"How are we going to stop these men? They should almost be here by now," she said. He nodded his head against her shoulder, and then he sat up.
“I have a plan. I suppose we should get to it. I will need your help,” he said, and she nodded, getting up and reaching for her clothes just as he was.
“That was wonderful, Blue River, I want you to know that,” she told him honestly and a little nervously. He stood and turned to her, taking her hands and lifting her off the bed.
"It was wonderful for me as well," he said and leaned down to kiss her deeply. "We must go. It is time for a few more bandits to leave this world behind." He outlined his plan, and she readily agreed.
“Okay, Christina, they will be climbing up soon, so be ready. Also, don’t worry, you know I am not far and will take care of them,” he told her when he had her positioned for his ambush. She nodded and lay where instructed. She liked his reasoning and plan. Now she would find out if he was as smart as they both thought he was.
***
The two bandits tied their horses next to the lone remaining horse they were chasing. Looking up they saw the shack, and both came to the same conclusion. Their prey had probably hoped to seek refuge there and perhaps were even planning to try and take them out by gunfire from the cabin. But the Indian had miscalculated as the climb up would place them out of any line of fire. Glancing around they didn't see any other place he could have positioned himself even if the red man was savvy enough to try something.
They figured it would be easy as pie to take the two, and they began climbing up the cliff face. Near the top, the lead man peered cautiously, but all was quiet. Feeling confident, the pair pulled themselves onto the flat ground, of the immense ledge the cabin was situated on. Still cautious and with their guns drawn they stopped, scanning for any movement or sign of life. There was the shack, old and broken down along the rocky slope behind it. In the side of the slope was a small tunnel leading into the darkness. Laying on the ground at the mouth of the tunnel, half in and half out of the shadows were the legs of a woman with a ripped skirt. They looked at each other in surprise.
“Looks like maybe that Injun killed her and was gonna shove her into the tunnel but got spooked when he heard us coming. Probably cowering down the tunnel maybe?” one of them said. The shorter of the two nodded. It made sense to him.
“Should we check the tunnel? He may be waiting for us down there,” he said. The first speaker, the taller of the two, shrugged and waved his gun.
"It looks like he killed a white woman. No Injun gonna hang around for the payment that is gonna bring even here in Mexico. Come on," he said to his partner. They walked up to the tunnel, ignoring the shack. As they got close to the woman, a voice got their attention from behind.
“Hey! Amigos!”
They spun, and the man tall man swiftly raised his gun and swept it I front of him at the same moment a gun roared. The Indian was behind them, stepping out from behind the shack. The shorter bandit looked down, panicked to see his partner laying with a hole in his chest and dying quickly. His arm holding his gun dropped to his side. Then to his shock, the woman jumped up.
"She is going to take your gun now. Do anything stupid, and I will blow your head off and not fret what the spirits will think. Given that you came to kill us they are on my side in this, I think," The Indian said as the beautiful blond woman came towards him, and he lifted his arms, wondering how he was going to get out of this. She took his gun as the bandit was not sure if he should try anything, and when she had backed away carefully, he realized his chance was gone.
"Set the gun down there, Miss Caine, thank you," The Indian requested, and she put the gun on the ground about five feet in front of him. Then she backed up to stand at the Indian's side. She looked comfortable and not worried to be next to the tall native. The bandit began to sweat.
“Did you and the others kill my sister?”
The man said nothing but rocked back on his feet.
“Answer me!”
“I don’t even know who your sister is, amigo!”
“The Chinese woman.”
“What? How?”
“Did you kill her!” Blue River shouted at the top of his lungs. His words echoing down into the nameless canyon.
“I don’t know what happened to the yellow bitch, please!” he hollered. “The others were going after whoever was firing at us. If that was her, I don’t know, but she’s likely dead!”
A look of pure coldness mushroomed on the brave’s face, and even Christina felt a chill seeing the smoldering anger.
