Late Friday evening…
Trent Tolliver cursed. “That beast you’re riding needs to stop every two hours,” he said, as his contingent halted at a stream to let Kelly’s horse rest and have a drink.
“Well, it’s not my fault,” Kelly replied. “I didn’t pick him out. If you don’t like it, let me have your horse and you can get down and walk.”
“I could probably move faster,” Tolliver muttered, as they all dismounted.
His brother was a little concerned. “That Indian is smart, Trent. If you remember, she’s the one who went and got that horse. I warned you not to underestimate her.” Kneeling down next to one of Kelly’s horse’s shoes, he said, “And look at this.”
“What is it?” Trent asked.
“This shoe has been nicked, and recently. I’d bet my weight in gold that Allie Summer did that.” He looked up at his brother. “Which means she knows exactly which fork we took. And probably how far ahead of her we are.”
Kelly’s hopes rose.
Trent wasn’t so impressed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. We knew a bunch of them would follow us anyway.”
Terrell stood up. “Yeah, but I’d rather have somebody other than that Ranger running up my backside. She’s always got some scheme working in that head of hers.”
Hank was scratching his throat, his signal that he was thinking, which was very difficult for him to do. “You reckon Conners’ll be with her?”
Terrell pointed at Kelly. “She’s with us. What do you think?”
Hank didn’t respond. Even he could figure that one out.
Trent looked at the sky. It was dusk, but there was still enough daylight to see by. “Let’s follow this stream and get a couple more miles behind us before we camp. Conners and Summer will have to stop, too, when it gets dark.”
Terrell could see some concern in his brother’s face. It didn’t matter how good an outlaw he was, or how tough, or how confident, or how nonchalant he tried to be…having a vengeful Allie Summer and an angry Rob Conners after you was enough to worry the best of miscreants. Especially since Allie appeared to be outsmarting him.
“We may have to lay an ambush for them, Trent,” Terrell said.
“We might at that…”
For all their concern over Allie’s smarts and Kellly’s nag, she and I hadn’t gained any ground on them by day’s end, which meant we were still a good 12 miles behind. The fact that the posse had had to stop on occasion for confabs and rest cost us some time. And Allie and I didn’t want to wear out Ranger and Ol’ Paint the first day. And we didn’t bring any of the other horses with us, either. “They’d only slow us down,” she said, a sentiment with which I agreed.
About dusk, when we’d found a pretty nice area near some water, she said, “Let’s camp here. We’ve put in a pretty good day’s jaunt.”
Just like Trent Tolliver had done, I examined the sky and saw a little bit of daylight left. “Allie, he’s not going to stop until dark, even if he kills Kelly’s horse.”
She looked at me. “You think he knows,” meaning about Allie’s machinations with the horse.
“How dumb is he?”
She thought on that. “But he’s insane, Rob. I saw it in his eyes.”
“What did you see in his brother’s eyes? And those other two men?”
After a few more moment’s reflections, she said, “His brother is pretty sharp. That big fellow is a cretin, but I wouldn’t sell him short with a gun in his hand. There are several in that gang who are well above average slinging lead. And Ed Monger is nothing but a gunslinger. I didn’t know he was riding with Tolliver.” She looked at me. “He’s dangerous, Rob.”
“The others aren’t?”
She half-chuckled at that. “Touché,” she replied. “But he’s got a reputation of being awful fast out of his holster. Don’t take him too lightly.”
“We’re wasting time, Allie.” I didn’t care if Ed Monger was the father of God, we weren’t getting any closer to Kelly by jabbering like this.
“All right, we can go a little farther.”
And that we did. But still not far enough for me.
Saturday morning…
At the crack of dawn, hunters and hunted were already on their way. “You’re going to kill this horse,” Kelly said to Trent.
“All he has to do is last till Tuesday.”
Kelly went quiet, realizing the truth of Tolliver’s statement. She was still looking for a way to escape, but so far, nothing had presented itself. I can get my hands on a rifle, I know I can…
She made a wry face. Yeah, pigs can fly, too…
About midday, Allie said to me, “There’s somebody following us, Rob.”
