Tracie Peterson (10 page)

Chapter 17

N
icholas and Garrett proceeded together, each praying silently and fervently hoping that Daughtry would be found unharmed. In the back of Garrett’s mind was the lifeless body of his fourteen-year-old
Julie, only four years earlier. Meanwhile, Nicholas was envisioning the
remaining members of the Chancellor gang trying to force his hand, using Daughtry as bait.

Neither man was of a mind to talk.

As the canyon narrowed and they could no longer ride side by side, Garrett edged his horse forward. “I’d better lead,” he told Nicholas, “since I know the lay of the land.” Nicholas nodded and brought up the rear, with Poco trailing behind.

At least in the canyon they were more secluded from the December wind, which was blowing hard and cold across the open valley. High mountain snows capped their surroundings in white, while the red-orange and sandy brown of the rock walls bore only minuscule traces of winter’s impending touch.

Nicholas thought of their own ranch to the east. There they had no mountains to contend with—but no barriers against the harsh snows either. He wondered if they’d made the right decision in coming to Piñon Canyon. While he’d learned a great deal more in the few weeks since they’d arrived than he’d hoped to learn all winter, Nicholas was troubled.

Where was she? Where was Daughtry?

Nicholas’ mind was so absorbed in thoughts of his wife that he had to glance up to see why his horse had suddenly stopped. Directly in front of Garrett were two men, both with guns leveled at his head.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Garrett called out.

“Ain’t none of your affair, Mister,” a man dressed completely in black called out.

“Well, then, just whose affair is it?” Garrett asked, the irritation evident in his voice.

The other man, a short, squatty character, spit out a stream of tobacco juice and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Well, Nick, it’s been awhile, but I guess fate just throwed us together again. You ain’t looking too bad for a man about to die.”

Nicholas’s eyes narrowed, and the scowl on his face was enough to make the man rethink his words. Garrett glanced back at his son-in-law and wondered about the connection between him and the men.

“Jeb, for a man who just spent the last years of his life in prison, I wouldn’t think you’d want to throw yourself right back into a cell again,”
Nicholas
replied, never taking his eyes from the man.

The man in black cursed Nicholas’s smugness, but Jeb was the one who addressed the issue. “I don’t care if I do get throwed back in. It’ll be worth it just to say I had the honor of stringin’ up your miserable hide.”

“So you intend to hang me? I figured that’d be too much work. Why not just put a bullet in me here and now and be done with it?” Nicholas took a gamble with his words, knowing that Jeb answered to his older brother, the ringleader of the gang, Aaron Chancellor. With Aaron nowhere in sight, Nicholas hoped he could buy himself some time.

Jeb spit again before answering. His voice was full of anger and frustration. “I ain’t going to do nothin’ with you just yet. But when the time comes, I intend to see you suffer good and long.”

“Still taking your orders from Aaron, eh?” Both outlaws scowled at the reference, but neither one said a word.

Garrett finally broke the silence and drew the attention of the men. “I demand to know what’s going on and why you’re even on my land.” The men exchanged glances, and Nicholas knew immediately that they were up to no good.

“You own this here land?” Jeb questioned.

“I do,” Garrett stated without hesitation.

Nicholas hoped to intercede and take Jeb’s mind off of whatever he was plotting. “This man is nothing to you. Your war is with me.”

“You’ve got that right, but I’ll just bet there’s some money to be made. This here landowner might be our ticket to Mexico.”

“You can head on over to Mexico any time you want. It’s not that far,” Nicholas replied dryly.

“Shut up, Dawson,” Jeb demanded. “Gus, what say we take the both of ’em and give Aaron a call. He can make the decision then as to what we do next.”

“Doesn’t he always?” Nicholas said, hoping to goad either one of them into immediate action.

“Tie ’em up, Gus,” Jeb said, keeping his pistol leveled at the middle of Garrett’s chest. With a smirk he added, “And gag Dawson if he so much as utters another word.”

❧

Daughtry had worked up quite a sweat on her hike back to Piñon Canyon. She knew she was still a couple of miles away when she heard the unmistakable sound of voices. Hoping that Nicholas or even her father and brothers had come searching for her, Daughtry climbed up on a rocky ledge to get a better look.