“Since there is no honor in it, I don’t want to kill you in cold blood without giving you a chance. I offer you one. It’s more than you deserve if you’ve murdered Miss Lijuan,” the Indian’s low, threatening voice advised as he holstered his gun.
“Reach for the gun,” he said. The bandit frowned.
“We don’t gotta do this, I will go away, and you won’t see me again,” he pleaded as Blue River smiled slightly and Christina stepped further back, behind the dark-haired native.
“You are half right. After today we will not see each other again. Go for the gun,” he repeated. The bandit licked his lips and shook his head. He didn’t think he could do it.
“Honest, I didn’t kill anyone. Never have! I was just doing a job, amigo. I will disappear, and you will never be bothered by me again.” He tried once more, but the stone hard features of the young Yavapai were unyielding.
“Go for the gun,” he repeated, and then there was silence as the terrified bandit tried to figure if he had any choice.
The seconds ticked away as he stared into the Indian’s unusual crystal blue eyes that had a darkness in them. He wondered if the look of hatred was what hell was going to be like. He knew what he had done in his life, and he had been lying. He had killed two of the people on the stagecoach earlier in the day as well as gunning down the boy from the way station. He saw the Indian’s eyes shift slightly and dove for the weapon on the ground. As his hand closed around the grip and he swung it upward, he felt a blinding pain in his head, and a voice that sounded a thousand miles away was saying, “If not for Lijuan, then that’s for the people at the Juarez Station,” and a fraction of an instant later darkness claimed him.
Within minutes they were down the cliff, and Blue River took a saddle from one of the bandits’ mounts and put on his remaining horse while Christina mounted the other bandit’s horse. He briefly looked down at the bodies lying on the trail that he had tossed over the edge of the cliff to serve as a warning to any of the dead bandits’ compatriots who might come along to pick up the chase.
“Now we ride for the border,” Blue River said, and they put their heels to their horses with urgency.
CHAPTER 26
Against the sunset’s glow, a coyote howled his weird evening song. It echoed across the canyon as if to warn the world the night was falling and that it was a dangerous time. As the shadows deepened in the canyon, a night bird’s call rose silvery clear from amongst the rocks.
Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will went the song. In the cave, Lijuan felt dread as she listened to the plaintive bird song and knew with nightfall a showdown was drawing near. "They'll be coming for me now, all anxious for revenge," she said, finding some comfort in the sound of her voice.
Lijuan looked over her remaining gear and realized that bullets must have hit the straps on the saddle bag because some tears and rips she was seeing were not there before. She took off her shirt to make a sling for the saddlebag of money. Once that was done, she looked down at her ample breasts with a sigh.
"If the bad guys get close enough, they are going to be in for a thrill I suppose," she said softly with a slight smile. She reached into her pants pockets, and her smile went away. There were no more shells for the rifle. She threw the Winchester aside and checked her pistol. At least that was fully loaded, she thought with a nod. Outside she could hear the sounds of another bandit attempting to climb up to the cave. T
his time instead of attempting an assault from below and above, it sounded as if the man had changed tactics and was attempting to approach from the side.
“If I don’t get out of this, it’s not the way I always figured I’d go out. Dying alone in a foreign desert. I always figured it would be while making a last stand surrounded by my sisters like one of those dime novels Cassandra is embarrassed to admit she reads. Some city slicker’s idea of the West, I suppose. Okay then, Lijuan, let’s get on with it, shall we?” she whispered softly. She reached over and took the first of the two sticks of dynamite and prepped them with the caps. As she worked, she looked at the macabre pile she had assembled by the entrance of the cave. Her work finished, she planted one of the sticks and lit it.
Then she moved quickly, drawing back to the far reaches of the shadowy cave behind a boulder and peered out towards the front of the cave. Smiling grimly, she saw a shadow suddenly swing in from one side of the cave entrance as she suspected. Bursts of fire illuminated the darkness from the crack of the man's pistol as he shot blindly into the cave. The gunfire ceased instantly as the explosive detonated and the man was blown to bits, body parts flinging in all directions. The blast sent the boulders she'd pushed near the entrance toppling downward accompanied by a grisly rain.
