Chapter Seven
John was in a bad mood.
No cowboy liked being on foot. True, he wore a star now, and hadn’t worked cattle in over two years, but once a cowboy, always a cowboy. And the thought of not being atop his mount just stuck in his craw.
He really wasn’t shocked the horses had been stolen. Down there in the Territory, there were plenty of bad men—and even women—who would take a horse just as quick as they could. It was most likely a crime of opportunity, with someone just happening by on the trail, stumbling upon the unattended animals.
But someone could have been watching in the trees, too, just waiting.
That turnout probably saw lots of folks stop for a rest. It would be the perfect place for some no-account criminal to lie in wait and then make off with a horse that wasn’t his.
Or in this case, two horses.
What really got to John, though, was that Mary had lied to him.
Should he be surprised? he wondered as he trudged along, his boots thumping against the hard ground.
She’d been a fugitive from justice, after all. Was it any big shock that she would lie and run away?
He needed to not take it personally, he reflected. Taking it personally meant he was getting too close. And there was no reason to get close to Mary Rose Dunn. She was just someone he was taking in. A criminal who needed to face justice in court. Nothing more.
He didn’t need to get caught up in her beauty. Or the notion that some loving guidance and a firm hand could reform her. That wasn’t his role. It was best he just forget all about stuff like that.
“How much farther?” she asked.
“How should I know?” he said. “They’re making a lot better time than we are, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Why are you being so mean to me?” she demanded.
“I’m not. But let me remind you that we’re not exactly friends. And we’re in this situation because you lied to me and ran off, forcing me to leave the horses behind.”
“You didn’t have to chase me.”
“Ha!” he chortled. “Actually, I did have to chase you. It’s my job. Remember?”
“Well…” She didn’t say anything else beyond that, and John was thankful for the silence.
They walked for over an hour and the tracks remained easy to follow. Perhaps too easy, he mulled silently. What if he was being led into an ambush? Mary rode with outlaws. It was possible some of them were springing a trap to free her.
But why would they drag it out? They could easily pick him off anywhere along the trail. There wasn’t anyone around. And the thick growth on either side would serve as a good place to hide his body.
More than likely, it was just a dumb horse thief who didn’t have the good sense to even try and conceal his tracks. Or he just flat out didn’t care.
They’d catch up to them eventually. Hopefully. If the trail didn’t run too long. They couldn’t walk forever.
Right now, though, they had another problem, John realized.
A loud clasp of thunder announced a coming storm. It wasn’t very far away, from the sound of it.
He looked overhead to see that indeed the sky had clouded up. So lost in thought the last hour, he hadn’t even realized it until now.
As it was, the storm was about to crash down on them and they were right there in the open, completely exposed.
“John? I mean…Deputy. What’s…going on?” a clearly terrified Mary asked.
Before he could answer, lightning lit up the atmosphere, the crackle of the thunder ringing out simultaneously like gunfire. Up ahead, a tree on the right split down the middle, a black streak running down as the smell of charred wood reached John’s nostrils.
“We’ve got to find some cover!” he yelled over the suddenly howling winds. “Come on!”
He could tell Mary was terrified and, in her panic, was locking up. Taking hold of her wrist, he had to practically drag her into the trees. His keen eyes had spotted a little game trail, and maybe it led somewhere that they could hunker down until this storm blew over.
“We’ve got to move!” he shouted.
The words seemed to register, because she at least picked up her feet and started jogging down the trail with him.
“Move fast but still be cautious,” he said. “Lots of things to stumble over.”
They wound through the packed forest for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only ten minutes or so, before deliverance presented itself to them.
“Up there!” John pointed to a small cave about fifty feet up a rocky slope. The game trail continued up that way, and it would be slow going, but passable. “Hurry!”
The winds had picked up. Giant rain drops started to slap them as the trail came out of the trees and toward the rocky outcropping.
“Go first. I’ll get you if you fall. Careful now,” he said.
More lightning illuminated the area and deafening thunder rang out as they scrambled up the ridge.
Mary screamed, but John said, “Just keep going!”
The rain was really coming down in earnest now, and it made the path slippery. Pebbles and rocks started to cascade down as the water shifted the dirt beneath them.
She stopped long enough to cast a terrified glance over her shoulder. He was struggling, too, trying to balance his rifle in one hand while using his other hand to steady himself on the rock wall to his right.
“Just go!” he encouraged. “You can do this!”
It took another five minutes, as they had to be cautious, but they finally reached the mouth of the cave and darted inside.
Just in the nick of time, too.
A torrential storm was now raging. And it seemed as if all hell was breaking loose.