Reaper's Justice Read Online Free Page B

one find wolves,” a man too nondescript to have earned a name yet said. He made the sign of the cross. “They are devil animals.”
    Adelaide made note of his reaction. Superstition could be worked with.
    “It’s just a damn wolf, Manuel,” Bob said with disgust, lifting the torch. “Just let me get the gleam of his eyes in the light and I’ll put an end to his growling.”
    Now, she had five names.
    Sticks cracked and snow crunched as Bob moved out of her line of sight and headed into the night behind her.
    “Stupid kid,” Dempsey muttered.
    José holstered his gun. “Eh, let him go. It matters not if he kills the wolf.”
    “It will matter a lot if the gunshot alerts the posse following,” Blade stated logically.
    “There is no posse.” José made a dismissive motion with his hand. “The sentries have seen nothing.”
    Billings crushed out his smoke. “The Camerons aren’t the sort to send sign ahead. And that older cousin of hers isn’t called Ghost for nothing.”
    “They’re men. We have the higher ground. If they were following, we would know.”
    The certainty in José’s voice crippled Adelaide’s conviction. The scoff in Billings’s voice restored it. “That what you want me putting on your grave marker? ‘We would know’?”
    She couldn’t see José’s face, but the set of his beefy shoulders worried her. If the two men exchanged gunfire, she’d be in the path of the bullets. She tugged harder at her bonds. “I’m starting to believe you’re chicken shit, Billings.”
    “Believe whatever the hell you want.”
    “You’ve been whining ever since we stopped in Dover’s Crossing.”
    “Kidnapping women is bad business.”
    “You superstitious like Manuel?”
    “Nah, just logical. Kidnapping a decent woman gets everyone who hears of it riled. Puts the kind of posse on your tail you can’t shake.”
    There was a murmur of agreement from the men.
    With the blade of his knife, Billings pointed at her. “Especially one with kin like hers.”
    “Her kin killed my brother.”
    “Guess it wouldn’t do any good to point out he was killed during the kidnapping of another woman?”
    “He was my brother.”
    “Thought not.”
    “I’m thinking you’re yellow.”
    Billings cut off a piece of jerky. “You’re welcome to test that theory anytime you want. But truth is, I signed on for a bank robbery, not a kidnapping.”
    There was another murmur of agreement among the men.
    José seemed to square off. “You don’t like the way I do things, you can ride out.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    “Now would be good.”
    Billings went still and somehow all that nonchalance turned lethal as he held the slice of jerky balanced on the edge of his knife. “Morning will be soon enough.”
    “And if I insist you leave now?”
    Billings rose to his feet. He was tall, standing a good six inches over José. He popped the piece of jerky into his mouth.
    Adelaide wished she shared his nonchalance.
    “Then you’re going to have to go chase down Bob yourself.”
    José stared at him for a long minute. All Adelaide could see was his profile. It didn’t tell her much. Then he grunted and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Earn your keep and fetch him back, Billings.”
    Billings sheathed his knife long before Adelaide would have. She didn’t trust the leader as far as she could throw him, but Billings strolled by him as if he knew he was no threat. Or, she realized as José stepped out of his way, as if he were confident he could handle any threat José threw his way. She blinked and the man was gone. Disappeared into the shadows like mist into fog. One minute Billings was there and the next he wasn’t.
    “Madre de Dios.”
    Dempsey stared at the spot where Billings had been and made the sign of the cross. José’s hand came up. He stopped just short of completing the gesture others in the group were taking up. Adelaide tugged harder on her hands. Pain ground up from her wrists,