Blood Bond: Deadly Road to Yuma

But the shots from the shed meant that Jeffries had found Joshua. Garth gritted his teeth against the pain, and leaned against the window in the side of the cab as he waited to see who would come out from behind the little building.

Jeffries appeared a moment later, leading an obviously unsteady Joshua Shade. Joshua’s feet were free, and he was unwinding some cut ropes from around his wrists. The gag in his mouth was gone.

“Praise the Lord!” Shade cried as he climbed into the cab, helped up by Jeffries. “You’ve freed me from the heathens, Brother Willard!”

“Good to see you…Boss,” Garth managed to get out. “What about Thorpe…and the deputy?”

“I plugged both of them,” Jeffries said as he climbed into the cab behind Shade. “You were right, Garth. They thought I was the conductor and didn’t know any different until I had lead in them.” He laughed curtly. “I never saw anybody look so surprised as that damned marshal.”

Garth heard more shooting, and looked back to see the rest of the gang slamming bullets at the passenger cars as they galloped past. That was a good distraction, but not necessary now.

“Let’s get…outta here,” he said as he shoved the throttle forward. “Jeffries…go back behind the tender and uncouple the rest o’ the cars…No need in haulin’ them with us.”

Jeffries nodded, and started along the walkway on the side of the coal tender as the train began to pick up speed.

Shade looked at Garth and said, “You’re hurt, Brother Willard.”

“It don’t matter,” Garth said. “All that matters is…we finally got you away from those damn lawmen, Joshua.”

“Yes, and again, praise the Lord for that. We’re going back to Arrowhead and Pancake Flats and wipe those dens of iniquity off the face of the earth. They deserve to be punished by holy fire for how they treated a humble servant of the Lord.”

“Gonna have to…build the gang back up first,” Garth suggested. “We lost a bunch o’ men…tryin’ to get you loose.”

“Very well. The Lord’s work takes time.”

Garth hunched over against the pain as another coughing fit seized him. As it faded away, he realized that Joshua hadn’t thanked him yet. Joshua was quick to give the Lord credit, but it was Garth with a bullet through his lungs who was slowly drowning in his own blood.

But it didn’t matter, Garth told himself. He’d been willing to do whatever it took to save his friend from the hangman, even if it cost his own life.

Still, a simple gracias would have been nice…

Garth’s head slumped onto his chest and he died then with his hand on the throttle. The weight of his hand slowly shoved the control forward, and the train began to pick up even more speed.

Chapter 38

A few minutes earlier, the eyes of Sam Two Wolves had flickered open as he sprawled there on the ground next to the locomotive. He hadn’t been unconscious long, only a minute or so, and the memory of being shot by the man in the conductor’s uniform came back to him instantly.

His vision was blurred at first, but as he heard more shots, his sight began to clear, and as he looked up at the cab through slitted eyelids, he saw the craggy-faced outlaw leaning against the side of the cab by the controls, and Joshua Shade being helped up into it by the phony conductor.

Sam wanted to find his gun and start shooting at them, but his muscles flatly refused to work. The shock of being wounded had paralyzed them momentarily.

He realized a second later that that shock had probably just saved his life. If he’d tried to struggle upright, the outlaws would have filled him full of lead. As it was, they were ignoring him, as if they were convinced he was dead.

Having no real choice in the matter, Sam lay there gathering his strength. He heard shooting all up and down the other side of the train, and wondered where his blood brother was. Knowing Matt Bodine, he was right in the thick of the fighting.

Steam hissed, and the train began to move.

As the cab pulled away from him, Sam rolled onto his side and then over on his belly. His hands and feet pushed against the ground, lifting him into a crouch. He would have liked to rest a while longer before having to move again, but the outlaws were getting away with Shade—and stealing a whole blasted train to boot!

Sam stumbled toward the coal tender. It had a walkway with a short railing on each side. Sam lunged toward it and reached out. He caught hold of the railing and pushed off hard with his feet, throwing a leg up onto the walkway.

Then he hung there, his other leg dragging on the gravel roadbed next to the rails, unable to pull himself up any farther. If he let go, he might fall under the wheels and be chopped to pieces. With his head thrown back, his teeth bared in an agonized grimace, and cords of muscle standing out in his neck, he struggled to save himself from that grisly fate.

Matt left Jessica Devlin where she was and ran forward through the first passenger car. He flung the door open and hurried out onto the platform, carrying the Winchester at a slant across his chest.

The first thing he saw was the conductor kneeling on the narrow platform at the rear of the coal tender. Matt realized with a shock that the man was struggling to uncouple the rest of the train from the locomotive and the tender. There was no good reason for him to be doing that…

Unless he wasn’t really the conductor.