Page 13 of Mail-Order Tess (A Mail-Order Mystery #2)

Thirteen

I t took a while for Betsy, Wade, and Tess to maneuver their way out of the Vander home, grab a couple of horses, and set off.

Betsy led them up a narrow trail that twisted through thick trees and overgrown brush.

Wade kept Magpie at a slow steady pace, holding Tess close in the saddle as they rode.

As the trees gave way to a rocky slope, Betsy slowed her horse and pointed to a dark opening in the hillside.

“That cave’s been used by outlaws before,” she said.

“Quite a few years back, Ammy herself was taken along with a woman called Beatrice Calder. ‘Course, she ain’t Beatrice Calder anymore. She married a fella up in Nowhere, Washington.”

“Betsy,” Wade hissed, “I don’t need a history lesson. Just tell me about the cave.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, that cave’s been used on and off for years. So if they’re hiding anywhere, it’s worth checking. You best move quiet, keep an eye out for other horses, and any light coming from inside. The cave’s goes back pretty far.”

Wade gave her a look and smiled. “You’re good at this, you know that?”

Betsy sat straighter in the saddle. “Well, I have read quite a few penny dreadfuls in my time.”

He chuckled low and turned to Tess. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, though her voice trembled. That didn’t sit well with him.

“Maybe you should stay here. Hide over there in those trees.” He nodded at them.

“No.” It came out louder than he liked. She lowered her voice. “I’m still coming with you.”

He nodded, resigned. She was the perfect bait, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Wade dismounted, and so did Betsy as he helped Tess down. The cave mouth was about thirty yards away, so it was best to cover the rest of the way on foot. As they crept closer, Wade held up a hand. “I hear voices,” he whispered.

Betsy and Tess froze, listening. Then nodded.

Wade put a finger to his lips and started forward again. When they reached the gaping mouth of the cave, he kept to the wall and peered inside. It was dark, but the faint glow of a lantern flickered further down.

He turned to Betsy. “How far back does it go?”

“Pretty darn far,” she whispered. “Which is what makes it such a good hiding spot.”

Wade nodded and motioned for them to follow. They moved about twenty feet into the cave. He wondered if it had once been a mining shaft, but there were no support beams, no rails. Just stone and silence.

The passage rounded. Wade ducked behind a large rock and crouched low. “Tess, honey,” he whispered, “I want you to stay here.”

“What?” she hissed.

“No buts, sweetheart. You’re staying here.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he turned away.

“Let me check something.” He crept around the rock to get a better look—and froze.

Fletcher was trussed up in a far corner, gagged and squirming against a pile of sacks. His eyes were wide with fear. A lantern flickered nearby where three men huddled around a crate.

Wade narrowed his eyes. There was Lanky, pacing like a snake.

Next to him stood Mr. Briggs, the livestock handler from Independence’s tiny train station. He leaned on a rifle like he was bored. The third man, a burly stranger with a jagged scar down his face, crouched by the crate, going over a shipping manifest.

“I’m tellin’ ya, we get the opium on that railcar tomorrow night, we’re sittin’ pretty,” Lanky said.

“Not with that boy sittin’ there starin’ at us,” the scarred man grunted. “I say we put a bullet in him now and be done with it.”

Fletcher whimpered behind the gag.

“Hold your doggone horses,” Briggs muttered. “We don’t kill kids unless we have to.”

“Fine,” Lanky snapped. “Then we lose him somewhere deep enough he don’t crawl back.”

They started bickering, their voices rising.

Wade ducked back behind the boulder and turned to the women. “We’re out of time,” he whispered. He looked at Betsy. “You do what you do best. Be a distraction. I’ll take the two at the crate. If the third even twitches , I want him good and confused.”

Betsy’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Icando that.” She untied the frying pan she’d attached to a belt she wore and held it up. “I’m ready.”

Wade cringed and turned to Tess. “You stay back, honey. The minute I say run, you grab Fletcher and get him out of here.” He handed her a knife. “Use this to cut his bonds.”

Tess opened her mouth to argue, but he gave her a look that brooked no discussion. She nodded, bit her lip, and took the knife.

Wade gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and slipped into the shadows.

“I said I’ll take care of the brat,” Lanky shouted. “We can toss him in a quarry. Find one deep enough, no one’ll ever find him.”

Hoot. Hoot.

The three men froze. “What was that?” one asked.

“Sounds like an owl with a throat problem,” Lanky said. “Probably the same one that’s been hanging out around here.” They laughed.

That wasn’t Betsy? Wade crept a little closer, and something hooted again, drawing their attention once more. Their backs were turned to him now.

Perfect.

Wade didn’t care if it was Betsy or not. He crept along the cave wall and lunged for Briggs and pulled him into the shadows. He slammed a fist into his jaw. Briggs went down hard landing in a heap.

“What was that?” Lanky asked no one in particular. The scar-faced outlaw turned to Lanky and paused at the sound of an earsplitting hooooorrrrk! “That’s no owl.”

“Go check it out,” Lanky ordered.

Scarface disappeared into the shadows, heading for the entrance to the cave.

Something clanged . Probably Betsy’s frying pan. Lanky hesitated just long enough for Wade to drop him with a hard left hook.

