Part 15 (1/2)
Like her. Except he hadn't hired her exactly and certainly didn't want her up here. She was beginning to understand why he was so upset, so worried. This was no place for a woman.
”If it really is about revenge, why has it taken them nine years?” she asked, not wanting to think about the spot she'd put J.T. in by being here, complicating things. And no wonder he'd thought she had something to do with what was going on. She shows up and look what happens.
”The time frame bothers me too,” he said. ”Why wait? Maybe because I wouldn't be expecting it, not after all this time.” He shrugged. ”I hope I'm wrong about what's going on up here. But in case I'm not, I wanted you to know.”
She nodded, not sure how knowing this helped her. She'd been scared before. Now she was terrified. ”You think they're hiding out in the woods like last time?” If he was trying to keep her in the cabin, he didn't have to worry.
To her surprise, he shook his head. ”I think the person doing this is here in camp.”
She stared at him in shock. ”There are only three men left.”
He nodded and walked over to a cabinet in the corner. Opening it, he fished around in back.
To her amazement, he took out a gun.
”Have you ever fired a 9 mm pistol?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
She shook her head, hating to see the disappointment on his face.
”I'm not planning on you ever having to use it, okay? But I want you to know how-just in case.”
She nodded as he pressed the gun into her hand. She listened as he instructed her on how to fire it. She wasn't sure what frightened her most. That he feared she would need it. Or that she might have to shoot someone.
AS J.T. RODE OUT of camp with the three men, he couldn't shake the feeling that he shouldn't be leaving Reggie alone. Maybe especially with a gun. But he couldn't leave her unarmed and he had to get ready to move the cattle down.
He had thought about taking her with him but they had a long ride ahead of them later this afternoon and with her ankle, the ride would be painful enough without making her ride this morning as well.
The only way he could be sure she was all right would have been to stay with her. Since he couldn't do that, he hoped that by keeping an eye on the last three cowhands she would be safe. As long as he was right about the trouble he was having coming from within the ranks-not from the outside, then all he had to do was keep track of the men.
He had his rifle in the scabbard on his saddle. He noticed that the other men had their weapons as well as they rode out of camp.
He'd considered sending Reggie down the mountain with Cotton and Slim, but he knew he couldn't do that. Cotton was hurt and would be suffering the effects of the snakebite. Slim had been acting too scared. J.T. couldn't even be sure that Slim would stay with Cotton and get him to the ranch and medical help. And the truth was he didn't trust anyone.
At this point, he just hoped that with any luck, he would meet up with his brother Sheriff Cash McCall on the way down the mountain this afternoon. That is, if Cotton made it to the ranch with the message.
He tried not to think about the alternative. Just as he tried not to dwell on getting Reggie off this mountain. He couldn't ride double with her. Not twenty miles. She would have to ride her own horse and no matter what she said about wanting to learn to ride, he had seen how afraid she was of horses. As long as she didn't do anything foolish- He groaned. What could have been more foolish than following him up here in the first place? At least with everything going on, she'd given up on the commercial. He supposed that was something.
Ahead, Slim and Will cut into the trees to pick up three stray cows. He looked around for Roy. He didn't want to lose any more men. Nor did he want any of the three to double back to the cabin. With relief, he saw Roy through the trees, rounding up several more cows.
On the mountain below him, the main herd milled in the large meadow where he and the men had left them yesterday. Their coats shone in the sun, a dark rich brown and stark white. He'd been around cattle all his life but right now they were as beautiful as anything he'd ever seen. He loved this way of life. Anger boiled up in him at the thought that someone was trying to take it away from him-and using his men to do it. Just like last time.
He told himself that by this afternoon he would have the cattle and the crew back at the ranch. If he could just hold things together until then. He headed into the trees to cut a couple of strays back toward the herd, anxious to get back to Reggie and head down the mountain to the ranch.
He couldn't wait to see the ranch house where he'd been born and raised. Only a few days ago, he'd been glad to leave. With his father Asa McCall acting strangely, his mother Shelby back from the dead, Dusty mad and pouting, Brandon stuck on the ranch working to pay off some gambling debts, Rourke away on his honeymoon, Cash living in town and keeping busy being sheriff, J.T. had wanted as far away from the ranch as he could get.