“I know,” I replied. “Been on our tail all morning. Can you get a good look at him?”
“No, he’s about two miles behind, and not doing a bad job of staying hidden, but an amateur nonetheless. You want me to drop back and check?”
I thought about it a moment. “No, let’s stay together. From what I can tell, he’s not trying to gain on us, he’s just staying about the same distance back. We’ll handle him, if we need to, when the time comes.”
Allie seemed satisfied with that. She leaned over and studied the ground for a moment. “We’re gaining on them. Probably within 10 miles now. We may have to make a bit of a push on Monday, but we’ll get them.” She looked over at me. I don’t know if she could read worry, anxiety, or disbelief in my eyes, but she repeated, “We’ll get them, Rob, I promise.”
Well, a promise from Allie Summer on a mission like this was about as good as it got.
But she was human, just like every other human is human…
And Allie and I were wrong about something. There were two somebodies following us. We just didn’t see one of them. For reasons that will subsequently be explained.
Saturday afternoon…
There was a path, of sorts, that the Tolliver gang—and Kelly—were traveling. It was narrow, so they had to ride single-file—Trent leading, Hank behind him, then Kelly, Ed Monger, and Terrell bringing up the rear. The trail wound through tall trees, then beside cool mountain streams, and up and down and around and through. The geography was rough on man and beast.
For the fourth time that day, the Tolliver gang—and Kelly—had to halt to let her mount drink and rest awhile. And for the fourth time that day, Trent Tolliver cursed that horse with language that would have made the devil blush. And everybody in the group could see a wilder and wilder look in his eyes.
“We need to move faster,” he said, “or we’ll never get to the Hole-in-the-Wall,” he said. He looked at Kelly and drew his gun. “And we could get there a whole lot sooner if we didn’t have to travel with this woman and that worthless horse she’s riding. She’s more trouble than she’s worth anyway.” He pointed his revolver at Kelly and her blood went cold. She could read those crazy eyes of his. He’s really going to do it…good bye, Rob…good-bye, dad…I love you and will miss you both…
And Trent Tolliver pulled the trigger…
Saturday night…
Just about dark, Allie and I arrived at that fourth Tolliver stopping place—the one just described. It was actually a good camping spot, so we decided to bed down for the night.
“We’ve gained on them some more,” Allie said, kneeling down, holding a match to some horse tracks. She waved out the match, and started unpacking Ranger. I hadn’t said anything, so for the umpteenth time, the Allie said, “We’ll catch them, Rob. It’s only a matter of time now.”
I sighed, paused in what I was doing—unsaddling Ol’ Paint—and crooked an elbow, leaning against my horse. I pushed my hat back on my head. “And what if we don’t, Allie? Have you ever considered that?”
Allie shrugged. “No, not really. I intend to follow them until I find them.”
“But that might take longer than Kelly’s got.”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments, then quietly responded, “Rob, what are you going to do if we don’t find them by Tuesday? A possibility, incidentally, that I hold to be very, very remote.”
Allie might not have given any thought to not reaching Kelly by the deadline, but I certainly had. The Ranger wasn’t the one whose future was on the line—at least not in matters of the heart. I pondered her question. What WILL I do if Kelly is dead? I had tried not to go there, the thought was indescribably painful, and after Julie and Robin…I closed my eyes and willed myself to think in another direction. Unlike Allie, I was somewhat less confident of catching the Tollivers by Tuesday noon. Trent was smart and he wouldn’t be easy to snare. And my thoughts drifted again back to what will I do if we are too late?
“Well, I know one thing I’ll do, Allie,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“I’ll follow Trent Tolliver to hell and back, if necessary. For however long it takes. The man is dead, as far as I’m concerned.” I had at least that much to live for.
“And after that?” Allie asked.
I didn’t answer. Yeah. And after that…
Backing up just a few hours…
Just as Trent Tolliver squeezed the trigger of a gun aimed at Kelly Atkins’ head, his brother slapped his arm and the bullet went wild. Terrell spoke, “Trent, don’t do it.”
Trent glanced at his brother. “Since when have you been giving the orders here, little brother? I say she dies, right now, and I make the rules.”
