Lee (The Landon Saga Book 6) (12 page)

Chapter forty

To wait can be the hardest part, especially when you’re expecting trouble.

But morning came and went, and Brian didn’t return. I was confused, because I was close enough to town to hear any gunfire, but so far there hadn’t been any.

Still, I knew something had gone wrong. I saddled my horse, checked my Colt, stepped into the saddle, and trotted towards town.

I had an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I felt a coldness coming over me like I’d never felt before. I don’t know how, but I sensed that a danger like no other was waiting for me.  

I pulled up at the outskirts of town. I studied the lone street, and I spotted Brian’s horse tied beside two others at the cantina. Other than that, the street was empty.

The livery stable was the nearest building. I rode over to it, dismounted, and tied my horse to the hitching rail. Then, I walked slowly towards the cantina.

My face was hard as flint, and my heart thumped wildly. My mouth was dry, and my legs trembled in anticipation.

I was halfway to the cantina when I heard the livery stable door open behind me. It made a slow, eerie sounding creak.

“Lee Mattingly,” a cold, stern voice said.

I stopped in the street. I turned around slowly, and my gun-hand hovered naturally over my gun handle.

Yancy Landon stood in front of me. His face was emotionless, and he looked ready to draw. I also noticed a Texas Ranger badge pinned on his vest.

The wind was blowing some, and little dirt devils swirled around us.

I was surprised to see him, but I managed to hide it. A few seconds passed as I thought on it, and I smiled and chuckled as I came to a decision.

“Hello, Yancy,” I drawled.

“Lee.”

“You’re a Texas Ranger now?”

“I am.”

“How did that happen?”

“It happened,” Yancy said, and declared, “You’re under arrest.”

“I don’t think I want to be arrested today.”

“I don’t care what you want.”

“Where’s Cooper?” I asked.

“He’s around.”

“How about Brian?”

“He’s with Coop.”

I nodded, and with my left hand I reached up and scratched my jaw.

“What are you doing here, Yancy?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

I nodded and smiled sadly.

“I messed things up.”

“I can see that.”

“Have you seen Jessica?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“How is she?”

“Fine.”

I chuckled.

“You’ve never been one to talk much.”

Yancy ignored my remark.

“I’m taking you in, Lee.”

“No,” I shook my head. “You’re not.”

“I don’t want to kill you.”

“I know,” I said softly, and added, “I think we’ve both known that someday, it would come to this.” 

“Unbuckle your gun belt,” Yancy tried again.

“Can’t.”

“Why not?” Yancy looked at me hard.

“There’s always been an unanswered question between us,” I explained.

“What’s that?”

“Who’s best.”

“That’s a bunch of foolishness,” Yancy retorted.

“It ain’t for me.”

Yancy glared at me, and I smiled back. He studied me a moment more and narrowed his eyes.

“You do what you think is best then,” he said, and I nodded.

“If you live, tell Jessica I’m sorry,” I said.

“Sorry for what?”

“She’ll understand.”

Yancy nodded, and it fell silent.

My heart thumped as we stared at each other. Several seconds passed, and then we grabbed for our Colts.

My hand hadn’t even touched my handle when a thunderous boom bellowed out, and I felt a hard kick hit my shoulder.

The impact twirled me viciously. I hit the ground hard, and a pain shot throughout my body.

I grimaced and shook my head to clear the cobwebs. But it didn’t work, and then I heard running footsteps.

My head was swirling, and I was disorientated. I closed my eyes and moaned as I passed out.

Chapter forty-one

I woke up with a soft groan. The first thing I realized was that my shoulder was hurting and throbbing.

I heard somebody arguing, and I recognized Yancy and Cooper Landon’s voices.

“Don’t you ever – and I mean ever – do that again,” Yancy was saying.

“You mean save your life?” Cooper asked calmly.

“It’s not my life you saved; it’s his.”

Cooper’s reply was muffled. I groaned again, and I heard footsteps walking towards me.

“He’s waking up,” Cooper commented.

I forced my eyes open, blinked, and looked at my surroundings.

I was in the livery stable, lying on my back next to a stall. Yancy Landon stood next to the gate, and he was watching me with an emotionless face. Meanwhile, Cooper squatted on his heels beside me.

“How you feeling?” He asked.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I continued to look around, and I spotted a boy standing in the corner. He was around twelve or so, and he was watching me with a somber face.

I stared at him for several seconds, and then I looked at Cooper. He was waiting for a reply, so I swallowed and licked my lips.

“I feel like I’ve been shot,” I managed.

“That’s cause you were,” Cooper said. “Josie’s already looked at your shoulder. She says it’s not too bad.”

“Josie’s here?”

Cooper nodded.

“She’s out looking for a stick,” he said.

“What for?” I narrowed my eyes.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Cooper grinned.

I was confused by that remark, but I was too tired to try and figure it out.

“Where’s Brian?” I asked instead.

“He rode out to pack up your camp. He should be back soon.”

“You let him go off by himself?”

“We trust him.”

