The Cactus Creek Challenge (38 page)

Cassie’s hand trembled as she twisted the doorknob and slipped out of the bakery door and into the closest shadows. The man with the box had disappeared around the corner toward where Jigger was waiting. Her job was to swing around to the east, cross the street near the depot, and come up on them from the other direction.

But—Jigger’s warning rang in her ears—not too quickly, because they had to catch them in the act of robbing the jail if they wanted the charges to stick.

Jenny had been tasked with going out the back, heading west along the backs of the buildings, and trying to locate the wagon the Shoop brothers were using. It had to be somewhere nearby to carry the gold, but not too close, or they risked the horses bolting at the explosion.

She shook her head as she darted toward the livery stable. Surely the robbers didn’t think this plan would work. An explosion would bring every person in town running. And even if they blew through the wall, the strongboxes were still chained to the floor.

As Jigger said, nobody ever accused the Shoop brothers of having an excess of brains.

Now well down the block and almost to the depot on the edge of town, she judged it safe to cross the street. Bright moonlight washed over her as the nearly full moon did its duty in the midnight sky, and she hustled across the open space faster than a tumbleweed in a high wind. Skirting around the back of the newspaper and print shop, she headed west toward the jail.

Two buildings away, she could see them, crouched along the adobe wall. Easing closer, she tried to quiet the sound of her heartbeat in her ears so she could make out what they were saying. Perhaps they would incriminate themselves further or give her some word or notion about Amanda’s whereabouts and their plans for her.

“Good thing you spotted that old codger in the brush back there. I thought he was in the jail with the girl and the gold.”

Cassie froze. Jigger.

“Yeah, saw the moonlight on his bandage. That’s what took me so long getting here; I had to sneak up on him from behind and crack him on the head. Hurry up and get that hole dug. This whole plan is giving me the fidgets. Ivan must’ve been outta his mind to dream this up.”

“I’m digging as fast as I can. This dirt’s like granite. Anyway, we gotta be quiet or that gal inside will hear us. Where’d you put the wagon?”

“Down by the mercantile. Tied to the fence out back. Soon as you light that fuse, I’ll run down there and be ready to move. Shove over. A granny with a teaspoon could dig faster than you.”

Cassie ran through her rapidly dwindling options. Jigger was either knocked out or dead—the latter option didn’t bear thinking about. He would not only be no help to her right now, but was potentially in danger of being blown up where he lay, depending on the size of the charge they were using.

“How many sticks of dy-ne-mite did Ivan say to use?”

“I don’t know that he said, exactly. He don’t got no more experience with this stuff than we do. Better to use too many than not enough, I reckon. We won’t get more’n one crack at this.”

“S’pose you’re right. Better put them all in then. How many are there?”

“Six, seven maybe. I didn’t count ’em.”

Less the two that the twins had stolen from the wagon. The dynamite Jigger had stuck into his pocket. A germ of an idea began to form in the back of her mind.

A low, dull clattering sound rose as they scrabbled for the sticks of explosive and stuffed them into the shallow crater they’d dug along the back wall of the jail. Cassie took the chance and eased a few steps closer.

“Get the fuse, will ya? I’ve got the blasting cap.”

“Where’d you put it?”

“It’s in the box.” Melvin—she could make out his weedy beard—wiped his forehead. “I sure could use a drink.”

“We get our hands on that gold and we can buy a whole blessed saloon.” Alvin scrabbled in the crate and withdrew a spool of dark-colored fuse. “How far are you going to string it out?”

“Ivan said it would burn about two feet a minute. I figure six feet of fuse will give us plenty of time to get out of the way.”

Six feet. Three minutes. Cassie began working her way around the robbers toward where Jigger had taken up his post.

“You gotta put fuses on all of them?” Alvin unwound a piece of fuse about as long as he was tall and cut it with a pocketknife.

“Naw, just the one. Blow this one up and the others will follow.”

“Be careful with that blasting cap. Ivan said if you mishandle it, you’ll have to pick your nose with your elbow for the rest of your life.”

“Ivan’s gonna get an earful from me, leaving us here to do the dirty work. I told him I could snatch that girl as easy as he could. He’s probably sitting by some river, throwing sticks on the campfire and thinking about how he’s going to spend his share of the gold. And here we are risking blowing ourselves up or getting nabbed if that gal inside ever wised up as to what was going on right outside her own jail.”

