Forty-seven

Jake hurriedly dressed, buttoning his shirt and pulling on his leather vest. He pulled on his boots and strapped on his guns, hoping he’d have time to get to his rifle and shotgun still on Outlaw. “Get dressed, and quick!” he told Annie when she came out of the washroom. “I heard someone out in the hallway talking about making breakfast. They’ll be coming to this door any minute. I want you out the window by then.”

“Jake, I’m scared!”

“There’s no time to be scared.” Jake turned, and she had underpants on and was struggling with the camisole. He hurried over and quickly laced it up for her. “My wife is always fussing over these things.” He helped her pull on the dress, and he buttoned up the back of it as fast as he could. “Sit down on the bed, and I’ll help you button the shoes I brought. I hope they fit.” He put one on, and she pulled on the other.

“They’re kind of big.”

“Better than barefoot in case you need to run over hard ground full of prickly plants.”

She buttoned one shoe, and he buttoned the other.

“You go out that window…now! Walk casually through the courtyard out there. Hang your head like you’ve just been through the worst night of your life, and don’t talk to any of those guards. Let them think it’s okay for you to be walking outside. I can’t be with you. I’ll attract too much attention. Aim for the front gate. You’ll see a man standing there with a packhorse and two that are saddled. You head for him. He’ll put you on the packhorse, get on his own, and take off at a hard run. You hang on for dear life, you hear me?”

“Yes.”

Jake met her gaze, and she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m scared for you.”

“Just go. Like I told you, if you hesitate now, this will all be for nothing. I paid for a night with you, but they expect me to leave you behind for Don de Leon when I leave here. Once they realize I’m taking you with me, all hell will break loose, because they don’t want to have to answer to de Leon, who’s probably on his way here right now. If you don’t want to end up in that man’s bed, you do what I told you to do.” He pulled her arms from around his neck, and she kissed him smack on the lips.

“Thank you.” Tears forming in her eyes, she grabbed the Bible. “I don’t want to leave you. I’ll be scared without you.”

“Cole will do just as good a job getting you out of here. There’s no time for tears or arguing, Annie.” He gave her a quick smile and kissed her forehead. “Go on. I’ll be all right.” He helped her climb through the window, then closed his eyes and said a quick prayer for her and Cole.

“Don’t worry about my worthless hide, Lord. Just save those two.” If not for Evie’s constant preaching at him, he wouldn’t pray at all. He waited, peeking through the curtains to see Annie making her way toward the gate. She suddenly bolted.

“Hey!” someone yelled.

“La muchacha! Ella está escapando! Ella está escapando!” one of the guards shouted.

Jake waited for the sound of horses galloping away, then charged out the bedroom door, not even taking his remaining supplies. Most of his valuables were with Cole anyway. He headed down the hallway. He needed to draw the attention of the guards away from Annie and Cole. And he was not about to leave without killing Sidney Wayland and Luis Estava.

“Sidney Wayland!” he roared. “Show yourself!”

Guards were running into the main living quarters as he got there.

“You!” one of them shouted to Jake. “You let that girl get away!” He pulled a gun. It had barely cleared its holster when Jake shot him in the heart.

Another came at him, and Jake fired again.

Sidney and Luis ran into the main room from two different doorways. Sidney had a gun, but Luis didn’t.

“What’s going on here?” Sidney demanded.

“You’ll not kidnap any more innocent young girls, that’s what!” Jake shouted the words and fired, then turned his gun on Luis.

“Señor Harkner! I am not armed!”

“You’re a fucking rapist!” Jake shouted. “That’s good enough for me!” He fired again, making sure his bullet hit Luis in the mouth and shattered those pretty teeth. Luis squirmed, blood pouring from his mouth. Jake walked up and fired again, putting a hole in the man’s forehead.

“Oh, my God!” A woman screamed, and Jake whirled at the sound of men running down the hallway. A couple of whores stuck their heads out the doors of their rooms, then ducked back inside.

Men ran toward Jake, and he raised both .44s and fired three more times, killing another man with each bullet.

One gun empty. The other had five bullets. Jake moved into a dark alcove near the front door and quickly reloaded the empty gun. He charged for the doorway, guns blazing when two more guards tried to stop him.

“Get the horses!” someone shouted from the rooftop as Jake ran through the courtyard toward Outlaw. He had to stop and duck as more bullets whizzed past him.

“He is stealing one of the girls!” someone yelled. “Don de Leon’s promised!”

“Siguelo! El mato al Señor Wayland!” another yelled.

“Andale! Traigan los caballos!” someone else yelled from inside the courtyard.

