CHAPTER 58
The time that passed after Smoke, Louis, Pearlie, and Monte returned to the Sugarloaf with the grim news from Brad’s captors went by like a whirlwind. There were a lot of preparations to be made.
Smoke’s range ended before the mountain that loomed behind the bench where the “payoff ” would be made, but he had been up there in the past, hunting. Not to the summit itself, but almost that high. And once Smoke Jensen had been over a stretch of ground, he never forgot it.
“We won’t have to go all the way to the top,” he told the ranch hands who would be accompanying him. “There’s a high pass up there. I’ve seen it, although I haven’t been through it. We’ll climb the west face until we can get across that way. We need to be there by tomorrow evening, and it’ll take a while to ride in a big enough circle that we can come in from that direction without the kidnappers spotting us.”
He turned to Louis, who was sitting in on the meeting along with Pearlie. Monte Carson had returned to Big Rock, since he had responsibilities there. He’d been reluctant to leave, but Smoke had insisted.
He handed a piece of paper with a map sketched on it to Louis. “I had to draw this from memory, but I think it’s pretty accurate. When that varmint with the shotgun mentioned the only way to get up on that ridge was through a well-guarded cut, I thought I remembered the place he was talking about. There’s a switchback trail up to it at the northern end of that bench.” He stood next to Louis and pointed at some of the markings on the paper.
“What they don’t seem to know is that there’s another, smaller trail about half a mile farther on, which comes out at the same point as the larger one, that gash in the rocks that leads up to the ridge crest. It’s a hard ride, but horses can make it. We’re going to have men waiting where that smaller trail starts, and when you’ve delivered that so-called ransom and ridden back down the slope to where they can’t see you anymore, you light a shuck for that spot and join up with the others. When you hear the shooting start, head up that trail as fast as you can. By the time you get to the top, most of the guards at the cut will have fallen back to reinforce the main bunch. You’ll have to shoot your way through any who are left.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Louis. “They won’t stand in our way for very long.”
Smoke nodded. “We’ll be hitting them from behind, and if that’s not enough, you’ll come in from the flank and mop up any of the varmints who are left. The thing we all have to remember is to watch out for Brad. No wild shooting. Make sure you know where your bullets are going.”
All the men around the circle nodded and muttered agreement. They wanted revenge for their fallen friends . . . but not at the cost of Brad’s life.
Inez would prepare food and supplies for the group that would be spending the night on the mountain. Smoke told the men to get a good night’s sleep, then failed to follow that advice himself. He lay awake most of the night going over every detail of the plan in his mind—the ones he could foresee, anyway.
Sally sensed his restlessness and reached out for him in the bed. “Are you worried, Smoke? That’s not like you. You’ve always been the most confident man I’ve ever known.”
“I’m confident we can do this,” he answered. “I’ve faced long odds and come out on top too many times not to believe in myself, and my friends, too, for that matter. But it was never the life of my own grandson at stake before.”
She snuggled against him and rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s odd, isn’t it, how quickly they come to be so important to us. We never even knew Brad for the first eight years of his life, and now he’s a member of our family, as precious to us as any of the others. The same is true of Melanie. We can’t even imagine living without them now.”
“We won’t have to,” Smoke said gruffly. “The boy’s going to be fine. Those outlaws don’t have any reason to hurt him . . . yet. In fact, they’ve got good reason to keep him alive, just in case they need to use him for leverage if anything goes wrong with their plan.”
Sally brushed her lips against the strong line of his jaw, and he tightened his arm around her. Finally, long after midnight, he dozed off.
* * *
Louis didn’t sleep much, either, and he knew another restless night lay in front of him before he would play his part in rescuing his son. He didn’t really think of Brad as his stepson anymore. He loved the boy as much as if Brad were his own flesh and blood, and that was the way it ought to be.
* * *
The next morning, he and Smoke went over the plan one last time.
“We’ll start the climb down as soon as it’s light enough to see,” said Smoke. “We’ll be using all the cover we can find, but there’ll be places where they might spot us if somebody happened to look up at the wrong time. I believe all their attention is going to be pointed ahead of them, though, not behind. With that mountain at their backs, they’ll believe they’re safe in that direction.”
“It’ll be a dangerous descent,” Louis said. “I’m no mountaineer, but I could tell that much just from looking at the peak.”
