Hunting The Gunslinger

Chapter Fifteen

Jessie and Gray rode hard in an attempt to catch up with Casey, resting just long enough to allow the horses time to recover. It had been nearly a solid day of riding, and they hadn’t caught up to Casey yet.

Darkness was descending on the sky, and pink and purple clouds formed in the distance that were breathtakingly beautiful. It was one of Jessie’s nightly routines to watch the sun set when she was on her own. It was a routine she had given up since she’d been with Luke and Gray, but tonight she took the time to look into the distance, and it relaxed her.

“We should stop here. We won’t be able to see anything soon, anyway,” she said. They had come upon a clearing in the trees that provided enough cover to keep them hidden, but still allowed them enough space to set up for the night. A small stream was nearby for them to drink from and would be handy for putting out the fire in the morning.

Setting up a camp in the dark was a huge pain in the ass that she wanted to avoid. Jessie had done it before, when she ended up pushing it a little too hard in hopes of finding a bounty.

Gray sighed and nodded, slowing his horse down to a trot before stopping. “You’re right. Damn it!”

His anger surprised her. She wasn’t used to seeing him lose his temper or show much frustration.

Sensing that he had made her uncomfortable, he gave a low, unamused chuckle. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that we are this close to finding him, and we keep coming up short. I don’t understand how that bastard keeps evading us.”

Gray seemed more on edge than normal. She knew he and Luke had gone months coming nowhere close to finding Casey, and right now he seemed right around the next corner, just out of grasp. If he managed to get away, it would devastate him.

She felt a pang of sympathy and reached out to put her hand on his shoulder. She reminded herself not to get attached. After all this was over, they’d both go their separate ways and she’d never see Gray Hammond again.

“I’m sure Casey has been avoiding the law his whole life, so let’s not beat ourselves up over not finding him in a day,” Jessie said to comfort him, even though she felt the same way as he did.

People like Casey were career criminals and had learned how to avoid the law through trial and error. Given how old Casey was, she felt like he had all but mastered it at this point. Faking his own death to avoid capture was enough proof for her that he would do whatever needed. And putting an outrageous bounty on the head of the man he framed showed how ruthless he was.

Gray nodded and put his hand over hers, causing her stomach to flutter in the strangest way. She removed her hand from his shoulder and reminded herself not to touch him again.

It was for the best. They both had their own lives to get back to, and when she retired from bounty hunting, it would do her no good to associate with gunslingers. At best, she could hope for a distant yet amicable relationship if they ever bumped into each other in the future.

“I’ve hunted down criminals like Casey my whole career. I’ve been after Casey for longer than a day.” Gray dismounted and tied his horse up to a nearby tree. He began unpacking things from his saddlebag to establish the camp.

“Well. Some are better than others at it,” she said lamely. “And some are more desperate than others. When someone is put in a corner, you never know what they’ll do to escape. Casey’s in a corner right now, and he knows it.”

She dismounted and walked over to help Gray, gathering small twigs and foliage to start a fire. She moved to the center of the camp to clear an area for a fire, but tripped over something. She let out a yelp of surprise and fell forward. Gray grabbed her arm to steady her, and she was impressed at how quick his reflexes were. She could see why he was a well-known gunfighter. Every time they’d been in a situation that required speed, he’d been faster than she’d ever thought a man could be. She hadn’t seen him kill the man who kidnapped her, but her instincts told her Gray was faster than most men who called themselves gunslingers.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

His hand lingered on her arm, and she didn’t pull away. She liked it when he touched her and wanted to enjoy the feeling a little bit longer. His hands were rough, but the tenderness with which he held her brought that flutter back into her stomach. How could a man be two contradictory things like that? Rough, yet soft.

Their eyes connected, and she became all too aware of how close they were. They were only a few inches apart, and she felt pulled to him, like she wanted to lean in even closer. Her eyes fell to his lips, and she wanted to close the distance between them, if only for a second. Realizing that she had stared too long, her eyes moved back up to his.

His eyes darkened, and she felt her face flush again. She had been staring at his lips too long, and he had noticed.

Reluctantly, she pulled her arm away as she steadied herself. She cleared her throat nervously and glanced away from him. “Yes, I think I just tripped over a rock or something. It’s dark around here,” she said. Her face felt hot, a sure sign that she was blushing, and she wanted to die from the embarrassment. Why did she always end up in these situations?

Even if she liked the feeling of his touch, she wasn’t used to it. She looked back at Gray and found his gaze lingering on her, and her face got hotter. She hoped he didn’t know that she enjoyed his touch and had been thinking about it.

“Well, be careful. It’s only going to get darker until we light that fire.” He gathered the twigs and brush she’d dropped when she stumbled and arranged them in the center of the camp. He lit the fire with no trouble, another sign that he had lived many nights outside.

