Chapter Nine

“Stace? When’s that pot comin’?’ Harry had a small fire going and was looking around, wondering where Stacey had gotten to. He knew they had water in the canteens and she only needed to get the coffee pot, so he wasn’t sure what was taking so long. As he stood up and glanced around, he couldn’t see her anywhere. A faint smile slid across his face and he wondered if she had simply gone off into the treeline for some privacy. It wouldn’t be the first time she had caused him to panic when he couldn’t find her and he grinned as he remembered the indignant slap she had delivered the last time he’d chased after her. A girl needs her quiet space, unlike you fellas, she’d tossed back at him. He pushed his hat back and looked up into the sky. The sun was already climbing into the sky and they needed to get moving soon, but he wouldn’t object to a mug of strong coffee first. He figured that his sister-in-law wasn’t coming back any time soon and he wandered over to the wagon to get the coffee pot for himself. When he found it lying on the tail board of the wagon and a clear sign of a struggle with things strewn across the ground, he began shouting and ran for the trees.

“Stacey! Where are you?”

Glen was done watering his horse and he stood by her head, giving the back of her ears a long overdue scratching. He heard shouting from behind him and turned around to see Harry disappearing into the trees. He stopped to quickly ground tie Betsy before chasing after the man. He was half way across the clearing when he heard more shouts.

“Stacey! Answer me dammit!”

Adam tried telling Joe to stay put, but knew he was wasting his breath. He could sense his brother close behind him as he ran towards the sound of Harry’s frantic shouts. He pushed forward into the thick treeline and listened for anything that would indicate where to go next. He could hear Glen off to his left and he suddenly became aware that Joe was not behind him anymore. He stopped and waited, expecting him to come out from behind the nearest trees. A sense of unease crawled up his spine as he could hear Harry’s shouts moving away from him. For a split second, he wavered on which way to go before he headed back towards where his brother should be. As he emerged from the treeline, he pulled up short. Across the small clearing Joe was frozen with his hands raised out from his sides. His holster was empty and his revolver lay in the dirt, far out of his reach. Two men stood on the other side of him and he could see one of them had Stacey in a tight choke hold. He quickly figured that whoever it was must have doubled back around them and come out on the far side of their camp if Harry was searching in the wrong place.

“Hold it right there, Cartwright!” Adam heard Nate’s voice carry across the clearing and he briefly wondered which one of them he was talking to. The moment passed quickly as Mac began moving towards him with a shotgun pointed at his chest. “Do anything stupid and your brother’s gonna have a great big ol’ hole in his head.”

Mac laughed at his brother’s comment and waved the shotgun towards Joe. Adam could see the tense set of his brother’s shoulders and could see Joe was shaking. Whether from anger or another headache he couldn’t tell. Either way, he couldn’t risk upsetting either of them.

“Toss me that gun o’ yours. And get over here where I can see ya!” Mac pointed the shotgun back towards Adam and then pointed the muzzle in the general vicinity of where he wanted him. As Adam slowly complied, he took a sideways glance at Joe and didn’t like what he saw. Beads of sweat dribbled down the side of his face and his posture was all wrong. Stacey seemed to have stopped breathing as a knife blade rested against the hollow of her neck and a thin dribble of blood trailed down onto her bodice.

“Let her go! She’s done nothing to you.” Joe edged closer and Nate pulled Stacey’s arm further up behind her until she choked out a gasp of pain.

“Stay right there, Cartwright. You move again and I’ll slit her throat. You know I will.” The sick grin that accompanied the threat brought a flood of ugly memories with it and Joe barely choked down a retort.

“What do you want?”

Nate looked across at Mac and both men laughed.

“Oh, I’ve almost got everything that I want from you.”

“And what exactly is that?” Adam tried to deflect the look that Nate had thrown his brother’s way. It made his skin crawl and he could see why Joe had declared him to be crazy. Something in his eyes had Adam unnerved too.

