A Texas Hill Country Christmas (21 page)

A short time later, Ace crouched behind a large rock on top of the bluff next to Luke Jensen. They couldn't see much as they peered out over the rain-swept landscape, but Ace thought they would be able to spot any riders approaching the cave.

Chance, Porter, and Evelyn were with the horses, back in the trees behind Ace and Luke. The two prisoners were with them, too, gagged now as well as tied securely, so they couldn't call out a warning to their fellow owlhoots. Ace and Luke had carried the two dead men up here as well, so when Hudson and the rest of the gang got back to the cave, they would find the hideout apparently deserted.

As long as Hudson was holding the little boy hostage, they wouldn't be able to make a move against the gang. Luke had explained that they would try to come up with some way to get the boy away from his captors, but they couldn't figure out how to do that until the outlaws got back.

As they waited tensely, Luke surprised Ace by saying, “So you and your brother have met the famous gunfighter Smoke Jensen, eh?”

“That's right. Sure surprised me when we did, too. I'd read about him in dime novels, but I never expected to run into him in real life. As it turns out, he's a fine hombre, too. He gave us a hand in a little scrape we got into up in Wyoming. It was a real pleasure meeting him.”

Luke chuckled and said, “I'll have to tell him that next time I see him.”

“You know him, too?” Ace asked as he looked over at the older man.

“You could say that. He's my little brother.”

Ace's eyes widened.

“Really? And now we've run into you. What are the odds of that?”

Luke said, “For all the wide-open spaces, the frontier's not as big as you might think it is, especially for fellas who, let's say, have a habit of running into trouble. You and your brother do your share of that?”

“More than our share, I'd say,” Ace replied. “We're not looking for it, but it seems to find us wherever we go.”

Luke nodded solemnly and said, “Believe me, I know the feeling.” He lifted his head. “Listen. I think I hear horses out there somewhere.”

“Yeah,” Ace said a moment later. “I do, too. They sound like they're coming closer.”

Luke's eyes narrowed in thought as he said, “The gang kept guards up here all the time?”

“As far as I know. They only grabbed us earlier today.”

“Then they'll probably expect some sort of all-clear signal,” Luke said, nodding.

“Aren't they liable to catch on that something's wrong if you don't give them the right signal? Or see that you're not who you're supposed to be?”

“I'm counting on the weather to take care of both of those things. In this downpour, they won't be able to see all that well.”

Ace supposed that made sense. He leaned forward a little, hands tightening on the Winchester he held, as they waited for the riders to come into sight.

That didn't take long. The men and horses blended together into large, almost formless masses as they approached the cave. They slowed and Luke breathed, “They're waiting for the signal.”

He stood up, held his rifle above his head, and swung it back and forth. The riders down below wouldn't be able to make out any more details about him than he could about them, but they ought to be able to see that movement, thought Ace.

The men on horseback started forward again and disappeared into the cave, so they must have been satisfied with the signal.

“Now what?” Ace asked. “They'll see that the place is empty and know something happened.”

“And since he got the all-clear, the first thing Hudson will do is send somebody up here to find out what's going on. He'll be confused, but at this point he shouldn't think he's in any danger.”

Ace hoped the older man was right. From the few things Luke had mentioned about his past while they were waiting up here, Ace knew he'd been a manhunter for a long time. By now Luke ought to know how an outlaw would think and react.

“Let's head for the trail,” Luke suggested.

They hadn't gotten there when two men appeared, trudging up from below. Luke and Ace kept their heads down as the outlaws approached. One of the men called through the rain, “Hey, who's that? Deke? Tully? The boss wants to know what in blazes is goin' on. The prisoners are gone!”

Luke muttered something in return, but the men couldn't make it out over the downpour. They came closer, and the second man said, “What was that?”

Luke made his move then, leaping forward and sweeping his rifle up to smash the butt against the jaw of an outlaw. Ace tried the same thing, but the man who was his target reacted with quick instincts and twisted out of the way. He yelled and tried to bring up the rifle he was carrying.

Before he could do that, Luke rammed his rifle barrel into the man's midsection. It was a continuation of the same move that had laid out the first man, and as the second one doubled over in pain, Luke's knee came up and cracked against his jaw. He went down, too, out cold just like his companion.

“Sorry,” Ace said.

“That's all right, kid. You're still learning. Just remember, there aren't many second chances in this business.”

Ace didn't intend to go into the bounty hunting business, but he didn't figure there was any reason to point that out to Luke right now.

They dragged the two senseless men into the trees where Chance, Porter, and Evelyn were waiting. In a matter of minutes the two outlaws were tied and gagged like Deke and Shaw.

“Don't recognize these two right offhand,” Luke said, “but when I have the time to go through my wanted posters I'll probably find them. This could add up nicely.”

“What about the boy?” Evelyn asked.

Luke shook his head and said, “I couldn't tell if they had him or not. I believe there were about a dozen riders. How many are in the bunch?”

They had to look to Evelyn for that answer, since she was the only one who had seen the whole gang. She said, “I think there were a few more than that, but I'm not sure exactly how many. But I believe Oliver planned to send some of his men to carry a message to this Sam Brant.”

“So Hudson's waiting for them to show up with Brant.” Luke rubbed his chin and frowned. “He's got to be torn right now. He wants Brant, but he's bound to be upset about your disappearance, too, Miss Channing. Maybe he'll split his forces again and send some of his men to look for you. Come on, Ace. Let's get back to where we can keep an eye on the trail in case any of the others start up here.”

They hurried back to the rocks where they had been hidden earlier. As Ace crouched there, he looked across the open area in front of the cave at the little creek running along the far side. Actually, it wasn't a little creek anymore, he thought. It was a raging torrent running bank-full. He could hear its rumbling even over the storm. And as long as the rain continued to fall, it wasn't going to go down anytime soon.

