Outlaws Of Phantom Canyon (Savage Series) (4 page)

Julianna looked over towards the smoldering fire, where most of the outlaw gang sat ea
ting their afternoon meal. As her empty stomach growled, she realized how famished she was. But that didn't make up for the fear she felt of going over near that murderous outlaw gang. She'd rather starve to death, than let them get a hold of her. She had lived a sheltered life, but she was not naive. She knew what those men would do to her if they got the chance, while Gabriel was gone after their horses. If only she could escape. Gabriel was trusting her now and wouldn't expect it. It would be easy to take off on her horse. Maybe she could reach someone before Gabriel caught up to her.

Julianna was lost in thought of how to escape, when Alex slowly walked up to her
, and handed her a plateful of food saying, "I saw the scared look in your eyes when you looked over at the food. I won't deny, there are some rough men in this bunch that even I don't turn my back on." Looking down into Julianna's sad eyes she continued, "Sweetie, I'll do what I can to help you out, as long as it won't affect my position here in the gang. So to answer the question I see in your eyes, no, I won't help you escape. Gabriel has took claim to you, and I'm not about to piss
him
off. He's one of the better of the bunch, and will be fair and kind to you as long as you don't cross him. But cross him, and you better find the deepest hole you can hide in. Now eat up. We will be leaving soon."

As Julianna ate, she watched Alex walk away. She wondered what would make a woman choose to run with a gang of outlaws and become one herself?

Gabriel returned with their well rested horses saddled and ready to go, just as Julianna finished up her plateful of food. "Alex brought me some food," she told him. Gabriel took the plate from her, and suggested she go further into the woods to relieve herself, before they headed out. Julianna stiffly got up and did as was suggested to her, not realizing Chet was watching her from off in the distance.

Gabriel washed the plate and fork in the nearby stream
, and returned them to Alex. "Thanks for bringing her the plate of food."

"Not a problem sweetie. But you better watch over her closely. Some of these men wouldn't think twice a
bout harming her," Alex replied while thinking about Gabriel . . .

He wasn't like the rest of the outlaw gang. He had joined the gang after her a year ago. She knew he could fight and shoot just as good as any of them. And he wasn't one to back into a corner. She had seen that first hand one time, and that man didn't live to talk about it. Still, she wondered what he was doing riding the Owl Hoot with the rest of them? He did not seem to be the hard core outlaw type. But then again, neither was she, and here she was! All because she shot some prominent businessman for beating a woman, and now is wanted by the law, with a $500 reward on her head.

Just then Gabriel and Alex heard Julianna's blood curdling scream off in the distance. Gabriel took off running in that direction looking for her.

Julianna had gone further into the dense woods to relieve herself, when she thought about escaping again. Gabriel was busy and wouldn't expect her back right away. Surely there was civilization close by? She took off running through the dense woods in the direction she thought most likely, and was caught by surprise as Chet grabbed her from behind a big tree. Julianna was able to let out one blood curdling scream before he covered her mouth with his, and pinned her beautiful body against the big tree with his own. 

Thankfully for Julianna, it did not take long for Gabriel to find her. Levi was not the only good tracker in the outlaw bunch, as Gabriel followed her path where she had been running through the woods. Chet was unaware of Gabriel's approaching presence, until the side of his head was pounded by Gabriel's fist, sending him sprawling to the brush covered ground. Chet was quick to recover, and came charging towards Gabriel, only for Gabriel to sidestep, and throw a direct blow to Chet's stomach that doubled him over.

"Hey, it's not right for you not to share
'er." Chet coughed from the hard blow to his stomach. "You had a roll with 'er last night. Now let some of us take a crack at 'er," Chet said between gasps of air.

Gabriel was so mad you cou
ld see the steam rising from his head. "Get back to the rest of the gang before I kill you!" It was all Gabriel could say at that moment, he was so full of emotions of anger, murder, and guilt. He should of never left Julianna alone. It was his fault Chet attacked her.

