"I’m sorry to have barged in on you this way."
Miriam’s eyes widened. "Cameron, where have you been? I’ve been so worried about you."
Evading the question, Cameron muttered, "That doesn’t matter now. Miriam, I’ve come to say goodbye."
Ti stood suddenly and turned toward her.
Miriam’s face crumpled. "Goodbye! Oh, Cameron, you can’t leave us. You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had." She caught Ti’s hand and looked up at him. "Except for Ti. And I wasn’t even aware of his friendship and—love—until you took the time to point it out to me." Her eyes were pleading. "Where would you go?"
Glancing at Ti, Cameron hesitated, then decided to trust him. "I’m going to my uncle’s, Miriam. I’ll be safer there for now. And later, when the danger is gone, I’ll come back."
"Danger?"
"Yes. I am no longer safe here."
Miriam nodded. Cameron had anticipated Miriam’s unhappiness at her decision. What she hadn’t expected was Miriam’s cool acceptance of the solution, despite her lack of knowledge about what had transpired between Cameron and her stepbrothers.
As Cameron crossed the room and took her half-sister’s hands, Miriam said in a monotone, "You’ll never live in this house again."
Cameron knelt and hugged her. "Don’t be silly, Miriam. I’m only going away for a little while. Then I’ll come back here, and you and I can get to really know each other as sisters should."
Miriam shook her head firmly. "No, Cameron. I feel it. All my life, I’ve been able to sense events in the future. Ti can attest to my nervousness today. Something terrible is about to happen here. And you and I will never live here again."
"Miriam, I must leave. But I give you my word, I’ll return. We’re family. We’ll always care about each other. Nothing will divide us again." Cameron cast a worried glance at Ti. "Promise me you’ll stay close to her tonight."
"You know I will." He watched as she embraced Miriam, then squeezed her hand before she walked from the room.
As she made her way along the hallway she froze. Outside the closed door of Alex’s suite of rooms she could hear voices raised in anger. As she began to hurry past, the words being shouted stopped her in her tracks.
". . . saw you coming out of the Lampton house. Knowing how much I hate that family, and especially the artist son, you went to him, holding me up to ridicule for the whole town to see. You’ll pay for this, you little whore."
Cameron dropped her valise at the sharp sound of a slap and Nina’s cries.
"Stop it, Alex. Don’t hit me again."
Remembering his cruel hands on her, the viciousness of his attack, Cameron shrugged aside her fears for her own safety and flung open the bedroom door, shrieking, "Take your hands off her, Alex. She’s your wife, not your enemy."
"You!"
Enraged, he turned from the crumpled form of Nina, cowering in the corner of the room, and vented his fury on the fiery-haired woman who was the real object of his hatred.
"You’re some kind of a devil. Ever since you came here, everyone has been changing. My wife openly goes to lay with my enemy. My spineless stepsister starts skulking about in her wheelchair, spying on my every move. And my own brother blames me because he can’t have you."
Cameron stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. At those last words, her eyes narrowed in hatred. "It was you who planted that idea in his mind, wasn’t it Alex? You told Jarret that if he forced himself on me I would somehow be grateful for his pitiful attempts at love."
"Right now, little nun, you should be grateful that you had one more day to live. I hate you. I hate what you stand for. You, and Big John, and the Lamptons. All of you think you’re better than me. Even in death those old men tried to cheat me of the land. But I’ll show them. You’re not stronger than me, Cameron McCormick. When you’re dead, all this will be mine."
Cameron turned, hoping to run. Hearing the argument, Ti and Miriam had rushed to the hallway. Seeing Nina cowering in the corner of the room, Ti attempted to rush to his sister’s defense. But Jarret, coming up the stairs, grabbed Ti by the throat, tossing him aside as if he were an annoying puppy. Stunned, Ti slumped to the floor.
Alex’s hand closed over Cameron’s shoulder. His other hand grabbed a tangle of hair, pulling her head back sharply.
Her eyes wide with terror, she pleaded with the only one left who might be willing to intercede. "Help me, Jarret. Alex will kill me."
Jarret hesitated, watching his brother. His gray eyes were without emotion. "You won’t kill Cameron, will you, Alex? You know I want her first."