Down below Bolivar, Javier, and the third bandit were rocked by the explosion, dove for cover from the falling boulders, and were stunned to find themselves pelted by the stack of bones Lijuan had assembled and placed by the entrance of the cave.
“What the fuck is this? Skeletons!” Bolivar shouted as the third bandit cried out in terror as a jawless skull bounced twice and landed by his feet.
"She is a diablo! She is using the dead themselves against us!" Javier howled.
Thankful that her fear that the blast might seal off the cave was unfounded, Lijuan scrambled over the partial blockage of the entrance way and looked down at the men illuminated under the full moon. She paused for a moment before lighting the fuse on her last remaining stick of dynamite. Fondly, she remembered when David had taught her to throw a ball in childhood. It was the reason she was so good with her hammer. Thank you, David, she thought and added, please let me live through this so we can make things right between us again.
“Hey, Mexicans! Here’s a slice of good old fashioned American Fourth of July, boys!” she shouted at them as she lit the fuse and pitched the second explosive into the night. Bolivar and Javier managed to dive out of the way when the dynamite landed at their position. The third remaining bandit wasn’t so lucky. The blast ripped through the man sending an arm and a leg flying up and away with the leg landing near Lijuan who wrinkled her nose in disgust. That should take care of most of them, she thought. At the very least anyone left will be unconscious, dazed, or deaf.
With the bag of money still slung over her shoulder, Lijuan began climbing down as quickly as she dared. When her feet touched the flat earth, she ran back into the water heading for the other side of the river. Their horses should be on that side, she figured, with no one watching them. She hoped anyway, it was all she had left, walking half naked in the dark across the desert was not a prospect she envied.
Lijuan went around a bend, and as she had hoped, there was a little clearing next to the cliff face with the embers of a small fire and the horses hobbled off to the side. She saddled one of them and looked at the others with a smile. She figured she would have time to turn them loose. It would guarantee no survivors would be following her when she left. She went around and untied the horses and then mounted the one she was taking. She did not consider it stealing. Considering all that been done by these bandits, it was small payment indeed. She grinned fiercely as she scattered the animals.
"Whoopee! Yip, yip, yeeha!" she cried hoarsely. The animals panicked and took off, thundering away down towards the river for safety. Unbeknownst to her, the leader, Lopez, was lying in the shadows along the back of the camp where Bolivar and Javier had placed him earlier. He was slowly bleeding out but wasn't dead yet. She had just swung herself up onto the saddle when Lopez managed to get his gun free from his holster and fire at her. It struck the bag of money on her back and knocked her off the horse stunning her temporarily. Lijuan could hear movement and drew her gun, seeing a man crawling towards her. Raising the Colt .45 in the air, she let a fly a blast of lead. Even in the shadows, she could see her shot had blown off the top of his head. Quickly, she reached around and felt the bag. Her probing revealed a bullet hole in it, and she laughed softly and shakily.
“I’m not sorry old man Garcia paid in cash this time, Cattie,” she said and mounted back up onto the horse once more. Lijuan knew it wouldn’t stop them for long if any remaining bandits could gather up their horses. Losing no time, the woman slapped her new mount and galloped off. If Blue River and Christina had outrun the other bandits, they would have reached the American fort just before dark. It was her sincere hope that she had their luck to make a getaway as well.
***
Bolivar and Javier arrived on the scene and saw Lopez’s head a bloody, pulpy mess. Bolivar slowly turned to face Javier, simmering.
“You, you did this!” He exclaimed to a stunned Javier.
“What are you saying?” he asked amazed and confused.
