Ginger’s legs shook as she walked with Sam toward the supply tent. By the description Sam had given of the young man, it could only be Buddy. Frustration bit at her. How could her brother be so foolish? If what Two Feathers said was true, he had given her away.
Just how much Buddy had told, she couldn’t be sure so she didn’t allow herself to speak. But if he’d so much as hinted that he had been involved in the attack this morning, Web was as good as found. With Sam’s and Grant’s abilities as trackers, it wouldn’t be long before they rounded up the rest of Web’s gang, and the whole lot of them—including Ginger—would be in a mess of trouble.
Her stomach quivered as she slipped through the tent flap.
Standing quickly from Buddy’s bedside, Grant held up his arms. “Get her out of here. This man has cholera.”
A gasp shuddered through Ginger. She pushed past him. “You’re not keeping me from my brother. Especially if he’s sick.”
“Your brother?” Blake asked, suspicion edging his voice.
Ginger nodded. “Yes. His name is Buddy. He…he must have followed me west.” She reached forward and brushed a lock of Buddy’s brown hair from his forehead.
Grant placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ginger, if this is cholera, you’ve just exposed yourself to the disease by touching him. You’re risking your life and the lives of others by that stunt you just pulled.”
Ginger examined her younger brother’s sweet boyish face. He shivered under the thin blanket covering him and his brow was damp with sweat. Just like Web’s had been earlier.
Blake nodded to Grant. “She’s already exposed herself now. We might as well get some answers. Wake him up.”
Grant waved smelling salts under Buddy’s nose. The young man sniffed, jerked, and came awake with a start.
Without so much as a nod at Ginger, Blake looked at Buddy. “Ginger’s here, just like we promised. Ginger, look at me.”
She turned to face the wagon master. Blake’s eyes demanded answers. “Whether he’s sick or not, I have to know if he has anything to do with that band of outlaws that attacked our train.”
Buddy’s eyes grew wide as he looked to Ginger to see how much she would admit to. Ginger hated to lie, but she couldn’t betray her brother. He was barely fifteen years old. How could she hand him over to Blake to be hanged? On the trail, justice was swift and administered by the hands of those in charge. This far from a town with a sheriff, there was no other choice. Just as she had no choice now but to protect her brother.
“Outlaw?” She forced a laugh. “My Buddy? Does he look like an outlaw?”
Grant narrowed his gaze. Ginger swallowed hard but raised her chin against his disbelief. “Buddy always said if I ran off, he’d follow me.” That much was true. “Didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, closing his eyes.
“Is that the truth, son?” Grant asked.
“You calling my brother a liar?”
“No.”
Grant’s curt reply and knowing gaze silenced Ginger. She swallowed hard. How was she ever going to get out of this mess without Buddy and possibly herself swinging from the end of a rope?
The scowl on Grant’s face made it clear he wasn’t going to budge, no matter what she said. “Look, Blake,” she said, appealing to the wagon master. “My brother is sick and obviously alone. He came looking for me, that’s all. I’m the only family he’s got since our ma abandoned us.”
“What about your pa?”
Ginger gave a snort. “Pa? Web’s about the sorriest excuse for a pa you ever could see. We’re better off without him.”
“She’s telling the truth about that,” Buddy said in a meek voice that concerned Ginger. How sick was he? Her knees went soft at the thought of Buddy dying a horrible death of cholera.
“Buddy, lay still and let me take care of this, will you?” She studied his pale face with a frown. “You feeling okay?”
“I feel awful sick, Ginger.”
Grant stepped forward. “All right. Enough of this for now. Whatever the reason for this young man’s appearance, the fact is he’s ill. I need someone to bring me a bucket, and I’ll need all the quinine I can get my hands on just in case this thing spreads.”
Blake looked from Ginger to Buddy and back to Grant. “I guess I don’t really have much of a choice.”
Blake took her arm. “Come with me.”
Grant stepped forward. “Wait, Blake. We need to inform the people that cholera is among us. Sam and you have already been in the tent and back out, so there’s no containing it now. Whoever you came in contact with has also been exposed and has in turn exposed anyone else they’ve been close to. Tell them to watch for fever, vomiting, diarrhea.”
