A Broken Outlaw

by Caylen McQueen

  “My lord!” Flynn exclaimed, attempting his best Huoxian accent. “Someone on this airship is trying to kill you! You must flee at once!”

  “Dammit!” Feng gave Jun's hair a final tug before he shoved her down and climbed from the bed. “Someone started that fire, didn't they? Someone's doing everything they can to stop this wedding! Well, I'm not going to flee!” Feng collected his sword from the wall and stomped to the door. For the next few seconds, Flynn held his breath. He was afraid the prince would recognize his face, but Feng paid little attention to him. In fact, he never glanced in Flynn's direction. “I'm going to stop this invader with my own two hands. Jun... when I return, we'll finish what we started. Don't go anywhere.” Over his shoulder, he barked an order to Flynn, “Keep an eye on her. Make sure she stays.”

  “Of course, my lord.” A tiny smirk twitched its way onto Flynn's lips as he murmured a reply.

  When Feng was gone, Jun rolled on her back, wiped her tear-stained cheeks, and pulled down her dress. If the guard wasn't watching her, she might have collected her undergarments too, but she didn't. For the moment, she was just happy to have a temporary reprieve from the depraved prince.

  “Jun.” Flynn tore off his hat as he whispered her name. “Jun, I have to get you out of here. I...”

  As soon as she saw Flynn Cole's handsome face, Jun's relief was so immense that a sob exploded from her lips. Without thinking, she sprang from bed, ran to him, and threw her arms around his shoulders.

  “Flynn... oh my god, Flynn!” Jun buried her face against his chest and cried so hard, her entire body trembled. “I've been so scared!”

  “It's okay, Jun. It's okay. I'll get you out of here.” Flynn, who always struggled to speak to her, could barely whisper words of comfort. His fingers lightly sifted through her hair as she soaked his shirt in tears. “But we need to be quick. That man could return at any minute.”

  Seeing Flynn's face was so extraordinary, Jun had to wonder if it was a trick of her imagination, so she simultaneously touched his cheek and pinched herself. She expected him to disappear. But he didn't. He was looking a bit scruffier than usual, but it was definitely Flynn Cole. He was real.

  “How are you here, Flynn?” Jun gasped. “How?”

  “It's a long story. For now, we should focus on...” Flynn's voice trailed off when he saw her collect her undergarments from the floor. To his surprise, she not only retrieved them, she pulled them on right in front of him. Turning away from the intimate sight of Jun slipping into her unmentionables, he sputtered, “We, um... we need to, uh... mmm... escape.”

  “I'm so glad you're here, Flynn! You have no idea how amazing it is to see your face! Every time I look at you, I feel like I want to cry!”

  With blanching cheeks, Flynn asked, “Did that man... touch you?” He was afraid to know the answer. He adored Jun too much to even think about another man forcing himself on her.

  “He touched me... a bit,” a blushing Jun confessed. “But he didn't rape me, if that's what you're asking. He was going to, but then... you arrived just in time.”

  “Good. Now, if you're ready, we have to--”

  Jun interrupted with a shake of her head. “I can't. I-I shouldn't... I shouldn't let you risk yourself for me.”

  Flynn's brow pinched, but he didn't say anything. He waited patiently for Jun to explain herself.

  “Every time someone helps me, they end up dead. I'm a curse.” Jun crossed her arms and shuddered. “Quan, my uncle... Josiah. They're all dead because of me.”

  “Josiah?” Flynn solemnly repeated the name. “What happened to my brother?”

  “He tried to save me, but... Feng killed him.” Jun's gaze dropped to the floor as she delivered the terrible news. “I'm so sorry, Flynn. Josiah's dead because of me. Your brother died... because of me.”

  Flynn clenched a fist, but he couldn't spare a moment to process the thought. He curled an arm around Jun's back and pushed her in the direction of the door. “I don't care about any of that right now. I'm getting you out of here.” As he opened the door, he whispered, “Stay close to me.”

  Flynn already cleared the hallway, so they didn't have to worry about the emperor's guards until they were on the deck. Even then, the way forward was surprisingly clear. Most of the soldiers were already occupied. They had either accompanied Prince Feng, or they rushed to the other airship to extinguish the roaring blaze. Until they reached the gangway, Jun and Flynn encountered no obstacle.

