Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (39 page)

She did not see Higgins’ blow coming and when his hand cracked across her face she reeled. She would have fallen but he grabbed her arm and squeezed painfully. “Now you just shut your goddamn mouth, bitch. We’ve got to figure out what to do with you, and we might just lose our patience if you keep yapping.”

She tasted blood but her anger never diminished. “Go ahead and kill me! Go ahead!”

He slapped her again, this time hard enough to knock her to the ground.

It was difficult to focus her eyes or to hear, and she struggled to keep from drifting away as dizziness overtook her. She became aware that someone else had arrived. Their conversation sounded thick, muted, as their voices reached her through the fog settling over her.

“What’d you hit her for?”

“Hell, you should’ve heard what she was saying. Goddamn hysterical female!”

“Barbeau’s daughter. Who’da ever thought she’d do this to us?”

“Things make a lotta sense now…all them niggers that got away. She was here. High-tailin’ it outta here to warn them.”

“But why?”

“Her husband fought for the Yankees, remember? I’ve always heard her and him both were nigger-lovers.”

“But how’d she find out about us? How’d she know our secret signals? How’d she know where we were meetin’?”

“How did she know
when
we were meetin’? That’s what bothers me. Someone told her. How many more spies we got? This is bad. Real bad.”

“We don’t have time to worry about the others, not now. We’ve got to deal with her.”

“You gonna kill her?”

There was a long silence.

“No. Her old man would kill us.” The voice held authority, and Marilee at last recognized it as belonging to Stewart Mason. Stewart was not going to let them kill her.

There was movement. Marilee kept her eyes closed, not wanting to let them know that she had heard. The ringing in her ears was getting fainter now, and the pain was not so bad. She could hang on.

She felt herself being tied, arms jerked behind her back and wrists bound together. A wet rag was tied across her mouth. She was lifted roughly and tossed across her saddle. The impact hurt, but she kept quiet, wanting to hear as much as possible.

The horse began to move, and soon their voices became too distant to understand. The ride seemed endless, and several times she felt as though she were going to roll from the saddle onto the ground. They were moving uphill, over rough terrain.

Where is brave Marshal Coltrane? she thought bitterly. Down by the springhouse making up with Alaina? There was still that jealousy, for Alaina had known many nights with Travis, while she had known only one.

The horses were stopping. She tensed. She heard Stewart’s voice coming closer. “We’ll leave her here, and since she already knows about you, you can guard her.”

“For how goddamn long?” Higgins protested. “I got land to tend. I can’t stay up here.”

“You’ve got to. Just till I can get word to the Klan in the western part of the state and ask for their help.”

“What can they do? Kill her for us?” came Higgins’ sarcastic response.

“I don’t want her dead. I just want her out of the way. Right now, she can only tell on you, Higgins. Sure, she knows the secret signals and where we meet, but we’re going to change all that.”

“I’ll get the western Klan to take her off our hands,” he continued, then paused to laugh. “They’ll find something for her to do.”

Higgins snickered, catching on. “You mean, they’ll find something to do
with
her. She’s a fine lookin’ woman. I wouldn’t mind havin’ some myself.”

Marilee heard the sounds of scuffling and Stewart shouted furiously, “You lay one hand on her that way, goddamn you, and I’ll kill you myself, Higgins.” Silence. Harsh breathing. Then Stewart said, “All right, now. We understand each other. The thing is, we can’t have Jordan Barbeau’s daughter around here for long because once she turns up missing, he’s going to want these mountains combed inch by inch.”

“So why not kill her and be done with it?”

Marilee tensed, for Stewart fell thoughtfully silent. “No. She’s good-looking enough that the western Klan will make use of her. Once they’ve got hold of her, then it’s out of my hands. I won’t have her fate on my conscience.”

As if you ever had any conscience, you bastard,
Marilee fumed. It was all she could do to keep still.

