Surviving Passion (22 page)

Selena sat stricken through the tale. She had only been a pawn all along. This was all about Dan. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught between them.

“Don’t worry though, gorgeous, I’ll take all the time I need with you later,” he assured her as he stood. “I’m just in a bit of a hurry, unfortunately. Got plenty more surprises in store for you. Wait’ll you see what I got planned.”

He pulled her up and flung her into the saddle again, tying her to the saddle horn just like before. This time, when he mounted up, he urged the horses to a brisk canter.

They rode on until about mid-evening when Clint suddenly changed course. Selena couldn’t be sure, but if she was correct, he had just zigzagged to head back to where they’d come from. She worked it out feverishly in her mind. By now, Dan couldn’t be far behind. He would have Buck, but would have to dismount to check the tracks now and again. This would slow him down. Selena knew she was not traveling at a fast pace, but Clint seemed to have timed everything according to the hours of head start they had the night before. Dan couldn’t reach the place where they changed course before it was too dark to see. She knew the moon was hardly a quarter full and the dense canopy above them would block out much of its light. Even he couldn’t follow a trail in pitch-blackness. Selena knew that he would have to stop for the night. Where would she and Clint be by morning, she wondered with a shudder. He had surpassed her wildest fears as an adversary, and she still didn’t know what he had planned.

Selena prayed he would get lost, but her hopes proved unfounded. Clint had led them in a long and messy half circle, only to cut a short path back to the place where they had started. It was only a couple of hours later that she heard the others.

Fourteen

            They were not voices that she knew. The sound of several men talking in low tones paralyzed her with fear. They slowly approached the base of the hill that lead to their crater’s entrance path. When the others came into view, the dread that had gripped Selena before wound itself into a terrible despair.
We’re finished
, she decided in defeat.

            Every time she thought things could not possibly get worse, her limited comprehension had been shattered. In that moment, she wished fervently that she were dead. She did not want to see what was about to happen.

            Even that mercy alone was not to be afforded her, Selena knew, as they drew into plain sight of seven men. Among them was Jake. These were the remnants of his band. Everyone had thought that only six remained. Perhaps they miscounted, or Jake had found a new member, but with Clint included, the total was now eight. Their voices hushed as she came into view. Every one of them eyed her with silent hunger, and she knew that this was just the beginning. Clint reached over and roughly fitted her with a new gag. The others seemed to enjoy seeing that.

            “Don’t want you warning any of your friends,” Clint explained grimly.

            Selena stared blankly ahead of her, dimly aware that shock was setting in. Her thoughts became calm.
How cleverly done,
she mused silently. Not only had Clint found a way to isolate Dan in order to exact his revenge, but at the same time, he had removed the one man that Jake and his posse feared from the place they coveted. They had waited nearby, undetected, as the little community blithely occupied itself with repairs after the storm. The others had thought they were safe because their trail had been washed away. With the help of the cover of darkness, Jake and his men would be finished here quickly. Clint knew where every single one of them slept. By the time that Dan returned, their efforts would be united. If none of them fell, it would be eight men against one, and to top it off, they had Selena for their hostage.

            The horses’ hooves thudded the ground quietly as they made their way up the hill. No one spoke. They already knew their plan. They reached the crest and continued the trek down the hill, dismounting at its foot.

            Selena was hardly aware of Clint untying her and removing her from the saddle. She wondered absently if all the men would be killed. She had liked droll Ben, friendly Shane, and kind Bear. She had liked them all. But the women, she knew, would suffer a worse fate. Hers.

            She considered crying out if they got any closer. Even the gag couldn’t muffle all the sound. But Clint was ready for that too.

            “You make a noise and I will kill Becky in front of both her parents,” he told her in deadly earnest.

            Selena’s eyes widened. She had forgotten about the children.
How could anyone be thatevil?
she wondered mutely.

