The Loner Read Online Free Page B

out of there, to drift through the night in a big quarter-circle and get behind them, to surprise them and take them all prisoner before they had a clue he was there. The bootleggers did a lot of harm to the Nation, sometimes as much as the murderers, but it seemed he never had time to go after them.
    He couldn’t do it, though. Working alone, he’d never be able to keep them away from The Cat on the long journey to Fort Smith, or even to the Tahlequah jail.
    A long silence reigned.
    Then there was a rustling in the edge of the woods, and Becker yelled again, his voice sounding closer this time.
    â€œI don’t believe you. Which Lighthorsemen?”
    â€œI’m Black Fox Vann,” he said. “Ride on in and we can meet face-to-face.”
    More silence.
    â€œGet him in here and turn me over to him,” The Cat murmured sarcastically, “and you won’t have to go through all that upset of taking a girl in to hang.”
    Hot fury stung him. Ungrateful little wench.
    â€œCareful what you wish for,” he snapped. “I ought to be out there rounding them up instead of protecting you.”
    â€œI can protect myself,” she said. “Go…ahead. Arresting them would stop a whole lot of meanness in the Nation and capturing me only stops good deeds. You…know that.”
    She was nearly too weak to talk. Or else her pain was that bad.
    It made him mad at himself that he even bothered to think about which it might be.
    â€œSave your breath,” he said. “You’re gonna need it.”
    He set his jaw against his anger, went to the saddles he had piled to one side of the cave’s entrance, and slid his rifle from the scabbard on his saddle.
    â€œI’m climbing to higher ground,” he said. “If I have to drive them off I don’t want them shooting toward you.”
    â€œNo, ’cause they might kill me and you want Judge Parker to do that,” she said.
    â€œDon’t move,” he said.
    â€œI’m helpless,” she said bitterly. “Remember?”
    â€œDon’t feel sorry for yourself. You could already be dead.”
    He left her.
    â€œYou’re bluffin’,” Hudson Becker yelled drunkenly. “You’re just some longrider hiding out on your lonesome. You ain’t no Lighthorseman.”
    â€œCome on in and see for yourself,” Black Fox yelled back.
    â€œI will. I need another horse. I’ve got a man here riding double because his mount took a bullet.”
    â€œStop auguring and try us,” Black Fox said. “We’ll empty some more saddles for you and then you won’t need our horses.”
    He was glad his eyes were getting adjusted to the night. If they started shooting, he would have to move quickly and silently from one place to another to make it seem more than one man was shooting back at them. Damn his luck, anyhow! How could this happen at the only time in his life when he had a wounded woman as his sole responsibility?
    Somebody in Becker’s gang shot off his gun, apparently into the air. Black Fox held his fire. No sense letting them see where he was until he had no choice.
    â€œWe know you’re on your own and by your lonesome. We tracked you.”
    Black Fox laughed.
    â€œThen you couldn’t track a herd of cows acrossa muddy barnyard,” he said. “Come on in here and count us. Then we’ll take you up to Tahlequah to see the jail.”
    â€œYou oughtta take a long walk tomorrow so’s you can think about all that lying you’re doing tonight,” Becker said righteously.
    He was slurring his words even more.
    â€œCome ahead,” Black Fox called. “Stop flapping your jaws and try us.”
    He moved the instant he said it, and it was a good thing he did. Two of Becker’s men shot at him, sending one of the bullets whistling past his ear. Black Fox shot back, then scooted fast away from that spot along the rocky ledge.