Do Not Forsake Me

by Rosanne Bittner

  Randy pulled the horses into the trees, her heart pounding. In moments like this, she trusted her husband to know what to do. She obeyed every order.

  Jake ducked behind a huge boulder. “Get the shotgun and my leather pack with the extra cartridges and buckshot,” he told her, cocking his repeating rifle.

  Randy took the shotgun and ammunition pack from the packhorse and carried them over to him.

  Jake set both rifle and shotgun against the rock while he checked his Colt .44s, the guns that had brought him so much notoriety…and often too much heartache. “You stay down, and I mean down,” he told her.

  Randy knelt beside him and peeked through an opening between the boulder and another rock. In the distant valley a good six or seven men were herding a fair number of cattle south.

  “How do you know it’s not Pepper and some of the other men?”

  “None of my men would be riding in bunches like that this time of year. They’re spread out, a couple here, a couple there. And we aren’t rounding up yet. We’re just checking things out. There’s counting and branding to do before we start herding any cattle.” He rested on one knee, picking up the Winchester and positioning it in the same opening to watch. “They’re still a little too far away, damn it!”

  “Jake, please don’t take them on by yourself.”

  “I don’t think I’ll have any choice. Take the shotgun and keep it handy. If anything happens to me, use it!” He handed her one of his six-guns. “And then shoot the rest of them with this.”

  Shoot the rest of them? “Jake, why not just let them ride on?”

  “Because it’s my cattle they’re stealing, and besides that, they’re already coming this way. Don’t touch the trigger on my .44 till you have to. You know how touchy they are. You’ll end up shooting me or yourself. Just set it aside for now but be ready to use that shotgun.”

  Randy carefully laid the six-gun on a flat rock, closing her eyes and praying she wouldn’t have to use it, worried that all the sweet and wonderful things she and Jake had shared the last few days could end in disaster here and now. Crouched on her knees, she peeked around the other side of the second boulder to see five men drawing closer, all very well armed. Two more were making their way around either side of the boulders where she and Jake were holed up. Her only consolation was that if any one man could take on six or more against him, it was Jake Harkner.

  Five

  “Jake, two of them are trying to work their way behind us.”

  “I know. You just stay low, understand? Keep an eye behind us, but you let me do the shooting unless something happens so I can’t.”

  The whole time he spoke, he kept a keen eye on the five men cautiously approaching. Randy jumped when he suddenly fired his Winchester, cocked, and fired again.

  “Jesus Christ!” someone yelled.

  Jake fired again. A man cried out. “My leg! My fuckin’ leg!”

  “The other three are down in the tall grass,” Jake told Randy. “Keep watching our backs.”

  Randy struggled against tears, remembering another gunfight back in Guthrie, when she almost lost her husband to nearly unstoppable bleeding…another gunfight, back in California years ago, when he took a bullet to the hip…another huge gunfight when they both saved Lloyd from a gang of outlaws out to kill him.

  “Who’s there?” one of the rustlers called out.

  “Jake Harkner! And those are my cattle you’re stealing, you sonofabitch!”

  Things got quiet for a moment.

  “Shit!” someone swore. “The Jake Harkner?”

  “I’ve never come across another man by the same name!”

  “Goddamn it, Harkner, we didn’t know it was your cattle we were stealin’.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Stealing is stealing!”

  “You did your share of it once yourself, you damned outlaw!”

  “Long time ago—and a different man, mister!” Jake shouted. “I’ll give you one chance to ride off, long as you head north and not south and you leave my cattle behind. Nobody has ever got away with rustling off the J&L, and I intend to keep it that way!”

  “Jake, behind you!” Randy gasped.

  Jake whirled, his six-gun out, and fired in the blink of an eye. It boomed much louder than the Winchester, and the man sneaking up on them flew into the air with a scream, a huge hole in his chest.

  “Billy, there’s a woman with him!” a second man somewhere behind them called out.

  “Lie down flat!” Jake ordered Miranda.

