Chapter 21
KODIAK
Aspanking ain’t one of the consequences I’m used to handing out.
Traveling in the company of a lady is proving to be more difficult than I’d surmised.
Knew she was pure—hell, it’s one of the traits that made me most fond—but I ain’t expect the things that come along.
She builds castles in the air, getting romantic ideas ’bout everything.
She’s gonna save the world’s children. Put an outlaw on a holy path.
Reckon she don’t even know real danger. Otherwise, I’d bet she wouldn’t make the mistake of stealing from the likes of Kodiak Randolph thinking she’s getting some kinda Robin Hood justice.
We’re skin to skin now, all the fight wrung out, her breath soft where it fans across my chest. I brush a few strands of hair from her cheek, watching her lashes flutter like she might drift off but won’t dare just yet.
Had to discipline her, but now her skin holds the flush from showing her my kinder side after.
Hadn’t needed words to make it right. She’d understood me just fine when her legs wrapped around me, moaning my name like a prayer.
Now, she’s curled in tight, my arm around her, holding her close.
We’ll be leaving at first light, and the thought of one of Sherman’s boys busting in guns blazing keeps me alert.
If it were just me, I’d sleep as sound as I usually do with a rich bounty on my head, pistol at my side, rifle cross my chest. But Alice?
When I think of losing her, it’s like all my insides collapsing, heart racing, mind a swirl of fear. Ain’t right. But I can’t help it. Of all my ill-got gains, she’s my most treasured. Now I’m wearing my heart raw outside my chest. The panic that goes along with that makes me hold her tighter.
“Bear?” she whispers in the dark, sweet as can be, head resting on my arm.
“Yes, lamb?”
“I know you said it’s dangerous to stay, but…Sherman has eyes in every city. It wouldn’t surprise me if they had already notified all of their hotels to be on the lookout.”
“You’re right ’bout that. But don’t lose sleep over them. Long as you’re with me, I’ll keep you safe.”
She nuzzles closer, her arm draped over me, wrapped in a sheet. “Well, I wonder what we have to gain by running? If we’re just as endangered anywhere as we are here, maybe we should stay.”
I stroke her hair, smooth as silk. “Ain’t about runnin’, but a man like me can’t linger anywhere too long. Long as you’re movin’, you’re stayin’ one step ahead.”
“When do you ever rest? Put down roots?”
The question hits me in a way I ain’t expect. Never bothered me before. Just was. But I can hear the disappointment in her voice, and it’s like a jab to the gut.
“Man like me don’t put down roots.”
Her finger traces shapes on my chest, pondering what that’ll mean for her, most like. And for the first time, I ponder it too.
When I think of Alice and how the stars brought us together—if you put stock in such a thing—I conjure a picture of her, my young at her breast, sitting in a rocking chair at the hearth without a trouble in the world.
But it’s a picture that can’t be real. I’ve been building a castle in the air myself, fool that I am.
But holding something so precious in my arms, I can’t stand the thought of letting it go.
“Maybe you could one day,” she says. “Somewhere far away, in a small town.”
“Suppose one day, maybe. Truth is, ain’t never dreamt of such things. Hope’s just a rope for hangin’ yourself.”
She looks up at me, wrinkle in her nose. “What an awful thing to say.”
“It’s true.”
“Perhaps with that attitude it’s true, but it does not have to be. Sure, hope alone is something, but it doesn’t do much alone. Hope and action together, well then, you might have a chance.”
I press a kiss to the top of her head. Part of me wants to believe, the other part thinking of the roses and butterflies that live in that pretty head of hers.
“What would you have us do?”
She sighs and clicks her tongue, like she’s struggling to decide whether it’s safe to speak her piece.
“Go on,” I prod.
“If we run, they’ll keep chasing us. But if we stand up to them, maybe they’ll leave us alone.”
I exhale slow, studying her in the dark. “You say that like it’s simple. Like the Shermans are just some school bullies needin’ a good wallopin’.”
