Ryan Rides Back

by Bill Crider

"They must be out there," he said.

  "Who?" Virginia said.

  "Kane and the others. He's not going to let us get away this easy."

  "Maybe he's afraid."

  Ryan smiled. "I don't think so. Not Kane."

  "Well, we can't just stand here peering out."

  Ryan looked at her. She was a fine figure of a woman in the cotton gown, and despite what Long had done to her face, she was still the prettiest woman he had ever seen. But what he liked best about her right now was the fact that she wasn't a bit spooked by what had happened. Some women, and plenty of men, too, would have wanted to sit around and whine about their injuries or about how it wouldn't be possible to escape so they might as well give up.

  Not Virginia. She had a fierce look on her face and a pistol in her hand. She didn't appear to be a bit daunted by anything.

  "All right," Ryan said. "Let's go."

  They stepped outside into the darkness.

  Kane had rousted Long easily. The snakelike man hardly ever slept more than halfway. It was as if the sound of a feather falling in the next room could wake him, and the shots from the other part of the house, though distant and deadened by several thick intervening walls, had brought him almost to wakefulness already.

  Barson was another story. Whether because of his head injury or because he was naturally a heavy sleeper, it took both Long and Kane to get him to his feet and to a reasonable state of alertness.

  "I thought you said Ryan was a 'man of honor,'" Long said. "Looks like to me he let you down." He gave Barson's shoulder a solid hit with his fist. "Wake up, you bastard," he said.

  "I admit he disappointed me," Kane said. "I thought he would actually make a trade, one brother for one former sweetheart, even if she was a faithless one. I was wrong."

  They dragged Barson upright. Long slapped him sharply.

  Barson shook his head. "Wha'sa matter?" His eyes opened blearily.

  "Get up," Kane sad. "Ryan's here in the house.”

  “Who's 'ere?"

  "Ryan," Long said, dragging Barson from the bed. "Get dressed, dammit."

  Barson began to struggle into his boots, the only item of clothing except his hat he didn't sleep in. If anyone had asked him, he probably couldn't have told the last time he had taken off his pants or shirt. McGee wouldn't have to worry about the smell anymore, however.

  "Ryan killed McGee," Kane said.

  Long laughed. "A real honorable man," he said.

  "I'm sure McGee shot first," Kane said. "Though I wasn't really watching."

  Long laughed even louder. "As if that mattered to McGee."

  "I'm ready," Barson said. He sounded almost awake. "Where's Ryan?"

  "Probably halfway to Denver by now," Long said.

  "Maybe not," Kane said. "He doesn't move very rapidly these days."

  Long thought about the way Ryan looked. "I guess not. Well, are we going after them?"

  "Yes," Kane said. "Come on."

  The others followed him through the dark halls of the house back to the office. There was no one there. "Check the other room," Kane said.

  Long walked over and looked inside. "Just McGee," he said. "Lying on the floor."

  "Never mind him," Kane said. "Let's go outside and look for Ryan."

  Ryan couldn't move fast, but he was faster than Virginia, who had no shoes. There was a time when Ryan could have tossed her over his shoulder and carried her, but that was a few years in the past. He helped her along in the darkness, trying to locate the tree where he hoped Billy would be waiting.

  They had gotten around to the front of the house, but Ryan couldn't quite recall where the tree was. He knew the approximate distance, but not the exact location, and he didn't want to risk calling out.

  He touched Virginia on the elbow, and they stopped while he looked around, trying to get his bearings. There were only a few trees, and he could pick them out as the sky continued to lighten, but he could not be sure which one was the place where he had left Billy. And he could not see Billy.

  He heard a sound behind them and turned to look. Long came around the corner of the house.

  Ryan and Virginia started to hurry forward. Virginia stepped on a sharp stone and fell, a small cry escaping her lips.

  Long heard her and fired twice in their direction.

  The shots went wide, and Ryan knelt by Virginia. "I think I twisted my ankle," she said.

  Ryan turned and started to fire at Long, but he saw that there were two others with him. By the sheer bulk of them, they had to be Barson and Kane.

