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

by A. M. Van Dorn

  Salvation from having to broach the subject came in an unlikely form when they were interrupted by the sound of mirth coming from across the street. A buoyant Salazar and Tess came out of the bar, arm in arm, laughing. They also saw a man approach them on their side of the street. Dutch realized it was the man he’d had words with earlier, Hardcastle, and he had a rifle slung over his shoulder. The two instantly became alert and rose from the table and stepped to the edge of the boardwalk.

  “Hey, Salazar, you and me got some talking to do!” he hollered.

  "Hardcastle? That you? It's been a while since that job. I'm kinda busy here. We can talk another time, amigo?" Salazar said. He and Tess seemed a little tipsy to the pair.

  "We can talk now. I don't like you being with Tess; she's my girl!" Hardcastle said, and next to Dutch, Bright Feather winced. She knew to provoke the fierce man was a bad idea, and he felt the same way.

  “Hardcastle! Are you crazy?” Tess asked loudly. To Dutch that seemed like a fair question. This man had killed four soldiers recently and nearly Quillan and Vellaneau as well.

  “You heard the lady, Hardcastle, beat it!” Salazar told him.“I’m in a good mood right now. Almost didn’t make it back to Mexico. Killed a bluecoat just shy of the border, but I made it. Been in a good mood ever since I got back. Don’t you go and ruin it, hombre, by making me kill you.”

  “Maybe I got to teach you a lesson, Salazar!” Hardcastle said, ignoring Salazar’s warning and bringing his hand back as if to punch the man. Salazar was having none of it and hit him first, knocking the man down in the dirt.

  "Come on, Tess darling, I don't like the company around here," Salazar told Tess, and they turned away from the embarrassed Hardcastle. As Dutch and Bright Feather watched, Hardcastle un-slung his rifle and took aim at the desperado. Dutch drew his weapon and fired, knocking the gun out of Hardcastle's hand as his bullet shattered the rifle's stock. Hardcastle cried out in shock and surprise and Salazar turned back with Tess in a surprise of his own, his gun drawn. Dutch stepped out into the street with Bright Feather at his side.

  “He was going to shoot you in the back!” Tess exclaimed.

  "Didn't think he had it in him or I would never have turned my back," Salazar said soberly as he looked over to Dutch. "Looks like you saved me from a date with a pine box, stranger."

  “I just relieved him of his weapon, that’s all,” Dutch said.

  “You ruined my gun, asshole!” Hardcastle cried out from the ground.

  “All I did was shoot the stock, I could’ve shot your hand, or I could have put a bullet between your eyes, which is what a sidewinder like you deserves. Consider yourself lucky,” Dutch told him with faked annoyance.

  “I owe you,” Salazar told Dutch as he plucked a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it ablaze. Exhaling a puff of smoke after taking a drag off it, he tilted his head. “Not a lot of people in this world that I do. But you’re one of them now, amigo.”

  "No worry, forget it," Dutch said.

  “That was some slick shooting, knocking the gun out of his hand instead of just shooting him and sending him on his way to the grave,” Salazar said, shaking Dutch’s hand.

  “Be a waste of a good pine box on him,” Dutch responded getting a laugh from Salazar, Bright Feather, and Tess.

  “Sure as shit would be. What’s your name, hombre?” Salazar asked Dutch smiled.

  “I can tell you. I met them earlier before you came into the saloon. This here is Bill and his woman is Yellow Bird,” Tess told Salazar.

  "Yeah, sure, of course, it is. There's a lot of Americanos named Bill in Palmarez. You and your squaw staying as the Franco?" he asked.

  “That’s right,” Dutch answered. Salazar wrapped his arm around Dutch’s shoulders.

  "So am I, Bill. Room ten. What say we all grab ourselves some grub and then you and your injun is coming back to my room with us. I still got half a bottle of whiskey and two full bottles of that fine wine from Corderro Crest Vineyards. I, uh, happened to come into. We’ll play some cards and have some fun, make our own party. You in?” he asked looking at them both.

