Texas Pride: Night Riders (24 page)

“Not after Danny showed up today. He’d been shot by Bricker because he found out some of Riley’s men were stealing from villages while others looked for cows. They threatened to hurt Beth if he said anything. It wasn’t an empty threat. We hope nothing has happened to Beth, but Kesney has been shot.”

Bass’s self-satisfied look was wiped off his face. “Is he dead?”

“No, but he’s so badly wounded the doctor said he can’t go home for at least a week. He was shot by Laveau diViere, the man who cheated Danny of his half of the ranch. DiViere gave Riley permission to use my land for his base. Ivan warned us all not to trust Riley because of his connection to diViere.”

Bass was having trouble holding his position in the tide of animals flowing through the street. “Where is Ivan?”

“Gone to look for Beth. Danny overheard Riley say they were only going to stay here another month before they moved to a new place. I’m worried they might try to use Beth to keep us from doing anything to stop them.”

“Where’s Danny?”

“Gone to find Beth and Ivan. I tried to get him to wait, but he wouldn’t.”

“I find all of this hard to believe.”

“I’m not sure I fully believed it until Danny told me what he’d found out.”

“Nobody in this town is going to take your word for it. You can see for yourself how they act toward Riley and his men.”

“They’d better believe it before another armed posse from Mexico comes looking for the men who stole from their churches and their homes. They’re not going to believe we’re innocent a second time.”

The cows had passed through town, and the streets were beginning to clear. Maxwell Dodge spotted them and headed their way.

“There’s the first person you have to convince,” Bass said.

“Ivan will do that.” Carla had been watching for Ivan ever since she left the doctor’s office. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him enter town. A man she could only assume was Laveau diViere was by his side. She’d expected to see someone more impressive, more sinister. Next to Ivan he looked like an overdressed snake oil salesman. Considering the circumstances, his air of superiority was a rather pathetic attempt to show his contempt for those he felt were beneath him.

“How is Kesney?” Ivan asked as soon as Carla reached him.

“He’s badly wounded, but he’ll survive.”

“Where is Danny?”

“He took Kesney’s horse to go look for you.”

Ivan began cursing in Polish again. By now Bass and Maxwell Dodge had caught up with her.

“Did you find Beth?”

“The housekeeper said she was kidnapped by their old foreman and a man who fits Bricker’s description. She does not know where they have taken her.”

Carla pointed at Laveau. “What about him?”

“I’ve never set eyes on that girl,” Laveau declared.

“Then why do you have him tied up?” Maxwell Dodge asked.

“Because I found him going through Kesney’s study.” Ivan took a derringer out of his pocket and tossed it to Maxwell. “When I tried to stop him, he shot at me with this. You can find three bullets in Kesney’s house. I expect you can find the fourth in Kesney. This man must go to jail. Where is the sheriff? “

“Off with the men returning the stolen cows,” Bass said. “He won’t be back for hours.”

“I’ll take care of this for you,” Maxwell said.

Ivan didn’t look pleased. He didn’t look any happier when he locked diViere’s cell and handed the key to Maxwell.

“That is an extremely dangerous man,” he said to Maxwell. “Be very careful around him.”

Maxwell appeared affronted. “I think I can handle the situation.”

“I hope so. Evil follows this man closer than a calf follows a cow.”

Carla was relieved to leave the sheriff’s office. DiViere might not look impressive, but such deep hatred burned in his black eyes, he looked almost reptilian.

“Is Riley really behind all this trouble?” Bass asked Ivan.

“Yes. Laveau diViere came here to set up a camp so he could pillage Mexican towns. It was only after he learned where Danny’s ranch was located that he decided to play cards with him. He offered me the land after a year because he thought I wanted to go back to Poland so much I would turn a blind eye to anything I might see.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Laveau told me. He’s a brilliant man who wants everyone to appreciate his talents.”

Carla looked worried. “We’ve got to stop Danny.”

“I saw him going into the saloon when I rode by,” Bass said.

“I’ve got to stop him before he does something stupid.”

But when they reached the saloon, Danny wasn’t there.

“Have you seen Danny today?” Carla asked the bartender.

