It was nearly dawn when the mob moved toward the sheriff’s office and threw open the door.The first men in found the deputy.Several others ran up the outside stairs and shot the lock open, only to find the room empty.
McClary heard the deputy tell how Mr.Randall, the respectable Jack Randall, had apparently engineered a jailbreak.Mutters of disappointment and anger swept through the crowd, and in minutes a posse was organized.McClary knew it would be ineffective.Most of the men were nearly falling down drunk now and would be hungover in the morning.
Disgust rushed through McClary as he realized he had badly underestimated Jack Randall.For some reason he had joined forces with Rafe Tyler.The damned girl must have had something to do with it.
McClary could cut his losses and head down to Mexico, but then he would be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life.If only he could find Randall and Tyler.Ambush them.But where?Randall couldn’t go back to his ranch, not after breaking a man out of jail.They would head for the high mountains.
Both men were wounded, and that should slow them down.Perhaps he could catch up with them.It was worth a try.
Jack Randall and Rafe slowed their pace to spare the horses.Randall positioned himself a short distance behind Rafe, and Rafe made no attempt to alter that order.He didn’t want to ride in Randall’s dust or ride apace of him.He hated the fact that Randall had been the instrument of his escape, and he sure as hell didn’t feel any gratitude.
If it weren’t for Randall …
His horse stumbled, and he knew it was tiring.They had moved fast to get as far from town as possible, and they had taken a high, rough route, away from the road, to Rushton.Rafe had gone this way before, and he knew a stream ran nearby where they could stop for water.He also wanted to get rid of the damned handcuffs.
They stopped at the stream.Moonlight filtered through the trees, providing some visibility.Randall almost fell as he dismounted.He went immediately to the stream and drank water he scooped up into his hand and then splashed some on his face.When he turned around, he saw the pistol in Rafe’s hands and stiffened.
“Drop the gun tucked in your belt, and then your gunbelt,” Rafe said coldly.
Randall smiled.It was a disarming smile, one Rafe remembered from ten years earlier.Charming and wryly amused.Only the slightest line of strain showed.“I should have known.”
“The guns,” Rafe repeated.
Randall withdrew the deputy’s gun, dropped it, then slowly unbuckled the gunbelt, letting it fall to the ground.
“Now the derringer.”
Randall shrugged.“It’s in the saddlebags.”
“You wouldn’t have left it there.”
Randall reached down and slipped it from his boot.
Rafe grinned wolfishly at him.“I really do appreciate your concept of trust, Randall.Now throw it in the creek.I don’t like those little guns.”
After Randall did as he was told, Rafe aimed at Randall’s knee.“Now the key to the handcuffs.”
“What about Shea?”
“The key, Randall,” Rafe said.“I would take great pleasure in putting another hole in you if you don’t think one is enough.”
Randall put his hand in his pocket and withdrew the key.
“Throw it in front of me and back away.See how high you can raise that right arm.”
Jack Randall threw the key, then raised his arm, taking several steps backward.
Rafe held the gun on Randall while he unlocked the right cuff with his left hand, then switched the gun to the other hand, feeling the heaviness of his arm, the dampness of the shirt.He knew it had started bleeding again.He also knew he couldn’t allow Randall to see that weakness.
He allowed the iron cuffs to drop, and he stood there hesitantly.He had intended to use them on Randall, but now he questioned that intention.Randall’s left arm was in a sling.
“What now, Tyler?”
“You stay here.You aren’t worth killing.And now you’ve broken a dangerous prisoner out of custody, you’ll go to jail,” Rafe said harshly.“Enjoy it.”
“Shea?”
Rafe wanted to ignore the question, to let Randall worry and wait as he had done.But the sudden desperate agony in Randall’s face stopped the intended mocking reply before it left his lips.