Blake nodded. “We’ll get the word out.” He turned to Sam. “Take the west side of camp. I’ll take the east. We’ll spread the word among the captains, and they can tell their people.”
He turned back to Ginger. “I need to have a word with you.”
Ginger knew better than to try to pull away. She nodded. “I’ll be back, Buddy,” she called over her shoulder, although he appeared to have passed out. Once they ducked through the tent flap and stood outside, Blake turned her loose. They faced each other, Blake’s square-shouldered stance firm and allowing for no backtalk.
“Now, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Ginger fought a rising panic. She didn’t know what she was supposed to explain, exactly—Buddy’s presence, or her riding out without permission?
Besides, his high-and-mighty tone irked her. She matched him look for look. “About what?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” he growled. “Why did you ride off after I ordered that no one was to leave camp?”
Ginger watched the puff of air accompanying his words, as she sought to lasso a believable thought. Still, the familiar excuse flew out of her mouth, as though she hadn’t thought about it at all. “I just needed to ride.”
Between his eyes, two lines formed a deep frown. “What do you mean, you just needed to ride?”
A shrug lifted her shoulders. She wanted to tell him to mind his own business—that if she wanted to ride and try to ease the knot in her stomach, she should be allowed to do so. But with Buddy ill, hurt, and possibly dying, she especially couldn’t take any chances that Blake would toss her out of the train. “I just needed to be alone.”
He narrowed his eyes and peered closer. “Where did you go?”
Ginger jerked her thumb toward the west. “That way.”
“Did you meet anyone or see signs of the attackers?”
For once, Ginger hesitated and weighed her words carefully. Buddy’s presence proved that she had people in the vicinity. Still, she couldn’t very well admit her connection to the attackers. So, she did the next best thing.
“I saw my pa.”
“What do you mean? I thought you said you and Buddy were alone in the world.”
“We said we have a pa. Just not a very good one.”
Blake nodded as his eyes registered the memory. “And your pa and Buddy showing up the same day a band of outlaws attacks the wagon train is nothing but a coincidence?”
Now that he put it that way, Ginger realized the only way to get out of this mess was to pretend innocence. “That’s right. Just an odd coincidence.” Ginger’s lips turned up in what she hoped was a convincing smile.
“If you don’t care much for your pa, what’s he doing in these parts?”
“He was looking for Buddy.” Now that wasn’t exactly a lie. After all, Web did mention that her brother was missing. “Asked me if I’d seen him, but I didn’t know Buddy was looking for me at the time, so I had to tell him no.”
“And there was no one else with your pa?”
In a moment that could only be attributed to providence, Grant ducked through the tent flap at the very second Ginger would have either had to admit what she was or tell another lie; neither option appealed to her.
“How’s Buddy?” she asked, aware that her voice was a little breathless—a telltale sign that she was relieved and evading Blake’s question.
His lips held in a grim line, and he shook his head.
Fear gripped Ginger. “Grant?”
“You should probably prepare for the worst. He’s very ill, and cholera is a fast killer.”
Ginger tried to wrap her mind around his words, but her heart rejected the very thought that she could possibly lose another brother. “But Miss Sadie had it,” Ginger said. “She didn’t die.”
Grant peered closer. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes. Her sons and husband died of it. That’s why she came west.”
“Then she might be able to help if this thing sweeps through the wagon train. In the meantime, I’ve given him something to help with the pain,” Grant told her.
“Can I see him again before I turn in?”
Grant shook his head. “Let him rest, Ginger. The boy is very ill.”
“But why can’t I stay with him? You said yourself that I’m already exposed.”
“You need to get your rest. Stay strong, just in case you do get sick.”
Resigned, Ginger nodded. “All right. But I’m coming back in the morning.” She turned to Blake. “Are you finished with me for tonight?”
So far, he hadn’t mentioned a punishment of leaving camp, but she was sure he was building up to it. “We’re finished for tonight,” Blake said. “But I expect you to follow orders from now on, and as punishment, you are off the scouting detail until further notice. That means no tracking, no hunting. And most of all, no leaving the wagon train for any reason.”
Ginger opened her mouth to protest, but Grant placed a gentle, silencing hand on her arm. She nodded. “All right.” After all, she had more important things to think about.
Blake shoved a finger toward her. “Until further notice, you’re on water detail.”