Smoke smiled. “The Wolf’s Fang. That’s what the Indians called it, according to some of the old-timers around here. Men who trapped in this area long before your mother and I ever came here from Idaho. It looks kind of like a fang, I reckon.”
“I just hope it doesn’t bite any of us,” murmured Louis.
Later in the morning, Smoke kissed and hugged Sally before leaving, hugged Melanie, shook hands with Louis, and then embraced his son roughly, clapping a hand on his back. “If everybody does their part, we’ll have that boy home, safe in his mother’s arms, by tomorrow night,” he promised.
Louis stood with his arm around his wife’s shoulders as they watched Smoke, Magruder, and eight other men set out on horseback for the long, roundabout ride that would take them to the far side of the Wolf’s Fang.
“I wish I was going with them,” Louis said quietly.
“What you’re going to do is important, too,” Melanie said. “And after you’ve pretended to deliver the ransom, you’re going to be with Pearlie and Sheriff Carson and the other men who attack the outlaws from the other direction.”
Sally, who stood nearby, said, “I’m still not sure it’s a good idea for you to go with them, Louis.”
“Pa didn’t argue with me when I said I was riding with that bunch,” Louis pointed out with a smile. “He probably knew it wouldn’t do any good.”
“I know, but as your mother, I’m going to worry. There’s no avoiding that.” A grim smile touched Sally’s lips, too. “But as a Jensen, I have to say I understand, Louis.”
“I do, too,” said Melanie. “We may be Jensens by marriage, but that counts, too, doesn’t it, Sally?”
“You’re darned right it does.”
Once Smoke was gone, Louis talked to Pearlie, who was going to be in charge of the second force riding to Brad’s rescue, and went over those details. The most important thing would be for the men to stay out of sight of the kidnappers as they made their way to the steep trail they would be using. The killers on the ridge couldn’t be allowed to see anyone in the vicinity except Louis. He also put together the five bags of paper cut to resemble bundles of money.
With that taken care of, there was nothing left to do except wait—and that wasn’t an easy thing. Supper was awkward and strained that night, and Louis tossed and turned, unable to stop worrying about Brad and hoping that the youngster was still all right.
The next morning was better. Louis was up early, glad to be leaving the torture chamber of his thoughts. There were things to do, things to keep his mind and hands occupied. He ate the hearty breakfast that Inez prepared, drank several cups of hot, strong coffee, and then checked over the guns he was taking along.
A Colt .45 had always seemed a little heavy and unwieldy to him. In the past, he had fired Denny’s. 38 caliber Lightning for target practice before deciding he could handle something a bit more powerful. The Colt Thunderer had proven to fit the bill, very similar in feel to the Lightning although it fired the slightly bigger .41 caliber round.
For a rifle, he picked a Winchester Model 1894 from his father’s large collection of firearms racked in Smoke’s study. It was chambered for .30-30 rounds, and Louis had shot it enough to be reasonably comfortable with it, although he knew he was far from an expert marksman. He wished that he had put in many more hours of practice, as Denny had. He’d never had any reason to think that someday his son’s life might depend on his skill with a gun, though.
He had just finished with that when Melanie hurried into the room and said, “One of the men just came to the door and said that riders are coming, fast.”
What now? Louis thought. Another attack? More bad news?
He took hold of Melanie’s arms and said, “Stay inside. I’ll go see what it’s about.”
“Louis, be careful. Like I told you before, I . . . I don’t think I could go on if I lost you, too.”
“You’re not going to lose anyone,” he told her. Taking the Winchester ’94 with him, he strode to the front of the house and stepped out onto the porch.
Pearlie was walking quickly toward the house from the bunkhouse. The former foreman carried a Winchester, too, but his was an old Model ’73 in .44-40, a long-barreled, heavy repeater. Two holstered revolvers hung from crossed belts buckled around his lean hips.
“You expectin’ company?” Pearlie asked as Louis joined him in the ranch yard.
“No, but I’m ready for it if it’s trouble.” Louis hefted the .30-30.
Pearlie grinned for a second. “You’re Smoke’s boy, all right.”
“Maybe, but I hope it’s not like this all the time. This is exhausting!”
That brought a chuckle from the older man.
They stood side by side and waited, but not for long. Within moments, two riders came into view on the trail that led from the main road that ran between Big Rock and Red Cliff. The horsebackers were moving fast, pushing their mounts.
Louis exclaimed in surprise as he spotted long, blond, curly hair tumbling from under one rider’s hat. “Good Lord! It’s Denny!”