“I’ve got one word for you, Cattie,” she paused for effect, and then flashed a full smile at her.
“TImberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”
CHAPTER 8
Mateo Sanchez's right arm snaked out in a blur and struck his cousin in his chest knocking the man backward and nearly off his feet. Tio's body struck one of the vertical rocks Mother Nature had deposited in a strange, nearly circular formation near the base of the nameless hills that abutted it.
On the ground where he sat with his back against the wall, Hudson looked up and smiled, happy to see Tio getting roughed up by his own cousin. Next to him, Luciana looked up at the scuffle from where she lay on her side curled up in the fetal position, her arms bound behind her back. The skirmish was of particular concern to her as she was the spark that had ignited the conflict between the cousins.
“For the last time, no!” Mateo grumbled. He was sick of telling his cousin the same thing over and over since they had taken refuge in the shaded area of the enclave to await the sunset.
“But why? Look at her! You can’t tell me that you didn’t always wish to tear a piece of her when she was Pike’s woman? We all did!” Tio protested and forced a grin with his jack o’lantern teeth.
Mateo looked down at his one-time partner's lover. It was true, and what was truer still, was there had been a night when he almost had his chance, back before the ill-fated robbery of a year ago that had splintered the gang. He, Pike, and Luciana had been drinking in the upstairs of a rundown hotel just across the border from El Paso in Juarez. Orrin Pike had been a good friend to Mateo, perhaps his best friend and that evening when they were all were fully loaded from a cheap bottle of liquor, Orrin had said he wanted to share Luciana with him, that he wanted to watch.
As drunk as she was, he still remembered the look of horror on her face when the notion had been put forth, but she had been helpless. Orrin Pike was not a man you refused. Mateo had risen from his chair and started walking towards her. The last thing he remembered was yanking his belt out through the loops before he passed out. When he had come to the next morning, the opportunity had come and gone, and Orrin had never made such an offer again.
Now Orrin was dead, Luciana was their prisoner, and he would love nothing more than to finally sample this bitch who had turned on them and had been party to making them wait nearly a year to get their hands on the payroll that would give them a taste of the high life for years to come. It had been their biggest score, and it angered all of them that they'd had to wait. However, there was one thing that was keeping him from ripping her clothes to shreds and taking what he wanted.
A week ago, he had been sowing his wild oats at a brothel in a nowhere town called Jimenez. All the good soiled doves were taken save one, heavyset nasty-looking piece of work. Tio had warned him away from her saying she had a look about her and best to avoid her. He hadn’t listened and not only had she been a disappointing lay, but she had given him something that had left him pissing fire since then.
There was no way he could even think about mounting Luciana in this condition. He was just going to have to keep her alive until he was recovered from his bout from the diseased whore. Until then no one was going to go first with her, not even his cousin or Hudson for that matter.
Ignoring Tio, he dropped down on his haunches in front of Luciana and yanked her up into a sitting position. Still feisty, using her head, she knocked his arm away when he reached to pull down the habit. Undaunted he reached again, and this time succeeded, yanking it back. The dark glossy hair he remembered tumbled free, and she sat there looking at him in a fury.
“You know how ridiculous you look in that, don’t you?”
“Do not mock this godly attire.”
“Luciana, you can drop the act now. There is no need to pretend to be one of those virgins back there. We all know that ain’t the case.”
"It is not an act. When Lyle first put me there to keep me safe, I hated it, but over time I learned that the Living God loves us all. Even sinners like me. I'm going back there and will continue learning the ways of the Lord until the day comes I can take my vows."
Mateo scratched his shaggy chin and narrowed his eyes. As hard for him to believe it, she seemed to be on the level. Her time spent there had changed her from the hard-drinking woman who ran with a pack of outlaws like him and his compadres. He had to fight the urge to backhand her. It made him angry because deep inside he knew he could never find any redemption like this woman. His was a black soul that would burn in hell someday. All he could do was make the best of his time in this world before he went into the eternal hellfire.
