Destiny of Eagles (23 page)

“Don't you be tryin' nothin' now,” Dalton warned. “I ain't like Percy. You ain't goin' to get away from me.”

“Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere,” Anna said. “That bacon smells good.”

“Yeah? Well, if there's any left after me'n Percy eat, maybe you can have some.”

“Thanks,” Anna said.

Dalton turned back to the stove and when he did, Anna reached down to finish untying her ankles. Freeing herself of the last knot, she stood up very quietly and started tiptoeing toward the door.

Just before she reached the door, though, a knife whizzed by and hit the wall in front of her with a solid thumping sound, then vibrated slightly as it stuck there. With a little gasp of alarm she jerked back, then turned toward Dalton.

Dalton was smiling evilly at her.

“I could've just as easy put that knife in your back,” he said. He pointed to the bed. “I told you, I ain't Percy. If you try and get away from me again, I'll break one of your legs.”

The night creatures were singing as Falcon made a cold camp that night. A cloud passed over the moon, then moved away, bathing the prairie in silver. Supper was a piece of jerky and a couple of swallows of canteen water. He chewed on a coffee bean as he watched the distant campfire.

Falcon had been able to trail the Childers brothers by following the distinctive shoe tracks left by the horses the two outlaws were riding. Because of that, it had not been necessary for him to ever close to within visual distance.

The campfire ahead of him was theirs, he was certain of that. It was at least a mile away, far enough to enable him to maintain the cloak of secrecy, yet close enough to minimize any possibility of getting him separated from them.

* * *

“Why are we leaving a perfectly good campfire?” Frank asked.

“In case MacCallister is following us,” Aaron said.

“MacCallister? Wait a minute. That's the son of a bitch that got me, isn't it?” Frank asked. “Why would he be following us now?”

“I don't know why,” Aaron answered. “I just know he has been on our ass from the very beginning. And it wouldn't surprise me none if he wasn't following us right now.”

“I noticed that you been lookin' back over your shoulder a lot today,” Frank said. “I figured you was just bein' extra careful.”

“I was.”

“So, did you see him?”

“No.”

“So, why are you worried?”

“'Cause he's like a damn Injun. The time to worry is when you don't see him.”

* * *

Because Anna had managed to get loose twice, Dalton had come up with another way to secure her. He found a small chain and a padlock and he used that to attach her to the bed. In one way, it was more comfortable for her because she wasn't as tightly bound as she had been when tied with ropes. Also, the restraint was only around her left wrist, which gave her a bit more freedom of movement on the bed itself than did the ropes, which had bound both hands and feet.

It was dark outside, and Anna was sitting on the edge of the bed watching Percy Shaw and Dalton Yerby have their supper.

Percy let out a fart.

“You dumb son of a bitch,” Dalton said. “Don't you know better'n to fart at the dinner table?”

“I couldn't help it, it just come out,” Percy said. He looked over toward the bed. “Sorry 'bout the fart, Miss Heckemeyer,” he said.

“What are you apologizin' to her for?” Dalton asked.

“Womenfolk like it when men are polite,” Percy said. “Don't you know that?”

“What the hell do I care what womenfolk like? I ain't never had me a woman I didn't pay for, and if I pay for her, then seems to me like it's her job to do what I like. Don't you think that's right, girl?” he said to Anna.

“I really wouldn't know,” Anna said.

“In case you high-society-type women don't know nothin' about whores, that's where your menfolk go because you are so cold in bed,” Dalton said. He laughed.

“What you tellin' her that for?” Percy said. “She's prob'ly a virgin, she don't know about things like that.”

“You a virgin, girl?” Dalton asked. “I hate virgins.”

“I'm hungry,” Anna said without responding to his taunts. “I haven't had anything to eat all day.”

“You want somethin' to eat?” Dalton asked. He reached across the table and picked up Percy's plate, which still had half a piece of bacon and some uneaten beans.

“Hey, wait a minute, I ain't a-finished eatin' yet,” Precy complained.

“You're the one wantin' to be nice to her,” Dalton said. “Don't seem to me like it'd be too much to ask for you to share your food with her.”

Percy stroked his jaw, then looked over at Anna. “All right,” he said. “I reckon that'll be all right. But I'll give it to her.”