She felt herself being lifted from the saddle. The blindfold slipped down. “I’ll stay,” Higgins was saying reluctantly, and she realized it was he who held her, “but not for long. You make the arrangements and make ’em fast, ’cause I ain’t staying but a couple of days.”

Stewart snapped, “You’ll stay till you hear from me.”

The sound of footsteps faded, and she knew Stewart was gone. Higgins began walking, grumbling to himself. She dared to open her eyes just as a brilliant flash of distant lightning danced across the sky. She could see a large, black, gaping hole just ahead. They were headed straight for it. A cave. She had no idea where they were except that it was somewhere in the mountains.

A bobcat screamed from up above, and she was unable to control the sudden jerking of her body. Higgins laughed, “So, you’re awake, are you? Well, you got yourself in a peck of trouble. Bet you wished you’d minded your own business, huh?”

He snickered, gazing at the gag. “Well, I promise you that before this night has ended you’ll talk plenty. Maybe somebody I can’t name is willing to send you off without finding out all you know, but not me. Uh-uh. You’re gonna tell me plenty. Or wish you had,” he added with an evil chuckle.

Higgins must have realized that they were alone. In one rough movement, he tore the rag away from her mouth. It dangled around her neck.

She could no longer suppress her contempt. “I’m not telling you anything. And you’re the one who’s in trouble. If I could find out about you, how long do you think it will take the marshals to do the very same thing? They’ll arrest all of you.”

He dropped her to the ground, and she fell clumsily, still bound by the ropes. “That’s what I aim to find out. How come you know so much and they don’t? Of course, I ain’t worried about them two fool marshals. I imagine after what happened to them last night, they’ll be high-tailin’ it away from here about as fast as they can.”

Fear shot through her. “What…what did you do to them?”

“Beat the shit out of ’em,” he laughed. “I mean beat ’em up good. I think the old one’s got a busted leg, and Coltrane’s face is all broke up. Them two won’t be getting around for a spell, and when they do, they best get out of here. We let ’em know that next time, they’ll die!”

“You stay here,” he ordered. “Don’t try to get out of those ropes ’cause you won’t get far. I’ll be back directly and get you fixed up all nice and cozy so we can have our talk.”

He left, and she allowed herself to think her own thoughts. Travis and Sam injured! No! She shook her head wildly from side to side. Travis’ face swam before her, the firm set to his jaw, the eyes, not blue nor black but a sheen almost the color of silver. What had they done to his face? And how badly had they hurt Sam?

Deep inside, a terrible remorse began to build. She had kept still about the Klan because of her father, and now, because of her silence, the situation had gotten worse. Travis was hurt. Sam was hurt. And she was in trouble.

Higgins returned carrying a burning torch in one hand, a bottle of whiskey in the other. “Now we can see,” he grinned down at her. “You can look around at what’ll be your home for the next few days. Like it?”

The flame cast a sickly yellowish glow around the inside of the cave, shadows dancing ominously off the mold-covered walls. It was cold and damp, and the sound of water rushing could be heard faintly from somewhere in the cave.

“Like it?” he taunted.

She did not reply.

He approached her, taking a knife from his back pocket. With one swift movement he cut the rope from her wrists. Quickly she brought her hands forward, rubbing the sore, bruised flesh.

“I’m not stupid enough to take off the ankle ropes. Get your clothes off and be quick about it.” He grinned.

She jerked up her head in horror.

“Go on.” He grinned. “Unless you want to leave here naked when they come for you, ’cause I’ll rip ’em to pieces getting them off you if you don’t take ’em off yourself.”

“No…” She shrank back against the rough cave wall. “You can’t.”

“Yeah, I can,” he said matter-of-factly, tipping up the bottle for a long drink. “I’ve got some nice plans for you, honey. Whether you enjoy ’em or not depends on you. I want to hear all you got to tell, me.”

She swung her head from side to side. “I won’t tell you anything. You can rape me…kill me…I won’t tell you anything.”

