Aces Wild (29 page)

As if sensing her anxiety, Davy turned and gave her a little salute. He smiled at her his face lighting up like a young boy’s when he saw a pretty girl. Good, god, Ana wondered, how could such an innocent looking young man be a dangerous avenger?

As they entered the glen, a blast shattered the peaceful sky. Their horses reared up with sharp whinnies and a flock of frightened jays filled the air with angry squawks. In the blast of shots ricocheting around them Ana saw Davy fall forward, a widening circle of red staining his shirt. Before she could scream, another volley of shots rang out kicking up the dirt in front of Shadow. Her mare jerked back and Ana lost her grip but not before she heard Kai’s anguished cry. The last thing she saw before she hit the ground was Kai slumped over the front of his horse. And then she landed on the jagged rock and everything went black.

~~~

Gabe sat in the solarium with Gunnar and Eagle preparing for their conversation with Chao. The older man had drifted off to sleep after Ana and Kai left. Gabe knew the healers were giving him pain medication but they were going to have to stop at least for a while. It was essential that he talk with Chao.

Gunnar and Eagle were astonished at Ana’s findings.

Gunnar marveled. “Damn, Gabe. She is as smart as she is beautiful.”

Gabe grimaced. “And as reckless.”

Taking joy in his friend’s discomfort, Gunnar leaned back and dragged on his cigarette. “I know I’ll never forget the scene when we walked into that poker game. Christ, there she was ruling the table. With seven or was it eight men groveling at her feet? Hell no wonder they call her the Queen Bee. She could a been sitting on a throne.” He chortled. “And that cigarette holder. Damn, that may be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. You agree, Eagle.”

Eagle gave him a laconic grin. “I dunno, Gunnar. I think my favorite part was the look on our partner’s face. Hell, if I could a captured it, I would use it as evidence to the contrary anytime someone raves about Angel’s poker face.”

“
You’re right, Eagle. That was the best part. How would you describe his reaction? Shocked or pissed?”

“
Definitely pissed. No question about it.”

Gabe intervened. “All right, you two. That’s enough. For the record you’re both right. I was shocked as hell and don’t remember ever being more pissed.”

He took a drag off his cigarette and gave Gunnar an ironic grin. “And, Gunnar, for once I agree with you. That cigarette holder may be the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen.”

His partners crowed in delight.

Never one to let up, Gunnar persisted. “Hell, Gabe. You’re in a mighty good mood this morning given all the shit swirling around us. That must have been quite a Kung fu practice you had. Word’s out that you and the Queen bee were in there for over two hours after you kicked out the rest of the fighters and locked the door.”

Gabe was eloquently quiet for a moment then gave him an impassive shrug. “Let’s just say, we worked on some new moves.” He looked down then met his partners’ eyes. “And yeah, my friends, you’re right. Given all the shit we’re in, I’m glad Ana and I had that time together.

~~~

At that moment, Emil came to the doorway. Gabe froze when he saw him; an icy claw squeezed the breath out of his chest. He rose slowly to his feet, Gunnar and Eagle at his side.

Emil’s face was pale, his eyes shrouded with pain. Most frightening were the tears streaming down his face. He met Gabe’s eyes and nodded.

He choked on the words. “They’re bringing in Kai and Davy now. Kai’s hurt real bad, Gabe.

Gabe sucked in a long hard breath. “Davy?”

Emil’s sobs muffled his response.

“
Dead. Davy’s dead, Gabe.”

Gabe didn’t know how long the next moment was. He only knew that it was the longest of his lifetime. When he spoke, his voice sounded strangely flat to his ears. It had no emotion.

“
Ana?”

Emil faltered, then closed his eyes when he answered.

