Unraveled (20 page)

So I stumbled over to the back door, wrenched it open, and staggered outside. I was expecting another alley, but I was in the staging area with its wide wooden pavilions sheltering all the cowboy clothes, hats, boots, and more.

A white horse tied to a nearby hitching post whinnied and shied away as I limped past, obviously realizing that something was seriously wrong with me and wanting no part of it.

“Zip it, Silver,” I hissed. “You're going to blow my cover.”

Then I realized that I was trying to shush a horse, and I giggled. I never, ever
giggled
, but right now, all I wanted to do was lie down on the ground and just laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh, yeah. I was
this close
to passing out from whatever drug had been in that sweet tea.

I wasn't going to be able to outrun Roxy and Brody, but maybe I could outsmart them. All I had to do was find a place to hole up and hide until the drug was out of my system. Then, when my giggles were gone, I could come back and kill every last one of these bastards, starting with Hugh Tucker. Not the best plan I'd ever come up with, but my brain was too slow and muddled to think of anything else right now.

But where to hide?

The horse wanted nothing to do with me, and I was no cowgirl anyway, so I couldn't mount the animal and ride away. Given that the pavilions were all open, Roxy and Brody would easily spot me hiding behind the barrels, hay bales, and racks of clothing. I didn't have the energy to try to climb up the stairs to the second story of the saloon, much less make it up onto the roof, and the only other things back here were fake cacti, brittle balls of tumbleweed, and the stagecoach that was used in the high-noon show—

The stagecoach
.

That might work.

I hobbled over to the stagecoach, which was parked under its own pavilion at the very back of the staging area. From a distance, the coach looked new and shiny, but up close, I could see just how battered, dented, and worn-out it really was, just like everything else in the theme park. Bits of metal glinted like silver ore all along the sides where the bright, glossy red paint had been chipped off, and all four of the wheels looked like they were barely hanging on to their axles. The stagecoach door was standing open, as though it were broken and wouldn't shut properly, and I could see a large strongbox inside—the same one that had been full of fake gold during yesterday's show.

The strongbox looked just big enough for me to cram myself into, but I hesitated. It was such an obvious hiding place, and no doubt Roxy and Brody would look in the stagecoach when they finally shoved their way through the saloon fight and raced out here. As I cursed and started to turn around to find a better hiding place, I spotted a ladder on the back of the stagecoach that led up to the roof. Several steamer trunks had been tied down to the roof to represent fake luggage, but it looked like there was enough room for me to wiggle in between them. Still, I hesitated again. Because my enemies would no doubt check the stagecoach roof too—

“Do you see her?” Brody's voice boomed through the door that I'd left standing wide-open at the back of the saloon. “Where did she go?”

I was out of time and options, so I grabbed the ladder. My muscles felt about as strong as wet spaghetti, but I managed to hoist myself up onto the roof. The effort made me even more light-headed, and everything blurred together as though I were on a merry-go-round. I staggered to the side and almost fell off the stagecoach before my vision cleared, and I slowly righted myself.

Two rows of steamer trunks lined the top of the coach, with a narrow sliver of space in between them. I sucked in my stomach, pulled my shoulders back, and flopped down, squirming my way into that space like a fish trying to wiggle back onto a hook. It was a tight fit, but I managed it, even though my body was as stiff and straight as a board resting between the two rows of luggage.

A small gap ran in between two of the trunks where they hadn't been set up flush against each other, so I squirmed up a little higher until I could look through the opening and see out into the staging area. The effort made my head spin, and it was several seconds before I could focus again.

I could hear Roxy and Brody shouting at the giants to move their asses, and a few seconds later, all of them came running out of the back of the saloon. They stopped, glancing from one pavilion to the next, and their faces twisted with fury when they didn't spot me.

“Spread out!” Roxy barked. “Find Blanco! Now!”

“You heard her!” Brody yelled. “Search everywhere!”