Indignation filled her chest. “Water detail!” Punishment was one thing, but he didn’t have to insult her!
“Would you prefer to gather buffalo chips for the fire?”
Ginger stepped back quickly. “I’ll fetch water.”
“Good.” Blake gave a nod. “Report to Miss Sadie at daybreak.”
Miss Sadie was in charge of several chores—collecting chips, water, and anytime there was a camp-wide hunting expedition, she divvied up the meat.
Ginger said goodnight and headed back to the tent she shared with Toni. Her friend offered her a cup of coffee when she arrived. Ginger nodded gratefully. “Thanks.”
“So what was Blake’s punishment?”
“Water detail,” she said glumly.
Toni gave a short laugh. “That’s my every day chore. But I can see why you’d consider it a punishment.” She handed Ginger the tin cup. “Sam stopped by. He said you have a visitor in camp.”
“Not exactly a visitor. He’s my brother, and he’s apparently got cholera.”
“Sam told me. I’m so sorry.”
“Grant wouldn’t let me stay with him.” She took a sip of her coffee, then bended forward to rest her forearms on her knees. She studied the cup she cradled between her hands. “He told me to rest. How does he expect me to do that when my baby brother is in the supply tent all alone?”
“He’s just looking out for you, Ginger,” Toni soothed. “It’s what he does.”
“I don’t need him looking out for me. I need him to let me look out for Buddy.”
“Well, I think we’d all better get ready. Cholera isn’t going to go away quietly. The next couple of weeks are going to be more than hard for everyone.”
For the first time, Ginger considered the implications of this disease beyond her brother. “You think a lot of people are going to die?”
“Sam seemed concerned. And I’ve seen this disease before. It isn’t going to be pretty.”
“Blake and Sam are out warning folks now.”
“I hope it doesn’t cause a panic.”
Ginger gave a shrug. “I reckon Blake knows what he’s doing.”
Toni rinsed out the coffeepot. A yawn stretched her mouth. “Are you ready to turn in?”
“I’ll just dump out the wash water and take care of the fire, then I’ll be in.”
Nodding, Toni said goodnight and ducked into the tent.
Alone, Ginger extinguished the campfire, feeling the darkness swirling around her.
A shudder ran down her spine. Maybe it was her imagination, but she could feel eyes on her, watching. She stopped and turned quickly. “Web?” she whispered. Maybe he was checking on Buddy after all.
But silence answered. Her heart beat faster and she resumed her walk, quickening her steps, anxious to reach her tent and escape the feeling of those prying eyes.
Grant thought about Ginger as he administered quinine to the boy lying on the pallet in the supply tent. He’d watched her walk away, her body held with much less confidence than he was accustomed to seeing from her. Her head drooped just a little, and her gait seemed a bit slower, less cocky. Her brother’s appearance and illness had most assuredly upset her. He didn’t blame her. He himself was terrified, if he had to be honest about it. When Blake returned later with some supplies, Grant finally gave in to his curiosity. “What did she have to say for herself?”
“About riding off alone?” Blake shrugged. “The usual. Just needed to get alone. I understand how she feels. There are times when I’d like to ride off on Dusty and not come back until we’re both sweating buckets and I feel my head clear. But I can’t allow that sort of thing. If everyone ran off whenever they took a notion to, we’d have no discipline around here.”
Grant nodded. “I agree. Did Ginger have an explanation for her brother showing up out of nowhere?”
“Nothing more than what she already said. She did say that she ran into her pa while she was out there today.”
“Her pa?” Somehow, Grant didn’t find this news too shocking. Not after her brother had appeared out of nowhere. Even a man of faith would have trouble believing such a thing were mere coincidence or simply an ambitious fifteen-year-old brother traveling alone, all the way from Missouri just to find her. “Do you think there’s a connection between this morning’s attack and Ginger’s reunion with her pa and brother?”
“Only a fool would think otherwise.”
Grant nodded in agreement. Blake was no fool. Grant walked next to him as they made their way through camp. “I figure she’s seen more than just her pa and her brother.”
“I’d put money on it.” Blake dropped his tone. “As a matter of fact, I’m banking on Ginger’s presence in the wagon train to draw them out.” His gaze swept the camp. “I told the captains of each section to double the guards for each section of the train.”