Ace was watching the swollen creek, so he wasn't aware that something else was happening until Luke said, “Riders coming.”

Ace swung his attention to the figures on horseback approaching the cave. He counted five of them.

“You think that's . . . ?”

“I think that's the rest of Hudson's men,” Luke said, “and they've brought Sam Brant with them.”

 

 

Seth hadn't said anything else as he rode alongside the outlaw called Cameron. He didn't have any interest in carrying on a conversation with any of these men. His mind was too full of worry about Charlie's fate and what it would mean to Delta.

A wry thought nagged at his brain. Maybe he ought to tell them about the Lord and see if he could get them to repent their wicked ways.

But he supposed his preaching days were over, because what he wanted to do even more was skin out both smoke poles he carried and get to work. He remembered what it was like to hear the roar of shots, feel the guns bucking in his hands, and smell the sharp tang of powder smoke.

That beat praying any day, he thought bitterly.

He couldn't risk any shooting until he got Charlie away from Hudson, though. He could do that as long as he had the leverage of that stolen loot. Delta was the only one who knew he had spent it all on the church and other good works.

By faith are ye saved, not works,
he reminded himself. That's what the Scriptures said. He wasn't sure it was true, though. He'd had faith, but it wasn't enough.

Some men just couldn't be saved.

They rode along a creek that was close to breaking out of its banks. Many of the fields and pastures were already flooded. When the creek overflowed it would just make things worse. This was going to be a great disaster before it was over, Seth thought, because today the heavens truly had opened up. He had never seen rain like this before.

Cold, wet, and miserable, the men started up a gentle slope. Seth caught his breath as he spotted the dark mouth of what appeared to be a large cave in the base of a rugged bluff rising ahead of them.

Cameron led the way. Seth hung back a little. He didn't mean to, but he knew that with each step his horse took, he was that much closer to death. No matter how strong he might be, nearly every man feared the end of his days. That end was approaching rapidly for Seth Barrett.

Then they were inside, and after the downpour in which they had been riding, it almost felt strange not to have the rain pounding against him anymore.

Gun-hung, hard-faced men were ranged around the fire. Seth spotted Oliver Hudson among them. Hudson was pacing back and forth angrily and didn't notice the new arrivals for a second or two. Then he stopped short, swung toward the men on horseback, and a gun swept up in his hand.

“By God, I ought to shoot you right here and now, Sam,” he said. “You've got it coming for what you did.”

“You pull that trigger and you'll never get your money, Oliver,” Seth said coolly. He tried not to let Hudson see how desperately his eyes were searching for Charlie Kennedy.

There!
The boy was sitting on one of the crates with an outlaw standing beside him keeping an eye on him. Charlie wasn't tied up, and he didn't appear to be hurt, just soaked and terrified. He sat there with the firelight reflecting from his wide, staring eyes.

“M-Mr. Barrett?” he croaked.

Hudson lowered the gun but didn't holster it. He said, “His name's not Barrett, kid. It's Sam Brant, and he's no preacher. He's an outlaw, just like us. Worse than us, because he stole from his partners. Didn't you, Sam?”

Seth ignored the question and said, “Let the boy go. You don't need him anymore. Put him on a horse and send him home.”

Hudson let out a cold, humorless laugh. He said, “Send a boy out in a storm like that? You're loco, Sam. I wouldn't do that.”

“I'll tell you where the money is, but only after Charlie's headed back to his mother.”

Hudson shook his head.

“You
take
us to the money, and then the boy goes free. That's the only way this will work. Otherwise . . .”

Hudson half-turned. He lifted the revolver again and aimed it at Charlie as he thumbed back the hammer. Charlie whimpered and started to get up, but the man beside him grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back down on the crate.

“You kill him and you'll die half a second later, Oliver,” Seth said.

“Yes, I see you still have your guns.”

Cameron said, “He wouldn't give 'em up, boss.”

“It doesn't matter,” Hudson said with a shake of his head. “Look around you, Sam. There are half a dozen guns pointed at you. I know you're fast, but you're not
that
fast. You make a move toward your guns, and you'll be riddled with lead before you can touch them.”

Smiling faintly, Seth said, “And again, if that happens you don't get your loot, do you?”

Hudson's lips drew back from his teeth in a grimace. This was a standoff and he knew it. He tipped the gun barrel toward the roof of the cave and lowered the hammer.

“All right,” he snapped. “I've got other problems to deal with right now. Tell me where the loot is.”

Seth had been thinking about that during the ride here, so he had an answer ready.

“It's at the church,” he said. “Buried under the floor where the pulpit stands.”

Hudson stared at him for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed, a genuine laugh this time.

“You know, I believe you,” he said. “All that time you stood there preaching, all holier than thou, you were really worshipping your real god, weren't you, Sam? You were thinking about all that money right under your feet.”

Seth managed to smile. Let Hudson believe whatever he wanted to believe. As long as it kept Charlie alive, that was all that mattered.

“All right, I've told you. You can let the boy go now.”

Hudson shook his head and said, “That's not the way it works, and you know it. I said you had to take us to it, but I'm willing to be reasonable. You and the kid don't have to go back out into the rain.” He turned toward Cameron and went on, “Take five men and go get that loot. We'll wait for you here.”

Cameron didn't look happy about the idea of going back out into the storm, but he nodded and said, “Sure, boss.”

Seth started to object, but he changed his mind. Once Cameron and the others were gone, that would cut down the odds against him. They would still be ten to one, but right now Seth would take anything he could get.