Lijuan tilted her head and as coolly as possible said, “Well you know how you get at the fortune in the real cookies. You crack them open. Just what I’m going to do to your skull with my hammer.” The laughter only increased but Lijuan fell silent as Cassandra briefly dropped one arm to lay a restraining hand on her shoulder before speaking.
“So, what’s this all about? You went through a lot of trouble and TNT to capture us. This boss of yours…does he have fanciful dreams of collecting a reward for us from our father?”
Catalina and Honor looked at each other with a knowing smile and Cattie called out to them. "People done tried that before, but they sure didn't get very far with that little payday. They're all dead now of course. Just like you'll be." She finished with a chuckle as she recalled her and Honor's kidnapping by the Fenwick gang.
Cafferty drew close to Cassandra and looked her in the eye. "Boss says you're the leader of this pack. Well, hear this blondie…this isn't about a ransom. It's about revenge. You ladies are in for a hell of a rough time coming up. If I weren't being paid so well, I'd almost pity you." He then turned and threaded his way around mud puddles on the trail to where his men stood. One of the men drew close to him and whispered something the sisters could not hear.
As Cafferty nodded to the man, Honor Elizabeth's attention was not on the pair but rather the other two brutes with them. Brothers by the looks of them and the duo were looking at the women hungrily, with lascivious looks being passed back and forth between them. If Honor's hands weren't in the air, she would have used them to bury her face in them. As it was, she could only shake her head. This again! It seemed anytime a foe had them at a disadvantage the first thing that always seemed to come to their small minds was the notion of forcing themselves on them. Not one had ever succeeded, and none ever would. They were the Wildes after all.
"My partner J.J. here is right. We best be getting you to the cabin over there. The boss is really eager to meet up with you again!" he motioned with his head towards what was supposed to be their getaway cabin.
As they drew close, for a brief instant Cassie took in the view of the building remembering the happy time she had spent there. It was a roomy, one-story log cabin, with lots of windows to let the light streaming in as the sun passed over the vista that lay beyond the cliff edge. Now all the windows but one in the front had been boarded up giving the cabin a foreboding look. The only thing that remained the same was the ornate weathervane of a rooster crowing on the roof that Cassie had helped Jim assemble and erect one afternoon. He had been so excited when the package had arrived in Clayton's Hollow all the way from London, England.
“And I am eager to see him as well.” Cassie finally said, burying the happy memories and steeling herself for what lay ahead as the four trudged their way down the remainder of the trail. Her statement was more than just bravado as she was genuinely intrigued to see just who it was that had gone to this length to trap them. They had put a lot of people behind bars and busted up enough shady operations that it could be anyone.
Arriving at the door to the cabin, Cafferty did a theatrical sweep of his right hand beckoning them to enter. "Ladies first." As Cassandra lowered her arms and moved to turn the doorknob, she could hear Catalina's giggle behind her. "Sure, gonna be a real shame to kill a hombre with such manners…ain't it Lijuan?"
Whatever was Lijuan’s reply was it wound up being lost on Cassandra’s ears as she swung the door open to end the suspense and see who the mastermind of this afternoon’s little production was.
The three other Wildes piled in behind her as well as their armed escorts as Cassandra came to a stop. The interior of her friend's cabin was reasonably roomy, but there was no dividing wall between the living room area and the kitchen. At the midway point between the two designated areas was a square wooden table and at one side, casually smoking a pipe sat a man. He didn't look as robust as when she had last seen him getting shut behind the cell door in a Flagstaff jail but there was no mistaking him.
“DeVries!”
The man took a long drag off the pipe as the three Wildes behind Cassandra exchanged surprised glances with each other at the revelation, but Cassie remained stock still, with her eyes locked on him, her poker face in play. She surely hadn't expected him to be the orchestrator because as far as she knew he was supposed to be in a territorial prison, but she had no intention of tipping the man off about being thrown for a loop.
He saluted her with the pipe and flashed a grin in their direction. "At your service!" he craned his head to look around Cassandra at Lijuan. "Hey, Lijuan, fake fuck any more gentlemen lately?”