Grant nodded. “What about the scouts? Should we double them, too?”
“Makes sense. Numbers might discourage an attack. Let them go in groups of three, at daybreak. If there are any tracks ahead, I want them found before the wagons rolls over them.” He gathered a deep breath. “I don’t want any more surprise attacks.”
“Something else to consider,” Grant said. “It’s possible more than just Ginger’s brother has come down with cholera.”
Blake scowled and nodded. “The thought has crossed my mind, as well. Unless we can get her to admit to being part of that outfit, how do we flush them out before they spread it to anyone else?”
“She may need to be confronted.”
All in all, Grant knew that Ginger had a good heart. She might not turn in her pa if it meant him going to jail or getting hanged, but he couldn’t believe she’d want to be responsible for unnecessary deaths.
At least not if she was the kind of young woman he believed her to be. He just hoped he wasn’t wrong about her.
Web eyed his opponent, sizing him up like he would anyone who dared question his authority. “Like I said, we’re waitin’ this thing out.”
Lane shook his head, refusing to back down. “We’ve got to leave these parts or we’re gonna get ourselves caught.” His words carried across camp. Web sensed the tension in his men. They weren’t used to outbursts such as this one. Web’s word was law, and that was that. Even those who disagreed rarely said so. And if they did, they sure didn’t say it twice. So why, all of a sudden was the one man he thought he could count on betraying him?
Throughout his years as leader of this band of outcasts and outlaws, Web had been challenged before and had always dealt with the upstart in his own way. This time was different. Lane’s silver-talking tongue had earned him sway with some of the men. But as far as Web knew, they were still loyal to him. For now, anyway. He needed to appeal to their sense of loyalty. And he needed to do it fast. If this stomach ailment was what he suspected, he and two other men in camp had contracted cholera from them Indians.
“Listen, men.” Web held up his hand and moved in next to Lane. “A half-day’s ride away is plenty far away from the wagon train. Even the trackers won’t ride too far from the rest of the group. They’re more concerned with immediate danger. As long as we keep our distance, we need to stick with the plan.”
Lane shook his head and raised his voice. “Don’t be fooled by Web! He’s only saying that because he has Buddy and Ginger both in that camp. You know they’re spying for him right now.”
“What?” Web shouted, his head swimming with dizziness. The fact was, he wished he’d thought of planting a spy. He could shoot himself for not, as a matter of fact. He didn’t know where Buddy was, and he wasn’t sure whether Ginger was still loyal to him or not.
“Lane, you know as well as I do that Buddy ain’t nowhere near that wagon train.”
“Really? Then where is he, Web?” Lane’s brow rose in challenge.
“Well, I don’t rightly know that. He went looking for his sister—that’s true—but he ain’t daft enough to walk into camp and start callin’ her name.”
“Well, I happen to know he is in their camp.”
Web narrowed his gaze at the man. In the back of his mind, he thought about Lane riding into camp late with a few rabbits slung across his saddle.
Lane’s horse had been ridden harder than he let on. And harder than anyone would ride on a hunt.
Web leveled his gaze at Lane. “You been spying on the wagon train without letting me know about it?”
Lane nodded. “I saw him. He must have hurt himself, because they carried him into camp. It looked like he was unconscious. Seems like they must have found out he’s connected to Ginger, because they took her to the tent where they’re holding him.”
The news slammed into Web’s gut, and he fought to keep from retching. He swallowed hard and gathered his composure. “Who told you to hang back and spy on my girl? You plannin’ on doublecrossin’ me?”
Lane’s desire for Ginger had been common knowledge since she was fourteen years old and began displaying womanly qualities. Common knowledge, that was, except to Ginger. She was oblivious to anything romantic. Just as well. Without a mother, she’d been raised in a man’s world. To her credit, she didn’t have any evil feminine wiles, but also no feminine instincts that he’d ever observed. Her worthless mother had seen to that. The woman never was much of a mother—or a wife, for that matter. But whether Ginger knew Lane was sweet on her or not, he still didn’t have any call to sneak around and gawk at her without her knowing. It just wasn’t right.
“Did you hear me, boy?” he said. “What was you doin’, staying back when the rest of us moved on?”
A lazy smile collected at the corner of Lane’s mouth. “That’s my business, I reckon.”
