Sweet Silken Bondage (11 page)

The outlaws had gained ground on the stage, and
when Poke appeared at the window, one of the villains
fired with deadly accuracy. Poke cried out in agony as
the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Driven backward by
the force of the shot, he sprawled half across the seat,
half on top of the women.

Ruth and Melissa screamed in terror. Only Reina
had the sense to act. She pushed herself free of his
weight and maneuvered to see if she could help him.
Reina helped him shift more completely back on the seat and then looked to his wound.

"Poke..." she murmured in concern and horror as
she saw the blood staining his shirt. She ripped the
garment away from the wound and seeing how serious it
was, immediately tore a strip of cloth from her petticoat. Wadding up the material, unmindful of the gore
that would get all over her white habit, she pressed it
firmly to the injury, applying the necessary pressure to
staunch the flow of blood.

"Damn..." Poke gasped, half out of his mind in his
agony. "Sorry, Sister..."

"Hush, Poke!" Reina scolded, wondering how he
could be in such obvious pain and still worry about the
language he used around her. "Just hang on, I'll take
care of you." She had no more time to speak as the stage
suddenly began to slow down.

"Oh, my God! The driver's going to stop!" Ruth
shrieked.

"Mama!" Melissa cried, and her mother gathered her
close to her bosom to try to shield her from the terror
she knew was to come.

As the stage ground to a halt, Poke made a superhuman effort and grabbed up his gun from where it had
fallen to the stage floor beside him. He thrust it into
Reina's hand. "Here..." he choked. "Don't let them
varmints near you..."

Reina stared down at the weapon in surprised wonder. She knew how to shoot a sidearm. Her father had
taught her well, but could she actually use it to shoot
someone? Poke saw her confusion and misread her
thoughts.

"It ain't no sin to save yourself," he argued weakly.
"Use it if you have to, Sister..."

Poke passed out just as the stage door was thrown
violently open. It banged loudly against the side of the
coach as the hulking figure of a man loomed menacingly in the doorway. Big and ugly, the lower half of his
face hidden behind a bandana, he leaned into the coach to get a better look. His pale, blue eyes glittered triumphantly as he saw the nun hovering over the cowboy.

"Heh, heh, heh..." The evil sound of his laugh
echoed through the stage sending shivers of fright
through Reina and the others. "Get out of the way," he
snarled, giving Reina a hard shove to push her away
from Poke.

Reina's wide, fearful gaze was fixed on the villainouslooking robber as she scrambled to sit on the opposite
seat. Despite her terror, she had presence of mind
enough to keep the gun hidden in the folds of her
voluminous skirts.

"Good shot, Duke! You got him good!"

"Is he dead?" Game the gloating answer from outside.

"Not yet, but he will be soon," the vicious Vic declared with something akin to glee. "These others ain't,
though."

"Others? You mean we got more passengers?"

"Yep, and they're all women, too." Vic backed away
from the stage, but kept his gun trained on the door.
"Get on out of there!" he ordered coldly.

"Sister...?" Ruth turned desperate eyes to Reina,
hoping for guidance.

Reina remembered Poke's warning that she should
pray for them all, and she wondered what good a prayer
was against men like these.

"We'd better do as he says," she urged. "Let me go
first..."

Terrified, Ruth nodded as she momentarily closed
her eyes and buried her face against her daughter's hair.
Mustering a semblance of outward calm, Reina descended to face their attackers.

Though Reina had never before known true fear, she
knew it then. Her father had often spoken of the vicious, lawless men who were ravaging the countryside
attacking unwary travelers, and standing here now,
looking at these two ruthless desperadoes, she realized
exactly what he'd been talking about. While Vic re mained nearby, the one named Duke still sat his horse a
short distance away, his rifle aimed point blank at the
chest of the fear-frozen, unmoving stage driver. He was
a mean-looking man, and his obsidian eyes were devoid
of emotion as he regarded her. The disguising mask he
wore covering his mouth and chin only served to give
him an even more dangerous look. Reina knew instinctively that these men were men without morals who
would kill indiscriminately without thought or care.
The chilling realization made her brush her hand
against the reassuring hardness of her hidden revolver.