“You said Tuesday noon, and that’s when it will be done.” Terrell’s hand was poised above his gun, but he hadn’t drawn it yet.
“And just what are you going to do if I pull this trigger again?” The gun was once more pointed at Kelly.
Terrell didn’t say anything but his hand remained an inch above his gun butt.
The two brothers stared at each other and Kelly’s life hung in the balance. The problem was solved from a surprising source.
“Trent,” Hank Frobisher said, with an agonizing expression on his face and angst in his voice. He didn’t like going against the oldest Tolliver’s authority, but in this case…”A man’s gotta honor his word. I mean, that’s just the way things ought to be.”
Trent shifted his angry eyes to Hank and then looked at Ed Monger, who was standing about 30 feet away, his hands hitched to his gun belt. “Your word is your bond, Trent,” Monger said. “If we can’t trust you on this, what can we trust you on? I won’t ride with a man I can’t trust.”
Trent was incensed but he was outnumbered and it looked an awful lot like Terrell and Ed were ready to draw. So, with an extremely annoyed expression on his face, Trent raised his revolver and uncocked it. Kelly heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“All right,” Trent said, “she lives till Tuesday noon. If we live that long. With that nag she’s riding slowing us down, how do you propose staying ahead of Conners and that Ranger?”
Terrell had the answer. “Let’s get off this trail,” he said, “and start covering our tracks. We can wipe them out. That will slow them down.” Then he motioned with his head towards the stream. “And we can travel through shallow streams like this. They can’t follow any tracks in a creek.”
“We’ll have to come out eventually.”
“But, as you’ve said, after Tuesday it won’t matter.” Terrell shrugged. “Let’s keep an eye on our backside. If we see them, we’ll set an ambush. If we can kill Conners and Allie Summer now, that will save us a long trip back here. We can head on to Arizona like you planned in the first place.” Terrell deliberately said “you planned” to give some indication that he was willing to submit to his brother’s leadership. The phrase wasn’t lost on Trent.
He holstered his gun. “Ok.” He looked at Kelly. “You live till Tuesday. Your lover-boy and his Indian whore might not have so long.” Trent smiled at Kelly, an evil, malicious smile. “I’ll bet they are alone, following us. These nights are chilly, woman. What do you think they are doing together each evening? Hmmm?”
And he laughed, and Kelly was all the more convinced the man was mad.
She wasn’t worried, in the least, what Rob and Allie were doing. He wouldn’t do that to me…But then she realized that she really didn’t have any promise from Rob Conners. He came back to River Bend, but that doesn’t mean he came back for me…he was with Allie Summer the whole time…maybe…and a pang went through Kelly’s heart…maybe Tuesday won’t be so bad after all…
“All right, let’s go,” Trent said. “If that horse she’s riding on drops dead, she can just walk. And we’ll whip her to make sure she walks fast enough…”
The nightmares began Saturday night. I hadn’t had them for about 3 years now. After Julie’s horrible death (as described in Whitewater) for several months thereafter I was plagued with dreams of the most hideous nature. Our house was burning, Julie was calling to me, I ran, and ran, and ran…but I could never get there in time. I’d wake up in a cold sweat. On this Saturday night, it was Kelly in that burning house…reaching out to me…a pleading expression on her face…calling me…I kept shouting Julie’s name...”I’m coming, Julie…I’m coming…” But it was Kelly in that house. And again, I didn’t get there.
I shot up from where I was sleeping, my body tense, sweating, agonizing. It took me a moment to realize where I was and what had just happened. I ran my hand through my hair…Please, dear God, don’t let it happen again…don’t let me be late this time…please…
Sunday morning…
When we awoke Sunday morning, we realized immediately the Tolliver change of tactics. Their horse tracks led straight into the stream, which meant they were trying to cover their trail.
Allie and I were crouched, studying those tracks as they entered the water. “Do you think they may have doubled-back?” I asked her.