"I know, I know what you were up to. You wanted to impress our gang, finding all this extra money. It was your chance to try and take your brother's place. He is dead because of you! You brought that demon woman down on us! The only thing you have proven to be able to lead was us to our own destruction!" Bolivar shouted at him enraged. Both men went for their guns at the same moment, but Javier was no match for Bolivar's speed. Bolivar's bullet punched through his chest handily shredding heart, and his limp form fell across his brother's body. Bolivar didn't even remain to watch Javier's body crumpling; he was already running toward the one remaining horse that paced nearby and quickly mounted up. Kicking in his heels, he followed a lone set of single file tracks he spied in the dim light that he was sure were made by the Chinese demon as she sought her escape.
***
Lijuan heard a sound from behind and realized she was being followed. She cursed and put her heels to her mount she was calling Darkness due to the circumstances. She galloped along hoping to reach the outlet of the canyon and be free of all its twists and turns that were slowing her down and reach the open plains beyond needing to put some space between her and the pursuing bandit. The sound of a shot carried to her ears, and she ducked down, weaving her mount around a boulder, hearing another shot ricochet off it. Lijuan turned the horse hard as she saw under the light of the full moon a hulking figure trailing her. Holding tight to keep from falling off, she furiously kicked her heels in begging the horse for more speed to reach the plains. Another shot rang out and another. Closer and closer she could hear him coming making her grit her teeth in frustration.
She made another bend, and then she could see a trail cutting off from the road. Perhaps she could escape down that, as in her heart she knew she wasn't going to gain the desert beyond the canyon. She jerked the reins and had only made it a short way down the trail when she heard another shot, and her arm exploded in stinging pain. She had been shot! All those years of close calls, and finally someone had planted lead in her. Lijuan became woozy, and her balance was thrown off as the horse panicked, and she flew off the stallion hitting the ground hard.
Dazed and tasting blood in her mouth, she shook her head trying to clear it. Astonished, she saw she was face to face with a rattler her fall had disturbed from its slumber. She quickly backed off, scrambling as fast as she could before she lost her energy and the wound began throbbing to beat the band. The night sky, stars, and the moon gave enough light for him to see her clearly enough, and she knew she had to find some shadows to hide in, but it was too late as the bandit rode up with his gun drawn on her. She had lost her gun in the fall and didn't have the strength at that moment to lift her hammer. The man dismounted grinning maliciously.
"Look at y
ou, girl. Who are you? How did you pull this off?" he asked staring at her half-naked torso.
“Keep back, keep back if you want to live!” she told him bravely between taking deep breaths fighting to get her strength back. Lijuan knew if he didn’t just shoot her, she had a fight on her hands. He laughed, as well he would, she thought, disgusted with herself. So close to escape and to be caught now was embarrassing.
“Big words from a little lady. You killed my friends back there, you yellow chica, but maybe it’ll be worth it. You throw me that pack,” he told her after seeing money sticking out of it.
“You’re going to have to come and get it,” she countered.
“Oh, I’m going to get it all right, señorita, that and so much more.” He shook his head. “Mmm, look at those tits. How can you carry them around with your little body?” he asked. Lijuan felt fear as he began unbuckling his belt with one hand and she staggered to her feet. Bolivar glanced at her with a grin as he worked on his belt; he no longer saw her as a threat. He allowed himself to be distracted, it was just for a second, but it was what she needed.
Lijuan charged and leaped up with a kick that sent his gun flying from his hand. He charged her, and she sidestepped and used her leg to trip him off balance. She positioned herself with her good arm where she could use it. Kicking savagely, she hit his thigh and ducked a swing at her head. Bolivar took another swing, and again she ducked and hit him with a chop to the shoulder, and he growled in pain. With her strength ebbing, Lijuan attempted a final duck. As she was starting to swing her leg up, she caught a heavy blow to the stomach that sent her turning, and she fell onto her face in the dirt.
The Boot Hill Express: Special Edition HBH Version (Half Breed Haven Book 12) Page 19
