tried to kick him.

“Be still!” He slapped her so hard her head rolled to the side. “I done tol’ ya ta hush.”

The hand over her mouth slipped beneath her chin. The thumb and forefinger squeezed viciously into her cheeks, forcing her mouth to open. A cloth was shoved inside and another wrapped over it to keep her from spitting it out. She was hauled to her feet and now, with her arms gripped on each side, she could see her captors.

Her terror-filled eyes traveled from one to the other. They were two of the most unsavory looking creatures she’d ever seen. They looked more like animals than men. Straggly beards sprouted on their faces like stiff, dead weeds. Their hands, and the skin on their faces, were cracked with dirt and soot. Their buckskins were dirty and ragged, and their moccasins were tied on their feet with strips of rawhide. One was tall, lean, and old; the other was shorter, fleshier, and younger. Had she not been so frightened, the smell of them would have made her sick.

The younger man held her while the other one bound her hands behind her back. He leaned toward her, putting his face close to hers. She could smell his sour breath and see his rotting teeth. She turned her face away, then looked back in horror as she felt his rough hand on her breast. She jerked her body backward and lashed out at him with her foot.

He laughed without a sound. “I likes ’em ta fight. We’uns ’ll take ta fight outta ya. Hit be a long spell since I humped me a white gal.”

Annie Lash renewed her struggles. The man behind her gave her arms a savage wrench upward. Excruciating pain shot through her arms and shoulders when he tightened his hold brutally. She thought she would faint from the pain that knifed through her.

“Listen good, gal. You’s a little lever we didn’t know we was agoin’ ta get, but we still don’t need ya. If’n ya make more trouble than ya’s worth to me, I’ll slit yore throat ’n throw ya in ta river. Hit makes me no never mind.” His hand cracked sharply against her cheek and ear.

The blow was sudden and unexpected. Her head was flung to the side. Stunned, Annie Lash tried to focus her eyes on the man in front of her. Her jaw felt like it was broken and her ears rang. She was whirled around and a twisted, bearded face floated into view.

“Ya understan’?”

She nodded. Her pleading eyes went past him to the young man who stood behind him. The lascivious look in his eyes and the spittle leaking from his loose mouth almost caused her to drift back into total unconsciousness. Instead, she fought to keep the bile from rising in her throat and choking her.

“Her’ll make dandy bait.”

The older man, still gripping her arm, pushed her ahead of him through the brush that lined the river. When the brush was around them and they were well concealed, he jerked her to a stop, tied a long leather thong to her bound wrists, passed it under her arm, and took off at a faster pace, leading her like a leashed animal. The younger man followed behind.

Annie Lash staggered in her haste to keep up. Branches slapped at her, tearing at her face and hair. Once she stumbled and the jerk on the rawhide thong almost brought her to her knees and pain knifed through her. The man behind her tormented her by nudging her buttocks with the end of his rifle. She knew he laughed when she twisted and turned to avoid the prodding, but no sound came from him.

When the way was clear, the man in front moved at such a brisk pace that Annie Lash was forced to trot to keep up. The gag in her mouth prevented her from taking gulps of air into her lungs and they felt as if they were on fire. She had no time to think of anything. All thought was blanked from her mind, and she concentrated completely on staying on her feet and trying to keep up to prevent the jerk on the thong that brought such vicious pain.

She lost all sense of time and direction. They pushed on through the woods. At times the ground sloped upward and the trees became thinner. The evening sunlight was brighter as it made its way through the leafy branches. Annie Lash stumbled along, swerving to avoid the tree trunks and thorny branches.

They entered a darker, thicker part of the woods. The man ahead of her stopped so suddenly she ran into him, her mind so numb with fatigue that it failed to register his action. He turned angrily, placed his palm over her face and pushed hard. She fell heavily against a tree trunk and sat there, dazed, trying to gather her wits about her. Her head seemed about to explode and she was floating. She whirled and floated through space filled with shooting stars, soared and dived again. Finally, she went spinning off into a black void. For the first time in her life she had fainted.

