Relentless (3 page)

One Year Later

Texas Rangers Grant Spencer and Frank Thomas were after the deadly Les Jackson gang and believed they were closing in on the outlaws when they discovered the gang had split up. Grant’s frustration was real as he studied the direction of their tracks.

“It looks like two of them headed toward Sunset, and the other two are riding north,” Grant told Frank.

“They must know we’re after them,” Frank said.

“Good. I want them running scared.” These outlaws were a bunch of thieves and murderers, and Grant wanted them brought to justice. “I’ll go after the ones riding for Sunset.”

“Be careful.”

They both knew what a lawless, dangerous town Sunset was.

“Don’t worry. I will. You watch out, too.”

They shared a knowing look before riding their separate ways. They had long miles to cover, but they knew all the hardship would be worth it when
they finally caught up with Jackson and his men and put an end to their killing ways.

It was much later that night when Les Jackson and Ugly Joe Williams sat around their small campfire unable to sleep.

“Who do you think is after us?” Ugly Joe worried.

“I’m thinking it’s the Texas Rangers.”

“The Rangers?” Ugly Joe grew nervous at the thought.

“Yeah. Whoever is on our trail don’t quit easy and knows exactly what they’re doing. This ain’t no small-town posse,” Les snarled in disgust. He’d always prided himself on being able to get clean away after one of his robberies or shoot-outs, and it infuriated him to be on the run after all these days.

“Maybe now that we’ve split up, we’ll lose them,” Ugly Joe hoped.

Les was quiet for a minute and then smiled coldly, suddenly wanting to get some revenge on the lawmen who were tracking them. “Or—maybe it’s time for us to stop running.”

Ugly Joe looked at him as if he were crazy. “What are you talking about? If these are Rangers—”

“Yeah, what if they are?”

“We got to keep moving. We got to outrun them. Besides, we have to meet up with Jim and Cale like we planned. They’ll be expecting us, and if we
don’t show up on time, they might think something happened to us.”

“Don’t you worry. We’ll be in Canyon Springs in plenty of time, but when we get to town, there won’t be anybody on our trail.”

Ugly Joe wasn’t the brightest man around, but he finally figured out what Les was talking about. “So we’re going to set a trap for them?”

“That’s right,” Les said, smiling real big. “And I know just the place where we can ambush whoever is tracking us—”

For the next day and a half, Frank stayed hard on the outlaws’ trail. The loneliness of the hunt didn’t bother him. He was used to being alone. He’d been on his own since he’d run away from home when he was twelve to escape his drunken, abusive father. His mother had run off the year before.

Frank concentrated on the job he had to do. It was important to stop the killers before anyone else was hurt. He was thankful that there had been no rain. The terrain was harsh and rugged, and a storm would have washed out the trail. He was cautious as he started up a narrow pathway along a steep dropoff, but even as alert as he was, Frank wasn’t prepared for the ambush.

Les had set his trap perfectly.

He and Ugly Joe were waiting, hidden among the rocks up ahead, as the man who’d been trailing them came into view.

“I told you it was the Rangers tracking us,” Les whispered to Ugly Joe as he made out the Ranger badge the lawman was wearing.

They both smiled evilly as they opened fire.

They saw the Ranger go for his gun, but they were too good. They watched in satisfaction as he was hit. His horse reared, throwing him off the side of the roadway. As the horse ran off, Les and Ugly Joe waited to make sure there were no other Rangers following behind. When they were certain that the man they’d shot had been tracking them alone, they hurried down to check on him.

“Nice shooting,” Les told Ugly Joe as they looked over the edge. They could see the man, lying among the rocks about halfway down the rocky hillside.

“You want me to climb down there and make sure he ain’t gonna give us any more trouble?”

“From the looks of him, he ain’t going to be giving anybody any more trouble. Let’s ride.”

The two killers holstered their guns and went to where they’d left their horses. They mounted up and rode on. They were both feeling real good about the outcome of the ambush.

It was late, almost sundown, when Frank regained consciousness. He lay unmoving, staring around himself, completely at a loss. He couldn’t remember anything—where he was or what he was doing there or even his own name—

The shock of his last realization jarred him deeply. He panicked and tried to sit up, only to groan in abject misery at his first attempt to move.
Pain radiated through him. His head was throbbing and his side ached. He’d had broken ribs before, and he recognized the agony of it. He lay still and shut his eyes again for a moment, trying to calm himself.