  However, there were three soldiers guarding the ship's exit. Flynn gently pushed Jun out of view as he planned his attack.

  “Flynn... there's three of them,” Jun whispered. “There's no way we're getting past. There's no way you'll--”

  “Shh.” Flynn felt terrible about hushing her, but her voice interfered with the developing plan in his head. “I'll get it done. Don't worry.”

  “Flynn...” Even though he tried to silence her, Jun didn't listen. “If something happens to you too, I'll never forgive myself. Please don't die.”

  Flynn removed a knife, stolen from one of the hallway guards. The first two guards on the gangway were facing away from him, so he had the element of surprise. Since their purpose was to prevent anyone from boarding the airship, they weren't watching their backs. As he approached from behind, Flynn raised the bayonet and the knife at the same time, then he sank both weapons into the soft flesh of the guards' napes. When they went down, he freed the knife and flung it at the soldier at the bottom of the gangway. The blade struck him in the center of the chest, right where Flynn wanted it to go. As the strength bled from his body, the guard weakly raised an arm and fired a pistol at Flynn. He missed.

  Fearing the gunshot would attract attention, Flynn hurried back to Jun and grabbed her hand. “The way's clear. Let's go.” Together, they raced down the gangway and entered the city of Santo Feo, which was occupied by the emperor. Without any thought for the consequences, Flynn ran to the first motocarriage he saw and pointed his rifle at its elderly driver. “Get down,” he ordered him.

  “Oh my! But young man, I--”

  “Get down,” Flynn repeated in a cold, desperate voice. “I won't ask again.”

  When the driver climbed down, Flynn helped Jun into the passenger's seat. He thought she looked a bit displeased with him, but for the moment, he had only one thought in his mind: fleeing the city with Jun. He leapt into the driver's seat, crushed the pedal beneath his foot, and raced down Santo Feo's main street.

  “You should just leave me behind,” said Jun, whose fingers fidgeted in her lap. “Just leave me in the city or drop me in the desert!”

  “And why would I do that?”

  When Flynn sharply turned a corner, Jun grabbed his arm to steady herself. “Because... Prince Feng won't leave me alone. He's not going to let me go. He'll keep coming and coming and coming. I don't want to be a burden on you, Flynn.”

  “Let him come.” As he drove, Flynn's eyes flickered over Jun's pretty profile. He couldn't let himself be discouraged by her grim expression and hopeless words. “I'll make him regret it.”

  “It's good that you're confident, but... he killed your brother.”

  “Then... like I said, let him come for me.” Flynn's jaw twitched as he tried to imagine his brother's corpse. Even though Jun claimed to witness his death, Flynn couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Josiah wouldn't go down that easily. “I have a reason to make him pay.”

  When Flynn heard the ping of a bullet on the back of their motocarriage, he immediately stopped the vehicle, turned around, and raised his weapon. Behind them, there was a motocarriage filled with imperial soldiers. “One carriage?” Flynn laughed as he raised his weapon and another bullet missed him. “They'll need to do better than that.”

  Flynn fired his rifle three times, sinking all three shots into the chest of the driver. Then he put down the man in the passenger's seat, as well as another guard who was foolish enough to appear in the motocarriage's window. When the opposition was que
lled, Flynn sighed deeply and went back to driving.

  “You made that look... easy,” Jun noted with a shudder.

  “It's not easy, I'm just very, very determined.” In the middle of turmoil, he conversed with Jun so easily. Flynn wondered if his crippling shyness would return when they were safe.

  Flynn's motocarriage sped away from Santo Feo, and he didn't slow the vehicle until they were several miles from the city. When they were closer to River Ranch than the city they left behind, he finally felt his shoulders relax a bit.

  “Uh... Jun?” As he suspected, some of his timidity returned. He struggled to complete a thought.

  “Hmm?”

  “Jun... I, uh...” Flynn stopped the motocarriage and turned in her direction. Despite his inability to meet her gaze, he continued, “I don't think we should enter another town right away. We should spend the next couple days in the desert, keeping a low profile. They'd expect you to go to River Ranch, so...”

  All of a sudden, Jun flung her arms around Flynn's neck and burrowed her face into his shoulder.

