Whispers (27 page)

Aiken moved to his seat at the card table, his smile as oily as the gleaming black hair on his head. “Welcome,” he said.

But in response to the weapons drawn by Lonnie Smith and his riders, the rough and ready man sitting to Aiken’s left had drawn his gun and pointed it at Lonnie. I saw others move their hands closer to their weapons.

Lonnie swung the barrel of his pistol to the man’s chest. “Don’t be a dummy,” he said, smiling to show tobacco-stained teeth. “Drop your gun right there by your feet.”

The man shook his head. “No, I don’t believe I will.”

“
We don’t want any trouble here,” Aiken said. “Why don’t you put away that pistol and come down for a drink? We’re all friends.”

Lonnie’s smile was cold and condescending. I looked to my right and saw Sawyer standing close, hand resting lightly on the butt of his gun. On his saddle was a rifle. He looked me in the eye, letting me know he was watching me. I searched for the same cold-blooded ruthlessness that gleamed from Lonnie, but I saw none. Just warning. With his eyes, he told me to keep my head.

“
You all look good and friendly,” Lonnie was saying as he scanned the campsite and tent.

Behind him another man stepped down from his horse and then two others. The riders who had killed my family. They all had their weapons drawn.

“
Why don’t you all come on out in the light where I can see you?” Lonnie called in the direction of the tent.

My rage swelled inside me until I didn’t think I could control it. Sawyer reached out and took my hand. He used it to haul me back and then he stepped in front of me. The look that passed between us was dark with the flickering fire.

“
I said, come on out,” Lonnie repeated, raising his voice. One of his riders went to the flapping white tent. He pulled up the side revealing the bare behinds of two men who’d been so engrossed in their pleasure, they hadn’t heard or noticed the intrusion. Laughing, Lonnie’s man jabbed the butt closest to him with the end of his rifle hard enough to make the man squeal and turn in outrage. When he saw all the guns pulled and aimed, he scrambled off Meaira and struggled to get his pants on. When he reached for his gun, Lonnie fired at it and sent the weapon dancing across the dirt.

Hands in the air, the men in the tent joined the circle made by the Smith riders. Meaira, Chick, and Honey remained where they were, barely dressed as they huddled on one low pallet, looking out of the open tent with fear. I could not see Athena, but I knew she would be close by.

“
You girls just stay right there,” Lonnie said, grinning. “We’ll be with you in a moment.”

Lonnie turned his attention back to the cluster of men standing at the makeshift card table. He gave Aiken’s solicitous face a dismissive glance and moved on to the next man. He stopped when he reached Sawyer. I saw him stiffen, saw the tautness like a fine sheen that went down his body. I felt the bead of it vibrate through Sawyer.

“
Didn’t expect to see you here, McCready,” Lonnie said.

“
I could say the same.”

Lonnie’s eyes flicked to me and I braced myself for recognition, for he had seen me with my family the day my daddy testified against them. The tension in Sawyer matched my own until it was painful to stand so still. Lonnie’s cold eyes stayed on me for a moment that seemed to last forever. Suddenly, he smiled. “I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it. Boys, boys, looky here. Look who we found. Looks like we hit the jackpot.”

His brother and men had us surrounded and stood with guns pointed, waiting for their orders.

Lonnie leaned forward in his saddle and said, “You’ll be coming with us, Miss Beck.” He gave Sawyer another challenging look, noting that he stood close to me, noting that his gun was not yet aimed. But when he spoke, it was to Aiken. “Push that money out to the middle of the table,” Lonnie told him. “Jake will be happy to relieve you of it as well as the little miss there.”

