It felt great to pass along all of his knowledge. It wasn’t something that they should have ever thought of doing or knew that he needed, but now that he was actually doing it, it felt like he was doing what he was always meant to do. He had no idea what the kid’s plans were for his future, and he hoped that the kid decided to run his family’s ranch. But if he did decide to do something else that required any of the skills that Deadshot was teaching him, Deadshot would feel happy that he had somehow contributed.
Unfortunately, finding food and water wasn’t the only thing they had to worry about in the desert. The animals weren’t exactly forgiving, much like the desert itself. They simply seemed to want to kill whoever intruded on their territory. Theinsects were dangerous, and the mountain lions were hungry. One night, while sleeping under the stars, the kid found out just how scary a mountain lion could be.
Deadshot woke up to the kid’s screaming and immediately reached for his pistol. Fortunately, the fire was still going, and the moon was bright, so he had enough light to see what was going on. The kid was running, and behind him was a mountain lion. Now, the kid was fast, but no human could outrun such an animal, and Deadshot had to act quickly. He didn’t particularly like killing innocent animals, but it was a matter of life or death.
He aimed and fired his pistol without having to think about it. The actions came naturally and within a split second. The sound of a gunshot echoed through the desert, and the animal collapsed to the ground. Once again, the kid learned why it was necessary to keep your pistol ready at all times.
Deadshot and the kid had scoured almost every inch of the desert, and he was seriously considering the fact that he might have been wrong about Quincy and his gang hiding in the desert. He didn’t want to tell the kid that they needed to find somewhere else to look until he had figured out where that somewhere else was. While thinking this over, a ray of hope appeared.
Deadshot knew the desert. He’d been there a couple of times before, but he had never explored it as he did this time. For the first time ever, a mountain range came into view. It was just barely visible, but it was there. Deadshot stopped Bullseye in his tracks, his heart beating like crazy in his chest.
The kid came to a sudden stop right next to him. “What is it?” he asked.
“Mountains,” Deadshot replied, pointing ahead. “I think we might have found what we’ve been looking for.”
The kid followed the direction in which Deadshot was pointing, a small smile growing on his face as he noticed the mountains too. “You think that’s where they’re hiding?”
“It has to be,” Deadshot replied.
“Okay.” The kid let out a long breath as he adjusted his hat. “What now?”
“We move closer, see what we can see,” Deadshot replied. “But we have to be extra careful. We can’t allow them to see us if they are there. Stay close to me at all times and don’t make any unnecessary noise. If you have to speak, speak softly.”
The kid nodded in understanding. “You’ve taught me well. I’ve got your back.”
Deadshot couldn’t help but smile at that. He knew that the kid did, in fact, have his back, and that the kid would do whatever he could if he thought that Deadshot needed him. Deadshot, however, would have preferred for the kid to be anywhere but there right now. He knew that he had taught the kid well, but that didn’t mean that the kid was prepared for the kind of fight that lay ahead. Deadshot could handle Quincy andQuincy’s men, but he could not handle it if anything happened to the kid.
Considering the circumstances, it was best to keep the kid close for now. At least with the kid by his side, Deadshot could protect him. Of course, there was no way of knowing that Quincy and his gang were, in fact, hiding in the mountains until they got a closer look, so that was what they had to do. Out in the desert, there weren’t many places to hide, and Deadshot was scared that the gang, if they were there, would see them approaching. There was nothing he could do about that.
The mountains were still far away, and from the angle, he couldn’t see where any entrances would be, so it wasn’t as if they could go around the back. The only thing they could do was approach with caution and hope for the best.
Under usual circumstances, if they were, for instance, in a forest or even open prairies, Deadshot would have been able to look for horse prints or wagon tracks, but in the desert, those weren’t easy to spot. The wind blew away every trace in its path, making tracking almost impossible.
Chapter 40
At first, the plan was simply to get closer to the mountains. Once they had a better view, Deadshot would decide what to do. As they approached the mountains, some greenery came into view. So far, during their search of the desert, they had only come across a couple of green patches. Those were mostly close to where rivers flowed underground. Those were the places where Deadshot and the kid had filled up their water. Other water sources were available, but the water in those places was scarce and usually only provided enough to fill their canteens and maybe wash their faces.
The greenery meant that there was water close to the mountains, which would make it the perfect place to hide. The trees and shrubs would also provide much-needed wood and some shade for them to stay outside and keep their horses safe. The closer they got, the more certain Deadshot was that this was the place where he would find Quincy and his gang.
It was so far away from anything that it was the perfect place for people like them to hide. Even those who had gone into the desert to search for Quincy before would likely never have come across it. It had taken Deadshot and the kid months to find it.Deadshot wasn’t sure exactly how long they had been searching, but from his experience, he would guess at least two, maybe even three months. That was a long time to spend in the desert under such harsh circumstances.
The desert stretched for many miles, but Quincy and his gang would know exactly how to find their hideaway, making it easy for them to travel to and from towns. If Deadshot had known where the mountains were situated, it wouldn’t have taken them half as long to get there.
“All right,” Deadshot said as he slowed down his horse. “We need to be very careful now.”
“Just tell me what to do,” the kid agreed.
“We need to look for an entrance, but to be able to do that, we’ll need to get much closer to the mountain. The mountain walls appeared to be steeper on the left side, so I think it’ll probably be more to the right. We’ll go around that way, but we have to move slowly and keep the horses as close to the mountain as possible. We don’t want anybody to see us. If you do see somebody, try not to make any noise and use the hand signals that I taught you.”
“Okay,” the kid replied, his voice shaking slightly.
Once again, Deadshot thought that it was good that the kid was still scared. Being scared wasn’t always a bad thing; sometimes it helped to keep you alive.
“Be vigilant and ready to draw your weapon.”
Those were Deadshot’s last instructions to the kid before they slowly made their way closer to the right side of the mountain. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, but any entrance or sign of people or animals would help. The closer they got, the more dangerous it was. They needed to find a place to hide the horses and continue on foot. Luckily for them, there was more than one spot of greenery. They stayed away from the bigger area and made their way to the smaller area that was further away from the mountain.
Once they tied up their horses, they gathered all of their weapons. They needed to make sure that they had their guns with them, just in case they needed them. Deadshot had learned many years ago that it was always best to keep more than one weapon on hand.
