The Heart's Pursuit (32 page)

Jared guided the pinto down the mountain, moving slowly for the sake of the bay. If he remembered correctly, there were several farms outside of a small town in the valley to the north. He should be able to reach the first of them by two o’clock. The bay was a prime piece of horseflesh. The gelding would be as good as new after a week of rest. With any luck, Jared would be able to trade for a sound horse and be back at their camp by suppertime.

He tried not to think about leaving Silver and Dean alone with Carlton, especially not overnight. If anything happened to Silver or that boy . . .

He asked the horses for a little more speed.

    
CHAPTER 36
    

A
fter an early supper, Dean joined Silver in the shade of a tall pine tree. He sat cross-legged on the ground amid the dried needles and pungent-smelling pine-cones, a frown drawing his brows close together. “Do you think he’s right?”

“Who?”

He jerked his head toward Carlton. “Him.”

“About what?”

“Is he gonna get off like he says?”

Silver patted his knee. “He’s just trying to convince himself. Shoring up his own confidence. That’s all.”
And I’m doing exactly the same thing now.

“I ain’t gonna let that happen. If he gets loose, I’ll shoot him myself. If I have to follow after him like Mr. Newman’s
been doin’, even if I have t’ do it the rest of my life, I’ll see that he hangs for what he done to my ma and pa. I swore it when Mr. Newman buried them.”

Tears burned the back of her eyes. She hated seeing the boy in pain. “Don’t let what happened harden your heart, Dean. It is you who will suffer because of it. Matt Carlton doesn’t care what you feel about him. He won’t lose a bit of sleep over it.” She brushed the boy’s hair off his forehead. “And it’s needless to worry about what might happen when we get to Denver. We can’t change it by worrying about it.”

Dean scrambled to his feet. “I wish Mr. Newman had shot him back in Virginia City. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about him goin’ free.”

“Oh, Dean. Don’t say that. Wanting justice is one thing. Wanting to kill is another.”

“Maybe, but it’s what I want anyways.” He turned and walked away.

Jared wasn’t going to make it back before dark. The farmer, a crafty old buzzard, had dickered for what seemed an eternity. Not that the dickering changed the outcome. He’d been willing all along to make a fair trade. But the old man had seemed determined to draw out the process as much as possible. Maybe he’d been lonely and in need of a bit of
company. Whatever the reason, Jared still had too much ground to cover before nightfall.

Once he was on his way, he pushed hard. Lather foamed on the horses’ necks and hindquarters. The heat was unmerciful, even at this elevation. Shadows lengthened, the sun riding low behind him.

He didn’t like the idea of Silver and Dean being in camp with Carlton after it grew dark. He’d told Silver to keep away from him, not to take any risks, not to move him for any reason. But he’d learned these past two months that Silver had a mind of her own. She didn’t always do as she was told. He’d even come to appreciate her independent spirit. However, it also gave him cause to worry, and that worry gnawed at him as he pressed toward their campsite.

With a shout, Matt Carlton came to his feet. He shook one leg, then the other. “Ants! I’m crawling with ants!” He swore as he tried to bat at his pant legs with his cuffed hands, the chain rattling. “Get me out of here!”

Revolver in hand, Silver stepped forward. She half expected a trick, but he told the truth. They were the big, biting kind of ants. The insects swarmed around the base of the tree, and Carlton’s boots and legs were covered with them.

“Do something! They’re all over me.”

Silver turned and ran across the camp. She set down the gun and picked up a saddle blanket, then raced back to him. Mindful to keep as much distance as possible between them, she swung the blanket against his legs and feet. Even as she did so, she felt as if the ants were beginning to swarm up her legs as well.

Carlton cursed again. “That’s not doing any good. You’ve got to get me away from them. They’re eating me alive.”

Silver backed away, undecided. Tiny red welts had appeared on Matt Carlton’s hands and forearms. There had to be more of them underneath his trousers and shirtsleeves. She couldn’t just leave him there. It would be inhumane.

Jared’s voice sounded in her head.
“Don’t remove those handcuffs. Not for any reason . . . Not even if a forest fire blazes through here and burns him to a crisp.”

But she wouldn’t be removing his handcuffs. He would still be cuffed and chained. All she would do was move his location. Surely she could do that without any risk. She’d observed Jared do it more than once.

