leaving.”
Shelley reached in his desk drawer for a pistol. He paused for a moment, fighting to control the anger in his face. 'I didn't realize you were still here, my dear. Please stay back while I deal with a slight problem” He slowly opened one of the doors behind his desk and leaned out only a few inches.
'What the hell is going on!' he yelled and opened the door wider, revealing what looked like an empty room.
A moment later, shots rang out in rapid fire. Sage jolted backward.
Shelley seemed to straighten in slow motion, closing what was left of the shattered French door. Then he turned toward her and hit the ground, clutching his shoulder. A high-pitched scream of pain filled the office.
Sage ran to him and knelt by his side. Blood bubbled from a hole high on his arm. She clawed his hand away to see the wound as he swore.
'Bonnie!' she shouted as more shots rang out. 'Bonnie!' Shelley screamed again that he was dying and she had to help him.
Sage tugged the jacket open and tore the shirt off his shoulder. Blood covered the wound, but when she blotted it, she saw no entry point. The bullet had only grazed him, ripping flesh in a two-inch groove across the top of his arm.
'You're all right, Shelley. It's only a flesh wound. You're all right” She knew black powder could still poison the blood, but if she got the wound cleaned and let it bleed, it would heal fast.
The man seemed intent on playing a grand death scene. 'Help me,' he cried. 'It appears I will follow my brother to the grave.'
'Bonnie!' Sage cried again. When she moved to go get the nurse, Shelley's hand grabbed her wrist and begged her not to leave a dying man.
She'd been so occupied with Shelley, Sage hadn't noticed what was going on in the room beyond the French doors. The six men she'd seen in the boat a few minutes before were moving through the room toward her, their rifles pointed and ready to fire. A few of the dealers who hadn't moved fast enough at the sound of the bell were now dead on the floor between the gaming tables.
She managed to stand as two of the robbers crashed through the doors. 'Get up, Lander,' one yelled. 'If I'd wanted you dead, you would be.'
They pushed past Sage and jerked Shelley to his feet. One man pointed the barrel of the rifle against his throat, while the other one said calmly, 'We want you breathing so you can open the safe. If you cooperate, we'll leave you alive to make more money so we can rob you again one day. If you don't cooperate, we'll kill you and your little lady friend right here and torch the place. That grand safe of yours will sink in the gulf of no further use to us or you.'
'I'm not his lady friend,' Sage said before she thought to stay quiet. 'I'm a doctor, and this man needs medical attention”
They both looked at her as if she were completely mad. And she was more mad than frightened. Shelley, no matter how much of an idiot, was her patient, and these robbers were interfering with her care.
The one with the gun against Shelley asked, 'Is that true? Is this little woman a doctor?'
Shelley was too frightened to think of anything but himself. 'Yes, it's true, and she's trying to keep me from dying. I've got a weak heart. I could go any second”
'Then open the safe fast” the other man yelled as he kicked Shelley hard enough to push him to his knees.
Shelley followed orders, whining and swearing with every move.
As soon as the safe's door swung out, the man with the gun hit Shelley over the head hard with the butt of his gun. 'That'll help you forget about dying.' He laughed.
Sage dropped down by Shelley's body. Now the poor man had two wounds she'd have to deal with. As soon as he woke, he'd not only complain about being robbed, he'd probably think he was dying of brain damage as well.
One of the men shoved all the cash in the safe into an old leather saddlebag.
'Got it” he said as he stood. 'Wave for the boys to shoot up the place and let's get out of here”
The second man turned to the shattered French doors, waved, and turned back. His black eyes looked straight at Sage. 'You're really a doctor?'
'Yes,' she said as shots rang out.
'Then you're coming with us.' His black eyes danced. 'Grab her bag, and let's get out of here.'
The other man agreed and, before Sage could fight, they'd each grabbed one of her arms and started back through the shambles of what was left of the gaming room. She almost called for Bonnie, then stopped, suddenly hoping the nurse was still hiding in the shadows of the darkened hallway. Maybe she'd even managed to run free to get help.
When Drum heard of this, he'd kill them all, if the Rangers didn't find them first. She wasn't just some woman in port they were kidnapping, she was Sage McMurray. These two-bit crooks had no idea of the hell they were pulling down upon them.
Sage kicked and screamed and tried to bite her kidnappers, but neither seemed to notice as they shoved her out the back door onto a rain-slippery dock. One held her while the other tied her hands behind her and added another rope at about knee level around her skirts, then they tossed her in the boat with the bag of money. As she drew in air to scream, one of them strapped a gag around her mouth.
'Hush up, little doc,' came a low whisper from behind her. 'We ain't gonna hurt you. We're just gonna keep you”
Wiggling and kicking at everything and everyone crowded into the boat, Sage barely saw the oar rise above her head. A moment later she watched it fall, and all went black.
Her last thought was that she wasn't going to make it back to the hotel before dark.
CHAPTER 10
BONNIE HEARD THE SOUND OF THE BELL AND SHOUTS. She took a step toward the office and Sage.
Tony's thick arm blocked her way. 'Not so fast,' he muttered. 'The boss is real big on rules.”
'Something's wrong” She started to explain why she had to go to Sage.
Angry shouts exploded and echoed through the room and down the hallway.
'No,' the man whispered. 'The bell means trouble in the big room. Mr. Shelley will handle it”
Shots sounded close enough to have hit the study. Bonnie stretched her neck to see into the room.
'Gunfire,' she said as if the stout man beside her might not know what the sound meant.
He pushed her backward down the hall, knocking off her glasses when he rushed into the study to investigate.
Bonnie steadied herself and prepared to barge her way past the man just as a hand slapped around her mouth and another about her waist, pulling her backward.
'Quiet.” someone said from behind her. 'Or you'll end up in the middle of a robbery.'
She thought of trying to fight but realized the body against her back was taller than her. She twisted enough to see his hat and knew it had to be the cowboy. He'd come to her aid.
'We got to get out of here, or we're liable to be dead”
'No,' she struggled. 'I'm not going anywhere without the doc.'
The cowboy appeared deaf. He locked one arm around her and lifted her up against his side. In what seemed like very few steps, he was out the door and halfway down the dock. With no pause, he dropped off the pier into the fading light of a golden sunset. His arm still held Bonnie so tightly she couldn't breathe. Landing in the soft, damp sand, he whistled, and a horse bumped against them from the shadows beneath the dock.
'Easy boy, easy,' he whispered as he grabbed the reins with his free hand. 'How about taking the little lady for a ride?'
'No,' she protested as gunfire went wild inside the gaming house. 'I'm not going anywhere”
He lifted her up onto his horse and swung up behind her in one fluid movement. Before she could build a grand scream, he tapped the mount, and they were at full gallop. In panic, Bonnie stopped yelling and hung on for dear
