As they rode, he was impressed with the girl behind him. She hadn’t said a word since they left, keeping quiet on the trail. He could smell her, though, and knew what she looked like without seeing her. He could feel her. For once in his life, he didn’t know how to proceed. All he knew was, he wanted this girl.
They found a spot under a white oak. The canopy of leaves would keep the dampness off in the morning, and the wide expanse of dried leaves on the ground would give warning if anything approached.
It wasn’t only people they had to worry about. This was a land of black bear, wild pigs, and more than once he saw the tawny mountain lion, any of which would be hard to handle, especially at night.
He cleared away a couple of places of leaves and sticks, making sure no rocks were sticking up. After staking out the horses, he wordlessly wrapped himself in his blanket and taking a last look around, was immediately asleep.
9
Katie sat for a while staring at the man. He slept lightly. Every time she’d make a slight rustling noise, his breathing would pause and then resume. She looked around her, wishing she had another cup of coffee, but settled for a drink from her canteen.
Reviewing the events of the day, she shook her head slowly in the darkness and smiled. A woman needs a man just as much as he needs her. Unless she missed her guess, this was quite a man.
Maybe, just maybe….
10
Dust rose in lazy clouds from their horses hooves, as four men pulled their mounts up in front of the rundown shack centered in the clearing. Slouched in their saddles the men surveyed the area, looking for signs of life in the adjoining buildings. The barn was falling in and the attached stock pens were overgrown with weeds. The forest was slowly winning the battle to take back the clearing. Smoke rose slowly from the chimney of the house.
“You better be right about this one, Pagan.” Red Seaver’s voice took on a plaintive note. “The woman at the last place we hit was downright ugly, and fattern’ a cow.”
The other men snickered, until Pagan Reeves silenced them with a glance. “I didn’t know you were so particular, Red.”
“He ain’t.” One of the other men spoke loudly, grinning and spitting a wad of tobacco into the weeds.
“Hello, the house.” Pagan’s voice echoed in the small clearing. When no response came, he said conversationally, “I know you’re in there, McCracken. You don’t come out, we’ll just burn this shack down around your ears.”
The front door slowly creaked open, and a gaunt man dressed in bib-overalls stepped onto the porch. A floppy hat came down to his ears, and his bare feet were stark white against the weathered boards of the porch. He held a shotgun in one hand, pointed at the floor. “I told you last time, Pagan. We want no part of you.” The man’s voice dripped with Arkansas drawl.
Pagan grinned at him. “Don’t matter a bit, McCracken. You had your chance. Now you don’t. So, why don’t you call out your women? Me and the boys would like to get acquainted.”
“What do you—” The man stopped short at the sight of Pagan’s gun on him. Casually, grinning widely, the other men drew their weapons.
“Drop the shotgun.”
Nervously, the settler started sidling toward the door, until a shot from Pagan’s gun splintered the boards in front of him. The shotgun fell to the floor, next to his bloodied feet.
Immediately, the others jumped from their mounts and swarmed onto the porch. One of them knocked McCracken senseless with the butt of a pistol as they brushed past him into the house. Moments later they emerged, towing two kicking and screaming women behind them.
“Now this is more like it.” Red was holding the younger of the two girls. His hands pulled up her blouse, roughly squeezing and fondling her. Both girls were crying, looking at their father lying next to the house.
Pagan dismounted, and walked up to the girls. Stopping at the older girl, he reached out and gently cupped one of her breasts. He spoke without turning his head. “Big, you and Smith keep watch for a while. Red and me have the first call on these ladies.”
Big Waters started to grumble, but a glance from Pagan shut him up. “You’ll get your turn, as many times as you want.”
The youngest girl started to scream.
Red silenced her with a slap.
“Hey,” Waters shouted at him as they rode to the outskirts of the clearing. “Don’t mess them up too much.”
11
The sun was sliding past noon, leaving scant shadows around Pagan as he sat on a stump out in the yard. The girls were cleaning up, after the meager meal they’d been forced to prepare for the men. Both were naked, and the younger girl had blood running down one leg.
Standing, Pagan motioned to the men. “We better be going. Burning daylight, boys.” He looked at Red. “You know what to do with them, don’t you Red?”
Red grinned as he pulled his knife. “Oh, I surely do.”
“No. Don’t hurt them anymore, Pagan.” The muffled and anguished cry came from the bound father.
“You should have joined us when you had the chance, McCracken. I warned you.”
“You people are vermin. Not fit to live on this earth. Some day you will get yours. I just wish I’d be there to see it.” The man’s voice choked with emotion, and his own blood. “Girls? I am sorry, girls. I should have done better for you.” He strained to see his daughters, who were huddled in a corner.
“Red, do the girls first, so McCracken can watch.”
12
Hours later, the four men reined in their lathered horses at a junction in the trail.
“We’ll split up here. Red, you take the men and head for Big Springs. Look around for some more people to recruit. You know the kind we want.” Pagan’s tone was terse, his mind on other things.
“Where you goin’?”
“I think it’s time to pay another visit to the Sanchez ranch.” He grinned.
The men exchanged grins. “I know what you’re after. That Sanchez woman is mighty fine looking.”
“Forget it, boys. That’s one I won’t share. Besides, if we get her cattle we’ll have all the women we want.” He stopped at the edge of the forest. “Red, you see Hobbs, you send him to Base Camp after that bartender—what’s his name, Walsh? He’s been giving colonel what’s-his-name too much information. Time we put a stop to it.”
Red raised his hand in answer and jogged his horse down the trail with Big Waters and Jumbo Smith.
13
Trent rode into the east side of Base Camp Bravo, leaving the protection of the forest and the things he understood—half sliding his horse down the rocky embankment and scattering leaves onto Farm Road AP. He let his horse blow a moment as he reacquainted himself with the layout of the Army base Colonel Bonham put together a few years ago.
Shunning the main roads, the colonel had put his camp right in the middle of the part of Mark Twain National Forest skirting the White River. Equidistant between Vanzant to the west, and Burnham to the east, the camp was just a wide place in the road, containing a few buildings and storage bunkers. All this, surrounded by the rolling hills and forest of the Ozark Mountains. The colonel had chosen this location for its remoteness and easy accessibility to the forest he hoped to control.