The Heart's Pursuit (33 page)
Carlton didn’t move, so Jared nudged him with the toe of his boot. Still no response. Jared reached down with his free hand and yanked the blanket away. His heart slammed against his ribs. It wasn’t Carlton beneath the blanket. It was Dean—bound, gagged, and cuffed to the tree. There was a cut along his temple, the blood now dried and crusty. The boy’s expression was dazed. Whether from sleep or the knock he’d taken to his head, Jared didn’t know.
He dropped to one knee. “Dean, what happened?” He freed the boy from the gag first.
“He got Silver.”
“How long ago?”
The boy shook his head. “Don’t know. It wasn’t dark yet, I know that much. He hit me an’ knocked me cold.” His arms freed, he lifted fingers to touch the bloody spot at his temple.
“How did it happen?”
“It was my fault. We were movin’ him ’cause there was ants bitin’ him. They were all over him. I didn’t care if they ate him alive, but Miss Silver said we couldn’t just leave him there. Everything was goin’ okay, but then he jerked me
forward with the chain and got me around the neck. Said he’d kill me if she didn’t put the gun down. She’d already shot at him once and missed. Guess she was afraid what he’d do to me if she tried again.”
Jared stood. It was a miracle Carlton hadn’t killed Dean before leaving the campsite. It wouldn’t bother him for a moment to murder a child.
As if guessing Jared’s thoughts, Dean said, “Before he knocked me out, he said to tell you that he’ll kill her if you follow him.”
Matt Carlton had left the boy alive to deliver that message. But Jared knew Carlton would kill Silver whether or not he followed. He had three, maybe four, hours’ head start, and he’d had some of it in daylight.
With haste, Jared made a torch out of tree branches and a cloth. Then he moved toward where he’d left the remaining two horses that morning. Both of them were now gone. He hunkered down and peered at the ground but soon realized he needed more light than the torch provided in order to discover which way Carlton had gone with Silver. Even if they started off in the right direction, they could quickly go astray. Jared was an excellent tracker, but even he couldn’t see in the dark.
Silver. Carlton had Silver. “God,” he whispered, desperation welling in his chest, “don’t let him hurt her. Please, please, God. Don’t let him hurt her.”
A small hand touched his shoulder. He looked up to find
Dean, cheeks streaked with tears, standing beside him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Newman. It was my fault.”
Jared pulled the boy close, taking and giving comfort with his embrace. “We’ll get her back, Dean. We’re going to get her back.”
“Can we go now?”
“We’ll have to wait. We have to be sure which way they went.” Waiting for daylight. It would be one of the hardest things he’d done in his life. “We’ll leave at first light.”
S
ilver swayed in the saddle. Pain shot tiny needles from her jaw where Carlton had struck her, and her right eye was nearly swollen shut. She was cold too, dressed only in her blouse and skirt. She longed to welcome the rising of the sun, although she knew she would despise it when the heat blasted down on them.
Jared is behind us somewhere. He’s coming for me, and Carlton knows it.
Another wave of dizziness washed over her. She sank her fingernails into the leather pommel, refusing to let her fatigue and pain win this battle. She was safe as long as they kept moving. Once they stopped, there was no telling what he might do to her.
Jared will come. He’ll find me.
But would he come in time? Or would he find only her body?
I should have told him I loved him. It was my pride that wanted him to say it first. And now it could be too late.
She glanced ahead toward the shadows that were Carlton and his mount. Her stomach sickened at the thought of him touching her. She would rather die.
No, I must live. I mustn’t let Carlton take anything more from Jared. I must fight him and live. I must fight harder than I’ve ever fought anything.
She looked toward the eastern horizon and saw the approach of dawn. Once the sun was up, Carlton would force them to move faster. He was afraid of Jared. Whether he admitted it or not, he was afraid. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t killed her yet. He needed her for protection. He needed someone to bargain with.
Hurry, Jared. Hurry.
Carlton reined in his horse. “We’ll rest here.” He dismounted and walked toward Silver and Cinder, his stiff movements revealing his own weariness and misery. “Come on. Get down.” He untied the ropes that bound her wrists to the saddle horn, then grabbed her arm and yanked her from the saddle.