She was grateful that he had moved on as if nothing had happened. Nothing had happened, for him. He clearly was used to being around women, and he didn’t feel the same pull to her that she did to him. She chided herself for feeling differently.

They put their bedrolls on opposite sides of the fire, preparing for bed. Sitting by the fire, the warmth enveloped her and caused her body to relax. The crackling of the fire was the only sound in the camp, and she closed her eyes to soak in the moment for a second longer.

She thought back over the past couple of days and how he had agreed to help her with her problem. When they found Casey, what would they do about her father? He was dangerous, and they needed to have a plan before they did anything.

She might as well ask about his plan. There was nothing they could do about Casey for the moment, but they could at least discuss how they would handle her father. She was curious to get someone else’s opinion on what could be done.

Outside of marriage, which she was not willing to consider, and waiting for her father to die, there was nothing she could think of to do. She’d thought about her own problem for years, and hiding had seemed like the best solution.

It was the safest.

Clearing her throat, she asked abruptly, “So what are we going to do about my father once we find Casey?”

Gray looked across the fire at her, seeming to give it some thought. If he was surprised by her question, he didn’t show it.

“Tell me everything again, from the beginning, so I have the full context,” he said.

She nodded, thinking of the best place to start.

“My father and I have never gotten along, ever since my mother passed away and he was stuck with raising me. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years avoiding him as much as possible. I helped out on his ranch, but did my best to avoid him at all costs.”

She left out the fact that not only did they not get along, but her father despised her. She wasn’t always able to avoid him, and when she couldn’t, she paid the price. A fist to the face, a beating it took weeks to recover from. The constant fear that she had lived in, wondering if he would come home drunk and take it out on her. How she had spent as much time away from the home as possible to avoid him, but it was never enough time.

Her father was despicable, but those were details that didn’t matter to Gray or why she needed his help.

Gray scowled. “I can’t imagine anyone hating their child so much that the child would learn to avoid them. Your father sounds like a real piece of work.”

“You must have had wonderful parents then,” she said.

A flash of pain crossed his face so fast she would have missed it if she wasn’t already looking at him.

“Yes,” he said. “My parents were wonderful. And your dad sounds like a real asshole.”

She nodded and felt a pang of hope. Nobody had believed her growing up, or at least nobody had been willing to cross her father when she mentioned anything he had done. It was more likely the second scenario, but she hadn’t stuck around long enough to know for sure. She’d run away when she was only seventeen years old, choosing to test her luck on her own instead of staying with her father.

“I’d heard rumors around the ranch that my father had racked up a large gambling debt.” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice. If he hadn’t gambled away all his money and then some, she wouldn’t be in this situation at all. She wasn’t sure what he’d have done if giving her away to their neighbor, Zachary, hadn’t become an option.

“He struck a deal with the owner of the neighboring ranch, Zachary. My hand in marriage for wiping out the debt. That’s pretty much it. You know the rest since then. I ran away, and here I am.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Eight years,” she said. Her heart grew heavy the thought of all the years she had lost running away from her father. Of never being anywhere long enough to make true friends, and always hiding her identity by pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

She was still afraid that one day she’d be recognized on a wanted poster and returned to her father. It had been confirmed when that man had taken her. Even after eight years of hiding, her father was still searching for her.

Gray’s eyes widened, and he lifted his brow as he stared at her. His mouth opened in shock before he snapped it shut again almost as fast as it had opened. “Eight years?” It was more of a statement than a question, but the horror in his expression hardened her.

“Yes,” she said.

His expression of horror quickly morphed into humor and he laughed, catching her by surprise. She watched him, waiting for him to explain what he found so funny.

“No wonder you’re so good at tracking people,” he said. “I hadn’t realized you’d been doing this so long. I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about Kid Aaron until now.”

“I wasn’t always Kid Aaron,” she explained. “The first few years were the hardest. I started working on ranches before I got into bounty hunting. In the beginning, I wasn’t good at finding people. Eventually when I got good at it, I started to become known.”

Gray stroked his chin with his fingers before returning to their original topic. “Who was his gambling debt to?”

Jessie quickly dismissed the question. “I think to Zachary, but I’m not sure. I don’t see how that could help us, though. Regardless, I’m still in the same situation.”

“Unless whoever your father owes money to dies.”

Her heart lurched at the suggestion as she gasped, “You wouldn’t!”

When she’d agreed to his help, she hadn’t meant for him to go off and kill someone to set her free. She wasn’t okay with that. Was killing so easy to him?

He rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m not going to murder anyone. But the solution might actually be easier than we thought if we can figure out who he owes money to.”

She thought about that. She hadn’t considered that whoever her father owed money to might matter in this situation. Either she could pay the debt off herself and get that person to leave her alone… Or if he died, the debt would die with him, and she’d be free. “Possibly. But in case this isn’t a ‘wait it out’ type of debt, what then?”

