Rain Shadow(45)

Even Anton could tell the droppings were fresh-he could catch up if he  wanted to, if he deemed it the best solution. He decided to stay a  discreet distance behind and take stock of the situation.

At noon the sun warmed him, and gratefully Anton unbuttoned his coat and  removed his gloves. He ate a biscuit from the saddlebag and continued  to follow the tracks. It was unclear where was Ruiz was taking them.

What could he do? Think! he mentally shouted at himself. What could he  do? He couldn't just ride up behind them waving his gun. Ruiz could use  any of his three captives to cover himself.

Anton squinted across the expanse of glaring white landscape. The tracks  led down an embankment and into another winter-bound stand of timber  and brush.

Get ahead of them. Providing he could stay on their course, he could ride ahead and meet Ruiz head-on.

Anton urged the General on a passage parallel to Ruiz' and increased his  pace. The route was difficult, but he ignored the limbs and branches  that tore at his coat and he occasionally grabbed his hat to keep from  having it torn from his head.

Almost an hour later, Anton hobbled the General and traveled the last  distance on foot, praying he'd guessed the direction correctly. He chose  a spot in a small stand of conifers and hunkered down behind a fallen  log. Snow drifted before him like a silver blanket in the afternoon sun.  He checked his rifle. Removing his gloves, he blew on his fingers to  warm them. He squinted into the distance, drew a breath and implored  God's providence on sending Ruiz this way even if he was waiting in the  wrong spot.

Cheeks and nose numb, he scanned the woods before him. A queasy feeling  settled in his chest and stomach, and he forced down his panic.

An interminable time passed before he became aware of something. Rain  Shadow's words came to him, the last words she'd spoken before they'd  parted. Listen and sniff the air, she'd whispered. What you don't hear  is as important as what you hear.

There wasn't a sound in the woods except his own breathing.

His heart thudded in his good ear. He strained to listen, cocking his  head and slipping off his gloves. Dark forms appeared between the trees  fifty yards away. Two horses and riders single file. Anton squinted down  his rifle barrel. Ruiz rode closer, and Rain Shadow followed with one  of the boys draped in front of her. Her much smaller mount placed her  beneath and to the left of Anton's sights, to his advantage.

Anton held his breath and tensed his finger on the trigger. A little closer. A little closer. Patience now.

Where was the other boy?

Anton's concentration wavered as he recognized Nikolaus' coat and hat on  the child in her arms. Where was Slade? Behind Rain Shadow? Behind  Ruiz? His heart lurched-behind them somewhere on the trail?

Anton sent a prayer heavenward and made a hasty calculation of the space  Slade would fill if he were behind Ruiz. He held his breath-this should  have been you. Rain Shadow, you're the crack shot-and slowly squeezed  the trigger.

Ruiz jerked sideways, half hanging from his saddle. The black stallion  reared, tumbling Slade to the forest floor, where he recovered quickly  and sprang to his feet. Ruiz twisted and yanked his foot from the  stirrup, falling to the ground and rolling away from the animal's  hooves. He staggered to his knees and aimed his rifle at Slade, one arm  hanging at his side.

Anton peered over the log. His muttered curses turned the air blue.

"Stay mounted and do not move!" Ruiz shouted at Rain Shadow.

She obeyed. Nikolaus' wail pierced the silent woods. Rain Shadow lowered  her face to his and touched his cheek with her gloved hand.

"Show yourself, Neubauer!" Ruiz scanned the area where Anton hid. "Show  yourself if you care for any of these troublemakers!" He jerked his head  at Rain Shadow. "Throw his nino down by the other one!"

Anton revealed himself. "I'm here, Ruiz. Take on somebody your own size."

Ruiz laughed. "You are a predictable fool. Throw your rifle down."
                       
       
           



       
Anton complied.

"The gun under your coat, too."

Anton unbuttoned his coat, yanked out the revolver and sent it sailing into a snowdrift.

"Now, move over here." Ruiz kept his eyes on Anton, the rifle aimed at  Slade. "It seems our party has grown too large. Someone will have to  stay behind."