“
She’s gone, Gabe. They got her.”

~~~

Telling Chao was the hardest thing Gabe had done in his life. He could identify. It was the worst thing he’d had to face. One of kindest, sweetest of his men was dead at twenty-one. Ana’s brother, Chao’s son, was critically wounded. The chances of Kai dying outweighed his surviving by at least three to one. The only reason he had a chance at all was because Emil and the rest of the team were stationed a couple of miles beyond the glen. Ever on the alert, when the trio had not arrived at the prescribed time, Emil’s crew went back for them. It couldn’t have been fifteen minutes since the attack. Too late to save Davie and only the ghost of a chance of saving Kai. And no chance of finding Ana.

Chao insisted they bring Kai to his room. The solarium bustling with silent healers became the infirmary. A reminder of the tragedy as if anyone needed one. Gabe had close to fifty men working for him. They’d already marshaled half of them and by nightfall the rest were in place. The orders were simple. “Find Ana.”

Ten men scoured the nearby area looking for signs of a party of men. Eagle called in their best trackers and by nightfall the report was in. Gabe listened without flinching when Stuart described the scene and their conclusions. Six men on horseback engineered the kidnapping and murder. All the signs pointed to the desperadoes heading for San Francisco. Which would make it harder to find them, but they also had more resources there.

Stuart, one of the oldest men on Gabe’s team and still their best tracker, pulled his chair a little closer. Gabe nodded for him to continue.
“This ain’t much to go on, Gabe, but it might help a little. Davy fell where they shot him. As best we can tell, so did Kai.”

Gabe’s voice was tight, controlled. “And, Ana?”

“
This is where we are taking the biggest jump. We found blood –not much but definitely not from either Davy or Kai ‘bout twenty feet from Kai’s body. We…we also found this.”

Stuart handed Gabe, a broken locket. Gabe stiffened. He first saw the locket in the portrait above Chao’s mantel. Ana’s mother was wearing it. Knowing she could take only a few things with her, Ana must have chosen this reminder of her mother. Gabe tucked it in his pocket. He determined at that moment that Chao would never see this locket again unless Ana was wearing it.

“
Gabe, one more thing.”

Eagle frowned and pulled his chair closer to Gabe until their knees touched. Gunnar crowded in behind them

The wrinkles on Stuart’s sunburned face were deep creases. The furrow between his eyes a crevice. When he turned to Gabe, they seemed to deepen more.

“
Look, Gabe, I know what you’re most worried about. First, I think she is alive. We would a found the body by now. There’s no way with my men and the dogs that we wouldn’t find her. The other thing you gotta be thinkin with a young woman and six despicable men, more like animals than men, is rape.”

Gabe couldn’t control the massive tremor that shook him. He leaned into Gunnar’s hand resting on his shoulder and welcomed the pressure of Eagle’s knee.

“
At least at the site, there’s not enough blood to make me think it’s rape. Any chance you know if she’s virgin?”

Gabe nodded. “Yeah, she is.”

“
Well, could be that the blood we saw was that, but I don‘t think so, Gabe. I don’t think they’d waste that much time. No if they was gonna do that, they’d wait until they got to where they were going.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, then Gabe asked. “Something’s off, Stu. You said the horses’ tracks look like they headed in different directions. Just to throw us off?”

“
We know for sure they was tryin to that. And this is where I’m gonna crawl out the branch and hope to hell I don’t get sawed off. Here’s my thinking. By the time they got close to town, ten, fifteen men had joined the party. Then they all split up, two or three goin every which way, all four directions at the same time and every one in between. The big question is, why did they go to town to do that? What’s in town? And we sure as hell know it ain’t Ana. There isn’t a stick in that hell holes that hasn’t been turned over.”

Gabe stared at him then jumped to his feet. For the first time since they got the news his eyes took on the look that had terrified men all his life. He was the panther; stealthy, sleek and deadly, the hunter had scented his prey.

“
The train. That’s why they went to town. They thought we’d follow the horses. They would have had us going ten different directions at once. They likely hired a pack of drifters to add to the confusion. Meanwhile they hopped on the train and took off. Hell, probably in luxury.”

Stuart whistled in admiration. “Damn, Gabe. Why the hell do you need me? Except to confirm that I’ll bet my last nut, that’s exactly what happened.”

“
Where were the trains headed?”