  "Give it up, Ryan," Kane called. "You might get one of us, but we'll kill the woman for sure."

  "Don't listen to them," Virginia said. "Don't let them get you again because of me. I don't want that to happen again."

  But Ryan knew there was nothing he could do. Kane was right.

  "Let her go," he said. "I'll come over there. You can have me."

  "Oh, no, Ryan," Kane said. "That won't work now. We're going to have both of you." He started forward. Long and Barson followed.

  "Kill them!" Virginia said.

  "I can't," Ryan said.

  He lowered his pistol and stood waiting.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Billy Kane watched from where he was crouching at the foot of the tree. He couldn't make out all that was happening, but he could see enough to know that Ryan and the woman had gotten away and then been caught. He had a sudden fantasy of himself stepping out from the deep shadow, confronting his brother, and demanding the freedom of Ryan and Virginia.

  He knew, of course, that nothing like that would ever happen, but the thought of it gave him a moment of courage. Not enough courage to make him move even an inch, however.

  He listened to what was being said.

  "You killed one of my men, Ryan," Kane said. "I think you should be aware that a gallows is already built for a murderer."

  "I don't think anyone would call it murder," Ryan said.

  "Perhaps not. You can drop the gun now." Kane was close enough to see that Ryan still held the pistol loosely in his hand.

  Long walked over and took the weapon before Ryan could drop it. He slipped it into his belt. Then he jerked Virginia to her feet. She fell against him, unable to put her weight on her foot.

  "Get over here, Barson," Long said. "Hold her up."

  Barson grabbed her arm roughly, keeping her upright.

  "Now," Kane said, "where's my brother?"

  Billy held his breath, waiting for Ryan's answer. The sight of Barson and Long so close to him had destroyed all the courage his fantasy had given him. His chest felt tight and hot.

  "I don't know," Ryan said.

  "Long," Kane said.

  Long stepped to Ryan. He hit him in the left shoulder with the barrel of his pistol.

  Ryan sank to his knees without a word. Whatever damage had been done to his back and arm had healed, but the pain had never completely gone away. The blow from the pistol felt as hard as a blow from a sledgehammer.

  "Where is my brother?" Kane repeated.

  Ryan didn't say anything.

  Long hit him again, harder.

  Ryan stretched backward, his back stiff, but he didn't fall over. As some of the pain eased, he regained his balance and came upright.

  "Next time, he hits the woman," Kane said.

  "What…do you want with Billy?" Ryan said.

  Kane seemed puzzled. "He's my brother."

  "He killed my sister."

  "Hit him, Long."

  Long hit him.

  Ryan fell over on his side. It was a struggle for him to get back up. His left arm was totally useless.

  "Stop it," Virginia said as she watched him. "I'll go with you. Just leave him alone."

  "I'm afraid you are of no use to us now," Kane said. "It's my brother that we really want."

  Ryan got to his knees again.

  "Let me tell you something, Ryan," Kane said. "Your sister was a whore, but my brother didn't kill her. He never k
illed anyone."

  "I didn't think so," Ryan managed to say. "You had Long do it."

  Long hit him for the fourth time. "You lyin' bastard," he said.

  "What's he talkin' about?" Barson said.

  Ryan heard them as he laid there, the pain shooting through his body like liquid fire. He rolled onto his side. He was hurting more than he had on that night three years before. "You killed her, then," he said, his eyes lifted to Kane's .

  Kane sighed, and his shoulders slumped slightly. "Yes," he said. "I killed her."

  "I should have guessed," Ryan said.

  "No reason why," Kane said. "The method was more Long's than mine, I have to admit."

  Both Barson and Long were looking at Kane strangely. Virginia was horrified to hear him confessing so calmly to murder. She knew then for a certainty that he planned to kill her.

  "I suppose you could say it was Long's fault, however, or Barson's," Kane said. "They're the ones who told me that Billy was seeing Sally Ryan."

  "You killed her because of that?" Ryan said. He was trying to twist his body into a sitting position. No one was trying to stop him.