He opened his eyes and studied the jagged rocks and the steep hillside. He tried to be logical, but it wasn’t easy. He felt a sudden need to take cover, to find a place out of sight and hide, but he didn’t understand why. There was no one else around.

He was alone.

He saw no sign of his horse—if he’d even had a horse—Right then, he couldn’t remember.

Frank lifted one hand to his forehead and found blood there. Ever so slowly, he levered himself onto one elbow and finally managed to sit up. Waves of dizziness left him even more disoriented as he managed to get to his feet. He stood there, lost and confused and weak. He knew there was no hope he could climb back up the hill, so he staggered down the slope, looking for anything that would help trigger his memory so he could piece together what had happened. He hadn’t gone far when he lost his balance and fell again. He collapsed and lay still.

“Look!” young Andy Miller shouted to his sister when he caught sight of the man on the ground. “I told you I heard gunshots. There was trouble up here!”

Sarah saw the injured man who lay unmoving among the rocks.

“Come on,” Sarah said, wheeling her horse around so they could find a way to reach him.

“What if he’s an outlaw or something?” Andy worried.

“I guess we’ll find out,” she replied grimly as they rode into the rugged area.

Sarah dismounted and ran to kneel beside the man. She could see a lot of blood on his head and feared he was already dead. When she bent close, she was shocked to find he was still breathing.

“He’s alive, Andy!”

Her brother hurried to help her.

Ever so carefully, she rolled the stranger onto his back, and it was then she saw his Ranger badge for the first time.

“He’s a Ranger—” She looked up at her brother, shocked. “We have to get him back to the house—”

Her little brother was as surprised as she was to find out the stranger was a lawman. He looked nervously around. “Somebody must have ambushed him. What if they come back looking for him?”

She quickly unpinned the Ranger badge and put it in her pocket. “Come on, let’s hurry and get him out of here while we can.”

She knew the Ranger was lucky to be alive, but wounded and unconscious, he was helpless now. She realized he was a big man and it wasn’t going to be easy to get him on one of their horses, but they
had to move him—and fast. She checked him over to see whether he had any other bullet wounds, but found none. Relieved that there was still a chance they could save him, she took off his gun belt and carried it with her. They managed to lift him across the back of her horse and secured him there as best they could. The terrain was too rough to bring in their buckboard to transport him. Sarah rode double with Andy as they started slowly back toward the ranch house.

“Do you think he’s going to die?” Andy asked worriedly.

“I hope not. We’ve got to do everything we can to save him.”

“I wonder what Pa will say.” He knew their father didn’t take to having strangers around.

“We’ll worry about that later.”

Sarah was glad to find their father wasn’t home when they reached the house. Chet, one of their ranch hands, saw them riding in and rushed out to help.

“Who is he? Is he dead?” Chet asked.

“No. We found him up in the ravine. Somebody ambushed him,” she explained. “He’s a Texas Ranger—”

“What?” The ranch hand was startled. He knew that could mean real trouble if the shooters came looking for the wounded stranger.

“I know.” They shared an anxious look. “Let’s get him inside.”

Chet and Andy managed to carry the Ranger as Sarah went ahead of them to open the door. She
put his gun belt and badge on the small table by the door and then led the way to her bedroom.

“My room will be easiest,” Sarah said.

She quickly turned down the covers and stepped back as they lifted the Ranger onto the bed. Chet helped take his boots off.

“Thanks, Chet.”

“Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Just pray he makes it,” she told him, “and keep an eye out for trouble.”

“You think whoever shot him might still be around?”

“There’s no telling—”

“Do you know where our pa is?” Andy asked as the ranch hand started to leave the house.

“He rode out earlier, but he didn’t say where he was heading or when he’d be back.”

Andy and Sarah knew when their father rode off that way, he was usually going into the nearby town of Eagle Ridge to drink and gamble. He’d been trying to lose himself in a bottle ever since their mother had left them some years before.

“Andy, stay with him while I put some water on to boil.”

Sarah left the bedroom with Chet and went into the kitchen to get what she needed to tend to the injured man’s wounds. She returned with a basin of water, washcloths and a towel, along with some salve and cloth to use as bandages. She realized then that the shirt he was wearing was covered with the dried blood.

“Andy, help me get his shirt off.”

They carefully stripped off the shirt, revealing the broad, powerful width of his chest and shoulders. It was then she saw the bruising from his injured ribs. With utmost care, she set about cleaning his head wound. As she gently washed the blood from his face, she realized what a handsome man he was.

“He’s real lucky to be alive, isn’t he?” Andy said, knowing how close the Ranger had come to being killed.