“There was nothing fake about my performance and a lying cheating thief like you is certainly no gentlemen. Our father and our brothers, now those are real gentlemen.” She said dryly stepping up next to Cassandra. “Yes, it’s too bad we had to cart you away so quickly. There wasn’t time to give you a few pointers on how to properly use that pleasure maker on a woman.”
That hit a nerve for a moment later he was no longer in the chair but towering over the petite woman. The sharp crack of the backhand he gave to her face filled the air as well as the cocking of guns as Cassandra, Honor, and Catalina reacted in instinct on the assault against their sister and started to move but the weapons at point-blank range ended any rebellion.
“Dixon has no trouble in that area! That I can promise you!” a richly accented voice suddenly seemed to come out of nowhere and the sister’s heads spun in the direction of a now open doorway that lead to one of the cabin’s two bedrooms. Even Cassandra was unable to maintain her composure letting her jaw drop open as a youthful woman, with curly dark hair cascading all the way down her back emerged from the room wrapped only in a blanket.
Honor Elizabeth's hands went to her hips, and she gave an angry bob to her head. "Elanie Kanakanares what on earth are you doing here?! You are supposed to be in Phoenix!" she cried out, trying to make sense of it. The Wildes had given the household staff vacation since the family would not be present at the ranch and the young cook's aide had asked to leave a few days earlier. Apparently, to be here, it now dawned on Honor.
The woman said nothing but quietly walked over to DeVries who put his arm around her as the outlaw brothers turned their lustful eyes towards her. That did not go unnoticed by Cafferty who shot them a look to rein it in. She was their benefactor's woman after all. DeVries gave her a long passionate kiss before the pair turned back to the Wildes and their captors.
“So, even this skunk goin’ to prison wasn’t enough to give him up! Land of Goshen girl! You can do a hell of a lot better than this here jasper!”
Elanie jutted her chin out and looked at Catalina dismissively, "Like you I suppose. Everyone at the ranch knows about your ladies. Such an affront to our Lord and savior!"
"An affront huh? Sure, don't explain that night when we was out on the Alkali flats near Sagebrush on that cattle drive you went along on to run the chuck wagon, and you approached my Conestoga that night. You thought I was asleep, but I saw you, and then I saw you turn away. Aint nothin' to be ashamed about gettin' curious and then losin' your nerve and all." Catalina ended with the corners of her mouth drawing upward; satisfied she had made her point.
Elanie's face began to take on a shade of red as she fought to formulate some sort of comeback, but Lijuan didn't' give her a chance.
"Sticking with a jailbird. Just how desperate are you?" Lijuan's mocking voice acted like a trigger and DeVries face began to take on the same shade of red as his Greek lover, and he jerked the right cuff of his long coat down and then the left in irritation.
“I will have you know I never spent a day in prison save for when I was a guest of the Flagstaff jail, awaiting trial.”
“Yes, one that went very quickly…an open and shut case! I was there and saw you convicted.” Lijuan hissed. “I know this!”
"Yes, you do don't you, Lijuan you treacherous little bitch! But did you know that I was held over several days at the jai
l before being transported? You would have been on your way back to Alamieda by then. A bridge had been washed out and needed replacing. Once the road was open again, my transport wagon set out, but we never made it!"
Cassie's pulse quickened at his last statement. She did remember hearing about the incident that she knew he was about to reveal, but because it happened several days after his conviction it never occurred to her he was on the transport, he should have been long gone by then.
DeVries was going full tilt now as he removed his arm from Elanie's shoulder and once more drew close to Lijuan, looking down at her as she fixed him a hard stare, her fingers flexing by her belt which was always the precursor to her unleashing her trusty hammer. If only it were there, she thought as DeVries began shouting at her.
"No sooner were we on that bridge than a band of Black Hawk's Omegas came swooping down out of the trees cutting off each end of the bridge. I can still feel the blood splashing on me as they butchered the guards and the other prisoners. I saw my life about to come to an end that day! All because of you pack of whores! You all got your god damn money from your cattle and timber! All I wanted was a little slice of profit for myself, and there I was about to get scalped on some nameless bridge!"
