West (History Interrupted Book 1) (28 page)

“What is it? What’s wrong?” came her harried response from the direction of my wing.

“We need to go to town!”

“Now, Miss Josie?”

“Yes!” I didn’t wait for her but strode out onto the porch and began to pace.

Nell appeared alarmed as she ran down the stairs and out of the house. “I’ll have the carriage brought around.”

I glanced towards the carriage house. For once, I wasn’t content to wait for the slower pace o this time period. “We’re going by horseback,” I decided and left the porch.

“Miss Josie, what is it?” Nell asked again.

“Taylor’s Indian brother is in trouble.”

Nell said nothing. I sensed she wasn’t as alarmed as I was, but I didn’t care. I would’ve left her if I didn’t think she was too fragile and likely to freak out with me disappearing.

We saddled horses quickly and left the property. The trip to town was about twice as fast on horseback, especially alternating between a trot and gallop, and we reached the town in about twenty minutes.

There was a crowd outside of the sheriff’s, one that made me uneasy. They appeared calm, but I doubted even a calm lynch mob was a good thing. I dismounted in front of the mercantile store, a safe enough distance away from Taylor’s office. Handing off my reins to Nell, I started through the crowd. A few of those gathered called out congratulations for my marriage while several more shared condolences. I smiled and waved, moving as fast as possible to the door.

A beefy deputy outside the door glanced at me without challenging me, and I entered.

The office was jammed. The native with the silver stripe in his hair, who had been with Running Bear the night they found me in the storm, was present, accompanied by another. The judge was there as well, two more of Taylor’s deputies, and my new husband. Running Bear was in a cell with Doctor Green, who appeared to be wrapping an injured arm.

“Josie,” Taylor spotted me. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I heard the news,” I said.

A spark of understanding crossed his gaze. “Peter, hold things down. I’m gonna have a word with my wife.”

The deputy he addressed smiled at me.

Taylor waved me towards the cells rather than outside, and we ducked into the far one. He took my cheeks in his roughened hands and kissed me lightly. I smiled, wanting to tease him about how brave he’d gotten after one night together, but didn’t. I moved close enough to feel his body heat.

“Fighting Badger came to you?” he asked.

“Yeah. He’s upset.” I searched Taylor’s face. “He said he killed two men who were after me. I know one of them knew you.”

“Josie, now is not –”

“Now
is
the time,” I said firmly. “You’ll forgive me if I’m out of good faith.”

Taylor’s expression softened. “I know. It’s been a rough couple of days. That’s why I’m asking you to head home, and we’ll talk later.”

“No.”

He sighed.

“Taylor, what if this – Running Bear’s death – is what I’m supposed to prevent? You can’t tell me you want your brother hanged!” I whispered insistently. It was a rare day when I was angry, but I was now. I didn’t even know whom it was directed at.

“It’s much more complicated than that.” He shifted back to lean against the wall. “I’ve settled down the town’s folks who want him hanged today. The judge has already decided there won’t be a trial, not after the three additional men Fighting Badger killed, and your cousin Philip is threatening to take this to the governor if I stand in the way of a hanging.”

“I hate Philip,” I muttered.

“He’s a thorn in my side but also the least of my problems.” Taylor took one of my hands, his gaze going to the ceiling. “I suspect Running Bear is my grandfather. He had no children after his first family was killed. If he’s hanged before he can father any more then …”

New fear trickled through me. “How do you know it was him and not Fighting Badger?” I asked. “I know the chances are slim, but there are two of them.”

“One of them didn’t exist in the original timeline. There’s no record of twins anywhere. I suspect Fighting Badger died the first time around, and me being here somehow altered that.”

“If Running Bear dies Saturday, so do you,” I murmured. “What better sign is there that I’m meant to stop this?”

“Aside from the fact Carter is a master manipulator?” Taylor asked, frustration in his tone. “Josie, there was no event that happened in the original history that would’ve let you save a million lives. That door closed when the government began taking the land from natives a hundred years ago. Nothing you could do
here
could make a difference. It was a lie, one Carter told you to get you here.”