Easing into position, Daughtry gasped and flattened herself against the ground when she saw the men who threatened to shoot her husband and father. Immediately, her mind went back to the day when Nicholas had faced three outlaws alone. Were these men part of the Chancellor gang?

She struggled to make out what was being said but could only hear pieces of words. Try as she might, she was simply too far away to make any sense out of them. She lifted her head just enough to watch the scene below her. A man dressed in black handed his pistol to his partner, dismounted his horse, and took a length of rope from the horn of his saddle.

Helpless, Daughtry watched as the man first tied up Nicholas, then her father. In a matter of minutes the entire matter was completed, and the man remounted, claiming his gun and turning it once again on her husband.

“I have to get help,” Daughtry whispered to herself. She watched as the men led Nicholas and her father off in the opposite direction from the ranch. Perhaps she could get back and tell her brothers before the men got too far.

Slipping noiselessly from her perch, Daughtry began to run as fast as she
could move. She was panting heavily, unused to the activity, before she’d
even crossed half the distance to home. She sucked in lungfuls of cold air, praying for strength to continue, and just when she felt her legs giving out, she caught sight of the corral fences and the orange adobe ranch house.

Dear God,
she prayed,
please don’t let them hurt Nicholas or Daddy.
The prayer continued, the same words, the same plea, over and over until Daughtry collapsed against the corral in order to catch her breath.

Gavin walked out of the barn in time to see his sister fall against the fence. Without hesitation, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him and scooped Daughtry into his arms.

“Are you all right?” he asked fearfully.

“No,” Daughtry gasped, still breathless. “I. . .I have to. . .”

“Just be quiet,” Gavin said, carrying her to the house. “You can tell me later.”

“No,” Daughtry said, putting her hand to Gavin’s shoulder. “They have Nicholas and Daddy.”

Gavin stopped dead and looked down at his sister. “Who has Nicholas and Dad?”

“I don’t know, I think they might be part of the old Chancellor gang.” Daughtry clutched her brother’s neck tightly, the fear evident in her eyes.

“Why would you imagine such a thing?”

“Nicholas used to be a lawman. He was primarily responsible for putting the gang away.” Daughtry drew a deeper breath. “You can put me down, Gavin. I’m okay.”

Gavin shook his head. “No, we’d best get on in the house and let everybody hear the rest of this.” He started walking again and spied Mack, his father’s longtime ranch foreman. “Mack, something’s happened, you’d best join us in the house.” The dark-headed man nodded and followed Gavin inside.

“Mom!” Gavin yelled loudly. He put Daughtry down on a chair and yelled again, this time even louder.

“What is it?” Maggie questioned, coming into the living room. “I’m not deaf, you know.”

“We’ve got trouble,” Gavin explained. Maggie looked at Daughtry for a moment, noticing the redness of her face, as well as the dirt and disarray of her clothes.

“What trouble?” Maggie asked slowly and looked from Daughtry to Gavin and finally to Mack.

Just then, as if sensing that something weren’t right, Daughtry’s other brothers bounded into the room.

“What’s going on?” Joey asked. The question was echoed by each of the others before Daughtry stood up to explain.

“Two men have taken Nicholas and Daddy. I went out riding this morning and a rockslide blocked my route home. I dismounted and Poco got away from me. I guess I took too long getting back, because Nicholas and Daddy came looking for me. I heard voices and came up over a rock just above where the canyon narrows. There were two men with guns, and they tied up Daddy and Nicholas and headed off in the opposite direction from the ranch.”

“Who were they?” asked Dolan.

“Daughtry thinks they’re part of the Chancellor gang,” Gavin piped up. “Seems Nicholas used to be some kind of lawman, and they bear him a grudge.”

“Daughtry, are you sure?” Maggie asked, trembling.

“I can’t be positive. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but something happened awhile back, when Nicholas and I were on our ranch. Nicholas told me then that there was a good chance more of the Chancellors would come gunning for him.”

“We’d better round up as many hands as we can,” Gavin said to Mack. “Make sure everybody is armed and has what they need in the way of ammunition. Jordy, go get the guns from the cabinet in Dad’s office. Don, Dolan, go saddle our horses and Joseph, get provisions for all of us. We don’t know how long it’s going to take or how far we’ll have to ride.” Without a word of protest, the brothers flew into action with Mack fast on their heels.

