CHAPTER 59
Denny felt like she hadn’t slept in days. To be honest, she hadn’t slept much during the whirlwind journey she and Brice had made from Montana back to Colorado and the Sugarloaf.
They had pushed their mounts as hard as they could on the ride to Stirrup, then caught the first train, fortunately not having to wait long to do so. They had sat up in one of the passenger cars, then changed trains in Chicago and continued sitting up. All the Pullman cars were booked, and there was no way in hell Denny was going to wait to get back home just so she could be more comfortable during the trip.
She knew there was a good chance that whatever the rest of the outlaws were going to do, they had already done it. She and Brice might be too late to help, but on the off chance that they could still get in on the action, Denny wanted to return to the Sugarloaf as quickly as possible.
The first thing she saw as she and Brice galloped toward the ranch house was the pair of men in range clothes waiting to meet them. A shock of recognition went through her as she realized one of them was her brother.
“That’s Louis!” she exclaimed. “And he’s wearing a gun and carrying a rifle!”
“I reckon something must have happened here, all right,” Brice said. “That’s Pearlie with him, and it looks like they’re ready for trouble.”
Denny had seen Louis practicing with guns before, but something was different about him, some sense that he was the real thing.
They reined in and Denny was out of the saddle and off her horse almost before the animal stopped moving. She threw her arms around her brother, Winchester and all, and hugged him.
“Louis, you’re all right? I didn’t know if you’d be here or not. Those outlaws, they didn’t kidnap you?”
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “Physically, anyway. Melanie and I got back not long after that gang raided the ranch.”
Denny stepped back. “Then they were here?”
“Yes.” Louis nodded grimly. “And they took Brad.”
Denny felt her eyes growing wider with shock. “Brad?” she repeated. “They . . . they kidnapped Brad?”
“Yes. I’m about to go pay them the ransom for him.”
Denny struggled to grasp what her brother had just told her, and as she did, the hatred she felt for Steve Markham, even though he was dead, grew even stronger. He had been in on the plan from the beginning, which meant he was partially responsible for anything that happened to Brad.
She wished she could shoot him again, even though that wouldn’t do any good.
She was about to demand more details from Louis, but at that moment her mother and Melanie appeared on the ranch house porch.
“Denise!” Sally called. “Thank God you’re all right.”
Leaving Brice with Louis and Pearlie, Denny hurried up the steps to the porch and hugged her mother and sister-in-law. She said to Sally, “You’re still recovering from that fever, Ma?”
Sally nodded. “I’m all right, just a little weak. That’s all. But there’s been so much else going on, so many terrible things . . .”
“I know. Louis just told us about Brad.” Denny looked at Melanie. “He said he was going to pay some ransom money ... ?”
“That’s what they think,” Louis said from the bottom of the steps. He had walked over there with Brice and Pearlie. “They’re going to get a surprise, and they won’t like it.”
Denny’s hand fell instinctively to the butt of the Lightning holstered on her hip as she turned toward her brother. “I like the sound of that. Tell me more.”
They all went into the parlor, where Louis, with some help from Sally and Pearlie, quickly summarized the events of the past few days. Denny’s anger grew as she heard about how Brad had been carried off and three Sugarloaf hands had been killed during the attack. She nodded her head in agreement as Louis explained about the plan to rescue Brad and deliver justice to the outlaws.
“Count me in on that,” she declared when Louis was finished. She looked over at Pearlie. “I’m coming with you.”
“So am I,” Brice put in.
“Glad to have you along, Marshal,” Pearlie said. “I ain’t sure about you comin’ with us, though, Miss Denny.”
“You’re forgetting that I’ve had run-ins with owlhoots before,” she snapped. “Most recently that bunch up in Montana.”
Louis said, “I don’t think anybody’s forgetting that. You’ve amply demonstrated that you can take care of yourself, Denny. I don’t mind you coming along.”
She was a little surprised by his attitude. Louis seemed to have changed. “Thanks, Louis.” She looked at Sally. “I suppose you’re going to argue with me, though.”
“No, I wish I could pick up a gun and come with you.”
“So do I,” Melanie added.
Louis shook his head. “There’s no need for either of those things. The two of you should stay here, so you’ll be ready to greet Brad when he comes home.” He picked up his rifle from the corner where he’d leaned it when he came in and went on. “As for the rest of us, we need to be riding. Denny, Brice, grab some fresh horses. We’ll have a hard climb up to that cut, according to what Smoke said.”
Yeah, thought Denny as she listened to Louis giving orders, her brother really had changed.
She just hoped his heart could keep up with it.
* * *
It was a grim-faced group of men who climbed to the high pass not far below the summit of the Wolf’s Fang that afternoon. Even in summer, the air was cold at that height, and Smoke was glad he had brought along his sheepskin jacket. They made camp in the pass—a cold camp, since they couldn’t risk a fire being seen.
The horses had been left below. The terrain up there was far too rugged for them. Once Brad was safe and the outlaws had been dealt with, some of the men from Pearlie’s group could ride around the mountain and retrieve the saddle mounts for Smoke and the others.
With the sun setting behind the mountain, Smoke knew he wouldn’t be seen from below if he walked out to the head of the pass on the eastern slope. Ed Magruder joined him, and as they peered down at the steep slopes and sheer drop-offs below them, Smoke pointed out a possible route down to the cowboy from the Ozarks.
“Looks passable, all right,” Magruder agreed. “Can you see that ridge from here? The one where they are holed up?”
“Down there,” said Smoke, pointing again. “They’ve built a fire out in the open, because it never occurred to them that someone could be up here to see it.”
“Yeah, I spot it now. That’s where the kid is, I reckon.”
“I’m sure it is,” Smoke said. “They’ll keep him close until this is all over. It’s just not going to end the way they think it is.”
Magruder chuckled, then said quickly, “I’m sorry, Smoke. There ain’t nothin’ funny about any of this, and I know it. All the boys do. But we got to talkin’ earlier . . . We’ve all heard so many stories about you and all the hell-raisin’ that took place in this valley fifteen, twenty years ago, and it seemed like things have really tamed down since the turn of the century. Us younger fellas, we sort of felt like we’d missed out on all the excitement of ridin’ for Smoke Jensen. But now it’s different, more like the old days. I just wish it hadn’t taken some good men gettin’ killed and poor little Brad bein’ carried off the way he was, to bring those days back to life for a spell.”
“Trouble, in one form or another, is always lurking just over the horizon, Ed. That’s one thing life has taught me. But it keeps things interesting, I suppose.” Smoke smiled. “A fella out in San Francisco once taught me a Chinese curse. ‘May you live in interesting times.’ I reckon there’s a lot of truth to that.” He clapped a hand on the cowboy’s shoulder. “Let’s try to get some sleep. We’ve got a long climb down in the morning.”