Liam (19 page)

Bobby saw the wagon round the bend just up the road from where he hid, waiting. He had this one chance to get her before Anderson put so many guards around her, Bobby wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near her.

He watched as the wagon slowly, ambled closer. When it was close enough he raised the bandana to cover the bottom half of his face and jumped out from behind the tree where he hid.

“Stop right there,” he demanded, aiming his gun at the driver.

The wagon came to a creaking halt, about twenty feet from him.

“Mister, you throw that hog leg off to the side of the road and get down off that thar wagon.” He indicated what he wanted by a wave of his gun.

“Can’t do that mister,” replied the driver.

“Iffen you don’t, I ain’t got no reason not to shoot the both of you. Startin’ with the little lady there.” He pointed his gun at the woman he knew as Eleanor Smith.

“Go ahead, Mr. Ellsworth. It’ll be alright,” said Eleanor. She sat up straighter. “Please, I don’t want you hurt.”

“You heard the lady, she don’t want no one hurt, so toss the gun over there.”

Ellsworth tossed the gun to the side of the road where Bobby pointed.

“Now get down.”

Ellsworth set the brake and looked over at the Anderson woman, and after she nodded, he climbed down.

“Now you come over here and get on your knees.”

“No,” cried the woman.

“He’d better…if he don’t want to die.”

Ellsworth got on his knees in front of Bobby and Bobby knocked him out, hitting him on the side of the head with the butt of his gun.

The Anderson woman cried out again.

“Shut yer trap. He ain’t dead. The boss wants him to take a message to yer man.”

Bobby put the note his boss wrote in Ellsworth’s hand so as he wouldn’t miss it when he woke up. Then he climbed up on the wagon, took the reins and slapped them on the horse’s butts.

~*~

“Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson,” called Ellsworth from the bottom of the stairs that led to the mine entrance, halfway up the cliff face.

Liam looked down at the man making his way toward him waving a piece of paper in his hand and started running down the stairs to meet him. It was too soon for him to be back from taking Eleanor to school.

“Out of the way. Make room. Get to the side.” Liam shouted to those on the stairway as he ran down it.

When he got to Ellsworth, he saw the blood on the side of the man’s head. He grabbed him by the lapels. “Where’s Mrs. Anderson?”

“He took her. A man jumped us on the road to the camp. He knocked me out and when I come to, they was gone. He left this note in my hand.”

He took the note from Ellsworth and read it.

If you want to see your pretty, little wife again, meet me at the back of the laundry behind the butcher shop in Chinatown. Come alone. I’ll know if you don’t.

Liam crushed the note in his hand. “Ellsworth, go to the doc and get your head looked at.”

“What about the note? You’re not really goin’ alone are you?”

“Yes. With a stop in camp, but first I want you to show me exactly where you were on the road when he took her.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Ellsworth. “My head is fine. I just want to help get Mrs. Anderson back…sir.”

Liam nodded and then ran to his house and got his army issued sidearm. The Colt had served him well during the War Between the States. It would serve him well again. This man who took Eleanor was going to die. No one hurt his family. No one.

He saddled his horses and waited for Ellsworth to arrive at the house. When he did, they rode toward the camp. About halfway there, right at the turn off for Lead, Ellsworth pulled his horse to a stop.

“This is it,” said Ellsworth, pointing at one of the trees. “That’s where he was hiding ’til we came along.”

The two men slid off their horses and walked to where the man had been standing. Based on the tobacco juice on the ground, he’d been waiting for a while.

Liam went back to the road and looked for his horse Wayfarer’s hoof print. He had a broken shoe that Liam hadn’t been able to get fixed yet, so he let the old stallion pull the wagon the short trips to the camp. He couldn’t go for any long distances because of the shoe, but it also made him very easy to track.

“Ellsworth, come here.”

He walked up and stood next to Liam.

“You see that track?”

“The one with the broken shoe? Yes, sir.”

“Bring my brothers back here and show them that track. They’ll be able to follow it and find Eleanor. In the mean time, I need to go meet the low life who has orchestrated this and stop him before he hurts anyone else in my family.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get them right away.”

They mounted and galloped toward Deadwood as fast as their horses would go.

~*~

Jordan sent Bobby Jenkins back to meet Anderson, with one hundred dollars in his pocket and the promise of another two hundred if he delivered the instructions per Jordan’s order. He was well aware it was his gold that bought the allegiance of his cohort. Unlike John Longworth, the captain who, before his death at the hands of Jake Anderson, had enjoyed the game as much as Jordan, Bobby was strictly in it for the money. He blamed Longworth as much as Jake Anderson for his present predicament. If Longworth hadn’t insisted on raping his ex-fiancée a second time, Jordan would have been able to have his fun with her and watched the light leave her eyes, as he usually did. But Anderson…Anderson had interrupted…had
prevented
him from getting his joy, and for that he must pay.

He would have some fun with Mrs. Anderson while he waited. Bobby had instructions and the map to the cabin to give Anderson. It was all very roundabout but it was for the best. He needed the time to play before he killed her and he wanted Liam Anderson to watch her die before Anderson died himself. Just the thought of seeing Anderson’s anguish as he watched his pretty Eleanor die, aroused him like the killing of a prostitute couldn’t.

“So, Mrs. Anderson, may I call you Eleanor? It would make it so much more intimate.”

“Mrs. Anderson will do fine,” retorted Eleanor.

Jordan chuckled. There was fire in this one. “Good. Eleanor it is.”

“Why did you ask?” said Eleanor from the chair at the table where Bobby had tied her, “if you’re going to ignore me anyway.”

