Petra Page 11

  Chapter 5

  Adam gripped the man firmly. “Slowly, Rajid.” Pike commanded, not wishful to have the man’s accent interfere with understanding. “Tell me what happened.”

  “I finished grades, Angela finished her work.” he related, “Through a window, I see a man riding on a light grey horse with two white stocking on front legs. I do not know horse. Later, only minutes, I leave and as am saddling mine, I look up. The man and horse are riding north, toward river, and leading another. I recognize Brandy with Angela riding.”

  Pausing for a breath, perspiration pouring over his face, Ray gave Adam a look of sheer terror. “I follow first, to where trail leaves north. There is book bag Angela dropped so came fast as can ride.”

  Face drawn, Pike nodded. “Mount up, Ray. Take me to where you found her bag.”

  Hustling to saddle, Adam skidded to a stop when Step barked from the doorway, “We’re coming along.”

  “Stay here!” Pike ordered, pointing a finger at his brother. “Alone I’ve a chance of slying up on him. He sees three coming, no telling what he’ll do.”

  Wells laid a hand on the Sheriff’s arm, whispering, “He’s right, Step.” as Adam whirled following Hassan, both men riding their horses full out heedless of several townsmen walking in the road. Nearing the school a quarter mile distant, Rajid pointed east, angling to a spot fifty yards ahead. Reining in, Adam swept the landscape before jumping from of his saddle.

  “I touched nothing, Mr. Adam.” Ray advised as he dismounted.

  Pike squatted beside Angela’s bag, crab walking around and reading the story told by tracks of two horses and one man. Finally, every clump of dirt telling all it knew, he straightened then moved next to the Persian.

  Calmed none, eyes moist, Ray shivered under a brisk, cold wind. “I did not know what to do.” he moaned, his fear for Angela and liking of the Pike clan moving him almost to tears.

  “You did right, Rajid.” Pike said quietly, hand laid gently on the man’s shoulder. “He’s a killer. If you’d followed further, he likely would have shot you.” Snatching up the bag, Adam continued bitterly, “Knowing trouble was at hand, it was mine to ride up and meet her. Didn’t expect her to go across the grasses toward home instead of coming into town like usual.”

  Handing Ray the bag, Adam told the teacher “Go back to town and tell Sheriff Pike I’ll be back before dark.”

  Mounting, he started off, turning only a mite as Hassan asked plaintively, “What will you do?”

  Eyes tight, Pike looked at him. “I’m going to bring Angela back.” he spat, spurring the horse to a run across flat ground toward the river. Furious with himself, Adam wrapped a velvet glove over his thundering heart. Deep inside, he believed his daughter was in no real danger, nothing known of Petra hinted at that. She was bait, he was sure, the man’s intention being to make her watch her father shot down just as Petra saw his own.

  Slowing his horse, following a trail intentionally left, his eyes continually scanned the rocky ledge past the water, seeking to spot any movement suggesting their direction. A thousand places along that low ridge Petra could pull up for a clean shot, a possibility Pike dismissed while varying speed and angle as he rode just in case. Somewhere ahead, Petra had a place in mind where Adam would have to expose himself close to where Angela was stashed, a spot ensuring she’d see his death vividly.

  Ice water rushed through Pike’s veins, his mind clear of every thought but ones of the landscape in front. No one knew that country better or spent close to his hundreds of hours exploring on foot and horseback. Allowing for the time it took Ray to reach town and their ride back, Adam narrowed down a short list of possible sites Petra could chose, a grim smile rising as a likely one surfaced. Crossing the river, he moved close in under buckled rims of stone, weaving between tall pines before turning west with a certain destination in mind.

  Two miles further lay the Bottoms, a chaotic, jumbled mass of boulders, shattered trees and lava rock in a deep bowl formed by some ancient collapsed volcano. Through it, only a single trail ran so far as any knew, the same road Roy Hawkins led his gang up after robbing Hutchinson’s mine of three wagons loaded with ore expecting to reach the Notch, a cut between high peaks beyond where one man with a rifle could control the entire lower section.

  Petra would know of the Bottoms, stories of the place and dozens like it scattered across the west being common. No man on horseback was able to hide there easily although Adam learned one on foot could having chased the murdering half-breed Army scout Black Thorn five days through it without ever being more than five miles from Morale. Later spending hours and days deciphering hundreds of ways to maneuver among the crags and rough if determined enough, he knew how difficult it was to do. Too difficult for what Petra wanted, Pike decided, turning his attention closer.

