He tried to relax. Brick had one of them down. Four to go.
The riders seemed to be quickening their pace through the pines. One of his log swings snapped in the darkness. He heard an oouft sound followed by a loud thump as a body hit the ground. An instant later, a horse ran past him—sans its rider.
Angus sprang into action, moving quickly toward where he’d heard the man fall. As he neared, he heard mewing sounds. Gun drawn, he pounced on the man only to have him cry out in pain.
“My arm,” the man cried. “It’s broken.” His eyes widened as he saw the gun in Angus’s hand. “Don’t kill me. None of this was my idea.” The man began to cry.
Angus saw that there was no way to tie the man’s hands, so he took the man’s weapon and tied his ankles together along with the wrist of his good arm.
“You have to get me a doctor,” the man pleaded. “I don’t want to die out here.”
He hurriedly put his hand over the man’s mouth. “Where’s T.D.?” he asked the man quietly and released his grip on the man’s mouth long enough to let him answer.
“I don’t know. I thought he was with us, but I haven’t seen him since we left camp.”
He quickly gagged the man, fearing it was too late. The others could have heard him. But none of them had come to his aid. At least not yet.
In the distance he heard another of the booby traps snap off to his left. Brick had another one down, followed by the meadowlark whistle. As another booby trap went off, he waited but heard nothing. That one must have missed. Or maybe the man had wised up and gotten off his horse.
To Angus’s count, they had three down. That left two men. Did Brick have T.D.? If not, was he one of the two left? He hoped they’d heard what was going on and had headed back. He listened, hearing nothing but the pounding of his own heart.
That was until he heard an earsplitting racket coming from camp and then dead silence.
THE FIRST SIGNS of daylight cast an eerie dark gray shadow over the mountainside. From her perch in one of the large old pines, Ella saw that a riderless horse had set off her alarm in the camp. She watched the horse head for the corral where their horses whinnied and moved around restlessly.
So where was the rider? She felt anxious, worried about what was happening in the forest beyond the camp. But she wasn’t about to leave Max. She’d promised Jinx she would make sure he was safe.
He sat with his back against the rock rim, his shotgun resting in his lap. She watched from her tree perch. The clouds had parted some. The sky to the east lightened in the area around her, and she wondered how long before dawn. Her eyes felt dry and scratchy from staring into the darkness of the pines.
She listened but heard nothing but the cattle lowing in the meadow higher up the mountain. Closer, she heard the steady beat of her heart as she waited and prayed that the others were all right. And yet as she waited, she feared something had gone wrong. She kept thinking about the horse that had set off her alarm—and its empty saddle. Where was the man who’d been riding it?
JINX TENSED AS she heard the noise coming from camp, but before she could react, she heard a rider bearing down on her. She had her gun ready, hoping she didn’t have to use it. A riderless horse burst out of the darkness and ran past her.
She let out the breath she’d been holding and tried to relax. The horse had come from the direction of the camp. She told herself that Ella would take care of whoever had set off the alarm back there—just as she would make sure Max was safe. If she was able.
Listening, Jinx heard nothing. The quiet was more unnerving than the racket had been. She had no idea how many of the men were down. Or if any of them had turned back. All she knew was that unless they had T.D., he was still on this mountain somewhere. Maybe even closer by than she knew. That thought sent a shudder through her. She feared how badly things could go on this mountainside.
The sound of the gunshot made her jump. It had come from higher up on the mountain. Brick. Her heart dropped. She knew Angus would go to him. She could hear movement through the pines off to her right. It was still pitch black in the pines, but the sky was lightening in the distance. Soon the sun would rise. Soon she would be able to see who was coming at her.
A closer sound made her freeze. She sensed T.D. even before she heard the swish of his boots through the tall grass behind her, followed by the smell of the alcohol on his breath as she swung around, leading with the pistol in her hand.
T.D. was on her so quickly she didn’t have time to even pull the trigger. He covered her mouth with his gloved hand before she could scream as he ripped the pistol from her grip. Tossing the weapon away into the darkness, he put his face against the side of hers and whispered, “Hello, wife. Don’t you wish you’d just paid me off when I asked nicely?”
Chapter Fourteen
Angus ran through the pines toward the sound of the gunshot, knowing where it had come from. His brother was in trouble. There hadn’t been the meadowlark whistle as hard as he had listened for it. The clouds had moved off, leaving a lighter ceiling overhead as daylight peeked through the pines.
He could make out shapes
