Cole's Redemption (Love Amongst the Pines) (26 page)

             
"Oh, God, no!" She sobbed. "Please be all right, Dermott!" She cried as she rolled him over in the dirt. A ribbon of blood poured from his right shoulder. His eyes were open, and his mouth moved, but no sound came out.

             
Seeing that the wound was bad, but not immediately fatal, she shot a look to the man who had fired.

             
"You had no cause to shoot him! He wouldn't hurt anybody!"

             
Greene pointed his gun downward. Walking over slowly, he knelt to examine Dermott. Natty saw Cole being hoisted to his feet by the third man, and then pushed forward. Stumbling, her husband obeyed. She could tell by the hard line of his jaw that Cole was enraged, his eyes narrowed in a determined expression.

             
"On your knees, scum," the third man ordered. Cole sank down beside Natty and her uncle. "He'll live,"
Greene
pronounced, after a quick examination, "if he does what he's told. Hanging two men is no more trouble than hanging one."

             
"Or three," the second man stated.

             
Natty glanced upwards, to see Cole's gunman now pointing his pistol at the back of Greene's head.

             
"What do you think you're doing?" Greene asked calmly. "I'm getting my money, all of it." "You double cross me now; I'll see you and your brothers hang."

             
"You
ain't
gonna
live long enough. Now drop that rod, and

maybe
I won't shoot you right away." To emphasize his intent, the outlaw cocked his gun.

             
Slowly, Greene set his weapon down and raised his hands. "That's better," their assailant scowled. It was then that a fourth man came addling into camp.

             
Younger than the other two, he walked to stand beside Greene's associates. It was clear that the three of them were related, the same dirty, dishwater brown hair, the same small, squinty eyes and dull expressions.

             
"You three won't get away with this. I left word with my boys down in Lead that I'd be coming up here today. If they don't get a telegram from me by the end of the week, they'll be coming after you."

             
The three men shared glances between them. Suddenly, Greene lunged at the man who held them at gunpoint. The bounty hunter didn't have time to react, but the youngest of the three brothers did. In the next instant, his gun exploded hitting Greene
square
in the belly.
             
With a grunt, he fell back and landed on the ground beside Dermott.

             
"Damn, you almost shot me, Deacon!"

             
"I saved you're sorry ass, Marty!" The two brothers were instantly at each other.

             
"Stop it, both of you!" The Jonas yelled. "Let's just get our money and get this over with!"

             
Marty gave his brother a final push, and then picked up his hat from the ground.

             
"What are you going to do?" Cole twisted sideways, putting himself between the aim of Marty's rifle and Natty. "That man's a Texas Ranger. You kill him, and you'll all three be swinging from a rope inside of a week."

             
Marty turned his attention to Cole. "What's
that,
scum? You think we're
gonna
git
the blame for this? It was you he was
gunnin
' for. When they come up here on this hill and find all four of you dead, they're
gonna
think you all shot it out. A murderer and his gal, and this
ol
' coot got the better of a lawman bounty hunter, but not before he kills all three of you."

             
With that, Marty lifted his pistol and pointed it at Cole.

             
"Bastards!" Greene coughed beside them. He struggled to sit up, but only managed to prop himself up on one elbow. "You'll burn in Hell for this!"

             
"Wait!" Cole sat forward on his knees. "You can kill us now, but if you do, you won't get any silver. I'd bet the Ranger offered you cash. Trust me; whatever you get off of him won't be enough to live off of. My guess is that you'll be heading west.
San Francisco, maybe?
At most, it'll only get you through a couple of months. What you fellas need is some metal."

             
Deacon stepped forward. "Metal? What in blazes is he
talkin
' about?"

             
Marty turned back to Cole. "Yeah, what are you
sayin
'?"

             
"I know where there is enough silver to make all three of you rich men.

             
"You
sayin
' you got it hid?" Marty tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes at Cole.

             
Cole nodded, "There's a mine about three quarters of a mile on the other side of this rock. My girl and I just hit a big strike. You go on and see if I'm lying."

             
The three gunslingers exchanged glances. Marty settled it, pointing his gun at
Natty's
head. "If you're lying, she gets it

first
, after my brothers and I have our fun with her, that is. And we'll make you watch it all before we put a bullet in you."

             
"I'm not lying." Cole said. His voice was solid, his expression still like a stone carving.

             
Marty turned to Jonas. "You stay here and keep a gun on '
em
.
Me and Deacon
will go check it out. If any one of them makes a move, just kill them all."

             
Jonas nodded and watched in silence as the two men left the camp, talking amongst themselves.

Cole remained quiet as the men left. Natty had seen her husband in anger and in despair. Nothing prepared her to see the expression on his face at that moment. It was pure hatred. His hazel eyes darkened, and his expression smoothed out. He reminded her of a rattlesnake just before it was ready to strike.