  "It wasn't that, not entirely," Kane said. "Of course I thought Billy was stupid to go off seeing a girl that I couldn't stand and who was the sister of a man I'd come to hate, but the man was gone, dead I thought, and the girl was very attractive. Even I had to admit that."

  "But you . . . killed her." Ryan managed to sit up, grunting with the effort.

  "Yes, I did. I went to see her one evening after putting Billy to some chore around here to keep him out of the way. I got out the wagon and went alone. I told no one. It was easy to get to that place where she was living without going through the town. No one knew that I was there."

  "But why kill her?"

  "I had to. She refused to listen to me, and then . . . well, what happened is not important. Only the result."

  "She wasn't a whore, but you said she was." Ryan was afraid that he knew now what had happened.

  "She was!" Kane said. "But naturally she wouldn't admit it. Even when I offered her money, more money than she had seen for a while, I'm sure, she refused me!"

  "And so you killed her." Ryan felt very tired, more tired than he had felt when the old man had found him on that day so long before.

  "I … yes, I . . . killed her. I didn't mean to, but when she refused me and . . . said things, I hit her." Kane looked down at his hands. "After that, I couldn't stop. She would have told. People would have laughed at me. So I . . . killed her."

  "And let your brother take the blame," Ryan said.

  "That was his own fault. I thought of a number of things to keep him occupied for several days, but he got tired of waiting and went to see her without telling me. If he had only waited a few more hours, he might not have been found there and nothing would have happened. But the fact that it was his own fault doesn't mean I just let him take the blame."

  "I don't know what else you could call it," Ryan said.

  "I couldn't say that I did it," Kane said. "You can see that. I thought that he might get off at the trial. And when he didn't, I tried to save him from the jail."

  "And Long and Barson tried to kill him."

  "What? Tried to what?"

  Long struck Ryan in the head, clubbing him to the ground. "Don't listen to him," he said. "He's tryin' to turn you against us. Let's kill him right now."

  Kane appeared to be thinking. "Not here," he said. "Take them behind the house."

  Barson dragged Virginia stumbling across the yard. Long slipped his hands under Ryan's shoulders and half carried, half dragged him after them. It was getting almost light enough to see as Kane followed them back to the house.

  When they got to the back, Kane said, "Put them in the office."

  "Why?" Long said. "It's time we got rid of them and went after Billy."

  "Go where?" Kane said. "Ryan has to tell us."

  "He don't look very likely to do that," Long said. "He's as tough as any man I ever saw."

  "Nevertheless he'll tell us," Kane said.

  Long was beginning to wonder about Kane. The fact that Kane had killed Sally Ryan had surprised Long as much as anyone, and while it didn't matter in the least to him, it made him wonder how much Kane could be trusted. Maybe Kane would try to kill him, too.

  "What are you gonna do?" he said.

  Kane told him.

  When Ryan came to, he was sitting in a chair in Kane's office. They hadn't even bothered to tie him. He was too beaten, looked too helpless, to worry about.

  On the other side of the room, in another chair, was Virginia Burley, still in her gown.

  She saw Ryan looking at her. "Are you all right?" she said.

  Ryan would have smiled at that, had he been able. He was far from all right, and it was almost funny that she would think he could be. He was no longer even sure that his left arm was connected to his body by anything except pain. "Where are they?" he said.

  "They took that man out of the other room."

  McGee, thought Ryan. He wondered what they had done with him.

  "They took him out back," Virginia said. She glanced at the open door.

  "Can you get up?" Ryan said.

  "No." She struggled in the chair to show him that her arms were tied behind her to the chair back.

  Ryan thought he might be able to get up, but he couldn't. He tried to move, but his legs didn't respond. It was as if the bones in them had been replaced with water. He might be able to lean forward, but if he did he would only fall on his face on the floor.

  Kane loomed up in the doorway and came into the room. It was getting lighter outside, and Ryan could see Barson and Long behind him, but it was still dark in the room. The lamp cast flickering shadows on the walls.

  "Now," Kane said. "We have disposed of the body of our unfortunate friend, Mr. McGee. He obviously didn't have much luck with you, Ryan. First his finger, then his shoulder, and finally his life. You killed him a little at a time, it seems."

