for a while and has been hiding out for over a year. Once he gets around family, he’ll settle in for a bit.”
But Nick was thinking of a bit more than Lester wanting to rest up and get a hot meal in his belly. Nick knew a thing or two about being on the run and he also knew about what it was like to be hunted. There was a time when the prey wanted nothing more than to turn the tables and take a bite at its pursuers. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that now would be that time for Lester. Nick could feel it just as surely as he could feel the impulse to take a shot at Kinman.
Since there was still an outside chance that there was a bit of tracking to be done, Nick nodded and said, “I think you’re right. Lester probably spent his first couple hours eating or sleeping. By that time, he’s got to know that we’d be after him.”
“He knows, all right,” Kinman said with a grin. “The only question now is what he intends to do about it.”
Glancing overhead to take note of the crisp, blue sky, Nick said, “It’ll be dark in a while. Lester’s probably not going to move until after the sun goes down.”
“You really think he’ll wait that long?”
Nick was nodding as if he’d only heard that question in the back of his mind. “He’s dug in, so there’s no reason to do anything when he can still be sighted. Riding at night will make it easier for him to slip away and try to regain his lead on us. That is, unless he’s already long gone.”
“Riding at night will also make it easier for him to trip up or stumble somewhere along the way,” Kinman offered.
Nick shook his head. “He knows this land better than we do. The dark will only work to his advantage.”
“Lester’s been hiding out in Oregon for half a year or more. Before that, he was working his way up from Texas.”
“He still knows this area. Even if he’s been here once before, that’s once more than me. What about you?”
Kinman shrugged and shifted his gaze forward. “I see your point. How do you want to approach him?”
“Let’s find him first and work out the rest once we get there.”
Both men snapped their reins and rode in a path that skirted Hackett’s limits.
It didn’t take long for them to ride close enough to catch sight of the run-down spread inhabited by Lester’s cousins. Of course, finding it was doubly easy, since there were four sets of marked tracks that all led to the same spot. Two sets were headed toward the spread and two headed away, each like individual strands of a web that were all connected to the same central point.
“Jesus Christ,” Kinman muttered from his spot in the grass well away from the house. “No wonder Lester came here.”
Nick lay stretched out on his belly directly beside Kinman. Both of them squinted through spyglasses as various members of the household in front of them went about their business. Every cousin was armed.
“You see Lester yet?” Nick asked.
Kinman kept the spyglass to his eyes and said, “Nope, but his horse is in the barn.”
Since he could only see a few noses inside that barn from this vantage point, Nick was about to question the validity of Kinman’s statement. Then Nick took a look for himself and spotted one horse’s nose that was splotched in a pattern of white, black and brown that seemed very familiar.
“That’s Lester’s horse all right,” Nick admitted. “Good eye.”
“It’s what I do.” When Kinman looked over at Nick, he saw the other man setting his spyglass down and taking off his coat.
“Stay here and give me a few minutes to get in closer.”
“Oh, no you don’t. We’re going in together. If they see you, they’ll start shooting and it’ll be that much harder for me to get in to do anything but catch some lead.”
“They won’t see me,” Nick assured him.
“And how can you be sure of that?”
“Because it’s what I do.”
Seeing Kinman’s aggravation put a warm feeling in Nick’s heart. He pulled his sleeves all the way down and buttoned them so they remained tight against his wrists. His holster was repositioned on his side and tied to his leg to keep it out of his way. By the time anyone knew he was there, Nick would have plenty of time to get the Schofield in hand. If not, he would have a lot bigger problems than shaving half a second off of his drawing speed.
Nick kept his belly in the grass and half-crawled, half-slithered toward the house. Whenever he reached a patch of higher weeds or bushes, Nick allowed himself to get his feet beneath him and scramble forward. It wasn’t the quickest way to travel, but he got to the house without drawing a glance or making more than a subtle rustle to announce he was there. He circled around to the side of the property opposite the barn.
Just then, a door slammed and Nick froze in his spot. His belly pressed against the dirt and his legs stretched out behind him. The sun was on its way down, but it would be a while before dark. As steps knocked against the front porch, Nick eased his arm down to his holster and kept it there. He was ready to draw, but didn’t want to tip his hand unless it was absolutely necessary.
The man who’d opened the door was a big fellow with a long, unkempt beard. He had a rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Holding both guns over his shoulders, the bearded man strutted out and cleared his throat noisily.
“Take this shotgun, Ann.”
When he heard the woman respond, Nick twitched. She’d been so quiet that he hadn’t even heard her come outside.
“Keep it,” she replied.
“We been through this already. There’s some men that might be comin’ and we’ll need all the help we can get when they arrive. You don’t have to hit anything. Just fire and keep them off their balance.”
“I ain’t taking no shotgun, Wesley, and that’s that.”
Nick heard a few more heavy steps, followed by the creak of a rocking chair. He pushed himself up a bit, but couldn’t see much more than the back of the chair and the big man leaning down to it. The post at the corner of the porch was blocking Nick’s view of the woman Wesley was talking to.
“You’re taking this shotgun and you’re helping to defend this house, God dammit,” Wesley snarled.
“Defend this house or defend those goddamn jewels? I’d be more than happy to do one, but not the other.”
“If you want to keep living off that money, you’d best do both.”
“Then talk to Stephanie,” Ann said. “I’m sure she’ll fight to the death if it means she can gussy herself up with some more diamonds.”
Nick could feel the tension building as if it was heat rolling in on a summer day. Although he’d never met the man or his wife, he knew what was coming.
“Take it!” Wesley snapped. He extended his arm and shoved the shotgun at her.
That was followed by the sounds of a wheezing breath and creaking wood. As soon as Nick heard that, his stomach began to clench. His instinct was to do something before things went any further. Then again, he was also desperately looking around for a sign of Lester or the other cousin Kinman had mentioned. He could hear movement coming from somewhere, but couldn’t narrow it down since Wesley was creating such a ruckus.
“I won’t take it!” Ann insisted. “What if the law comes? You want me to shoot them too?”
“You’ll take it because I say so, bitch. Otherwise, I’ll knock you through the goddamn window.”
Nick gritted his teeth and waited another couple of seconds. It became quiet, but that ended with the sound of flesh slapping against flesh.
“You gonna do what I say?” Wesley asked. “Or do I need to smack some more sense through that fuc —”
“That’s enough!” Nick said as he straightened up and drew his pistol.
Wesley towered over Ann as both of them turned to look at Nick.
“Leave her be,” Nick said.
Wesley and Ann responded at the same time by taking their weapons and aiming them at Nick.
Nick’s eyes widened as he reflexively dove for cover. He’d been expecting Wesley to make a move like that,
