Cowboy Accomplice Part 17

She blinked in surprise. "I had no idea-"

He nodded as if he suspected she didn't.

"You have to go after them and stop them," she said with a fierceness that surprised her.

It must have surprised him, too. He smiled. "The only thing I have to do is get you to the ranch where you will be safe."

"But if they have your property-" She saw by his expression that he feared whoever had stolen the cattle wanted more than the cattle and ultimately the money. "If I wasn't with you, you'd go after them, wouldn't you."

He laughed softly. "Probably and it would be the stupidest thing I could do. I don't even know how many of them there are. I'd probably get myself killed."

She doubted that. J. T. McCall was a man who could take care of himself.

"Come on." He spurred his horse and started back the way they'd come, then cut through the trees away from the trail where the cattle had gone.

Her horse followed without her having to do anything and she was grateful. Her ankle ached and she felt chilled from earlier. She stared at McCall's broad back, thankful that he was with her. Another man might have abandoned her to go after his cattle. Actually, most men she'd known. A half million was a lot of money. She doubted McCall could spare it and she feared she was at least partly responsible for its loss. If he hadn't had to take care of her...

The rocking motion of the horse put her to sleep.

She woke with a start, almost falling off the horse. McCall had stopped. She stared into the pines, surprised how dark it had gotten.

Her rump hurt from the saddle and her ankle felt as if it were ten sizes larger than normal, the boot too tight now and cutting into her flesh. She was tired and hungry, thirsty and her hair stunk of smoke, reminding her of the fire, her skin grimy.

But none of that mattered in an instant as she watched McCall motion for her to keep silent as he dismounted and, raising the rifle, disappeared into the pines.

J.T. HAD BEEN following a trail through the snow for the last quarter mile. Now he caught a whiff of campfire smoke on the breeze. A moment later, he heard a horse whinny ahead of him.

He moved silently through the fallen snow with the rifle ready, stopping behind one of the pine trees to listen. A horse whinnied just beyond a small clearing.

The moment he stepped around the wide branches of the pine tree, he saw a figure crouched over a small fire in a heavy coat with a hood, a coat he didn't recognize.

J.T. edged silently up behind the man. Snowflakes danced in the air drifting restlessly on a slight breeze. The ground around the fire was dark with footprints but beyond it everything was covered in a blanket of icy white.

He pressed the barrel of the rifle to the back of the man's head. "Move and I will kill you."

The man froze.

Slowly, J.T. stepped to the side until he could see the man's face.

"Take it easy," Will Jarvis said. "This isn't what you think."

"You know what I'm thinking?" J.T. asked, shifting the rifle barrel to aim it at Will's chest, his finger on the trigger.

"I'm FBI," Will said his voice sounding a little strained. "You probably don't remember me but I was on the case nine years ago."

J.T. couldn't hide his surprise. Something about the man had been familiar, something that reminded him of the horror of that unforgettable cattle roundup. He couldn't remember any of the FBI agents, who'd been called in because of a federal warrant on one of the men, Leroy Johnson.

He didn't remember Will Jarvis, but that didn't really mean anything given the condition he'd been in after what had happened nine years ago. "You have some sort of ID?" He kept the rifle on him.

"If you'll let me reach into my coat pocket," Will said.

"I can pull the trigger on this rifle before you can pull a gun," J.T. warned.

"I'm no fool." He reached slowly into his coat pocket and brought out his identification. He flipped it open. FBI. William Robert Jarvis. Special agent.

"So it was your gun I found hidden in the tent."

Jarvis smiled. "We all know agents don't carry a 9 mm, but yes, it was one of several I had hidden around the camp. I like to have back ups, plus this." He pulled out a knife and met J.T.'s gaze. "As I recall, this was Claude Ryan's weapon of choice."

J.T. shuddered at the memory and lowered the rifle as Jarvis slid the knife back into a sheath under his pant leg. "What the h.e.l.l is going on?" Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Reggie waiting in the darkness of the pines, watching. She had the pistol in her hands, her gaze on Jarvis's back.

