Seeing his eyes close briefly, Elizabeth startled. Crying out, she slid Katie off her lap and threw herself at him.
“Cutter!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Immediately, Elizabeth began searching for a wound, tears pricking at her eyes, threatening to obscure her vision. With the last of his strength, Cutter thrust her hand away and continued loading, but she returned stubbornly, probing him, holding back her sobs as she searched him.
Sweat trickled from Cutter’s brow as he passed the loaded weapon to Elizabeth.
“Where?” Elizabeth demanded, desperation taking over. She could sense him fading, and still had no notion what it was that was wrong. “I don’t see where you were shot!” She was losing hold of her control. Dear God, Cutter couldn’t die. He couldn’t leave her! She loved him. “Cutter,” she moaned.
“Lizbeth, gal... we’re in a tight,” he told her, wavering on the brink of unconsciousness. Shadows flitted before his eyes as he handed her the loaded Colt, butt-first. He swallowed nothing. His mouth was dry as death. “Need your help,” he told her hoarsely.
Elizabeth shook her head, shoving the gun away, denying him. She was terrified that if she touched the gun, he would slip away. Desperately she continued to probe his body for the mysterious wound, confounded that she couldn’t find it.
Cutter looked at her blankly, his eyes narrowed and glassy. “Elizabeth,” he said firmly. “Take the confounded gun... point it at the bad guys... and shoot.” He thrust it at her weakly. “Take it,” he entreated softly, blinking as his eyes crossed.
Fighting her hysteria, Elizabeth snatched the odious gun from his hands, fully intending to lay it aside while she continued to search him, but the moment she did, Cutter’s eyes closed, and he slumped to one side.
“No!” she cried, clutching his shoulders in desperation. “Oh, no—Cutter, no!”
Lead shattered into the boulder, flinging shards of stone. One chip hit Katie in the arm. At once Katie began to shriek, scurrying closer to Elizabeth. Elizabeth shoved her down to lie beside Cutter, her instinct for survival taking over. Saying a short prayer for all their souls, she rose to her trembling knees. The gun wavered in her hands as she peered over the boulder, only to face panic once more.
Oh, God! She could see nothing! Nothing at all! She shook her head, denying the position she was in, and turned, sinking down despondently against the cold stone. But it was no use. Denial would accomplish nothing.
“Dear God, have mercy on our souls,” she said with a catch, and resolutely came back to her knees, fully expecting to look death in the face.
She couldn’t see anything beyond the swaying grass—not even the boulder she and Katie and Cutter had used for shelter earlier. Everything, everything, beyond her field of vision was a hazy predawn blur of gray and rose. Another bullet whistled past, just missing Elizabeth.
At her feet, Cutter groaned, startling her.
“Just a scratch,” he said deliriously, his teeth setting against the pain.
Elizabeth felt torn, wanting to go to him, and knowing she couldn’t possibly. She peered over the boulder again. Another bullet whizzed by, missing her, though barely, and she squeezed one of her own off accidentally. Her hands quivering, she muttered a curse she’d learned from Cutter and glanced back over the boulder, pointing her gun shakily, but not firing.
She couldn’t see anything to shoot at and didn’t dare waste bullets. Oh, God... she couldn’t kill what she couldn’t see! And she couldn’t see anything!
Not true! she told herself. You can see all you need to! Don’t panic. “Do not panic,” she told herself firmly.
Biting her lower lip almost painfully, she held her breath, and waited. For the longest moment, there was nothing. Nothing at all. The sound of gunfire stopped abruptly, and only the sound of the breeze stirred through the grass.
With every second of silence, her fear mounted.
And then suddenly she tensed, seeing a face... oh, God, a face... a bearded face! Magnus was on his belly, coming like a snake through the grass!
He was grinning—knowing that she was incapable of staving him off alone. But he was wrong. She could do it! Keeping her hand as steady as she was able, she tried with all her might to focus, squinting as he came closer, waiting for the right moment.
Closer.
“Aunt Lizabeth!” Katie squealed in fright.
“Stay down, Katie!” Elizabeth squeezed the trigger, but it merely clicked, the chamber empty. Cutter had missed one. How many bullets had he loaded? She couldn’t remember.
“Cutter?” she whimpered.
Magnus’ grin widened. Emboldened, he came to his knees, rising swiftly to his feet to rush at her.
Panic threatened to set in. Some part of Elizabeth wanted only to toss down the gun in her hand and throw herself at Magnus’ mercy, knowing there was no way possible for her to fire and hit her intended target... even if there were bullets... but there had to be! She’d watched Cutter load it!