  We’re in!” a grinning Bright Feather exclaimed for them. Dutch smiled to himself pleased with how things had taken a turn for the better after two days of endlessly searching for this man, and now they had not only found him but had been afforded an opportunity to get in his good graces. It was only going to make greasing the wheel so much easier.

  The quartet walked away without a glance at the man on the ground. Hardcastle, however, was watching them all in fury, especially the man calling himself Bill. There was something about him that suddenly started to nag away at him, but he had no idea what it was—at least not yet.

  CHAPTER 24

  THE SETTLEMENT

  HORSESHOE VALLEY

  Arizona Territory

  Arriving at the top of the waterfall Lijuan was confronted with the inevitable. The trap had bought them extra time, but there was simply no way that all four of them were going to be able to scale down the rocky face in time. Looking across the pool of water she spied the wagon at the far end. Suddenly a lantern burst to life that Ross had brought along. It was his signal that he had seen them and was standing ready for them to flee in the wagon.

  “We’ve got to get down there!” she shouted at the men. “That’s our ride!”

  “Is there, is there a path somewhere near about?” Farquhar inquired with a tremor in his voice.

  Lijuan cocked her head and looked at him. She had to fight to remember the fact that not everyone in the West lived life on the edge like she and the rest of her family and simply were unaccustomed being thrust into situations like this.

  "No! We're going to do something my brother David, and I use to do as kids on a waterfall that fell into Narrow Lake on our ranch. We're going to ride it!"

  “I beg your pardon!?” Farquhar exclaimed, his face growing pale under the full moon.

  "You don't have to spell it out to me!" the driver said as he jumped into the stream and the water immediately swept him out into the void. The trio watched from above as he disappeared within the moonlit torrent of water plunging to the pool. Lijuan felt a wave of relief sweep over her as his head bobbed up and he began stroking across the pool towards the waiting Ross Tatum.

  A moment later the other man was in freefall and plunging into the waters below. Lijuan didn't bother to look to see if the man was making his way to shore. Instead, she turned her attention to Farquhar who had become antsy once more.

  “No, Ma’am, I don’t think I can do that. You see, Farquhars all have long had a fear of heights! It pains me to admit that I am no exception.”

  In the woods up the path the sound of war whoops was getting louder with each passing second. It wouldn't be long before the Mescaleros would be upon them, and Lijuan loved her hair that tumbled nearly all the way to her ass too much to have it scalped as a trophy.

  “You hear that? That’s going to be the men that either murder you on the spot, burn you at the stake, or come up with some more creative way to see you dead. They aim to dump your body in front of the entire town of Horseshoe before they sweep in and massacre it! Now you get on that goddamn waterfall, or I’ll leave you to the Mescaleros!”

  “You wouldn’t!” the man said, nearly frozen in fear.

  "You're right. I wouldn't." And with that, her muscular arms suddenly thrust out from where they hung by her sides. Farquhar didn't even have a chance to scream as he went under the cold water of the stream and was ejected out over the edge of the falls.

  Lijuan didn’t wait for him to hit the water below before she took her seat in the stream, she felt her butt take one or two bumps off slick, smooth rocks on the bottom of the stream bed before suddenly there was nothing underneath her at all. As she dropped within the waterfall, she was pounded mercilessly by the torrents of water, and then suddenly she found herself jackknifing down below the roiling spot where the water hit the surface of the pool.

  She
floated there for a moment in a world of complete peace. Was this what it might be like if one could remember their time in their mother's womb, she wondered? Her mother. Thoughts of this woman she had never known had always come to her at the most random of times. As her hair swayed about her face underwater, she thought of her. Whip would so rarely speak of her, not like all the other loves of his life that he had lost. Each loss she knew had given him a different kind of pain, and yet he would always wax nostalgically about them—all but her mother. What was that special pain he was holding onto that wouldn't even let him talk about her even after the nearly thirty years that had passed since they had been together off the coast of China?

