***
“Where y’all goin’, boys?” called Joe Snell, leaning out the passenger side window. Daniel kept an iron grip on his brother’s bicep. He could tell Travis’ temper was simmering; his brother reacted like a wild animal when cornered. He lashed out violently. The last thing either of them needed was to give these redneck thugs a reason to get physical.
Stay calm, Daniel told himself. He’d always believed that his intelligence could get him out of any trouble. But only to a point. Travis was the better smooth-talker, but right now he didn’t dare trust Travis to open his mouth. He’d have to take charge.
“Home, sir,” he choked out. Sir. He had to call them sir.
“Walkin pretty quick,” drawled the Sheriff. He gestured to the driver and they pulled over, right in front of the boys. Daniel started to step around the truck, but the doors opened, and the men piled out. They were cornered, on this lonely highway with not a soul in sight. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to go.
Every nerve in his body prepared to fight. Travis was a coil of tension and fury, waiting for someone to touch him and set it loose. Daniel struggled to hold on to his cool. He wouldn’t beg these bastards, but he couldn’t let them hurt his little brother either.
“Let us through,” he demanded. Travis said nothing.
“It ain’t you I got beef with, boy,” snapped Dean Murphy. He pointed at Travis. “It’s him. You. Ain’t I tell you to leave my daughter alone?”
Travis said nothing. Daniel raised his hands in contrition. You just need to stall. Steel is coming.
“My brother doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Shut the fuck up, kid. Your brother’s got a Goddamn tongue in his head, ain’t he? Speak up!” Dean Murphy barked. The third man lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. He looked bored. Joe Snell stroked the barrel of his rifle. “What were you doing with Susie yester’ night?”
“I dunno what you’re talking about,” Travis spat finally. “I never touched that girl a lick more than she wanted. And you know it.”
Dean advanced towards Travis; Daniel stepped in front of his brother.
Dean Murphy was not a small man. One swat sent Daniel spinning too the ground. It took him forever to fall, but only a second to spring back up to his feet again. His head rang but adrenaline was pumping through his veins. Warm, hot liquid gushed down his chin, and a sharp pain blazed in the center of his face. Blood. His nose was broken.
Travis’s reaction was instant. He leapt on Dean Murphy, and Dean Murphy leapt on Travis. Joe seized Daniel and pinned his arms behind his back in a wrestler’s hold. It was so painful Daniel cried out, which only incensed Travis more.
The third man pointed the rifle at Travis’s head. “Back off.”
Travis released his hold on Dean Murphy’s shirt. Daniel was panting. Blood was dripping from his nose and falling in the dust, drop by drop.
“What do you want?” Travis demanded. He just wanted Joe to let go of Daniel. It looked like his brother was having trouble breathing. A high, desperate note crept into his voice. What were these psychopaths planning?
“Leave Susie alone,” snapped Dean, flexing his hands into fists. He wiped the spittle from his mouth. “Or I swear to God…”
“Swear to God what?” taunted Travis. His temper was loose now and there was no holding it back. But he was much smaller than these men. Any wrong move…
“You’re gonna kill me? Lock me up for some shit I didn’t do? Let him go, damn it!” He moved to pull Daniel away, but Snell danced away from his hands.
Daniel was snorting and choking on the blood that had filled his mouth. Joe had him in a headlock, his head tilted up to the sky. He forced the boy to his knees.
Travis launched himself at Joe, only to be pulled back forcefully by Dean and thrown to the ground hard. The barrel of the rifle dug into his guts. “Move again and Rick here is gonna fill your ass with lead,” Dean hissed. “We’re gonna teach you lil’ coons a lesson today about manners.”
He nudged Travis to his feet. They frog-marched both boys towards the truck. Get in that truck and you both die, Travis told himself. Steel isn’t coming.
“Let him go,” he said to Joe. His brother was fighting for consciousness. Travis felt desperate. “He ain’t do nothing. Let him go.”
“Shut up,” snapped Joe.
Dean laughed. “I didn’t hear a please.”
“Travis, shut up,” Daniel choked out. He wasn’t about to leave his brother alone with these monsters.
They pushed Travis to his feet. “Please,” he gritted.
Rick slammed the rifle in the back of Travis’s head. Again he fell to the ground; he caught himself just in time from crashing into the asphalt. His vision was a cosmic blur of red and green and yellow. He wanted to vomit; he fought back the urge.
“Come on, Dean. We’re wastin’ time. Let’s take care of ‘em here,” said Rick.
“Get ‘em in the truck first.”
***
Steel and Aja drove around Fell’s Point for a solid minute. They saw no trace of the boys or anyone else. It looked like a quiet fishing spot on the river, not exactly the type of spot for two young kids to spend an afternoon. Steel wondered what the hell Daniel and Travis had been doing out here.
Aja was frantic with fear, but she was hiding it extremely well. Steel appreciated how her composure never slipped. He reflected that Aja would have probably done well in the army.
