Whispers on the Wind (25 page)

Shots were heard from
within the store and Carter knew they had killed Mac McBride, the
store’s owner.

“Christ,” Rick swore. Wood
splintered off the trough and nicked his arm.

“You all right?” Carter
asked.

“Yeah,” Rick
grumbled.

“I’m going around the back
of that building,” Thunder called from his position. “If we don’t
do something, we’ll be here all day.”

“Look,” Rick shouted at
the same time, but was ignored as the outlaws opened
fire.

Rick and Carter returned
the gunfire, covering Thunder as he dashed across the street in a
blaze of bullets. Remarkably he made it to the other side of the
street without a scratch.

A bullet whizzed by
Carter’s head just as he ducked behind the wagon. He reloaded his
gun while Rick continued firing. Carter had thought this was going
to be a fair fight in the street. He should have known
better.

“Look,” Rick said again in
between shots.

That is the second time
you’ve pointed that way,” Carter told him. The fighting is the
opposite direction.”

“No shit. However, the
town is burning down the other way.”

Carter eased up and looked
over the barrel. A gust of wind whipped by him as he eased up to
see flames coming out of the top of the building. The smoke was
strong. The citizens were running out in the streets, screaming and
yelling for water.

“What are we going to do?”
Rick asked.

“Finish the outlaws,”
Carter said, turning back around. “They’d love nothing more than to
shoot at those innocent people.” He clicked the chamber of his gun
shut and got back on his knees. “Listen! The shooting has
ceased.”

“They’re gone!” Thunder
yelled just before he came out of the building. “Christ! There’s a
fire.”

Carter and Rick came from
behind the wagon. “I guess we’re going to have to go after them,”
Carter said.

“That fire is getting near
the jail!” Rick yelled.

Carter swung around, the
blood draining from his face. “Mary. She’s locked up. I’d forgotten
about her,” he admitted.

Thunder frowned.

Carter took off, then
stopped. “The Carlsons.” They were within in his grasp—all he had
to do was ride after them. It was what he’d always dreamed of, what
he’d always wanted.

However, not when Mary’s
life was endangered.

Carter turned and started
running toward the orange sky. It appeared as if the whole damn
town was burning. The wind seemed to be whispering for him to hurry
as it whipped up, causing the flames to soar higher and the dense
smoke to become thicker. The wind was helping flames jump the
street They landed on top of the dry goods store and other
buildings. Several bucket brigades had already been formed. They
were trying to save the opera house.

When he reached the jail,
smoke was pouring out the windows and panic like Carter had never
experienced before threatened to take his breath away. He didn’t
think twice as he barged through the door with his shoulder into
black-gray smoke that sucked all the air out of his lungs and sent
him to the ground. He sputtered and coughed until he could catch
his breath, then got to his knees.

The heat was unbearable as
Carter crawled along the fire, praying the entire time. He was so
damned scared that Mary would be dead, his hands were shaking. It
was all his fault He shouldn’t have left her alone, just like he
shouldn’t have left his sister alone. Evidently the years hadn’t
made him any wiser.

The smoke burned his eyes
as he blundered through the smoke until he finally felt the hot
metal bars, but the door was locked.

His heart sank—she hadn’t
gotten out

After he got the keys and
unlocked the door, he called, “Mary! Make a noise so I can find
you.”

Nothing.

Part of the roof caved in
and Carter had to roll to the side. He jerked the handkerchief from
his neck and covered his mouth: Then he searched the cell, moving
toward the bundle in the corner. The bundle wasn’t
moving.

“Mary.” Carter coughed,
having taken in the bitter smoke. Tears streamed down his cheeks as
he felt the bundle.

Nothing. His brain screamed
that it was all his fault.

The flames were too intense
to go any farther. Carter was forced to stumble back though the
smoke until he fell out the door.

He felt someone drag him
off the porch and into the street. He coughed, gasping for fresh
air, but he really felt like dying.

When he finally got his
wind, he looked up at Thunder. Tears blurred Carter’s vision as he
whispered, “Mary is gone.”

Chapter Sixteen

Thunder yanked Carter up by
the shirt, which was no easy task. “What do you mean, she’s
gone?"

“I just told you. I found
Mary’s clothes in the corner, but not Mary! And I’d suggest you get
your hands off me,” Carter growled through clenched
teeth.

Thunder let go of Carter,
but still gave him a hostile glare. “That doesn’t make any sense.
Was the door open?”

“No. I had to unlock
it.”

Something cracked behind
them. They both swung around just in time to see the roof of the
jail cave in, making both of them jump back as sparks flew high in
the air and landed like raindrops around them.

Thunder ran a hand through
his hair. “If she were dead, you would have found her body, so
let’s don’t think along those lines. She’s alive. She’s gone
through too much in her life to die now.”

Evidently Carter didn’t
heed the warning, because as he gazed at the fire he said, “Maybe
she went to the back room and couldn’t get out.”

“I told you to quit
thinking like that!” Thunder snapped.

Carter had had enough.
“I’m getting pretty damn sick of you right about now, so you’d
better tread softly.” His voice was quiet, yet held an undertone of
cold contempt as he finished. “You think that I’m not upset about
Mary? Why, she means
...”

“Yes,” Thunder prodded,
his arms folded across his chest as he waited for Carter to finish
his statement.

“She means a lot to me,”
Carter snapped. His expression was one of mute
wretchedness.

Thunder had to keep from
smiling.

“But
you
locked her up.”

“For Christ’s sake! She
broke the law. It was my duty.”