“He came in a short while ago and started threatening a couple of Riley’s men,” the bartender said. “I told him to take it outside. Do you know what that’s about? Can’t have been Riley’s men causing trouble. They were busy bringing back the stolen cows.”

“Where did they go?” Ivan asked.

“Out back. One of them said something about getting their horses. You just missed him by a few minutes. Is everything okay?”

“We just need to find Danny,” Carla said. Once back on the boardwalk, she asked Ivan, “What do we do now?”

“They wanted to get him alone,” Ivan said. “They may not have known about the kidnapping, but they know about the stealing and the fake rustling.”

“Their horses were tired,” Carla said. “Maybe they went to the livery stable for fresh ones.”

When they reached the livery, a stable hand told them, “Yeah, they was here. I saddled up two nice horses. Boss said not to charge them, they being Riley’s men.”

“Do you know where they were going?” Ivan asked.

“Nope, but they went off in the direction of Mr. Dodge’s place. It’s over—”

“I know where it is,” Carla said.

The man grinned. “I sorta thought you might.”

Ivan was tempted to plant a fist in the man’s face, but they had to catch up with Danny before Riley’s men got him back to their camp. “Saddle your best horse for Miss Reece. I want it ready when I return with my horse.”

If Danny had told the men about the shooting and kidnapping—and Ivan was certain he had—then Danny was in serious trouble. So was Beth. By now Danny could name everyone in the gang. Beth would certainly know her kidnappers. The young people were a threat to the gang’s freedom. Without Beth or Danny, Riley’s gang could vanish without a problem. Ivan brought the rifle and extra ammunition from Carla’s buggy.

Carla’s horse was ready when he returned. Her concern deepened when she saw the rifle and ammunition, but she didn’t say anything until they were mounted up and riding out of town.

“What do you think they’re going to do?”

“Do not worry. We will catch up with them soon.”

Carla was fretting before they’d gone a mile.

“How far is it to Maxwell’s ranch?” Ivan asked.

“About five miles.”

“We have plenty of time.”

“Shouldn’t we go faster?”

“We need to save our horses until we sight them.”
Always
save
something
for
the
last
push
had been their motto during the war. It was one reason they had virtually no losses until Laveau’s betrayal.

They had covered about half the distance to Maxwell’s ranch when Ivan spotted where three horses had left the trail. “Something is wrong,” Ivan said. “They are galloping.”

“We’ve got to catch them. If they take Danny to their camp, they’ll kill him.”

Just then they heard the sound of distant gunfire. Putting their horses into a hard gallop, it wasn’t long before they sighted two men firing at a target that was out of sight.

“Danny must be in that arroyo,” Carla said. “He has no protection. We’ve got to hurry.”

“Wait.” Ivan pulled his horse to a halt, took out his rifle, and aimed very carefully before squeezing off his shot. A second later one of the men jerked and dropped his rifle. The second man turned in their direction and fired a shot that went wild. Rather than continue the fight, he turned and rode away, leaving his companion to follow as best he could.

“That was incredible,” Carla marveled as they started their horses forward. “I’ve never seen anyone shoot like that.”

“In Poland, every man shoots. A prince must be better than anyone else.”

“We shoot in Texas, too, but not like that.”

By the time they reached Danny, he’d climbed out of the arroyo and caught up his horse. “You don’t have to tell me what I did was stupid,” he said before either spoke. “I was too worried about Beth to think straight.”

“She’s been kidnapped,” Ivan told him. “Do you know how to find the new camp?”

“I sure do.”

“Before we go after them, we need a plan,” Ivan said. “Once we have it, we have to follow it.”

“We have to leave now,” Danny insisted. “No telling what Bricker has done to Beth.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Carla said. “The town would lynch him.”

Danny had several objections to the plan Ivan worked out, but Carla silenced him by saying Ivan’s four years of experience during the war was better than Danny’s none at all.

“I don’t see why we have to wait until dark,” Danny objected.

“We are outnumbered. We either use the cover of night or go back to town for reinforcements and hope they do not escape before we return.”

“The way the town feels about Riley right now, they’d be more likely to come after us,” Carla said.

Ivan had no difficulty finding a spot in the trees from which to observe the camp. Despite Carla’s demand they leave her land, they weren’t far from their original spot.