  “I'm not worth it!” Jun sobbed into his coat. “I'm not worth it, I'm not worth it, I'm not worth all this, Flynn, I'm not--”

  “Shhh.” Flynn stroked her hair as she cried. His fingers were still trembling, but he hoped she wouldn't notice. For Jun's sake, he tried to look undaunted by the day's events. “Don't say that. You are worth it.”

  “But I'm not. I'm so much trouble. I'll only make more problems for you, I'm--”

  “You're worth it,” he repeated resolutely. In some strange way, Jun's tears had alleviated his timidity. “And I won't let anything happen to you. You're safe with me. I swear.”

  Seven

  When Nicky woke the next morning, the first image in his mind was Logan Hershall, hauling a screaming Minnie over the steep hill. Every time he remembered it, an ominous tingle scurried along his scalp. He wished he could forget, but he couldn't.

  Nicky sat up and collectedly surveyed his surroundings. Logan was still asleep, Ed briefly left camp to relieve himself, but he didn't see Minnie. Before Ed returned, he decided to inspect the situation. Apprehension gnawed at Nicky's stomach as his long legs carried him over the hill. By the time he reached the summit, his eyes burned with curiosity. There was a small shed on the other side of the slope.

  Careful not to lose his balance, Nicky shuffled down the hill and approached the metal shed. It had no windows, and there was a rusted lock on the door, so he had no way to enter or peer inside. “Minnie?” Nicky hissed the woman's name. “Minnie... are you in there?”

  His ear hovered by the door for several seconds before he heard a tiny voice answer, “...hello?”

  A shiver shot up his back. He nearly yelped with alarm, but the Hershalls were nearby, so he tried to stay as calm as possible. “Are you alright in there?” he asked the speaker.

  “No. We're not alright.”

  Nicky's eyebrows shot up at the implied plurality of her response. With a thumping heart, he eyed the door's lock and wondered if he could break it. After all, it didn't look sturdy, and there was someone in the shed who needed his help. Nicky picked up a flat rock and banged the rusted lock as hard as he could. He slammed the eroded iron again and again, until his knuckles ached, and until the lock finally dropped. As soon as it was off, he threw open the door, allowing daylight into the shed.

  Panic lifted Nicky's eyebrows when he peered into the shed's interior. There were six women inside, tied up, shackled, and half-naked. A few of them even had bruises on their faces, and one had a split lip. Minnie was among them, but he didn't recognize the rest.

  “Ladies, I have to get you out of here!” Nicky gasped. “I have to--”

  First, he was interrupted by the sound of Minnie's shriek.

  A split second later, the butt of a rifle crashed into his skull, knocking him unconscious.

  * * *

  “Logan.” As soon as Ed Hershall saw Nicky's eyelashes flutter, he stopped sharpening his knife and jabbed it into the soil. “Logan, I think he's awake.”

  “Shit, I thought he'd be out longer than that!” As Logan swaggered to Nicky's side, he launched a wad of tobacco-tinged spittle from his lips. “Should I hit him again?”

  “Naw. There's no point in that.”

  When Nicky saw both Hershalls staring at him, he bellowed a groan that could have lasted forever, if not for the fact that he ran out of breath. His head was throbbing, he was face-down in the dirt, and his arms were tied behind his back.

  “I guess you found out about our dirty little side business!” Logan exclaimed. “You weren't supposed to know about that, boy.”

  “Nobody knows how we make most of our money,” Ed added. “Nobody. And nobody was ever supposed to know.”

  “So that means we'll have to kill you,” the elder Hershall calmly informed him.

  Nicky rolled on his side and squinted against the beams of sunlight that blinded him. Behind Logan Hershall, he could see the shed where the ladies were kept. “You... kidnap women?” he croaked.

  “I don't like to think of it as kidnapping,” objected Logan, who raked a filthy fingernail across his rotten top teeth. “The women come willingly. We just don't let them leave when they want to.”

  Ed shook his head in protest. “Not all of them come willingly, though. Minnie did, but not all of them do.”

  “Well... most of them do.”

  “Not most. Half... maybe,” Ed disagreed. “You drugged that redhead in Gold City the other day, remember?”