When Annie Lash opened her eyes the two men were hunkered down beside a pack, gnawing on what looked like a piece of dried meat. There was not a shaft of sunlight in the clearing. The sun had gone down, she thought disparagingly. It will be dark soon. Jeff will never find me! Her next thought was that she wished she hadn’t awakened, and her next was fear of what might have happened to her while she was unconscious. The end of the thong lay on the ground and the men were not facing her. She moved and raised her body to a sitting position and leaned against the tree, but she didn’t have the strength to get up, much less to run.

She shook the hair from her eyes and took stock of her surroundings. They were in a heavily wooded gulley filled with tall trees and dense undergrowth. Vines the size of a man’s arm rose from the ground and twined around the huge trunks of the trees and disappeared in their lofty branches. The ground she sat on was damp and she could hear water gurgling over rocks. Weak tears filled her eyes and sobs tore at her dry throat. She tried not to think about the dirty cloth in her mouth. Using all the self-control she possessed, she forced back the tears and commanded her heaving stomach to behave, knowing that if the contents came up, they could choke her.

The younger of the two men looked around and caught her looking at them. He stood, wiped his hands on his pants, and came to stand over her. She tried to scoot around the tree to get away from him, but he stepped on her skirt and held her.

“Ya ain’t agoin’ nowhere.” He dropped to his knees and brought his face close to hers. “Her’s a purty ’un, Branson.” He rubbed his fingers across the part of her face not covered with the rag that held the gag in her mouth. She tried to jerk her head away. He chuckled low in his throat and edged closer. It was more like an animal growl that came from him than a laugh and it came louder when he rubbed his maleness against her upper arm and she cringed. She heard the snort of laughter that came from the older man. It was a short guffaw.

“Yo’re horny as a jackrabbit, Coll. Did ya ever see ’un a them studs take down a she? Whooeee! He’s on ’er like mud on a fence, apokin’ at ’er, ’n her asquealin’. Ya’ll have yore bit a tail soon’s we done what we come to. So jist take it a mite easy.” His tone of voice changed abruptly from friendly to one with authority when he spoke again. “Ya ain’t goin’ ta be on ’er first, nohow. Ya kilt that thar Injin gal back thar afore I got me a turn on ’er. I’m takin’ this’n first. Ya c’n have my leavin’s.”

Coll jumped to his feet. “Hold on thar! Now ya jist hold on,” he snarled. “Ya didn’t even see this’n. I seed ’er. Ya didn’t know ’er was thar. Yo’re missin’ yore know-how, ol’ man! I ain’t lettin’ ya on ’er first.”

Annie Lash was so terrified she could scarcely comprehend the man’s words. It was all she could do to focus her eyes. She was floating in a sea of terror and misery. The rawhide that bound her wrists was cutting off the circulation and her hands were getting numb. She flexed her fingers and tried to shift her position in order to ease the pain between her shoulders. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking that if this was a nightmare she would wake up. Her eyes flew open when she heard what Coll was saying.

“I’m ahavin’ ’er now!”

“Ya try hit, ’n I’ll gut ya, here ’n now.” There was a deadly promise in Branson’s tone and Coll recognized it.

“Hit ain’t right, but . . . soon’s we get done with that thar white-headed bastid—”

“Hit’s goin’ ta take some gittin’ to git ’im. Ya don’t know that thar bastid. I do. He’s foxy, got the eye of a eagle, the guts of a mule, c’n tract a duck across a pond. Once he gets his teeth in, he don’t let go.”

They were talking about Jeff! The knowledge hit Annie Lash like a blow between the eyes. This pair of animals had been hired to kill Jeff and Will. Oh, dear God. First Hartley Van Buren and now this! They were using her to lure them to their deaths. That’s what he meant when he said she would make dandy bait!

“Whose woman air ya?” Branson asked. Annie Lash shook her head. “Air ya Merrick’s woman?” She shook her head again. “Then she’s ta other’ns. Murdock’s. He ain’t alettin’ nothin’ of his go. He’ll come fer her. He’s soft fer women. I seed him shoot a feller o’er a dirty ol’ squaw. Feller was a goin’ ta let a pup suck her tit. Murdock shot ’im. He ain’t got no sense a’tall.”