Hank came storming up to
them. His shoulder had been bandaged, but other than that he looked
fine, just angry. “What the Sam Hill is the matter with both of
you? The town is on fire, and both of you are standing out in the
middle of the street arguing when you should be helping folks fight
the fire.”

“We can’t find Mary,”
Carter said as if Hank should understand that nothing else
mattered. “Did you let her out by some chance?”

“Nope.” Hank shoved back
his hat. “But when I was walking out of Doc’s office, I saw her
riding out of town. Almost didn’t recognize her because she had on
different clothes.”

“Who was she with?” Carter
and Thunder asked at the same time. It was getting to be a damn
annoying habit, Carter thought They were too much
alike.

“Don’t know,” Hank said
with a shrug, then he winced at the pain in his shoulder. “Figured
it was one of the boys from the ranch. Once I saw the fire, it made
sense that you wanted her safely out of town.”

“But Mother didn’t know
Mary was here,” Carter quickly pointed out “So I doubt it was a
ranch hand. But who?” Carter glanced at Thunder to see if he had
any answers.

Thunder shrugged. “I have
no idea, but at least we know Mary got out of the blaze. Let’s help
with the fire now, maybe we can figure it out later.”

Carter insisted that Hank
help to direct everyone where they should go, thinking it would be
much easier on him. Then Carter and Thunder worked with the
citizens trying to save precious belongings, because there was no
help for the buildings.

In the end the only things
left standing were the saloon, the dry goods store, the livery, and
the funeral parlor.

The rest of Windy Bend had
been burned to rubble.

The men gathered to stare
at the smoking haze as the sky turned to dusk. The red embers
looked like glowing eyes staring at them.

Doc Moore was the first to
speak. “What in the hell could have caused such a fire?”

“Good question,” Hank
said. “If there had been lightning, we would have known the cause.
Maybe somebody set the fire.”

Just then a rider came
barreling up behind them, stopping about fifty yards away from the
group of men.

Carter and Thunder both
swung around and drew their guns, but wisely held their fire,
waiting to see what the rider said. The man threw something in
their direction, then rode off.

Carter retrieved the
leather pouch. He peered inside the pouch, saw a piece of paper,
and withdrew it. Quickly, he scanned the writing in the dimming
daylight. “The Carlsons have Mary,” Carter finally said. He handed
the slip of paper to Thunder.

Hank blew out a disgusted
sigh. “Now I’m sure that fire was set. First they kept you busy in
a gunfight while the rest of the gang grabbed Mary. The Carlsons
have plagued this town for too long.”

“Yes,
they have,” Carter agreed, his voice hoarse with frustration. He
turned to Thunder. “Let’s get the horses.” he said.

As they marched to the
stable, both men were quiet. Carter’s thoughts were on the note.
The instructions were to ride to King’s Canyon and make camp, then
wait. Mary would be sent to them. Something was wrong. It was too
simple. He knew that the Carlsons were up to something. But
what?

He realized that his heart
was slamming against his ribs. He was much more scared not knowing
about Mary than he had been in the gunfight. He just prayed they
didn’t hurt her.

“This could be a setup,”
Carter said, finally expressing his thoughts.

Thunder nodded as he
tightened the cinch of his saddle. “You’re probably right. We’ll
have to be on guard.”

“They’re using Mary for a
bargaining tool, so right now she’s safe. But if they’ve hurt
her
...”
Carter’s
curt words trailed off.

“You’ll
what
...
arrest
them?” Thunder asked with a sardonic smile.

Carter gave him a sidelong
glance as he mounted his horse. This time, he could truly say that
he’d have no regret for what he would do to them. “I thought more
along the lines of killing them.”

Thunder’s smile was without
humor. Then count me in.”

Mary couldn’t believe that
Carter and Thunder had left her locked in the cell like a common
criminal. It was so like Carter, but she’d thought otherwise of
Thunder. She had to smile at that thought, but the smile quickly
vanished when she remembered that Carter hadn’t even bothered to
look back at her as he’d stormed out the door.

It was a helpless feeling
to be confined and without any control of her situation, but there
wasn’t anything she could do about it now except sulk.

She glanced at the package
on the cot. At least she could change her clothes now that she had
a little privacy. She unwrapped the bundle and found a white blouse
similar to what she’d seen Mexican women wear.

Mary pulled her old dress
over her head and tossed it in the corner. She never wanted to see
the threadbare garment again. After wearing the nice clothes that
Judith had provided, Mary realized that she enjoyed dressing well
and would like to have fine clothes of her own someday.

She shook out the garments,
then slipped the blouse on over her head. The white ruffle fell
nicely around her shoulders. It was a perfect fit and very
comfortable, as well.

The dark blue skirt was
simple and fit snugly around her hips, flaring out toward the hem.
It was a little short, but that didn’t matter. At least her skirt
wouldn’t drag in the dirt. Once she had the waist hooked, she ran
her hands over the material to smooth it out.

Now she was all dressed up
with no place to go, so she sat down to wait. A gun blast sounded
in the distance. She gripped her hands, praying that no one she
cared about had been killed.

Then there were more
shots.

And still she waited for
word.

The waiting was miserable.
She didn’t know what was going on. She wanted to see what was
happening.

What if Carter had been
killed? Her stomach clenched. Mary couldn’t bear the thought of not
seeing him again. No matter how angry she was at him, she didn’t
want him hurt.

Something smelled funny.
She sniffed. It smelled a lot like smoke. Mary hurried to the bars
of her cell and peered over at the potbellied stove, but she didn’t
see anything unusual. Yet the smell seemed to be growing
stronger.