“Civilities, my dear. We must observe the civilities or we are reduced to the rabble of those around us.”

“You’re anything but civil.” She spat the words as if associating civil with Jordan was distasteful. “Why have you brought me here? Who are you?”

Jordan took the chair next to Eleanor and brought it around in front of her. Then he turned it so the back faced her and straddled it, resting his arms crossed over the back.

“Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? How remiss of me. I’m Richard Jordan, my dear. Your husband and brothers-in-law must have mentioned me.”

“Not to my recollection. Are you going to keep me tied to this chair?”

Jordan’s anger began to rise. How could she not know who he was? He was on the run from these men and they didn’t even tell their wives about him.
She must be lying.

He resumed his silky tone. “You must be mistaken, my dear Eleanor. You’re husband would have mentioned that I eluded him in Fort Leavenworth. He was looking to have me arrested, you see.”

Her eyes widened and he saw the dawning of recognition that she couldn’t hide…though she tried. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Even if what you say is true, my husband won’t come for me. I’m not deluded enough to believe that he loves me.”

Jordan laughed. “You are the feisty one. I can see what Anderson sees in you.”

“Well, good, why don’t you tell me, because for the life of me, I don’t know what he sees or…saw…to marry me, other than the fact I was single. Therefore, I’m quite replaceable. So you can see why he won’t be coming for me.”

He laughed again, quite liking this time with her. “Oh, you’re much too hard on yourself. You’re quite lovely and look at you, conversing with your killer like we were old friends. You’re brave and fiery. Oh yes, there is much about you that is attractive.”

The woman didn’t even know her worth. Jordan, if she was his wife and if he wasn’t going to kill her, would have convinced her how important she was. Anderson had been remiss. Ah, well he had time. Anderson wouldn’t be here for a while and much to his surprise, he was finding conversation with this woman…delightful.

~*~

Liam arrived at the appointed rendezvous and found a smallish, dirty man in brown wool trousers and coat and a bowler hat, all of which had seen better days. A puddle of tobacco juice at his feet confirmed that this was the man who took her. He advanced on him, ready to do whatever it took to get Eleanor back.

The nasty looking little man must’ve seen the look in Liam’s eyes because he started to back up. “Don’t kill me, mister. I was just doin’ what I was told. I didn’t hurt yer missus. Just took her to this here cabin.”

He thrust a folded piece of paper at Liam.

“I promise I didn’t hurt her. The boss woulda kilt me iffin I hurt her.”

The man backed away but not fast enough. Liam’s fist shot out and caught him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Liam shoved the paper in his coat pocket and, before the ignorant little man could get up to run, he grabbed him by his grimy lapels and slammed his fist into his face again and again.

Finally, before he knocked him out, he said, “I suggest you find another place to live. If I see you again, I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

Liam let him go and the man fell back into the muddy street, now red with blood from his nose and mouth. Liam took the map from his pocket and ran to his horse as fast as he could go through the throng of people and animals that clogged the streets. He knew the wagon went toward Lead, so he made his way to the fork in the road that led to the mining community.

Once he got back to the road to Lead, he was able to follow the tracks easily. Even with the traffic the road got, the occasional broken shoe hoof print stood out. Liam followed the tracks for about five miles before they disappeared. He’d only passed one road the wagon could have taken. He doubled back and, sure enough, there was the track again going off down the side road.

About a mile down the road there was a clearing. A small cabin stood at the very back of the open space, next to where the trees started again. He stopped far enough out he was still hidden by the trees but could see the cabin. He didn’t see his brothers anywhere. Maybe Ellsworth didn’t find them or they were behind him somewhere. In either case, he couldn’t wait.

He rode up to the cabin and called out. “Whoever has my wife, I’m here to retrieve her. No one takes what is mine.”

~*~

Eleanor heard Liam call from outside the cabin. How had he found her? Why had he come? She was his wife, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t love her. Did his coming after her mean she was wrong? Her heart leapt at the possibility.

“Well, it looks like your husband feels more for you than you thought my dear. Let’s get you untied now. He’s arrived sooner than I expected. But no matter, he’ll still get to watch you die.”

Jordan came over and untied the rope on Eleanor’s hands. “Now, don’t let your feisty nature overcome you. If you do anything to hinder me, I’ll gut your dear husband and then come back for you. You’ll both die slowly, watching each other as the light leaves your eyes. I enjoy seeing that, but I’ve been led to believe that most people don’t. You understand me?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now stand up.”

He roughly pulled her to her feet.

She looked swiftly around the cabin, trying to find something she could fight him with. There was the table and four chairs in the center of the one room cabin, a single bed in the corner. In front of the fireplace was a rocking chair. On the hearth was a Dutch oven and large skillet, both made from cast iron. Most of the items seemed as though the owner had just stepped away. She wondered if Jordan had killed him as he intended to do her and Liam.

Next to the fire place was the back door, with a small window through which she could see a horse tied to a hitching rail. The horse was still saddled. For a quick escape, she thought.

Jordan held her with one arm around her waist, while the other held a knife to her throat.

“Come in and join us,” Jordan called through the door to Liam. “Leave your gun belt on the hitching rail.”

“I’m coming in and I’m unarmed,” Liam called from just the other side of the door.

The door eased open and Liam stood there in all his magnificence, arms raised.

“You have me, now let her go.”

“I don’t think so. Sit in the chair.”

“Let her go,” insisted Liam.

“Sit in the chair or watch her die now.” Jordan moved the knife. She felt the nick and knew blood trickled down her neck.

Liam moved into the room and sat on one of the chairs at the table.

“Now, my dear Eleanor, take that rope that you wore so nicely, and tie your husband to that chair.”