Brodie's Gamble (23 page)

She watched as Jack turned and walked toward the front. Maggie picked up her book, hearing him close the door at the same time an explosion shook the walls of the jail, followed by a second a little further away.

Tossing the blanket aside, she stood, hobbling to the cell doors to grip the bars, her hands shaking. “Deputy!” Her voice cracked as a third explosion caused the floor to buckle. She yelled again, getting no answer. Before she had a chance to scream for help, the back door of the jail burst open. She blinked, then her eyes widened, recognizing the man standing in the doorway, a gun pointing at her.

“Syd…” Her stomach plummeted at the sight of the man she hated almost as much as she did Arnie. “What are you doing here?”

“I guess that would be obvious, missy. I’ve come to get you out of here.” Syd shifted to look outside. “Seems there’s been some damage done to a few stores. Guess that means the deputies will be busy a while.”

“You’re the one who caused the explosions?” She let go of the bars and stumbled backward.

“Well now, missy, you know I have special skills in blowing things up. Usually it’s a bank safe. It’s been a while, though, so I made an exception today. I needed the practice, if you understand me.”

Maggie shook her head, retreating to the back wall of her cell. “Why would you do such a thing? People could’ve been killed.”

“You questioning my ability?” He moved toward her cell, aimed the gun at the lock, and fired. Pulling the cell door open, he motioned with the gun. “You’re coming with me.”

Her eyes darted around the cell, looking for something she could use to fend him off.

“Don’t be thinking you can escape from me, missy. From what I’ve heard, you ain’t in no condition to run.” He stalked forward, grabbed Maggie’s arm, and yanked her to him. “Now, you and me are going to walk right out the back, get on my horse, and leave town before anyone knows you’re missing.”

She tried to pull free, but he slammed her against the wall, lowering his face to within inches of hers.

“We can do this nice ‘n easy, or I can knock you out and carry you to my horse. Your decision, missy.”

She turned her head away, gagging at the sour smell of whiskey on his breath. “I told you before not to call me that.”

Syd laughed, tightening his hold as he dragged her from the cell and out the back door. “You always did have too much sass.”

Dragging her feet didn’t help as he shoved her out the back and toward his horse. With a groan, Syd picked her up, tossed her behind the saddle, then climbed up in front of her. Taking his rope, he slid it around her, then him, securing it to the saddle horn.

“Don’t you do anything foolish.”

Before she could answer, Syd kicked the horse, taking off at a fast pace down the dirt alley behind the jail. Turning toward the river, he dodged horses, people, and wagons before making a sharp turn to disappear into the woods and out of town.

“You be sure to come back next Sunday, Brodie.” Lorna hugged her son, then stepped away, letting Jinny give her brother a hug.

“If you can’t make it on Sunday, at least come back for Thanksgiving.” Jinny gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll not be missing Thanksgiving, lass. You can count on it.” He glanced down at his sister, Kenzie. “Don’t be giving Fletcher too much grief when you help round up the steers. He has enough trouble keeping his mind on work.”

Kenzie giggled, hugging Brodie around his waist. “He’s lucky to have me. No one else wants to ride with him.”

Brodie glanced behind her at Fletcher, who stood with his arms crossed, a grin on his face.

“Do you really have to go?” Banner stepped up to him, Clint by his twin’s side.

“I’m afraid I do, laddie. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Banner sighed, holding out his hand. “All right.” Brodie clasped his hand, pulling Banner, then Clint into a hug. “Both of you are growing too fast.” He rested his hands on their shoulders, kneeling down to talk to them in private. “Now, laddies, Ma needs your help. I know she has Jinny, Fletcher, and Kenzie, but she needs you to do your part. Do you understand?”

“You sound like Pa,” Banner grumbled.

Brodie laughed as he stood back up and walked down the porch steps to take Hunter’s reins. “I’ll see all of you soon.”

“Hold up, lad.”

Brodie glanced behind him to see his father, Ewan, walking toward him from the barn. “I thought you and Uncle Ian were still at the neighbor’s.”

“Widow Evanston listened to our thoughts, then booted us out. We did get to see Heather for a little while. She seems happy, although I believe the lass is starting to miss us.” Ewan glanced at his wife, a look of affection Brodie had grown used to seeing crossing his face. “Your ma is happy you came today.”

“And you?”

“Ach, Brodie. I see you when I ride into town. And I’ll be doing that more, so you need to get used to it.” Ewan stretched out his hand, which Brodie accepted.

“Aye. I believe I can handle seeing you more often, Da.”

Brodie reined Hunter around, waved to his family, and took off for town. It had been good seeing his family, spending time with them, learning what he’d missed. With such a big family, he could spend days before getting caught up on everyone. Right now, as he rode the trail back to Conviction, what he wanted most was to get back to the jail and make sure Maggie was all right.

Chapter Sixteen

Brodie heard two explosions a mile before reaching the outskirts of town. Giving Hunter a quick command, he moved the horse into a gallop. His heart pounded as he thought of what the blasts meant and what he might find. The third explosion ripped through the air as he hit the eastern border of the main street. He barely slowed down as he jumped to the ground in front of the jail and burst through the door.

