Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (46 page)

Travis nodded, signaling Sam slowly, and right then Sam made his move, lifting his arm off the supporting stick and giving Lloyd a vicious shove that sent him reeling to land on top of Mason and Lonnie Bruce. But the movement had knocked Sam off balance, and he fell forward to sprawl helplessly on top of the others.

Mason came alive, screaming with rage. He grabbed for Lloyd’s gun as all of the men thrashed about wildly. Travis had grabbed his own gun, but did not fire for fear of hitting Sam.

“Move, Sam,” Travis yelled. “Get out of the way.”

Sam groaned in pain as he tried to move on his injured leg.

Suddenly Mason came up out of the melee, raising his arm to fire. Travis knew he was taking a big chance, but there was no other way. He fired, striking Mason squarely between the eyes. He was so close to Sam that blood splashed onto his partner’s face.

Travis fired again, this time hitting Lonnie Bruce in the chest.

Lloyd Perkins screamed, flinging his arms above his head. “Don’t shoot! Don’t kill me! I lived too long to die like that. Please, please, don’t shoot!”

Sam slapped him, sending him sliding across the floor. “Get the hell out of my way!” he roared, reaching for his homemade crutch. “Damn old fool! We wouldn’t waste a damn bullet on your wrinkled old hide.”

Travis laughed. There weren’t that many years between the two, but Sam was grizzled and tough, and that made the difference.

Travis walked over and helped Sam to his feet, then turned to Munroe, who had quickly finished untying Israel. “You two all right?”

“Yassuh!” Munroe shouted gratefully. “We gonna be just fine. You done saved both our lives. Praise the Lord!”

He turned to Sam. “How bad did you hurt your leg? You may have messed it up good.”

Sam shook his head. “It hurts like hell, but it’ll be all right. Don’t worry about me. What’s going to happen now?”

“Munroe won’t have to worry about the Klan anymore. I don’t think anyone will. It’s over. At least in these parts. With him dead,” he nodded at Mason’s lifeless body, “that leaves just the big boss. I’ll get you back to the doc’s, and then I’ll go pick him up.”

“You think you’ve got enough to send him away?” Sam asked skeptically. “Influence and money could save his hide.”

“I’m well aware of that, but at least we can put him out of business.”

“There’s more,” Sam said quickly, giving Lloyd Perkins a black look. “He told me about the plan as we came through the woods. He said I saved them the trouble of coming after me. Hadn’t we better be on the lookout for the ones who
were
going to bring me out here? When they find out I’m already gone, they’re liable to come riding out here.”

“I doubt it,” Travis said, shaking his head. “We aren’t going to hang around here, anyway.”

Perkins was watching him with wide, fearful eyes. “You gonna kill me, Marshal?” he cried suddenly, tears spilling from his veined eyes. “You wouldn’t shoot an old man in cold blood, would you? I wasn’t gonna kill you. I was just bluffin’…
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
waitin’ for Mason to get up. You know I wouldn’t kill nobody.”

Travis blinked thoughtfully. “Tell you what, Perkins.” He walked over and hunched down beside him, propping his elbows on his knees as he pressed his hands together. “You did a very serious thing when you set up a U.S. marshal to be murdered. You’re in a lot of trouble. I’m not going to kill you, but while you’re rotting in jail for the rest of your life, I imagine you’re going to wish a thousand times over that I had.”

Lloyd Perkins swung his head from side to side, crying harder, his whole body convulsing. “No. No. You wouldn’t do that to an old man.”

Travis stared at him without blinking. “Now, what makes you think not, Perkins? After all, you knew you were setting me up to be killed when you walked into my office with your lies. And when you saw Bucher slipping in to try to save me, you drew a gun on him and brought him here knowing full well Mason would kill him, too. So why should I show you any pity?”

Lloyd covered his face with gnarled hands. “Have mercy,” he sobbed. “Don’t do what I did. Have mercy!”

Travis sighed and pulled the old man’s hands away from his face. “Perkins, I’m going to give you a break. You’re old. I wouldn’t like to send you to prison to die. With Mason dead, the big leader of the Klan about to be arrested, the real power of the Klan is gone. You would be no threat to anyone if I just let you get up and walk out of here.”

Lloyd’s eyes bulged hopefully. He started to get up, but Travis easily pushed him back.

“Don’t be in such a hurry,” Travis snapped. “You aren’t leaving here unless you tell me the name of everyone you know who is a member of the Klan.”

Lloyd gasped in horror. “They’d kill me. They’d figure who told when I went free. I can’t do that.”

“You can,” Travis nodded confidently. “And you will. I will also expect you to testify that you know for a fact that they are members. They are going to jail, and they won’t be around to bother you. You can leave here, take a new name, disappear. That’s up to you. But I promise you one thing, Perkins. You don’t cooperate with me, and you’ll die in prison. Make up your mind.”

Lloyd glanced from Travis to Sam with growing desperation. Sam was watching silently, expressionless, from just inside the doorway. Munroe was grinning, enjoying Perkins’ predicament. Israel listened in silence, still shaken from his ordeal.

