“Look past them,” Warren said, using the binoculars he’d pulled out of his own satchel. “There on the porch.”
I’d been so shocked by Sophia’s appearance that I hadn’t noticed that three men had also stepped out of the house behind her—and that they all had guns in their
hands.
“No doubt, Grimes will have them shoot her, but not
kill her, if she steps out of line,” I said. “She’s still injured, though. See how she’s limping?”
Sophia favored her right leg with every step that she
took, dragging her left one along behind her in an awkward shuffle. Her left arm also hung limply by her side, and one of her cheeks was red from where Grimes had slapped and burned her in the salon. I didn’t see any blood on her, though, so Grimes must have at least bandaged her wounds. Well, that was something, although he was still going to suffer for everything that he’d done to her and Jo-Jo.
Owen handed me back the binoculars, and I focused in on Sophia again. Grimes squired her around the yard, dragging her over to the picket fence and pointing out the roses to her. Sophia hobbled along beside him as best she could. But through the binoculars, I could see exactly how cold, hard, and flat her expression was and the way her black eyes kept darting around, desperately looking for an escape.
But there was nowhere for her to go.
Even if she could have gotten away from Grimes, there was nothing but clear space all around her, which would make it all too easy for one of the men on the porch to step forward, take aim, and put a bullet in her back.
Still, she tried.
Sophia waited until Grimes turned his head, and then she brought up her good arm and punched him in the face, making his spiffy white hat fly off his head. She kept hold of him, spun him around, and hooked her arm around his throat, using Grimes as a shield between her and the guys with guns on the porch. She also plucked Grimes’s revolver out of the holster on his belt, thumbed back the trigger, and held the weapon up to his head.
Sophia didn’t say a word, but she didn’t have to. Her meaning was crystal-clear. If any of the men followed her, she’d shoot Grimes in the head with his own gun. I thought she should go ahead and do that anyway.
Apparently, Sophia had the same idea, because she pulled the trigger.
I could hear exactly how empty the revolver was all the way up on the ridge.
“Really, Sophia,” Grimes drawled, his voice drifting up to our location. “You didn’t think that I’d keep a loaded gun anywhere you could get your hands on it, now, did you?”
Sophia growled and smashed the weapon into the side of his head. She shoved Grimes forward, then turned and ran away as fast as she could on her injured leg.
Sophia hadn’t gone ten steps before a ball of elemental Fire streaked through the air and slammed into her back.
One second, Sophia was hobbling across the yard as fast as she could. The next, she’d fallen to the ground, rolling around in the dirt and trying to smother the flames that scorched her skin.
Hazel walked out from around the side of the house, where she must have been waiting for Sophia to make a break for it. She had swapped the red wrap dress that she’d had on in the salon that morning for a similar one in the same off-white as Grimes’s suit. She stopped in the yard long enough to help Grimes get to his feet and re— trieve his white hat. Then she walked over to Sophia, who was on her back on the ground. Hazel gave her an evil grin, then started kicking her.
Over and over again, Hazel drove her foot into Sophia’s body. Sophia grunted with every blow, but she didn’t give Hazel the satisfaction of screaming. Still, every vicious kick that Hazel inflicted on her was like a knife slicing into my own heart.
“Warren,” I asked between gritted teeth. “Please tell me that you can shoot that bitch from here.”
He shook his head. “I could, but you know that will give away our position. The second I fire, Grimes will know that we’re here, and it’ll all be over.”
“All right, then. I’ll take care of it.”
I started to get to my feet, but Owen grabbed my arm.
“Stop,” he said. “Stop and think for a second. Warren’s right. We need to hold on to the element of surprise as long as we can. Going down there right now is suicide.
We all know it. Grimes’s men will cut you down before
you get halfway across the clearing. Or worse, they’ll capture you along with Sophia.”
“I know,” I said, choking out the words. “But I can’t stay here and do nothing. Not while they’re hurting her —”
“Enough!” Harley Grimes’s voice rang out through the clearing as he strode forward. “That’s enough!”
Hazel gave Sophia one more hard, vicious, brutal kick, then reluctantly backed away.
I held my breath, waiting to see how badly injured Sophia was. But after a few seconds, she rolled over onto her right side, then slowly pushed herself up. It took her a few more seconds to stagger back up onto her feet. Dirt, leaves, and grass stained the skirt of her white dress, while the back was scorched from Hazel’s elemental Fire. Her hair had come loose from its ponytail, and the white ribbon lay crumpled in the dust. Sophia shoved her black locks back off her face, leaving a bloody streak on her cheek on top of the burn that was already there, and fixed her cold gaze on Hazel.
“Wimp,” she rasped. “That didn’t even tickle.”
Anger mottled Hazel’s face, and she started forward, fists clenched, ready to hit Sophia some more. But Grimes held his arm out, stopping his sister.
“I said that’s
She put her hands on her hips and glared down her nose at her brother. “You’re not going to let her get away with this, are you?” Hazel demanded. “I
“Sophia has always been high-spirited,” Grimes said.
“That’s one of the qualities that I admire most about her.”
Grimes moved forward. He held out a hand, as though he was going to caress Sophia’s cheek, but she jerked back out of his reach and curled her lips at him in disgust.
Grimes regarded her for a moment, then slapped her across the face, just like he had in the salon. He was much stronger than Hazel, and the brutal blow sent Sophia spinning to the ground again.
“But you’re right, sister,” Grimes said in a calm, cold voice. “Sophia does need to be punished for her insolence, and I know exactly how to do it.”
He gestured at the men still standing on the porch.
They hurried into the clearing. Two of them grabbed Sophia’s arms and hauled her to her feet, while the third kept his gun trained on her.
“Bring her,” Grimes said.
He pivoted on his heel and strode off toward the east end of camp. The men forced Sophia to follow him, while
Hazel brought up the rear.
I looked at Warren. “Do you know where they’re taking her?”
He nodded, his face dark, grim, and troubled. “I have a good idea. And if I’m right, then it’s the same wretched place that Fletcher and I rescued her from before.”
