Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,46

the Circle B riders,” Luke told his brother. “Helen’s, then right back here. Do you hear?”

Jake sighed, “Yes big brother.” Then turning to Rebecca, he smiled. “He ain’t seen me in a coon’s age and ten minutes is all it takes for him to be issuing orders.”

“Keep him out of trouble, Becky,” Luke said to her.

She smiled then rushed back to kiss him on the cheek. She wanted to yell to the world that this man was hers. Pulling back, she stared up into his eyes. “You be careful, I love you.”

He smiled down at her, but she could see it deep behind his eyes. A worry that he might fail her. That was her Luke, always wanting others to be safe and happy. Even if it cost him. Yes, that was her Luke. The man she loved.

Chapter Eighteen

Luke watched Becky and Jacob walk across the street and felt a sense of doom fill his soul. Now there were two people in danger. The two most important people in his life and it was his duty to make sure nothing happened to them.

But he knew Jake, the boy might have grown into a man. But he hadn’t changed. He’d be sticking his nose into every crack and cranny looking for trouble.

He took a deep breath as he thought of his sister and her family. God how he missed them. Throughout the war, all he had wanted was to return to them. To sink into the happiness that surrounded Zion and Hanna and their growing brood. To feel that sense of normal, that sense of right.

But instead, he was wrapped up in this, and now he’d pulled his brother into it. What would Hanna think if she knew he had put Jacob at risk? What about Becky? What would she think of him falling for a girl he hadn’t seen in eleven years?

Slowly a smile crossed his lips as he realized that Hanna would be happy for him. She would want him to have what she and Zion had. God, if he could only be so lucky.

Sitting down behind his desk, he started to eat the meal Becky had brought him. Slowly, he started to go over what he knew and what he should do next. Zion had taught him early to plan before he moved. To think things through.

Unfortunately, he’d learned during the war that once the fighting started, he forgot about any plan and exploded into uncontrolled rage. He couldn’t do that here, he realized. There wasn’t an army behind him to follow him in and help clean up the mess.

No, this required a plan and he was going to have to follow it if he was going to get to the end of the trail.

Later, when Jake returned, he took him back to meet the prisoner. “He’s got his orders,” he told Felton. “They try and break you out, he’s to shoot you first then start in on the others.”

Jake shook his head, “You know, we could solve this whole problem right now. I could just shoot him, tell everyone he was trying to escape. We wouldn’t have to hole up in here like this.”

Felton swallowed hard as his face turned white.

“I’ll think on it,” Luke told his brother before turning his back on the prisoner and giving Jake a quick wink.

“You keep an eye on things,” he told Jake as he retrieved a rifle from the rack and jacked in a round. “I’ve been cooped up too long. Need to check on some things.”

Jake shrugged. “You sure? I heard they already took a pot shot at you.”

“You stick here,” Luke said as he put his hand on the door. “I got to talk to the council, let them know they’re paying for a deputy.”

Jake nodded as he reached over and blew out the lamp, casting the room into darkness ensuring a marksman wouldn’t be able to see Luke highlighted in the door frame.

Opening the front door, Luke held back as he examined the street and surrounding buildings. The sun had been down for a good hour. No moon, but a thousand stars. The street was dark with only a few lamps spilling light through dirty windows. If someone was going to take another shot at him, they’d have trouble picking him up in this light.

Slowly, he took it all in. The smell of dust mixed with seared steak smell from Helen’s. A lamplight in the Bank. Tuthill must be working late, probably counting his money for the