The Night Is Forever

“Ghosts don’t just appear on command!” Olivia felt the gun against her waist. There had to be a chance for her to use it. Maybe now...

By the time she drew it out, she’d be dead.

“Keep moving and quit stalling.”

“Why? Because you know it’s all over? That someone will come searching for the two of us.”

“If they do, we’ll go out together,” Mariah promised her sweetly. She smiled. “You’re always telling the kids to do their best—to reach for what they want and work hard to achieve it. I’m just listening to you, Olivia. So, keep moving. We’re almost there.”

They rode again and came to the point in the copse where they had to dismount so they could walk the trail to the cemetery.

“Do you think the general’s going to hang around his grave?” Olivia asked.

“You’d better hope,” Mariah muttered. “Now, get down.”

Olivia dismounted. Mariah waved the gun she was carrying.

“Move.”

Olivia followed the trail to the small cemetery where General Rufus Cunningham’s mortal remains lay buried. It was still daylight, but the surrounding trees shaded them from the sun.

* * *

The cemetery, situated in the shadow of the forest, was touched by traces of sunlight. It was difficult to tell if anyone had used the trail leading to the cemetery in the past hour or so. Although there were a few signs of recent use, he couldn’t be sure. Still, as they neared the small collection of graves, Dustin became convinced that he was right—and that Jimmy Callahan had been right, as well.

He reined in before they came to the clearing in the woods. Behind him, Malachi and Abby stopped, too.

He slid down from Chapparal and walked back to Malachi. “There are some broken branches here that seem fresh. I think they dismounted a short distance ahead and walked to the cemetery. There’s really only one main trail. I’m going to crawl through some of the trees and bushes to approach from the other side.” He hesitated. “If I get a clean shot at Mariah...”

“Take it,” Malachi told him. “I intend to do the same. Abby and I will tether the horses and come up along the old trail.”

Dustin tried to move as quietly as possible—and as quickly as possible.

He thought of the different situations he’d faced in his life.

This was just one woman.

One crazy-ass woman with a gun—a gun she was pointing at Olivia.

He paused, stepping on bracken and expecting to hear the crack of a branch. But he heard nothing. Until, moving forward, he heard voices.

“Olivia, I’m from this land—don’t you get it? This land right here. You’re from the city.”

“And don’t you get it, Mariah? It’s all connected. The city needs the country, the country needs the city. Look, if you want to see the general...you have to be open to him. And he has to be in the area.”

Malachi finally came up on the cemetery. He hid behind one of the trees that grew around the little area, as if they were nature’s homage to the dead.

They were at the general’s grave site.

Mariah had Olivia by the arm. Her gun was wedged into Olivia’s side. He could take a shot; he could kill her easily. But there was no guarantee she’d go down before she pulled her own trigger.

Mariah suddenly swung Olivia around. Dustin could see that she was sweating, agitated. The hand that held the gun against Olivia was jerky. The trigger might be pulled easily.

“Where is he?” Mariah demanded.

They were looking right at his position, right at where he stood. Dustin straightened his cavalry jacket and pulled the plumed hat he wore lower over his forehead.

“Mariah,” Olivia said. “I told you—I’ve tried to explain. Ghosts don’t appear on command. They exist, and if you’re just open to them—”

“I’ve spent my life being open to the general!” Mariah shouted. “He’s part of me, part of my soul, my existence! You’ve got ten seconds, Olivia—ten seconds!”

Olivia suddenly spun around, jerking something out from under her shirt. She fumbled with it; Mariah, thrown from her, fired.

Thankfully, the shot went wild.

Olivia fired, too. The recoil sent her falling back and she tripped, crashing into a tombstone, the gun flying from her grasp. Mariah stumbled to her feet and half walked, half crawled over to Olivia, rising with the gun aimed directly at her.

“Miss Mariah!” Dustin said in a hollow voice, stepping from the trees.

Tension knotted in him fiercely; he was no actor.

“Miss Mariah!”

Mariah turned and looked at him. For a moment, she stared at him in awe. Then she smiled and slowly raised her gun. “You’re not a ghost!” she said. “But good try, Agent Blake.”

“I’m not alone, Mariah. If you fire that gun, you’re going to go down in a hail of bullets.”

She aimed at Olivia again. “She goes with me,” Mariah said.

Dustin felt something touch him—or almost touch him. He closed his eyes, praying that the real general had come. A man seemed to rise from mist and take shape before him.

It wasn’t the general. It was Marcus Danby.

“I am a ghost, Mariah. I’m a ghost because you killed me. And because you tried to ruin the good that honest, caring people were doing. You won’t join me, Mariah, when you die. I’m not sure what lies beyond this— where I am now—but I know you won’t be there. I can feel sun and light—and all you can feel is darkness.”

Mariah’s gun remained on Olivia. She frowned, as if trying to ascertain how they’d created the illusion she was seeing.

Someone else stepped forward, entering into the green shadows of the little cemetery.

Aaron.

“We tried to get the general to come, Mariah,” Aaron said. “But he doesn’t want to know you.”

“This is bullshit!” Mariah cried. She turned to take aim at Olivia again.

Dustin moved as he’d never moved before. He was out of the trees as if he were propelled by a sudden spark of fire. He caught Mariah in a tackle and brought her down, rolling with her.

She was strong; they fought for the gun.

A shot went off and Mariah screamed in agony. Dustin tried to wrench her gun from her but it eluded them both and landed several feet away. But the woman had been shot—and he realized that Olivia had recovered her own gun and managed to fire off a round.

Despite the fact that she was bleeding, Mariah strained to reach her weapon. Yet she suddenly went still and Dustin struggled with her weight, trying to move around her. And then he saw what she saw.

The general had come. He stood with his foot on the gun.

“Not on this land!” he said. “Not on this land. Cruelty and murder will not happen, not on my land.”

Dustin inched forward; his fingers grasped the weapon and he threw Mariah off him. She huddled in a ball, sobbing.

Malachi burst into the cemetery with Abby at his side.

“It’s done,” the general said.

And he faded away. The ghost of Marcus Danby grinned and saluted Dustin, then faded, too.

Aaron, also, was gone. Malachi had rushed to his cousin’s side, while Abby assessed Mariah’s injuries.

Dustin turned quickly to reach Olivia. She was hugging Malachi, but she pulled away and smiled tremulously at him.

“You’d make a horrible reenactor,” she said.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. You, uh, need to learn how to shoot,” he told her.

She nodded. “I guess I do.”