             
"You know, Jonas" Cole said in a low voice, "they're just
gonna
kill us when they get back."

             
The other man laughed. "Yep. That's pretty much the plan."

             
Cole glanced up at him. "I guess it is. Too bad you won't get to have any fun, though." He sighed, pushing back off of his knees, sliding them out from under him so that his legs were free, but bent to one side.

             
"Aw, we're
gonna
lots of have fun, 'specially when we're spending all that money."

             
"Yeah, I guess you will. I have to say, I do envy you. Seeing the big city, drinking all that fine liquor."

             
"Oh, yea." Jonas grinned.

             
"I'll bet you'll even buy yourself a right pretty whore. Ever been with a woman, son?"

             
Natty watched the exchange between the two men. Cole never even looked her way. It was as though it were just the two of them alone, and not
her
and the two injured men lying in the dirt beside them.

             
"Not yet, but I aim to be."

             
"That's the best thing, being with a woman.
Ain't
nothing like it. Of course, I hope those city whores don't laugh at you being so innocent, and all."

             
The other man's expression darkened. "What do you mean?"

             
"I mean, that those women are professionals. And they expect a man to do his work right. You need some experience to be with a big city whore."

             
"Oh," Jonas cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable.

             
"Tell you what, my little gal there can teach you things that'll have those San Francisco ladies just singing. What do you say you take her inside and give her a ride?"

             
Natty held her breath. Cole's voice had become as smooth as buttermilk. She looked from one man to the other. Her husband surely had a plan to get them out of this.

             
"
Naw
, the
boys'll
be back in a few minutes, and they'll get all het up with me."

             
"Who's
gonna
tell? Them? They're half dead already, and I surely
ain't
going nowhere. Go on. One quick tumble with Natty, and you'll really feel like a man."

             
The outlaw grinned when he looked at Natty. Then, sticking his pistol in his pant's waist, he walked forward.

             
In one smooth motion, Cole kicked out his legs, tripping Jonas. He fell roughly, landing on Natty. Twisting herself sideways, she managed to scuttle out from under him.

             
Jonas yelled and spit dirt out of his mouth. Turning on his side, he scrambled for his pistol, but Cole was quicker. Throwing himself upon the bounty man, he slammed his head against Jonas's forehead, harder and harder, using his own skull like a club.

             
Natty heard bone cracking and saw blood from Cole's right eye, but he didn't stop until Jonas was knocked out completely. Then, breathing hard, he finally sat back.

             
"Natty," he gasped, "Go in the house and get a knife to cut these ropes.

             
With a quick nod, she ran to the shack. In seconds, she was back, and with shaking hands, sawed through the thick ropes.

             
"Hurry up, Nat. There's not much time!"

             
"What are you going to do?" One rope gave way, and she started on the other.

             
"I want you to take Dermott into town. Go get the sheriff and Judge. Bring them back here as fast as you can. I'll keep those two busy until you do."

             
Finally, the last of the hemp split. "No. I'm not
gonna
leave you! We'll both catch those varmints."

             
"Natty!" Cole, his hands now free grabbed her shoulders. "I won't have you getting yourself killed; do as I say and get back here quick as you can. I promise you, I can handle this if it's not too long a wait."

             
"I'm afraid," she whispered.

             
He grinned. "Me, too. But I have faith in you. Please, do as I ask." His voice was soft, but determined.

             
Natty nearly choked. Gazing into his eyes, she saw the need there. He needed her to be strong, he needed her to follow him now, the way he'd followed her this far.

             
"All right, but if you get yourself shot, I'll never forgive you!"

             
He nodded. "Good girl. Let's get Dermott on a horse."

             
As quick as she could, Natty gathered up the gelding and swung herself into the saddle.

             
"Can you move, Dermott?" Cole asked him. "I think so. My arm and shoulder hurts awful bad, though."

             
"I know. I need you to get Natty into town for me. Get her

to
safety."

             
"You can count on me, Cole. I've been
takin
' care of that girl since she was knee-high to a cricket. You just watch out for
yerself
."

             
"Count on it." With that, Cole helped push Dermott onto the horse. "Just get back here as soon as you can!"

             
Natty turned the horse around and sent a single, worried glance back at Cole, and then set out for town.

             
The rest of the night had gone poorly for Miriam. She tossed and turned until at daybreak she could stand it no longer. Quickly, she dressed and downed half a cup of lukewarm tea. All through her morning ritual, her anxieties continued building. Something was wrong.
             

She could feel the trouble building the same way she had over the last two years.

             
Closing her eyes, Miriam could still remember the day her son had come to announce his marriage to the housemaid. She'd felt an overwhelming sense of danger then. Or, when her husband, distraught over their son's leaving, left her that morning to try and stop him one last time. Her memory returned to the moment when her husband's partners had visited her parlor and told her of the terrible accident that had killed him.