"Well, what ya got there, Vic?" Duke called out as he
stared at her in amazement.

"We got us a nun," he responded.

"What d'ya think. Sister? Think your God's gonna
help ya now?" Duke guffawed at his own humor as he
dismounted, still keeping his rifle trained on the driver.

Though her basic, fiery instincts urged Reina to go
for her gun and start shooting, she knew it would be
useless. Even with the element of surprise on her side,
she was outnumbered two to one. Forcing herself to
continue her role, she fixed a cool, steady gaze upon
him and refused to respond visibly to his taunt. When
Ruth and Melissa joined her outside, huddling near
her, she put a protective arm around them both.

"We're no threat to you" Reina told the outlaws.
"Take what you want and go."

"You're right about one thing, lady, you ain't no
threat to us. But maybe you got somethin' even more
excitin' than money, eh, Vic?" The lecherous Duke eyed
Reina hungrily. He'd always wondered about these
religious women who always looked and acted so pious.
He wondered if she was as cool as she looked. He took a
menacing step toward her, his barbarous mind filled
with thoughts of sating his perverted lust on her.

Fred, the stagedriver, was fearful of what the outlaw
intended to do, and he spoke up quickly, hoping to
deter him. "Take the strongbox and get out of here!" He
threw the heavy box to the ground.

"If you want to live to see sundown, you'll shut your
mouth!" Duke commanded, and he gave a victorious,
derisive laugh as the driver immediately fell silent. His
interest in Reina secondary to his interest in money, he
waved his companion toward the box. "See what we got,
Vic..."

Vic hurried to do as he was told and quickly shot the
heavy padlock off the box. He threw the lid open, and
his eyes widened greedily. "Look here, Duke! We done
hit the jackpot!"

"Hot damn!" Duke saw the bags of gold coins and
promptly forgot everything else. Rushing to grab his
saddlebags, he hurried to his comrade's side. Together,
they began stuffing the bags full of loot.

Fred was warily eyeing his own rifle where it lay just
out of reach. Since the two bandits were obviously
distracted, he wondered desperately if he could reach it
and shoot them before they could get him. He was
about to go for the gun, when Vic finished packing
away the last of the money and looked up.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you," Vic sneered, accurately reading the desperation in the driver's expres sion. "Just throw that rifle on down here real easy-like."

Scared and knowing that he didn't stand a chance,
Fred did as he was told.

"That's the way to stay alive," Duke chided sarcastically, getting to his feet and walking slowly toward
where the two women and the child stood. The heavyset woman and her little girl held no interest for him,
only the pretty nun intrigued him. "Now, I think I want
to have me a little fun..."

Ruth and Melissa cowered in horror, while Reina
alone faced him without flinching.

"Leave us alone," Reina commanded using her usual
arrogant tone. "You've got what you came after."

"I just decided there's another prize here I want
besides the money..." Duke remarked, his gaze hot
upon her. "You're awful young..." he said, leering at
Reina. "Let's see if the rest of ya is as pretty as your face.
Let's see what ya got hidden beneath all those ugly robes
...what d'ya say?" He reached out to her.

"Don't touch me!" Reina ordered imperiously, ducking away from his hand.

"Oh, I'm going to do more than touch you..." he
told her lasciviously. "You ever been with a man?"

"No," she answered, trying to keep her voice steady. "I
am a bride of Christ"

Her words had no effect on the amoral, decadent
bandit. He was too eager to see what kind of woman she
really was.

"Good. That'll make you even sweeter..." Grabbing
Reina by the arms, he tore her away from Ruth's and
Melissa's clinging embraces.

"No! Don't!" Ruth cried out.