Seeing no one, he dashed to the back, coming to a halt when he saw the empty cell, Maggie nowhere in sight.

Drawing his gun, turning in a circle, he spotted the open back door and dashed outside. He ran to the alley, looked one way and then the other, seeing stunned people moving about in a daze, as if absorbing what had occurred. Holstering his gun, Brodie hurried back into the jail and out the front door, almost barreling into Jack.

“What the hell happened?” He grabbed Jack by the shoulders.

“Explosions, Sheriff. Three of them. Lots of damage, but no injuries so far. Sam is checking the damage at the docks. Nate is at Lucky’s Saloon.”

“And the third blast?” Brodie dropped his hold on Jack and spun around, trying to locate Maggie.

“The park two blocks over.” Jack stepped away, taking a good look at Brodie, seeing more than concern over the explosions.

“And no injuries. How can that be?”

“Don’t know, Sheriff. Guess we’ll have to ask the man who set them—if we ever find him.”

Brodie glared at his deputy. “We’ll find the sonofabitch who did this, Jack. You can put money on it. He’s probably the one who took Maggie.”

Jack’s mouth dropped open. “Miss King? She’s not in the jail?” He didn’t wait for Brodie to answer before he whirled around and raced to the back, his eyes bulging at the empty cell. “Dadgum. You think someone set the explosions so they could get her out?”

“Aye. But who, and what did they use?”

“Black powder and liquid nitroglycerine.” Sam walked into the jail, mumbling a curse when he saw Maggie nowhere around. “She get out?”

“Taken is my guess.” Brodie shifted toward Sam. “Black powder I can understand, but nitroglycerine? I thought it was outlawed when a crate exploded at the Wells Fargo building in San Francisco.”

Sam offered a bland expression. “MacLaren, we are speaking about outlaws here. Someone who set off three blasts and may have taken Maggie. How do you
think
they got it?”

Brodie pinched the bridge of his nose. “We need to find her.”

“And we will. Nate should come with us. His tracking skills could be useful.” Sam pulled out his revolver, checking the cylinder, then grabbed another box of ammunition.

“Jack, I need you to stay here.” Brodie checked his Colt revolver, then pulled a second gun from a hidden drawer in the desk.

“Sure, Sheriff. What about the explosions?”

“We find Maggie and we’ll find who’s responsible for setting them. I’d appreciate it if you’d let Mr. Fielder know what we’re doing.” Brodie slipped both arms into his jacket, then turned toward Sam. “Let’s find Nate, then go after the spineless varmint who took Maggie.”

“Where are you taking me?” They’d ridden for less than an hour. Maggie’s body ached, her broken arm throbbed, and she didn’t recognize the trail.

Syd either didn’t hear the question or chose to ignore her.

“Syd, where are we going?”

“You are an annoying wench, aren’t you?” He made a sudden turn onto a narrow animal trail, then glanced behind him.

“I’m no wench.” Maggie gripped the saddle’s cantle tighter, her anger rising, accompanied by a renewed sense of panic.

His bark of laughter sickened her. “You cooked, cleaned, and refused to marry Arnie. In my mind, that makes you a wench. But you won’t have to worry about that for long.”

Her body tensed. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, missy.”

A cold ball of fear lodged in her stomach, the same sickening sensation she felt each time Arnie entered the cabin. She hated how the Stoddard brothers had changed her, made her believe she was worthless for anything except providing services to Arnie.

Glancing around, she memorized the path, noticing the location of the sun and an occasional large boulder or dead tree. Looking down, she spotted his knife in a sheath on his belt, and made a decision. No matter the risk, she’d take the knife and use it to gain her freedom.

“There are fresh tracks on a trail up ahead. From what I can tell, it’s one horse carrying two people.” Nate reined up alongside Brodie and Sam. They’d scoured the trails along the river, finding nothing until Nate rode ahead, disappearing into the thick brush.

“Do you know where the trail goes, MacLaren?”

Brodie shook his head. “Never noticed it before, Sam. If it continues up into those hills, they could be headed for one of the abandoned mines.”

They rode in silence for several minutes, each keeping watch on their surroundings. Sam shifted in his saddle, looking over his shoulder at Brodie.

“You understand there’s a chance Miss King and whomever broke her out are in this together. This may not be a kidnapping.”

“Aye, Sam. The thought had crossed my mind.” He didn’t want to believe it, and couldn’t think of anyone who’d risk their neck by helping her escape. Except…

Sam took a cheroot from his vest pocket, fingering it, but not lighting the thin cigar. “Seems the one person sympathetic to her is Joel Stoddard.”

“According to Fielder, he’s working almost twenty-four hours a day to come up with a defense to clear her. It’s hard to believe he’d break her out after spending no time with her. Fielder’s been the one talking to Maggie, with Joel keeping his distance.”

“Then who else?” Sam continued to twirl the cheroot as he thought of who else could’ve helped Maggie escape.

“There’s no one. Other than Joel, she has no one.” Brodie tried to control the growing knot of dread building in his chest. “It’s either someone who believes she killed Arnie Stoddard and wants her to pay for it, or the real killer.” He mumbled a curse when a flash of understanding whipped through him. “Syd Stoddard,” he ground out, looking at Sam and Nate.