  Like a switch being thrown, Lijuan was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts. There was no time for this old pain and longing right now. She kicked to the surface and began stroking madly towards the far edge of the pool. When she was halfway across, she saw the three men on the shore helping Farquhar out of the pool. Ross was shouting something at her, and she quickly found out what it was as arrows began to pierce the water all around her!

  The Mescaleros had caught up, and they were out for blood!

  As the arrows continued to fall from around her Lijuan knew the odds favored that she was about to take a hit, the only question was whether it would be fatal. Against her better judgment, she momentarily turned herself around, morphing her breaststroke into a backstroke to gauge the situation.

  On the ledges above a mass of braves gathered, the ones closest to the edge shooting the arrows while several of the warriors had begun to climb down the face of the cliff. The hulking giant who could only be Crazy Elk was shouting orders at his men. She had no idea of what he was saying, but she could easily pick up on the rage in the man's voice.

  Then she saw Crazy Elk suddenly pointing to them, and without hesitation, a pair of braves jumped in and allowed themselves to make the drop she had just made. Lijuan flipped around and dove under the water, intent on taking away their target. Just as her calves were about to disappear underwater, an arrow grazed her right calf. White hot pain shot through her, but she channeled it as an incentive to swim faster underwater because if a graze hurt that bad a direct hit would be a new adventure in pain.

  Thankful she had taken a deep breath before plunging below the surface she applied a burst of speed, swimmingly madly towards safety, a trail of blood billowing out behind her. As she plowed her way through the cool water, she knew it was a race for her life with the braves now in the pool with her. Lijuan knew more had followed by the sounds of their bodies impacting when they hit the pool. At least she took comfort in knowing she was beyond the range of the arrows as they had now stopped.

  Lijuan tore through the water reminding herself of lazy summer days when she would engage with Catalina in swimming races in the Rock River that wound its way through the vast Cedar Ledge Ranch. All the Wilde sisters were physically fit, but none more so than Catalina whose body rippled with toned and sculpted muscles from her physical labors cow punching the family’s cattle. Cattie always beat her, but Lijuan was always a close second as her petite frame equalized them somewhat, and she was able to move through the water at a good pace. As her lungs began to burn for the sea of air above the surface, Lijuan finally had no choice but to rise.

  Drawing a deep breath as she broke the surface, a grin burst on her face. She was only ten feet away from where the stagecoach driver and the other men were calling to her frantically. A moment later and their strong arms were pulling her clear of the water and hefting her up alongside Ross who immediately whipped the reins as the men piled in next to a subdued Farquhar.

  The wagon rocketed away from the pool and Lijuan looked back at what must have been a dozen braves stroking across the surface, but they were too late. Even as the distance widened, Crazy Elk’s war cries carried to the crew of the wagon as it bucked its way across the uneven lands heading back across country towards Horseshoe.

  Ross called out over his shoulder, “It was only the three of you on the stage? They didn’t kill anyone, did they?”

  The driver leaned forward and told him that originally there was to have been a couple and their young son, but the husband told him the wife had something he called "the vapors," and the family had elected to remain behind in Alkali Flats where the stage had originated.

  “Thank God for that,” Ross shook his head before grinning at Lijuan who sat next to him, he couldn’t help noticing how the wet Indian garb clung to her body, accentuating the curves of her impressive breasts. “By god you did it, Lijuan!”

  Lijuan busied herself using both hands to wring the water out of her long hair while fixing a serious gaze on Tatum.

  “I did. I just hope my brother was able to escape The Settlement without any complications.”

  “If he’s as capable as you, then I doubt that was an issue. That was a hell of a thing you just did. First planning this whole gosh darn rescue out, and then executing it and rescuing everyone!”

  She felt a warmth flow over her at the compliment, but she kept her face stoic. “Yes, well, I was an apt pupil when my older sister Cassandra schooled us girls on how to think and plan strategically.She used to be a Pinkerton and all.”

  “Well, you-” his speech halted as Lijuan locked an iron grip on his forearm.