“Ivan’s the one who set all this in motion when he intercepted the dispatch to Fort Benefactor out of Fort Worth and changed the date for when the gold was supposed to be picked up. If he hadn’t done that, the army’d a picked up the gold long ago, and we wouldn’t even have had the chance to think up how best to get it out of the jail.”

Cassie tightened her fingers around the handgrip on her gun. So that was why the army hadn’t come to get the gold yet. Ivan Shoop had somehow altered the army orders.

“Stroke of luck them doing the Challenge this month and the schoolteacher being named the sheriff. Snatching the little girl was Ivan’s idea, too. No way he wanted to try stealing the gold with Ben Wilder around. With just the schoolmarm, it’s a stroll down Main Street.”

Arrogant fools. She’d show them.

“There. It’s ready. You got a match?”

“You idjet. You brought dynamite and fuses and the like, but no matches?”

Cassie rolled her eyes. She reached the back corner of the building where Jigger lay slumped over.
Thank You, Jesus
. He had a pulse. She rolled him onto his back and plunged her fingers into his shirt pocket, finding the paper-wrapped tubes. Grabbing them up, she turned back toward the jail in time to see the flare of a match strike. It lit up the Shoop brothers’ faces like ghouls, and Melvin touched the flame to the end of the fuse which sparked to life like an angry snake. They dropped the fuse and took off running around the front of the jail, probably toward the mercantile and their wagon.

Cassie prayed Jenny would be smart and safe.

As soon as they were out of sight, Cassie ran to the fuse, but though she stomped on it, it refused to go out. She finally yanked it from the pile of dynamite and held it away from her body.

“What are you planning on doing with that?”

She almost expired right there. “Ben Wilder, what do you mean sneaking up on me that way?” She was so vexed, she forgot her predicament for a moment. “Oh, Ben, did you find Amanda?”

“She’s safe. Carl’s bringing her in.” He swung from the saddle. “But I’ll ask again. What are you doing with a lit fuse?”

“Get back into the shadows. They might be watching us.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the back of the harness shop. “It’s the Shoop brothers. They’re trying to blow up the jail and get the gold.”

“And you thought you’d help them?”

“No, of course not.” She held up the two sticks of dynamite and the fuse, which still sputtered and sparked. “I thought I might cause a diversion.”

“Where’d you get an idea like that?” He took out his knife and opened the blade, nipping off the burning end of the fuse.

“Actually, from the twins and their outhouse explosion.” She filled him in on her plans in whispers while she jammed the unspent fuse into one of the sticks of dynamite.

“You’re pretty smart, you know that?”

“Thanks. Maybe you’d better get the dynamite out of that hole, just in case. They’ll be coming back soon to see what happened.”

He returned with half a dozen sticks. “Where’s Jigger?”

“They knocked him out. He’s on the back porch next door. And Jenny went in search of the Shoop’s wagon.”

“I think I hear it now. You get back.”

“I will not. This was my idea, Benjamin Wilder.”

He thrust the dynamite at her, took the one stick with the fuse, and gave her a quick shake. “For once in your life, Cassie Bucknell, let somebody take care of you.”

“And for once in your life, Ben, let somebody help you. You set off the dynamite, but I’m coming with you.” She piled the extra explosives in a little stack beside the harness shop back door and followed him out a ways onto the prairie behind the jail, crouching and waiting in the darkness.

Alvin and Melvin jogged along the backs of the buildings, coming from the mercantile.

“It’s weird, that’s what. Where’d those horses go?”

“How should I know? I was with you the whole time. Somebody stole them, that’s what.”

Jenny must’ve found the wagon and taken the horses. Smart
.

“What happened with the dynamite? It shoulda blown by now.” Alvin’s whisper came across the grass toward them.

“You musta did it wrong.”

“I did not. Maybe we got duds.”

“Maybe you’re a dud. Go check.” Melvin shoved Alvin toward the back of the jail.

“You go check. I ain’t gonna get my head blowed off.”

“Neither am I.”

“Let’s go together.” They inched forward, but well back from the jail.

Ben put his lips to Cassie’s ear. “They’re so dumb, they’d kick their gramma upstairs.”

“I almost feel bad for them, but then I remember they kidnapped Amanda and tried to blow me up in my office.”

