Sharon Poppen (28 page)

“Damn!” cussed the sheriff. “Wish you’d a come to me when all this happened.

Cooper nodded. “I should have.” His wife put her hand on his shoulder. “I should have,” he repeated.

“What a mess,” Liam said. “But, you haven’t explained how Drake fits into all of this?”

“Because I don’t know.” The sheriff and Liam bore expressions of doubt. “Honest. I don’t know nothing’ about this Drake fellow except what Cassie told us yesterday.”

Despite the crowded room, silence reigned with its implications of disbelief, concern and fear. Mrs. Cooper broke the grim mood by standing up and going back to work on Liam’s arm.

“Let me see about your arm,” she said as she went back to taking off his shirt.

“Ma’am, I appreciate your offer, but we’ve got to find Hannah.” Liam tried to stand.

Blocking his attempt, she kept trying to get to the arm. “Let me take care of you. You can’t go anywhere with your arm dangling like it is. Please?”

“Let her tend to it, young fella,” the sheriff agreed. “I’m gonna help Cooper get some things together. He needs to take his family into town ‘til we get this Conlon taken care of.” He turned to Cooper. “I’ll have Sadie fix your family up with some rooms for a few days. Also, I’m gonna deputize you so’s you can help me.”

“Sheriff, I’m not going into town.” Liam stood up. “I’m going to get Hannah.” He’d gotten up so fast he bumped the wooden slat Mrs. Cooper was gently taping to his arm. The pain made him dizzy and he swayed. Cooper’s sons steadied him and he had no choice but to sit back down.

“Damn fool!” the sheriff growled. “Let the Missus finish taping you up. It won’t take the pain away, but at least you’ll be mobile. And, you are coming to town with us. We need to think this out.” He walked over and leaned into Liam’s face. “Because if we don’t, Hannah will be killed for sure.” He glared into Liam’s eyes. “You understand me, boy!”

Despite the anguish raging in Liam’s mind, a measure of common sense inched its way into his turmoil and his head overruled his heart. He took a deep breath and swallowed with a sigh that sounded like a moan. Then, he nodded. “You’re right.” His eyes bore into the sheriff’s and he begged. “But we have got to act fast.”

The sheriff squeezed Liam’s shoulder. “We will. I promise.”

While Mrs. Cooper finished with Liam’s arm, the sheriff and the others gathered their necessities. The small band arrived in town near late afternoon.

*****

When Hannah was lifted from her horse and set on her feet, her knees buckled. The pain in her stomach from the long ride, face-down, while draped over a saddle was excruciating. She fell to the ground and curled into a fetal position clutching her stomach. Her hands were still tied behind her, but the fall dislodged her gag.

Although she was hurting, she kept her head and surveyed her surroundings. They had arrived at a shack of some sort, maybe an emergency shelter for herders to escape the elements if the weather suddenly turned bad. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of long horns grazing just a few yards away. Six men stood above her.

Not one man made any effort to help her up. Five of the men led the horses away while the leader yelled toward the shack. “Hey! Your special request has arrived!”

The shack door opened and a man holding a bottle of whiskey strolled out and came to stand above Hannah. He nudged her bottom with the tip of his boot. “Yep, she’s a pretty thing all right.”

Another man appeared in the doorway. Tall, dark clothes, black hat and smoking a cigar. It was Drake. His smile a leer. He stooped down near her face.

“Missed me, huh?” He ran his hand down her arm.

She spat in his face.

He slapped her hard, then laughed as he tore a piece of her sleeve to wipe his face. “You’ll pay for that, sweetheart.” He stood up. “Conlon, you sure nobody knows about this place?”

“Just those of us here right now.”

Drake scanned the horizon and turned to Conlon and his henchmen. “Well, boys, take her inside. Then we’ll fix us some grub. We’re going to need our strength.” He nudged the sole of his boot between her breasts. “We got us a long night ahead of us.” He turned and took the whiskey bottle from Conlon as a couple of the henchmen lifted Hannah and carried her into the shack.