  "There is no time to be celebrating. This little escapade just kicked up a hornet's nest amongst the Mescaleros. You better believe they are coming now and they are going to have a score to settle after a humiliation like this!"

  “You paint a fairly grim picture,” he said solemnly at the news while Lijuan tilted her head to one side looking at him.

  “It gets better. The bulk of their warriors are about to return from a hunting expedition. This town is in serious trouble. Our only hope now is to produce the murderer—something which we haven’t been able to accomplish all day.”

  She was surprised when she saw the serious look on his face edge its way into a small smile that left her giving him a questioning look.

  “I’ve got faith in you after what I’ve seen you accomplish today. You’ll come up with something.”

  "I can see your tombstone now. Here Lies Ross Tatum. He had faith in Lijuan Wilde." They both looked at each other for a moment and let loose a burst of laughter, a welcome relief to the seemingly unrelenting cloak of tension. Lijuan squeezed his shoulder and hoped to hell he was right.

  CHAPTER 25

  There was no laughter amongst Crazy Elk and his men, many of them soaking wet from the failed attempt to snare Lijuan in the water.Now they were trudging up the path nearing the wall to The Settlement. His pride wounded, Crazy Elk fought to remain in control. He knew he had to rally the warriors and do it now. He shouted for them to begin running, the time had come to prepare for the war on the white men in the town. The chief would be arriving any moment at the camp and they would be at full strength and would crush all of Horseshoe including the two interlopers named Wilde.

  Inside The Settlement Itself, Summer Sky felt her heart smashing against the inside of her chest as the older tribesmen and some of the women ran to the back gate of The Settlement wall and swung it open to allow those from the Great Hunt to at last return home. After Blue River had left, her body had been jolted by a revelation. It would be foolish to rely on him and pin all her hopes on the young brave. Crazy Elk charging off after the escaping captives had given her an unexpected opportunity.

  This was her chance to meet with her brother without Crazy Elk present. She prayed to the Great Spirit that she could make him believe that Crazy Elk meant him harm, intended to murder him and take control of the tribe before the sun rose. Four dozen men on horseback led by the chief began streaming into the compound. Clearly, the Great Hunt had been a successful one this year as the tribes people broke into a cheer at the sight of many game animals strapped to the men's horses or being dragged behind them on a travois. Victory cries were bursting from the hunter's chests in response.

  Summer Sky cla
sped her hands in front of her and was just about to take flight towards her brother when new cries ripped through the air bringing the victory whoops to a swift end. They were war cries. Her heart dropped what seemed like the distance between the green earth she dwelled on and the silvery moon hanging in the sky. Crazy Elk and his men came charging back into the camp, running straight for the chief who had brought his horse to a stop. She had missed her one chance.

  “Great Chief!” Crazy Elk was shouting. “The war drums have sounded! A Mescalero has been slain and our very settlement invaded by a she-demon from the white man’s town! The Great Spirit has guided you back at just this moment, so you might lead us and strike a final blow against those that have stolen our lands and put us here in a place whose walls even they don’t respect. Tonight, you shall lead us to a great victory as the white eyes shall shed tears in the face of our revenge!

  ***

  The reunion between the Wilde siblings had been joyous if a short-lived one. Not long after the wagon had returned safely to within the barricades, Blue River had come charging up on Rainbow. There had been a close shave when a panicked man, the town barber, had open fire on him mistaking him to be a scout. Luckily for Blue River, the man was far more adept at trimming hair than handling a Winchester, and he had missed by a considerable margin. An angry Lijuan had yanked the gun away from him and tossed it to another man.

  Following an embrace, each had relayed to the other what had happened from their perspective as the plan had unfolded with Ross and other townsfolk listening raptly. As Blue River shared his side of the tale, Lijuan listened as Ross worked to bandage the graze on her leg. Rosalee, of course, had not been present as she quickly stewarded Farquhar and the other two freed hostages to the hotel for a hot meal.