rescue me?”
“I was going to rescue you,” Gentry insisted. “You know I never would’ve let you hang, sweetheart. I planned to save Dayton and Jim, too, while I was at it, but you’re the one I really care about.”
“But Brubaker was takin’ me to Tyler! That’s more than ... a hundred miles east of here. And you weren’t followin’ us ...”
“I sent men to the crossings along the Red River, once I realized that lawman was cutting across Indian Territory,” Gentry explained. “I had to find out where you were.”
“I know ... about that. We ran into some kid named Nesbit.”
“Early Nesbit,” Gentry agreed. “He was working for me, Cara. I planned to go back and check with all those spies and find out which way you’d gone.”
“That’s what the kid said. But it doesn’t make sense, Hank. Even if you’d doubled back after you got the loot, you wouldn’t have had time ... to find us and get us away from that lawdog ... before we were locked up in Tyler!”
So she had figured it out, Scratch thought. Well, he wasn’t surprised. Cara was loco, but she was smart, too, and especially cunning when it came to saving her own hide.
And she had to realize now that Hank Gentry hadn’t had any intention of trying to rescue her and Lowe and Elam from the law. Oh, maybe at first that had been his plan, Scratch mused. Gentry might have even been sincere when he sent Early Nesbit and those other would-be owlhoots to keep an eye on the Red River crossings.
But sometime since then, he had decided that it just wasn’t worth the time and trouble. He had come to the conclusion that it would be better to let the three prisoners stand trial and hang while he and the rest of the gang lit a shuck for their old hideout, recovered the loot stashed there, and then shook the dust of this part of the country off their boots. Scratch had no doubt that if the fire hadn’t interfered with their plans, Gentry and the other outlaws would be riding west right now, headed for California.
A nervous tone had crept into Gentry’s voice as he said, “Don’t worry about any of that, Cara. We’re together now, and that’s all that matters. We were lucky enough to find this place, and as soon as the fire goes on past us, we’ll get out of here. Folks around these parts will be too busy trying to recover from this disaster to worry about us. We’ll be out of Texas before you know it.”
“Maybe,” Cara said, but Scratch thought she didn’t sound convinced.
All the outlaws were coughing now. Ryan suggested, “Better get your bandannas out and soak them with water from the canteens. Then tie ’em around your face and breathe through ’em.”
That was a good idea, Scratch thought. He soaked his bandanna and tied it on, and that helped with the smoke. The others really looked like outlaws now with their faces masked, and he supposed he did, too.
This cavelike area was about fifty feet up the face of the ridge. Down below, the flames had reached the valley. The grass and the trees and the brush were burning furiously, sending even more smoke into the air. Scratch’s lungs burned and ached. His hope now was that the wind would keep blowing as hard as it had been all day, because then the fire would move on quickly and burn itself out behind the leading edge of the flames, once all the dry vegetation was consumed.
Right now, though, it was still pretty bad out there. If Cara hadn’t spotted this sanctuary, they would all be dead by now.
Gentry suddenly exclaimed, “Cara, what are you—”
“Shut up, you lyin’ son of a bitch!” she screamed.
Scratch’s head jerked around. He looked over to see Cara holding a revolver in both hands and pointing it at Gentry. Gentry’s holster was empty, which told Scratch that Cara had snatched the weapon from it.
He had been pretty sure that Gentry hadn’t sweet-talked Cara out of her suspicion of him, and what was happening now confirmed that.
“Cara, stop it!” Gentry said. “Put that gun down, damn it.”
“No,” she said. “You double-crossed me, Hank. I never would have believed it of you, but you did. I kept tellin’ Creel and Morton and Brubaker that you’d be comin’ after me, and I knew with all my heart that you would. I knew you’d never let me hang.” Even with the heat from the fire making it almost unbearable under here, her voice was as cold as ice as she went on, “But you would have. You didn’t care if they hanged me, as long as you got your money.”
She had moved away from him a little and had her back pressed tight against the rock so that nobody could get at her. Gentry held out a hand toward her and said, “Cara, you’re not thinking straight. You know I love you. I’d never let any harm come to you.”
“If that was true, you wouldn’t have made a beeline for that loot,” she snapped. “You’d have come after me, instead. You’re a son of a bitch, Hank. I don’t like it, but it’s true.”
Gentry’s lip abruptly curled in a sneer.
“You think I couldn’t find a dozen more women like you, you little harlot? With my share of this loot, I could get a hundred women like you!”
“You’re wrong, Hank,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper now. “You don’t know how wrong you are, but you’re about to learn.”
Gentry looked around at the other outlaws and said, “Somebody take that gun away from her.”
Nobody made a move toward Cara.
“I don’t hold anything against these other boys,” she said. “They were just doin’ what you told ’em to. But you, Hank, you were supposed to come for me, and you didn’t. You let me down, and now you’re gonna pay for it.”
Gentry laughed wildly.
“You can’t fight all of us!” he said.
“I don’t have to.” Cara tossed her head defiantly, like Scratch had seen her do a dozen times before. “I’m the boss of this gang now. Ain’t that right, boys?”
Bouchard said, “All we want is our share, Cara.”
“You’ll get it,” she promised.
“You bastard!” Gentry screamed at Bouchard. He looked over at Ryan. “Chet, don’t let them get away with this!”
“I’m startin’ to wonder if we might not be better off workin’ for Cara,” Ryan said. “She planned most of our jobs anyway, didn’t she, Hank?”
“You ... you ...” Gentry looked and sounded flabbergasted, as well as outraged.
Scratch just watched. Whatever happened now, it was out of his hands.
Cara jabbed the gun toward Gentry.
“Get out of here,” she ordered. “I can’t stand the sight of you anymore!”
“But there’s nowhere to go!” Gentry protested. “The whole world’s on fire out there!”
“That’s your problem. Back away from me, Hank. I swear, if you don’t I’ll shoot you dead where you stand.”
Gentry looked around desperately and tried one last appeal.
“Fellas, I’ll give up my share. You can split it among you, just stop this crazy bitch.”
Bouchard smiled thinly and said, “I think you’re giving up your share anyway, Hank.”
Gentry backed toward the edge of the area under the overhang. He stared at the blonde and said, “Cara, you can’t do this. Not after all we’ve meant to each other. Please.”
Cara took a deep breath and said, “Oh, hell.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Gentry’s mouth. He believed that he had won her over at last, Scratch thought.
He found out a second later just how wrong he was as Cara lowered the barrel of the gun a little, squeezed the trigger, and blew his right knee apart.
CHAPTER 32
The blast was deafening in the close confines under the overhang. Gentry screamed in agony as his wounded