I grunted, and then I winced as my shoulder throbbed with pain.

A few seconds passed, and then I nodded at the boy.

“Who’s that?”

“This is Wyatt,” Cooper smiled at him. “Me and Josie have adopted him. Ain’t that right, Wyatt?”

The boy nodded, but that was all.

“He doesn’t talk much,” Cooper informed me.

“So he and Yancy have something in common,” I smiled weakly.

Cooper smiled back, and I breathed deeply and looked at Yancy.

“Well, you got me,” I said quietly.

“That is correct.”

“I always thought I was faster than you, but I didn’t even touch my gun handle,” I muttered.

“Neither did I,” Yancy said.

I frowned at that.

“What?”

“It wasn’t me that shot you,” Yancy informed.

“Oh? Then who did?” I asked, confused.

“Cooper. He shot you from the cantina window with his rifle.”

I looked at Cooper, and he nodded.

“Why’d you do that for?” I scowled.

“I’d like to know that too,” Yancy added as he shot his brother a dark look.

Cooper smiled as he stood from his crouch.

“Someday, I just might tell you,” his eyes twinkled.

“Tell me what?” I demanded.

Cooper didn’t reply, and Yancy and I scowled at him.

***

Brian Clark rode back in, and he looked relieved to find me awake.

“Are you all right?” He asked.

“Not really,” I replied.

He smiled faintly and started unsaddling our horses.

He was almost done when Josie walked in, and she carried a long stick.

Josie was small and slim. She also had a sharp, young-looking face with long, brown hair.

She and I had some history together. A while back the Oltman brothers captured her from the Indians, and I ended up with her soon after that. I sort of looked after her, and for a while I was very fond of her. But then she chose Cooper, and that was that.

“Josie,” I nodded at her. “How are you?”

“Good.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Josie gestured at my shoulder.

“I fix.”

“That’ll be fine,” I smiled and nodded. 

Chapter forty-two

Josie patched me up, and it was one of the most painful experiences I have ever gone through.

She built a fire in the back, and she whittled down one end of the stick. She placed the whittled end in the fire, and then Cooper and Brian got ahold of me.

Yancy didn’t help any. Instead, he and Wyatt just stood there and watched. Yancy had an interested look on his face, like he knew what was coming.

Using Cooper’s knife, Josie dug the bullet out of my shoulder, and that was painful enough. But then, without warning, she pulled the stick out of the fire, and it was bright red and glowing. She firmly pressed the burning end into my wound, and it made a hissing sound as the heat seared my flesh. It hurt something awful, and Cooper and Brian had to keep a firm grip on me.

After that she packed my wound with mud, and the wetness cooled the burning sensation some. After the mud dried, she cleaned my shoulder and bandaged it.

I was surprised to find that it wasn’t bleeding anymore. But it was mighty painful, and already my shoulder was sore and stiff.

“Feel better?” Cooper asked me.

I grunted in response, and Cooper grinned.

“You’ll heal quick enough, but you’ll have a nasty scar. I know from experience.”

“I think it would have been better if Brian had just stitched it up,” I grumbled.

“Possible, but it’ll heal faster this way.”

“I didn’t know I was in such a hurry.”

“You might be,” Cooper said.

“And why is that?”

Yancy cleared his throat, and I looked at him.

“While you were unconscious, Brian told us why you came here. He also told us about losing the hotel, and about Brock and Amos.”

I frowned at Brian, but his face remained blank.

“All right; you know why we’re here,” I said as I looked back at Yancy. “What are you doing here?”

“We killed the Gant brothers a while back,” Yancy announced, and I was startled. “We came here, posing as the Gant brothers, to capture Brock.”

“We were hoping to talk to him,” Cooper added. “We had a deal to offer.”

“What sort of deal?” I asked curiously.

“Ike has several men working for him, all over Texas,” Cooper informed. “He also has a man inside Huntsville prison. Every time one of Ike’s men gets sent there, they escape.”

“In exchange for a full pardon, we were hoping to send Brock to Huntsville to find out who Ike’s inside man is,” Yancy added.

“Brock would have never agreed to that,” I said as I thought on it. “He was too loyal to Ike.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Yancy said sourly.

An idea suddenly occurred to me, and I pinched my face in thought.

“How ’bout sending me to Huntsville?” I suggested. “I could take Brock’s place.”

Yancy was startled, and he narrowed his eyes as he studied me.

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Ike Nash humiliated me,” I explained bitterly. “I’ll do whatever it takes to take him down.”

Yancy glanced at Cooper, and he scratched his jaw as he thought on that.

“I could go with you,” Brian spoke up. “You could be Brock, and I’ll be Amos.”

“Are you sure?” I frowned at him.

Brian nodded, and I was humbled by his loyalty. I nodded back, and then we looked at Yancy.

“All right,” Yancy finally said. “I’ll offer you two the same deal. Find out who Ike’s man is, and you’ll both receive a full pardon.”

I nodded and asked, “When do we get started?”