The more he thought about this; he realized if that was the case there was no need to hold back from striking her. His left hand made a sweeping arc as it impacted with her cheek knocking her head to one side as she let out a cry of pain. Even Hudson sitting nearby her flinched from the blow. With her eyes on fire, she looked up at him and then spit at him.
Mateo's hand was coming up to deliver a second and more punishing blow now that he was channeling his fury at her disrespect when he suddenly froze at the sound of something entirely out of place. He looked over and saw the alarmed looks on the two other remaining members of the gang. Mateo shot up on his feet as they all crossed over to look between the pillars of rocks down towards where the huge tree waited to show them the way to their fortune. All the men squinted as they peered out through the narrow gaps between the rocks, the setting sun striking them hard in their faces. Mateo brought his hand to his brow to partially shield his eyes from the rays of light. What he saw astonished him.
A blonde-haired woman had seemingly come out of nowhere and was wielding a hatchet, delivering blow after furious blow to the tree!
“God damn it! That’s her we saw coming up on the bridge before, and the one from town! She’s the one that killed Herrera and took a piece of my ear!” Hudson bellowed filling his right hand with his six-gun.
“We got to take her out! If she chops down that tree, we’ll be here until kingdom come digging for the right spot!” Mateo snarled. Glancing back over his shoulder, he jerked his head to one side. “You watch her, Tio. The two of us will make short work of her!”
***
At the tree, Cassandra continued her furious hacking at the age-old trunk with her right hand brandishing the hatchet. Her left dangled loosely ready to go for the pistol she kept on that hip. She had no serious intention of actually trying to chop the tree down. The hatchet she carried with her was for simple jobs of chopping limbs off trees for firewood on the nights she spent out on the trail. It would take considerable time to actually fell the tree. Her real intent was to trigger the desperados out of hiding.
Extreme satisfaction flooded her face as a pair of gunmen emerged from the narrow gaps between the enclave of pillar-like rocks. The tell-tale sound of one of the men taking the first shot cracked the air as she tossed away the hatchet and withdrew behind the protection of the tree.
CHAPTER 9
Peering out from around the tree, Cassandra looked to the side. She was fairly confident the thickness of the tree would stop any bullets, but if she could switch to cover that one hundred percent certain, that was going to be her play. Spying a big boulder, a good fifteen yards away, she pegged that as her best prospect. Cassandra dove out from behind the treasure-marking tree towards the approaching gunmen landing on her belly with her arms outstretched, guns aimed. As she began rolling towards her next place of safety, her ears caught the sound of one of the outlaws yelling how she owed him. Cassandra kept her head back and the gun aimed so she could see them even rolling over on her back all the while imagining she looked like one of those big, spinning, gun barrel turrets of a Gatling gun she had seen at her brother Dutch's fort.
On her second roll towards the rock, dirt kicked up next to her, and as she was looking at the men upside down, she fired while continuing her roll. One of the men, Hudson, screamed and flew backward with blood gushing from his chest. Grimly, sh
e chuckled to herself that was one "debt" she was never going to settle. With the next roll, she fired at the other man, and it blew his dirty sombrero off just before she landed behind the safety of the rock. Scrambling, she crouched behind and called out.
"You're in trouble now, hombre! Killing a nun gets you an express ticket to hell, and I'm your conductor!" Cassandra shouted to the second bandit. Just then back at the enclave of rocks, she heard her sister's battle cry and the crack of a whip, pleasing her that Catalina had launched into her part of the plan. Her sister would handle the third man and save Luciana, so it was up to her to take this one down. Jumping straight up instead of to either side, she snapped off a blast from her Colt .45 at the man. It was Mateo, she believed, based on the description from DeSoto back on the banks of the San Sidero.
