To Tame a Renegade (12 page)

C
had made camp in a canyon beneath a sheltered overhang a few miles east of Carbon. He saw no reason to continue on to Medicine Bow that night He’d all but given up on finding Freddie Jackson. After he made a campfire and ate a meager meal, he retrieved a stack of wanted posters from his saddlebags and sat down on a rock to study them by firelight. Three other outlaws were known to be in the area and he decided to question the leader of the local vigilante group in Medicine Bow in the morning. Perhaps Sean MacKay could give him a good lead on the other men.

Chad built up the fire to ward off wild animals, hoping that hostile Indians, known to be roaming the area, wouldn’t see it. Rolling up in his bedroll, Chad searched for sleep and failed to find it. He was restless and disturbed by things that shouldn’t bother him. Sarah and Abner were nothing to him. He’d given more of himself to Sarah than he’d given any other woman. The day his mother had left three small boys for a lover was the day he’d developed a deep distrust of all women.

Of the three brothers, Pierce had found a woman he could trust, a woman who loved him unconditionally, but Chad didn’t expect miracles where he was concerned. Cora Lee Doolittle, may she rest in peace, had come close to destroying the lives of all three Delaney brothers. Chad vividly recalled the day Cora Lee had died, and the changes that fateful moment had wrought in his life.

For two years he’d drifted aimlessly, hoping to escape his demons. Then he’d met Sarah and Abner. Somewhere within his barren soul he’d discovered a tiny spark of compassion he thought he’d lost forever. He realized now that compassion was the emotion that had kept him in Carbon. He’d fought against accepting responsibility but couldn’t find it in his heart to leave Sarah and Abner to fend for themselves. Even now he felt a pang of guilt for having taken off like he did.

A part of his conscience argued that he should have stayed longer. He should have been more concerned about how Sarah and Abner would survive after he left. Yet a darker, deeper place inside him whispered that he’d done more than was required of him, more than most men would have done under the circumstances. Though the thought was new and frightening, Chad prided himself for not bedding Sarah when he wanted her so badly. Had he bedded her, he wouldn’t have been able to leave her. He realized that making love to Sarah would mean he would lose himself to her. Thank God he hadn’t let his loins rule his head. If he hadn’t left when he did he knew he would have succumbed to the desire pounding inside him and taken Sarah.

Chad imagined Sarah’s slim body stretched out beneath him and felt himself harden. He gave a snort of disgust Obviously he needed a woman. His first order of business upon reaching Medicine Bow was finding a willing whore to ease his discomfort. Unfortunately he feared that no woman but Sarah could alleviate the persistent ache inside him. Flopping over on his stomach, he welcomed sleep when it finally arrived.

Freddie Jackson kept up his furious pace until he reached Medicine Bow, unaware that Sarah trailed behind him. He reined in before the High Rollers Saloon and dismounted. It was very late. Abner was sound asleep and he eased the boy from the saddle and carried him inside the saloon.

One of the girls ambled over to him, eyed Abner, and asked, “What have you got there, Freddie?”

“A kid,” Freddie said. “My kid. Will you do me a favor, Sadie?”

Sadie’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of favor? I don’t know a thing about kids.”

“I got an errand to do. Will you watch the boy for me? I won’t be gone long.”

“How much?”

Freddie snorted with disgust. “Ten dollars. That’s more than an hour of your time is worth.”

“Take him in the office, the boss is gone tonight,” Sadie said, indicating a doorway. “He won’t wake up, will he?”

“Naw, the kid’s dead tired.”

“He better not or it will cost you more.”

“I said I won’t be gone long.” He placed Abner on a leather sofa and made a hasty departure.

Freddie stripped the saddlebags from his horse and crept along the shadows of the nearly deserted street until he reached the bank. He’d passed through Medicine Bow on his way to Carbon and had already cased the town and the bank. Medicine Bow was a small town hardly worthy of the name. It consisted of a depot and baggage room, a store, two eating houses, a saloon, a bank, and several shanties. About thirty buildings in all.

The bank was newly constructed and not very secure. Few people knew that the railroad used the bank to deposit its payroll. But Freddie knew and had been planning this job for a long time. He walked around to the back and pried open a window. No alarm gave him away as he crept through the dark bank to the small safe in the back office.

He lit a match, got his bearings, located the floor safe, and knelt before it. The safe was no different than a dozen others he’d cracked. He’d have it opened and the money out in record time. He fiddled with the dials, listening to the clicks as he slowly spun it first to the right and then to the left. When he began to detect a pattern he memorized the numbers and continued on. Forty-five minutes passed before the last tumbler fell into place and the heavy door opened.

Freddie smiled grimly. He could have used dynamite, it was quicker, but he’d have to leave fast and wouldn’t have had time to go back for Abner. Besides, he was an expert at manipulating combination locks. This way was quiet; the robbery wouldn’t be discovered until morning, allowing him plenty of time to escape. He began packing money in his saddlebags. When they were full he stuffed bills into his vest, jacket, and trouser pockets. When he could carry no more, he left the same way he had arrived, returning the saddlebags to the horse’s back before returning to the saloon.

Freddie found Sadie sitting in the back room watching over Abner. “You done good, Sadie. Thanks. I’ll take Abner off your hands now.”

“Where did you go?” Sadie asked suspiciously.

“Don’t ask questions, you’ll live longer.”

Opening his coat, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill. “Here’s a little bonus. See you around, Sadie.”

