By Starlight (27 page)

“What the hell…?” Sumner wondered aloud.

As if in answer, a beat-up truck suddenly exploded out of the alleyway in which Maddy had been discovered. It was traveling fast, its engine roaring, and showed no sign of slowing. Wide-eyed with shock, Maddy watched dumbfounded as it came right toward her, smashing into a pair of crates and sending splinters of wood, shards of glass, and plenty of liquor flying through the air. In the ensuing chaos, Maddy jabbed an elbow into Sumner’s ribs, freeing herself and leaping out of the way. The truck skidded to a halt as the criminals were showered in a barrage of destroyed contraband, the doors flying open.

Maddy gasped to see Jack out of the passenger’s side door in a flash.

“You’re under arrest,” he shouted, “by order of the Bureau of Prohibition!”

JACK’S FEET HIT
the ground running before Clayton’s beat-up old truck had come to a complete stop, the last sounds of the destruction they’d caused still echoing off the surrounding buildings. Broken glass and splintered wood were everywhere. Sumner looked at Jack as if he’d seen a ghost, his eyes wide and mouth slack, while unconsciously backing away.

“You’re under arrest by order of the Bureau of Prohibition!” Jack shouted as loud as he could, still wishing he had his badge and gun but hoping that a bit of confusion and fear of arrest might make their dangerous, difficult job easier.

“Ain’t no point in puttin’ up a fight!” Clayton bellowed, jumping from the driver’s side door. “It’s all over now!”

Clayton’s plan had been a bold one: to drive his truck right into the middle of the landing in order to give them the element of surprise they so desperately needed. If it worked, they’d have a chance to rescue Maddy while simultaneously putting an end to the illegal liquor operation.

Now all they had to do was take advantage…

Desperately Jack searched for Maddy; his biggest fear barreling down the narrow alleyway, their lights off so that they wouldn’t give themselves away, had been that they’d accidentally hit her when they burst out into the open. Clayton had assured him that she’d be fine, but the worry had continued to gnaw at him. Finally, he saw her lying unharmed on the ground beside the broken remains of a crate and his heart filled with relief.

“Jack!” she shouted, her face brightening.

“Get somewhere safe!” he shouted at her before turning away; now that he knew she hadn’t been hurt, he could turn his attention back to putting an end to the two criminals’ schemes.

No matter what, I’m going to stop them!

Without hesitation, Jack ran right at Sumner. Though he knew Jeffers was the more imposing of the two, undoubtedly the more dangerous in a brawl, that didn’t mean that the younger man wasn’t the bigger threat. Jack knew Sumner had a pistol, one he’d shown no reluctance to fire. If Jack could get to him quickly, before he had a chance to draw it…

As he struggled to best his shock, Sumner’s hand fished wildly in his pant pocket; he was doing just as Jack had expected, but so far he’d been unable to pull the pistol free. If he’d had it in his rear waistband, within easier reach, he’d already have been shooting; Jack guessed that he’d put it in his pocket in order to more easily move the alcohol.

It only took Jack a few seconds to reach the man, but they were the longest of his life. Finally, just as Sumner managed to draw the gun, Jack was on him, a fist smashing into the thug’s jaw and sending him sprawling, the gun flying from his hand and, much to Jack’s relief, clattering over the edge of the mercantile’s lift before plummeting into the darkness below.

“Now you’ll have to fight me like a man,” Jack said.

“I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands!” Sumner shouted back, and came charging right at him. He threw a wild haymaker that a blind man would’ve had a good chance of dodging. Jack nimbly moved to the side, let the fist fly past, and took immediate advantage of Sumner’s vulnerability to smash a punch into his exposed ribs. As the air whooshed out of his lungs, Jack kept at him, cracking him on his chin and sending him sprawling onto the ground in a faceful of dirt.

Maybe things were going to be easier than Jack had imagined.

Maddy could scarcely believe what she was seeing. Just as Jeffers had told her that he planned to rape her, put his hand on her breast, and squeezed until tears welled in the corners of her eyes, just as any hope of rescue had begun to fade, here was Jack coming to her rescue. Her ears still rang from the sound of the crash, but shouting his name had cleared her spinning thoughts. Even though he’d ordered her to leave, to go somewhere safe, she couldn’t bring herself to look away, watching him pummel Sumner senseless yet again.

Glancing quickly at the other side of the old truck, Maddy saw Clayton slowly circling Jeffers, his hands raised like a boxer, looking for an opening.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared a fightin’,” Clayton taunted the much larger man. “Put ’em up!”

