“And I’ll fucking take three days to kill you, you bastard! You bring her out of there, or I’ll skin your hide off when I get hold of you and plant you on an anthill! And I’ll damn well cut your balls off and shove them in your mouth! Bring her out now, and all I’ll do is put a bullet in your head!”
“That ain’t much of a choice, Harkner!”
“You think about it! I never lie, Buckley! If you kill my wife, what I did to you back in Guthrie will seem like a picnic!”
Things got quiet. Lloyd moved around to confirm that there were no windows at the back of the cabin. He’d brought a rope along in case he might need it, and indeed, he realized he might be able to use it to get behind the cabin. He scurried up through the rocks, finding an area where he could slide down the cliff on sheer, flat rock and land in the small area between the face of the cliff and the cabin. He waved to Jake, then set down his rifle and tied one end of the rope to a small pine tree at the top of the cliff. It wasn’t very strong, but it was his only choice. He clung to the rope and shimmied down the cliff for about fifteen feet. The sapling broke, and Lloyd fell the rest of the way, a good ten feet. He landed hard just behind the cabin but got to his feet, silently waving that he was all right.
“What’s it going to be, Buckley?” Jake shouted. “Do you want to die easy? Or do you want to take two or three days to die? You’ve trapped yourself by your own stupidity! Dying one way or the other is your only choice!”
“You bastard! I had her, Jake. I’ve got that much to go out of this life with! And it wasn’t the way you think! I figured I wouldn’t enjoy it much on account of her age, so I shoved it in her mouth!” He laughed, and Jake felt like someone was ripping his heart out. “She practically choked on it, Harkner! She had to swallow Brad Buckley’s shit! Twice! Clem’s too! He figured since she was a whore, she’d probably like it. You ever do that, Harkner? Hell, a big man like you could break her jaw!”
More laughter.
Stephen and Little Jake looked at each other. “What’s he mean?” Little Jake asked.
“Something real bad,” Stephen answered, his hands moving into fists. “It’s a dirty, low-down thing. I wish we’d been big enough to stop them, Little Jake. I can’t wait till I get big like Pa and Grandpa.”
Lloyd was tall enough to grab hold of the edge of the wooden shingle roof of the cabin. He stepped on a barrel behind it to give himself a boost onto the roof, then quickly removed his jacket and laid it over the chimney. Jake and the other men moved from the rocks after a few minutes and headed for the cabin. Brad Buckley, Tucker, and Clem couldn’t help but run out, coughing and hacking from smoke. All but Brad dropped their weapons and raised their hands as Jake, Cole, Rodriguez, and Vance surrounded them. Lloyd quickly removed his jacket from the chimney, worried about his mother, who was surely choking on the smoke inside the cabin.
“Don’t kill us!” Clem whined. “We didn’t hurt her! It was Brad!”
Brad’s eyes stung from the smoke, but he had to know the big figure coming toward him was Jake Harkner. He raised his gun, but before he could fire, Jake shot him in the privates—twice. He went to his knees, screaming. Lloyd jumped down from the roof. He pulled his six-gun and walked up to Clem, shoving the gun into Clem’s mouth. “You fucking piece of shit! Nobody messes with my mother!” He pulled the trigger without hesitation. Clem’s head exploded into pieces.
“Oh my God!” Tucker cried out.
“Pa!” Stephen whispered.
“I think that’s what Grampa did to that man back in Denver,” Little Jake said.
Cole raised his six-gun to Tucker’s chest. “That fire killed my best friend, you bastard, and men like me don’t have many friends!” He shot Tucker in the heart.
Still standing over Brad, Jake seemed unmoved by what Lloyd and Cole had just done. “Go inside and use something to bring a hot coal out here!” he ordered Vance. He looked at Lloyd. “Go see if she’s still alive.” He almost groaned the words. “I’m sorry to make you do it, Lloyd, but I need to know before I…go in there.” His face was etched dark with devastation.
Brian came closer, the three boys with him. “Jake, I’ll go,” Brian offered.
“No!” Lloyd objected. “It’s okay. You went through enough with Evie.” He turned and headed into the cabin, Vance right behind him. They left the door open to clear out some of the smoke.
Lloyd hesitantly approached an old rope-spring bed where something lay curled up under blankets. He couldn’t imagine life without his mother, and he said a quick prayer that she was alive. He bent closer. “Mom?”