"Papa!" Nikolaus shrieked, and twisted from Jack's back. Rain Shadow  caught his sleeve and held him fast, his feet kicking the ground and  sending clumps of snow into the air. "Let me go!" he howled. "I want my  pa!"

Anton forced himself to watch Ruiz. The vaquero sneered at Nikolaus in  disgust. A tiny movement caught Anton's attention, and he sneaked a  glance at Slade.

Slade met his gaze deliberately, slid off his glove and edged his hand into the top of his boot.

Nikolaus' tantrum still held Ruiz' attention. Unobtrusively, Slade slid a knife into his palm and hid it in his sleeve.

No. Anton shot him a guarded look. Don't try it. He stepped closer to  Ruiz and noticed the bright red stain spreading outward from the hole in  his sleeve.

Slade, too, inched toward the wounded man.

"Come back up with me, now, Nikky. You're safe up here." Rain Shadow had Anton's son halfway slung over her lap.

"Let them, go, Ruiz," Anton suggested mildly. "Take this thing up with me."

"I do not want you," he snarled. "You are of no use. You or your squalling brat."

Anton recognized the peculiar edge to Ruiz' thickly accented voice. His  scalp tingled. The man wasn't sane. Ruiz had a fanatical tone, an  obsessive look in his eye. For whatever it was worth, Anton tried to  reason with him. "What do you want with them?"

"Slade is my son!"

"Real proud of that fact, are you?"

"They are my future. My fortune."

"What about their futures?"

"Mi padre will see that they are taken care of. Family is everything to  him. All family but myself, that is. I am the- how do you call it?-black  sheep of the family. He disinherited me years ago. He did not  appreciate my worth. I, however, have the firstborn grandson." Ruiz  jerked the rifle. "The little bastard is my ticket back into grace."

Anton gritted his teeth and bit back a growl.

"Anton!" Slade shouted.

Before Anton knew what was happening, metal flashed in the sunlight, and Slade lunged toward him.

Anton's first thought was to disarm Ruiz. He burst forward and kicked the rifle. It fired harmlessly into the sky.

"Anton!" Slade shouted again.

Anton reached for the knife Slade held toward him.

"No!" Ruiz, too, leapt toward the knife, his shout surprising Slade into hanging onto the handle.

Anton tackled Ruiz from the side, knocking him forward. They fell in a  pile on the frozen ground, a tangle of boots and legs and thick coats. A  sickening gurgle sounded from beneath Anton. He raised his head from  Ruiz' back and focused on Slade.

Horror turned the boy's face ashen. Slade jerked his hand back and gaped  at the blood covering his palm and seeping between his fingers.

"You all right?" Anton asked him.

Rain Shadow appeared and pulled Slade away.

"Is he all right?"

"He's fine, Anton." Mouth set in a grim line, she nodded toward the man beneath her husband. "It's him."

Realizing Ruiz hadn't moved, Anton pulled himself up and knelt at Ruiz'  other side. He lay, eyes glazed, Slade's knife protruding from his neck.  Blood bubbled from Miguel's lips, trickled across his stubbled cheek  and was absorbed by the hard-packed snow.

Dead. Anton absorbed the fact. Against their will, they'd all played a  hideous part in this final scene. Miguel de Ruiz had been a fool. All  those years ago he could have had Rain Shadow's love, could have been  her husband, could have been a father to Slade, but he'd thrown it all  away. For what? What could have been more satisfying than an honest  woman's love and trust? Apparently, Ruiz had alienated his father and  family, as well. Apparently the vaquero had dealt pain to many.

Standing, Anton slid his gaze to Slade, and his chest ached for the boy.  That he'd had to learn about the dark aspects of life in this  manner-worse, that he'd had to witness cruelty and greed in his own  father-saddened Anton beyond measure. At least Nikolaus had been a baby  when his mother had died and he hadn't been present. The only bad  memories Nikolaus would ever have would be of this man-but Slade....                       
       
           



       

Rain Shadow embraced her son. Sobbing, Nikolaus ran into Anton's side  with an impact that nearly sent him sprawling. Anton lifted his son and  hugged him against his chest, tears prickling at the backs of his eyes.  "It's all right, son. It's over now, and you're fine."