  Ryan said nothing. Kane and his men had killed more than a little of him, and he felt no sorrow at all for Johnny McGee, just a sense of regret that he hadn't been able to do something more to the rest of them. The sense of life and revenge that had at last awakened in him was still there, still driving him, but he was too weak to do anything about it. And besides, they still had Virginia. The situation seemed hopeless.

  "You may as well tell us now, Ryan, where my brother is. As you can see, we have every advantage." Kane's fat face was smug in the lamplight, fat and smug and white.

  Ryan could see their advantage, all right, but he wasn't going to tell them. Call it stubbornness or courage, he didn't care. He didn't care for himself, and he didn't care for Virginia. She had already shown her courage, and he knew that she felt the same as he did. Kane had beaten Ryan once, or almost beaten him, three years ago. He had beaten Virginia at the same time but in a different, more subtle way. It wasn't going to happen again.

  "I'm not going to tell you," Ryan said.

  "If you don't, I'm going to give the woman to Long." Ryan looked at Virginia. Her face was a mask.

  He looked at Long, who was grinning in anticipation, his fingers gently caressing his tender and sore nose.

  "Then Barson can have her," Kane said.

  Barson grunted with pleasure.

  "What's the matter with you, Kane? Don't you want her? Or do you only use whores?" Ryan's mouth twisted as he spoke.

  Kane walked over to his chair and drew back his hand, but he didn't strike. He lowered his hand slowly. "I won't hit you, Ryan. If I did you might not be conscious to watch what happens."

  Ryan thought that Kane was probably right, but he felt a little of his strength returning. Not enough to do him much good, but a little. He still doubted that he could stand up.

  Watching Virginia's face, Ryan said, "I'm not going to tell you."

  Virginia showed no emotion at all.

  "Very well, then," Kane said. "Long?"
<
br />   Long stepped over to Virginia's chair and put his hand down the front of her gown. He squeezed one of her breasts.

  Her face was stone.

  Ryan looked away. He could hear Barson breathing.

  "Watch, Ryan." Kane grabbed his hair and twisted his head around.

  Long squeezed harder, and Virginia cried out in pain. "Are you sure you don't want to tell, Ryan?" Kane said.

  Ryan saw Virginia's lips form a single word: No.

  "I'll tell," he said. It didn't matter to him anymore. Billy was innocent and Kane was guilty, but neither Ryan nor Virginia would ever live to tell the real story. Kane might very well kill his own brother to hide the truth, but what did Ryan care?

  And then it occurred to him. Why kill Billy? Why not let the hangman do that job?

  "Tell me, then," Kane said.

  "Get Long away from her first," Ryan said.

  Long reluctantly removed his hand and stepped back.

  "Now," Kane said.

  "One thing first," Ryan said.

  "Nothing first. Tell me."

  Long was already back beside Virginia.

  "Not until you answer me. Why were Long and Barson trying to kill Billy?"

  "That's the second time you've made that accusation," Kane said.

  "And it still ain't true," Long said. "I don't know what the hell he's talkin' about. Do you, Mack?"

  "Hell, no," Barson said.

  "Do me one favor, then," Ryan said. "Ask Billy when you find him."

  "Don't listen to that crap," Long said. "He's tryin' to get your mind off what we're doin' here."

  Kane was suddenly furious. "If he's lying, why are you in such a hurry to shut him up? I think I had better listen to what he has to say. Go ahead, Ryan, tell me."

  "There's not much to tell. Just ask Billy who was sitting on his back and trying to smother him in the mud."

  "Can't you see he's tryin' to turn us against each other?" Long said. "You can't believe a word he's sayin'."

  "Possibly not," Kane said. "You might be right. On the other hand, I see no reason not to ask Billy what he's talking about."

  Ryan saw a flicker in Long's eyes, as if a shadow had passed behind them. Too bad for Billy, Ryan thought. Long will kill him for sure now. Probably Kane, too. The only one who will come out of all this alive will be Long, and possibly Barson. That was what revenge usually amounted to. It was never what you expected. For a second Ryan regretted ever having returned to Tularosa.