  Randy did as he told her, just as a bullet pinged against the rock right where she’d been sitting. She felt Jake’s weight on her when he laid himself over her to protect her. Randy squinted and covered her ears when he fired his .44 five more times.

  Randy heard a man screaming. It sounded like he was running toward them. “That was my father, you bastard!” he was yelling. She felt Jake move, realized he was reaching for the six-gun she’d left lying on the flat rock. More shots rang out, pinging against the rocks and ricocheting in all directions.

  She felt Jake’s body jerk. “Jesus!” he grunted. He fired the second .44 twice. Another man cried out.

  “Jake, are you hit?” Randy screamed from under him.

  “Just grazed. I think it was a bullet that bounced off a rock.”

  “Come on out, Harkner!” one of the men in the grass yelled. “You can’t stay there forever. The minute you up and run, we’ve got you on account of we’ll take your woman down first. If you don’t want her to suffer, you ought to come on out of there.”

  “You two are all that’s left!” Jake shouted. He remained on top of Randy. “Do you really think I can’t take you both down, even out in the open? Let’s make it a fair gunfight! You two against me!”

  “Jake, no! You’re hurt, aren’t you? You’re hurt!”

  He moved off her, staying low. “Load my other six-gun…quick!” he told her. “And stay low like I told you.”

  Staying on her belly, Randy reached out with a shaking hand and grabbed the empty gun he’d left near her. She reached for the bag of cartridges nearby and dumped them on the ground, picking out the right ones for his .44s. She nervously began loading the gun while the man Jake had shot in the leg lay groaning and crying. “My leg! My leg!” he kept hollering. Suddenly he raised up and pointed his gun at Jake.

  Jake fired again.

  “You bastard!” one of the others swore. “He was wounded!”

  “So am I! He should have stayed down!”

  “The poor guy was confused from pain, you murderin’ sonofabitch!” the first man answered.

  “I’ve been called worse!” Jake turned to Randy, still keeping his head down. “Keep your fingers away from that trigger,” he reminded her.

  “I know.” Randy noticed the back of his jacket was soaked with blood. “Jake, you’re bleeding!”

  “Doesn’t matter. I can’t let them get to you. Finish loading that thing and give it to me.”

  Randy slammed the cartridge chamber closed and handed him the gun. One of the men behind them groaned.

  “Jake, one of those men back there is still alive.”

  “He isn’t in any shape to do us any harm,” Jake answered, shoving his six-gun into its holster. “How about it, mister!” Jake yelled louder. “An even gunfight, me against the both of you!”

  Randy realized he was using his only option at flushing them out once and for all.

  “You’ll lose, Harkner, and then your wife will be all ours, or at least at the mercy of which one of us is left!”

  “Hank, that’s Jake Harkner you’re talkin’ to,” the other man yelled. “You shouldn’t have threatened his wife. He’s taken on a lot more than just two men on his own. Let’s just get out of here!”

  “I’m not leaving without taking that sonofabitch down,” the first man g
rowled. “He killed Kenny! Kenny was already wounded.”

  “That’s the whole point! He don’t miss! You know his reputation! Let’s just go!”

  “Too late, boys! You get up on those horses and you’re dead! I said you could ride off, but I’ve changed my mind. You shouldn’t have threatened my wife! Your only chance now is to face me down fair and square.”

  There came a long silence. Randy noticed Jake grimace with pain, and perspiration began to bathe his face. “Jake, don’t do it! You’re hurt!”

  “Not bad enough to let either one of those bastards get to you. Remember what I said about that shotgun!” He shimmied up to the crack in the rock to keep an eye on the men lying beyond in the grass. “Make up your minds!” he growled. “Sure death—or a tiny chance at living!”

  “This ain’t fair! You’re Jake Harkner.”

  “And you made the decision to steal my cattle!”

  “We didn’t know this was your spread.”

  “Well, you know it now!”

  “Billy!” the second man shouted. “Somebody is riding toward us from the north. Let’s get out of here!”