            The other men crept toward the cabins as Clint marched Selena right to the centrally-located fire pit. He dragged her to the tree that she had climbed on her first night here. The first time she had seen this monster of a human was from the branches above her. If only she’d known then.

            Clint pulled her wrists high above her head, lashing them to the lowest branch. He backed away, holding a finger to his lips. “Shh,” he hissed before disappearing into the darkness.

            Selena peered into the night, watching desperately for what they would do next, listening for any sound that would give her a clue as to what was happening. Several minutes passed. She caught sight of lantern light coming around the corner of the dining hall. It was Cal who she saw marching in front of four of the enemy. She couldn’t be sure in the dim light, but it looked like a dark streak ran down the length of his arm. He was limping as well, Selena saw, but he was alive for the time being, which was more than she could have hoped.

            Up the stairs and through the door they walked. For a few moments, no one came out again. When they finally did, it looked like a pair of them remained. Selena was sure they had him restrained, but even injured, Cal was not a man to take chances with. The other two crept back down the stairs quietly and disappeared again.

            It seemed like forever before the next set arrived. What Selena saw made her heart jump in her chest. It was Bear and Susan. Jake himself held a knife to the woman’s throat, daring Bear to step out of line. Even in the darkness, Selena could see the wild rage that boiled in him, but he knew Jake did not bluff, and so he complied.

            Jake and Susan remained at the foot of the stairs while Bear was led to the dining hall where Cal was being held. When Bear disappeared through the doorway, Jake and one of his lackeys took Susan to the nearby storeroom and shut her in. One man kept watch outside.

            Next came Shane and Gina. The process was repeated, although their hands had already both been tied. Selena hoped savagely that they had put up a good fight.

            The remarkable silence that they all managed to keep was impressive so far. Selena knew what they were doing. They were dividing loved ones. She was sure they’d been threatened with their partner’s death if they caused any trouble. Just then, a woman’s scream shattered the silence. Selena angled her head sharply to hear where it came from.
Sara.
She recognized the raspy voice through the hysteria. She screamed Jimmy’s name over and over into the otherwise silent night. Suddenly, the screaming stopped. At that point, the men no longer tried to keep their operation quiet.

            Minutes later, one of them walked past Selena carrying an unconscious Sara. She was sure that they would have left her if she had been dead. There was no Jimmy. The strangling sound of a child issued from the direction of their cabin. Soon, another lackey appeared, restraining Jay. The little boy thrashed violently and bravely attempted to kick and bite his captor. The man strode to the storage shelter. The guard held the door open and they threw the child inside. Selena winced. They had to have injured him. She hoped one of the women had time to try to catch the boy. Soon after, another man marched out with Becky under his arm. She kicked and screamed hysterically, but to no avail. Soon she was tossed into the storeroom as well. At least her mother was there.

            Blaire and Tim came next, but the older woman was not going quietly. A stream of obscenities was hurled at them, which must have made even
their
hair curl. As with the others, a knife was held at Tim’s throat to keep Blaire under control. She was held in the storeroom with the rest of the women, and Tim joined the men.

            Ben was the last of them, and looked none the worse for wear. He had probably slept right through the screaming. He wouldn’t have put up much of a fight anyway. Five of the men assembled before the dining hall and three in front of the storeroom.

            The process was finished as the first rays of light began to illuminate the sky. Selena was selfishly glad for this. While most of them took a casual stance, Selena could see the wariness in their darting gazes. They would not toy with her as long as there was any kind of visibility. Their eyes hunted for signs of movement everywhere, and especially on the bordering trees.

            Clint and Jake did not look worried, but their alertness never flagged for even a second. While Selena’s friends had all underestimated Clint, it was clear that he had taken the greatest pains not to make the same mistake with Dan. He had managed to stack the odds so far in his own favor, almost nothing had been left to chance at all.

            There was little for them to do but wait, it seemed. One of the guards in the dining hall opened the door and called out to Jake. “He ain’t got no long-range weapons,” Selena heard him say. Then the man went back inside and shut the door behind him.

