The Town 0f No Return: Special Edition (Half Breed Haven Book 11)

by A. M. Van Dorn

  Honor Elizabeth launched herself at the woman and drove a heavy right into the woman's burned chest, eliciting another cry, this one in rage, but Honor didn't let that daunt her. The woman flailed at her with one of her ham-like fists, but she ducked out of its reach, immediately threw herself closer again, and began pounding relentless blows to Stuart's jaw. The woman started to sag, but she wasn't about to drop to the ground like in the streets of Córdoba. Pain and anger made the most combustible fuel on earth, Honor knew, and it was powering Patti Stuart.

  Certain she would break her own knuckles if she kept up the futile attempt to try and drop the woman she knew she would have to find another way. Summoning all her strength into her right fist, Honor let it fly.Her punch scored a direct hit on where she was aiming, directly into Stuart's throat, smashing against her windpipe. The woman's eyes bulged, and she stumbled backward.

  To Honor's horror, Stuart had the ill luck to fall directly into what was left of the fire after Honor had kicked it. Seemingly augmented by the grease on her blouse, Stuart went up like a torch in front of Honor's shocking her to her core. Shrieking the burning woman began whirling about, trying to beat out the flames. Honor dropped to her knees and yanked up the blanket that she and Katie had sat on while taking their meal and pushed the woman to the ground and began beating on the flames. She kept beating until the fire was out and her arms ached, but it would all prove to be in vain.

  ***

  An hour later, on the river bank swathed in moonlight, Honor Elizabeth put the last rock in place for the grave that she and Katie had just finished building for Patti Stuart. Katie said it was more than she deserved, and that if it were up to her, she would have left the woman's burned and pitted body where it was. Honor, however, insisted but did draw the line at saying any words of respect, for she had none. The woman's crimes were long, having beaten defenseless women, killed her husband, and would have done the same thing to his daughter eventually. Not to mention she planned to rob them and leave their bodies to rot.

  Returning to Marisol back at the camp, both women took their place on either side of the girl and reassured her that everything was going to be all right for her from now on. Marisol looked hopeful and asked if she was sure.

  "Absolutely. Just before we were attacked, I remembered from your story that it was your father's sister that made contact with him about the lawyers looking for him. Well, originally, I was going to suggest that I could help you arrange legal proceedings to have your guardianship transferred from your step-mother to your aunt. My father is a judge back in Arizona, and he has friends on this side of the border that could help. However, since your step-mother did not survive her attempt to kill me, that handily solves the guardianship problem. I think it will be quite easy for your aunt to claim guardianship of you now. Would you like that?"

  The brightness of the girl’s smile answered it for her, but she laughed and said, “Oh, yes, Miss Wilde. I missed my aunt Abbie Maria so much when we left. I would like that very much. She reminds me of you so much, Miss Katie. She’s so nice and kind, just like ya! Both of ya!” she quickly added in Honor’s direction, but Honor Elizabeth just smiled and nodded, now knowing why the girl had taken so quickly to Katie.

  “Your town be right along the way, honey! We’ll be dropping you at your aunt Abbie Maria’s tomorrow morning on our way to the Verde Abundante!” Katie reassured her with a smile.

  The girl’s head swiveled back and forth between the two women, her teeth shining by the light of the new fire they had built. “I don’t know how I can ever thank ya enough! I really don’t!”

  “Then I shall answer that for you quite easily. When you get that money use it wisely. Employ it to build a good life for yourself and be sure to do some good with it. That will repay us a thousand times over. Agreed?” Honor Elizabeth asked with an arched eyebrow.

  “Si!”

  Later, as they settled in for the night, none were aware that far into a future not yet born the Marisol Martinez Foundation for Battered and Abused Women would still continue to fulfill a promise born from Honor’s long ago and gentle request under a starlit night.

