A small sound brought him back from his rage. Chico was struggling to sit up. He turned and knelt beside him. “Dammit, Chico. What happened?”
Cruz sat looking groggily around. Suddenly his eyes cleared and he tried to lunge to his feet. “He was here. We thought it was you coming back. He just walked right into camp. Katie yelled a warning at me, that’s the last I remember.” His eyes searched the camp. “My God. Katie!”
Trent began tying a bandage around the cut on his leg. “He has her. She’s gone.”
“Then you must hurry. Catch him before he….”
“Not this time.” Chico was looking at him as if he was crazy. “He wants to draw me up the mountain. It’s between him and me. Katherine is the bait. He won’t kill the bait. At least, not now.”
Chico started down a trail of self-loathing. “Once again, I have failed you….”
He interrupted him. “Stop it, Chico. We have no time. Do you have men close? Riders you can get to in a hurry?”
“Yes. Yes, I think so.” Chico’s voice was hopeful.
“Go get them. Seal off this mountain. If the worst happens, Gunny must not escape. No matter what it costs, Chico. Even if Katherine and I both go down, you have to make sure Gunny doesn’t leave this mountain.” His eyes were boring into Chico’s. “Is this understood?”
“I will not fail. Not this time.” He kept repeating the phrase to himself as he saddled his horse and went tearing off down the mountain.
Trent looked up at the sky. Now it was time for Gunny to pay.
He faded into the trees at the edge of the clearing, leaving not so much as a ruffled leaf to mark his passing.
17
Katie came awake slowly, reluctant to face the throbbing in her head. Memory came rushing back and the pain was replaced by fear—a gut-wrenching fear that bolted her upright on the bed, only to be snapped back by the ropes holding her down. She swiveled her head and found Gunny gazing at her from beside a window.
“You.” Her voice was full of loathing.
“Might as well lay back and be comfortable, missy. It’s going to be a long day.” Gunny went back to gazing out the window. “That man of yours will be coming up the trail. He will try to get you back. Too bad. It’ll get him killed.”
Her voice was quiet. “You’ll never do it. Not on your best day.”
Gunny left the window and came slowly toward her. Katie suddenly realized she was completely naked. Tears formed in her eyes as she fought the restraints holding her to the bed. “Please don’t do this, Gunny.”
Gunny stood by the bed and calmly cupped one of her breasts. “Do you know how many women have said that to me, and then begged for mercy?” He could feel the heat rising within him. She was so beautiful. Her breasts were large and full and she was so worthy.
Not now. Not yet.
She stifled a scream as he pinched her nipple between his fingers. The hand withdrew, only to come back with a glittering blade. Resting the cutting-edge on her chest, between her breasts, he lightly pulled the knife down toward her navel—the weight of the knife the only pressure on her skin. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a thin line of blood started coming up in little beads of red.
“Oh, he’ll come, missy. He’ll come and maybe this time he’ll kill me. Maybe we’ll both go down. But he won’t be here for a long while. And missy… by then you won’t care what he does. Not one bit.”
18
Trent stood in the gloom of the forest with sweat running in rivers from his body. A thin wire stretched across his leggings—another inch, it would pull free and the metal fragments from the satchel charge would tear him to pieces. He’d worked his way up the mountain by the roughest route possible. Now, with the cabin in sight, he faced only one way to get to the top of the mountain. It was booby-trapped every step of the way.
Slowly, he backed his leg away from the wire. His heart was hammering in his chest. He hadn’t considered booby-traps, and he’d almost paid for the omission with his life… and Katie’s. Think, dammit, think.
He’d just disarmed the explosive charge when the answer came in the form of Cruz. He looked on, astounded as Cruz and two other men were herding a small herd of cattle ahead of them, and coming up the trail. Suddenly an explosion rocked the mountainside and one of the steers came apart in a shower of blood and hide. The rest bolted, panic stricken, into the brush. Two more men came up the trail, pushing more cattle ahead of them. Bovine mine sweeping was cruel but effective, and something used in past war and conflicts. Two more explosions and the men came up even with Trent.
Cruz grinned at Trent. “It’s all I could think of, and the trail just looked too inviting.”
“Chico, how many more cattle down below?”
“Many more, my friend, and my riders have found a way up the other side of the mountain.”
He nodded. “We have to hurry. Gunny will figure out what we’re doing. If he thinks he’ll have to run, he’ll kill her.” Trent slid down the boulder he had been perched on. “I need an old-fashioned stampede, Chico. Everything you’ve got all in one push, right up to the cabin.”
19
Gunny stood by the window, listening intently. He heard three explosions, then silence. “That boy’s smart.” He turned and walked toward Katie. “He’s trying to find all my satchel charges so he can explode them. Smart, but it’ll take him too long.” He stood by her side, rubbing the side of the blade against her abdomen. “Right now, it’s time for us to….”
The sounds of bawling cattle, shots fired and men yelling, signaled the start of the stampede. Chico’s men drove the panicked cattle straight up the mountain trail, causing one explosion after another. Gunny leaped to the window in time to see what was left of the herd of cattle already pouring into the clearing around his cabin. Turning, he looked out the back window of the house to see riders coming in through the trees. Cursing, Gunny grabbed his rifle and threw open the front door. Bringing his rifle up to fire, a charging horse knocked him sprawling. He came up firing, emptying saddles all around him. His AK-47 clacked open and he threw it from him. Pulling his knife, he waited for the one he knew would come.
“It’s time, Gunny.”
“Come get it, boy.” The older man’s face twisted in a snarl. “I’ll give you a belly full.”
They came together in a clash of metal as razor-sharp knives made deadly designs in the air. A silent crowd on their horses encircled the fighting men, each mesmerized by the fight before them.
Gunny lunged at Trent, his knife slashing across his arm. “Got you, boy.”
He stepped back and laughed.
The laugh died in his throat as he backpeddled away from Trent’s attack. When they pulled apart again, Gunny was bleeding from several places on his chest and arms.
He waited quietly for Gunny’s next move. When it came, it was so fast he barely avoided it. With his blade pushing Gunny’s knife aside, he buried his fist in Gunny’s belly. Then, when Gunny folded up, he met his lowering head with a rising knee. Gunny snapped backward and hit the ground shoulders first, and then rolled frantically away—fearing Trent would be on him.
He stood quietly waiting again. No emotion showed in his face as he stared at Gunny.
The soldier stood slightly bent over, his left hand against his side. “That was good, real good. But not good enough. Now it’s time for you to go, boy.”
He came at Trent with all his strength and speed until, panting for breath, they stood eye to eye in the middle of the clearing, their knives locked together as they strained against each other. As they stood, Gunny suddenly came up with a knife in his other hand. Trent wrenched away, as the blade slid along his side against his ribs, then completed the turn, knocking the older man sprawling in the dirt. Gunny came up spitting dirt and rushed him. He brushed aside the thrust and felt his blade bury itself in the old noncom’s belly.