“For what purpose?” I demanded.

“As I said: there’s no one who has ever figured out his motivation for anything he does. He’s sent back hundreds of people in time, and not one of them can tell us why.”

His words stung hard enough that the sense of disconnecting with my world emerged. My eyes closed. The buzzing in my ears grew loud, and I floated in my mind.

“I’m so sorry,” Taylor’s arms were around me.

The spell passed. I gripped the thick material of his work shirt and breathed in his scent. I was seated on the bunk in the cell, pressed against him. My nose bled once more, and I wiped away the thick rivulet of red.

I wouldn’t …
couldn’t
believe that Carter had lied to me about everything.

“The two men Fighting Badger caught and killed were sent from my agency,” Taylor added, his warm lips moving against my ear to ensure no one overheard. “My people have dealt with Carter so much that they’ve taken on the mentality of eliminating whoever he sends back, mainly out of fear of the master plan of his they can’t figure out.”

“So I was in danger,” I voiced.

“Yes.”

“All the more reason to stop this nonsense and save Running Bear!” I lifted my head.

“You don’t think I want to save him? He’s my brother, Josie. He helped raise me.” A flicker of emotion touched his features. “You don’t think I want to retire and spend the rest of my life with you on John’s property, helping the settlers and natives get along?”

“I do.” I offered a smile and touched his roughened jaw. “What’re we going to do?”

“I don’t rightly know.”

“We could leave town,” I suggested.
You have no idea how good that sounds.
After discovering all the bodies on the property that shouldn’t be there, I was beginning to view John’s home in a different light. “We have money. We could help him escape and then leave.”

Taylor nodded, though he didn’t look at all interested in the idea. “My people can find us. They sent back three agents. The third … Josie, he’s the kind of danger I can’t protect you from. I don’t know where he is, why he hasn’t attacked, what his plan is. But he’s never, ever failed a mission. If he’s here, we’re in serious trouble.” He paused, troubled, before continuing. “If we ran, it would take a great deal of money to stay hidden and even that wouldn’t guarantee our safety.”

“Well …” I drifted off, uncertain I wanted to ask what was at the tip of my tongue. “You said your people have the ability to bring people back to the future now.”

“In exchange for what? Me turning over you for them to deal with or leaving my grandfather to hang here?” He shook his head. “It’s not an option.”

It was selfish, but I wanted it so much to be an avenue we could take. I understood his concern for those he cared about. If I had to risk letting John or Nell die, I wouldn’t do it, either.

We sat in quiet.

“Are you … serious about what you said? That there’s nothing I can do here to fulfill Carter’s goal?” I was hurting again.  

“Not the way you described.”

“And if Running Bear dies, then you just …”

“Cease to exist.”

“I couldn’t handle that outcome.” Not ready for a husband or love, neither was I ready to lose the one man I knew I could trust, who cared about me enough to protect me from his own people.

Taylor was one of the best men I’d ever met. If I had to be stuck in the past with someone, he was a good choice. I could even see myself adjusting to a life here with him.

“Sheriff!” one of the deputies called.

“Josie, please, go home. I’ll be back late, but when I am, we’ll figure this all out.”

I didn’t like the answer at all, but I didn’t know what else to do. With a nod, I resisted the urge to grab my phone and text Carter. There were too many people milling in the neighboring office.

“Good.” Taylor touched my cheek and planted a warm kiss on my forehead. “I’m sending another deputy with you. There’s one at the house already.”

He rose and went to the door separating the two spaces, speaking quietly to someone. I half expected him to smile or turn back and offer up some sort of better solution than we take everything and run.

He didn’t. I knew he had a lot on his mind, considering his own life was at stake. Even so, I needed something more concrete this time. And … I was burning to tell him about real-Josie, because there was no one else I could tell. The burden of her death wasn’t one I thought I could carry alone.

Her death surely had nothing to do with the third agent from his agency that was in town to finish what the other two didn’t. Josie had been dead at least a year. I was in danger from two directions, one I knew and wasn’t going to prevent without Taylor’s help, and the other I hadn’t pieced together yet.