  “Hell, Ed. It don't matter how we get the women! I don't think Nicky gives as damn about the details. Stop interrupting me, goddammit!” Logan kicked a cloud of dust at his brother, then he returned his attention to the man on the ground. “We sell women to the highest bidder. It's a real lucrative business, as I'm sure you can imagine.”

  “W-Why would you do that?” Nicky stammered. “I always knew you two were bad news, but I didn't think you were that bad.”

  “We ain't bad. We're smart,” claimed Ed. “We're entree-pay-nerds.”

  “Entrepreneurs,” his brother corrected him. “But yeah... Ed's right. I've got no shame about doing what's best for us.”

  When Nicky glanced at the shed, he felt sick to his stomach. As much as he hated the Hershalls, he didn't think they were capable of something so vile. With a heavy sigh, he asked, “What's going to happen to me now?”

  “Ed's gonna take you deep in the desert, where no one will find you, and shoot you in the head.” Logan gave a nod to his brother, who hoisted a whimpering Nicky to his feet. “I never wanted to kill you, boy. Even after you stole my money, I never wanted you dead. I swear I didn't. I'm sorry it's come to this.”

  “No... nonono... no please!” Nicky pleaded with his captors. “I-I-I... I won't tell anyone what you guys do! I won't! It can be our secret!”

  “Sorry, but I don't like you enough to take that risk.” Logan gave Nicky's cheek a strangely affectionate pat. “Take care of him, Ed.”

  “Will do,” said the younger brother, who dragged Nicky over the hill and down the other side. He tossed Nicky in the back of a rickety coach, slammed the door behind him, and climbed into the driver's seat.

  “Ed... Ed Hershall... come on!” Nicky whined as the carriage lurched forward. He didn't know if Ed could hear him, but it didn't stop him from trying. “Ed, I thought you liked me! I really thought we were getting along! Edddddd!”

  For the next hour, Nicky tried everything he could to free himself. He tried to shove the door, kick the door, and ram it with his shoulder. For a rickety old vehicle, Ed's carriage was surprisingly sturdy.

  When they were a considerable distance from any known civilization, Ed stopped the vehicle and dragged Nicky into the daylight.

  “Please!” Nicky beseeched his captor as he cut the bonds from his wrists and kicked him to his knees. “Please please please please don't kill me, Ed! Look, I... I-I-I-I I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but I regret them all! And I r
eally don't care about what you and Logan are doing. I mean, I'm not crazy about the fact that you're abducting women, but I won't give you any trouble! I swear I won't! My brother and the Coles did bad things all the time... not kidnapping, mind you, but they're guilty of plenty of robberies, so... you know... I'm good at looking the other way!”

  “Shut up.” Ed growled and spit into the dirt.

  “Do you really want to kill me, Ed? I mean... really? Do you have to do everything your brother tells you to do?” Nicky scratched his forehead, which was nervously puckered and slick with sweat. “Maybe it's just me, but I really feel like we bonded out there on the road. When I was dressed up like a girl, I feel like you took a shine to me... not that I wanted you to take a shine to me, but I'm pretty sure you did, so--”

  Ed grabbed a handful of Nicky's hair and gave his head a violent wag. “I thought I told you to shut up, boy.”

  “Ed...” Nicky's eyes bulged when the Hershall brother suddenly pressed a gun's barrel against his forehead. “Ed Ed Ed Ed Ed Ed don't! Pleeeease don't!” He pressed the palms of his hands together and whimpered pitifully. “I don't want to die. I'm still so young! I have so many dreams to fulfill! I want to be loved, I want a wife, I want a couple of kids. Hell, I even want a dog! I want a--”

  “Goddamn it, boy, shut the hell up! I ain't gonna kill you.” Ed suddenly holstered his gun and ripped Nicky's shirt over his head. “But I am going to leave you in the middle of the desert without a shirt on your back or a penny in your pocket. You'll probably die out here, but at least I ain't puttin' a bullet through your head.”

  Nicky gave him a satisfied nod. His crinkled forehead gradually relaxed, and he calmly said, “I can live with that.”

  “You better hope a mountain lion don't eat you, boy,” Ed taunted him as he climbed into his carriage's front seat. “Or hell, maybe you should start hoping one does eat you... so you won't die of thirst out here.” Before flicking his horse's reins, Ed tossed a half-empty bottle of water at Nicky's feet. “Here. You better make that last.”