They threw her on the floor of a stark room and left, closing the door behind them. With no windows, the room was dark, but cracks in the doorframe and walls let enough light in to show a small table, a couple of chairs and a pile of blankets or rags in one of the corners.

Hannah’s stomach hurt like hell. She was exhausted and scared. She wanted to sleep, to feel the release it would give her. But she knew if she let herself sleep, she would die. She needed to think. She needed to escape.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a roar of laughter just outside the door.

Think!
she screamed to herself.

Chapter 37

Hannah’s Offering

The horses had no more than entered the stable, when a familiar voice brought hope and light into Liam’s despair.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Daniel rushed inside and headed straight for Liam. Seeing the makeshift cast, he swore. “What the hell happened to you? You alright?”

Liam smiled. “I am now.” He reached down and clutched his brother’s shoulder. It was all he could say over the lump in his throat.

Daniel looked around. “Friends?” He turned back to Liam.

After a nod, Liam introduced the sheriff. “Daniel, this is Sheriff Beechum.” He tipped his head toward the Coopers. “The Cooper family. The Missis there, taped up my arm. They’re good folks.” He turned to the others. “This is my youngest brother, Daniel. Came up from the San Antonio area.” He smiled at Daniel. “Knew I needed him. Again.”

Daniel flashed a red-tinged, aw-shucks grin and mumbled. “Something like that.”

Liam squeezed his shoulder again. “Now. Get saddled up. We have some riding to do. Some plans to make.”

Daniel watched, puzzled, as the others dismounted.

“Now, son,” said the sheriff, “I told you we can’t rush into this. Get off the damn horse and let’s get over to Sadie’s. We need to get the Coopers settled, get some grub in our bellies and think this out.”

“No! While we do all that Hannah could be …, she could be …, she …” Again, a lump in Liam’s throat took away his speech.

“Hannah?” Daniel looked up at his brother.

Liam nodded as the sheriff explained. “Band of men grabbed her and rode off. Only comment they made was that she was going to be in the company of an old friend.”

“Drake,” Daniel surmised.

“Drake,” Liam managed.

“When did this happen?” Daniel asked.

“Earlier this afternoon. There were more than a half-dozen of them.”

“You know where they took her?” Daniel directed his question to the sheriff.

“No, we don’t.”

Cooper’s oldest son stepped forward. “I know of a place they might have taken her.” The fifteen-year-old took a step back from the impact of every eye boring a hole though his chest.

“Tim?”

The boy shot a look at his fourteen-year-old brother who shrugged. “Pa, sometimes when you send us out to check on where our steers are grazing, Josh and I …, well ….” He glanced at his brother again.

“Tim! Out with it,” the sheriff ordered.

Both boys started talking at once.

“There’s this place where …” Tim paused and glanced at his father.

Josh said, “we don’t mean to be doin’ –

“One at a time.” Cooper stopped them and motioned for Tim to continue. “What place, Tim?”

“Way off toward the dry land, just before you get to the river, there’s this copse of trees. Josh and I were checking our brands and kept finding our steers heading west with some of Mr. Conlon’s. We’d accounted for nearly all of ours and were about to head home when we spotted this shack.”

“Shack? Describe it,” said the sheriff.

Josh took over. “Just one small room. Could see through the crack in the walls.”

“You went inside? Someone else’s property?” Cooper asked his sons.

“It looked abandoned.” Tim defended their trespassing. “Besides, the door wasn’t locked.”

Cooper was about to say something, but the sheriff asked, “What’d you boys find inside?”

The boys exchanged glances and Tim mumbled, “Some tobacco and a little bit of whiskey in a bottle.”

Mrs. Cooper gasped. “Chaw and whiskey! Certainly, you boys didn’t –

“Not now, Josie.” Cooper stopped his wife’s sure-to-come scolding. “Let the boys tell the sheriff all they know. Could save that woman’s life. Go on, Tim.”