  As she snuggled into her bedroll the only future Honor Elizabeth was thinking about was for the next day when they would, at last, arrive at the Ybarra Coachworks. All the perils they had endured would be behind them, and they would simply do what they had come to do. She could not know that her hopes and wishes would be dashed, and only more menace lurked at the very end of their journey. Nor could she have known that she and Katie had not been the only ones to face peril that day. Across the miles both her brothers and Lijuan had endured danger at every turn.

  CHAPTER 4

  SAN MIZZILEXA FLATS

  Arizona Territory

  In the back of their father's carriage, Lijuan's hair gently swayed from the rocking motion of the carriage. All things considered, it was an exceptionally smooth ride thanks to the fine construction that had gone into the coach when the judge had it custom built in Mexico all those years ago. Still, she found herself losing her place several times in the ledger, spread open across her lap.

  Knowing it was going to be a long ride she had brought some of her work along with her to pass the time. So far, the trip had gone as planned since the day before when they had left Alamieda after wrapping up the incident where she had helped clear the name of a reformed bandit who had been framed for murder. They had gone east and made the payment to Twin Rivers Ranch and then doubled back heading southeast where they had concluded business at a ranch outside of Brandywine. Lijuan had been incensed when the sole hotel in the town had turned them away declining to provide lodging to a combination of a Chinese woman and an Indian.

  As the shrewd businesswoman that she was, under normal circumstances, Lijuan was always able to hold her temper in check when it came to dealing with people.Outlaws, well that was another story as they quite frequently faced her wrath. However, the truth was she was still ragged emotionally. At the party her father had hosted for the business elite of Alamieda a couple of nights before, it had been a strange and unwelcome feeling to find herself at odds with her beloved brother David. She had managed to find a balm for her sadness and frustration over the situation when she had taken the virginity of a younger man, the son of the rehabilitated outlaw she and her father had aided back home. Despite that, she was still on edge.

  So, when the desk clerk had refused them rooms, her quick temper reared its head, and before Blue River could do anything to stop her, she had snatched her ever-present foot-long blacksmith's hammer from its loop on her belt. Glass, water, and flowers flew everywhere as she swung at a vase sitting on the corner of the desk. The clerk's face had gone from pale shock to a deep crimson red as he began shouting about summoning the sheriff. Lijuan peeled off a fistful of bills from a roll of money in her pocket and threw them in the man's face as she turned on her heel and walked out. To her annoyance, behind her, she had heard Blue River attempting to apologize profusely to the man before he followed her out.

  Now, having spent the night in the relative comfort of the coach, they were heading to the town of Horseshoe to make their final payment. Assuming they had no trouble finding a room there, they would give the horses pulling the carriage a rest and spend the night before heading across the border at first light. Once they crossed the badlands into the Canebraro Valley, they would conclude their business by collecting from Old Man Garcia for the massive herd of Cedar Ledge longhorns Catalina and her cowpunchers had recently herded to the Garcia ranch on a cattle drive.

  Lijuan made a notation in her ledger that part of the profits from this sale she wanted to spend hiring a surveyor to get a reliable accounting of where Cedar Ledge ranchland ended and the land belonging to the Circle KW ranch began. After the death of Kevin Wheeler, his children who had no interest in ranching had sold the property to none other than "Rooster" McCarthy of the Calico Ranch. Bad blood had existed between Lijuan, Dutch, and Rooster since their school days when
he, in fact, had been the one to first refer to Cedar Ledge as Half Breed Haven. Lijuan chuckled to herself finding it strange to have him to thank for that as he had only done it to hurt the girls, but they had embraced it instead. To no surprise, a day had come when Rooster had made one racist remark too many about her Chinese heritage and Dutch had laid him out handily.

  The Circle KW had always been a buffer between the Calico holdings and Cedar Ledge, and now it would no longer be there. Expecting trouble from Rooster, she felt it wise to protect the ranch by knowing the exact boundaries. If she could make the finances work, a sturdy fence was not out of the question. As she continued to work, she found her mind drifting towards other matters.