“Yes, he is.” She just hoped the handsome stranger was able to make a full recovery.

Sarah finished bandaging his head and then checked his ribs. With Andy’s help, she tightly bound his chest to help them heal.

“What do we do now?” Andy asked.

She looked over at him. “There’s nothing we can do but wait. Why don’t you bring a chair in? That way one of us can sit with him in case he starts to stir. I wouldn’t want him to wake up and try to get out of bed without help. He might fall again and hurt himself even worse.”

Andy went out to get one of the chairs from the kitchen and put it next to the bed.

“I’ll sit with him first,” he offered.

“Thanks, Andy. I’ll clean everything up and then see about starting dinner. Let’s just hope Papa gets back before too late.”

They knew the longer he stayed in town drinking, the meaner he would be when he showed up at the ranch. They’d never understood his drunken
rages. They just knew it was safest to stay out of his way when he’d been drinking whiskey.

“Let me know if our Ranger starts to stir at all,” she said.

“I will,” Andy promised.

Sunset, Texas

It was late when Texas Ranger Grant Spencer rode slowly down the dark, deserted main street of the lawless town. He spotted the Golden Nugget Saloon up ahead and reined in to dismount. He believed he was closing in on two of Les Jackson’s gang of murdering thieves. The gunmen had a reputation for drinking and gambling, so Grant figured the saloon was the best place to start looking for them in the small town.

Determination filled Grant as he left his horse at the hitching rail and made his way up the street toward the saloon. If there was one thing he’d learned in his life, it was always to be ready for trouble, so he was cautious as he neared the entrance to the Golden Nugget.

The saloon was crowded and noisy inside. The piano player was playing a raucous tune while the scantily clad saloon girls strutted around the room, waiting on customers. Grant was glad it was busy for no one would notice him standing just outside the swinging doors, shielded by the cover of darkness. He wanted to take a look around the bar and
see if he could spot any of the gunmen. They were all known to be quick on the draw, and Grant didn’t want to give them any chance to go for their weapons.

Jim Harper, one of the fastest guns in Les Jackson’s gang, was having a fine time in the saloon. Les had believed the law was closing in on them, so he’d had his men split up for a while with plans to meet again near Canyon Springs in a few weeks. Harper and Cale Pierce had initially ridden off together, but they had parted ways not too long before.

Harper had wanted to come to town and enjoy himself for a while, and Cale had wanted to keep riding. Harper was confident they’d outrun whoever had been tracking them, and so he had come into Sunset that afternoon ready to do some serious celebrating at the Golden Nugget. The town was known for its lawless ways, so he believed he could relax and enjoy himself there for a few days. He had been drinking heavily ever since. When the buxom blonde saloon girl he’d heard called “Sugar” sashayed past his table, he caught her by the arm and pulled her down onto his lap, enjoying the feel of her lush curves pressed tight against him. He thought Cale had been a fool for moving on. The man didn’t know what he was missing. He was going to have one fine time with the curvy blonde.

“You looking to have some fun tonight, Sugar?” he asked, his gaze going over her hungrily.

“You know I am,” she purred and leaned closer
so he could get a better view of her cleavage, amply displayed by the low-cut neckline of her red satin gown. She’d been watching this man ever since he’d come into the saloon. He wasn’t the cleanest man there, but he obviously had money, and money could make her forgive a lot of faults—even smelly ones. “Don’t you think I look like fun?”

“Oh, yeah,” he drooled, ready to take her straight upstairs. “You look like a lot of fun—”

“But can you afford me?” she taunted, drawing back a little to tease him and entice him. “I don’t come cheap—or easy.”

“Oh, yeah, I got the money.” Harper pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and stuffed it down the bodice of her dress. “And I always did like a challenge—”

“Well, big guy,” Sugar chuckled sensuously as she kissed him hotly on the mouth, “you just bought yourself one. I sure hope you’re up to it.”

“Oh, I am.”

“How long you gonna be in town?”

“Long enough to take care of you—I don’t have to be in Canyon Springs for better than a week.”

“I may just keep you upstairs that long,” she purred, liking the depth of his pockets.

She stood and drew him up with her.

Harper didn’t need any encouraging. He was more than ready to make her earn her pay.

Sugar led the way toward the staircase to the second floor with Harper following close behind. When they reached the bottom of the steps, he didn’t
waste any time. He swept her up into his arms, ready to carry her upstairs. He had just started to kiss her again when he heard a voice call out from behind him.