“It’s possible, I suppose,” she replied with a thoughtful expression on her face. Then she stood up. “But highly unlikely, in my opinion. If they head north”—back the way they’d come from—“they have a much better chance of running into us because we’d be ahead of them now. Trent wants to escape, as quickly as possible. All he has to do is avoid us until Tuesday. Well, at least as regards to Kelly.” She pointed. “These tracks are going into the stream are headed south. That’s not conclusive, of course, they could turn in the water and go north. But I’d bet they are still going away from us.” She looked at me. “Let’s head south for a couple of miles and if we don’t find where they exited the stream, we’ll turn around, come back, and go north. They’ll have to come out somewhere and they’ll leave sign when they do.”
Folks, I think I’ve made it plain that this was agonizing. If Tolliver did head north, Allie and I would lose a good half a day going in the wrong direction and then trying to find their trail again. But…
“Ok, south it is…”
The stream twisted and wound through a deep ravine. They could have come out on the eastern side and made their way up the side of the gulley, but we saw no evidence of that. It was slow, but we made fairly good time because the tracks of five horses shouldn’t be all that difficult to spot. The stream averaged only about 50 feet wide. As the ravine gradually sloped and grew less and less steep, we searched even more carefully. And still we almost missed it.
“Here,” I said.
I was pointing at a place where the sand bordering the stream was only about 3 feet wide, flush up against thick brush and trees. The sand looked natural—a little too natural. Allie came over an inspected. And nodded.
“Good eye, Rob, they tried to wipe out their exit.”
It was fairly obvious to seasoned trackers like Allie and I that somebody had smoothed the sand over, trying to hide their trail. It was a common trick and we had been expecting it before this. It was the first time the Tollivers had used it; up until they entered the stream, their sign had been easy to follow. Now they appeared to be getting wily and so we’d have to be more observant. Which would slow us down.
Once we got into the forest, it was easy to pick up their trail again and I heaved a sigh of relief. At least they didn’t go north… But we might have lost a little ground and I didn’t heave a sigh of relief over that.
“I wonder if we’ve lost our tail,” Allie said, maybe more to herself than to me.
I had completely forgotten that somebody had been following us. “Haven’t seen him this morning. He may not have been following us in the first place and just continued on down the trail.”
“Maybe,” is all she responded, and not with a lot of conviction.
Frankly, somebody on my backside was the least of my concerns at the moment. Let Allie worry about that. My thoughts were ahead of us….
…where Kelly’s nag continued to slow the Tolliver pace. “I’m not sure that horse will even survive until Tuesday,” Trent said.
“It’s just two more days, Trent,” Terrell said. “He’ll be fine.”
The poor horse’s head had been drooping quite a bit, but he was game and Kelly took good care of him, or at least the best she could. If Trent convinced the others of what he had tried to convince them of the day before….
And Kelly was concerned about the attempts to cover their trail. She saw Terrell smooth over the sand where they exited the stream. To her untrained eye, it looked as natural as the rest of the sand. Will it fool Rob and Allie? She could only hope it didn’t. And her confidence didn’t grow any when Ed Monger dropped back a couple of miles, then caught up and reported that he saw nothing.
“If they are still on our trail,” he said, “they aren’t close.”
Kelly wanted to cry.
But we were closer than Ed Monger thought. Whenever we had a chance, Allie and I picked up the pace a little, putting Ol’ Paint and Ranger into a ground covering, but not tiring, trot. Once we lost the trail again as, apparently, Tolliver tried to hide it again, but we found it in short order.
“He can’t stop too often and try to cover his tracks,” Allie said. “That takes time and with Kelly’s horse moving slow, it’s time he doesn’t have.”
I looked ahead of us. We were within five miles of them now. But the terrain between them and us was made more for a mountain goat than a horse. I’m being a little facetious, but we definitely weren’t on the express route.