"I think you know what's going on," Will said. "Someone's been killing off your cowhands, getting rid of them one by one. I would imagine your cattle are gone as well." He nodded, seeing that none of that was news to J.T. "I can tell you don't want to believe who's behind it. You don't even like saying his name, do you?"

"Claude Ryan is dead."

"Is he?" Will said and chuckled.

J.T. stared at Jarvis, surprised how much he wanted it to be true. "Are you telling me he's not?"

The FBI agent shrugged. "Someone from that cattle roundup is alive. He's left a trail of dead plastic surgeons across Mexico. I followed that trail to your cow camp." from that cattle roundup is alive. He's left a trail of dead plastic surgeons across Mexico. I followed that trail to your cow camp."

J.T. was shaking his head. "A grizzly got Claude."

"Something got him all right," Will said. "I would imagine it was one of his gang."

"The other two were dead inside the cabin."

Jarvis smiled. "You think it was just the three of them in it together?" He shook his head. "There were five of them, maybe more. The ones I know about are Claude Ryan, Leroy Johnson, Billy Joe Brady, Slim Walker and Luke Adams."

J.T. had known the last two names were coming as sure as sunrise. "You're telling me that Claude killed Luke and Slim."

"I didn't know they were dead for sure, but I figured he'd get them," Will said. "Even though Slim risked his life to save Claude-got his hands burned-Claude considered them both traitors because they didn't kill you when they had the chance."

J.T. looked to the pines where he'd left Reggie. "How do you know all this?"

"Some of it I've figured out over the past nine years. That first night in camp I heard Luke leave the tent. Him and Slim. I followed them, overheard them talking about Claude, both scared."

J.T. studied Will, having trouble believing what he was hearing and not sure why. "Why would Slim and Luke agree to work for me after what happened up here?"

"I suspect Claude was behind it somehow. I heard Luke say he knew they shouldn't have come back up into the Bighorns. Said it wasn't worth what they were being paid. Don't think they were talking about cowhand wages, do you?"

"No," J.T. said and looked over at Reggie.

"Why don't you invite her over to the fire?" Will suggested and smiled. He hadn't turned around but he'd known she was back there.

"We're not staying," J.T. said. Reggie was safer in the shadow of the pines with the horses. "If Claude is alive, why wait so long to come back?"

Will picked up a stick and stirred the dying embers of the fire. "He was badly burned, horribly disfigured. Took years of surgeries, most of them unsuccessful."

"Are you telling me the last one was successful?"

Will looked up at him. "You didn't recognize him, did you."

J.T. felt something stir inside him as he thought of the six men who'd been in camp.

"It seems all these years he's been planning to come back here and steal your cattle-only make it work this time," Will said.

"You think that's all he wants?"

Will Jarvis shook his head. "I think not. The man obviously has a h.e.l.l of a lot of patience. Nine years. That's a long time to hold a grudge."

"Not for Claude. It's an obsession with him," J.T. said. "He's sick. He's wasted his life hating me. He's a pathetic coward. Look how many people he's killed and for what?"

Will said nothing, just stared into the flames.

Something about Will Jarvis made him uneasy, had from the beginning. "I would think if you hoped to catch him, you'd be following the herd."

Will smiled at that. "Then you don't know Claude very well. He's not interested in the herd." He looked up then, meeting J.T.'s eyes. Claude had gray eyes. None of the six cowhands had gray eyes, including Will Jarvis, but with today's colored contact lenses...

"He'll be following you," Will Jarvis said. "But first he'll come for me. I've been d.o.g.g.i.ng him for years. He knows he has to kill me or I won't stop."

"So Claude will come down this way?" This was the shortest route to the ranch. Claude would know that, too. He knew these mountains maybe better than J.T. did because Claude was often unemployed, camping out all summer, living off the land and some of the Sundown Ranch herd, while J.T. was working.

