The overgrown path led them far into the woods and to a little clearing with a trapper’s cabin right in the center. The horses were all tied up behind the cabin. Blade counted twelve in total. That meant that there were twelve men inside the cabin and that Blade and Dakota were heavily outnumbered.
“Are all of them inside?” Dakota asked from where they stood, hidden by the shadows and foliage of the trees.
“I don’t know.” Blade slowly moved to his right, being careful not to make any noise. The last thing they wanted was to alert the gang that they were there before coming up with a plan.
They had slipped on their masks as soon as they saw the cabin. Then they had dismounted from Africa and Riot and tied them to a tree where they would be safe and out of the way.
Blade knew deep down that Austin was there. He could feel his uncle’s evil presence, but they still hadn’t seen him.
Dakota was stealthy. He couldn’t even hear her behind him as they circled the cabin. The tree line moved closer to the cabin on one side, and finally, they got some confirmation that the gang was there. From within, they could hear voices talking, and then standing out among all of them was Austin’s. Hearing it sent a chill down Blade’s spine.
He would be able to recognize that voice anywhere.Watch me kill your precious son.Those were the last words Blade had heard before Austin shot him. They were ingrained in his memory.
Chapter 32
“It’s him,” Blade whispered, glancing at Dakota.
She nodded in understanding.
Quietly, they continued circling the cabin. Once back at their original hiding spot, they crouched down and huddled together.
“Okay, so we know it’s them,” Dakota said, keeping her voice low. “But what’s the plan?”
“We can wait and see what they are doing,” Blade suggested. “Or we can storm the cabin, kick open the door, and open fire.”
Dakota’s eyes lit up. “I like the second option.”
Blade did too. “We’re outnumbered. Catching them by surprise will play in our favor. I’m confident that we can take down at least half of them before the rest of them return fire.”
They turned their attention back to the cabin. It still stood there, lonely and weathered, but now they knew for a fact that those walls were hiding some of the worst criminals.
“Austin is clever,” Blade continued. “There’s a possibility that they are waiting for us. They could even have set up traps.”
“So we wait for them to come out,” Dakota suggested. “Maybe kill them off one by one.”
Blade was thinking the same thing. “It’ll be safer, but it’ll take longer too, and it won’t take them long to realize that something is wrong.”
“But if we don’t show ourselves, they’ll have to come outside,” Dakota pointed out. “There are lots of hiding places out here. We’ll have the upper hand.”
Blade took her hand in his and squeezed it. “Then we do that,” he agreed. “I can wait a little longer if it means keeping you safe.”
“Wait for what?” a voice asked from behind them.
Turning toward the sound, Blade saw a tall man standing a couple of feet away. In his hands, he held a rifle. There was no time to think things through. They had been spotted, and it was time to act. Blade dove to his right, rolling over andlanding on his feet, wanting to distract the bandit and draw his focus away from Dakota.
The man spun toward Blade, trying to line up his aim again. Blade drew his pistol, but before he could pull the trigger, a shot rang out from beside him, and the bandit toppled over, dead.
They were safe, but not for long. Dakota had killed the bandit, but the sound of gunfire would have alerted the rest of the men that they had arrived.
“We fight clever,” Blade instructed. “Staying safe is more important than making the kill.”
Dakota nodded. “No being brave.”
The idea of anything happening to Dakota terrified Blade, but their plan was compromised, and they had no other choice but to fight.
Blade turned his attention back to the cabin. From between the foliage of the trees, he could see the door opening and men filing out. Some of them had pistols, some rifles, and some had both. All of them looked ready to kill. Blade was too, but he had to make sure that Dakota stayed safe as well.
Blade caught a glimpse of Austin, but he quickly disappeared behind the cabin. The men were splitting up.They didn’t want to make themselves easy targets by staying close together.