Her feet touched the ground, and her knees buckled.
He jerked his head toward some nearby brush. “I’ll give you a little privacy. Try to go farther than that, and you’ll rue the day.”
She managed to rise and walk around the large bush. She took longer than necessary, as long as she dared, all the while thinking that every moment she delayed brought Jared that much closer.
When she returned to the horses, her legs feeling rubbery beneath her, Carlton held out a canteen. “Drink. We won’t have time for food.”
As she lifted the canteen to her parched mouth, she saw him watching the mountainside they’d just descended. Watching for Jared. Afraid. It made her want to smile.
Wordlessly, she returned the canteen to him.
Instead of taking it, he touched the bruise on the side of her face. “Do as I say and maybe I won’t have to hit you again.” Then he took the canteen from her hand before she dropped it.
Without being told, Silver returned to her horse. It took every ounce of her waning strength to pull herself into the saddle, but she did it. She didn’t want Carlton touching her again.
Jared kept his horse alternating between a canter and a fast walk and spared no time for conversation with Dean. He knew the boy understood that he couldn’t fall behind. Every minute counted. Carlton wasn’t taking any trouble to cover his tracks. That either meant he wasn’t worried about Jared catching up with him or he didn’t know much about hiding out in the mountain terrain.
With every hoofbeat on rocky soil, Jared berated himself. He never should have left Silver alone with Carlton. It had been too great a risk. He’d known it but had gone anyway. At the very least, he should have taken the padlock key with him so Silver couldn’t have used it. Why hadn’t he thought to do so?
Panic clamored in his chest. He pushed it back.
Stay calm. Keep your mind clear.
If any harm came to Silver, it would be his fault. He’d left her with that killer and trusted her to obey his orders. He should have known better. When had Silver ever obeyed an order he’d given her without question, without asserting that stubborn will of hers? And he’d give anything to have her with him now, giving her opinion, showing her stubbornness, causing him grief. He wanted her with him until the day he died. He wanted the last words on his lips to be, “I love you, Silver.”
He fought back the fear. He couldn’t give in to it. He couldn’t even think about Silver and how much he loved her and what it would do to him if he lost her. He couldn’t think of anything now except following Carlton’s tracks.
Carlton and Silver ate the last of the jerky and washed it down with cold water from a mountain stream. Silver tried to eat slowly, to savor every bite. She knew it might be a long
while before she ate again. And each moment she delayed would bring Jared closer to her.
She sat on an outcropping of rocks beneath the shade of a juniper tree. Cinder and the sorrel gelding grazed on sparse clumps of grass nearby. Behind her, she heard Carlton moving about. She twisted to look at him. He was staring back down the stretch of trail they’d climbed during the course of the afternoon.
Several times that day he’d changed direction. He pretended to know where they were going, but she was convinced he didn’t. He’d yelled at her often, telling her to hurry, threatening her if she tried to hold them back. She’d denied his accusations but had continued to do anything she could to slow them down. A minute here, a few minutes there.
As she watched, Carlton began to pace from side to side, his movements quick and jerky, his shirt stained with sweat. He cursed as he moved, one moment his knuckles resting on his hips, the next flailing the air.
Be afraid, Matt Carlton. Be very afraid.
He spun toward her, as if she’d spoken the words aloud. “Get mounted. We’re not stopping for the night yet.”
She did as she was told, but after she was in the saddle, she looked behind her. Jared was out there. She knew it. She could feel him. He was coming for her.
Hunkered down, Jared traced his fingers over the sandy soil. “One of the horses lost a shoe. The hoof’s cracking. Could pull up lame. Might slow him down.” He stood.
Dean held his hat in his hands. Grain filled the deep crown, and he fed it to one horse, then the other. “How far you figure we’re behind ’em?”
“Two hours, maybe a bit less. They’re not stopping to rest very often, but we’re still moving faster. I don’t think he knows where he’s going. That’s good. Uncertainty is good.”