Again, time seemed to move slower than possible. I saw Aiken’s face tighten. Knew in an instant that he would not surrender his winnings. The same knowledge passed over Lonnie’s face and for a moment he looked away from me to level the barrel of his gun at Aiken’s chest. I didn’t wait for him to do more. I lunged forward, grabbing the gun from the holster of the slack-faced man standing nearby and turning it on Lonnie. I pulled the trigger without hesitation and the gun blasted in a sound that sucked all other noise from the air. It bucked me backward just as another gun fired. I saw cards and money sail through the air and had a second to understand that Aiken had fired through the table at Lonnie, who was already dropping from the saddle, but I didn`t know if he’d been shot or was taking cover.

I saw another man stagger, clutching a red stain that spread with hypnotizing speed across his stomach as all around me guns went off like firecrackers on the Fourth of July. Gun drawn, Sawyer shoved me hard to the ground, but he was too late. A red-hot pain sliced through my shoulder and I knew I’d been shot. I screamed as the ground rushed up at me, and then my head hit something hard and all went black.

***

I woke to utter silence, the kind that comes only in the deepest hours of night. But it wasn’t night. I could tell by the coolness of the air, the freshness of the breeze that it was near dawn. I looked around, not recognizing where we were. The last I remembered, we set camp by the river. The miners’ tent town had been close enough to see, far enough not to smell. We were no longer near it.

I raised my head, looking around at the unfamiliar terrain. We must have moved. I frowned. Why had we moved? And then it all came rushing back. The Smith brothers, the men, the gunshots.

I sat quickly and pain sliced through my shoulder and tried to split my head. I winced, putting one hand to the lump beneath my hair while I stared at the thick bandage wrapped around my blood-stained shoulder with shock. I’d been shot. Carefully I pushed to my feet, pulling the blanket I’d been covered with around me. I stood. My legs felt shaky and my stomach none too strong, but I didn’t fall over. That was good.

Beside me the other women slept in a row under the tarp that stretched from the wagon. There was no tent, no pallets, no sign of the violence of last night. I staggered to the water barrel strapped to the back of the wagon and got a drink. The horses were tied up not far away. That meant that Aiken was still near. And what of Sawyer? As if in answer, I heard a shuffling behind me and turned to see him by the fire.

He was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn last night, but his hat was off, revealing golden brown hair that looked darker in the predawn glow. He didn’t look as if he’d slept and his beard was heavy on his cheeks.

He watched me as he rose and I saw that he winced. There was a dark stain on his sleeve. I was not the only one to be wounded last night.

Without a word he rolled his blanket tightly and tied it to the back of his saddle.

“
What are you doing?” I asked.

“
What’s it look like?”

“
Like you’re packing.”

He lifted the saddle skirt and adjusted his cinch, ignoring me.

“
What happened last night?” I tried again.

He paused, running a hand down his horse’s neck. The animal gave a low nicker and tossed its head.

“
What happened last night?” he repeated softly. “To start, you blew a hole the size of a dinner plate through Lonnie Smith. Guess you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

I caught my breath as the memory rushed in, with it the smell of blood and gunpowder and fear that still clung to me. I steadied myself against the wagon.

“
I killed him?”

“
Wasn’t that what you were trying to do?”

Yes, I’d wanted him dead; I’d wanted it so badly, I’d pulled the trigger without thinking beyond the act. And I wasn’t sorry he was dead. He’d deserved to die for what he did to my family. Justice had failed to make him pay for his crimes, but I had not. I would not shed tears for ridding the world of the likes of Lonnie Smith.

“
What about everyone else?” I asked.

Sawyer shook his head. “Can’t say who shot who, but five men are dead for it. Two of Smith’s boys, three of the miners. Dead. All of them.”

“
What about Jake Smith?”

“
Last I saw he was riding hell bent for leather. Don’t know if he’ll be coming back.”

The blood drained from my face. It left me dizzy and swaying. Lonnie’s brother would be out for revenge.

“
Your shoulder hurt?” he asked, nodding at the bandage.

“
I was shot,” I said, as if he didn’t know.

“
Barely. Flesh wound. Shouldn’t give you too much grief.”

“
How about you?”