Jake mounted Outlaw and took off at a hard gallop. The last order was about getting horses. They would soon be on his heels. He could see Cole and Annie far ahead—they had a good head start. More bullets whizzed past him as he galloped for the border, a good two miles away. He didn’t need to look to know that a small posse had quickly gathered and was after him. He turned and fired. One man went down, and that was a pure miracle, because he was firing at random. He kicked Outlaw into a faster run. His hat flew off. More bullets whizzed past him. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes like hours.

He glanced back. He had a decent lead now, but he felt sorry for Outlaw. The horse was already wheezing and sweating. The temperature seemed too hot for early morning. Ahead of him, dust swirled from Cole and Annie’s horses. Get her across that border, Cole. Don’t stop for anything!

Ten minutes turned to fifteen, and then there it was. The Rio Grande! Cole and Annie were already splashing across the river and headed up the other side.

Then it happened. A bullet hit Outlaw. The horse screamed. His hooves slid for several yards before the horse went down hard, catching Jake’s left leg under it. Jake cried out with the pain, knowing without even looking that his leg was broken. The horse whinnied wildly and struggled to get up, but it couldn’t, and every time it tried, it smashed against Jake’s leg again. Excruciating pain enveloped him. He tried to pull free but couldn’t. It was then he noticed Cole riding back in his direction.

“Go back!” he screamed.

“Jake! Jake!” He could hear Annie screaming from somewhere.

Cole reached him. “Jake! Goddamn it!” He dismounted and tried to get Outlaw to move off Jake’s leg, but the horse wouldn’t budge.

“Shoot Outlaw and get the hell out of here!” Jake screamed at Cole. “I told you not to stop for anything. Get back across the river! They won’t follow you into the States!”

Outlaw screamed and squirmed again. Jake cried out at the pain in his leg. Cole shot the horse in the head, then fired a few times at the oncoming riders to keep them at bay. “I can’t leave you here, Jake!”

“You have to! Get back across that river and take her home, or they’ll come for her! Goddamn it, Cole, go, or this is all for nothing!” Jake handed him his .44s. “Give these to Little Jake. I promised them to him! And tell Randy…I love her.”

More bullets whizzed past as the riders came closer.

“Damn it, Cole. Go! Get the hell out of here! Hurry up! Annie’s coming back across the river! Don’t let her!”

“Fuck it, Jake, I can’t leave you here for them!”

“You don’t have any choice! Get over there before they kill you and force that child into a living hell. Don’t make this all for nothing! Get the hell out of here!”

His eyes tearing, Cole stumbled backward. “Damn you, Jake!” He shoved Jake’s guns into his belt, then mounted up and headed for the river, meeting Annie halfway across and grabbing the packhorse’s bridle. “Get back across!” he roared at her.

“Jake! No! We can’t leave him!”

“We have no choice!” Cole forced her horse back to the United States side of the river as more bullets flew past both of them. He charged both horses up the bank and behind huge boulders on the other side. They ducked behind the boulders as more bullets came at them.

Cole grabbed his rifle off his horse and began firing at the men who were circling around Jake. He managed to get two of them before three others began a volley of shots that pinged and sang against the rocks and kept him behind the boulders. When he looked again, men had tied ropes around Outlaw and dragged him off of Jake. He was surprised when Outlaw moved and whinnied. A shot was fired. Cole knew they’d just shot the horse again. Outlaw had been the best horse a man could own. He wanted to vomit then at the sound of Jake’s chilling screams of pain.

“Jesus God, I think his leg’s broke,” he groaned.

“Oh, dear God, Cole, they’re tying a rope around Jake! They’re dragging him away! They’ll kill him! They’ll kill him,” Annie wept. “Oh, my God, he did this for me!” She broke into uncontrollable sobbing. “Jake! Jake! God help him! God help him!”

Cole watched Jake being dragged off. He sank against the boulder and wept right along with Annie. She was right. Jake didn’t have a chance. The worst part was hearing his screams as they dragged him off. How in hell was he going to tell Lloyd and Evie about this? And Randy. How could he tell Randy her husband wasn’t coming back to her?

Annie wept uncontrollably. “He did this…for me,” she sobbed. “Why?”

Cole pulled Jake’s guns from his belt and stared at them. “Because he can’t stand a woman abused. He’s Jake Harkner, and I guess you could say he’s America’s last outlaw.” Damn you, Jake. Damn you! Why did you pick me for this? He’d never wept over another man’s death, but he couldn’t help it this time. He broke down and shed his own tears, sure Jake’s screams of pain as he was dragged off would haunt him the rest of his life.