  A thought began to swirl around in her head that she found pleasing.Not all at the party had been adverse. After her falling out with David, she had met a dashing blonde-haired man that had born a striking resemblance to her half-brother. Accepting his request, she had enjoyed a dance with him as she had looked deeply into the man's twinkling blue eyes. He was a relatively new arrival in Alamieda having moved from nearby Halfmoon. By profession, he was a lawyer, and maybe she would retain his services to handle getting the survey done. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of having a reason to see this man again — no doubt about it. When they returned to Alamieda, she would be contacting attorney Killian Kincaid.

  Softly she closed the book and set it aside before reaching down for a jar that rested on the floor of the coach. Grabbing it by the lid, she pulled it up and put it on her lap. The pale liquid within sloshed around as she unscrewed the cap. A moment later she took a long, quenching drink. Whether room temperature or ice cold there was nothing in the world to her that tasted better than Mrs. Chow's fresh squeezed lemonade. Whenever she was to go on a trip like this, the old cook always made sure she had a supply to travel with.Lijuan had a deep affection for the old woman who was the closest thing she would ever have to a grandmother.

  With the cap screwed back on, she attempted to set it back down, and she found it bumped on something. Gazing down she saw that it was the six-shooter she had placed blanks in back in Alamieda to save Ben Bishop from a murder attempt the previous morning by the two jaspers who had attempted to frame him for their crime. After foiling their plan, she had confiscated them from the prisoners and had given one to Bishop, and she had kept this one for herself. She had forgotten she had put it in the carriage before they set out on their business trips. Using her foot, she pushed it to one side and placed the lemonade jar back on the floor.

  Now with her thirst slaked she leaned back in the plush seat and allowed her eyelids to drop. Lijuan found herself happy to return her thoughts to the handsome attorney once more. It was far better than thinking of how much it hurt to have David cross with her. It had been such an innocent slip of the tongue, but its ramifications would have been vast if she hadn't caught herself. Part of her could not blame him for his anger. Still, he had been as cold as ice water to her. Grasping at straws, she wondered how much of that was the influence of Bright Feather on him. Had the Indian woman begun to say things to him about the friction the two women shared? Was she influencing him? Could it be that he had at long last picked a side and she was on the losing side?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden slowing of the carriage until it came to a complete stop. Always on alert, she yanked out her Colt .45 and leaped out the side door and raced up to where Blue River sat on the driver's seat.

  “What is it? What’s happening? Why did we stop?” she called out as she instantly began scanning their surroundings. To either side lay open plains but up ahead loomed the mountains that gave the town they were journeying to its name.

  By some geological quirk in ages past, here near what would someday become the Mexico/Arizona border mountains had risen forming a "U" shape, not unlike a horseshoe. In the in the center of the U sat the town of Horseshoe surrounded by a landscape of gently rolling hills and fertile ranchland. Besides the cattle ranches, Lijuan knew that there was a thriving silver mine at the base of one of the mountains being worked by the townspeople as well.

  Her fixated on what Blue River was suddenly pointing towards. Across the plains having just come out of the basin were two distinct dust clouds. Two things were immediately apparent to Lijuan. Two groups of riders were thundering away from the direction of town. The dust cloud from the leading group was much smaller than the second one. Lastly, she could see that the distance appeared to be widening between the two telling her the riders in front had some swift horses at their disposal. What it was all about was uncertain.

  “A chase Miss Lijuan?” Blue River questioned.

  "That would be my best guess. But why and who is chasing who remains to be seen. Most likely a posse, though I guess we will find out when we get ourselves into Horseshoe and our meeting with Lane Scott from the Little Dipper," she replied, feeling they were going to find some sort unpleasantness had gone down at their destination. Frankly, between their recent pursuit on a frozen mountainside and the frame-up of the outlaw hiding out not far from Cedar Ledge, she was looking forward to a nice uneventful trip. Whatever had gone down in Horseshoe she sincerely hoped they could avoid being drawn into it.

