Shadow's Stand (10 page)

“Easy, girl.”

She wuffled his pockets, looking for carrots. “When I find your mistress, she’s going to get a spanking, but not the kind she was hoping for.”

He didn’t want to think what trouble Fei could be in. He didn’t know what could have driven her out of the safety of the cave and into the wilderness, but it couldn’t be good.

The mare tried to follow. “You stay here just a little longer.”

Through the trees, he could see lights. That had to be where Fei had gone. If she’d been a welcome guest, she wouldn’t have left the mare out here. Which meant there was trouble and she’d walked right into it. Son of a bitch. She didn’t even have a gun.

Shadow cut through the woods, moving quickly toward the lights. Twenty feet in, there was a commotion. Someone was coming fast. Ducking back, he blended into the shadow of a pine tree. Pulling his knife from its sheath, he waited. The person came closer. Small and female. Shadow grabbed her as she came even, putting his hand over her mouth to stifle her scream. “I told you to stay put.”

The woman screamed again and clawed at his hand. It wasn’t Fei. Taking his hand just far enough off her mouth that she could speak, he demanded, “Who the hell are you?”

The woman babbled on in Chinese, which did him no good. She was half-naked, terrified and she was coming from where Fei must be. It could only mean one thing. Fei was in trouble.

“Where’s Fei?”

She froze. Eyes wide, she looked at him. Putting his lips against her ear, he growled, “Goddamn it, where is she?”

The terror didn’t leave her face, but he recognize the expression that settled over it. He’d seen it on Fei’s often enough. Pure stubbornness. “You two have got to be related.”

She blinked. “You know Fei?”

“I’m the one who gave her the horse.” She stared at him blankly. Had Fei not spoken of him at all? “I’m her husband.”

As if he’d poked her with a stick, she jerked away. Another spate of Chinese.

“You’re wasting time. I don’t speak Chinese.”

“Fei no married.”

“As of two days ago she is.”

“She no say.”

He took a shot in the dark. “Was there time?”

She licked her lips. Even in the dim light, he could see she was a pretty woman with a round face, large brown eyes, a dainty bow of a mouth and a lissome figure. And she wasn’t saying a word.

“I promise you, I’m not going to hurt her.”

“You lie.”

“You’re right. I’m going to spank her ass for putting herself in danger. I told her to stay put and stay out of trouble and—”

“She came for me,” the woman interrupted.

“I’m gathering that.”

“I could not stay any longer.”

Taking in her state of undress, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. “Where is Fei?”

She pointed back the way she’d come.

“She slow them down.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. She said I wait here. That the dynamite was old but she would be all right.”

He grabbed her arms. “Are you telling me Fei is out there facing armed men with dynamite?”

Cringing, she stared at him with big eyes. Gritting his teeth, he fought for patience. Scaring the woman wasn’t going to get what he wanted.

“Yes.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“She said she was going to slow them down,” she repeated.

Like Fei, Lin’s grammar slipped with her agitation. “I heard you the first time.”

A shot rang out.

She grabbed his arm. “You have to help her.”

Shoving the woman toward the mare, he ordered, “Stay with the horse. If anyone you don’t know comes, hide.”

“But—”

He didn’t hear the rest. Pulling his revolver, he took off running. More gunshots followed the first two, then shouting. A woman screamed. He couldn’t run fast enough.

Fei!

He vaulted over a fallen tree, and bounded off a rock. Every second dragged like an hour. He was going to kill her for putting him through this.

Another volley of shots and then another man’s shout, this time pitched higher with victory.

Run, Fei. Goddamn it, run!

The silence was worse than the chaos. Silence left too much to his imagination. Suddenly, an explosion vibrated the ground under his feet. It was quickly followed by another and then another. The shouts turned to screams. Shadow pushed harder. He was so focused on getting to the chaos he almost ran Fei over as he burst out of the woods. She was crouched down behind a boulder, sticks of dynamite in her hand.

In a split second he took in the scene. She’d set the trap with great precision. Mounds of exploded earth fanned the edges of the meadow, pinning all within. “Goddamn, honey, that’s impressive.”

She didn’t respond, just kept staring straight ahead.