Lijuan calmly wiped the spit away that had flown from his mouth and hit her in the forehead as she folded her arms across her chest.
“That scalp looks pretty intact to me! How did you weasel your way out of getting worked over by a tomahawk?”
DeVries stepped away from her and began pacing in front of the Wildes that now had formed a straight line, as Catalina and Honor Elizabeth stepped up to join the other two. Even the hired guns who had heard bits and pieces of the story were leaning forward listening. Cassandra gave a side-eyed gaze at their firearms noticing they had drooped a little, but it was still not a safe enough window to try anything.
"Luck was with me that day! I was going to be the last they killed by chance. Gave me time to study them and I saw a couple of those savages had the Omega symbol tattooed on their chest, so I knew they were Omegas. I got further lucky when one of them spoke English. I know this because earlier he was taunting the poor driver in English as he drew his blade from one side of the man's head to the other before pulling that scalp right off him. I…I never knew a man could scream like that." For a moment DeVries appeared unsteady on his feet as he relived the fateful afternoon. Gazing with hate at the four women he managed to collect himself.
“Down on my knees, held by a pair of them brutes I remember thinking this is how I was going to leave this world. All because of you four. Because of the Wildes! Then that’s when I remembered it.” He reached out with his hand and gave an appreciative smile to Elanie as he drew her near his side.
“Remembered what pray tell?!” Honor demanded.
"The stories my little Greek goddess here use to tell me as we lay in bed together afterward on that little cabin you got on your property!"
Honor let out a small gasp, and the other looked at each other angrily. The cabin had been the Wildes original home while Whip and Catalina's late mother Mercedes planned and constructed the grand Cedar Ledge ranch house up on the rise, with its lush backyard abutting the ledges filled with Cedar trees that gave Half Breed Haven its true name. All the Wilde girls had entertained many a man in that cabin themselves, reluctant to bring men under their father's roof in the big house out of respect for him. To hear a scoundrel like DeVries had defiled the place made their blood boil.
DeVries and Elanie didn’t seem to take any notice as she snuggled in closer to him as he continued. “I remembered her telling me that Black Hawk was out for revenge on your father and your whole family because Whip murdered his brother to steal his woman away, a woman that Black Hawk himself loved!”
Ever the one to keep calm under pressure, Cassandra had her limits, and hers had been reached. "Bullshit! Elanie if you are going to engage in pillow talk about the family that puts food in your mouth and money in your pocket at least get it right! Black Hawk's brother died in battle before Blue River’s mother ever met our father!”
“Watch how you talk to her! She helped make all this possible. Now I don’t give two hoots about the details! Bottom line was I knew in the woods that day I had a bargaining chip! I told that brave I knew your family and I could help them get revenge on them!
Still, angry Cassandra set her jaw and listened as they were, at last, getting to the meat of the story and the revelation of whatever the disgraced businessman's plan was.
"I told him that if they spared me, I could use connections I had at the ranch to find a way to deliver as many Wildes as I could into their hands!" For an instant, her heart skipped a beat, and she turned her head to look down at Lijuan who was looking up at her, her younger sister's shoulders slumping slightly as she took a deep breath to calm herself. A quick glance at Honor and Catalina told her they hadn't realized what the end game here was.
"That warrior…well, he may not like the white man, but he respected me for being brave, and he put his knife away and said we would pow wow. In the end, he wound up bringing me before Stalking Wolf himself!"
"Oh shit." Cassandra heard Catalina say as she too now understood what was about to happen here. Catalina leaned forward and looked at Cassie, and she could see the alarm in her deep brown eyes that usually sparked with joviality. Years ago, their brother Dutch and his love Bright Feather had a near-fatal encounter with Stalking Wolf…the same Stalking Wolf who eventually went on to become Black Hawk's chief lieutenant in his war on the whites of the Arizona territory.