Maddy was unnerved by Jeffers’s reaction; instead of being goaded into action, cussing, or making threats of his own, he smiled. She was reminded of the day he’d first come to the mercantile and proposed the speakeasy; Jeffers Grimm was at his most dangerous at a moment like this.

No matter what she’d been told, Maddy knew she couldn’t run away, even if it meant she was in danger. Jack and Clayton needed her.

I’ve got to do something to help them…But what…?

Suddenly she had an idea. Hurrying to the truck’s passenger’s side door, she threw it open and slid inside. Pieces of glass littered the seat from the window that had shattered in the collision. Careful not to cut herself, Maddy got behind the wheel. If she could blow the truck’s horn, she might be able to wake the sleeping town and draw attention to what was happening. If everyone came running, the odds could tilt in their favor.

But before Maddy could make a sound she was yanked out of the door and onto the ground, landing hard on her side. From where she lay, she saw Clayton’s crumpled body.

“You ain’t gettin’ away from me that easy, bitch,” Jeffers growled.

This time when Maddy screamed, there was no attempt made to keep her quiet.

Sumner spat the coppery tang of blood from his mouth, desperately trying to clear the cobwebs from his head. Bright stars spun at the edges of his vision, blinking and turning, and the ground seemed to tilt one way and then the other, making it hard to get back to his feet. Even that bastard Jack Rucker looked out of focus, like there was more than one of him, standing above Sumner, his fists balled, gloating.

That son of a bitch!

Somehow Sumner had been knocked on his ass for the third time. Unbelievable as it was, it was still a fact: first in the alleyway, then in the speakeasy, and now yet again. He knew it wasn’t because Rucker was a better fighter but rather that he was luckier than a cat on its ninth life! He had to be! If Sumner ever managed to get his hands on him…All he needed was to pull himself together, get back on his feet, and get his revenge.

“Shoulda known…you was a…goddamn copper…,” he muttered.

But the bastard didn’t respond.

“Gonna…gonna kill you…”

“Stay down,” Rucker ordered him. “You’ll only get hurt worse.”

Suddenly a woman’s scream split the night like a thunderbolt. Jack spun at the sound, looking back over the wreckage he’d caused, his face twisting in distress. To Sumner, the sound had a different effect; it was like beautiful music. Where a moment before his head had been addled and his muscles a quivering mess, he now felt clearheaded and strong.

This was his chance. This was what he’d been waiting for.

With an animal growl rising up and out of his chest, Sumner sprang to his feet and charged the other man, slamming his full weight into his back and driving him to the ground. Sumner’s entire body felt charged, possessed, and he began raining down punches on the back of Rucker’s head and shoulders. When Sumner’s hand struck bone it flared in agony, as if it had been broken, but he ignored the pain and kept right on punching, knowing that this was his only chance. He’d win; he’d show Jeffers he was a worthy partner; he’d kill Rucker like the dog he was; he’d—

Without warning, Jack suddenly thrust up his hips and flipped Sumner off him and onto his back as easily as a dog shaking off water. He landed with a thud, his enthusiasm for the fight momentarily gone, but as he struggled to regain what he’d lost Jack was on him, driving an elbow into his midsection.

“Maddy!” Jack shouted, his concern somewhere other than on the man he was fighting. “I’m coming!”

Not if I got anythin’ to say ’bout it!

Sumner and Jack rolled around on the ground, each fighting for an advantage. At one instant Sumner felt victorious, but in the next it was gone.

But then things changed.

When he was once again thrown hard on his back, Sumner’s hand knocked up against the stem of a broken liquor bottle. Grabbing it tightly, he thrust quickly upward, driving the sharp glass deep into the meat of Rucker’s shoulder. Instantly blood seeped from the wound as the man shouted in pain.

Exultant, Sumner pressed his gain. Roaring, he pushed Rucker off him and quickly straddled the fallen man’s waist, their positions reversed. With a smile curling his bloodied lips, Sumner raised the broken bottle above his head and prepared to drive it into his opponent’s exposed throat.

This was the moment Sumner had been waiting for, his glorious triumph, the death of that no-good son of a—

Before Sumner knew what was happening, his whole world turned upside down. Beneath him, Jack had grown desperate; knowing that he only had one chance, the threat to his life dangerously real, his shoulder burning from where he’d been stabbed, he grabbed Sumner just beneath the ribs and, pushing upward with every ounce of strength he had left, threw the man off him. Sumner flew forward, tumbling end-over-end, his smile frozen on his face.