"Don’t be a fool. Can’t you see she’ll never be yours? We have to get rid of her."
The child’s voice inside the man grew louder. "No, Alex. You promised I could have her. I don’t want you to kill her." The vacant eyes widened. "At least not until I’ve grown tired of her."
Cameron felt her stomach lurch. He was absolutely mad.
"Fool! She’s in the way. Don’t you see? Once she’s dead, we’ll have her land. Then, when Quenton is disposed of, we’ll have the Lampton land as well. We’ll have it all." Alex’s eyes glittered dangerously.
"No. Kill the others." Jarret shrugged. Their lives meant nothing at all to him.
Cameron’s eyes widened at the bland statement. It was as if he were talking about crushing an insect.
"But Cameron lives until I say otherwise."
Still holding Cameron in a viselike grip, Alex backed up to the fireplace and grabbed a flaming torch. Brandishing it like a sword, he faced his brother. "Even you, Jarret? Even you want to start giving orders?"
They faced each other with Cameron between them. "I’ve always made the decisions. Always given the orders. And now, because of this witch, you want to defy me."
Jarret pouted. "I want her, Alex. That’s all. Just give her to me. I don’t care what you do with the others."
As he made a move to touch Cameron, Alex poked the flaming stick at his brother. "No. I say she has to die."
Jarret hesitated.
At that moment, Miriam rolled her wooden chair behind Jarret and shoved him with all her might, pushing him into the flaming torch. With a shriek of rage, he beat at his chest and stomach to extinguish the flame that ignited his clothes.
Shocked, Alex dropped the torch and brought his hand across Cameron’s face, sending her reeling against the sharp edge of a table. Stunned, she leaned heavily, her palms flat down on the table’s surface, trying to clear her mind.
With a fury, Jarret lifted Miriam from her wheelchair and rushed to the head of the stairs. Helplessly locked in his arms, she whimpered, wide-eyed, as he held her aloft.
"Alex should have found a deeper mine shaft the first time. But when we saw you lying down there, we thought you were dead. So we figured it was safe to send Big John down to fetch your body out. If we’d known you were still alive, we’d have left you there to rot."
"You—you pushed her down that shaft all those years ago?" Cameron stared at Jarret in horror.
He turned and grinned at her. "Alex said she was in the way. She was Big John’s own kin. So we figured if we got rid of her we’d inherit everything." He looked at the figure cradled in his arms like a helpless kitten. "Alex picked the place. I was the one who threw you down." He laughed. "Later on, I was going to finish you off. But Alex said you didn’t matter anymore. You still don’t matter, Miriam." With that, he flung her down the stairs.
Cameron screamed, drowning out the shrieks of terror from Miriam as she fell, rolled, then lay motionless, slumped at the bottom of the stairs.
The torch, forgotten for the moment, had ignited the rug. Flames licked across the floor, catching the bottom of the draperies at the window, then surrounding the window with a ball of flame.
Dazed from her beating, Nina crawled toward the doorway. With a cruel laugh, Alex kicked her, sending her backward, writhing in pain.
Cameron’s mind raced. They had to get out of here before the en
tire house went up in flames. The door to the outer balcony was opened slightly. The breeze fanned the flames, sending them leaping across the ceiling. Soon, the entire room would be engulfed.
"Alex. Let Nina go to little Alexander’s room. He’s asleep. You don’t want your son to die, do you?"
Nina cast her a grateful look.
"Jarret," Alex commanded. "Get my son."
Like a spiteful child, Jarret rebelled. "No. I want Cameron. You get your own son."
Alex lost all control. Nothing, not even his own child, mattered now. Nothing except revenge against the woman who had caused all this.
"You." He rounded on her. "You’re going to die for this."
From the corner of her eye, Cameron saw Ti begin to sit up. In order to draw attention away from him, she deliberately began to bait Alex.
"You mean, you’d rather kill me than allow Jarret to have what he wants."
Both men stared at her.
She turned to Jarret. "Do you always let Alex tell you what to do?"
