“Thank you.” Tears forming in her eyes, she grabbed the Bible. “I don’t want to leave you. I’ll be scared without you.”
“Cole will do just as good a job getting you out of here. There’s no time for tears or arguing, Annie.” He gave her a quick smile and kissed her forehead. “Go on. I’ll be all right.” He helped her climb through the window, then closed his eyes and said a quick prayer for her and Cole.
“Don’t worry about my worthless hide, Lord. Just save those two.” If not for Evie’s constant preaching at him, he wouldn’t pray at all. He waited, peeking through the curtains to see Annie making her way toward the gate. She suddenly bolted.
“Hey!” someone yelled.
“La muchacha! Ella está escapando! Ella está escapando!” one of the guards shouted.
Jake waited for the sound of horses galloping away, then charged out the bedroom door, not even taking his remaining supplies. Most of his valuables were with Cole anyway. He headed down the hallway. He needed to draw the attention of the guards away from Annie and Cole. And he was not about to leave without killing Sidney Wayland and Luis Estava.
“Sidney Wayland!” he roared. “Show yourself!”
Guards were running into the main living quarters as he got there.
“You!” one of them shouted to Jake. “You let that girl get away!” He pulled a gun. It had barely cleared its holster when Jake shot him in the heart.
Another came at him, and Jake fired again.
Sidney and Luis ran into the main room from two different doorways. Sidney had a gun, but Luis didn’t.
“What’s going on here?” Sidney demanded.
“You’ll not kidnap any more innocent young girls, that’s what!” Jake shouted the words and fired, then turned his gun on Luis.
“Señor Harkner! I am not armed!”
“You’re a fucking rapist!” Jake shouted. “That’s good enough for me!” He fired again, making sure his bullet hit Luis in the mouth and shattered those pretty teeth. Luis squirmed, blood pouring from his mouth. Jake walked up and fired again, putting a hole in the man’s forehead.
“Oh, my God!” A woman screamed, and Jake whirled at the sound of men running down the hallway. A couple of whores stuck their heads out the doors of their rooms, then ducked back inside.
Men ran toward Jake, and he raised both .44s and fired three more times, killing another man with each bullet.
One gun empty. The other had five bullets. Jake moved into a dark alcove near the front door and quickly reloaded the empty gun. He charged for the doorway, guns blazing when two more guards tried to stop him.
“Get the horses!” someone shouted from the rooftop as Jake ran through the courtyard toward Outlaw. He had to stop and duck as more bullets whizzed past him.
“He is stealing one of the girls!” someone yelled. “Don de Leon’s promised!”
“Siguelo! El mato al Señor Wayland!” another yelled.
“Andale! Traigan los caballos!” someone else yelled from inside the courtyard.
Jake mounted Outlaw and took off at a hard gallop. The last order was about getting horses. They would soon be on his heels. He could see Cole and Annie far ahead—they had a good head start. More bullets whizzed past him as he galloped for the border, a good two miles away. He didn’t need to look to know that a small posse had quickly gathered and was after him. He turned and fired. One man went down, and that was a pure miracle, because he was firing at random. He kicked Outlaw into a faster run. His hat flew off. More bullets whizzed past him. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes like hours.
He glanced back. He had a decent lead now, but he felt sorry for Outlaw. The horse was already wheezing and sweating. The temperature seemed too hot for early morning. Ahead of him, dust swirled from Cole and Annie’s horses. Get her across that border, Cole. Don’t stop for anything!
Ten minutes turned to fifteen, and then there it was. The Rio Grande! Cole and Annie were already splashing across the river and headed up the other side.
Then it happened. A bullet hit Outlaw. The horse screamed. His hooves slid for several yards before the horse went down hard, catching Jake’s left leg under it. Jake cried out with the pain, knowing without even looking that his leg was broken. The horse whinnied wildly and struggled to get up, but it couldn’t, and every time it tried, it smashed against Jake’s leg again. Excruciating pain enveloped him. He tried to pull free but couldn’t. It was then he noticed Cole riding back in his direction.
“Go back!” he screamed.
“Jake! Jake!” He could hear Annie screaming from somewhere.