Perkins’ eyes went back to Travis’. Perkins swallowed hard and said in a croaking voice, “All right. I’ll tell you what I know. But you gotta protect me. You can’t let them kill me.” He was nearly hysterical.

“Start talking,” Travis ordered.

Lloyd began to name names, slowly at first, and then words were toppling out on top of each other and he cried, “That’s it. That’s all I can remember. If I think of more later, I’ll tell you. Just let me go. Let me get out of here and go hide. Everybody is gonna know it was me what talked. You gotta let me go.”

Travis stood. “All right, leave. But—”

He was interrupted by Sam’s urgent cry, “Somebody’s coming, Travis.” He pointed his gun into the woods beyond the shack. Then a startled look appeared on his craggy face. “Well, I’ll be damned. She did follow me.”

Travis rushed across the narrow room, cursing at the sight of Alaina atop the horse, long hair flying in the wind.

Munroe came forward, holding the lantern as she reined to a quick stop and slid quickly to the ground.

“You’re all right!” she cried, throwing herself against Travis’ chest, face flushed, eyes sparkling. “Thank God! Thank God Sam got here in time!”

She fell silent as she saw the blood, shiny in the lantern’s glow.

She moved away from Travis, and he let her go. Better to let her find out right then, he figured, find out and get it over with.

She stepped inside the doorway, and he watched as she covered her face with trembling hands. Her scream pierced the night. Throwing herself to her knees, she ran her hand over Stewart Mason’s lifeless body.

“No!” she shrieked, leaping up to run to Travis. “No! No!” Her fingers arched to claws as she attacked his face. He grabbed her wrists but not before he felt the painful ripping of his flesh beneath her pointed nails.

“You killed him, you bastard! You goddamn bastard! You killed him! Killed him!”

Travis gave her a rough shake, then slapped her sharply. She staggered backward, and he grabbed her wrists and pinned them together behind her back. “Listen to me, woman. I had no choice. He was going to kill me. Now get hold of yourself.”

When a moment passed without her making any effort to attack, he released her. “It’s time we all got out of here,” he said. Then to Sam he said, “Let Munroe help you get back to town. Israel can go along with you. Just stay there till I get back. Since Alaina and I will be heading in the same direction, we can go together.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alaina hissed.

He ignored her, speaking to Lloyd Perkins, who was sneaking around the corner of the shack, trying to disappear. “Go home, Perkins,” he called. “Don’t say anything about tonight to anybody, hear? I’ll send someone for the bodies tomorrow.”

Perkins made no answer as he moved swiftly, disappearing into the night.

Munroe supported Sam as they began walking into the woods, carrying the lantern.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Alaina said, beginning to sob. “I loved him! I never knew it till now, but I loved him. And I’m not going to leave him here like this. I hate you, Travis Coltrane. I’ll see you dead for this.”

Suddenly Travis realized he’d had more than enough. He pointed his finger at her and bellowed, “Damn it, Alaina, you do whatever the hell you want to. Stay here and cry over Mason’s worthless body. Get home any way you can.”

He turned and began walking away in long, angry strides.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she cried in a high-pitched voice. “You just killed the man I love, and now you think you can just walk away?”

He whirled around. “I think you’ve got it wrong, Alaina. I killed the only man who loved
you,
and now you realize that. Even a bastard like Mason was better than nothing, wasn’t he?”

“Liar!” she screamed. “You goddamned cowardly liar. You loved me, too. You couldn’t have done what you did if you hadn’t loved me.”

Turning, Travis walked as fast as the underbrush would allow, making for his horse. He would ride out of there…even out of the state if he could.

He was sick of Kentucky

He was sick of fighting.

He was sick of women like Alaina Barbeau.

Why—his voice broke as he whispered into the ethereal darkness
—why, Kitty, did you have to die?

Chapter Twenty-Five

He had made a mistake that night that had almost gotten him killed. Travis Coltrane was not about to make another.

His senses alert, he reined up his horse quickly and slid from the saddle. Pistol in one hand, rifle in the other, he dove into a thick bramble of blueberry bushes and waited. Obediently, his horse trotted for cover.

Travis did not know what had made him do that. Perhaps it was just nerves.

Then he heard it, the steady clip-clopping of hooves. Distant, but headed toward him. Listening intently, he decided there was one horse, one rider. Raising to his knees, he aimed both weapons at the road and waited, both gun hammers cocked. But in a second his keen eye caught the hint of long, flowing hair.

A woman.

With a deep sigh of relief, Travis stood. He waved his arms over his head and stepped out into the open road. Marilee jerked the horse to a halt.

“Travis,” she gasped, stunned and overjoyed.

He reached up to clasp strong hands around her waist and set her on the ground. “What in hell are you doing out here?”

Quickly, she told him all of it. “I came as soon as I could,” she finished raggedly, exhausted from the frantic ride. “Thank God, you’re all right. Tell me quickly what happened.”