But even with the craziness at the ranch, J.T. would give anything to be riding up to it right now. He had half a million dollars worth of beef to get off this mountain. The Sundown Ranch was a working ranch that depended on the sale of the cattle each year to keep going.
He had to get the cattle down. And, he reminded himself, maybe whoever was behind the incidents would quit now that they were moving the cattle down. No one had been seriously hurt. This time. So far.
Right. He thought about Buck. He couldn't be sure that was true. Worse, as he watched the cattle milling below him, he couldn't shake the feeling that the incidents hadn't been random, that they were leading up to something bigger. He hoped to h.e.l.l he was wrong.
The one thing he couldn't ignore was the chance that whoever was doing this had the same plan Billy Joe Duncan, Leroy Johnson and Claude Ryan had had nine years ago.
The only one he'd known was Claude Ryan. Clearly, it had been Claude's plan and he'd found two men to help pull it off. With Claude it had been personal. Claude had been nurturing his grudge against J.T. since they were kids.
He'd died trying to even some score that J.T. had never even understood. It was Claude's face J.T. saw in his nightmares. Claude on fire, his face melting in the flames at the window, his gaze filled with hate as he screamed that he would kill J.T.
That kind of hate scared J.T. more than he wanted to admit. Fueled by that hate and madness, was it any wonder that Claude had been the one who'd escaped the burning cabin and had dragged himself partway down the mountain?
J.T. couldn't imagine the last hours of Claude's life. Had he still been alive when his body had been dragged off into the trees by the bear to be devoured?
Not even Claude deserved that.
REGGIE HAD just finished the dishes and packed the necessities for the ride down the mountain. She glanced at her watch, anxious for J.T. to return. It seemed like weeks since she'd seen J.T. kneeling beside her rental car, changing her tire. Changing her life, she thought.
Her head snapped up as she smelled it. She had gotten one of the windows open a crack earlier when she was doing the dishes. Now she wasn't surprised to see smoke blowing in. She could hear the flames licking at the dry wood. Her heart leaped to her throat. The cabin was on fire!
Fire had killed the three rustlers and now the line shack was on fire. Her mind raced. Was it possible she could put the fire out? With what though?
She could hear the crackling of the flames. Smoke billowed past the window and began to bleed through the cracks along the back wall. Her eyes and throat burned as the cabin began to fill with smoke. The whole place could go up in flames at any moment. She had to get out of here!
She limped to the bed, grabbed her jacket and saw the gun where she'd left it on the mattress. As she reached for it, she knew the fire was no accident. Someone was trying to scare her. Or kill her.
Scooping up the gun, she tried to remember everything J.T. had told her about firing it. Her hand shook and she hurried to the door, her ankle throbbing, but nothing like even the thought of being burned alive in this cabin.
She unlocked the door and tried to push it open. The door wouldn't budge. What was wrong? The door had always opened easily. Fear paralyzed her. She threw herself against the door. It still didn't move. Rational thought intervened. Someone had barricaded the door.
Smoke moved like fog around her waist-deep and quickly climbing. She had to get out. The windows were small and paned and her only way out. She hoped she could squeeze out that way. Otherwise, she was trapped in the burning cabin.
Regina rushed to the window farthest from the burning part of the building and began to break out the gla.s.s and wooden panes with the b.u.t.t of the pistol. The gla.s.s was old and brittle, the wooden panes weathered.
The cabin was full of smoke now, her eyes blurred, she could barely breathe. Covering her mouth, she dropped the pistol out the window and then climbed after it. The s.p.a.ce was tight. She was half out when she heard something inside the cabin fall with a crash as the fire spread.
Her hips stuck in the small window. With all the strength she could muster, she pushed against the side of the cabin, forcing the rest of her body from the window.
She tumbled headfirst into the dirt and lay there for a moment, the breath knocked out of her, coughing and crying. Her hips were sc.r.a.ped and cut from the broken gla.s.s. Her hands were sc.r.a.ped and bleeding.
But she was alive. She sucked in the fresh air as she picked up the pistol and scrambled to her feet. The cabin was ablaze, the heat and smoke forcing her back. She stared at the flames for a moment, then turned and looked around the camp, sensing that she wasn't alone.