He’d given Teal and the others clear orders concerning Maggie. No one was to kill the red-haired woman. Instead, they were to bring her directly to him, where her pitiful begging would be music to his ears.
“Let’s go, Bentley! Surrender yourself now, and you can still save the women. Come on! Time’s almost up! What are you, a coward?”
CHAPTER 43
Will was still scanning the men when Sully gave his ultimatum.
Beneath him, Clyde was steady as always. Behind him, the cattle were growing even more restless. Blatting with fear, eyes rolling, they pressed against the gate, wanting to flee.
Sully’s threat was chilling. He knew Will’s family was here and was making sure Will understood that he would kill them all.
Will didn’t doubt him for a second. A cruel, cowardly man like Sully, once he got the upper hand, would do terrible things.
Like murdering innocent women.
Will had formed the best plan possible, maximizing their fighting chances and hiding the women away from the structure Teal was most likely to burn.
But if Will fought now, if he so much as fired a warning shot, Sully would make a point of finding and butchering Mama, Rose, and Maggie.
Will had been ready to fight, ready to die.
But he saw no way to beat these men. He needed more soldiers on his side and wished he had a strong force to charge with him straight into the fray.
He was alone, though. Yes, the other men would fire from their positions and undoubtedly kill some of Teal’s raiders, but Will’s friends would all die eventually.
Will, Rufus, Jake, Ted, Farley…
And, Will now understood, the women would die as well.
Then the raiders would plunder Will’s home, burn it to the ground, and steal his cattle.
All because of Sully. All because, when you got right down to it, a cotton-picking day laborer named Will Bentley hadn’t allowed the spoiled son of a plantation owner to beat him to a pulp with his riding crop.
“Be brave, Bentley!” Sully shouted. “This is between you and me, not the women. Come out here, or they all die, too!”
It was not an idle threat, Will knew. Sully had no soul, and Teal would spare no one. The marauder had already proven that by murdering Maggie’s family and countless others, both in the war and after.
Would Sully honor the deal, though? If Will surrendered himself, would Sully really allow the others to live?
Will hoped so.
Because there was no other way. This force was too big, too bloodthirsty.
Will had to sacrifice himself. There was no other way to save his friends and loved ones.
“Last chance to save your family, Bentley!” Sully shouted. “Show yourself now or they all die! I’ll give you to the count of three. One…”
CHAPTER 44
When Sully Weatherspoon started talking, Maggie went to the window of the darkened bunkhouse, stared out at the cluster of torch-bearing men in front of her home, and shuddered with revulsion.
It was like remembering something she had never actually experienced, like seeing the moment before Mother and Maggie’s two brothers had been murdered.
Behind this shudder, however, came not weakness but anger.
Rage, in fact.
How dare Sully bring Teal and his killers here?