Mateo had been momentarily distracted by the sound of the bullwhip cracking back from where he had emerged but glanced back forward in time to dodge Cassandra's first bullet as she rapidly fired a second. A roar of agony burst up from within her opponent, birthed from a fiery torrent of pain as her shot struck him in his gun hand severing his trigger finger and the one below it. The sound of his weapon clattering to the ground was lost amidst his cry of anguish. Clutching his ruined hand to his chest, he took off running into the cut between the nearby hills. Cassandra cursed and took off after him
Following his tracks led her between two boulders and deeper into the brush-covered gully between the hills. She was as determined as she had ever been. These outlaws were not going to get away. She had come around the curve of the path and to the left saw where the men had picketed their horses in a shady area. She instantly realized this was where he had been heading, but where was he? A second later, leaping from the brush to the right, he surprised her when he hit her from the side. He was a big man, and the impact knocked the breath out of her lungs and the gun out of her hand as she impacted the ground hard enough to make her teeth rattle.
Cassandra rolled to her knees and saw him scoop up her gun and awkwardly fire, left-handed. The shot went wide into the dirt, and with a curse, he turned and ran again. Cassandra nodded, drawing her second six-shooter. Clearly, he was right-handed, and she had ruined that for him. His pitiful attempt to take her down proved he was nowhere near as good a shot with his left. All the better, she thought as she followed, careful to move silently, yet as quickly as she could. He'd ambushed her once, and she wasn't going to make that mistake twice. Within moments she came onto a relatively clear area. A few shrubs and smaller boulders afforded the only cover. There was little doubt he was hiding behind one.
Sure, enough he leaned out from around one of them and shot at her, but she dodged to the left, still moving forward as she returned the shot. He cursed and turned to keep fleeing. Following, Cassandra began running in a weaving pattern, from brush to boulder and when she saw a chance, shooting at him again. The bullet ricocheted off the rock he was sprinting by, and he turned firing in kind. Cassandra dove forward as he did so, and his bullet went over her head, clipping off the top of a scrub brush. Shooting again, she jumped to her feet as he kept fleeing. Mateo was getting a little further ahead of her, and she thought that was fine. He couldn't hit her from that distance, not with his bad hand, but she would get her chance to hit him, she was sure of it.
“Stop running like a coward and take your punishment!” she called, knowing taunts were a handy tactic to irritate an opponent into a mistake.
"I'm gonna kill you," she heard the man call out as his flight took him further into the hills. She took two shots, and he swerved while running, disappearing from sight. Shit, she thought and kept after him.
"I'm waiting to see how you're going to kill me if you're running, you lily-livered, left-handed, piece of shit!" she called after him. He took another shot darting out from the side; she hadn't seen him there. The bullet moved her hair, and she got her gun up as he fled again. Her next shot missed, but not by much, and she continued after him, glad she and her sisters kept in shape through plenty of exercise about the Cedar Ledge ranch.
Bounding off the trail, she decided to go sideways through the brush. She could hear him ahead of her and wanted to surprise him. Weaving between the bushes, she knew it wasn't the best cover, but it would have to do, she thought as she turned back towards where she thought he would be. Cassandra had guessed correctly as they simultaneously entered another clearing, ringed almost entirely with big stones, from opposite sides of the clearing. He had his gun up, and so did she. They fired, but her foot slipped in the sandy soil, and her aim went wide. His gun clicked empty, and Cassandra grinned and pulled the trigger again, delighted that she couldn't miss. Unfortunately, her gun clicked on an empty chamber as well.
“Damn it!” she cursed and flipped the gun open and emptied the shell casings as he was trying to load the gun he’d stolen from her. Snatching a bullet from her ammo belt, she jammed it into the gun just as she caught sight of something flying through the air at her. The long barrel of the pistol he had sent hurtling towards her connected with her temple as she turned her head. The blow left her momentarily dazed, and her gun slipped from her hand as she hit the ground.