When Gabriel punched Chet on the side of his face, sending Chet flying, Julianna sunk to the forest ground below the tree crying in hysterics. She realized then, just how bad her situation could be if she wasn't very careful.

After Gabriel sent Chet away with a deadly threat, he pulled Julianna up from the forest ground, and took her into his strong arms to comfort her. Holding her close, he stroked her back and whispered in her ear that it was over, and that she would be okay.

Gabriel knew she needed to cry, so he continued to gently comfort her while she got it out of her system. He untied his neckerchief from around his neck, and had given it to her to blow her nose
, and wipe her tears away.

Finally as her crying stopped
, and she took in some deep breaths, he asked, "Are you ready to go?" Julianna nodded her tear stained face, not trusting her voice to be able to speak, and looked deeply into Gabriel's slate blue eyes. The look she gave him tore all the way to his heart! She had trusted him, and he had let her down. With much emotion in his voice he said, "I'm so sorry Jules. I promise you, I will never let anyone hurt you ever again."

*     *     *

The last couple days ride to the hideout had been uneventful. The Phantom outlaw gang had given Gabriel a wide berth, knowing he was still ready to commit murder, if anyone went near his Julianna again. It had been accepted that she was
his
woman.

Sometimes Alex would ride beside Julianna and chat with her, while Gabriel stayed busy talking business with Clayton
, or one of the other outlaw gang members. Alex told Julianna of how she hated her husband who died in the war, leaving her penniless, and how she became an outlaw.

Gabriel kept his promise and never left Julianna alone again. At night, Gabriel would make their bed away from the rest of the outlaw gang
, to offer Julianna some privacy. He did not let her sleep alone though, for fear she may try to escape again . . . At least that's what he kept telling himself. Truth be told, he enjoyed her snuggling up to him at night. When she was in his arms, he knew she was safe from harm.

After Chet had attacked Julianna, she didn't care what anyone thought about her sleeping beside Gabriel. Feeling him next to her made her feel safe. He promised to protect her, and she knew he would keep his promise. A couple times she had woke up from having a nightmare, and his arm wrapped around her was the only thing that kept her calm, and helped her get back to sleep.

When they were within a half days ride of the hideout, Ted, Clayton's younger brother, said to Gabriel, "You need to blindfold Julianna before she goes any further. We can't take any risk in case she was to escape."

Gabriel didn't like the idea at all, but he could not argue the logic from the outlaw gang's point of view, and he wasn't in a position to tell them his point of view
,
yet
. Gabriel had made Julianna promise that she would never tell anyone her last name, or who her father was. He told her the men would kill her if they knew, and the odds are, he wasn't lying. That wasn't the only reason he didn't want the outlaw gang to know who her father was. If they knew, then they would know that her father probably had a military regiment on its way to hunt them down. So Gabriel did as he was told, and blindfolded Julianna with his neckerchief against her strong protest, and once again took the reins of her horse.

*     *     *

They arrived at the Phantom outlaw gang's hideout, just as the Colorado sun was setting behind the tall canyon walls, casting gloomy shadows across the many shacks that made up the outlaw gang's camp. Over the years, the Phantom outlaw gang had allowed other gangs and outlaws to hideout here at their secluded hidden camp, but there were a few rules that the Phantom outlaw gang didn't take lightly. The main ones being: respect each other's space and privacy, no looting from each other, no unnecessary firing of weapons, all outlaws will take turns on sentry duty, were not allowed to bring anyone new into the hideout without blindfolding them and the Phantom gang's approval, and all disputes that cannot easily be settled amongst themselves would be settled by the Phantom gang. To protect the hideout, anyone told to leave the hideout, was never seen again.

Once the outlaw gang arrived in their camp, Gabriel pulled Julianna's blindfold off while the gang separated, heading in different directions. Now having her reins back to her horse, Julianna followed Gabriel past many shacks till he stopped in front of a shack in the back corner, close to a tall sheer canyon wall. Some of the shacks she could tell had been built in the recent years, but ones like the one Gabriel led her to were obviously built many years ago.