Percy took his plate back from Dalton, then picked up a fork.

“Don't give her no fork,” Dalton cautioned.

“Why not? How's she goin' to eat without a fork?” Percy asked.

“She can use her hands,” Dalton replied. “You give her a fork and she's liable to use it on you.”

“All right, whatever you say,” Percy said. He put the fork back down, then took the plate over to Anna and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” Anna said. She picked up the bacon and shoved it in her mouth, then did the same thing with a handful of beans.

“Damn, she really was hungry,” Percy said.

“It's good for her. Rich bitch like her, she's prob'ly never been hungry in her life,” Dalton said.

Percy watched Anna eat for a moment longer; then he started toward the door.

“Where you goin'?” Dalton asked.

“I'm goin' to take a piss.”

“Long as you're out there, you might as well take the first watch,” Dalton said.

“It ain't my time for watch.”

“Take the watch,” Dalton said again. “I'll, uh, look out for the girl.”

There was something in the tone of Dalton's voice that caught Anna's attention, and she looked up in alarm. Glancing toward him, she saw the look in his eyes.

“All right, but when it comes time to relieve me, you better come out there or I'll come in anyhow,” Percy said.

“What do you need to watch for anyway?” Anna asked. “My father has already agreed to all your demands. Nobody is coming after you.”

Anna didn't want Percy to leave. She didn't find Percy's company any more desirable than Dalton's, but she had the idea, perhaps unreasonable, that as long as both of them were here, nothing would happen to her.

“She's right,” Percy said. “There ain't nobody comin' for us. What do we have to stand watch for?”

“Just get out there and do your time on guard,” Dalton ordered. “I'll be out there when it's my time.”

Percy paused for a moment, and Anna thought that she saw a glimmer of understanding in him. Maybe if he could see what Dalton had in mind, he would say stay. But her hopes were dashed when he suddenly smiled.

“You goin' to have a little fun with her, ain't you?” he asked.

“What makes you think that?”

“Hell, I can tell it by lookin' in your face. Aaron told us we couldn't do nothin' until after we got the money, remember?”

“Yeah, and he also said he was goin' to be first,” Dalton said. “Only he ain't here now.”

“Hot damn,” Percy said, rubbing his crotch. “Okay, let's do it.”

“Get on out there. I'll tell you when it's your turn.”

“I want to stay here 'n watch,” Percy said.

“You ain't goin' to stay here and watch,” Dalton said resolutely. “Get on out there like I said.”

“Okay, but don't take too long. Damn if I ain't got me a big hard-on now, just a-thinkin' about it.”

Anna watched Percy leave; then she looked back toward Dalton.

Dalton started toward her. His eyes glowed red in the reflection of the candle, and looking into them was like looking through windows into the very fires of hell itself.

“You . . . you don't really want to do this,” she said.

“Oh, but I do,” Dalton said. “Yes, ma'am, me'n you's goin' to have us some fun.”

When Anna saw him coming toward her, her fear became palpable, and she felt bile in her throat. “No,” she said in a choked voice. “No, please don't. Your boss said that I wasn't to be harmed.”

“My boss?” Dalton chuckled. “Are you talkin' about Aaron?”

“Yes.”

“He don't want you killed . . . yet,” Dalton said, pointedly accenting the word “yet.” “But he was already plannin' on this. Onliest thing is, he wanted to be first.”

“No,” Anna whimpered. “Please, no.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut, trying, unsuccessfully, to prevent the tears from sliding down her cheeks. Her entreaties fell upon deaf ears, however, for she felt him approaching, then she smelled his foul breath and his body stench as he sat down on the bed beside her.

“Go ahead and cry if you want to, girl,” Dalton said, putting his hands on her shoulder and pushing her back. “Fact is, I like it when my women cry.”

Anna fell back on the bed.

“No,” Anna said. “Please don't do this. My father has acceded to your demands.”

“It don't make no difference to me whether your pa come through or not,” Dalton said, glaring lustfully down at her. “I been plannin' on havin' me a little of this from the moment we snatched you up. Now the way I look at it, you got yourself two ways of getting' through this. You can either cry and fight me . . . and I got to tell you, honey, I like that. I like that a lot. Or you can do like the whores do, pretendin' that you like it, even though you don't. Either way you do it is up to you.”