  Eyeing signs left by the two horses, Adam pulled up, following upward as he tracked their path on the chart in his head. Shortly, he’d come across on a dim game trail veering up, a sheer rock wall with thick pines and underbrush giving cover until it turned sharply around a large boulder, opening then to a quarter acre of grass backed by a small cave. Past it, a rider could move on to a number of places with clear view of the trail and pasture and believe no other way in or out existed.

  Warily moving up, Pike wondered idly how many times he’d taken men so accustomed to riding they never considered how a man might approach if not. Horsemen walked rarely and fewer still hiked about mountainsides in search of paths or dry water runs that allowed passage as he had. To his mind, anywhere a man could ride permitted several more to walk and he prayed desperately Petra repeated the mistake many others had made.

  Halting his horse beside an outcropping opposite the small field, he dismounted, a quick glance around confirming recollections of the place. During the Outlaw Wars, Adam used this grotto as a hide-out with Hawkins men finding it only once, none of them living to tell others. In those visits, he scoured the area, learning positions of every tree and boulder, watching rabbits and deer move through gaps almost invisible to the eye. Nerves completely settled, he played through his mind every step and action needful doing to rescue Angela, willing to leave Petra for another day.

  Certain he’d not been seen, Pike slipped to a short rock face, boosting himself using branches of a dead tree for handholds over into underbrush growing there. Slowly, he wormed past brambles trying to make no noise Petra might hear above, arriving after a minute at the top of an old watercourse that once ran alongside the cave wall. Slipping down, one hand steadying himself against the stone and the other on the ground, in a moment he stood next to the cave entrance. With a quick look around, he saw Brandy ground hitched, contentedly munching grass and no other horse present.

  Fighting to keep his breathing shallow, he stooped, listening to isolate wind noise creaking trees from sounds inside the cave until certain he heard only one person. Cocking his head, eyes surveying grim masses of clouds beyond the pasture, he concentrated on hearing a second person breathing but could not, choosing finally to trust his senses.

  “Angela.” he said in a whisper, his daughter responding with muffled grunts.

  Pike waited. Petra, if there, would be patient so Adam must be also. After an eternity, he picked up a rock the size of his hand, tossed it in then ducked back against the rifle shot he expected to follow.

  Nothing happened. As believed, Petra was hidden higher, covering the grass he thought Pike had to cross to reach his daughter. Drawing a pistol, Pike hopped once then threw himself into the cave, rolling twice before coming to his feet near the back, gun level.

  Relief washed over him spotting Angela sitting on a rock tied hand and foot. Scuttling quickly, he squatted beside the girl as he slipped the knife from its holder behind his back and sliced the bindings, freeing her. Instantly, she threw her arms around her father, face buried in his neck.

  “Told him you’d come, Poppa!” she said as Adam wrapped an arm around her waist. With the girl’s hair
tickling his face, Pike leaned back to see hers.

  “He hurt you, sweetie?” he asked softly, seeing no signs of harm done.

  Angela shook her head, sitting back. “No, Poppa.” she answered, “Fact is, he was most polite. Even called me ‘ma’am’.” she offered, her voice hinting at a girlish pride.

  Adam exhaled, eyes relentlessly searching shadows outside for any hint of Petra approaching.

  “Okay, then, it’s time we got out of here, would you say?”

  The girl’s eyes widened. “He’s waiting, Poppa, with a rifle. Said I was to see you die.”

  Surprising her, Pike chuckled. Giving his daughter a bright look sincerely felt, he winked. “Always be careful of what men say, darling, as most haven’t sense to talk smart things to a pretty lady like you.”

  “Oh, Poppa.” Angela humphed, adding then, “Asked him if he was loco.”

  Brow raised, it being his turn for surprise, Adam grinned. “Why’d you ask that?”

  The girl straightened where she sat. “Figured he must be, Poppa. Told him then a hundred men were laid in town’s boot hill after thinking they’d see you die and he wasn’t better than any of them.”

  A brief frown crossing Pike’s face was instantly replaced with his most winning smile. Leaning in, he brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead, the notion that his children knew their father had so often killed never occurring to him. Shifting, he studied the ground outside again, realizing as he often did that as much as he loved each of the youngsters, Angela was special to him. All three were bright, energetic people more than willing to do their share and enjoy doing but in ways he could not describe with words, Angela was unlike the others. She saw things, knew things the others might miss, displaying insight beyond her years.

  Unbidden, Adam recalled overhearing a comment made by Bob Patterson. ‘Can’t say how’ he told his foreman not knowing Pike stood near watching a brilliant night sky, ‘but somehow things go in his head and scramble around, coming out better every time just when we need them.’