“I don’t see Beth,” Danny said.

“Why didn’t you tell me Riley never left our land?” Carla asked her brother.

Ivan hushed the pair. “Speak only when necessary. Our only chance of success is to take them by surprise.”

The camp was in an uproar with everyone preparing to leave. Men shouted at each other. Occasionally blows were exchanged.

“You should have shot the little bastard as soon as you got him out of town,” one man yelled at another.

“Riley shouldn’t have taken him on,” the man shouted back. “Locals always have more loyalty to someone else.”

“Shut up,” Riley yelled at both of them. “If you’re not loaded up by the time I’m done, I’ll leave you behind.”

“Stay here and keep an eye on Riley,” Ivan said to Carla. “Danny, come with me.”

“I’ve got to find Beth.”

“Let’s see if we can reduce their numbers first.” When Danny looked like he would argue, Ivan grabbed him by the collar. “Follow orders, or go back to Overlin now.”

“You agreed Ivan would make all the decisions,” Carla hissed at her brother. “For once in your life, shut up and do what you’re told.”

“What are we going to do?” Danny asked in voice that wasn’t noticeably chastened.

“I want to eliminate some of the men when they go to their horses.”

“There are several I’m itching to eliminate.”

The horses were in a rope corral about fifty yards from the main camp. It was dark under the trees, but a bright half moon cast a pale light over the open plain. Ivan hushed Danny. One man approached the herd, but his horse was too far from where Ivan and Danny hid. He tied his bedroll to his saddle and returned to camp.

“There’s nowhere to hide,” Danny complained.

But Ivan wasn’t listening. Keeping low, he sprinted across the short distance between the trees and the rope corral. Several horses shied nervously, but sensing the mood of the camp, all the horses were restless. Crouching low to the ground, Ivan watched from between the horses’ legs as a second man approached. The man dropped his saddlebags on the ground and scooted under the rope to catch his mount. Ivan waited until the man had selected his horse and was working his way back through the herd. Coming to his feet swiftly, Ivan ran the short distance between him and the man. Instinct, or the movement of the horses, must have warned the man. He started to turn but was too late. A blow from the butt of Ivan’s gun sent him tumbling to the ground.

“What are we going to do with him?” Danny asked when Ivan had dragged the unconscious man into the cover of the trees.

“Tie him up and gag him. See if you can get his saddlebags. I want Riley to think he deserted.”

Danny moved quickly to catch the man’s horse and retrieve his saddlebags.

Over the next quarter of an hour, Ivan dragged two more men into the grove to be tied and gagged. Danny might have been caught when he went after the second man’s bedroll and saddlebags if Ivan hadn’t let loose a howl that sounded so much like a wolf the horses milled about the corral in fear.

“I learned to do that in Poland,” Ivan explained. “It makes the deer run from cover.”

An empty-handed man approached the herd. Instead of going for a horse, he started calling names.

“He’s looking for the men we tied up,” Danny whispered to Ivan.

After searching through the herd, the man started cussing.

“Their horses are gone,” he growled. “The bastards have cut and run.”

“What do we do now?” Danny asked.

“We find where they have Beth. Once we do that, we decide what to do next.”

When the man turned back to camp, Ivan and Danny ran across the open ground to the few trees that surrounded the camp. It didn’t take long to come up behind the row of tents. Over the noise of the men arguing about what to do now that three of them were gone, Ivan caught the sound of a female voice. He motioned for Danny to follow him. They hadn’t gone far before it was clear Beth was being held in one of the tents, and she was arguing with Bricker. Ivan grabbed hold of Danny when he attempted to run past him. “Try going off on your own once more,” he said in a fierce whisper, “and I will gag
you
and tie
you
to a tree.”

“But Bricker has Beth.”

“Do you want him to ride out of here using Beth as a shield?”

“No, but—”

“Then stay behind me. I
will
tie you up. Knock you out if necessary. I will not have Beth put in more danger because you are too infatuated to use common sense.”

Danny opened his mouth to argue, took a good look at Ivan’s expression, and then backed down. “What do we do?”

“We locate the tent.”

The escalating argument between Beth and Bricker led them to a tent set up a distance from the others.

