Blood Bond: Deadly Road to Yuma

The marshal shook his head. “Tonight or tomorrow morning, I hope. The sooner we get Shade on a train rolling toward Yuma, the better.”

“Amen to that,” Matt said as he sat up on top of the wagon. His hat had come off when he leaped from the bluff onto the vehicle, and now it hung behind his head by its chin strap. He tapped Sam’s shoulder and pointed. “My horse.”

The horse was trotting along the trail up ahead. It stopped in response to the piercing whistle Matt let out, and when the wagon drew closer, Sam slowed the vehicle so that his blood brother could slide over the side and drop to the ground.

Matt went to his mount and sheathed the reloaded rifle. He swung up into the saddle, lifted the reins, and rode out ahead of the wagon once more. The lone remaining guard trailed behind the wagon, his head swiveling on his neck as he checked their back trail frequently for any sign of the outlaws from Shade’s gang.

Now that this latest attempt to rescue Shade had failed, Sam’s thoughts turned back to the conversation he’d been having with Marshal Thorpe just before the shooting started. He said, “Marshal, doesn’t it seem strange that you were ordered to deliver Shade to Yuma practically on your own?”

The lawman shrugged. “That’s my job.”

“Yes, but the odds against you being able to do it are high, and your boss had to know that.”

“I’ve gotten Shade this far, haven’t I?” Thorpe snapped.

“Yes, but you’re still a long way from Yuma.”

“Not that far by train. It won’t take more than half a day to get there once we board.”

“You’ve still got to get on board,” Sam pointed out.

“What’s your point, Two Wolves?”

“I think something more is going on than just taking Shade to Yuma to be hanged,” Sam said. “I haven’t figured out what it is yet, but there has to be a reason the government wants things done this way.”

Thorpe shook his head. “You’re seeing conspiracies where there aren’t any,” he said. “You’re making it sounds like the government wants Shade to get away.”

Sam looked over at Thorpe and cocked an eyebrow, as if to ask if that might not be the case. Thorpe just snorted in disdain.

A few minutes later, a patch of green appeared up ahead, an oasis of color in the mostly drab brown-and-tan landscape. The terrain had smoothed out so that it was as flat as could be. Thorpe nodded toward the vegetation and said, “That’s got to be the settlement. There’s a spring there, or so I’ve heard.”

The sun was almost down. Night would fall quickly as soon as the blazing orb dropped below the horizon.

“I just hope we don’t have to spend much time there,” Sam said.

“You and Bodine plan on going all the way to Yuma, eh?”

“We’ve come this far. I don’t expect we’ll turn back now.”

“What if I tell you I don’t want you coming with me and Shade?”

“The railroads are public conveyances, Marshal,” Sam pointed out. “I’m not sure you can stop us.”

“I could have the local law lock you up.”

“But you’re not going to do that, are you?”

Thorpe didn’t answer for a moment. Then he shook his head and said, “No, I’m not. I’m no fool, Two Wolves. I know I wouldn’t have made it this far with Shade if not for the help I’ve gotten from you and Bodine. But don’t forget who’s in charge.”

“We won’t, Marshal,” Sam promised.

But at the same time, he knew that he and Matt were going to do everything in their power to see that Joshua Shade wound up at the end of a hangrope where he belonged.

Chapter 26

Willard Garth was at his wit’s end. Twice, he had led the men—his men, damn it, as long as Joshua Shade was a prisoner!—against that blasted marshal in attacks that by all rights should have been successful.

And twice those attacks had been beaten back, thanks in large part to the audacity and deadly gun-handling of Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves.

Four more men had died during this latest fracas, leaving fourteen members of the gang still alive. A few of those fourteen had minor wounds, but nothing that would keep them out of the next fight.

There would be a next fight, Garth vowed to himself as the gang regrouped and the wounded men were tended to. He hadn’t come this far, risked this much, just to let Shade be taken to Yuma and hanged. They would free him somehow.

But the task had gotten more difficult now, and Garth knew it as he stared across the flat expanse to the spot where lights were beginning to be visible in the gathering shadows. That was the settlement where Thorpe planned to catch the train. There would be people around, and buildings where the lawman could hole up with his prisoner.

Even worse, a westbound train might come through this evening, and Thorpe could get on it with Joshua. If that happened, Garth would have to figure out some way to stop the train before it reached Yuma.

He looked around and settled his gaze on one of his remaining men. “Hennessy, ride southeast and find a place