Jarret thought about that for a moment. "He’s smarter than I am. But I’m stronger than Alex. He always said we made a good team. Mostly, I like it when Alex tells me what to do. But not always." He turned to his brother. "Why can’t I have Cameron for a little while, Alex? After that, we can kill her."
"Because she’s too smart. She knows too much. She’s just trying to trick you, Jarret. She wants you to turn against me."
"Is that what you’re trying to do, Cameron?"
Before she could reply, Ti stood weakly, grabbed a heavy silver vase, and brought it down as hard as he could on Jarret’s head. Jarret staggered, then went down on one knee. In a rage, Alex rushed at Ti with such a force they both crashed into the wall.
In the confusion, Cameron pulled Nina to her feet and pushed her roughly through the doorway. "Find Alexander. Save him and yourself." When Nina turned as if to protest, Cameron flung her away. "Go."
Jarret’s hand snaked out, catching the hem of Cameron’s gown. With a ripping sound, she pulled away. With a lunge, he caught her foot, sending her sprawling across the floor.
Instantly, he was upon her, catching her hands above her head, pinning her with his weight. Her breath came in short little sobs.
With a great hiss, the drapes fell from the charred windows, igniting little fires wherever they fell. A spark fell on the bed. Within minutes the quilt, the feather mattress, the down pillows, were a roaring inferno.
"Jarret," Alex cried. "Help me."
Looking up from the floor, Jarret realized that his brother was being overcome by Ti. Fighting for his life, the smaller man was discovering a strength he never knew he possessed.
Within minutes, both Alex and Jarret were engaged in a bitter fight with Ti. Grabbing a flaming dresser scarf, Ti flung it across Alex’s face. With a roar of pain, he dropped to his knees. In a rage, Jarret picked up the smaller man and carried him to the head of the stairs, where he flung him down head first.
In those few confused minutes, Cameron rushed out to the balcony. It was her only hope of escape.
She stared around in horror. It was too far to jump. Flames were leaping through windows on the lower floors. The fire had spread throughout the dry wooden house. Flames several feet high, fanned by the breeze, licked across the roof. At any minute, the wooden balcony might collapse.
Alex and Jarret rushed through the door and faced her on the balcony.
Below her, in the darkness, she heard the clatter of horses’ hooves and the babble of confused voices.
"She has to die, Jarret." Alex’s voice rang with authority.
Jarret nodded blankly. "I’m sorry, Cameron. I wanted you to have some fun with me first. But he’s right. It’s the only way."
She felt a shudder of revulsion. Her eyes were wide with fright. Backing away from them, she took several steps until she felt the railing of the balcony press against the small of her back.
"Alex. Jarret." Colt’s voice was sharp and clear in the night air.
Cameron stiffened at the sound of his voice. Just knowing that Colt was so near, and unable to get to her, caused her unbearable pain.
The two men peered over the balcony to see the figures of their family and servants huddled below.
"You’ve got to come down from there before the balcony collapses," Colt shouted.
Alex threw back his head with a roar of laughter. "Where’ve you been, partner? We’re about to inherit some more land."
"Alex." Colt’s voice grew sterner. "Quenton Lampton is down here with me. He wants to talk to you about giving you and Jarret his land."
Jarret’s head came up sharply. Alex gave him a narrow look. "You’re lying, Colt. The Lamptons never gave away a thing in their lives. And especially not to a McCormick."
"But that’s just it, Alex. You and your brother aren’t McCormicks. That’s why Quenton wants to talk to you. His feud was with Big John."
Alex seemed to consider this for a moment.
Jarret waited for his brother’s decision. A tongue of flame licked at the floor near his feet. "Maybe we should go down, Alex."
Alex’s dark eyes glittered feverishly. "It’s a trick. Lampton will never part with that land. And that one has to die." His finger pointed at Cameron pressed against the railing. Seeing the unhappy look on his brother’s face, Alex snapped, "Are we brothers?"
Jarret nodded.
"Haven’t I taken care of you all your life? Didn’t I tell you we’d make Big John pay for not loving our mother?"
Jarret nodded again.
Alex’s voice lowered. "And he did pay. Wasn’t it fun, watching Big John McCormick getting weaker and sicklier by the day? Wasn’t it exciting, keeping our little secret?"
