creek earlier? Ezekiel had been muttering about not finding water. Had she somehow left the trail?
Addie stopped and strained to see through the heavy gloom. A rustle came from the right. She whipped around that way.
An arm shot from the night. Bony fingers curled around her shoulder in an unbreakable grip.
A mouth lowered to her face. “You thought you’d get away from me,” Ezekiel snarled. “You can’t escape the hand of God! You shall be punished for your sins!” The smell of liquor gagged her and made her stomach roil.
The spit dried in Addie’s mouth, and her tongue worked to speak, to say something, anything. Finally, she managed words. “My husband is looking for me, and when he finds us, he’ll make you wish you’d never come to outlaw country. If you want to live, you’ll turn me loose. Now.”
“You’ll be struck down for your arrogance. You’ll beg God to save you, but it’s far too late for that.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and dragged her. Where? Back to the camp?
Fiery pain filled her head and throbbed in her temples. She tried to twist her body around to kick him but found it impossible. She opened her mouth and let out the loudest scream she could, yelling until her throat ached. “Ridge! Ridge! Help! Help me! Over here! I need you!”
If Ridge was anywhere close, he’d hear and come running. But they made it back to the wagon with Addie’s prayers unanswered.
Her mother had crawled underneath the wagon. She didn’t move as they approached, so Addie didn’t know if she was alive or dead. All she knew was that her one, and probably last, chance to escape had met with failure.
It was over. Ridge was not coming. Tears bubbled in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She’d show no weakness.
And now she was entirely at the mercy of New Zion’s madman.
* * *
Ridge awoke with a start, someone calling him in his dream. Addie. The dream seemed so real. He scrambled to his feet. “Addie! I’m coming!”
He kicked dirt on the fire and leaped into the saddle, straining to listen. “Let’s go, Cob. Let’s go find her. She’s alive, and she needs us.”
The bit of shut-eye he’d gotten had helped, and the sky had begun to lighten. It would be dawn soon.
Then God help the man who’d taken his wife.
Ridge pulled one of his Colts from the holster and checked the cylinder. Full. He then checked his twin Colt and found it the same. Now he was ready for whatever he encountered. Someone was going to die. God willing it wouldn’t be him, but if it was Ridge’s time to go, he was taking Ezekiel with him.
The screams came again. Surely, he hadn’t imagined the pure terror. But wait a minute. Red foxes could sound like a woman screaming. Was it only that? Dammit! He clutched his head.
Minute by minute, the sky was changing from dark to gray. He had no trouble seeing the trail. Steadily, he rode across the unyielding terrain that at times stopped him cold, praying, willing that Addie be all right. If he found her dead…
He drew in a shuddering breath and blinked hard. “I won’t. She’ll be alive,” he ground out into the wind. Addie was a tough woman, and she was calling for him.
He would not disappoint her.
* * *
Addie’s chin quivered as she sat waiting for whatever came next. Ezekiel had bound her hands again, then tied a rope around her neck. He gripped the end of it in one fist and held a loaded gun in the other.
He’d dozed off and on through the last of the night but never slept for very long. Her mother still had not moved under the wagon.
The sky lightened to a shade like silver pearl, and fear lodged in Addie’s heart for what the morning would bring. Whatever new trials loomed on the horizon, she prayed for the strength to meet them with grace and courage.
This was her Armageddon. If she had to battle Ezekiel by herself, so be it.
Her raw, bloody wrists stung, and she could scarcely breathe with the rope so tight around her throat. She closed her eyes and pictured the face of the man she loved. Memories of their time together washed over her, calming her nerves. Lying in his arms, his lips on hers, she’d found great peace and happiness.
He’d taught her to forget the past, to focus on the things she could change and