Bright Feather was Catalina's closest friend, and though she rarely drank, the Indian maiden had tied one on with Catalina one night in the gazebo behind Cedar Ledge and Cattie remembered Bright Feather telling her with drunken candor when they were trading stories that Stalking Wolf was one of the most dangerous men she had ever encountered. Truly someone to be feared. Catalina and a good portion of Arizona learned how true that was as Stalking Wolf had led some particularly bloody raids in the territory.
Honor too was now aware of just what was intended for them and launched into her nervous habit of running her index finger between the choker adorned with its silk rose she always wore and the skin of her neck. DeVries and his man Cafferty clearly were planning to turn them over to Stalking Wolf and ultimately Black Hawk to face certain, terrifying and sure to be painful death at the hands of their family’s sworn enemy!
CHAPTER 9
DeVries was chuckling now, clued into the change in demeanor of the sisters. “Ah, is that a bit of fear I detect on your pretty little faces. If you are thinking that you have a date with the Omegas…you are thinking right!” he gave Elanie a peck on her cheek. “I had to remain a guest of the Omegas until I got word to Elanie to keep her ears open to any opportunity when the family would be away from the safety of your mighty ranch and vulnerable. It was with great delight when she heard about this outing to up here and relayed it to me, so I could trap you. I scouted out this site and saw the ravine you would have to would be perfect for trapping you. I’m just sorry the package for Black Hawk won’t be including your brothers…the soldier and the half-breed and of course Whip himself. That would probably have tripled what Black Hawk is paying me!"
This caught Cassie by surprise. “Just letting you live wasn’t enough? You even managed to get money from Black Hawk?!”
"He was a good salesman, I'll give him credit there," Lijuan said flippantly.
"You are damn right I was, and you ruined it all. Yes, I'm getting payment from Black Hawk. The injun plenty of gold that means nothing to him other than using it to buy weapons to fight with! So, I am going to make out really good on this deal. Getting to live and head off to Mexico with a fortune in nuggets. Plus, whatever other bonus Elanie is going to get from Cedar Ledge.”
Honor Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she looked not at DeVries but Elanie, a woman she had hired, given a chance and even kept on despite the friction it caused between
Honor and old Mrs. Chow, who Honor knew seemed only to care for Lijuan and Whip. “Kindly enlighten us as to what that is supposed to mean!”
"I'll answer this one!" Elanie said in a voice full of bluster. With a bit of a swagger to her walk, she drew near Honor. "Well, boss. As soon as I get dressed, I am heading out to Cedar Ledge. I know there is no one at the ranch house with all you gone, and the staff dismissed. I'll be loading up as many valuables as I can and then meet up with Dixon after his business is done here!"
“So, this is how you repay us for taking you in?”
"Sorry Miss High and Mighty…maybe most of the men you all meet worship the ground you walk on, but to me, you’re just hair, hole and bone like any other women. Yes, you paid me, but that doesn't mean I have to like you bitch!"
As she turned to walk away Honor's hand snaked out and grabbed the blanket and yanked it off her body leaving her nude, quickly the embarrassed woman scrambled to cross her arms over her breasts and the thick triangle of dark hair below her waist, failing in the attempt. Behind the Wildes, the Stevens brothers hooted in delight until DeVries bellowed for them to shut up. Elanie yanked the blanket off the floor and ran into the bedroom slamming the door shut behind her.
DeVries finger angrily jabbed the air repeatedly as he focused his attention on Honor Elizabeth. "I ought to order one of these fine gentlemen to give you a horsewhipping for that one, beat you so you can barely stand up. I would too, but my deal is to deliver you uninjured to the Omegas. They want you in prime shape for whatever it is they got planned for you! Cafferty, tie their hands!"
A short time after the gang finished binding their hands behind the sister’s backs Elanie emerged from the bedroom, fully dressed except for a cloak she plucked from a set of wooden pegs protruding from one of the walls near the doorway. After sneering at Honor, she crossed to the DeVries and gave him a long passionate kiss as the assembled looked on. Finally, they broke it off.
Renegades And Revenge: Daughters 0f HBH (Half Breed Haven Book 8) Page 9
