Authors: Marie Harte
Deke
had been her eyes and ears. He didn’t like her staying in the house with Butch
and his sadistic brother any more than she did, but so far he remained quiet
about it. So long as they didn’t touch her, she wouldn’t object either.
“Head
count?” she asked.
He
looked grim. “Of the thirty-six hands here two weeks ago, only fifteen are left.
Ten have gone missing.” Of which Brian was one. “Two are dead from that
gunfight a few days ago.”
She
nodded. “Stupid Nolans.”
“I
know. You should try livin’ with them.”
Poor
Deke had to make use of the bunkhouse with the inbred clan.
“Any
word of Brian?”
“No.
I don’t mind tellin’ ya, I think Thais is out there pickin’ them off one by one.
It’s what I’d to.”
Me
too.
Perhaps Thais wasn’t the spineless bitch Pilar
thought her to be. “But there are men unaccounted for. We should have
twenty-four still here. Where are the other nine men?”
“Either
whoring or running errands for Butch in town.”
She
frowned. “Butch put a stop to town runs this morning.” Before he’d insisted she
beat him into orgasming three times.
“Gregor
turned the order around. Said Butch wanted his men happy.”
“I
see.” She thought about their circumstances from a strategic point of view. “Gregor
wants his brother dead. Men are missing; we have no idea why.”
“You
and I both know it’s Thais. Has to be. That or the asshole who was with her. What’s
his name?”
“Hinto
Dakota,” Pilar murmured, intrigued by the tales of the stubborn bounty hunter,
one the whores in town cooed over. “You’re right, Deke. If I was Thais, I’d
thin down the enemy away from their stronghold. Then I’d wage my attack during
an empty moon, when the open area around the ranch would be most vulnerable. They’ll
come at us tonight when we can’t see them.”
“Want
me to tell the others to be ready?”
“No.
It’s time you and I left here. But not before I find Thais.”
“And
we find out what happened to Brian.”
She
nodded, her thoughts awhirl. Time to plan. Action would come soon enough. She
judged the sun’s position.
In another ten hours, if I’m not mistaken.
Pilar
grinned. “Come, Thais,” she whispered on the wind. “I’m waiting.”
***
Thais
glanced up at the cloudless night. The sun had all but faded from the sky. She
and her companions sat a few miles outside the McKenzie ranch. They’d been
entrenched in their camp for a week, taking careful aim at dismantling McKenzie
body by body.
Through
Hinto and Salvatore’s scouting, they’d learned about Butch’s two-man patrols. They’d
whittled the number of patrols down to one lone man. The only reason they
hadn’t killed him was because his partner had shot him first.
Like
the others they’d interrogated, Brian Sampson told them what he knew about the
ranch, about Pilar’s arrival, and about Butch and Gregor. What he’d also given
them was worth its weight in gold—a look into Pilar’s private world.
Apparently,
Brian and his brother, Deke, were Pilar’s lovers. A small protectorate of their
own, she thought. That Pilar had turned to a life of crime came as no surprise.
The fact that she wanted Bartel’s head on a platter astounded her.
According
to Brian, Pilar wanted to kill the man. He didn’t know why, but Pilar had been
doing her level best to rob the man blind—the reason for the Flower Gang’s
continued pursuit of the Watchco/Redville line and a Mr. Amery Nore’s private
Runner. Amery Nore? Aaron Bartel? The names didn’t mesh, but it was something
to go on.
Brian
died from Cedric Nolan’s gunshot to his belly. Painful and long, his death had
taken hours before he’d finally succumbed.
Instead
of the joy Thais expected to feel, she pitied Brian. He seemed like a decent
enough man, if one lacking the intelligence to make sound decisions. He’d truly
loved Pilar and thought she loved him back. Little did he know Pilar only
looked out for herself.
“You
okay?” Hinto asked for the tenth time in as many minutes.
“I’m
fine.”
“Just
a little while longer and we’re going in.” He crouched next to her and ran a
finger down her cheek. “I told myself not to worry about you. Seeing you handle
Salvatore’s bow is a thing of beauty. You’ll have to teach him how to use it
when we get back.”
“Dickhead,”
Salvatore muttered from close by.
Hinto
chuckled.
The
mood felt surprisingly light considering they readied to infiltrate a camp
manned by three times as many men.
“Why
are you so happy?” she had to know.
“It
isn’t every day I get to dole out justice to a complete asshole like McKenzie. And
I get to do it with my friends, my woman, and my brother,” he said in a louder
voice.
The
camp quieted.
A
man’s low curse interrupted the silence.
“Wolf?”
Rudy grumbled in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Thais
sighed. Dozie was never wrong. She’d do well to remember that.
Wolf
walked into their small camp, his face and hands smeared with a dark stain that
helped his concealment. He made no noise as he moved, and Thais respected this
part of him she’d never before witnessed.
“Hey,
there, Amazon,” he teased, his white teeth glinting in the gathering darkness. “Nice
to see you’re keeping my brother in check.”
“Yeah,
she is.” Hinto grinned, sounding smug.
“Too
bad he’s not as perceptive as he should be. I’ve been tracking you since the
day we left.”
“I
know.”
“What?”
Wolf frowned. “But you never invited me into camp. You didn’t know I was
following you, cleaning up your trail.”
“Ah,
Wolf?” Jon said, apology in his voice. “He did. Told me not to mess with you
since you felt you had to be in on our trip south.”
“You
mean I about froze my nuts off out there, trying to take care of you, when you
knew I was there all along?” Wolf said through gritted teeth.
Mick
snickered.
Hinto
shrugged. “Do you really think anyone gets near me I don’t know about?”
Wolf
snarled. “I know you can, ah, hear better than most.”