“I don’t see them,” Steel said calmly. It wouldn’t do any good to show Aja his own nervousness. “We’ll drive up aways, try to spot the car.”
“Maybe they’re by the river,” Aja said quietly.
“I’ll get out to look.”
“Steel.” Aja said.
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a gun?”
“I do, babe. But if Joe Snell is there, I better not use it.”
Aja nodded. “I’m coming with you.”
Steel parked the car on a shoulder and climbed out. His face was dark. “Absolutely not.”
Aja climbed out anyway. She had to be sure her brothers were alright. And she wanted to make sure Joe Snell would never mess with her or her family ever again.
***
They checked by the river. They drove up the road. There was nothing but emptiness; the day was so hot that most people were inside. The beauty of the day seemed to mock them; Aja wondered how it could look so fine when she was filled to the brim with terror. She wished for thunder and lightning, rain, anything but the cloudless, sunny sky, and the nasal whine of cicadas. Today was a day for watermelon and picnics, for fishing and sleeping under magnolia trees. She couldn’t get the image of her brothers dead and floating down the Wilminac river out of her mind. When they’d pulled the Mexican kid out a few years ago, blue crabs had eaten his tongue and eyes. He’d been completely naked, mauled beyond recognition by the barbed wire. She’d heard they’d only been able to identify him by the gold cross he wore around his neck.
They looked everywhere. Aja had fallen silent. Her face was drawn.
“We should have called the police,” Steel said.
“Dean Murphy is the police chief in Washitaw,” Aja said tonelessly. “And Joe is the Sheriff. You don’t know how things work around here, Steel. You don’t know how deep it goes.”
“Don’t give up,” Steel said firmly. They were headed back to the car; it had only taken him a minute to rush down and scan the river. No sign of anything but the bubbling of catfish, and the swarm of river flies.
When they got to the car, someone was waiting for them.
It was the old, white-haired woman Steel had seen on his property on the Fourth of July. Lyn Thompson. She wore the exact same clothes she’d been wearing then, and was holding the cane in front of her as she leaned against his car.
“You?” Steel said. He stepped in front of Aja instinctively.
“Well it ain’t the Queen of England, honey,” the woman cackled.
“We don’t h
ave the time, Ma’am. We’re in a hurry.”
“I know where the boys are,” said the old woman quickly. Her voice sounded like a bucket of nails. “I saw them take them up a piece. Back into Boyd.”
“You did?” Aja cried. “Where?”
“Take me with you, I’ll show you.”
“It’s not safe, ma’am.”
“Pardon me, sonny, but kiss my ass,” the lady said. “You wanna find these boys or not?”
They all piled in Steel’s truck. Lyn Thompson climbed in the passenger’s seat. “Who was with them?” Aja pressed.
“I only know one of ‘em,” she said. “Dean Murphy. And there was a tall handsome fella, and a short and ugly one.”
Well, that wasn’t new information. But she seemed to know where she was going. They drove back into Boyd.
“Stop here,” said Lyn suddenly.
“Do you see them?”
“No. They’re a quarter mile up the road. In the forest where the old church used to be. They ain’t got too far yet, and your boys are alright.”
“How do you know?” Aja demanded. She was still baffled at the sudden appearance of this ancient woman, whom she had never seen before in all her years in Boyd, but who Steel seemed to know. She was even more confused by the niggling sense in her heart that she had met this woman before.
“I just know,” said the woman firmly. Steel stopped the truck and she climbed out. “And a word of caution, girlie,” Lyn said before she closed the door, staring piercingly at Aja. “Whatever it is you’re looking for, it’s not in the Tucker House.”
Aja wouldn’t have been more surprised if the woman told her she was indeed the Queen of England. But before she could get a word out, Lyn Thompson banged the door shut and Steel peeled away.
“What the hell?” Aja said, staring.
“I don’t know what that was about,” said Steel as they sped up the road. “But I think we found your brothers.”
Sure enough, as Lyn Thompson had described, the brown truck was parked on a shoulder of the road a quarter mile up, right where a tiny, almost invisible path opened into the forest. Over a hundred years ago, the land had belonged to another Boyd family, the Kesenberrys. They had been Quakers, holding worship sessions . Steel remembered reading about the abandoned Quaker church in The Complete History of Boyd County, a book Carson had laying about at the Tucker House. The Kesenberrys had been run out of town in the 1930’s, and the church burned to cinders. But the foundation still remained- Steel recalled seeing a picture of it in the book.
He surveyed the brown truck quickly, memorizing the license plate.
“Stay in the car, Aja, baby. Please.”
“Absolutely not,” she replied. Her face was screwed in determination. She had no weapon but her fury. But fury alone wasn’t enough. Steel didn’t intend to let her get in the way or get hurt.
“Then let’s move,” he told Aja. “Quickly.”
Aja was already way ahead of him. Steel drew his gun. They jogged along the path.
“I hear voices,” Aja said. Her heart was in her throat.