“Well, we looked around. Only thing inside was a table and couple of chairs. No bed, no food, no cook stove. When we went back outside, we saw lots of hoof prints with the Conlon ‘cc.’ Me and Josh figured it was a shelter for Mr. Conlon’s hands if a storm came up while they was rounding up his heard.”

“You boys been there more than once?” asked the sheriff.

“Yes, sir,” answered both boys.

“Can you lead us there?” said Liam.

“I reckon.” Tim nodded.

“No!” Mrs. Cooper wasn’t going to have it. “I don’t want my boys anywhere near Conlon and his men.” She glanced at Liam. “I’m powerful sorry about your woman, but my boys have said and done all they’re going to.”

“Josie.” Cooper touched his wife’s arm.

“Don’t you try to sweet talk me. They aren’t going!”

“Cooper, why don’t you take your wife and daughters over to Sadie’s?” The sheriff’s tone brooked no tolerance for non-compliance. “Once you get them settled, come back here. We’ll have something figured out.”

“You’re not going to Sadie’s, get some food and maybe some rest before we head out?” asked Cooper.

“No. Liam’s right. We don’t have much time and now that we got us a possible location, we need to get moving.”

Still mounted and ready to ride off, Liam spoke to Mrs. Cooper. “Ma’am, I know how it feels to have a loved one in peril. Try not to worry. I’ll, that is my brother, the sheriff, your husband and I won’t let anything happen to your boys. I promise that as soon as we find the shack, we’ll make sure your boys are safe before there’s any confrontation.”

“Promise?” she pleaded.

“I swear.”

She nodded at Liam, then let her husband usher her and the girls out of the livery.

When Cooper came back, everyone was mounted and ready to ride. “What’s the plan?” he asked.

Liam spurred his horse to lead Daniel and the Cooper boys out of the livery.

“No plan,” the sheriff informed him. “We’ll see what we’re up against when we find the shack. Let’s just hope that’s where she is ‘cause Liam’s gotta feeling her time is running out.” As he spurred his horse to follow, he added, “And so do I.”

*****

Despite her hands being tied behind her back, Hannah had managed to inch about the small quarters looking for something to help cut the rope and free her hands. When she’d reached the blankets and rags, she wiggled and squirmed under and around them hoping to feel something sharp. They stunk of things Hannah refused to acknowledge, but no luck as to finding a tool.

She glanced across at the table. The lone items on it were a couple of tin cups that would be no help. Hannah was squirming away from the blankets when she heard the door open and a man filled the doorframe.

“Come on, filly. It’s show time.” He stooped down and rolled her onto her stomach. She felt his breath against her cheek. He raised her arms up behind her so high that she uttered an involuntary moan. His tongue scraped from her cheek up to her ear. “Um, liked the sound of that.” His breath reeked of liquor bringing a thought that perhaps it would slow him down, perhaps present her with an opportunity to best him and run.

Hannah felt the sawing motion of his knife and nearly screamed with relief when her hands broke apart. When he began to stand up, she could only hope her hands were at the right angle to land a debilitating punch.

Yes!
She felt the two small sacs pound into his crotch. He fell to the floor. In a blur, she flipped over and mounted him by jamming her knee into his manhood. His hands were already clutching his testicles. His mouth opened to scream, but her hand grabbed at a blanket and stuffed a filthy corner of it into his mouth, all the while savaging his crotch with her knee. Eventually, he blacked out.

She wasn’t sure if he’d fainted or died and didn’t care which it was. Hannah hurriedly grabbed the rope that had so recently bound her and wrapped it around his head to secure the gag. She looped it down to bring his knee against his chest and tied a knot.

She grabbed his gun from his holster, tucked it in her waistband, and crept toward the door to see if anyone had heard her attack. Their lewd remarks were loud and carried a restless tone at how long it was taking to bring her out to them. Hannah grabbed a chair and holding it by the seat with the legs out in front, took a deep breath. She ran full force at a back wall so full of cracks that the late afternoon sun spread across the floor like tiger stripes. It gave, but didn’t break through.