Thais
wondered if the men knew what Hinto could really do with that extra sense of
his.
Wolf
continued. “But you seem so smitten with Thais you don’t know up from down.”
“Now,
Wolf, don’t be sore ‘cause you’ve been ass-out for days.” Salvatore smirked.
“Try
weeks,” Wolf growled.
“Boys,
please,” Thais interrupted before blows fell. This would be her last night with
Hinto. She wanted to make it memorable. “Hinto, can I have a moment?” In
another two hours, they’d attack.
She
couldn’t wait.
She
dreaded it.
They
walked away from Wolf still smarting and left the camp for the privacy of a
small clearing a few feet away. The whistling wind, and Hinto’s ability,
promised them a measure of privacy.
“What’s
wrong, honey?” Hinto pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Worried about
tonight?”
“I
am. I want you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“If
something happens to me, I want you to promise to take whatever I learn to my
sisters. Give them the information.”
“Nothing’s
gonna—”
“And
if I find nothing of value from Pilar, go anyway. Take my knife and give it to
Yara. She’ll be the pretty one with dark brown eyes, long black hair and skin
the color of the
nucca
seeds. Luiza will want to gut you. She and
Isadora are twins, so stay away from the straw-haired warriors with eyes the
color of rainclouds.”
“Thais,
why are you telling me this?” he asked gently and pulled back so he could see
her.
It
was all she could do not to cry.
Thais
cleared her throat. “Like I said, in three months and two weeks, meet them at
the town center in Eden in Four Corners. Show Yara my knife and tell her I sent
you. Tell her I’ll always treasure our time in The Cave, where I’ll be waiting
to be reborn.”
“Dammit,
Thais.”
“Please.
Promise me.” She clenched his arms tight. “It means very much that if I die, my
sisters have my knife. You have my heart. It’s such a small request I make of
you.”
His
eyes softened and he sighed. “I promise. Treasuring time in The Cave. The
dagger. Stay away from Luiza.”
She
grinned in spite of her worries. “She’s unforgiving of your gender, yes.”
“Hell,
I should introduce her to Wolf.”
Thais
forced herself to accept what she couldn’t change. Death would claim her, but
Hinto owned her soul. She would come back to him somehow.
“Can
we sit here together, you and me?”
“Anything
for you, Thais. Now stop worrying about tonight. I have a plan.” He whispered
it to her in detail, a slight variation from what the group had already agreed.
She liked it. She thought it might very well work. But she wouldn’t be around
to see it completed.
She
hugged his arms around her and listened to the soothing sound of his heartbeat.
The
rest of the world faded away.
Chapter Twenty
Thais
waited for Wolf to make the first move. He darted into the darkness a few feet
from her quarry. She knew because Hinto whispered his position in her ear.
She
notched her arrow, raised Salvatore’s bow, and took aim.
“Ready,”
Hinto warned.
A
spark of flame lit the night, highlighting the two sentries sitting atop their
horses on the far side tree line bordering the McKenzie ranch. Before the flame
winked out, Thais released the arrow which found purchase in the sentry’s
chest. He toppled from the horse just as Wolf leapt to his partner’s mount.
In
seconds, Wolf should have slit his throat, then done the same to the man Thais
had taken down.
Wolf
returned to them after a few minutes. “We’re good. Two down, eight more to go.”
They
heard shots in the night.
“That’s
Salvatore, Mick, and Rudy taking care of the McKenzie men coming back from town.”
Thais nodded with satisfaction. With reinforcements cut off, only nine or ten
men still remained on the ranch. Time to find Pilar.
“Let’s
go.” Hinto took the lead. Wolf, Thais, and Jon followed him around the tree
line, so that they entered the open fields surrounding the ranch on the
opposite side from where they’d taken out the sentries. “Expect more over here.
Two, a hundred feet directly in front of us.”
“I’m
on it.” Wolf snuck away to deal with them.
“Dammit.
I should have taken them,” Hinto whispered. “Fool can’t see in the dark.”
“Neither
can you,” Jon muttered. “Thank God McKenzie and his fools believe in oil lamps
aplenty.”
On
the ranch, several hands stood with lanterns, looking out into the night.
Butch
suddenly shouted from the house to douse the lights. Thais didn’t see Pilar
anywhere.
Hinto
took control, and Thais let him. She wanted Pilar. He could handle Butch and
the others with her blessing. Before she could sneak away, he grabbed hold of
her wrist.
“Jon,
you maneuver closer, just on this side of the barn, towards us. Lay in wait
with that rifle. You don’t recognize the guy, shoot him.”
“Right-o.”
Jon left, moving like a cat.
“It’s
funny, but all of your men move like hunters.”
“How
do you think we found them? Dad made a good living cleaning up Shine when he
first arrived. Place used to be a haven for criminals.”
“Which
explains Rudy,” she murmured and followed Hinto as they raced up the slight
hill toward the barn, following Jon.
Shots
rang out in all directions. They dropped to their bellies and low-crawled the
rest of the way.
“A
reformed Rudy,” Hinto rasped.
Grinning
and charged on the power of this hunt, Thais lay next to Hinto as they caught
their breath.
This
close to the ranch, she could make out darker blurbs of shadow against the
black of night. They’d picked the perfect time to invade. She could barely see
her hand in front of her face.
Knowing
now was the time, she rolled over Hinto, groped for his face, and kissed him
hard on the mouth. “I love you,” she mouthed against his lips.
She
didn’t wait for his reply. Thais darted into the barn and hid behind a bale of
hay. The plan dictated Thais would wait inside the barn. Anyone who ventured
inside was fair game. Should Hinto find Pilar, he’d direct her to Thais. He’d
sworn not to handle her himself, and Thais trusted him to keep his word.