Duke ignored her and hauled Reina to him, pinning
her against his chest. With one hand, he pushed his
bandana down off his face and then bent to kiss her. His
mouth ground down over hers in a punishing exchange.

Reina struggled violently to break free of his awful,
degrading hold. She had no intention of allowing this filth to touch her. She fought madly, trying to get her
right hand free so she could grab her gun, but to no
avail. The sound of Vic hooting and howling in obscene
pleasure as he watched them, infuriated her. When
Duke tried to deepen the vile kiss, she bit down on his
lip as hard as she could.

When he suddenly broke off the kiss, Reina cried,
"Get your hands off of me!" She tried to kick out at him,
but the heavy skirts impeded her success.

Duke was not fazed in the least by the pain of her
bite, and her continued struggles only seemed to amuse
him. He controlled her easily and laughed as he glanced
over at Vic. "Look at her fight! Ain't she a feisty little
piece? You want some of this when I'm done?"

"Leave the Sister alone! You got your money!" Fred
yelled in frustrated fury. He didn't know how anyone
could even think of harming a religious woman.

"Shut up!" Duke snarled, dragging Reina back into
his arms despite her efforts to the contrary.

Frustration filled the driver, but he knew there was
nothing he could do.

Duke started to kiss Reina again, and Vic gave an
excited hoot in anticipation of having his own turn at
the young woman. It was then that something unexpected happened. A shot rang out of nowhere, and Vic's
hollers of excitement turned to screams of agony as a
deep, burning pain seared through his chest. He stood
motionlessly for an instant, then his gun and the saddlebags dropped from his suddenly numb hands. Vic
pitched face forward into the dirt, dead.

"What the hell...?" Duke kept his hold on Reina as
he spun around to see his friend drop to the ground, a
bullet hole in his back. "Vic!" he bellowed in disbelief.

Suddenly more bullets were blazing around him. In a
panic of self-survival, Duke shoved Reina to the ground
and dove for cover himself behind some rocks. He
caught sight of his assailant on a ridge overlooking the
trail, and, drawing his gun, he began to shoot back at the intruder.

Reina was stunned by the sudden turn of events, and
she lay on the ground, shaken. Ruth and Melissa ran to
hide behind some nearby boulders as Fred jumped
down from his perch to hide behind the stagecoach.

"Sister, you've got to take cover!" Fred shouted to her
over the din of the gunshots. He wished that he had a
gun to help out, but unarmed as he was, there was
nothing more he could do.

His warning shook Reina from her dazed state of
mind, and she quickly scrambled to safety with Ruth
and Melissa behind the rocks half-way between the
stage and the place where Duke had hidden. Fighting
for breath, she stayed down low.

"Are you all right?" Ruth asked worriedly.

"I think so," she gasped.

"Who's up there?"

"I don't know," Reina responded breathlessly, "but
whoever it is, he must be a godsend!"

The gunfire had stopped as Clay had raced across the
countryside, and he hadn't even been sure he was
heading in the right direction until he'd crested the
ridge. He'd reined in abruptly at the sight of the robbery being acted out on the road below. Clay hadn't
been able to tell if Reina Alvarez was among the passengers, but that hadn't mattered, for the shocking sight of
the villain assaulting the helpless nun had enraged him.
Filled with righteous fury, he'd swung down off his
horse's back and taken his rifle from its case.

Clay had sought his most advantageous position behind one of the big boulders. The passengers had been
clustered so close together that he was fearful of hitting
one of them, so he took extra care to make certain his
aim was true as he'd squeezed off his shot. Clay had
watched in satisfaction as the outlaw who'd been standing slightly away from the others was felled by his marksmanship. When the other bandit quickly released
the nun and made for cover, Clay kept up a barrage of
bullets to give the women and the driver time to seek
refuge. When he was certain they were momentarily
safe from the outlaw, Clay dropped down behind the
rock to reload. That done, he shifted his position to get
a better view of the scene below.