Chapter 6
Mark rode his horse around the outside of the fence. They had so many volunteers this time that if El Aguila decided to attack, dozens of people would be endangered.
When he heard someone cry out, Mark’s head snapped around in that direction. The cry had come from the place where Heather and Bonnie were working together to clear the brush.
Instantly, his heart leaped into his throat.
He might have agreed to keep things casual at first, but Mark knew that was just a lie.
He liked Heather too much for that. From her letters he knew that she was thoughtful, kind, and determined.
Despite his annoyance at her showing up before the town was fully safe, he still had always intended to invite her to Unity.
He urged his horse into a run and soon came to the place where Heather stood, stock-still, like a statue. Bonnie was waving people back. Mark felt his stomach drop as he spotted the problem. A rattlesnake was so close to Heather’s foot that shooting it wasn’t even a possibility.
Mark jumped out of his saddle. He began to search the brush for a long stick. It wasn’t too hard to find one that would do. Pulling off the twigs and little branches, Mark broke off the stick at a point where it curved. That would make a decent hook.
He nodded almost imperceptibly. “Just stay still,” Mark said. “I’ll take of this. But don’t you move an inch, Heather.”
Heather nodded, and the rattling increased.
“Remember to stay very still,” Mark repeated.
He began his approach.
“Be careful,” Heather said through hardly moving lips.
“I will be,” he promised her.
Shooting the snake would be impossible, even if he snagged it with the stick. The reptile would be so angry that there would be no chance for anything except tossing it far away.
Mark would have to time it perfectly or risk being bitten himself.
Bending down, he got ready.
“Okay, here we go,” he said.
Using the stick to pin the snake’s head to the ground, Mark picked the tail up. The reptile was three feet long and not nearly fully grown since rattlers could reach five feet or longer. Mark held the stick out as far as possible and ran toward the field.
“Oh, Mark, be careful!” Heather called behind him.
That was the plan. The snake coiled and tried to bite him, but Mark never took his eyes off it. Once he was far enough from everyone, he lowered the snake to the ground and let the tail go. Then he jumped back.
As though hissing a warning to him, the snake turned, shook its rattle, and then slithered off into the long grass.
Mark could have shot it then, but that felt like bad sportsmanship.
Fair game, shooting an attacking reptile.
But since it was causing no one any further danger at the moment, he let it go.
Mark let out the breath he had been holding. A moment later someone careened into his back. Arms wrapped around him, and he stood there breathing hard. Finally, he turned in the embrace and wrapped his arms around Heather. She buried her face in his chest, and he stroked her soft, silky hair.
“It’s okay now. You’re okay, Heather.”
“I was so scared,” Heather said. “And you saved me. You did it without even blinking.”
“Oh, I blinked all right,” he said wryly. “It’s a wonder I don’t need to go home to change my trousers.”
Heather made a soft noise, and he hugged her tighter.
“It’s all fine now. These things do happen in Texas. You’ll learn to be constantly aware while near tall grass.”
“Mark! Is everything okay?” It was Jeff. He looked down at Mark and Heather from his mount. “Bonnie said there was a snake.”
“There was, but it’s gone now,” Mark said, glad that his voice didn’t wobble at all. Dealing with the snake had come with a surprising delay in fear. Only now that it was all done and over with was he beginning to think about what would have happened to Heather if he hadn’t been there.
“Good. We should pack everything up. The fence is clear except for a few places, but those don’t matter. Everyone did really well for today,” Jeff said, smiling with obvious relief.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Mark agreed.
“So I can go back to the store and work where it’s safe?” Heather asked.
“If you can call a store run by two New Yorkers safe, then sure,” Bonnie said as she walked over to them. She was smiling. “Nice work there, Deputy. I had no idea you were a snake wrangler.”
“I’m not,” Mark said hastily. The last thing he wanted was to be called out for every snake encounter.
“I would have grabbed a sickle and sliced that thing’s head off if I weren’t petrified with fear.”
“And it would have bitten you,” Mark pointed out. “Anyway, it was only defending itself. God gave it fangs for a reason.”
Heather smiled up at him with pure adoration in her eyes. She let go reluctantly. “I’ll see you later though, right?”
“Of course. We’re having dinner tonight at the hotel, right?” Mark asked.
“Yes, we are,” she agreed. She was shaking.
Mark put a steadying hand on her arm and smiled reassuringly. He looked over at Bonnie, who nodded and took Heather by the arm. “Let’s go.”
He watched them walk back to the fence and then went in search of his horse. The creature hadn’t gone far, grazing on the freshly cut grass, which had exposed softer, greener shoots underneath.
Once everyone was accounted for and safely back inside the town walls, the two deputies returned to their office.
There, they found a meeting about to start. Everyone was clustered around Robert’s desk.
“Ah, you’re just in time,” Robert said, looking up at them. “Grab seats if you can find them. We’re about to find out what that letter you brought back is all about.”
With Andrew, Michael, Ben, Ross, Duncan, and Jeff, there were no more stools or chairs left. Mark made do, perching on his desk.
“Okay, so, according to his letter, Mac is closing in on El Aguila’s New York operation,” Andrew said. “He’s confident that they will be able to take him down. He says in this letter that he’s got a solid lead. “
“That’s great,” Michael said, enthusiastically slapping his thigh. “It’s about time we had some good news.”
“Yes, it is,” Andrew agreed. He looked over at Mark. “But every silver lining comes from a gray cloud.”
Mark nodded. Yes, it did. Nothing with El Aguila was ever simple.
“What do you mean?” Duncan asked, frowning and looking from Andrew to Mark and back again.
“Has something happened to Mac?” Ross asked.