  “Harkner ain’t gonna let us leave.” The one called Billy dared to stand up, his hands in the air but six-gun still in hand. “I’m callin’ you, Harkner! Fair fight, like you said, with Cal here a part of it.”

  “I ain’t drawin’ on no Jake Harkner!” Cal answered.

  “We have no choice, Cal! Put your gun in its holster. Let’s get this over with!”

  Jake slowly rose, holstering his guns.

  “Jake, don’t!” Randy begged.

  “Stay put,” he told her. He walked from behind the boulder, noticing riders in the distance. He could tell it was Lloyd because of how his long hair flew out behind him in the wind.

  The one called Cal slowly got to his feet. He carefully holstered his gun, as did Billy. They held their hands away from their holsters.

  Jake staggered slightly.

  “He’s hurt!” Billy sneered. “I told you. We’ve got a chance, Cal.”

  “Then let’s get this over with. More men are comin’!” Cal answered. He went for his gun. Billy went for his at the same time, but before either of them could clear their holsters, Jake’s guns were blazing and they both went down.

  Randy started to rise, not noticing until then that the man left alive behind them had gotten to his feet. She grabbed up the shotgun and fired.

  Jake whirled at the boom. Randy was sitting on the ground, still clinging to the shotgun. “Jesus!” He holstered his guns and knelt beside her. “Randy?”

  “I’m okay. The shotgun knocked me down.”

  Jake helped her to her feet, pulling her close. He wrapped his arms around her. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She glanced toward the man she’d shot at. “I think I missed. The shotgun kicked up when I fired it.”

  Jake kissed hair. “Stay put.” He gave her another squeeze, then walked over to check out the man she’d shot at. “He’s dead,” he called out, “but not from any buckshot.” He came back and pulled her close again, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe. “That’s it. You’re not coming with me again.”

  “Jake, you can’t judge by this.” Randy hated realizing the spell was broken. The trip had been so beautiful, until now.

  The approaching riders finally reached them.

  “Pa! You okay?” Lloyd charged up to them and dismounted before his horse came to a complete stop.

  “We’re all right,” Jake told him, still clinging to Randy. “A bullet ricocheted off the rocks and ripped across my back, but there’s no bullet in me that I can tell. I think it’s just a gash.”

  Lloyd touched Randy’s hair. “You all right, Mom?”

  She closed her eyes and pulled away from Jake, embracing Lloyd. “I’m just a little shaken up, and that shotgun slammed pretty hard against my shoulder. I have a feeling it will be bruised by morning.” She couldn’t help the tears then. “It’s just that I never know when this is the time I’ll lose your father for sure.”

  Lloyd squeezed her a little tighter. “Hell, you know that mean sonofabitch doesn’t go down easy.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek and turned to Jake.

  “Thanks for the kind names you call me,” Jake quipped.

  “Just saying it like it is,” Lloyd told him. Lloyd gently pushed his mother away and walked around to see the blood on the back of Jake’s sheepskin jacket. “Take off your jacket and let me look at that wound.”

  “Leave it. I’m fine.”

  “You’re bleeding worse than you think, damn it! I saw enough blood after that gunfight back in Guthrie. I don’t need to see you nearly bleed to death again. For all you know, you need stitches.”

  “And who will do that? You?”

  “Hell yes. I would take great pleasure in yanking a needle through that wound and hearing you yell.”

  Jake scowled at him as he removed the jacket. “I’ll just bet you would.”

  “Let me at least maybe put some whiskey on the wound.”

  Jake sighed. “Thanks for coming,” he told Lloyd, sincerity moving into his eyes then. “If something had gone wrong, they would have got your mother.” He winced when Lloyd tore open the back of his shirt. “You men start going through those men’s clothing and gear and see if you can find some identification,” Jake called out to Pepper and Cole.

  “The bleeding is already slowing,” Lloyd told him. “I’ll splash some whiskey on it for safekeeping.” He walked over to his horse and took a flask from his saddlebag, along with a roll of gauze.