“My father will kill you for this!” Beth shouted at Bricker. “He’ll put a bullet right through your heart.”

“Your father will never find you.” Bricker’s voice sounded confident.

“He will. And so will Danny.” Beth didn’t sound as confident, but she didn’t back down. “He’ll grind you into the dust and feed your heart to the pigeons.”

Bricker laughed. “You’re not in Kentucky, little girl. We don’t have pigeons in Texas.”

“You have buzzards,” Beth said. “They’ll tear your eyes out.”

“I always did like a woman with spirit.”

“No woman would have you, especially a woman with spirit.”

Bricker mumbled a curse.

“Let go of me,” Beth cried.

Ivan put his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Not yet,” he whispered.

“I said let go of me!” Beth repeated.

“Riley says we’re to let you go after we leave, but I’m thinking I’d like to keep you.”

“I said
let
go
!”

Bricker let out a howl. “You crazy bitch! You bit me!”

“Touch me again, and I’ll do worse.”

“Not once I—”

“Didn’t you hear Riley calling you?” a voice at the front of the tent asked. “If he comes after you, he’ll do worse than that girl.”

Bricker uttered another curse. “I’ll be back. Then I’ll settle with you.”

Ivan had pulled out his knife and opened it. He snuck up to the back of Bricker’s tent and began cutting a hole through the canvas. “Beth,” he whispered. “It’s Ivan, and I’m here with Danny. Just stay quiet, and we will get you out.”

Not certain Beth could control her excitement, Ivan cut through the tent as quickly as possible. All the while he listened for any sound of Bricker coming back. Once he had an opening large enough, Danny crawled through. Beth threw herself into his arms in a dramatic gesture worthy of a bad melodrama.

“I knew you would find me,” she cried.

“Hush!” Ivan said. “Bricker will be down on us before we can get away.”

Danny managed to quiet Beth and guide her through the hole in the tent. Ivan knew it would be better if Beth stayed with him, but it would be useless to try to separate the two youngsters. “Stay out of sight back in the trees,” he told Beth. “If any one of the men finds you, we’ll all be in trouble.”

“I want to help. I can shoot.”

“Maybe, but—”

“Papa taught me how to shoot.” Beth reached for one of Danny’s guns. “I’m going to make Bricker sorry he ever lived.”

Ivan gripped Beth by both shoulders and shoved his face forward until their noses were practically touching. “You are going to stay back in the trees because if you don’t Danny may get killed. Do you want to be responsible for that?”

“No, but—”

“One of those men shot your father. He’s going to be okay, but they won’t hesitate to shoot any one of us. Do you understand?”

Beth blinked then suddenly seemed to focus. She nodded.

“You will stay hidden until one of us comes for you?”

She nodded again.

“Danny will show you where to hide. Be quick. Bricker will be back soon.”

When Danny and Beth disappeared, Ivan cut the ropes supporting Bricker’s tent. It gave him a feeling of great satisfaction to see it collapse. He wanted to fell as many tents as possible. It would deprive the men of cover and slow them down in getting their rifles. He dropped two more tents before one of Riley’s men noticed. As the man came running toward him, Ivan saw a tent several yards away go down. Danny was back.

A pistol shot rent the air. The battle was on.

Ivan jumped to his feet and put a bullet in the ground at the feet of the man running toward him. The man stopped so abruptly he lost his balance and fell down.

“Do not move,” Ivan called out.

When the man turned to run away, he came into the line of fire from Carla and Danny. The thieves were hampered by being blinded by their campfire, but they fired into the darkness. Two men tried to break through. Ivan shot one in the leg. Carla hit the second man in the pelvis, and he went down screaming. The other men froze.

“Put down your guns,” Ivan ordered.

“And let you shoot us like fish in a barrel?” Bricker shouted.

“No one will be hurt unless he tries to escape.”

“What do you want?” Riley called out.

“Put down your weapons.”

For a moment no one moved. Then one man dropped his gun. He was followed by another.

“Are you all fools?” Bricker shouted. “That crazy foreigner is going to kill all of us.”

“Put down your gun,” Riley said. “He can’t prove we’ve done anything wrong.” When Riley let his pistol fall to ground, the rest followed suit except Bricker.