“No, as far as we know, he’s just fine,” Andrew said. “He’s worried about us.”
That brought a confused silence into the room.
“Did he find out that we’re going to be attacked again?” Michael asked. “I wouldn’t put it past that maniac to throw everything he has at us in a last-ditch effort to bring us down.”
“The letter doesn’t mention anything concrete,” Andrew admitted. “Only that there is a chance that there will be an attack out here when Mac closes in on El Aguila in New York.”
“But that’s good,” Michael said. “If he’s out of the picture, I’ll bet that his bandits lose their nerve quickly. This could be the end of the whole terrible ordeal! All we have to do is outlast that devil’s last attack on us.”
“We can do that,” Ross agreed. “If we double the watches on the wall and run a few drills to get the citizens whipped into shape.”
“Yeah, I’m confident we can keep everyone safe,” Duncan said.
“So, we’re just going to try to be ready for anything?” Ben asked, sounding skeptical.
“It’s not like we aren’t trying to do that anyway,” Michael retorted. “We’re trying to stay one step ahead every day, aren’t we?”
“Sure,” Andrew said. “But we can work out a general plan that will cover most of the tactics that El Aguila uses. If we keep the medical and fire teams on standby and everyone else takes turns on the wall on lookout, we should be fine.”
Mark had a feeling that if El Aguila was about to be taken down, and he knew it, then his last effort to hurt them wouldn’t be something they could see coming a mile away.
It would be like an illness, growing and spreading quietly until it was too late.
Still, the idea that El Aguila could be arrested soon had Mark wondering what his last act of tyranny against them would be.
He expected the backlash to be nothing less than brutal.
Couldn’t the others see it? El Aguila, when cornered, would be far more dangerous than anything they had yet faced.
He was a far more dangerous snake than the one Mark and Heather had faced earlier.
But that didn’t seem to be what the others were thinking at all.
Mark looked around the room at the faces of his fellow lawmen, and he couldn’t bring himself to voice his fears aloud.
They looked hopeful for the first time in ages, and the last thing that Mark wanted to do was cast a gray cloud over that little bit of sunshine.
Perhaps he could speak to Andrew and Robert after the meeting and tell them his thoughts.
He had nothing to go on but his gut feeling, but surely they must be feeling something similar.
They must know that if Mac was right, they were all in terrible danger.
Heather was in terrible danger, and that sent cold shivers down Mark’s spine at the mere thought of it.
“All right, that’s the Mac issue dealt with,” Andrew said.
“Next, we need to talk about the legal aspect of taking down our tormentor. Since his recovery from being shot, Mr. Rossi has been most cooperative. He has correspondence from El Aguila that will be instrumental in putting that madman behind bars.”
“That’s good,” Ben said with a happy nod. “The more evidence we have the better, right?”
“Yes,” Andrew said. “But we need to get it to Mr. Wilkinson.”
“The Cartwrights’ lawyer? Doesn’t he do contract law or something like that?” Ross asked, frowning.
“He does, but he’s a partner in a firm that also does criminal law,” Michael said. “He’s handling our side of the paper trail, and we need to get these documents to him urgently.”
“The sooner we send them back east to Mac, the sooner the case is made and we can get back to concentrating on building our town,” Andrew said. “Having time to plan something other than how to withstand an attack would be wonderful.”
They all agreed. Doing normal things and going about their lives without fear of someone attacking them would be a wonderful change.
“Where is Mr. Wilkinson?” Ben asked.
“He’s set up in the Lucky Bull in San Antonio,” Andrew said.
“So, we should send a rider tomorrow morning,” Michael suggested. “It’s the best way to get the documents there fast.”
Every fiber in Mark’s being cringed at that idea. “That would be the best way to let El Aguila know that we’ve got something brewing.”
“What do you mean?” Andrew asked. “Surely getting the documents to Mr. Wilkinson is important?”
“Look, I might be wrong. But if I were a bandit lord and I had been terrorizing a town for ages, and someone was closing in on me, I would take any deviation from the norm by those people as them planning something against me.”
Everyone started talking at once, and Robert had to drop a heavy book on his desk to get silence.
“Hang on, everyone. Give Mark a chance to explain himself,” Robert said. “I think he’s onto something.”
Every eye was on Mark, and he squirmed, not liking the attention, but this was something that had to be said. He couldn’t just brush it aside because that would mean people would be in danger. People including Heather, whose safety was now his responsibility.
“All I was suggesting is that if we send a rider to San Antonio, El Aguila’s men are bound to wonder what that’s about,” Mark said. “They’re bound to want to know why we’re risking one man like that.”
“How will they know?” Duncan asked. “We got rid of them all.”
“Did we? We found two places where they were watching us from, but that doesn’t mean that the fields and the ridge aren’t dotted with more men keeping an eye on us.
I think the only way to do this is to fool El Aguila into thinking that we’re none the wiser.
We don’t know anything and are carrying on like normal.
They don’t know that Mr. Rossi survived their attempt to kill him.
So, according to them, we have nothing. No evidence against them.
We should use that to our advantage and only send the documents with the usual weekly coaches.
That way, nothing seems strange or out of the ordinary. ”
“As far as El Aguila knows, it’s business as usual here,” Michael said, looking thoughtful. “I like that.”
“Me too,” Andrew said. “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll send the documents when Clary and Evelyn head into San Antonio next time. And Mark, you and Ben will go with them.”
“When is the next coach?” Ross asked.
“I believe it’s Tuesday next week,” Ben said.
“So, we have a few days to do some planning,” Michael said. “Good. We need to make sure that we are bulletproof here.”
Mark agreed. Heather was here, and he was not about to let anything bad happen to her when they were just starting to get to know each other.