“We’ll stay here until you can ride, and then we’ll send you to Hunstville,” Yancy replied.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy that,” I said sourly.

“I think I will,” Yancy replied, and he smiled a rare smile.

Chapter forty-three

We left Bronc eight days later.

My shoulder was still sore and stiff. But, it had healed for the most part, and I could ride.

We rode south to El Paso, and Yancy turned us over to a company of Texas Rangers.

We couldn’t risk telling them who we were, so we were treated like actual prisoners once we reached El Paso. They shackled our hands and feet, and it was a somber feeling.

Yancy and Cooper left us there, and they headed back to Midway. They took our horses and gear, and Cooper said he’d look after our belongings while we were in prison.

We were transported to Huntsville in a prisoner wagon. The Texas Rangers called it a ‘tumbleweed wagon’ because the wagon wandered along aimlessly.

We picked up three other prisoners on our way. Two were convicted murderers, and the other one was a bank robber. We were all chained to the floor of the wagon, and at nighttime we were chained to the trees. If no trees were available, we were chained to the wagon wheels.

It took us several weeks to get there, and when we arrived we were sweaty, dirty, and in need of a bath.

The bouncing in that wagon didn’t help my shoulder any. But, complaining wouldn’t have done any good, so I kept my mouth shut.

Unpleasant as our trip was, the severity of our decision didn’t hit home until they slammed the gate shut at Huntsville prison.

They unloaded us, stuck us in a stonewalled room, stripped us, gave us crude haircuts, and threw buckets of cold water on us. After that they gave us a pair of striped prison clothes. We got dressed, and they made us stand in a line.

The captain of the guards came in to see us next.

He had a leathery face with a hard jaw and cold eyes. Even if he had wanted to look friendly, I doubted that he could with that face.

He wasn’t trying to look friendly now. He thrust his jaw out as he paced back and forth in front of us, and his voice had a hard ring of authority.

“My name’s Reilly Parker,” he bellowed. “From here on out, you boys belong to me. You stay on my good side and life can be pleasant. But you make me mad-,” his voice got even harder, “-then I’ll make your sorry lives so miserable you’ll wish you were dead. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir!” We all said.

“Everyone earns their keep here, and you five will be no different. You’ll work six days a week. If you behave, you’ll have Sundays off.” He paused and looked at us. “Everything goes through me. If any of you boys want to write a letter to your mama, just ask and you’ll be given pen and paper.
If
I approve of the letter, I’ll send it on.” He paused again and looked at the guards. “That’s all for now. Take them to their cells.”

A guard shoved me in the back. I stumbled forward, but managed to stay on my feet. Then, I hurried after the others.

We marched outside, and the sun was bright. I squinted as I looked around, and we were in the prison yard.

Other inmates stared at us while we marched across the yard. I heard a few chuckles, but I ignored them as we went back inside where the cells were.

I studied the cells as we walked down the long hallway. They were roughly eight by eight, and the walls were made out of red adobe bricks.

The guards stopped at a cell, and one of them unlocked the iron door and gestured at Brian and me. We walked in, and he slammed the door shut behind us. The sound was loud, and Brian and I both jumped.

We stood by the door and watched as they walked on down the hallway.

Soon as they were gone, we looked at each other. Brian’s face was somber and grave, and I’m sure mine looked the same way.

I turned and studied our cell.

There were four bunks; two on either side. There was a bucket in the corner, and it smelled. I figured out right quick that the bucket was our outhouse.

I suddenly noticed that we had company.

Lying in a bunk was a man. He was reading a book, and it looked like a law book of some sort.

He ignored us, and it was silent as I studied him.

He had brown hair and dark skin, and he was so thin that a stiff wind could have blown him over.

There was also a look about him that told me he was dangerous. I knew right off that he wasn’t one to mess with.

“Afternoon,” I said.

He took his eyes off the book and looked at us. His eyes were cold and hard. He studied us a moment, and he returned to his book without saying a word.

I glanced at Brian, and he looked concerned. He motioned me closer, and I leaned in so he could whisper in my ear.

“Do you know who that is?” He murmured.

I shook my head.

“That’s John Wesley Hardin!” He hissed.

I stared at Brian, and he nodded emphatically. Several seconds passed, and then I smiled.

“I’d be worried, if’n I was you,” I whispered back.

“Why’s that?”

“He once killed a man just for snoring,” I explained.

Brian’s eyes grew wide. I chuckled softly, and we walked over and sat on the bunk that was across the cell from Hardin.

We just sat there, looking at him, and Hardin continued to ignore us as he read his book.

It started to get dark about an hour later. I suddenly realized how tired I was, so I climbed into the top bunk while Brian stretched out below me.

Hardin finally shut the book and rolled over. A few minutes passed, and we could hear the steady sound of his breathing.

I glanced down at Brian, and he was wide-awake.

“Can’t sleep?” I whispered.

Brian gestured at Hardin.

“I want to make sure he’s sound asleep first.”

“Good luck with that.”

“You ain’t worried?” Brian hissed.

“I don’t snore,” I whispered back.