The giants hurried to follow their bosses' commands, darting into the alleys that led back to Main Street, while Roxy and Brody stayed behind in the staging area. The two of them spread out, guns in hands, searching behind every single barrel, hay bale, and rack of clothes, just as I'd expected. Brody even grabbed a long, sharp pitchfork and poked it down into all the water troughs, just in case I'd suddenly developed gills and could breathe underwater like a fish. The snarky thought made me want to giggle again, but I swallowed down the crazy laughter.

“She has to be around here somewhere,” Brody said. “Why didn't you give her more of that sedative?”

“I couldn't
make
her drink that tea,” Roxy snapped back. “It's not my fault that the cook didn't dissolve all the powder in it like I told her to, and Blanco didn't like how it tasted. Besides, she still drank almost half a glass. That should be more than enough to knock her out. The other three are all out cold. I've got some of your boys taking them up to the hotel so that Tucker can question them when they wake up.”

“I still don't see why he wants them alive,” Brody said. “Deirdre probably hocked those jewels long ago. If they were here, we would have found them by now. He should just cut his losses and kill the lot of them instead of making us keep up this stupid charade.”

“And I don't pay you to think, Mr. Dalton,” a mild voice murmured.

Roxy and Brody both winced and slowly turned around. Hugh Tucker was standing at the back door of the saloon. The vampire must have followed the commotion of my mad dash through the theme park.

He walked over to Brody, and the giant whipped off his black hat in a sign of respect and deference. Roxy also removed her red Stetson and eased a few steps away from her partner. She did not want to be the center of Tucker's attention. Smart.

And neither did Brody, judging from the way the giant shifted on his feet, making his leather boots creak and the attached spurs jangle out a sharp warning.

“I heard that Blanco pistol-whipped you with your own gun during the high-noon show yesterday. Is that true?” Tucker's voice was steady, without a trace of malice, but his eyes were like two black holes in his face, completely devoid of emotion.

Brody swallowed and nodded. “Yes, sir, I'm afraid that it is—”

Before he could finish, Tucker reached down, snatched Brody's revolver out of his hand, and slammed the weapon right back into the giant's face.

Crack
.

The audible sound of the giant's nose breaking rang out like a gunshot through the staging area.

Brody yelped and staggered back, blood spewing out of his rapidly swelling nose. For a second, his face flushed red and purple with surprise and rage, and his hand hovered over the second revolver strapped to his waist, as though he were actually thinking about drawing on Tucker.

But Tucker arched his black eyebrows in a silent challenge, and Brody thought better of things and dropped his hand from his gun. Tucker tossed the first revolver back at the giant, who scrambled to catch it.

I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating how fast Tucker was, but, for once, my vision remained clear. Drinking other people's blood gave most vampires enhanced strength and senses, but it seemed to make Tucker exceptionally speedy. Or perhaps he had some sort of natural vampiric ability that helped with that. Either way, he'd broken Brody's nose in the blink of an eye. I'd have to find a way to counter Tucker's speed before I killed him.

“I don't pay you to think,” Tucker repeated. “I pay you to follow orders and get me the results that I want. And right now, I want Gin Blanco found and trussed up like a Christmas ham. So get out there, do your damn job, and find her. Or next time, I'll break a lot more than just your nose.” His dead black eyes focused on Roxy. “On both of you.”

“Yes, sir!” Roxy and Brody both snapped out the words in unison, but Tucker had already gone back into the saloon, disappearing from sight.

They waited a few seconds to make sure that he wasn't coming back, then slowly relaxed. Brody yanked off his black-and-white paisley bandanna and pressed it to his nose, trying to stop the stream of blood dripping down his face. Roxy rubbed her thumb over and over the pearl handle of her revolver, a nervous tic.

“You heard what he said,” she growled. “Now let's find that bitch before he comes back and makes good on his promise.”

Brody gave her a sullen look, but he wiped the last of the blood off his face and helped her search the rest of the staging area. It didn't take long, and finally they both turned to stare at the stagecoach, since it was the only place they hadn't yet looked.