Cassandra pushed herself up to her knees quickly and saw him running towards her. Though slightly dazed, her wits were still about her, and she instinctively threw a handful of sand into his face and dove to the side, getting far enough away to scramble to her feet. He was wiping his eyes with his good hand, his right one hung at his side, a dripping bloody mess. Good, she thought, facing off against the big man. He was bigger than she was, so she would take any advantage she could get, and an injured hand fit the bill.
“I woulda had you, puta, but my bullets don’t fit your gun,” he snarled at her. They circled each other, and Cassandra caught her breath and grinned at him confident it would have been the other way around. They continued circling as Cassandra waited for a good, solid opening.
“Who the hell are you bitches?” he snarled and rushed her, swinging wildly but she pirouetted out of the way and then drove a fist to his ribs before dancing back and away.
"Me? I'm Cassandra Wilde. That's my sister Catalina who's likely got your cousin back by the tree by now," she chided just before he rushed at her hitting her shoulder and knocking her sideways with force. She staggered away momentarily, feeling a little dizzy. The guy was still strong, and she had to give him that.
He growled brimming with sudden confidence and rushed her again, arms wide, she tried to duck away, but he slammed into her side yet again, throwing her onto her back, allowing himself to fall on top of her. Her left arm knocked away his one good hand that reached for her throat, and she swung her head up and forward. She heard his nose pop and crack under her head butt. He cried out as blood gushed out of both nostrils and she managed to use his temporarily weakened position to throw him off her. Not wanting to give him a chance to recover she cast her right arm wide, reaching for her pistol laying in the sand.
Overjoyed by the feel of her fingers closing around the pistol grip, Cassandra flipped her wrist, shutting the cylinder, hoping the bullet was in the right cylinder. She swung her arm around and glanced up to see the man's hand come around from where it had reached behind him. He had grabbed a rock in his hand, his intention clear of preparing to cave in her skull. He raised his hand as she brought the gun up jamming the barrel underneath his chin, pulling the trigger. Accompanied by the roar of the weapon, Mateo's head splintered and his lifeless body spasmed, before dropping over backward, the rock rolling from his fingers. Gasping for breath, she didn't shy away from looking at the sight of the man's ruined head, the top of which had been blown clean away.
Cassandra sat back on her rear and slowly got her breathing back under control, thinking of how close that had been. If the bullet chamber had not spun into the firing position she would have had it, she knew. Slowly she began loading her gun completely, then she got up and went to get the one he had thrown at her. She loaded that one as well and started making he
r way back to that damn tree.
CHAPTER 10
Catalina crept up to the circle of stones carefully. She hid behind a bush and could see between two of the pillar-like stones. The woman, Luciana, was bound and curled up along the far side of the circle, and the third man was kneeling, looking toward where his pals were trying to get Cassandra. She had no worries about her sister's ability to take them. Catalina decided to try with her whip first. She didn't like a gunfight in an enclosed space as the nun in training could get hit. She unfurled her bullwhip from its ever-present place at her side as she got closer, and she stepped up between two of the stones as silent as a mouse. She heard a few shots and stepped into the enclosed space. The man turned, somehow sensing her coming. He began to raise his rifle as she listened to her sister shout. "You’re in trouble now, hombre! Killing a nun gets you an express ticket to hell, and I’m your conductor!”
Buoyed and sharing the same sentiment, Catalina gave a war cry and swung her whip forward, wrapping it around the man’s rifle. Tio recognized what she had done, and he yanked her towards him. Catalina leaned back, letting herself slide towards him feet first, dropping to the ground. She kicked one leg up and her foot connected with the rifle barrel knocking it up and out of his hand. She saw it spin away coming free from her bullwhip and then traveling out of the circle of stones. Letting go of her whip, she then kicked at him again, and he jumped back, permitting her to get to her feet.
“Now we’re even. You know that means? You lose, right?” She taunted him in Spanish to make sure he understood the insult, pleased as his face flushed in anger. “Tio don’t get beat by no puta! Not now! Not ever!” he crowed also in his native language.
The Boot Hill Express: Special Edition HBH Version (Half Breed Haven Book 12) Page 9