“Don’t move, Harper.”

Grant had spotted the outlaw right away. He’d seen no sign of any other gunman in the saloon, so he’d decided to take on Harper while he was being distracted by the saloon girl.

At the sound of the command, Harper stopped right where he was. His mood suddenly sobered as he realized he was in trouble—big trouble. He’d thought he’d gotten clean away, but he knew now he’d been a fool to let his guard down tonight. He immediately regretted all the heavy drinking he’d been doing, and he immediately regretted not staying with Cale. But regrets didn’t do him any good now.

Chaos reigned in the Golden Nugget as everyone scrambled to get out of the way. Chairs and tables were overturned in the rush.

Ken, the bartender, didn’t recognize the man who’d come into the saloon with his revolver drawn, and he started to reach down for the shotgun he kept hidden behind the bar for moments just like this.

“He’s a Ranger,” one of the customers yelled to Ken, after spotting the badge the stranger was wearing.

Ken forgot about getting his shotgun and stepped back to let the Ranger take charge and do his job.

Desperation and panic filled Harper at the realization that it was a Ranger who had tracked him down.

Grant slowly crossed the room, closing in on him. “Put the girl down and turn around. Don’t make any fast moves,” he ordered.

At his command, Sugar all but tore herself loose from Harper’s arms and threw herself out of harm’s way.

Freed from the distraction of the dance hall girl’s lush nearness, the outlaw turned to face the Ranger.

“There must be some mistake,” Harper said calmly, stalling for time as he tried to figure out what to do.

“I don’t make mistakes, Harper.” Grant kept his gun aimed straight at the killer. “Toss your gun aside.”

Harper acted as if he was going to do what the Ranger had ordered, but, in truth, he wasn’t about to go down that easy. He knew his best chance of making a run for it was right there in the crowded saloon. Unwilling to give himself up without a fight, he went for his gun as he dove to the side, hoping to find some cover among the tables before the Ranger could react.

But Grant was ready.

The instant the gunman made his move to escape, Grant got off a shot.

His aim proved true.

Harper collapsed on the saloon floor.

Grant moved to stand over the dead outlaw, satisfied that Jim Harper wouldn’t be killing any more innocent people.

“He should have listened when I gave an order,” Grant said coldly as he picked up the outlaw’s discarded gun and shoved it in his waistband.

“Who was he?” Ken asked as he came to stand at Grant’s side.

“Jim Harper.”

Ken instantly recognized his name. “He was one of the Jackson gang, wasn’t he?”

“That’s right. How long has he been in town?”

“He just rode in today.”

“Was anyone else with him?”

“No, he rode in alone,” Sugar offered as she came over to join them. “So he was part of that gang?”

“That’s right. Did he mention that he might be meeting up with anyone?” Grant asked.

“He was all about drinking tonight,” she told the lawman, and then remembered something Harper had said. “He did mention that he didn’t have to be in Canyon Springs for another week.”

Canyon Springs—

Grant nodded and looked at the bartender. “You got an undertaker in town?”

“We sure do.”

Ken sent one of his customers after the undertaker, and the fellow quickly showed up to haul the gunman’s body away.

Grant went along with the undertaker. He wanted to go through the outlaw’s belongings to see if he
could find any other clues to where the rest of the gang might be hiding out.

Sugar stood off to the side of the room with her friend Annie, watching as they took the dead man out of the saloon. She had worked in the Golden Nugget for quite a while and had seen a lot of wild things, but she had been shocked by what had just happened.

“I had no idea he was a killer—” she told her friend.

“Thank heaven the Ranger showed up when he did,” Annie said.

“You’re right about that.” She shuddered at the thought of being upstairs alone with a vicious killer. “I sure would like to buy that handsome Ranger a drink if he comes back in.” The thought of spending time with the good-looking lawman eased her tense mood.

“Not if I get to him first,” Annie challenged with a sly grin.

“Let’s just hope we get the chance.”

They were both smiling at the thought as they went back to work.

After leaving the undertaker, Grant took his horse down to the livery to stable it for the night and then went to the hotel to take a room. First thing in the morning, he would send a wire to his captain to let him know Jim Harper wouldn’t be causing any more trouble and that he would be headed for Canyon Springs on the trail of the rest of the gang. He hoped the information he’d gotten from the saloon
girl was reliable, for he’d found no clues to the gang’s whereabouts among the outlaw’s possessions.

As he bedded down for the night, Grant found himself wondering how Frank was doing tracking the other members of the gang.