  Pike understood Angela was similarly gifted, the girl’s routine suggestions for better ways to get most anything done already a family tradition as Adam’s had been when growing up. It didn’t seemingly matter whether she spoke of chores or play, Angela had a knack for finding easier means to accomplish nearly any task without conscious effort at it, just as he so often had.

  “You ready to go home, Ang?” Pike asked, assured in his plan for their leaving.

  “How we going to do that, Poppa? He’s waiting.”

  “I know he is, sweetie, but he doesn’t know what I know.”

  Angela giggled. “No one knows what you know, Poppa.” she told him, tapping him on the arm as she spoke. “But I’m not knowing how we’re leaving until you tell.”

  With a quiet laugh, Adam waggled his head. “Simple, Ang. We’re going to sneak out on him.”

  The girl nodded agreeably. “Can do that, Poppa. Momma says you’re the sneakingest man she’s ever known so should be easy.”

  Brows furrowing, Pike shot his daughter a glance, deciding then to wait for time more suitable to discuss his wife’s thinking so told her, “You’re going to have to be brave to do this, Angela.”

  “I’m always brave.” she declared in response, her eyes flashing defiantly much like her mother’s did so often when she and Pike first met.

  “Know you are, darling, so listen careful.” Adam chortled, waving across the opening. “You step up to the entrance and when I sign, you run fast as can until alongside Brandy. That man isn’t expecting you to be free and mostly has no interest in you, so I’m figuring he won’t shoot.”

  Angela’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s some difficult figuring, Poppa.” she complained, relaxing as Pike continued, “Once you’ve got Brandy between you and him, he won’t be able to see you, so you just pull her picket pin and walk quick down past that big rock, being sure to stay close next to her. Okay?”

  Lips pressed together, the young woman eyed her path to the horse then down toward the boulder, nodding her head suddenly. “Okay, Poppa, I can do it but what will you be doing?.”

  Coolly, Pike replied “Well, natural, I’m going to talk with that man. Explain some things to him.”

  “Poppa!” Angela exclaimed, “Is no time for talk!”

  Adam laughed out loud. “Will be a short talk, I promise.” he said, adding off-handedly, “Might be a shot or two will go off so don’t be surprised by it.”

  “And how you plan to leave?” she asked, little bothered by thoughts of shooting.

  “Just like Ma said, Ang, I’m going to sneak.” he chortled, “Will take a couple minutes so you just hunker down until I get there.” scooting her then to a position by the cave front, pausing as their eyes met and he saw she was ready so gave her a nod.

  Jackrabbit quick, Angela dashed from the cave, running low by instinct thirty feet to Brandy’s side, the horse startled at the girl’s sudden arrival then settling prompt. Releasing the picket, she looked once at Adam and saw him nod again so began walking quickly, sure to keep next to Brandy’s foreleg.

  Proud of her, greatly relieved but still anxious, Adam laid his shoulder against the west cave wall closest to where Petra was waiting above.

  “Anton Petra!” he bellowed, hearing echoes of his words reverberate through the canyon. “Am grateful for you giving my girl a tour of the country but we’ll be leaving now.”

  Pausing, Pike listened, his every muscle tensed until Angela rounded the corner, disappearing from sight. Taking a deep breath, Adam called out again. “Not wishful of you being disappointed, Anton, so know I plan to be back in the morning. If you’re wanting to still be here, give me a sign so I don’t go to wasting a trip while you’re halfway to California.”

  Only a moment passed before a bullet whined off the rocks over Adam’s head. Snapping back from habit, Pike grinned, agreeing that was a suitable sign. Crossing the cave mouth, he inhaled deeply, popping from inside to the water run, immediately laying his back against the rocks. Wishful of knowing Petra hadn’t moved, Pike stretched, hollering, “So we have a deal, Anton, we’ll meet here tomorrow?”

  A second shot ricocheted off rocks high over head as Adam clambered up and swung around, pausing where an old Ponderosa pine, trunk split generations before, reached high. Peering up between the tree halves, he scanned what could be seen believing Petra couldn’t change places from where he’d fired rapidly enough but wanting to be certain. Satisfied, he scampered downhill, startling Angela when he dropped from the rock face right in front of her.

  “Ma’s going to have supper ready.” Pike said, taking her hand as she climbed into Brandy’s saddle. “Not wishful of keeping her waiting.”

  “Poppa” the girl responded cutely, “you know we never wait on you for eating. Would have starved years ago if we’d done so.”

  Adam smirked as he mounted, knowing it was true.

  Above, Anton Petra stared at the grassy flat, furious. ‘Might be this time you win, Marshal’ he thought disgustedly, ‘but come tomorrow, you won’t.’ Turning, he worked a path back to his horse and led the animal to the cave, determined to find how Pike got in and out without being seen.