“I’m going too!” Daughtry exclaimed.

“Oh no, you’re not,” Gavin said, and the way he looked at her was so much like his father that Maggie had to laugh.

“But I can’t just sit here,” Daughtry protested. “I want to go.”

Maggie came and put an arm around her daughter. “You’re expecting a child, Daughtry. You have to think of more than just what you want.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Daughtry replied sadly. The defeat in her voice caused Gavin to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“We’ll get them back,” he said, looking into both Daughtry and Maggie’s eyes. “I promise you, we’ll bring them back safe.”

The women watched as their men mounted up and headed out. Daughtry felt hot tears slide down her cheeks. Would she ever get a chance to tell Nicholas that she was sorry and that she understood why he’d married her the way he had?

❧

Jeb Chancellor led the way to the range shack, while Gus brought up the rear with Nicholas and Garrett sandwiched in between. Garrett immediately recognized the place as one they used only on occasion. It was well secluded and far enough away from the rest of civilization that no one would have any idea they were even there.

“This place belong to you too?” Jeb asked Garrett.

“Yeah.”

“How much land you own, anyway?”

“Enough.” Garrett was quickly realizing their game. “If it’s money you’re after, why don’t you just name your price?”

“Just like that?” Jeb laughed. “What then? You gonna ride back to the house and write out a draft?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know what I want yet,” Jeb replied.

“Of course you don’t,” Nicholas sneered, “you haven’t talked to Aaron yet. Big brother has to tell him what to think.”

“I’m warning you, Dawson,” Jeb said in a menacing tone. “Keep your mouth shut and you just might live to see tomorrow.”

“He’d better live to see a whole lot more than tomorrow if you want any of my money,” Garrett declared.

“What’s he to you?” Jeb asked, halting his horse in front of the shack.

“He’s family.” Garrett’s eyes met Nicholas’s for a brief moment.

“Well, family or no, whether he lives or dies is up to Aaron. There ain’t no amount of money what can buy back a man’s years wasted behind bars.” Jeb dismounted and slapped his reins around the hitching post. “Get ’em down, Gus, and bring ’em inside.”

In spite of the way their hands were tied, both Garrett and Nicholas swung their legs over the necks of their mounts and jumped down unassisted. Gus poked Nicholas forward with the barrel of his gun pressed firmly in the small of
Nicholas’s
back. In turn, Jeb motioned Garrett inside.

“Tie them to the chairs.” Jeb took a defensive position with the gun leveled directly at Garrett, while Gus did as he was told. Once Nicholas and Garrett were securely tied, Jeb motioned Gus outside for a talk.

“Can you work the ropes loose?” Nicholas asked Garrett. Although they sat nearly side by side, Nicholas had to strain to get a look at the way Gus had tied Garrett’s ropes.

“I don’t know,” Garrett whispered back. He strained against the hemp, feeling it chafe and bite at his wrists.

“I think, with any luck at all, I can work through mine,” Nicholas replied.

“I think we’d best count on more than luck.”

Nicholas grinned. “You do have a point there. I’ve been praying since we left to look for Daughtry.” The smile quickly faded from his face. “Daughtry! I’d nearly forgotten.” The agitation he felt was quickly mirrored in Garrett’s eyes.

“It’s in God’s hands,” Garrett replied. “I guess it always has been, except for the times I yank it back out.” He smiled weakly at his son-in-law.

“I know what you mean. I guess I’ve pretty much messed up my share of living. I can’t say that I’ve always done things to make my folks proud of me, nor can I stand on the memory of always trusting God to see me through.” Nick paused for a minute, wondering if he should continue.

“Who are these men to you?” Garrett finally asked.

“Part of the Chancellor gang. I hung out with some of them before I became a lawman. They figured I’d overlook their shenanigans, for old times sake, I suppose.”

“But you didn’t?”

“No,” Nicholas replied. “I couldn’t. Like I told Daughtry, I grew up in a Christian home, and even though I felt the urge to spread my wings and buck up against the wind, I never broke the law. Bad thing was, I constantly kept company with those who did. Finally, a friend took me in hand and I became involved with working for the law instead of against it.”