  As she pulled her petite frame up onto the seat next to him, she paused to tuck some of her long hair behind one of her ears. Her brother turned and looked into her beautiful narrow face remarking on the Little Dipper Ranch.

  “That is quite the odd name for a ranch, isn’t it?”

  "Apparently, Scott is into stargazing like Honor does with that fancy telescope she got from England," she said rolling her eyes. In her opinion Honor was always wasting money on her hobbies that never held her interest for very long. "Seems he named it after one them—oh, what’s the word—constellations. A lot of bullshit if you ask me. Outside of the Big Dipper and Orion's Belt, none of those shapes look like a damn thing to me."

  Having observed the heavens with Honor's telescope at her request one evening, Blue River had to concede that Lijuan was right. Most really didn't look anything like the fanciful things they were named after.

  With a crack of the reins, the Wilde siblings soon were rolling across the hot and dusty plain under the bright blue canopy that featured nary a single puff of white.Lijuan watched the moving dust clouds off to the side that were heading in a southerly direction until she could no longer see them without turning her head to look backward. Soon afterward the big wheels of the coach had carried them into the basin itself, and around them on either side rose the walls of the hills and mountains that made up the horseshoe shape.

  To the right on a nearby hill Lijuan suddenly saw two Apache warriors looking down at them solemnly. Instinctively her hand went to her gun for the second time that day, but Blue River suddenly called out for her to leave it holstered.

  “It’s okay. I know this tribe in the area. They are Mescalero Apaches. They are from over there!” he gestured towards an enclave between two soaring forested hills, the dark green colors of the trees shining in the abundant sunlight. Lijuan could see smoke rising from between the hills.

  “They live on an unusual reservation set up for them after the government claimed the hills and mountains around Horseshoe as its own,” he said with a hint of derision in his voice. Caught between the worlds of the white man and the red was not an easy place for her brother, she knew. Frustratingly, it left him with no way to ever clearly pick a side. “The same government that now leases the land to the silver mining company.”

  Lijuan's eyebrow rose at this news. From a business standpoint, it made sense. It wouldn't do to have the US Government operating a silver mine, but it wasn't going to lose out on a chance to profit from it either. She had little doubt whoever owned the silver mine had deep ties to the administration. Shrewd indeed, but surely it had been a blow to the Apache tribe that lived here.

  “When did you meet these people?”

  “It was so many years ago when I was just a young
boy. In those times the people of Chief High Eagle roamed freely. As you know, when I was little my mother, Bright Feather, and what the whites call my step-father were traders for our tribe. Traveling all over to open relations between we Yavapai and those we wished to trade with.”

  Lijuan bit the inside of her lip and nodded knowing full well what Blue River had left unspoken was it had been the chief’s way to keep them out of the camp as much as possible. The circumstances around Blue River’s birth had literally ripped the Hala tribe in two. The tribe’s fiercest warrior Black Hawk had lost the woman he loved to Whip Wilde, and even worse in to the renegade, she had been defiled by a white man by bearing his child.

  The brave had taken his loyalists with him when they went to form their own tribe. Over the ensuing years, Black Hawk filled his ranks with those who had a seething hatred for the white man. Now his forces were dubbed the Omegas after the last letter of the Greek alphabet due to the warrior’s vow to fight to his final man if it meant ridding the former Indian lands of the last of the invading whites. To that end, the renegades now roamed the territory on his crusade against the white settlers of Arizona and any who allied with them.

  Lijuan suspected a day of reckoning would someday come between Black Hawk, his Omegas, and the Wildes. Not that long ago, allied with a man who had been seeking revenge against the sisters, the Omegas had made a brazen attempt to capture the women and deliver them into the hands of Black Hawk himself. She did not care to think of the fate that would have awaited them had they not been able to marshal all their skills to make a daring escape.

  Whatever the future was involving Black Hawk and his people she pushed any speculation clear from her mind. At this moment she was more concerned just what had happened in Horseshoe that had sent a posse thundering across the desert in the directions of Mexico and the badlands that lay beyond the border.