The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,41

“Are you sure she’s a girl?”

Joe grinned. “Since when have I missed something like that?”

He rode out at a trot. A few minutes later, he was galloping across the prairie with the memory of her face for company.

“Better untie her,” Art said. “She ain’t moved since you pulled her off that horse. What if she’s smothered?”

Milt grinned and spit. “Then it means she won’t fight none when I have my way with her, don’t it?”

Art blanched. It was his opinion that his brother was sick. Plumb sick.

“I still say you need to untie her.”

Milt grinned. “You untie her if you’re so damned worried.”

Art began to look nervous. “I cain’t untie nothing. My hands are too sore and swoll up.”

Milt frowned. “Next thing you’re gonna be telling me that I got to pull it out for you so you can take a pee.”

“Just shut the hell up and let her get some air,” Art said, then stomped toward the campfire. In his opinion, less danger lay in the darkness outside the fire. This girl was hell on wheels.

Their camp had been hasty, and as usual, poorly thought out. They’d made camp in a blind canyon. One way in. One way out. Just like the sack they’d put over Caitie’s head.

Caitie was laying on the ground right where they’d dumped her. She could hear Milt circling her sacked body like a dog circles a skunk. She bunched her muscles, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Remembering the near-thrashing she’d given him yesterday, Milt wasn’t sure whether he wanted to let her go or just run like hell. In a flash of inspiration, he slashed the ropes around the sack that bound her arms to her body then jumped back on the defensive.

She didn’t move.

Game to go one step further, he grabbed for the sack and yanked. With two hard jerks, it came off.

Seemingly lifeless, she rolled onto her side, as limp as an old man’s cock.

Milt nudged her with the toe of his boot. She didn’t even moan. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at the situation for a bit before he realized she was still bound and gagged. He bent down to cut the ropes from her ankles and wrists. They fell into the dirt with a plop and just as he started to untie the rag around her mouth, Art walked up behind him.

“Is she dead?”

Startled by the sound of his brother’s voice, Milt’s gaze shifted. It was the opportunity Caitie had been waiting for. She came up kicking and swinging, although her arms were so numb she had to look to see if she’d made a fist.

“Gawdalmighty!” Art shrieked, and started to run. He’d already had more than his share of this shorn witch.

“Get back here, you dog!” Milt yelled, and then went to his knees, retching from the damage her boot had done to his crotch and certain if he sneezed, his balls would come out his nose.

Art hollered at Milt from behind a bush. “Just let her go! For Gawd’s sake, let her go!”

“Hell no!” Milt said, then rolled on his back, his knees drawn up under his chin as he rocked in pain. “Shoot her before she gets away.”

Art shivered as he pulled his gun. He’d never shot at a woman before.

Caitie yanked at the rag covering her mouth then stumbled in the dark. As she did, she fell flat on her face. The swift taste of salt and a jolting pain was a good sign that she’d be sucking instead of chewing her meals for a while. Her tongue was on fire, but the fall saved her. Art’s shot went wild, whizzing over her head and hitting the tree in front of her with a splat. The gunshot echoed within the canyon walls.

She was long gone before the last echo died.

There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

Sunrise came without warning. One minute Caitie was walking through grass and trees with moonlight for a guide, and the next thing she knew, the sun was in her eyes. It was the first time since her escape that she’d known what direction she was going.

And while one direction was as good as another so long as the Bolins were somewhere else, Caitie would rather not have been in full view of the world with no place to hide. She paused on a rise and shaded her eyes with her hand, squinting them just enough against the new sun to get her bearings.

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