“Don’t show yourself yet,” Steel told her. “You hear me? These men are dangerous and they can hurt you. You’re no good to the boys if they-”
“I know!” Aja snapped. “Alright.”
A gunshot pierced the air, stirring the forest birds into flight, and echoing through the woods. A high scream of pain rode on the waves of it, and then all was still and silent.
CHAPTER 6
Out For Blood
The truck belonged to Dean Murphy, but the gun was Joe Snell’s. It was a Marlin hunting rifle, designed to penetrate flesh but not spray on impact and spoil the game. Almost every man in Boyd owned a rifle like that. There were worse weapons to be shot with, but in that moment, perspective wasn’t exactly on Travis Robinson’s mind. He stared at the hole in his chest, at the bright red blood seeping out of it. His mind didn’t register the pain; it came from far away, like a cloud floating down from the sky and descending in a shower of red mist.
“Travis! Travis!” Daniel screamed. He struggled against his bonds; Joe had zip-tied his hands together. “You bastards! You sons of bitches!”
Joe stared at Rick. “Dumbass,” he drawled. “I told you not to shoot so close to the road.”
Dean Murphy spat a knot of tobacco juice. Travis had sank to the ground. He was holding a hand over the hole in his chest. It made Dean happy to hear the boy wheezing, trying not to scream. That would show him and his smart ass mouth.
“Let’s finish this up, then,” he said, pulling the hunting knife from his belt. “Show this shithead what happens when you step above your station. That’s the problem with you black-”
“Finish up what?” Steel said coldly, stepping into the clearing. Rick swung the rifle at him, Steel fired instinctively, with all the years of his training behind him. The shot caught the man in the elbow, shredding through the bone. He shrieked and dropped the gun, which went off again, booming through the forest.
Joe moved towards Steel.
“I don’t think so,” Steel snapped, firing at his feet. Both Dean and Joe went absolutely still. Daniel had started to crawl towards his brother,
“Well,” Dean licked his lips. “If it ain’t Mr. Texas.”
Aja, unable to hold back, burst through the forest line. Travis was groaning on the ground, still bleeding profusely.
“Jesus,” laughed Joe. Steel detected a hint of nervousness behind his voice. This had somehow gone completely off the rails, and it didn’t look good for him.
“Take him away, Aja,” Steel said, glancing at Travis and his weeping brother. “Take him to the hospital.”
Joe’s blue eyes widened. “She can’t drive.”
“I can now,” Aja said. Her voice was shaking. She helped her middle brother up. Daniel hobbled to his feet, his hands still locked together. Rick was delirious on the ground; Steel’s shot had nearly taken off his arm.
Aja walked up to him. “He’s the one who shot Travis?”
Steel nodded. With a viciousness he had never seen from her before, Aja drew her foot back and kicked the man squarely in the bullet wound. He made an animal sound that chilled everyone that heard it, and fainted. The clearing went deadly quiet. There was blood all over Aja’s tennis shoe.
“Throw those away,” Steel directed. She couldn’t speak; she only nodded. Holding the gun with one hand, Steel tossed her his pocket knife. She sliced the zip ties off Daniel. He limped to Steel’s side.
“I want to stay with Travis.”
“He’ll be alright,” Steel assured him. “If Aja gets out of here in time.”
“Steel-” Aja began.
“He stays,” said Steel firmly. Daniel was the only one of them who was fine- his nose had stopped bleeding, and blood was crusted on his lips and chin, but he was physically fine. Aja looked at Steel in alarm, but he was firm. “I’ll be right after you.”
As Aja left, Steel turned to Joe. “Whatever problem you had with Aja, you should have left her brothers out of it.”
“Brothers,” sneered Joe. “One of them is my own son.”
“He needs a doctor,” Dean said, looking at Rick. He was still out cold, clutching the shredded remains of his right arm.
“Worry about yourself,” Steel snapped. A hardness he hadn’t felt in months- maybe years- was icing over his heart. He couldn’t get the image of Travis’s blood out of his mind, of the defeated, terrified look on Daniel’s face. He remembered just a day ago when both boys had been laughing and happy. He turned back to Joe, death in his heart.
“Drew Robinson is your son.”
“Of course,” Joe spat. “Who else?”
“Pat Tucker?”
“I’ll spare you the details of our night with little Aja Robinson,” Joe said. He looked murderous, far from the wicked mask of composure he’d had when he first visited Steel at the Tucker House. “But yes, Drew is my son.”
“Why did you go after the boys?�
� Steel directed the question to Dean. Where Joe looked like he would snap in fury at any second, Dean was trying his best to look contrite and apologetic. Playing innocent, the wounded father. Steel wasn’t buying it for a second.
Dean licked his lips again. “He went after my daughter, Susie.”
“What do you mean?”
“He forced himself on her.”
“That’s a damn lie,” said Daniel furiously, speaking up for the first time. “I was there. I heard her ask him to leave. I heard her say she wanted to-”
Ride A Cowboy: Romance Novel Page 12