“Tess! Now! ” he hissed.

One minute, Tess was crouched behind the large rock, watching the lamplight dance across the cavern walls as Wade took down the outlaws one by one. She could hear him moving in the dark, the faint sounds of a scuffle, grunts, a dull thud now and then, and of course, Betsy’s frying pan.

They were handling it. That much was clear. And for a moment, she felt both left out…and profoundly relieved.

“Tess! Now!” Wade called.

Tess gripped the knife in her hand and started to move when a cold hand clamped over her mouth.

Her scream was swallowed by fingers digging into her cheeks as another pair of arms seized her from behind, yanking her up so fast her heels left the ground.

A man stepped into view and her eyes went wide. “Well, well,” a gravelly voice whispered into her ear. “Ain’t this our lucky day?”

“Recognize her?” the second man asked, his voice low and urgent. They knew their friends were probably out cold and didn’t want to alert Wade. Did that mean they’d gotten to Betsy? “Of course I do,” the first one whispered. “This is the girl we’ve been lookin’ for. And she’s got the diary.”

Tess struggled, kicking and twisting, but it only made them laugh. Something that would alert Wade they were here. Not that it mattered. Two more men ran past, and her heart plummeted. Poor Wade.

She heard the sounds of another fight. Grunts, fists on flesh, something crashing. Then cold metal pressed against her temple. “Stop struggling or I’ll pull this trigger right here and now.”

Her pulse roared in her ears. Tess’s wrists were quickly bound behind her, and one of them gagged her with a filthy rag. They threw her roughly to the cave floor near the rock, a gun still pointed at her.

Merciful heavens! This wasn’t part of the plan!

One of them smiled as another man ran toward the fighting.And what had happened to Betsy?

“Let’s kill her now,” one of them growled. Chuck her over the falls with the boy and the one our men are trying to pin down. No fuss, no trail.”

“We’ll do them all at once,” the other muttered. “Mill road, where Saw Mill Falls are highest. No one’ll ever find ‘em.”

From somewhere nearby came a pitiful-sounding hoo...hoo , followed by a garbled rawwrk! that sounded like a raccoon choking on a harmonica.

Tess sighed into the gag.Thank goodness. Betsy was still all right, and still trying to be a distraction.

One of the outlaws flinched. “What is that noise?”

“Sounds like an owl dying.”

“Someone oughta shoot it,” the man pointing a gun at her said.

“That’s it. I’m shootin’ it.” The other stalked toward the cave mouth, pistol drawn.

Tess tensed. From her angle, she couldn’t see much, but a flash of movement caught her eye. A moment later, the mostglorious CLANG echoed through the cave.

The man hit the ground like a sack of rocks—groaning—just ten feet away.

Betsy came into view, eyes wild, wielding her cast-iron frying pan like the avenging angel of domestic weaponry.

The second outlaw spun, only to meet Wade’s fist, then a second blow that dropped him flat. “Are you hurt?” Wade asked, already kneeling beside her.

Tess shook her head furiously, still gagged. He sliced her bindings in two quick motions with the knife he’d left her, then pulled the gag from her mouth.

She coughed, then laughed with relief. “You’re late.”

“You weren’t supposed toget taken,” he muttered and checked her over.

She smiled, despite her previous terror. “I told you I’d make good bait. See? It drew them out.”

He gave her a small smile. “Seems to me it drew them in. ” His eyes roamed her face—just for a moment—before he kissed her.

A soft sigh escaped her. The kiss wasn’t rushed or desperate. It was deep, warm, and full of the emotion he couldn’t voice. She felt his relief. His fear. And something more. When he pulled back, he looked at her like she was the only person left in the world.

“Remind me,” she said breathlessly. “To always trust your plans. And you.”

From the cave mouth, Betsy hollered, “If you two are done with all that smoochin’ , I got a dazed outlaw trying to crawl away and I only gotonefrying pan, remember? And will someone tell that owl it can stop now?”

“That wasn’t me,” came Fletcher’s voice. He appeared from around the rock, his hands still tied behind his back. “If someone wants to untie me, I’ll start tying up the rest of them. Just like my father taught me.”

Wade got to his feet and clapped him on the back. “Good job, Fletcher.” He cut the ropes from Fletcher’s wrists, then turned back to Tess. “We need to take care of this. Are you all right here by yourself?”

Tess nodded just as Betsy came trotting back into the cave, frying pan still in hand. “I got them all taken care of up there,” she said. “But I need some rope.”

“Come on, Betsy!” Fletcher said brightly. “I know where there’s some.”

“You all right, young man?” she asked.

“Oh yes. Never better!” Fletcher said gleefully. “I can’t wait to tell the others about all this.” Eyes bright, he dashed off deeper into the cave.

Tess smiled and looked up at Wade as he helped her to her feet. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said softly, pulling her into his arms.

“No. I’m still here, thank goodness.”

He looked into her eyes, then kissed her again. Tess didn’t care that Betsy and Fletcher were walking back around the rock. She didn’t care that they were surrounded by unconscious outlaws. All she cared about was the man holding her. Kissing her. And making her his own.