Sunday night…
Another nightmare. It was different this time. No burning house. Some man had Kelly by the arm and was dragging her up a boulder-strewn hill. She was fighting him, but she couldn’t break free. I was chasing, my gun in hand, wanting to shoot, but fearing I would hit her. She called my name. The man, a demon, I think, continued to pull her along. They crested the hill and disappeared, but I was right behind them. I found them standing at the edge of a cliff. I couldn’t tell who the man was, his face was a blur, but he had a gun to Kelly’s head. I was afraid to shoot for fear that he might drag Kelly over the edge with him. But suddenly, the man fell backwards and vanished. He let go of Kelly, but she was off balance and started to topple over the edge as well. Again, in a panic, she cried out for me…I ran and dove for her…she disappeared over the side…a cold, gray fog…
I awoke and jerked up…sweating…breathing hard…my fists clenched. I took a deep breath. It was only a dream, Rob…a dream…a dream…
A nightmare. Was I destined to endure them again for…how long?
Could I stand to go through that again?
I had to find Kelly, I simply had to. To save her life…and my sanity…
Monday, midday…
Trent Tolliver was gaining confidence. Ed Monger had fallen back a couple of miles again and still saw no sign of Rob Conners and Allie Summer, so the older Tolliver brother was becoming convinced that Tuesday noon would come before his pursuers found him.
“And then we can ditch this woman and horse and start making some good time,” he said. He smirked at Kelly. “How does it feel to have only one day left to live? You didn’t give my brother any chance, and I’m not going to give you one, either. Just think about it, lady. About 24 hours now. Think all the good thoughts you can, recall all the nice memories in your life, get your heart right with whatever god you believe in, because that’s all you have left.”
Trent was deliberately tormenting her, of course, and Terrell didn’t mind. After all, it was his brother that had been killed by Kelly Atkins, too. In fact, he added to her agony. “Yeah, and we’re going to find and kill Rob Conners, too. Maybe he’ll join you before long and you two can be together forever.” He laughed.
Hank Frobisher chimed in, but with an unexpected, and typically stupid, contribution. “She shore can cook good, fellers. You don’t reckon we can keep her a little longer?”
“She dies tomorrow at noon, Hank,” Trent said. “And we’re going to leave her body where Conners is sure to find it.”
Kelly was suffering with all of this, which, she knew, is what Tolliver wanted. She was game, but the best she could offer at the moment was the repetitive, “he’ll find you, you know. He won’t stop until he does.”
Trent was merciless. “No, he won’t and yes, he will. After he sees you’re dead, he’ll go back to River Bend. I seriously doubt he cares about you half as much as you think he does. If he was so hot for you, woman, why wasn’t he in River Bend with you? Why was he traipsing all over the countryside? I’ll bet he stopped in every town and had a good time.” He laughed, the implications of that last statement obvious.
Kelly had asked herself some of those same questions, too. Why DID he leave? He said he couldn’t stay still…but I was there…he couldn’t stay still for me?...But he came back…but he was with Allie Summer…and he’s coming after me now…but he’s with Allie Summer… With death staring her in the face, it wasn’t easy for Kelly to think very positively. Her only consolation was he’ll find me, I know he will, I just know it…
But time was running out.
Another stream. Tolliver led his men—and Kelly—through that stream for about a mile and then Terrell noticed an excellent place to leave it—a nice big flat rock where the only sign that could possibly be left by the horses was a scraping from a shoe. But Terrell came up with a brilliant idea of preventing that.
“Let’s get some cloth and tie it around our horses’ hooves. That way there will be no chance of a mark being left.”
So, before they left the stream, they took two pairs of Hank’s pants, and another of Terrell’s, and cut enough strips to secure around the horses’ hooves. Terrell had the needed string. Kelly’s heart sank. This was going to make it extremely hard for Rob and Allie to follow the trail.
But Kelly Atkins had one trick up her sleeve…If only…
Monday, mid-afternoon…
The stream. It was obvious to Allie and I that the Tolliver gang had once more tried to cover their tracks by water. We’d found their exit before and were confident we could do it again. But with every passing minute, my guts knotted tighter and tighter. We were still a few miles behind and would need to speed up the pace to catch up.
And we couldn’t find where they exited the stream. We followed the stream for a good two miles and came to a 10 foot waterfall which they could not have traversed, so we knew they hadn’t gone that far. We backtracked and still couldn’t find any tracks.
“Allie, where are they?” I asked, the anxiety rising in me. “Maybe they did go the other way this time.”