"What secret?" Cameron moistened her lips, gone suddenly dry at his words.
Alex’s head swiveled, as if seeing her for the first time. Then his mouth split into a sneer.
"I think we should tell her, Jarret, before she dies. It will be fun to see her face when she hears the truth."
Jarret grinned at his brother. "You tell her, Alex."
"We killed Big John," Alex said triumphantly.
She clasped her hands together tightly. "That’s impossible. You were at the Delta Saloon when my father died."
"But we started killing him months before that." Alex slapped his brother on the shoulder. "We poisoned him. Slowly. So slowly, he never caught on. Every day, when he took his medicine, we poisoned him a little more."
A picture of her handsome father lying weakly in his bed flashed through her mind. He had still been a young man, strong, eager for life. Yet he had been so weak he hadn’t even been able to grip her hand. And then she remembered. The strange odor at his deathbed. She had thought it medicine. He had been poisoned.
"Why?" The word was no more than a whisper.
"Because he discovered something as important as gold on the land." Alex’s satanic eyes glittered. "Silver. The biggest silver vein that’s ever been found. We’re sitting on millions of dollars worth of the world’s richest silver mine. And we got tired of waiting around for him to die. That thieving gambler would have never given up. He would have lived forever, and robbed us of our chance. So we just"— he laughed, and the sound of it rang through Cameron’s brain—"helped him along."
The first time she had ever seen Alex Bannion, she had thought he looked like Satan. Now she was certain. He was the devil incarnate. Feeling the tears welling up, she covered her face with her hands. With an anguished cry, she allowed the tears to flow freely. Her mother and father. Her grandfather. And now she was going to die as well. These two monsters wouldn’t be satisfied until everyone was eliminated. And all because of this land. This barren, hateful land.
Through clenched teeth, she hissed, "You can have my share of the land, Alex. I don’t want it. Even if it is worth millions. Knowing it took everyone I love, I hate it. I don’t care if I never see this place again."
"That’s good, little nun. ’Cause you’re
not going to live long enough to see anything again." Alex turned to his brother. "Grab her, Jarret."
As a strong hand clutched at her shoulder, Cameron saw the flames begin to lick along the balcony. A breeze fanned a shower of sparks from the roof, sending a fireworks display of red hot cinders cascading over the three people outlined in the darkness.
Colt stood on the ground, fighting the helpless rage that tore at him. He stared at the bleak scene around him. Beneath the spreading branches of a tree, Quenton held Nina and her child, comforting them. Ti had carried a sobbing Miriam to a soft mound of grass, where he sat rocking her in his arms. At first, the servants had frantically tried to quench the flames with buckets of water. Now, defeated, they milled about, watching the carnage with terror-glazed eyes.
There was no time left. He had to stop those madmen before they were allowed to carry out their threat. If they hurt her ... A blinding fury gripped him.
"Ti."
The young man spread a blanket around Miriam and hurried to Colt’s side.
"Quenton."
Handing Alexander over to a trembling Nina, Quenton kissed her cheek, then ran to Colt.
"I’m going through the house. I’ve got to reach Cameron. Climb those trees and string a rope between them. I don’t know if we can jump that far, but if that balcony goes, it’s our only hope."
Both men stood a moment, frozen, as Colt dampened a handkerchief at the pump, then pulled it over his face and dashed through the smoking doorway. Immediately, he was engulfed in flames. Knowing it was a desperate gamble, Ti and Quenton hurried off to find a rope.
The inside of the house was a raging inferno. Colt fought his way through dense smoke, his eyes streaming tears, his lungs burning. When he reached the top of the stairs, they collapsed beneath him. Grabbing for a railing that gave way at his touch, he leaped and landed in the upstairs hallway on his hands and knees. At the end of the hallway, beyond the flaming bedroom, he could see the silhouette of Cameron being held firmly by Jarret.
Inching closer, Colt realized that Alex was moving toward the far side of the balcony, intent on putting some distance between himself and the other two. As he drew nearer, Colt understood why. The balcony was now entirely in flame, and the weight of too many bodies at one spot would cause it to collapse.
Nevada Nights Page 21