He cocked his head to one side and stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, then said, “I believe you’ve got just enough spunk that you’re going to be a real challenge. But not for long. Now get them clothes off!” With a loud bellow he swooped down on her, grabbing the front of the white robe and ripping it and the shirt beneath from her body.

She attempted to cover her naked breasts, but he jerked her arms away, laughing, “Let me see! Oh, they’re nice, they’re real nice. When you get through telling me what I want to know, me and you are gonna have a fine time.”

“You go to hell,” she screamed, kicking her bound ankles at him as he reached down to yank at her trousers. He backed away in time to keep from getting struck, laughing as he tore and pulled until her trousers were off.

“Now get up!” He wrapped his fingers in her hair and gave her a painful jerk. And when she was on her feet, he shoved her deeper into the cave.

“Here!” he shouted. “I found something.”

Fearfully, she followed his gaze upward, and saw the gnarled, twisted, roots protruding from the cave’s roof, snaking horizontally like cross beams. He pulled the rope that had bound her hands from his belt, grabbed her arms, and began to bind her wrists once more.

She struggled and fought, but he was much too strong for her. Suddenly she found her arms being stretched high above her head, pulling her body painfully upward until only the tips of her toes touched the ground.

“Please, please, don’t do this to me,” she begged.

His eyes moved up and down her tightly stretched body. Licking his lips hungrily, he came closer and reached out to run his hands up and down her quivering flesh. “Nice,” he murmured thickly, cupping her breasts and squeezing. “Oh, baby, you’re real nice.

“We’re gonna have time to pleasure ourselves later, baby, but right now we got business to tend to. Now, if you’d like to go ahead and talk, I’ll cut you down. All you gotta do is tell me how you found out where and when we were meeting, and give me the names of the niggers and anybody else who helped you out. You’re also gonna tell me who else knows about us.”

With a movement so quick as to catch him off guard, she lifted one leg and kicked him in the side of the head so sharply that he staggered backward. “I’ll never tell you anything, damn you,” she shrieked.

He rushed forward to clutch her buttocks, digging his fingers cruelly into the flesh as he bit down on her breast. Then he stood back and roared, “You snotty little bitch. I never liked you nohow! So high and mighty! Marryin’ a goddamn Yankee! And if the boss don’t like it, then he can kiss my ass, ’cause I’m gonna fix you good!”

He picked up the torch, then looked around the cave until he found a long stick with a forked end. Mumbling to himself, he disappeared into the recesses of the cave.

Marilee felt her heart leaping wildly. Never had she known such panic. What was this madman going to do to her? Her arms ached terribly from hanging, and she struggled to touch the floor with her toes, trying to take as much weight as possible from her body.

“Well, well, I didn’t have far to look,” she heard him call triumphantly. Soon she saw the glow of the torch as he returned from around a curve. “Seems we’ve found these critters’ hide out…”

A long, piercing scream escaped as she saw the deadly, writhing snake he held tightly just below its diamond-shaped head.

A rattlesnake!

He dropped it to the ground about four feet away from where her toes dangled. The snake coiled, rattling angrily, swaying from side to side, anticipating his strike.

Higgins backed away, grinning. “Here’s how we’re going to play this little game. I’m gonna ask you a question, and if I don’t get the answer I want, I’m gonna use this stick and push our little friend closer to you. He’s gonna get mad every time I poke him. And sooner or later he’s gonna take a bite out of them pretty legs. So you better be real good at this game.

“Or,” he continued, cackling with anticipation, “once you finish talking, I’ll do away with him. Then you and me’ll have us some fun. How’s that sound?”

She did not speak but kept her eyes riveted on the coiled rattlesnake. Judging by his size, he was already close enough to strike.

“The first thing I want to know,” Higgins began, “is how you knew where we were meeting.”

When she did not answer, he grasped the stick and thrust it at the snake, pitching him a few inches closer to her. She screamed as the snake struck in Higgins’ direction, missing Higgins by only inches.