She doesn’t flinch. Just lifts her head. “I’m only suggesting we send a message. Something that embarrasses them. That makes people think twice about staying in one of their hotels. Not with guns, but something clever.”
There’s a pause while I stare, trying to figure out who’s this we she keeps talking about and decide if she picked up some crazy pills at the market earlier. But it seems like she’s already given it a lot of thought and curiosity wins out.
“You have somethin’ in mind?”
She shifts, half sitting now, hands folded politely in her lap, like she’s excited to recite a poem.
“There’s a Sherman Hotel here in New Orleans.
All their hotels encourage guests to store their valuables in the hotel safe behind the front desk.
The inn would protect stocks, bonds, cash, jewelry.
We’d take an inventory each evening before locking it for the night. ”
I think back on the night she made me leave empty handed and squeeze my eyes shut. All that loot, left behind. This woman will be my death.
“What if someone broke into their vault? Took valuables. If brazen enough, it may even make the cover of the paper. People wouldn’t feel safe staying there anymore.”
I stare at her, jaw slack.
“You’re talkin’ about robbin’ the Shermans?”
Her chin lifts, just slightly. “Don’t mistake my manners for weakness, Mr. Randolph. I may not believe in theft, but I do believe in self-defense. Besides, the Shermans carry insurance. The guests will be repaid tenfold.”
I run a hand over my face. “You know how hard it’d be? They got men, steel doors, watchers on every floor.”
“I imagine you’ve broken into worse.”
“I have. But not with someone like you taggin’ along and not without spillin’ blood.”
She leans in then, her breath warm against my throat.
“I know all of the Sherman hotel policies. I could pose as a guest. We’re not allowed to let guests into the vault, but once an important member of the Astral Society had brought along a large meteor specimen to present to the other men.
It took a porter and two hands to move it.
The man was a pest and inquired about it each evening.
We couldn’t very well drag it out to the front desk, but because of his status, the man was allowed in the vault with an escort supervising.
What if I posed as a guest? Checked in an item too large to easily move? ”
I pull back just enough to look her full in the face. The words I hope to find are lost in a storm of shock, and all I can say is, “Well, I’ll be fucked sideways.”
She gasps, shoving against my chest. “Archibald Randolph.”
Laughter spills out of me, and I don’t mean to be cruel—hell, it’s a good idea—but I’d be damned before I put her in harm’s way. I sweep a weft of hair from her face.
“Criminal mastermind that you are, by God. I’m pleased you’d like to lend a hand, but there ain’t no way I’m puttin’ you in that kinda danger.”
She sits up straighter and smacks the bed. “I’m in danger, Kodiak. We are both in danger as long as the Shermans are after us.”
“And you think lightin’ the dog’s tail on fire’s gonna help that?”
“I cannot imagine running for the rest of my life.”
“It won’t be forever,” I say, knowing full well it ain’t true.
That seems like the end of it. She sinks back into bed and we settle in. I’m nearly asleep when she says, “Are you not worried your enemies will take your retreat for weakness?”
“Is that a fancy way of callin’ me yella?”
“I would never say such a thing. But the Shermans…they would.”
Is she razzing me? I never met a dainty thing like her find a bear to just poke and poke. “You want back over my knee?”
Her hands slip under the covers, gliding over my chest, and my bones turn to jelly. Damn woman knows how to work me over good.
“You know there are only so many roads out of New Orleans,” she murmurs. “The Shermans could surveil on the trails. Lawmen too. If we leave now, they’ll be watching. Once we’re in open country, there won’t be crowds or city noise to vanish into. Just us and them.”
I let out a long breath. Hell, I know she’s right.
I hate that she’s right. Running now, tail between my legs, makes me look weak, leaves us exposed.
Standing our ground with a trick like she suggests might just work.
Make us a little richer before we move on if nothing else, I suppose.
But I don’t like the notion of my woman being in the middle.
“If we do this, we find a way to get you out before any guns are drawn. Leave the vault to me.”