“I just need to finish the job we started. You’re s’posed to be dead.” Nate stared at Joe with naked hatred written across his face.

“Sorry to disappoint you!” Joe spat back at him. “You came for me and you’ve got me, so let her go!” He could see Stacey’s tense stance and was madly scrambling for an idea of how to get her free. Nate’s knife was far too close for him to move yet. Before Nate could answer, the sound of movement behind them had Mac on alert and he fired a shot into the thick trees.

“Come outta there with your hands up and your guns where I can see ’em or this little lady’s gonna bleed out real quick!”

Joe didn’t turn to look, but knew that both Harry and Glen were behind him and complying with the demand. He could hear their heavy breathing from running and Harry’s muttered curses. He didn’t dare to turn around and look.

“You! Get that rope off your saddle and tie those two up.”

Mac nodded towards Adam and waved his shotgun at him as if to emphasize Nate’s point. Adam swallowed down any argument and slowly moved towards his horse, making sure he didn’t do anything to startle either of the men.

“And do a proper job of it. If either of them escape, Mac there will put a bullet in their heads.”

Nate laughed as he watched Adam silently comply with his demands. Harry glared at him, but kept his mouth shut as Adam wound the rope tightly around his wrists. Glen looked scared at what was coming, but also kept quiet. Adam straightened up and waited for the next lot of instructions while desperately trying to find something to hang a plan on. Joe’s face was almost white and he could see he was struggling to stay still.

“Now toss their guns this way.” Adam pulled Harry’s gun from his holster and tossed it towards Nate before turning back for Glen’s.

Joe tried to keep eye contact with Stacey and he felt rage coursing through him as he watched blood trickle down her neck. He could feel himself trembling with anger and black spots danced in front of him. He blinked and tried to force them away, but they persisted in tormenting him. He tried controlling his breathing, but it wasn’t working.

“Let her go.” Joe’s voice wasn’t as firm as it had been, but the determination was still clear. “You said you wanted me. I’m right here!” He raised his arms in surrender and took a tentative step closer.

Adam held his breath as Joe played a dangerous game, but the next comment rooted him to the spot.

“Maybe I’ll take out your brother first. That seemed to cause you a world of hurt last time.” Nate laughed and Mac grinned at him as he waved his shotgun towards Adam.

“Maybe I should shoot him again!” The two men broke into peals of laughter and Stacey felt the knife sliding against her throat again. She pulled back as far as she could, but only found herself pressed closer to Nate.

“You screamed real good that day, Cartwright.”

Joe felt his guts churning as he recalled seeing Adam, or the man he thought was Adam, falling from his saddle and not getting up again. “I thought you had murdered my brother!”

“We hired ourselves a real good actor. You sure did make me laugh when you were screamin’ at a total stranger and tryin’ to save him from us.” Mac grinned at him and Adam chilled to the core as the man stepped towards him. “This time I’ve got the real McCoy. I got me a genuine Cartwright in my sights.” He lifted the shotgun and aimed it straight at Adam’s chest.

“Why?” Joe was barely breathing as he asked the question and Adam looked alarmed as he could see his brother’s unsteady stance.

Nate’s face suddenly hardened as he watched Joe stumble forward and drop to his knees. He pulled the knife from Stacey’s throat and waved it towards Joe instead.

“Get up!”

Adam stepped towards Joe without thinking and reached a hand out to him. “He’s sick! Can’t you see that?”

“Get back or I’ll put a bullet in you!” Mac rushed forward and had the shotgun pointed once again at Adam’s head, forcing him to step backwards.

Joe fell sideways and planted his hand in the dirt as he tried to hold his head upright. “Why? What do you want from us?”

“Why? Because your family deserves to suffer like mine did. Your father knows why!” Nate spat in the dirt as he glared at both brothers. Mac turned his attention towards his own brother and growled in agreement.

“Sure does!”