“Bricker kidnapped that girl,” one of the men said. “They can hang all of us for that.”

“He did that on his own,” Riley said. “I’ll swear to it.”

Bricker turned on Riley. “You son of a bitch! I’ll see you all in hell before I let you leave me to hang.” He shot Riley at point blank range.

Before he could get off another shot, Ivan shot him.

***

The first thing they did on reaching town was deliver the wounded men to the doctor. All three, including Riley, were going to live, but the man shot in the pelvis was in for a long recovery. They left Bricker’s body at the camp along with the rest of the thieves, all securely tied and waiting for the sheriff to pick them up. Danny took Beth to her father, who was staying with Myrtle so she could take care of him.

“Where is Laveau?” Ivan asked when he found the jail cell empty.

“Who?” the sheriff asked.

“Laveau diViere. I brought him in for trying to kill Kesney. I turned him over to Maxwell Dodge.”

“There was nobody here when I got back,” the sheriff said. “I haven’t seen Maxwell, either.”

When they got to Maxwell’s office, they found it empty.

“Cleaned out,” the sheriff said. “It’s like he was never here.”

“Where would he go?” Ivan asked.

“He has a room here in town.”

But that, too, was empty. “If he was tied up with this diViere character like you think,” the sheriff said to Ivan, “I guess he’s made a run for it. He’s probably half way to San Antonio by now.”

“Maybe not,” Carla said. “He has a house about five miles from here. He can’t pack everything on a single horse. He’ll need a wagon.”

“I’ve got nothing to hold him on,” the sheriff said, “except your say so. That diViere fella, either.”

“You can’t let them get away,” Carla protested.

“I’ve got my hands full with this bunch you’ve got hog-tied the hell and gone from here,” the sheriff complained. “People in town are going to want my scalp when they find out you’re wanting me to put them in jail. The way they see it, Riley and his men found the stolen herds.”

“They
found
them because they
stole
them,” Ivan said. “It was all part of their cover for going into Mexico to steal whatever they could.”

“That’s something else,” the sheriff said. “Where’s all this stuff you say they stole? You said it wasn’t at the camp. It sure ain’t in Maxwell’s office or rooms. Where did they hide it?”

“At Maxwell’s house,” Ivan and Carla said in unison.

“Well, you can go on a wild goose chase if you want,” the sheriff said, “but I’m going after Riley’s men. I still don’t know what I’m going to tell people when they wake up in the morning.”

“Tell them Riley made fools of all of us,” Carla said. “He pretended to be protecting us when all along he was robbing villages in Mexico, which put everyone in town at risk.”

“You bring back some evidence, and I’ll be glad to say anything you want,” the sheriff said. “Without it, I’m liable to put the two of you in jail for shooting three innocent men.”

“At least he can’t say Bricker was innocent,” Carla said when she and Ivan were on their way to Maxwell’s ranch. “Beth will make sure everybody knows what he did.”

Ivan was more concerned with Laveau’s escape. It was now clear that Maxwell Dodge was involved in Laveau’s scheme, had probably been in on it from the beginning. Maxwell had no idea of the danger he was in. Laveau would hesitate at nothing to achieve his ends. His shooting of Kesney proved that.

Ivan and Carla didn’t talk much. There wasn’t much to say, and they were tired. After the shootout at Riley’s camp, it was hard to work up enthusiasm for another confrontation. Ivan had had his fill of killing in the war. Carla had never shot anyone. It was a lot to absorb, especially on top of everything else that had happened.

Ivan had never been to Maxwell’s house, so he let Carla take the lead until he saw something in the distance that looked like a flame. “How far is Maxwell’s house from here?”

“Not far. Why?”

Ivan pointed. “Something over there looks like a fire.”

“That’s where Maxwell’s house is.” Carla whipped her horse into a hard gallop. “Can you tell if it’s the house or a fire outside?” Carla asked when Ivan caught up with her.

“Not from here.”

In the several minutes it took them to reach the house, it became clear that the fire had been set only moments earlier. Once caught, however, the flames were spreading rapidly to the rest of the house. The wooden structure, dried in the searing heat of numerous Texas summers, was perfect tinder.