Sadie had seen more than Freddie intended. When he opened his coat she’d spied sheaths of money sticking out of the inside pockets. She also noted his bulging trouser pockets. She couldn’t recall them bulging like that when he’d first come into the saloon. Sadie put two and two together and came up with the right answer. She might be a whore but she was an honest one.

Sadie gave Freddie enough time to mount up and ride off before hightailing it to Sean MacKay’s house.

Sarah rode into Medicine Bow in time to see Freddie ride away from the saloon with a sleeping Abner resting across his knees. Lines of exhaustion marred her brow and her still tender hands hurt dreadfully from hanging onto the reins. She wished she had thought to bring gloves but she’d been in too much of a hurry to think beyond the fact that Freddie had taken Abner away from her.

Sarah dug her heels into her horse’s flanks and took off after Jackson. In another hour or so dawn would lighten the skies, decreasing the difficulty of following him. Unfortunately it would also make it easier for Freddie to see her, but she didn’t care. She wanted Freddie to know she was following him. As she rode out of town she could have sworn she heard someone shouting, “Bank robbery!”

Jackson was five miles out of Medicine Bow before he realized he was being followed. Not by a posse, it was too soon for that. Unless it was the bounty hunter, he had no idea who it could be. When he passed a large boulder, he rode his horse out of sight behind it. The moon was a bright beacon in the sky, providing sufficient light to see by as he pulled his gun free of his holster and waited.

Freddie had dropped from sight and Sarah grew frantic. She had no idea how he had eluded her. Had he turned off someplace? Had he…?

Her questions were answered when Jackson shot out from behind a boulder, directly into her path. Her horse shied, nearly throwing her, but she hung on, staring at the gun in Jackson’s hand.

“Aw, shit! What in the hell are
you
doing here?”

Abner awoke with a start, saw his mother, and screamed for her.

“I want my son!” Sarah shouted, gaining control of her frightened horse with difficulty. “Give him back to me.”

“You might as well turn back ‘cause you can’t have him. You babied him for the first five years of his life, now it’s time to turn him into a man. Ain’t that right, kid?”

Abner’s chin lifted belligerently. “I
am
a man. I want my mama.”

Jackson cocked his gun. “I oughta get rid of you right now, Sarah. You’re making me mad.”

“Don’t you dare hurt my mama!” Abner cried. “I’ll hate you forever if you do.”

Abner’s words gave Jackson pause, and he uncocked his gun and rammed it back into his gunbelt. He didn’t want his kid to hate him for killing his mother. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Sarah charged. “I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, if need be.”

Jackson looked fit to be tied. The sky was changing from black to gray and streaks of dawn colored the western horizon. Once the robbery was discovered the vigilantes would be hot on his trail. He didn’t know how much Sadie had seen or guessed at, or if she would keep her mouth shut, but he couldn’t count on her silence. He wouldn’t be safe until he reached his hideout on Elk Mountain.

Having Sarah tag along behind him was dangerous. She knew where he was going and would spill her guts if he forced her to turn back. He really didn’t want to kill her. She was Abner’s mother, and besides, he didn’t like killing women.

“You win, Sarah. You can come with me as long as you can keep up. I don’t aim to be caught by the vigilantes.”

“Vigilantes!” Suddenly Sarah recalled the words she’d heard in Medicine Bow. “You robbed the bank!”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “but they’ll never find me.”

Freddie said nothing more as he gouged his spurs into his horse’s flanks. The animal leaped forward and Sarah followed.

Chad arose at dawn, packed up his gear, and mounted up without taking time to fix himself anything to eat. He’d awakened this morning feeling perturbed and out of sorts. Though he tried to deny it, he was worried about Sarah and Abner. Indecision plagued him. Or was it his conscience? Chad could fight it no longer. He had to return to Sarah and Abner. He had argued with himself all the way to Medicine Bow before admitting he’d been defeated by that lone spark of compassion in him. Sarah and Abner needed him, he felt it in his bones.

He couldn’t live with himself for deserting them while their future was so shaky. The least he could have done was wait another week or two, until Doc Clayter said she could start taking in laundry again. He frowned and shook his head. The thought of Sarah with her arms submerged in hot water was not a pleasant one. Sarah needed rest and plenty of good food. She was far too thin. He’d tried to tell himself it was none of his business but it didn’t work. Fate had decreed otherwise. He had to go back to Carbon.

Suddenly he noticed a group of riders headed in his direction. His curiosity piqued, he reined in and waited for them to approach. As they drew near, he recognized Sean MacKay, the local vigilante leader. He’d crossed MacKay’s path many times in the last two years. Alarm bells went off inside his head.

“Morning, Delaney,” MacKay said when he reached Chad and drew rein. “Who are you after this time?”

“Morning, MacKay,” Chad replied. “You seen anything of Freddie Jackson around these parts lately?”

“Strange that you should mention him,” MacKay said. “He robbed our bank last night. I had hoped you’d seen him.”

“I wish I had. In which direction was he headed?”

“Don’t know. Sadie reported the robbery right away, but it took time to gather a posse. By then Jackson’s trail was cold. You want to join us?”

The alarm bells in Chad’s head grew louder. He didn’t know why but the need to return to Carbon was urgent. Chad’s intuition seemed to be working overtime. He had no reason to think anything was amiss with Sarah, or to link her in any way to Jackson, but his gut told him otherwise.

“I just remembered something I forgot in Carbon. Think I’ll head back that way.”

“If you find Jackson, I reckon you’ll be taking him in for the reward.”

“I reckon so,” Chad contended.