“Ah, hell.”

She was in shock, staring at the dismembered bodies as if she couldn’t comprehend how it had happened.

He knelt beside her and took the sticks from her hand before setting them carefully on the ground.

“Fei, it’s time to go.” She didn’t move. He could hear more men coming. Caution would slow them down, but not for long.

Shaking her arm, he hauled her up against him. “Fei!”

She blinked. “Shadow?”

“Who else?”

Staring at the carnage behind him, she whispered, “I didn’t have a choice.”

She was looking for absolution. “No, you didn’t.”

“I had to stop them. They wanted Lin.”

Lin must be the woman he’d found in the trees. “You did exactly what you had to do, honey. Don’t be apologizing for it. But there are more. We’ve got to run.”

She reached for her pack. “Just let me—”

“Leave it.”

“No, I can’t. I have to do this.”

He’d thought she was talking about the pack, but reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a strip of cloth. She draped it over a branch. It was silk from the sheen but of a different design than she wore.

Grabbing her arm with one hand, his revolver in the other, he hauled her along. “You can explain that later.”

He shoved her down the path. “Any more traps along the way I should know about?”

“I was going to do one farther down, but there wasn’t time.”

“Good.”

“Wait.” She turned back. “I need to find Lin.”

He propelled her forward. “She’s waiting with your mare.”

“She’s with Jewel?”

Because she seemed to do better when distracted, he asked, “You named the horse Jewel?”

“Yes.”

She stumbled and he picked her up, half carrying her along as the sound of pursuit grew. They were close. Too close. Setting Fei down, he pushed her ahead of him.

“Go.”

She planted her feet. “I can’t leave you.”

“Yes, you can. This is what I do best.”

“This is not the best of anyone.”

He shoved her. “Go.”

She turned, clutching the pack, lip clenched between her teeth. “I can’t.”

“Lin needs you.”

That did the trick. She turned and ran. He turned and blended back into the shadows. Surprise was going to be his only advantage. From the sound of it, there were three, maybe four, men coming. He stayed tucked in the shadows until they passed, then came up behind the last one. Shadow didn’t waste time. Covering the man’s mouth with his hand, he slit his throat. Blood sprayed as he lowered him silently to the ground before dropping back to the shadows. One down, three to go.

The men were moving fast, faster than Fei.

“She went off to the right,” the point man called.

The hell she did.
He’d told her to go straight to the horses. He followed more cautiously. One of the men went to the right. Two steps later, the ground blew up in his face.

Goddamn it, Fei.

She was bad with orders, but hell on wheels when it came to dynamite. If that explosion had gone off a second on either side of when it had, it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective. Two down. Two to go. As the men milled about in indecision, he circled around behind them. It was time to end this.

He drop-kicked the man on the left, landing just behind the other, rolling to his feet as he’d done in many other battles many times before. Snatching the knife from his mouth as he landed. Throwing it with deadly accuracy. Blood sprayed in a high arc as the second man dropped to the ground, clutching his throat. The man he’d kicked rolled to his feet. He looked at his partner and then at Shadow before dropping into a fighting stance. With a crook of his fingers, he invited Shadow in. Shadow smiled. A good fight was a good fight, no matter where a man found it.

“I’m going to take care of you, injun, and then I’m going to take care of that pretty girl you’re running with.” Ice-cold rage settled over Shadow. “You won’t touch my wife. Ever.”

“Wife? You put your hands on a white woman? That’s a hanging offense.”

“So is rape.” Soft, sweet Fei, who should have been racing up the trail, made her contribution to the conversation, holding two sticks of dynamite in her hand.

“Fei, don’t be blowing us both up.”

“Then run.”

He wasn’t running. He was in the middle of a fight and Fei being there gave the other man the advantage, because Shadow had to watch both of them.

Fei took a step in as the man circled, looking for that moment of distraction that would allow him to get a blow in. She waved the dynamite like a sword.

“Get the hell back, woman.”

“We need to run.”

“You need to do as I told you.”

The man landed a blow to his midsection. Shadow countered with one to his jaw. The man blinked and stumbled before shaking his head. If Shadow had managed a direct hit, he likely would have gone down.