Texas Heart

by Ruth Ryan Langan

  "Then get out of this town. Tonight."

  "No."

  He saw the way her jaw set.

  Hadn't she inherited that obstinate streak from him?

  "Damn it, Jessie. You listen to me."

  "No, Pa. You listen to me. We're not running away. And you're not hanging in the morning."

  "You got a plan, Jess?"

  Danny felt a sudden urge of adrenaline.

  He'd seen that look in his sister's eyes a thousand times before.

  And always it meant that Jessie was about to dig in her heels.

  "Not yet. But I'll think of something. I've got to get out of here, Pa.

  I need a place to think.

  She pressed close to the bars and strained to place her lips on her father's bearded cheek.

  He bent close and touched callused fingers to her face.

  Danny and Thad caught their father's hands and felt his fingers dig into their flesh.

  "We'll be back, Pa. Before dawn. And when we return, we're not leaving without you."

  As she opened the door to the marshal's office, Jessie heard Cole's voice, low, insistent.

  "...willing to testify, if the federal judge wants to hear me."

  Jessie motioned for her brothers to be quiet.

  Keeping the door open a crack, she watched and listened.

  Cole was facing the marshal.

  His features were grim.

  "Good. That's good."

  Marshal Smith had his back to Jessie.

  But she could almost see the grin on those cruel lips.

  "We've been wanting to stop this rustling operation for two years.

  And if what you say is true, and we have the big man right here in our clutches, the judge will be more than happy to listen to a federal marshal of your reputation."

  At his words, Jessie sucked in her breath.

  This didn't make sense.

  Cole, a federal marshal?

  Through the maze of questions that whirled in her mind, she forced herself to listen to Marshal Smith's next words, "It was lucky for all of us that you teamed up with those kids when you did."

  "Yeah. Lucky."

  Cole's voice was devoid of all emotion.

  Jessie closed the door and pressed her back against it, feeling a wave of nausea.

  Shock wave after shock wave rolled through her, leaving her numb.

  Lies.

  Everything Cole had ever said and done.

  Lies.

  All the kindnesses to her brothers.

  All the things he'd whispered.

  All the love they'd shared.

  All lies.

  All just an opportunity to find her father.

  Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away.

  Never would she allow herself to cry over a liar and a cheat.

  Cole Matthews was as good as dead to her.

  He had broken her heart.

  But he wouldn't win.

  She would see to that.

  "What's wrong, Jess?"

  Danny studied the whiteness about her lips and feared that she was about to collapse.

  Maybe the long journey and the shock of their father's conviction was too much for her.

  Never had he seen her look so fragile.

  "It's---Cole."

  She could barely bring herself to speak his name.

  It hurt.

  Oh, how it hurt.

  "He's a federal marshal."

  "Marshal?

  He's a gunman, Jess.

  A man on the run.

  "Don't you see? That was all just an act. He's been lying to us so he could find Pa."

  "No!"

  Danny started toward the door, but Jessie caught him by the shoulder.

  "Let me go, Jess. I'm going to tell him what I think of his lies."

  "I have a better idea."

  Her tone was low, angry.

  "What?"

  Both Danny and Thad watched her closely.

  "We'll pretend to think he's still our friend. And whatever we decide to do about Pa, we'll have to keep from Cole. We can no longer trust him."

  She remembered what Pa used to say about not trusting fast women or men who wore badges.

  How right he'd been.

  She pulled open the door and led her two brothers into the marshal's office.

  Immediately Cole and Marshal Smith stopped speaking.

  "You ready to go?"' Cole asked.

  Jessie couldn't bring herself to look at him.

  If she did, she knew he'd read the pain in her eyes.

  And the fury.

  Instead she kept her gaze firmly fixed on the floor.

  "We thought we'd take the horses to the stable and see if we can sleep there."

  "Good idea."

  Cole ,noted her pallor and wished he could comfort her.

  What a shock it must be to find, at the end of a torturous journey, that the father she had sacrificed everything for was about to hang for cattle rustling.

  "I'll join you there when I've finished up here. I have some important things to do first."

  Jessie took up their guns, then dropped an arm around her little brother's shoulders and led him from the jail.

  Behind her, Danny cast a long speculative look at Cole before turning away.

  When they left, the marshal took a gold watch from his pocket.

  "We're going to be cutting this close. Think there's time?"

  Time.

  Cole thought with a sinking heart.

  If only there were more time.

  Time to get this untangled.

  Time to work it all out.

  "There has to be," he said, swinging away.

  "We'll make every minute count."

  As soon as they left the marshal's office, Jessie drew her brothers into the shadows.

  "Now what, Jess?"

  "I don't know. Let me think a minute."

  She paced back 3.

  nd forth, back and forth.

  From somewhere beyond, in the darkness behind the jail, she could hear the low hum of voices.

  Moving deeper into the shadows, she rounded the corner of the jail.

  There were two small windows set high in the building.

  One of them, she knew, was in Pa's cell.

  The other would be above Mr. Purdy's.

  Purdy.

  What had he said to the marshal?