But instead of landing hard on his back, the fight’s momentum again swinging in the other direction, Sumner just kept on falling. Even as he plummeted down, he knew what had happened; while they’d been fighting they had rolled beside the mercantile’s lift, the same lift he’d been using to bring the crates of liquor up to the truck. He was dropping down the open shaft.

Before he even had time to be frightened, Sumner smashed into the remaining casks and boxes. Agony such as he’d never known before exploded across his back, but then, like a candle being snuffed, it was suddenly gone.

“…kill you…,” he muttered.

Then everything went black.

Without a glance back to see how Sumner was faring with Jack Rucker, Jeffers dragged Maddy toward the truck. She fought him every step of the way, but she was no more trouble to him than if she were a child. Although there was no chance to get the rest of the alcohol in the mercantile’s cellar, most of it had already been loaded; along with what had already been taken to the pickup location, Jeffers knew there’d still be plenty to give to Jimmy Luciano and then on to Capone. He couldn’t deny that he was shocked by Jack’s being a lawman, he wondered if
he
was the reason the bastard was back in Colton, but there wasn’t time to waste thinking about it. All he had to do was drive the truck out to the meeting place one last time.

And then I can have my way with this meddling bitch.

Jeffers stepped over Clayton Newmar’s moaning body and kept right on going. In the aftermath of the crash, even as the other man had circled him, running his mouth, Jeffers had seen the fear in his eyes; he was used to making men feel that way. When he’d struck, Clayton hadn’t seen it coming.

“Let me go!” Maddy shouted, trying to pry Jeffers’s hand from her arm.

“Shut your damn mouth,” he hissed, squeezing until she gasped.

Whipping open the driver’s side door, he threw Maddy inside. Like a flash, he was right behind her, fast enough to grab her before she could slide across the seat and escape out the other door.

“You try’n run and I’ll hurt you in ways you ain’t never imagined,” Jeffers warned, his eyes flat and menacing.

Maddy said nothing, but the fear in her eyes spoke plenty.

Jeffers was going to enjoy breaking this woman, giving in to every twisted desire he’d ever had, every fantasy that had caused a twinge between his legs. Whenever he finally stopped, she’d wish she was dead. By then, her own father wouldn’t recognize her. Before Jeffers bellied up to the table with the big boys, he was going to have Maddy Aldridge as an appetizer.

The truck started without any fuss, its engine rumbling. Throwing it into gear, Jeffers drove away from the mercantile, from Jack Rucker, from this godforsaken town, with a grin on his face.

Ain’t nothin’ stoppin’ me now.

Jack looked over the edge of the lift’s shaft and saw Sumner’s limp body lying on top of a shattered crate. He lay still and silent. Jack hadn’t meant to throw the dangerous criminal over the edge, but his life had been in danger and he’d simply reacted. But he wasn’t going to waste any time on regrets, either. He had more important things to do.

I’ve got to save Maddy!

Jumping to his feet, Jack ran after the heavily laden truck, losing distance as it slowly gained speed. Within a dozen steps, he knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up; it was already moving too quickly. So instead, he raced back to where Clayton was struggling to get to his feet, one hand on his jaw.

“I feel like I been run over by a truck,” he complained, wiggling one of his teeth to see if it’d been knocked loose.

“We’ve got one we need to catch,” Jack explained. “Do you think you can catch it?”

“Are you kiddin’?” Clayton exclaimed, his eyes growing a bit brighter. “Runnin’ into a bunch a boxes ain’t gonna stop Roger!”

“Then let’s go!”

As fast as they could, they ran over to the beaten truck and leaped inside. Clayton tried to start the engine, but it sputtered and stalled.

“Come on now, old boy,” he soothed. “Don’t make a liar outta me…”

Roger coughed to life on the next try, Clayton jammed down on the gas and the engine roared. Shattered wooden crates rattled around beneath the undercarriage, making the vehicle bounce around a bit before it finally hit the road and took off in pursuit. Wind whipped through the remains of the windshield, but Jack never took his eyes off the accelerating truck.

“Where’d Maddy get to?” Clayton shouted to be heard. “She run to safety once we gave her a distraction?”

Jack frowned. “Jeffers got her. She’s in the truck with him.”

“Oh, Sweet Jesus,” he replied. Shaking his head, he added, “It’s my fault she’s in this mess. It’s all ’cause I let Jeffers whup me good.”

“You did the best you could. It’s like you told me,” Jack said. “Jeffers Grimm isn’t the sort of fella you want to mess with.”