Swept Away (31 page)

“If you don’t bring out my wife right now,” Greer roared at the town, “I’m gonna burn Broken Wheel to the ground.”

Someone shook Dare’s shoulder, and he flickered his eyes open to see Ruthy. Horrified, Dare whispered, “What are you doing here?”

“Press this against your forehead.”

He felt pressure ease on his head and knew she’d been holding it there for a while. He took the fussy little handkerchief out of her hand and returned it to his head. Unless he was mistaken, this was his own blood.

“You’re bleeding from about ten spots, but it all looks minor.” She sounded impatient. Dare was foggy so it might be he was forgetting something important. “You’ve got a goose egg on your forehead; I think that’s the worst of the damage.”

Dare looked around. The pain in his head almost knocked him out again. His vision went gray, but the jiggling on his shoulder kept him from sinking all the way into the dark.

“Get up.” Ruthy—who was turning out to be a nag—tugged on his arm. Since he outweighed her by about a hundred pounds, her chances of getting him to his feet were slim.

“You remember where we planned to hide the Greer family?” She gestured toward the south with a gun. Tough woman. Loaded for bear.

“Yep, I’m the one who showed it to Luke.” It hurt to talk. And his vision was blurred. Not good. Luke needed help.

“Dare, pay attention.”

“There are three of you.” She might be kinder if she knew that.

“I’m the one in the middle. The Greers are hidden there. Go defend them against trouble. If Greer is still standing when this ends, get them out of here. You’re out of this fight. I doubt you’re dying, but you’re too wobbly to be of help.”

Dare staggered to his feet, determined to show her she was wrong. Then his knees buckled and he ended up sprawled flat on his back again.

“Can you even get to the hideout?” She sounded annoyed.

Dare decided to have a talk with Luke. Warn him that his wife lacked compassion.

“I can just drag you into the underbrush and cover your body with leaves. You can nap while we clear these vermin out of Broken Wheel. I’m sure Glynna can defend herself.”

It might be best for Luke not to have children with this merciless woman. “You’re talking like this to get me to help, goad me into trying harder, right?” He hoped.

“Maybe.” Ruthy glared at him. “You’re slowing me down.”

“I hope I’m right, otherwise you’ve got a mean streak, Ruthy Stone. I worry for my brother-in-arms.”

“Quit worrying and head for that hideout. It’s not that far. Crawl it if you have to.”

“Mean streak for a fact.” But the taunting was getting his fighting spirit up and he rolled onto his hands and knees.
Crawling like a mewling baby to the nearest tree, he pulled himself to his feet and leaned for far too long.

“Can you make it, Dare?”

He heard the kindness. “You’re slipping, sweetheart. You’re being so nice I’m likely to just fall straight back down to the ground and fetch myself a little nap.”

Ruthy patted him on the back. “In your shape, you’re just someone else Luke has to protect. You’re more trouble than help. Get out of here.”

Dare closed his eyes until the world stopped spinning . . . mostly. Then he straightened, held himself upright with no help from the tree whatsoever. “I’ll go. If my head clears, I’ll come back. But you’re right. As things stand now, I can’t hit what I’m aiming at. I’d have to shoot everyone three times to make sure I got the right man. I’m going to go find that woman and make
her
bandage
me
up for a change.”

“Good idea. And hold this handkerchief on your forehead. I know head wounds bleed a lot, but you want to keep most of your blood inside your body where it’ll do you some good. A doctor oughta know that.”

“Mean streak.” Dare looked at the feisty little redhead who never quit working. She was going to make a great rancher’s wife. “It suits you.”

“I’m going now.” Ruthy patted him again. “I’ll check back later, and if I find you in a heap on the ground, I’ll bury you with leaves until I’ve got some spare time.”

“We’ve got two men out of the fight, locked in Vince’s office. There were six; we cut them down to four. And the jail just blew up.”

“That was the explosion?”

“Yep. I reckon Greer found gunpowder or maybe even
nitroglycerin at the general store and used it to bust Bullard out of jail.”

“You had Bullard locked in jail?” She sounded relieved . . . and impressed.

“For a little while. If Greer sprung Bullard, he’s got five men left. Last I knew, Luke, Vince, and Jonas were all fine. Be careful. Luke’ll feel lower’n dirt if he accidentally shoots you.”

“My man knows better than to shoot blind.”

“You’ve only known him a few days and you’ve never seen him shoot a gun.”

“You have though, right?” Ruthy asked.

“Yep, and he never shoots blind. You’ll be fine.”

“Go on now. Make yourself useful. Glynna was scared to death when I left her.” Ruthy looked up and down Dare’s body and grimaced. “And seeing you isn’t likely to make her feel any better.”

C
HAPTER 21

With Bullard loose, the fight got a whole lot worse.

Luke saw Vince appear at the end of the board-walk, under it with him. He wanted to crawl the length of the walk and talk things over, but Vince gave him a casual salute, flashed that reckless smile, turned, and slid out of sight.

Divide and conquer. That was the plan.

Luke hadn’t done his share of conquering by a long shot.

Peering out from under the board-walk, Luke saw one of Greer’s cowhands rush the livery. Braver now with Bullard glaring at him. Luke should’ve stayed at his post.

Bullard had his gun drawn. The man was a mess, his clothes in tatters, blood trickling down his cheeks and his neck. But considering he’d just been blown up, he was in real good shape.

Of all the rotten luck.

Bullard’s edgy alertness rubbed off on the other men so that everyone was paying attention now. Greer was sharper, too. Another of his men ran up to Vince’s law office and hammered on the door. The third man, Jesse Ray, who had almost come into the livery earlier, stayed by Greer.