  A thought flitted through her mind.

  The beginnings of a plan.

  Nearby she heard the shout of a drunken cowboy and the report of gunfire.

  It was just another cowboy letting off steam, but someone had to investigate.

  Within minutes she heard the deputy shuffle away from the jail.

  A harness jingled as someone hitched a team.

  She strained in the darkness to make out the shapes.

  A mule team, she determined.

  Ten mules.

  The plan became clearer.

  Without taking the time to think it through, she whirled and headed toward the saloon.

  Danny and Thad had to run to keep up with her.

  "Where are we going, Jess?"

  "To Morgan's Saloon. And when we get inside, we're going to ask if anyone is from Mr. Purdy's crew."

  Why?

  "Because we need to find his cowboys if we're going to help Pa."

  "I don't understand."

  Danny caught her arm, but she kept on going.

  "What do Purdy's men have to do with Pa?"

  "You'll see."

  She pushed open the swinging doors and strode inside.

  Behind her trailed Danny and Thad.

  At a table in the corner of the room, half a dozen men were playing cards.

  At the bar several women dressed in gowns were talking to the customers and drinking watered down whiskey.

  One of the women spotted Thad and saur over, hands on hips, a teasing smile curling the corners ( painted lips.

  "A little bit you
ng, aren't you?"

  She grinned as the around the bar began to laugh.

  "Yes, ma'am."

  Thad snatched his hat from his head as been taught by Jessie.

  "You looking for a good time?" the woman said to D; running a hand suggestively along his arm.

  He blushed and drew his arm away.

  "No, ma'am. ¥ looking for Mr. Purdy's men."

  One of the men from the poker game looked up at the mention of his boss.

  "You're looking in the wrong place for Purdy. He's in jail."

  "We're looking for his men," Jessie said, feeling cheeks redden as several men turned to study her.

  "You're looking at them."

  The man discarded a card accepted another from the dealer.

  "What do you want with US?"

  Jessie glanced around and realized that almost everyone in the saloon was watching and listening.

  "I--I can't tell you here. But I have a message from your trail boss.

  And if you're interested in hearing it, meet me hind the stable in five minutes."

  "Five minutes?"

  A man on the stairs paused with his about the waist of a smiling woman.

  "Hell, honey, I ¢ finish my business in five minutes."

  Jessie blushed clear to her toes as the room erupted in laughter.

  Then she said angrily, "Five minutes. Anyone intere had better be there."

  Motioning to Danny and Thad, she spun around and ran in her eagerness to get away from this horrible place.

  she continued running until she reached the stables.

  Once there she whispered her plan to her brothers.

  Before she had finished, there were a dozen armed men standing quietly behind her, waiting for her to speak.

  These men weren't laughing and making rough jokes now.

  They were scowling.

  And watching her with such intensity that Jessie felt tiny beads of sweat form on her forehead.

  Whatever her plan was, it had better be good.

  If these men didn't cooperate, there wouldn't be time for a second plan.

  In fact, if she didn't quickly persuade these men, she and her brothers might find themselves at the wrong end of a gun.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "You want us to tear down the jail?"

  The men who had Crowded around her so eagerly now stepped back a pace as if to better study this strange little creature.

  "What were you doing talking to Purdy?"

  "I was in the jail...visiting the marshal," she lied. · "And right in front of the marshal, Mr. Purdy suggested a jailbreak?"

  "Of course not."

  Jessie tried her sweetest smile.

  "I found myself alone with him for a minute, and he whispered his plan."

  "Sounds like the ravings of a drunken cowboy," one of them said.

  Several joined in the nervous laughter.

  "Fine. If you want to go home without your pay and wait until your trail boss gets free, go ahead. But if you'd like to buy your wives some pretty dresses before you get home, I think you'd better listen to me."

  When she saw their smiles fade, Jessie began to speak quickly before she lost them.

  "That old jail is just made of rocks and dried mud. One good team would bring it down."

  She paused to study their faces and went on, "I happened to see a mule team down the street. Freshly hitched and ready to go, if a man was willing to chance it."

  "I can drive a team better'n anyone here," one of the drovers said with pride.

  "You just tie a rope to the windows of that jail, and I'll make that team move like they've never moved before."

  Jessie shot a knowing glance at her brothers.

  "We'll do the tying," she said.

  "We'll need some of you to cause a commotion at the other end of town in order to distract the marshal. Think you can handle it?"

  The men grinned.

  "Have you ever seen a bunch of thirsty cowboys who didn't know how to cause a commotion?"

  "You'll need a fast horse for Mr. Purdy," Jessie added.

  "Once that jail comes down, the marshal will be hot on our trail."

  'TO take care of his horse," one of the men said.

  "Then I guess we're all set. Let's move."

  "Just a minute," one of the men said, shoving his way to stand in front of Jessie.

  "What's in this for you, girlie?"

  She swallowed and decided to gamble with the truth.

  "My pa's in jail with Mr. Purdy. We aim to break him out, too."

  The man studied her for long silent minutes.

  Nodding, he turned to the others.