As Gabriel helped Julianna down from her big horse, he realized that her legs were not cooperating. He quickly picked her up before she fell all the way down to the hard dusty ground. He carefully carried her inside the shack, laying her gently on his bed.

As he g
ently laid her on his small bed he said, "I have to go out and tend to the horses, and take care of some things. After that I will go get you something to eat from the cook. Whatever you do, do not leave this shack! This is
my
shack and no one will bother you here."

Julianna had learned well from her attack by Chet. She dared not risk trying to escape again. Besides, she was blindfolded on her way into the Phantom outlaw's camp, and she had no idea which way to go to get out of this maze of canyons, back to civilization.

Julianna was also too tired and sore to care at this point. The past two days had been pure hell, and tested every ounce of strength she had. Julianna sat forward, took off her boots, dropping them to the floor, and rubbed some feeling back into her feet.

Looking around the sparse room she sees a trunk, a table with a lamp, pitcher, bowl, and towel on it, two crudely made chairs, and the little bed she was resting on. Nothing that told Julianna anything more about who Gabriel was.

As Julianna laid back and covered up with an old handmade quilt, she drifted off to sleep thinking about Gabriel . . . Would Gabriel return her safely back to her father? Or would he keep her here as a prisoner in this outlaw camp as his woman? She fell asleep also wondering if he would make her his woman in every sense of the word . . .

*     *     *

After depositing Julianna gently onto his small bed, Gabriel went out to care for their tired and hungry horses. He had built a crude corral behind his little shack when he moved into it. Knowing his big bay horse was close, in case he needed to make a fast get-a-way,  made him rest a lot easier.

The Phantom gang had pushed their horses hard to get back to the hideout
, before the angry posse could catch up to them. Gabriel gave both their horses two large scoops each of grain, to replenish the nutrients they had lost. Then he brushed them down. He put the bridles and saddles away, and hung the saddle blankets up to dry. When the horses had finished their grain, he took them to the upper mountain meadow to graze.

Gabriel then headed towards two shacks that were bigger than the rest here in the outlaw camp. One was the cook's shack, the other shack was a saloon. Gabriel went into the cook's shack to see Barry Zimmerman, the camp cook, about rustling up some grub for Julianna.

"I hear you brought yourself back a woman?" Barry asked with a smile on his scrubby whiskered face. "I thought Angel was your woman? I doubt she is going to be happy to see you've replaced her. Why don't you send Angel over to keep me company. I'll take care of 'er!"

"They will get al
ong just fine," Gabriel replied a bit rougher than he intended. The thought of another outlaw putting their hands on his sweet Angel, did not set well with him.

The angry look on Gabriel's face told Barry to tread li
ghtly, so to change the subject, Barry asked Gabriel, "What can I get for you?"

Glad that Barry was smart enough to
change the subject Gabriel replied, "I need a plate of food to take to Julianna, then I'll come back to eat."

Barry handed a plateful of fried chicken and potatoes to Gabriel. "Here ye are. I'll have yours ready when you get back."

Taking the plateful of food from Barry, Gabriel headed for the cook shack door, as Clayton and Ted walked in. "Gabriel after you eat, why don't you join us over at the saloon for a few drinks," Clayton offered.

Gabriel just nodded his head in acceptance as he headed out the open door. The last thing he wanted to do right now was spend more time with those two, but he needed to keep up a good image with the Phantom outlaw gang. Now was not the time to ruffle any feathers.

When Gabriel returned back to his little shack, he found Julianna sound asleep. Knowing Julianna needed her rest, he didn't wake her. He put the plate of fried chicken and potatoes on the table in case she woke up and was hungry. Gabriel walked over, looked down at how peaceful she was sleeping, and pulled the homemade quilt up around her small shoulders. Then he headed back to the cook's shack to eat.