Anna felt Dalton's calloused hands bunching up her skirt and tugging at her undergarments until she could feel the night air on the most intimate parts of her body. Almost involuntarily, she squeezed her legs together.

Dalton unbuttoned his pants, then put his hands between her thighs. Despite her efforts to resist him, he forced her legs apart.

“There, that's a good girl,” Dalton grunted.

Anna felt Dalton's weight press against her bruised and racked body. Then she felt something cold and metallic against her thigh.

It was Dalton's knife! The same knife he had thrown at her earlier. She shifted positions slightly, to allow her to get to the knife.

“There you go, girl,” Dalton said. “I knew you would . . . uhn!!”

Anna slipped the knife into Dalton's body. She had presence of mind enough to know to turn the knife sideways to allow it to slide in between his ribs. She pushed it all the way to the hilt.

“What . . . what have you . . .” Dalton asked in a strained voice. He got up, then backed away from her, looking down in shock at his own knife, protruding from his body.

“Why, you bitch! You've stabbed me,” he said. He pulled the knife out and when he did, blood squirted from the wound, almost like water from a fountain. He put his left hand over the wound in an effort to staunch the flow of blood, but it spilled through his fingers.

“I'm going to cut your heart out,” he said. With the knife in his right hand, he staggered toward her. Before he got to her, though, he fell. He gasped a couple more times before growing silent.

Anna couldn't hear him breathe, and as she looked down at him, she saw that his eyes were open, but already growing opaque.

Anna tried to reach the knife, straining forward with her one free hand. She could brush the tips of her fingers across it, but that was all. She couldn't get hold of it to pull it to her.

She leaned back in frustration, then she saw her undergarments on the bed beside her. Grabbing them she leaned out again, tossed them toward the knife, and pulling on them, managed to drag the knife close enough to reach it.

With the knife in hand, she began picking at the lock and, after a few attempts, successfully got the lock open. With a little gasp of thankfulness, she started toward the door, then remembered what had happened on her first try to escape. There was only one door in the cabin, but there was a window at the rear.

Moving quickly, Anna went to the back of the cabin. Climbing up on the cabinet, she opened the window, then crawled through. It was a drop of six feet to the ground, but she didn't care.

Getting up from the ground, Anna brushed her hands off, then crept to the edge of the cabin and looked around. She saw Percy sitting up on a rock, looking out toward the approach.

Keeping a wary eye on him, she slipped through the dark to the little lean-to that served as a barn. Because Aaron had taken two horses with him, there was only one horse in the lean-to. If she could get it . . . she could not only use it to get away, she would leave Percy without a horse so he couldn't come after her.

Anna managed to put the bridle on, but when she started to get the saddle, the horse started whickering and moving around.

Looking toward the rock, she saw that the horse had caught Percy's attention. She stepped back into the shadows of the lean-to so he couldn't see her.

Percy stared into the lean-to for a moment, but satisfied that everything was all right, he turned his attention back to the approach. Anna moved back out of the shadows, but she decided it was too risky to saddle the horse.

She wondered if she could ride without a saddle, then decided, why not? She knew that Indians rode without a saddle.

Without a stirrup, she had to climb up on the feeding trough to get mounted. Doing so, she lifted her skirt and straddled the horse. That was when she experienced the somewhat disconcerting sensation of feeling her nakedness against the horse's back. She had not put her undergarments back on.

Too late to worry about that now. Slowly, she guided the horse out of the lean-to. She was several yards away when she heard Percy call out.

“Dalton? Dalton, where are you goin'?”

Anna urged the horse into a gallop, but with no saddle, she was unable to stay on the horse. With the first burst of speed, she was unseated and she fell hard. By the time she got up, Percy was over her with his gun drawn.

“Damn, when you goin' to quit tryin' to escape?” he asked.

* * *

When Falcon reached the now-dead campfire the next morning, he realized that his quarry had not camped there last night. The fire had been a ruse to hold him in place.

“Damn,” he said, disgusted with himself for letting it happen. He should've come up closer to the fire to see if they had really made camp, but to be honest, he hadn't given Aaron Childers credit for being that smart.