"I followed a set of tracks down here yesterday," Will said. "Obviously he knows you, figured you would come down this way. He thinks he knows what you're going to do before you do it. If I wait right here, I'll see him."

J.T. shook his head. "You're a sitting duck."

Will smiled. "I've been waiting for this day for more years than I want to count. You and the woman had better get moving. You can still make the ranch before dark if you hurry."

J.T. studied Will Jarvis in the firelight. "Don't underestimate Claude Ryan. It will get you killed."

Will grunted and stirred the fire with the stick for a moment before throwing it into the flames. "You just worry about your own neck and your girlfriend's." He reached down to touch the knife in the sheath at his ankle. "And hope that Claude finds me before he does you."

Chapter Thirteen.

J.T. turned and walked back to where Reggie waited in the trees. He should have been relieved that there was an FBI agent here.

"I don't trust him," Reggie said after they'd gotten out of earshot.

"Neither do I," J.T. said quietly. If Jarvis was right, Claude had ridden the shortcut the day before. For what reason? Looking for a place to attack? And when had Will Jarvis gotten away to follow him?

They could reach the ranch before dark if they continued down the mountain the way they were headed. But with the storm and the low clouds, they were losing light fast. They would be easy pickings. And if Will Jarvis was right, Claude had already antic.i.p.ated that this was the way they would come.

Not to mention that Jarvis could be behind them right now, following them, tracking them.

Not too far down the mountain, they ran out of snow. In good light, J.T. knew they could still be tracked even without the snow. He was counting on it getting dark before anyone would find them. He couldn't risk going for the ranch as badly as he wanted to.

He rode along the side of the mountain, weaving through the trees, keeping just below the snow line to hide their tracks before he turned toward the rock rim high above them.

REGINA LOOKED UP at the band of red rock and realized that was where they were headed. Not the ranch. She'd been turned around since she got to Montana. Without an ocean nearby or any distinguishing buildings, she couldn't tell east from west.

But she was smart enough to know they weren't headed for the ranch. The ranch was down the mountain and they were headed up.

As J.T. dismounted at the foot of the wall of rock, she lost all hope of a hot bath and a real bed.

"We aren't going to the ranch," Reggie said as he lifted her down.

"Sorry. Too dangerous. We'll leave before it gets light. Don't worry, by tomorrow morning you'll see civilization again."

She nodded. She ached all over and realized she could sleep anywhere. As long as she didn't have to ride a horse anymore today.

"Come on." He led her and the horses along the edge of the rock face.

The boots were too large and she stumbled several times and almost fell. Her ankle ached and she was limping badly.

"Here, take my hand," he said, removing her glove and enclosing her hand in his large one. His hand was warm and strong and she wished he would do the same with her entire body. She felt cold and so tired that picking up her feet took every ounce of her energy.

Finally, he stopped. In the last of the light, she could see that they were high above the valley. Lights glittered in the far distance. Her chest ached from the climb and sudden longing to be down there away from the cold and horses and killers.

"This way," McCall said, as if sensing her yearning for the city and everything she'd left behind. He led her and the horses through a narrow slit in the rocks. The s.p.a.ce opened, a tree towering over their heads. J.T. shoved one of the branches aside, and leaving the horses, pulled her into what she realized was a cave.

Once through the small opening, he snapped on a flashlight and she saw that she could stand up. It was cold and dark in here but the floor was dirt and soft.

"Here," he said handing her the flashlight. "I'll tend to the horses and be right back."

He was good to his word. He returned with firewood and built a small fire in a corner near a crack in the rock. The smoke rose and disappeared out through the crack.

"Still cold?" he asked as she curled around the fire, unable to keep her eyes open.

"A little." The side of her body exposed to the fire was warm but her other side was cold. She kept turning like a chicken on a rotisserie but still couldn't get everything warmed.

"Here, lie down," he said.

She curled around the fire and felt him lie down behind her, curling his warm body around hers.