In a flash, Web snatched the front of Lane’s shirt and yanked him forward. Fear replaced insolence, and the younger man’s eyes widened.
“I’m makin’ it my business, you two-bit idiot.” A wave of nausea swarmed his gut, but he fought it back.
Elijah stepped forward and spread his hands. “Let’s not fight amongst ourselves. I’m sure it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that James and Murray are ailing. I’m guessing cholera. Do you think we ought to be concentrating on not spreading it?”
Web turned Lane loose with a jolt. “Elijah’s got a point. Now, I don’t want to hear any more. A half-day’s ride is plenty far away. Anyone else what to challenge me?”
Web knew he was on dangerous ground when someone like Lane, who had ridden with him since he was just a boy, could go against him for no good reason. The other men would lose confidence if he didn’t do something quick.
He turned to the rest of the men, who stood in silence, waiting, watching to see what he would do. “Now, you men know me. Have I ever led you into anything that wasn’t for the good of the entire gang?”
Murmurs of assent buzzed around the group. Confidence surged through Web. “All right then. I have my reasons for not riding away just yet.”
Lane seemed unable to let well enough alone. “Seems to me, if we’re going to risk our necks for your so-called reasons, you ought to come clean to the rest of us.”
Web knew if he gave in to Lane’s demands he would be in danger of losing his command of this ragtag bunch of misfits that he had pulled together and made into a family. And he couldn’t let that happen. His biggest regret at the moment was ever treating Lane like a son. Still, he figured he’d best remind the men just why they’d left Missouri and followed the wagon train. It was his only defense against Lane’s poison.
“Remember why we hit the wagon train in the first place?” He leveled his gaze and scrutinized the whole lot of ungrateful idiots. “Who joined the wagon train the same time as Grant Kelley?” He hesitated a moment for effect. “Harrison. Charles Harrison. Richest fella in Kansas. And ain’t we lucky that he packed up, lock, stock, and barrel, and decided to head west with that idiot son of his, a pretty wife, and young daughter? How many of you got enough brains to figure out what he probably didn’t leave behind?”
“His money?”
Poor Yuley. He was as slow as Harrison’s son. His big grin flashed proudly.
Web clapped the simpleton on the shoulder with parental approval. “That’s right, Yuley. His money. Now, how many of you want to ride off and leave all those thousands of dollars that I just bet are under a false bottom or in their supply wagon, locked away in a box?”
No one raised a hand. He turned in triumph to Lane. “I guess you got your answer. If you ever go against my word again, I’ll put a bullet in you.”
Lane’s eyes darkened further. “I don’t like threats.”
“And I don’t like my leadership questioned. Now, this was my outfit from the start, and I don’t mean to hand it over to the likes of you before I’m good and ready.” He paused for a breath. “Unless I change my mind and hand it over to someone else.”
“All right. Your point is taken. But tell me, how do you plan to get us close enough to find the box and then steal it?”
“I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
Because the fact of the matter was that Web had no idea how he was going to manage to grab the money and make sure his young’uns were safe. The best he could do right now was get away by himself somewhere and think on it a bit. He walked away from camp. But not so far that he couldn’t keep the campfire in sight. Lane would like nothing better than to catch him out alone and do him in. The longer he walked the more he thought about Lane until he came to a sober conclusion. With the traitor’s poison spreading through the group, Web had no choice but to find out once and for all where Ginger’s loyalties lay. He couldn’t care less about whether or not she ever put a bullet in that doctor. In a raid, men on either side would be killed, and no one was to blame. War was war. And he didn’t believe in revenge. It was a waste of time. Only once had he given in to bloodlust. That was his secret, and he’d never do it again.
He would enter the camp and introduce himself as Ginger’s Pa that had been looking for his girl. She had friends there. If they trusted her, they’d surely trust her pa. It wouldn’t take long to make friends with Harrison and find out about the money. Then Ginger could do what she needed to do, and they could grab the money and be on their way before anyone was the wiser. It was time to get on with the new plan. Ginger wouldn’t be happy with her role, but she had no choice.
A grim smile slowly stretched his mouth as he imagined the entire plan in his mind.
Tonight, he would sleep like a baby. And in the morning, he’d join the wagon train and reunite with his two children. Hopefully, his stomach would settle down by then.