  "What're we waiting for?"

  Jessie let out the breath she'd been holding and dropped an arm around her little brother.

  "Thad," she whispered, "it's up to you to have our horses ready."

  "I'll have them."

  "Good boy. We'll see you at the jail in a few minutes."

  She hugged the young boy close, then touched Danny's sleeve.

  "Come on.

  We have work to do.

  At the sound of gunshots from the far end of town, the marshal's door opened.

  From their hiding place in the shadows, Jessie and Danny watched as Marshal Smith and Cole strode from the jail and ran toward the commotion.

  "Come on." ' Moving quickly through the shadows, Danny hoisted Jessie on his shoulders while she tied a sturdy rope around the frame of Pa's upper window.

  "What the hell are you doing?" came a whispered from within.

  "We're breaking you out of here, Pa," she called.

  " this wall comes down, be ready to ride."

  "Are you crazy? You'll have us all shot."

  "That's better than being hanged, isn't it? At least this way you'll have a fighting chance."

  "I won't have my babies risking their lives."

  Jack Cc reached as high as he could and twisted his fingers arom bars as if to stop her.

  "We're not babies, Pa."

  Her voice faded as she leaped Danny's shoulders to the ground.

  "And it's our decisio: He heard the slight muffling sounds outside, as well daughter's lowered voice at the window above Purdy' s " Who's there?

  Purdy called out.

  "Jessie Conway. Stand away from the window, Mr. P We're about to haul this wall down. And then we do, and your men had better ride like the wind. 'Cause Run Smith is going to be as mad as a hornet."

  Jessie knotted the rope around the bars and gave it a l tug.

  Leaping once more from her brother's shoulders, sh, Danny watched as the drover led the mule team towar jail.

  "Oh, no."

  Danny gave a low moan as the sounds of gu began moving closer toward them.

  "The commotion ising this way. Hurry."

  As the sounds moved even closer, Jessie and Danny i bled with the ropes, struggling to secure them despite fir that were awkward with nervousness.

  When they were ished, they nodded to the drover.

  "You know what this makes us, Jess?"

  Danny gaw sister a final solemn look.

  "I know. Criminals. Jailbreak is a serious offense. If caught, we could all hang."

  "Are you scared, Jess?"

  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely.

  "I'm scared to death. But we have to save Pa."

  "I know," he breathed against her temple.

  "I know, Jess. I'm with you."

  They drew apart and watched as Thad approached on horseback, leading three horses.

  "Where'd you find Pa's horse?"

  Danny called.

  "In the stable. They were probably going to sell him after the hanging," Thad whispered.

  "His saddle, bridle and saddlebags were still in the stall. So I helped myself to them."

  "Good boy."

  Jessie hauled herself into the saddle and gave him a trembling smile.

  The drover lifted a whip to the team.

/>   For one terrible moment they held their breaths as the team strained against its burden.

  Then, with the sound of mortar cracking and rocks tumbling, the entire wall of the jail crumbled and fell.

  Within minutes the roof of the jail house caved in on itself.

  In the dust and confusion, Big Jack Conway stumbled forward, wiping his eyes as if unable to believe what had happened.

  "Pa. Over here."

  As he staggered about, unable to get his bearings, Jessie grabbed the reins of his horse and hurried forward.

  "Come on, Pa. We have to ride."

  The gunshots were now directly in front of the jail house.

  There were shouts and curses, and Jessie knew that the marshal had discovered the jailbreak.

  As her father pulled himself into the saddle, Jessie saw Mr. Purdy mount and join the crowd of drovers who were racing out of town, scrambling for safety.

  "Thad, you take the lead," she called.

  The little boy leaned low over his horse's head.

  Behind him, Danny cradled the buffalo rifle in his arms and followed.

  Jessie waited until her father passed her safely, then took up the rear.

  For a few confused minutes the gunshots faded as the marshal and his deputy, along with Cole, assessed the situation.

  Cole took a moment to study the cloud of dust that still swirled around the pile of rubble that had been the jail.

  The mule skinner whose team had been used in the jailbreak was hopping around, swearing a blue streak and examining his animals for injuries.

  A crowd had begun to form as cowboys and saloon girls joined the townspeople from nearby houses, murmuring among themselves about the brazen trail crew who could pull off such a bold jailbreak.

  Realizing that they were losing their prisoners, the marshal and his deputy leaped on their horses and began a hasty pursuit.

  Deep in thought, Cole hesitated a minute longer.

  It was true that Purdy's men were the ones to cause the ruckus at the other end of the town.

  And there was no doubt who had handled the team.

  It would take a damned good drover to drive a mule team of that size.

  But there was more to this than a couple of drunken cowboys freeing their boss.

  Purdy was only going to spend a couple of weeks in the jail, until the marshal was satisfied that he'd learned his lesson about getting drank in Abilene.

  Jack Conway, on the other hand, was about to be hanged in the morning.

  And he was gone, too.

  Conway and his family.

  Without a trace.

  With a string of oaths, Cole realized that Jessie had outsmarted him.