“I’ll have to go into Miles City and get a good idea of the situation myself.”

Fear and dread filled Jessie at his statement. “No,” she protested. She didn’t want anything to do with her father, and Gray going into the city was an invitation to her father to do something. She didn’t know what he’d do, but his cruelty was unmatched, and she worried for her safety and Gray’s, if he confronted her father.

Gray shrugged. “You asked for my help, and that’s what I’d do.”

She shook her head again. “There has to be another way.”

“Well, Red, I guess we don’t have to worry about it until the time comes closer. You can’t do it, because he might find you. But if I go in and ask some questions, it might lead to the answers we need. Why wouldn’t you want me to go do it?”

She debated what to say as the feeling of guilt settled in on her. She hadn’t been completely honest with him about her father. Sure, she’d mentioned that he hated her, but she didn’t mention his cruelty.

“It would be dangerous,” she said.

“Red, I can deal with danger,” he said matter-of-factly.

She hesitated. “He’d kill you if he knew you were helping me.” Maybe telling him part of the truth would make him see reason. “My father isn’t going to relent. I embarrassed him, so it’s more than a debt now. Because I disobeyed him, he’ll kill me and anyone who helps me.”

She looked at him, watching for any sign that he might back out of the deal. For the first time in years, she felt hope that she might get out of this situation. But she owed it to Gray to be truthful and tell him it wasn’t going to be easy.

He shrugged. “We will figure it out, Red. I gave you my word, and I intend to keep it. We are in this together.”

Her heart squeezed, and tears formed in her eyes before she looked away from him. She didn’t want him to know that his help meant that much to her. “Well, until then, I say we don’t worry about it. We need to find Casey first.”

Gray looked into the distance. She had the feeling he was longing to be out there, still looking for Casey, but knew better than to try to go about it in the dark.

“Casey won’t have gone far,” she reassured him. “If anything, we need to be more worried about Butch finding us. He’s smart and knows the area. We were already close to him to begin with. It wouldn’t take much for him to find us.”

“Or Luke.”

“Or Luke,” she repeated.

A heavy silence filled the air, the weight of the words hanging between them. The only sounds came from the crackling fire, and the sounds of bugs chirping in the distance.

How long would it take them to find Casey? Would it a few days, or a few months?

She wasn’t sure she could commit to being with Gray for a few months. She already found him impossible to be around, thanks to his stubborn attitude and always thinking he was right. Maybe she could deal with him a few days, but if the hunt drew out longer, she wasn’t so sure she would keep her sanity.

But her opinion of Gray was changing, and she’d started to like being around him. He was loyal, and he could be kind to those he loved. She wondered what it would be like for him to love her… And that was a big reason why she couldn’t be with him for months.

“We should go to bed early and try to get out of here as soon as possible, so we can make ground on Casey,” said Gray. “He’s not expecting anybody to be chasing him right now, so if we can take him by surprise, we stand a chance.”

Jessie nodded. She wanted to enjoy the silence of the night so she could think.

The idea of living a normal life again seemed almost too good to be true, and even though she didn’t know howit might happen, for the first time in eight years she fell asleep with hope.

Days had passed since Jessie and Gray had begun tracking Casey, and Jessie was starting to think that it would be months until they found him. They’d received a tip that he was traveling west and had followed a set of horse tracks in that direction, riding hard to catch up to him.

They’d fallen into a comfortable routine, riding in the daytime as fast as they could. At night they settled by the fire and talked, until eventually she felt like she’d known Gray for years.

They talked about Luke, their childhoods, and they talked about Jessie’s life as well. She held things back about her relationship with her father, not wanting to risk the precarious agreement she had with Gray. She knew he was holding back too, because when she mentioned anything about his family other than talking about Luke, he got angry and changed the topic.

It was morning, and they were about to head out, but a storm rolling in from the distance worried Jessie. A distant rumble of thunder shook the ground, and the air was crisp with a slight chill. The wind was gentle and soft around her, but it would soon pick up in intensity when the storm hit, which would make it impossible to search for Casey. The clouds were dark and lightning arched between them. The storm was intense, but no rain had hit yet.

“We should go as soon as possible. That storm is coming quickly. If we want to spend any time searching for Casey, we need to go now,” she said.

Gray looked at the sky in the distance, his brows furrowing in thought. “Let’s hurry.”

He packed up the camp with ease, rolling up his bedroll and stuffing it behind the saddle of his horse. Jessie kicked dirt into the fire, snuffing it out so they could leave.

Within minutes, they were ready and mounted their horses. This routine had become so comfortable that each of them knew what they were expected to do and how to get it done the quickest way possible.