“Dean, you’re going to have to help me.” She hurried toward the saddlebags, where she knew Jared kept the spare set of keys to the padlock.

“Mr. Newman said not to let him go, no matter what. You told me so yourself.”

“I can’t leave him where he is. The ants are biting. Even a man like him doesn’t deserve that.”

“Sure he does. He’s done worse. Let ’em eat him.”

Silver turned to look at the boy, the key in her hand. “But we aren’t like him, Dean. We still know how to show another human being mercy. Even someone evil. Right?”

Dean didn’t reply.

“Now help me. I can’t do this alone.”

“Mr. Newman ain’t gonna like it.”

No, Jared wouldn’t like it. Not one bit.

“He’ll know we didn’t have any other choice.” She glanced over her shoulder. Carlton continued to curse as he swatted at the ants. What if it was her in his place? She shuddered at the thought. “We’ll do it like Mr. Newman does it each morning. I’ll keep the gun pointed at him while you slip the chain through the cuffs. Then we’ll walk him to another tree and padlock the chain again.”

It sounded simple enough. There’d never been a bit of trouble when Jared had done it. She had the Colt revolver, after all, and she knew how to use it. Besides, Carlton’s hands would still be cuffed. What possible trouble could he be?

“You stay behind the tree,” she reminded Dean as she picked up the revolver. With the barrel of the gun, she pointed to the opposite side of the camp. “We’ll move him over there.”

Together they walked toward Matt Carlton.

“About time,” he snapped.

“Go on, Dean.”

She leveled a steady gaze at her captive. “We’re going to
move you to that tree over there, but if you make any trouble, I’ll shoot. Do you understand me? One wrong move and I’ll shoot you dead.”

He swore again.

“Dean.” Silver nodded when the boy looked at her from beyond the tree. “Hurry before the ants get all over you too.” She heard a click. A moment later, she saw the chain slacken. Her heart seemed to stop beating. She raised the revolver and pointed it at Carlton’s chest, her finger on the trigger. “I don’t care if they’re biting you. You stand still until I tell you to move.”

But once the chain was free of the tree, Matt Carlton began to hop and spin and swat and curse, pulling Dean along behind him at the opposite end of the chain.

“Stop, Carlton,” Silver cried. “Stop now. I’ll shoot.” It surprised her when he obeyed. “Now get to that tree over there. To your right.” She motioned with the gun barrel in the general direction she wanted him to go.

Carlton shot her an angry look but again obeyed. Dean followed at the end of the chain.

“Put your wrists against the tree,” Silver told him. “Dean, you know what to do.”

She began to relax. It was almost over. They’d done the merciful thing in moving the prisoner, and the transition had gone without a hitch. Jared would have done the same thing and gotten the same result.

Carlton made a sudden and unexpected move. He
jerked the chain toward him, and Dean stumbled forward. Silver pulled the trigger. The force of the shot knocked her off balance. By the time she’d steadied herself, Carlton’s arms were on either side of Dean’s head, and the links connecting the handcuffs were pulled tightly against the boy’s throat.

“Put down the gun, Silver.”

She shook with fear, but she didn’t lower it.

He tightened his hold on the boy’s neck. “Put it down or I’ll kill him where he stands.”

“Next time I won’t miss.”

“But the boy’ll still be dead. You can kill me, but it won’t bring him back.” He jerked on the cuffs. Dean’s fingers came up to his throat, trying to pry himself free from the chain that choked him. The boy’s face turned a bright red, and his eyes bulged. “Do it now or he’s dead.”

Ice trickled through her veins as she lowered the Colt revolver.

The campfire illuminated Carlton’s form beneath the tree, and it looked like Silver and Dean were asleep in their bedrolls. But Jared’s gut told him something was wrong. Then he knew what. He’d tied the prisoner to a different tree that morning. He wasn’t in the right place. Carlton had been moved.

Jared dismounted. His gelding nickered. There was no response from the other horses. Jared’s tension increased.

“Easy, boy.” Jared drew his Colt from the holster. He entered the campsite, alert as he made his way toward the prisoner who was completely covered with the blanket, even his head. “Carlton,” he said, voice low. “Wake up.”