“
My
office.” Ben’s teeth flashed in the moonlight, and he flicked a match with his thumb. “Cover your ears and lie flat.”

She couldn’t resist looking. The sparks from the fuse described a neat arc in the air and landed a dozen feet from the Shoop brothers. Ben fell flat beside her and put his arm over her head, pushing her into the grass.

For a long second, nothing happened, then …

BOOM!

The earth shook, and Cassie’s lungs quaked. Bits of grass and dirt rained down on them. Ben pushed himself up and headed toward the blast area, and Cassie was hot on his heels. Smoke filled the air, and a small crater smoldered, casting eerie light in a circle on the churned up grass.

At the edge of the circle, four boots lay sprawled and unmoving. Ben said something, but Cassie’s ears were ringing so loudly, she couldn’t hear him. He shrugged and cuffed Melvin’s left wrist to Alvin’s right, then pointed to the building next door.

Cassie got the hint and went to check on Jigger. Men were running and shouting, coming out of the darkness to investigate the blast. She grabbed Hobny Jones and Mr. Svenson and got them to help her carry the groggy deputy into the jail.

“I’m all right,” Jigger groused, pushing their hands away.

His voice sounded far away, but at least her hearing was coming back. “Of course you are. Now sit still. I need to go help Ben.”

Cassie returned to the melee outside, pushing her way through the circle of townsfolk all clustered about. Ben had the Shoop brothers on their feet. “Just waiting for you, Sheriff.” He grinned and motioned for her to take them into custody.

She moved behind them, and grabbing one by the collar, pushed them toward Main Street. A wall of people followed, questions coming like popping corn. With great satisfaction she shoved the Shoop brothers into the empty jail cell and slammed the door.

A cheer went up from the folks who had crowded inside the jail. Ben winked at Cassie.

“Amanda?” Jenny wormed her way through the crowd, the shotgun all but dragging the floor. “Ben, what happened to Amanda?”

“She’s fine. Carl’s bringing her back. That’s one brave little gal you have there, Mrs. Hart. Smart, too.”

“What about Ivan?” Melvin croaked out.

Ben sobered. “He’s coming back, too, but he’s lying across his saddle. You boys picked the wrong girl to kidnap and the wrong town to try to pull off a robbery.”

“You’re sure Amanda is all right?” Jenny sagged against Cassie.

“She’s fit as a fighting fiddle. Carl will have her back here tomorrow around midmorning. He didn’t want to risk the canyon trail in the dark with her.”

“Ben, the cell keys aren’t here,” Cassie reminded him.

“Good thing I have cuffs then.” He released the prisoners from their bracelets and fastened the door closed with the handcuffs. “That will hold them.” He slung the cuff keys onto the desk.

“Folks, the excitement’s over. Why don’t y’all head back home?” Ben began ushering people outside, assuring them that everything was under control and they’d all know more in the morning.

Jigger sat with his chin on his chest, breathing deeply. Cassie knelt in front of him. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“My head feels like it got stomped on.” He touched the nape of his neck and groaned.

The door opened, and everyone jerked, hands going for guns.

“Whoa there.” Cassie’s father held up his hands. “What’s been going on here?”

Cassie sagged, tensions bleeding from her. “I’m glad you’re here. Jigger’s been hurt.”

“Again? Seems like working for you, Cassie, is a hazardous experience. What was the explosion I heard?”

While he examined the deputy, Cassie filled him in on the night’s doings. Finally, Dad snapped his bag shut. “I’ll take Jigger to his rooming house, and Cassie, you take Mrs. Hart home. I think it would be best if you made her a cup of tea and tucked her into bed. You should stay the night with her. Ben, I trust you can man the jail for what remains of the night?” His white eyebrows rose.

“Yes, sir, after I tend to my horse.”

“By the way, Cassie, you’re an aunt. Louise had a healthy baby girl tonight.”

Her father left with Jigger, and Jenny headed for the door. “Cassie, you wait here while Ben takes care of his horse. I’ll leave the back door unlocked for you.” She sent a knowing look between Ben and Cassie. “Don’t hurry on my account.”

“Mrs. Hart”—Ben put his hand on her shoulder—“tomorrow, when Carl gets back with Amanda, he’ll tell you everything. She’s safe with him, you know?”