            Jake only nodded. He and Clint looked smug. Selena assumed they were interrogating the men about Dan’s equipment. Her heart sank a little further. It seemed he had fewer and fewer options. As she had many times in the past, Selena wished she could know what Dan was thinking right now. She groaned at the soreness in her arms, thankful that they were mostly numb. She knew that she was the only one who hadn’t been locked up and that they must intend to use her against him. It was maddening to know that she was to be a tool in his downfall.

            A hopefulness crept up inside her. By the time he found the trail leading back to town, Dan would know it had all been a setup and that a trap was waiting for him. Realistically there was nothing he could do to change the situation. Whether he showed up to get himself killed or not, her fate and that of the others would remain unchanged.
Why sacrifice yourself if it doesn’t help anyone’s cause?
Selena thought with some relief. Dan was a survivor. He would weigh the risks and stay away. Somehow, she found it hard to believe that he wouldn’t creep up when it was dark and pick them all off one by one. But it was morning now. Would he have the patience to stay away until he had the advantage? It was going to be a long day, Selena thought with painful resignation.

            Sighing and trying to shift to a more comfortable position against the tree, she closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted to the events that had led to this. When Dan first dragged her to this place, she had imagined a hundred dangers, but none of her nightmares had prepared her for the twisted mess they were in now. Just days ago, things had been relatively stable, for everyone else here, at least. If Selena felt guilty for playing her role in this disaster, she knew Bear must feel a million times worse. He had wanted revenge and for that reason they had ridden out and started a war. Perhaps something like this would have happened regardless of their attack on Jake and his men. Selena hoped that Bear wasn’t feeling too responsible. If they hadn’t taken the offensive, Jake would have twenty men to use against them. Still, the timing of Clint’s betrayal couldn’t have possibly been worse.

            Selena wondered how close Jake had been when Clint met up with him. Furthermore, she couldn’t understand how they had decided to cooperate with him when he had been on the other side of the battle the first time. Suddenly she realized that she hadn’t seen Clint attacking anyone. He had carried some of the bodies out of the way, but had he brought any of them down himself? She couldn’t say for sure, but it seemed plausible that he had some kind of special agreement with this wicked little band for a long time. It sounded more than likely, considering he had been plotting his revenge for as long as he’d been here.

            All of these thoughts had begun making her angry and she strained against her bonds in frustration. She knew it was no use. They were wound so tightly she could never get out of them. Her legs were free. If she could grab the branch above her, she could swing up into the tree and try to tear the knots with her teeth. She tried a little test jump when she thought no one was looking, but she couldn’t grab hold. Her wrists were bound together and the branch was too wide.

            Selena rammed back against the tree in anger. Her eyes widened.
That ridiculous fool
. She thought with savage satisfaction. The little dagger that she kept in the sewn pocket in the back of her shirt was still there. She could feel it. Selena’s heart jumped with hope, and she began to feel the adrenaline replacing her former state of numb shock. Everything seemed to come into sharper focus. How could Clint have been so stupid? Selena had assumed he had searched her for weapons. Every step of his plan had been seamless. She could never have dreamed he would miss something so obvious.

            She stared up at her bound wrists with a poison hatred. They were all that stood between her and escape. She wouldn’t leave the others. Oh no. But she could help Dan if she could get out. Clint had used long and thin leather cords, which were virtually impossible to chew through. He had wound them round each wrist several times and cinched them impossibly tight.

            Selena tried to think, but her mind came up blank. Like her enemies, she would have to bide her time. Just as she came to this conclusion, it occurred to her that Jake and his men were growing more and more restless. The waiting seemed to be grating on their nerves. Selena hoped they choked on their apprehension. She glanced at the sky through the leaves and gauged the time to be late morning. It was a surprise to her that so much time had already passed. She knew she had been completely out of it for a long time.