“
We’re in luck. One was on the way Sacramento. Won’t arrive til late tonight. We have men at the station. The other will get to Los Angeles after midnight. We don’t think she’s on that one. We inspected the passenger list. Nope, Gabe, we can’t be sure but she’s likely in …

Gabe held up his hand. ”San Francisco. Has to be. Too many connections to this area. Someone wants her close. Close enough for Chao, and me, to find her. To know every fuckin thing they did to her before they killed her.”

~~

Chapter 32

Gabe did his best to cover his fury, but Chao knew him too well.

“
I’m sorry, Gabe. It…it never occurred to me. I truly thought I was making up for the past. Healing wounds, not exacerbating them.”

Gabe looked down at his hands, then lit his fourth cigarette in thirty minutes. He vowed that he would not make Chao feel any worse that he already did, but Goddamn it was hard not to. They’d placed a dozen men in and around Harcourt’s place but it was unlikely he would return. His manservant said his master had left several days ago, the day after Chao was attacked to be precise. Duncan didn’t expect him back for another week.

“
Gabe, when you asked me to list the men I’d hurt, humiliated financially, I never thought to include Peter. Hell, when I bought up that last chunk of land and paid off the rest of George’s debts, I thought I was saving him from ruin.”

“
How much did that leave him?”

Chao shrugged, his face lined with despair.” Not much. The house and barns, a small pasture. I offered to buy out the rest, but he wouldn’t sell.”

Gunnar walked in with a sheaf of papers and a grin on his face that gave Gabe hope for the first time since the news. The reason they’d decided to stay at the Villa until they knew Ana’s location was Chao’s state of the art business center. Housed in a building next to the main house, Chao kept three men there at all times. The main draw for Gunnar was the telegraph system. Rivaling any operation in San Francisco, Chicago or New York, Gunnar and four other men had spent most of the evening pouring over Peter Harcourt’s financial records. In his heyday banks all over the world had done business with Peter. At first glance he was the image he had created. As they dug deeper a different picture appeared.

“
How much did you offer Peter to buy his place, Chao?” Gunnar asked holding tight to the papers in his hands.

Chao sighed. “Much more than it was worth. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but he turned me down flat.”

Gunnar laid out the stacks of paper on the desk and pointed to the top sheet. “This is a compilation of what Peter owes to investors across the world. Most of whom you don’t want to be in debt to.” he added with a grin. “Nope, Chao, the reason he didn’t accept your offer was because it’s almost eight million dollars less than he needed.”

Several hours later, Gabe convinced Chao to get back in his bed. The older man had spent most of the day hovering by Kai’s bedside. The healers had done everything they could to save the young man. Gabe could only pray that warrior he had seen in Kai’s eyes would fight harder than he had ever fought before. For his life.

Gabe was on one side of Chao’s bed, Eagle on the other. Gunnar was still going over figures at the Chao’s desk. Gabe was touched and gratified that his partners refused to leave his side.

Eagle summed it up. “When we find out where she is, we’ll all go after her together.”

All four men were smoking cigars. Gabe, Gunnar and Eagle were drinking whisky; Chao was sipping his imported cognac.

Gabe puffed on his cigar and looked Chao in the eye.

“
You want to talk about it, Chao? I‘ll ask Gunnar and Eagle to leave if that would make it easier. But you know there isn’t anything I don’t tell these two.”

Chao gave him a sad smile. “No, my young friend. Your partners may stay. How much do you know, Gabe?”

Gabe grimaced. “I don’t know the details, Chao. I can only guess at the story. Guess at what would drive a man to do what Peter has done and plans to do.”

Chao nodded, “It comes down to what it usually does, Gabe. Money, pride and a woman.”

“
Your wife, Ana’s mother?”

Chao sighed. “Julianne and George Harcourt, Peter’s father, were engaged to be married. It was an arranged marriage. Her family believed in making connections and Harcourt was one of the wealthiest financiers in the country at the time. Julianne was young, innocent and headstrong. Remind you of anyone, Gabe? We don’t have time for all the details. Suffice it to say that I must have done something right in my life because six weeks after I met Julianne at a party in Washington, we eloped. Her family never forgave her or me. Most repulsive to them all was that Julianne married a “Chink” That is how George referred to me until the day he died. The way that Penelope does to this day.