He shrugged. “I’ll live.”

I nodded, watching as he filled his saddlebags then moved to the other side of his huge horse.

“
Where is Aiken?” I asked at last, though I really didn’t want to know.

“
Took off as soon as he saw what he’d done. You weren’t the only one trigger happy last night.”

His voice was mired in sarcasm, and yet I heard something else there. A note of admiration, an understanding that I would not be the same for what I had done—no matter what my reasons, a bit of awe at my tenacity. I deserved none of his regard, and yet I thirsted for the reassurance it gave me.

But as I watched him continue to pack his horse, it occurred to me just what he was doing.

“
You’re leaving?” I said.

He gave me a cold and steady look. “We left five dead men back there, and I’ll be damned if I’ll take the fall for killing I didn’t do.”

“
So you’re going to just leave us here? Just like that?”

“
Just like that,” he answered.

I looked around at the great nothingness. We could be anywhere. “You know we’ll probably die out here.”

“
I know nothing of the sort. I watched you blow a man into eternity last night. I don’t think a few days in the wild will get the best of you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled the blanket around my shoulders tighter. Tears stung my eyes. “I did what I had to do.”

“
I’m a firm believer in that motto. I think I’ll do the same now.”

“
But... but you could take us with you....”

“
With me? Why? So you can scalp me in my sleep? I’ll be perfectly honest, before—” He shook his head. “I didn’t think you had it in you. But now I know different.”

“
No, I’m not...” What? A murderer? “You didn’t see what they did to my momma, my grandma, my daddy ... my little brother. You didn’t see.” My chest was tight and painful from holding back the tears I refused to shed. He stood, staring at me like I was a unique species of bug. As if he couldn’t decide whether to stomp me into the ground or capture me in a jar.

I was breathing heavy with the effort to rein my emotions. He watched me, shifting his weight, looking as awkward as I felt. At last I managed to say, “You’re going to Arizona territory. To take over a saloon.”

“
How do you know that?”

“
I may be crazy but I’m not deaf.”

He snorted at that, stopping the smile before it reached his lips.

“
I ain’t taking you with me. Sure as hell there’s a posse already forming up, coming looking for us.”

“
So you’ll just ante us up to them. Is that it?”

“
You’re a bunch of whor—women stranded in the middle of nowhere. They’ll follow your tracks easy enough, but they won’t think you had anything to do with it. Tell them Lonnie did the killing. Tell them the miners started firing blind. They’ll believe you.”

“
A bunch of whores?”

“
I didn’t mean that. I know you’re not a whore.”

“
But for the grace of God I’m not. What do you think Aiken had in mind for me when you rode up last night?”

Sawyer swallowed as I locked eyes with him. If he hadn’t arrived when he had, if the Smith riders hadn’t appeared . . . Just a few more moments, and I’d have been the strongest man’s prize. I let him see that in my face, see how terrified I’d been, and I knew it bothered him more than he cared to admit.

“
I don’t owe you anything, lady. I’m real sorry about your family. But you got your pound of flesh. Lonnie’s every bit as dead as they are now. I never had nothing to do with what they did though. I ain’t a killer.”

“
But I am.”

He squatted down to clean his horse’s feet. “Only if that’s how you’re going to see it. From my point of view, I saw Lonnie get killed by one of the miners.”

I looked over my shoulder at the sleeping women. If he left us here, it would be my fault. The sun peeked over the horizon in a blaze of muted gold. As far as the eye could see, now, there was nothing but scrub and cactus. Not even a tree in sight. No river to follow. No game darting in the trees. And what if it was Jake that found us, not the posse? What if he came first? I’d killed his brother, and he wouldn’t let that go. He’d hunt me. And he’d do more than kill me when he caught me. And what about the others? I’d be foolish to think he’d spare the others. I took a deep breath, trying to hold back my panic.

“
We could help you.” The words were out before I’d considered them, but it was true. We could.