  Jake glanced at a shaken Randy. “You really all right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

  She walked up to him and leaned against his chest as he moved an arm around her. “I’m fine.”

  Lloyd returned with the supplies and Randy felt Jake jerk when Lloyd pressed the gauze against the wound, then splashed some whiskey on the deep cut.

  “I’d rather drink some of that,” Jake told him.

  “I expect you would.”

  “I suppose I’ve added another scar my back,” Jake grumbled.

  Lloyd glanced at his mother. She saw the pain in his eyes at knowing the scars on his father’s back were from Jake’s own father, put there by the buckle end of a belt when Jake was just a little boy. “I suppose so,” he answered quietly, “but I don’t think it will have to be stitched up. We’ll let Brian look at it when we get back.”

  “God knows it’s a good thing your sister married a doctor,” Jake tried to joke. “He doesn’t need a practice of his own. His own family keeps him busy enough.”

  Lloyd smiled sadly. “Yeah, well, if you’d learn to stay out of trouble, we wouldn’t need him so much.”

  “Hey, Jake!” Cole called out as he rummaged through the clothing on one of the bodies. “Do you ever leave a man alive when you get into something like this?”

  “Sometimes,” Jake answered, taking a cigarette from a pocket on the front of his shirt and lighting it.

  “Well, remind me to always stay on your good side.”

  “Just don’t try rustling any of my cattle,” Jake told him, taking a deep drag on his cigarette. “When I start shooting, I generally don’t have time to be careful where I put the bullet. I figure it’s best to plant it where I can make sure the man shooting at me can’t shoot back any more.”

  Lloyd made ready to wrap some gauze around the wound.

  “Leave it,” Jake told him. “I’m more concerned about your mother. Just give me my jacket and one swallow of that whiskey.”

  “I’m just fine, Jake,” Randy reminded him.

  “No, you aren’t. You might have messed up that shoulder, and I know what something like this does to you emotionally.”

  Lloyd handed his father the jacket and the flask. Jake took a deep sw
allow of the whiskey, which told Randy he was in pain because he never drank otherwise, at least not around her. She glanced at Lloyd and knew he’d realized the same.

  Jake handed Lloyd the flask and grimaced as he pulled on his jacket. He pulled Randy close then, and she couldn’t help breaking into tears as she hugged him around the middle.

  “I’m goddamn sorry,” Jake told her. “We had such a nice morning.”

  “You didn’t ask for this.”

  Lloyd lit his own cigarette. “Yeah, well, this didn’t just interrupt you and Mom,” he grumbled to Jake. “I’d just got back from several days out riding the east side to find Katie waiting for me,” he told Jake. “Then some of the men came to tell me there could be rustlers out this way. I’m as angry over this as you two are.”

  Jake grinned. “Can’t blame you there, Son.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t you tease Katie about it. You know how easily she gets embarrassed.”

  “That’s why teasing her is so much fun.”

  “I mean it, Pa. I know you.”

  “I’ll try my best to be good.” Jake kept Randy close as he watched Cole and Pepper rifle through the pockets and saddlebags of the dead men. “How in hell did you know there might be trouble?” he asked Lloyd.

  “That courier from Denver, Jason Hale, saw them from Echo Ridge. He was on his way to us with some news, and he knew we wouldn’t likely be herding cattle to Denver this early in the season. When we heard there might be rustlers out here, we rode half the night trying to catch up with them, or with you—whichever came first. I was hoping you’d miss them all together, but no such luck.”

  “Hale never comes out in the middle of the week like this,” Jake commented. He kept an arm around Randy as he took another drag on his cigarette. “What did he want?”

  Lloyd seemed hesitant. He sighed before answering. “It’s not exactly good news. Jeff Trubridge wired us about something he thought we should know right away. Trouble is, Jason gave the note to Evie and it upset her. Brian is home now, though, so she’ll be all right. He always knows how to reassure her.”