I owe Fighting Badger my life.
Yet I had no clue if his protection and Taylor’s was going to be enough for me to survive the past, especially if Carter couldn’t fix the microchip he seemed to think was malfunctioning.

Wanting to talk to Taylor again, I nonetheless decided we’d have a better chance to talk in private later. He had enough going on without worrying about yet another dead body I’d found on John’s property.

I left the cells and moved through the crowded office, trailed by a deputy. Nell was at the doorway, waiting. Beside her was someone I didn’t have any patience for at this moment.

“My uncle would be rolling over in his grave if he saw your husband stand in the way of justice,” Philip proclaimed loudly enough for those nearest the office to hear. Grumbles of agreement went through the mob.

“Let him do his job, Philip,” I replied.

“As the man most likely to be elected mayor at the polls next month, I will ensure he does,” came the calm reply. “I will also ensure there’s a full inquisition into your inheritance, cousin, as well as what was behind this sham of a marriage. You took advantage of a weak old man.” He moved closer. “If I have to take my inheritance from you by force, I will.”

I had never wanted to hit anyone the way I did him.
Except maybe Carter.
I was too angry to reply and simply strode away.

It wasn’t until I reached the horses that I had a retort. Grumbling it under my breath, I mounted and waited for Nell.

She had the glassy-eyed look once more, and her memories were skipping.

“You okay, Nell?” I asked, concerned.

She blinked several times before her eyes found me. Her memories stabilized, revealing she was thinking about Josie and John once more. “Yes, Miss Josie. I am distressed is all.”

“Let’s go home. You can show me how to make you tea, and I’ll take care of you for once.” I had never thought the strong willed woman weak or frail, but she looked it.

Nell smiled and mounted her horse. “You always were good to me, Miss Josie. Your father must be missing you in heaven.”

I said nothing, aware that, if anything, he had been reunited with the real Josie.

We returned to the house just as another storm breached the horizon. Any hope I had of it being simply a cloudy evening was dashed when I saw the servants bringing in the clothing and linens, rounding up the sheep and tarping down the wells.

Dismounting, I took care of my horse quickly while Nell brushed and fed hers. We met in the middle of the barn.

“I think I want to lie down for a bit,” I said, itching for some me-time to text Carter. “Will you be okay, Nell?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Nell replied, her spark back.

Weird.
But the woman had a brain tumor in addition to being stressed out after the events of this week. She didn’t trail me into the house but remained with the deputy in the barn, helping him take care of his horse.

The moment I stepped into my room, I whipped out the cell and stared at it. Carter hadn’t texted, as if he was waiting for me to be willing to speak to him again.

With Taylor’s words raw in my thoughts, I managed to write out what was bothering me.
Did you lie about why you sent me back?
I hit send and went to the dressing room to replace the bonnet on its stand.

My phone vibrated, and I read his response.
Sort of. Taylor was your real mission. I’ve been tracking him through several hundred time periods, and this was the first time I was able to catch up with him. Please don’t hate me. There’s a reason I’m doing this, and when you find out what it is, you’ll understand. If it helps, you being there did help a few people.

 “You’re crazier than Fighting Badger,” I said, astonished he’d think there was any explanation I’d accept for all the lying he’d done. “I didn’t leave my life behind to help a few people! I came to rescue a million.” And what could he want with Taylor? Before I could ask him, he sent me another note.

BTW- I have a potential solution for the nosebleeds and headaches. You’re going to have to turn off the empathic memory chip.

I was close to crying again, shaking with anger and too upset to vocalize let alone type the mess of emotions in my mind. Instead, I wrote back,
Am I doing self-brain surgery?

I drank a glass of water and worked on calming myself before I dared read his answer.

LOL – no! This is much more … primitive. It requires a 2x4 board and good aim. A hard blow to the right place on your skull will disengage it.

“Billion dollar technology and you shut it off with a two by four.” I gave a choked sob that was half laugh, baffled, and then stopped short when his next message came in.