For a moment, Nate seemed to have forgotten he held a hostage in his grasp and Stacey took advantage of the lapse in concentration. She caught Adam’s eye and he could see she was about to move. He wanted to stop her, but could do nothing without giving her away. Instead, he tensed, ready to move when she did.

Without warning, Stacey drove an elbow into Nate’s ribs and he grunted in pain as she kicked out at his shins. Adam surged forward to snatch at Mac’s shotgun and as the two of them wrestled with it, the gun fired harmlessly into the dirt. Adam lost his grip and he pushed sideways before trying to turn back around. As Mac swung at him with both hands clenched around the barrel of the shotgun, Adam barely sidestepped in time and he stumbled over something on the ground. Mac took another wild swing and Adam lifted an arm to defend his head. The shotgun came down on him with a sickening thud and he heard the bone in his arm crack as pain coursed its way up through his shoulder. He could hear voices shouting, but his mind could not register the words.

Suddenly he saw Glen behind Mac and he was reaching for the nearest gun with the toe of his boot. His hands were still bound and he could only grasp at the gun and flick it in Adam’s direction. He felt a fleeting sense of surreal detachment as he considered that Joe would be impressed with his left-handed catch and subsequent shot. As Mac toppled into the dirt in front of him, he felt himself slipping sideways. The pain throbbing up his arm stole his breath and he slumped against Glen as the young hand reached for him.

As Nate momentarily released his grip on his victim, Joe pushed himself up onto his haunches and launched himself at Nate’s legs. The two of them sprawled into the dirt and he struggled to keep a hold as Nate kicked out at him. His head was reeling as blinding flashes of light mingled with clouds of dust and he could barely make out anything. A desperate need drove him to hold on when his fingers seemed to lose their strength and he felt himself being flipped like some kind of fish on one of Hoss’s lines. Darkness was pulling at the edges of his vision and he could hear shouting from somewhere behind him. He heard a shrill scream cut through the air, but before he could respond, he felt something rip across his back. Another scream tore into him and he barely had time to wonder where it was coming from before the darkness claimed him.

Harry lifted his foot and kicked out with all he could muster. The blunt heel of his boot connected with Nate’s head and he watched as the man rolled backwards into the dirt. He almost lost his balance with his hands still bound in front of him, but he aimed another vicious kick at the man’s chest.

“Stace! You okay?”

He kept his eyes locked on Nate, while waiting to hear her voice.

“I’m alright, but Joe isn’t.”

He could hear the quaver in her voice and he risked a quick look to see what was causing it. Joe lay sprawled in the dirt with a trail of crimson blood spreading across his back.

“Stace, get this rope off me.” He held out his hands and waited impatiently as she tugged at the knots. Her face was flushed and he growled as he saw the dried blood that trailed down her neck. “I’ll kill him!”

“Harry, you’re a lawman, you need to …”

“I don’t care!” As he yanked the rope free of his wrists, he grasped at her hands and spun her towards him before enveloping her into his arms. She could feel the wild hammering of his heart as he held onto her. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m sure.” She pushed back from him and nodded as she hurried to kneel beside Joe. He wasn’t moving and she hesitated to reach out towards him. As Harry dropped down beside her, she swallowed down the lump in her throat and almost giggled with relief as Joe groaned before trying to push himself upright. When his arms gave out and he fell into the dirt again, she reached for his face and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Joe!” Adam shouted in alarm as he could see his brother struggling to get up. “Joe!” He tried to pull himself to his feet and felt Glen’s arm around his waist as he felt the ground moving beneath him.

The sound of shots echoed across the still morning air and Ben kicked his heels into Buck’s flanks. He could hear Hoss’s horse beside him and knew that Hank wasn’t far behind. The rational part of his mind told him that anybody could be out on the road, but the part that had been screaming at him since leaving the Ponderosa told him that two men had just caught up with his youngest ranch hand. Never in his wildest nightmares did he expect what he found when he climbed the ridge and galloped down the other side.