“Ya left a trail a yard wide,” Coll said with disgust. “They ain’t goin’ ta have no trouble trackin’ ’er, if’n they do it afore night.”

“That’s why I done it. I ain’t wantin’ ta piss along. I want ta get it done.”

Coll squatted down beside Annie Lash again. “Soon’s it’s done I’m goin’ ta have me a time with this gal.” He touched her neck with rough fingers and she tensed. He put his nose to her skin and sniffed. “Ya got a funny smell ta ya, but it makes no matter. I ain’t had me nothing fer so long I ’bout ta bust my buckskins.”

Branson snorted with disgust. “’Bout ta bust, is ya? I ain’t blind. I seed ya ajerkin’ on that thing.”

Coll grinned sheepishly. “Won’t be no need fer it t’night.” He quickly plunged his hand down the neck of her dress. Annie Lash went wild with fear and butted his nose with her head. He let out a yelp and grabbed her by the hair. Excruciating pain shot from her scalp to her neck.

“We got us a fighter, uh?” he gritted. His fingers plunged into her dress again and found her nipple. “How’d ya like fer me ta pinch these pretty li’l thin’s off ya? Huh?” He gripped her tender flesh brutally and she couldn’t hold back the grunts of pain that came from her dry throat.

“Stop diddlin’ on the woman.” Annie Lash heard the command through the sharp, black edge of pain. “Ya gotta keep an eye peeled, hear?”

“I jist agivin’ ’er a taste a what she’s goin’ ta git.”

Annie Lash fought with all her limited strength when the rough hand moved up under her skirt, trying to force its way between the thighs she kept tightly together. Her mind refused to record the obscenities being inflicted on her and she momentarily blacked out. When her mind began to function again, she realized that she was praying fervently to die, and the fingers had left her.

“Tie ’er ta the tree so she cain’t crawl off,” Branson ordered. “We got ta git us set fer what we’re agoin’ ta do.”

Coll wrapped the leather thong around the tree trunk and tied it. He moved over beside Branson and they talked in low tones. By straining her ears, Annie Lash could hear most of what they were saying.

“Air we goin’ ta do same as we done ta other time we took bait?” Coll asked.

“He ain’t goin’ ta come awalkin’ in here like other’s is done. He ain’t doin’ nothin’ till he sees if’n his woman is a’right. I figure we ort ta scatter. He’ll circle round ta see what we’s up ta. While he’s a doin it, we pick ’im off.” Branson looked around and pointed. “Scutter up that thar tree. Pick ya a spot so ya can see the woman. If’n ya git one a ’um in yore sight, shoot ’im. I’ll git the other’n. If’n jist one comes, we’ll sashay up ta the place ’n get the other’n.”

It was almost completely dark, but light enough for Annie Lash to look at the older man while he talked. He was cold and as dangerous as a coiled snake. He’s like Zan would have been, she thought, if Zan had taken the same trail. Despair swamped her. They had got her tied here like a Judas goat. Her mind tumbled with thoughts. Her last words to Jeff were so hateful, so senseless, like he said. Her own stupidity had caused this to happen. Running off like a silly schoolgirl!

Every minute that passed seemed like an hour to Annie Lash. Her head throbbed viciously. The thong was biting into her wrist and she desperately needed to swallow. Half of her wanted Jeff to find her, the other half fervently hoped he wouldn’t. Branson expected Will; but if anyone came it would be Jeff, and they were waiting to kill him.

Darkness came quickly, making it impossible for her to see but a foot or two in front of her. An owl hooted and frogs croaked. From the far distance came the cry of a night bird. A slight breeze rustled the leaves in the tree above her. There were no other sounds at all, except the night sounds.

For the first time since she had been abducted, Annie Lash allowed the tears to come and made no attempt to stop them. The pain in her head and the ache in her hands and arms was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. Her selfish, impulsive action would cost Jeff his life. Oh, God, she prayed, let me wake up and find that this is a terrible dream. She wanted a chance to tell him she loved him and that she was sorry.