Allie didn’t think so. “Rob, let’s just look a little closer. Let’s find the best possible places where they could have left the stream and examine them more thoroughly.”
That’s all we could do. And the whole time, Kelly was getting farther and farther away.
And Tuesday noon was getting closer and closer…
“Is we gonna stop tonight and camp, Trent?” Hank asked his boss once darkness fell.
“Maybe,” Trent said, “maybe not. I want some distance tonight. And the moon’s out, so we can see pretty well.”
Kelly’s horse, the poor beast, was almost gasping. They were indeed at a rather high elevation, but more than that, the traveling up and down hills and through rocks and difficult footing was about to finish the horse. And Kelly pointed it out, hoping to get Trent to stop.
“My horse isn’t going to make it much farther tonight,” she said.
Trent gave her his pat answer. “All he has to do is last till tomorrow at noon.”
Kelly’s voice was sharp. “Your horse might not last that long, either. What are you going to do then?”
Anytime Kelly got angry, Trent did, too. “What do you care? You’ll be dead.”
Kelly didn’t back down. “Maybe so, but without a horse, you will be, too. What chance do you think you have against Rob Conners and Allie Summer? Either one of them will gun you down like the disgusting cockroach that you are. And that goes for the rest of the vermin you’re riding with, too. If you don’t let me go, Tollliver, you’re a dead man, that’s all there is to it. Rob and Allie will never stop, never, till they find and kill you. And at least I’ll be able to go to my grave with that pleasant thought.”
If she had been close enough, Trent would have hit her. “We’ll lay a trap for them, woman. We’ll get them before they even see us.”
“I see,” Kelly said. “You haven’t got guts enough to face either one of them so you’re going to hide behind a rock and dry gulch them. What a man you are.”
Kelly went too far with that one. Trent rode over to her and hit her in the jaw, knocking her off her horse. Kelly was stunned, but not so much that she couldn’t look around. If there had been forest near, she would have made a dash for the trees. But there was very little cover, just small bushes scattered here and there, so she wouldn’t get 10 feet.
She slowly rose to her feet, staggering a little bit. “More manhood,” she said, holding on to her horse for a few moments. “Hitting a defenseless woman.”
Trent snorted. “Defenseless? You were sure pretty accurate with that rifle of yours when you shot my brother.”
Kelly looked up at him—with her horse between her and him. “That piece of human garbage you call your brother was about to shoot one of the best men I know. I’m glad I did it. And give me a rifle right now and I’ll send two more pieces of Tolliver garbage to hell.”
Terrell was actually kind of amused by the whole thing. “She does have a tongue on her, doesn’t she, brother.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll cut it out of her mouth tomorrow before I put a bullet between her eyes.” He spoke to Kelly. “If that nag you’re riding dies before you do, then you walk, that’s all there is to it.”
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. But the kind of “walking” Trent Tolliver had in mind was most unpleasant….
It was Allie who spotted it. It was not quite as late at the events just recorded, but still almost dark. We had pulled up at that big rock that we had seen—the one that reached into the stream and where the Tollivers and Kelly had indeed exited. We were searching for some kind of horse sign, crouching, looking down. I shook my head. “They didn’t come out here, Allie,” I said, with anguish in my voice.
“Oh, yes, they did,” the Ranger responded.
I looked at her. She was smiling and pointing.
Right at the edge of the forest, to the left of where the rock disappeared into the earth and stuck against a tree limb, was a small, blue patch of cloth. I walked over to it and my heart soared.
A piece of Kelly’s shirt!
She might have just saved her own life.
“I’m surprised they didn’t spot it,” I said.
“Most people don’t see what they aren’t looking for,” Allie replied. “The Tollivers were overconfident and never thought Kelly would do something like this. Besides, this piece of cloth is not very bright. We were trying to find something so we saw it.”
“You saw it,” I said.
“Yeah, I did,” Allie said, and I couldn’t help but smile. She could be so arrogant. “But now we know which way they went. Let’s go. We’ve got some catching up to do.”
Indeed. And that clock just refused to stop ticking.