Chapter 15 #2
Kyle shook his head. “No, don’t make a noise,” he whispered. “I’m coming back to get you. Okay? Do you understand me?”
For a moment, her scared eyes just stared at him, and then Chrissie nodded.
Kyle lowered the tarp back in place. Then he walked on as casually as he could so that the driver and the men across the way wouldn’t pay him any attention.
There was more afoot here than Kyle could even guess at.
He needed to talk to the others, but unfortunately, there was no time now.
He had to do something to save Chrisse. If he had her sister so close and lost her, Alice would never speak to him again—understandably.
So, the only option was to rescue her quickly by himself.
After walking some way along the street, he turned down a side street and doubled back. It was easy to sneak up on a cart. That was the thing about them. You couldn’t see behind you, so anyone could come along and climb in, so long as they were quiet.
Kyle lifted the tarp on the side that was hidden from the other side of the street.
“Chrissie?” he called quietly.
There was the sound of two bodies shifting and then he saw two sets of eyes. The second pair must belong to her husband, Jason.
“I’m going to lift this more so you two can climb out,” he whispered.
Chrissie shook her head.
Oh, right, they have to be tied up, Kyle thought. “Okay, I’ll cut your bonds. Roll over.”
He pulled his knife from his pocket. He had to work quickly; there was no time for things to go wrong. Luckily, something across the street caught the driver’s attention. He was staring off that way, not seeming to care what happened behind him.
Kyle had to hoist himself onto the side of the cart and lean over to cut their bonds. It was cumbersome and terribly exposed. It would only take the driver turning a little for this all to blow up in Kyle’s face.
Soon, Chrissie and Jason were free. They pulled the gags from their mouths.
“Oh, thank you, sir,” Chrissie said in a slightly hysterical, overly loud whisper.
Kyle froze. He stared at the driver, who was shifting in his seat.
The man gathered the reins and shook them. The cart went from standing still to moving in a blink.
Kyle, Chrissie, and Jason flung themselves from the back, landing in a heap on the sidewalk. The sound of gunfire cracked the air, and Kyle pushed Chrissie’s head down as she popped it up like a groundhog peeking out of its hole.
“Keep down,” Kyle grunted. He quickly pushed the couple up the steps to the apothecary’s store. There was a good solid banister there, and he guided them to crouch behind it.
That was when the bandits came out of the bank. They weren’t alone though. Kyle stared in horror at the scene. They had hostages—an old woman, a mother and her baby, and … But it couldn’t be. She was safely in the saloon.
His heart sank to his knees. “Alice!”
Their gazes locked for a moment, and Kyle wanted to scream and run for her, but he couldn’t.
He would never reach her alive. The bandits were firing their guns into the town, randomly shooting people and buildings, horses and carts.
Windows shattered, people screamed and ran, horses bolted. Chaos ensued.
And when the air cleared, Kyle realized that in saving the one sister, he had lost the other. Alice was gone. His blood turned to ice.
“Kyle?”
It was Michael. He and Warren looked red-faced and worried as they came running up to him. “What the heck happened?”
“We’re too late,” Kyle said. “The bank robbery is done, and the bandits just rode out of town shooting at everyone and everything.” He desperately wanted to tell them that Alice had been taken, but he couldn’t seem to find the words.
Maybe because once he said them, they would be real and she would truly be gone.
“Who are you?” Jason asked.
“We’re friends of your sister-in-law, Alice,” Warren explained. “She’ll be pleased to see you two safe and sound. She’s been trying to help you for a month.”
Chrissie burst into tears, making her blue eyes even bluer. She turned and buried her head in her husband’s chest. He held her and looked from one man to the other, appearing lost.
“What’s wrong?” he asked his wife, stroking her hair.
She didn’t seem capable of speaking and clung to him, shivering.
Kyle’s heart was too full, so he couldn’t speak either. What were the bandits planning to do with Alice?
“Well, I guess we’d better go and get those horses,” Michael said. “We’ll get the sheriff and his men on the way.”
“Good idea,” Warren said.
“There isn’t time,” Kyle said, finally finding his voice.
“Why not? We can track them. So many men on horses and with carts will leave a trail,” Michael said and then frowned. “Which makes me wonder. Leaving a trail like that will be too easy to follow.”
“So, there must be some trick we’re missing,” Warren said, handing Kyle his holster and pistol.
Kyle strapped it on with numb, shaking fingers. “Haste would be good.”
“Jason, take your wife down the street to the Cloudy Lemon,” Michael said, pointing to the saloon. “Alice is there.”
“No, she isn’t!” Chrissie cried and continued to sob loudly.
“They took her,” Kyle finally said, his voice oddly devoid of emotion. Perhaps it was packed too tightly in his chest for him to show any of it. It boiled around inside him, and he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “The bandits took her.”
“How?” Warren asked.
“She was in the bank, I guess,” Kyle said.
“What does it matter how? I’m going to get her back— now!
” He stood and marched down the stairs. He didn’t care if the others came with him or stayed behind.
This was his mission, and he was going to complete it.
He would get Alice back alive and well, no matter what it took.