Bullard said, “Go check the buildings on the northwest. And I want to know if the doctor’s in town. If he is, drag
him out here.” Bullard had it in for Dare and there was no mistaking it.

Jesse Ray turned and headed back in Luke’s direction. The lousy polecat walked straight to Dare’s house and kicked the door in.

Luke was useless under here. Then he had an idea. He moved forward until he reached the jail. The building was battered enough, Luke could work his way into the crawl space beneath it, then climb up through a hole in the floor. The jail was destroyed. The cell’s door hung from one hinge. The back wall was half gone. Luke went to the back. Risking exposure, Luke raced across the open space and got himself back into the woods. Where was Dare? He was supposed to be covering this part of town. Well, Luke wasn’t where he was supposed to be, either.

Luke went to the spot he and Rosie had picked for a hiding place every night as they waited for the sun to set so they could get in and out of Dare’s without giving themselves away.

Where Luke was, Bullard and Greer couldn’t see him. But Jesse Ray could if he looked out a window. Blast it.

He saw movement inside. Jesse Ray was shoving things around in Dare’s office. Smashing things for no reason except because he was a low-down varmint. Jesse Ray headed for the storeroom that Luke and Rosie had hidden in the first time they’d come to Dare’s house. He opened the door, his back to Luke.

Tired of not being in the action, Luke ran toward the house. Quietly he swung Dare’s back door open and edged himself inside. It was a solid house, not a lot of creaking, and Luke had spent the last few days sneaking around so he knew where the loose floorboards were. He approached
the open door to Dare’s office just as Jesse Ray turned away from the storeroom and saw him. Jesse Ray went for his gun.

Luke beat him to the draw. “Don’t move.”

The man froze. He’d looked young through the window, but up close he had deep lines on his face. This was a man who’d ridden some hard trails.

“Get your hands up.” Luke cocked the gun just to underline the threat.

Greer had probably hired his men for toughness, but Jesse Ray must not’ve been as tough as Greer thought, because he obeyed without hesitating.

He had more men to catch, so Luke hurried to get this one out of the fight. “Turn around.”

Given enough time, Jesse Ray might find his backbone, so Luke strode toward him and relieved him of two six-guns. Luke found a hideout knife and tossed it across the room after the revolvers. Prepared for just this problem—capturing a man and not knowing what to do with him—Luke pulled at the rope wrapped around his waist.

Jesse Ray struck like a rattler. With three lightning moves he rammed his elbow into Luke’s gut. His arm came down hard on Luke’s gun hand and knocked the weapon to the floor. Then he plowed a fist into Luke’s mouth.

Luke staggered back. Diving for his gun, Jesse Ray stretched out flat. Luke leapt on him and they tumbled to the floor. The gun was only inches away, and Jesse Ray, on his belly, heaved himself toward it. Luke clawed at Jesse Ray’s hand, knocking the gun out of reach.

Luke outweighed him, but the varmint was wiry. It was like wrestling a slippery snake. Jesse Ray threw his head back and slammed it into Luke’s jaw so hard his ears rang.
Then the snake rolled onto his back and slugged Luke in the belly.

A slippery snake with a hard head and iron fists.

Jesse Ray kicked his legs up and threw Luke over his head. Luke went tumbling, sprawled out flat on his back, whirled and dove in again. He tackled Jesse Ray, knocking him back from the Colt.

Luke put every ounce of power he had into a left cross. Jesse Ray reeled but was right back, punching with both fists.

Luke landed two blows hard enough that Jesse Ray fell back against Dare’s desk. Charging, he rammed his shoulder into Luke’s belly and got him in a clinch. Too close to punch, Luke took both of them to the floor. The snake landed two brutal blows. Luke blocked the next just as Jesse Ray caught Luke’s throat with one crushing hand.

His breath cut off, Luke jerked sideways. But the man held on, letting Luke’s motion roll them until Jesse Ray was on top.

The one strangling hand became a vise. To throw Jesse Ray off, Luke wrenched himself sideways and saw his gun within grabbing distance. He reached for it and brought it around hard against Jesse Ray’s skull, knocking him aside. Luke staggered to his feet, brought the gun around to shoot. Jesse Ray was on him before he could fire. He dragged Luke back to the floor. Both hands gripped Luke’s neck. Luke raised the gun. Jesse Ray let go with one hand and caught Luke’s wrist and pushed the gun downward. Luke gained the advantage and the gun inched back up. Jesse Ray’s grip cut off Luke’s air supply completely. His strength faded. He tried to throw the man off, but he didn’t have the breath in his lungs to make his body obey.

The edges of Luke’s vision began to go dark. One hand wrestled with the gun, and one tried to tear Jesse Ray’s choking hand loose.

Luke was going to lose this fight. And all he could think of was Rosie. His sweet Rosie. Like an echo that came from his heart, he sent up a prayer, wishing he could’ve seen her one more time.

A dull thud barely penetrated Luke’s ebbing consciousness.

Jesse Ray’s hand convulsed on Luke’s throat, then went slack. Luke got his first breath of air in too long a time.

Jesse Ray slumped sideways and then toppled to the floor, which allowed Luke to see . . . Rosie, pistol in hand. Luke was pretty sure she’d just applied the weapon, gun butt first, to Jesse Ray’s skull. Their eyes met, and she looked a little sheepish, in a bloodthirsty kind of way. She lowered her raised foot, which she’d just used to kick Jesse Ray off Luke’s body.

He got to see Rosie. God had granted Luke his dying wish.

Then air got to his brain. “What the devil are you doing here?”