The storm clouds rolled in faster, and a soft drizzle started to fall. If the rain kept to just a drizzle, they’d be able to keep going. But as soon as it became rain, they’d have to stop for the horses’ sake.

Frustration gripped Jessie. It was beginning to look like they wouldn’t make any progress today.

They stopped in a clearing to look for the horse tracks they were chasing. The area was lush green, and they had a clear view of the valley below. Mountains stood nearby, cutting off what she could see beyond them.

“If we can’t figure out where he’s going before that rain hits, we are going to lose him,” Jessie said.

They’d made a few errors in their first few days searching for Casey, but she felt it in her heart that they were close now. Jessie was not an expert tracker, and neither was Gray, but after they lost his trail on day one, between the two of them they’d been able to piece together the puzzle and get a good sense of where Casey was. But if the rain destroyed the tracks, it would set them back days, if not weeks.

Gray cursed under his breath, dismounting to search the area for the tracks. “We won’t lose him.”

She was so tired of having to chase down Casey; she wanted this to be over today. Her body felt heavy from traveling on the road all the time, and she missed being in a normal bed.

“We can’t have another day where we make no progress,” she fumed. Her frustration was starting to get the better of her, and she didn’t know why she wanted to complain. It would make Gray angry, and none of it was anything he didn’t already know himself. But it made her feel better.

Gray crouched by the dirt path, examining the ground. “If we have to take shelter, so will Casey. It’ll add another day to our search, but he won’t get any farther away at least.”

Something out of the corner of Jessie’s eye moved and caught her attention. It was small, but it looked like a person in the distance. She squinted and looked at the figure, holding her breath to try to improve her concentration.

“Gray!” she gasped. He stood up and looked at her, then followed her finger as she pointed off into the distance at the figure.

“I can’t tell who that is. But it has to be the man we’re tracking. The hoofprints lead right to him. It has to be him.” For the first time in days, hope filled Jessie as she looked across the valley at the man standing before them.

Gray froze and stared at the man. She watched thoughts cross his face as he debated what to do. They’d never gotten this close before.

“How are we going to get to him without him seeing us?” she asked. Jessie always apprehended criminals by taking them by surprise, sneaking up on them in their sleep. It was safer than approaching them head-on. She didn’t want to try that now. But with Gray’s help, at least there might be a chance to apprehend the man without incident.

“I don’t know. It looks like he’s heading for the woods. If we are careful, we can get close enough to take him down.”

As he spoke, the storm clouds got closer and thunder boomed. Jessie jumped.

“Maybe we should just make a mad dash for it and hope our horses are faster than his,” she suggested. “The storm isn’t going to give us much time.”

The thunder must have caused the man to look up at the sky as well, and in the process he spotted his pursuers. He was looking right at them.

Holding her breath, she waited to see what he would do.

Would he run? Would he wait?

“What do you think—” Before she could finish her sentence, the man spurred his horse into the woods, and she lost sight of him.

“No!” Jessie galloped as fast as she could toward the retreating figure, damning the consequences. The sound of her horse’s hooves blended in with the thunder and the pounding of her heartbeat. She wasn’t going to let him get away, not when they were this close.

“Jessie!” Gray yelled after her, surprise in his voice, but she ignored him as she raced off. She was already halfway across the clearing before Gray even had a chance to get back on his horse.

She continued into the thick woods, dodging trees and branches as she frantically searched for the man. She couldn’t see or hear Gray anymore, but her focus was only on finding the figure.

Rain started coming down hard, making it impossible to see the path of her. Jessie cursed under her breath. This was it—this was their only chance of getting the man. There must have been a reason why he ran. It must be Casey. She was willing to stake her life on it.

She could only see a few feet in front of her as the rain violently pounded the ground of her. The horse tracks were now completely erased by the rain.

Damn it! She lost him. She cursed loudly. But then she saw something move in the corner of her eye, only a short distance away.

A man sat on a horse, unmoving, maybe twenty feet away from her.

The man was facing her, partially hidden behind some trees. His eyes met hers. Surprise covered his face as he realized she’d caught up with him. The scar pulling his face into a sneer gave him away. It was Casey.

“Hey!” she yelled to try to get him to stay. “I found—”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence as he bolted off again.

She drew her brows together in determination and spurred her horse into pursuit again. She felt like she’d been searching for hours, but it must have been only minutes. How was she going to find him in the middle of a bloody thunderstorm?

Lightning cracked and struck the tree beside her, and she gasped in horror as her horse bucked. She struggled to stay on, but it was no use. The horse was too spooked, and she was thrown off its back and onto the wet ground.

The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the ground, and she cried out as pain ripped through her as something pierced her side. With trembling hands, she reached for the branch that was protruding from her stomach. Her fingers came away, sticky with blood.

The next thing she saw was Casey bolting off farther into the woods.