“She's not here,” Brody said. “I'm telling you that Blanco is long gone.”

“Well, check the stagecoach anyway,” Roxy snapped back. “I sent giants to all the park and hotel exits right before we met Blanco and the others at the restaurant. They've all texted back to say that she didn't get past them. So she has to be somewhere in the theme park.”

Brody heaved out a long, loud, suffering sigh, but he followed Roxy over to the stagecoach. She peered in the carriage below me, and a faint creak sounded as she opened the strongbox lid, just to make sure that I hadn't crammed myself in there.

“Look up on the roof,” she ordered Brody.

More creaks sounded, this time from the springs, and the entire coach dipped under the giant's weight as he took hold of the ladder on the back.

I silently cursed, but there was nothing I could do. The drug had completely taken over my body, making me feel limp, languid, and slightly disconnected from everything that was happening. Plus, I was wedged in so tightly between the two rows of steamer trunks that I couldn't even palm a knife to try to take the giant by surprise when he finally spotted me.

And he
would
spot me.

All Brody had to do was look over the first row of trunks, and he'd see me lying here. Then he'd either pound me into oblivion or reach down, toss me off the stagecoach, and let Roxy put a few bullets in me. Either way, I was caught—

“What are you two doing?” a low voice growled. “And why is everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off?”

Brody stopped climbing, although I could just see the top of the giant's black hat at the rear of the stagecoach. I turned my head and looked back out through the gap in the trunks.

Ira Morris stood in the staging area, his arms crossed over his chest, and an angry look on his weathered face. I had never been so glad to see the surly dwarf.

“Well?” he snapped. “What's going on? You two should be getting ready for the high-noon show, not lollygagging around back here. And what is wrong with Brody's nose?”

Roxy flashed Ira a smile. “Actually, we're going to have to postpone the show until later this afternoon.”

Ira's eyes narrowed. “And why is that?”

“Brody and the giants were chasing after a pickpocket who made off with a woman's purse,” Roxy said in a smooth voice. “The pickpocket busted up Brody's nose in the scuffle, and we were hoping to find him before he got out of the park. Isn't that right, Brody?”

“Yeah,” the giant said. “That's right.”

Ira huffed, then held his hands out wide. “Well, that pickpocket is obviously not back here. So why don't you get down from there before you break that ladder? It's too rickety to hold a big fella like you, and I don't need anything else to fix around here.”

Brody gave the other man a mulish look, but he hopped down off the ladder, making the entire stagecoach rock from side to side at the sudden loss of his weight. “Whatever,” he muttered.

Ira stared him down a moment before turning to Roxy. “Now, why don't you two go search somewhere else and let me do my job? I need to take a look at the stagecoach wheels and make sure that everything is ready for the next show. Whenever the two of you get your act together and finally decide to hold it.”

Roxy glanced at Brody, who shook his head, telling her that I wasn't hiding on top of the stagecoach. For once, I'd gotten lucky, and Ira had distracted the giant before he could actually look on the roof. A small favor, but I'd take what I could get right now.

“Well?” Ira snapped. “Are you going to get out of my way and let me do my job? Or are you just going to stand there all day?”

Anger sparked in Roxy's eyes, but she wanted to find me more than she wanted to deal with him right now. “Sure thing, Ira,” she said. “C'mon, Brody. Let's see if the others have had better luck finding that pickpocket.”

She smiled at the dwarf a final time, then she and Brody left the stagecoach behind, walked through the pavilions, stepped into the back of the saloon, and shut the door behind them.

“Good riddance,” Ira muttered.

I breathed a soft sigh of relief. Roxy and Brody were gone, and all I had to do was wait for Ira to look over the stagecoach and leave. Then I could climb down from the roof and find someplace better to hide until my body flushed the sedative out of my system.

I really should have known better than to even think that I was in the clear.

Ira looked over his shoulder, making sure that Roxy and Brody were gone, then scrambled up to the top of the stagecoach ladder, tipped his black bowler hat back on his head, and stared down at me.