Page 43 of Wellspring

CADE COULDN’T have described the race back to Wellspring if his life depended on it, his focus on pushing Nahnia and himself to their limits in his haste to get back before it was too late—for Wellspring, for Chel, for Kit and Mac and the rest of his friends.

For the life he’d almost started to believe he and Erick could build together.

He crossed out of the foothills and onto Wellspring property as the sun started to set.

Sanders had implied the attack would come as night fell, probably hoping they’d be less alert or at least less able to see anyone coming under the cover of darkness, which gave him a matter of minutes.

He drew his pistol from his belt and fired into the air, hoping someone would hear and the sound would put them on alert enough that they’d be ready if he couldn’t get there in time, especially the riders out on the range.

A horse approached, and Cade had his pistol drawn before he recognized the rider as Jesse Beaufort.

He couldn’t waste time explaining the threat more than once, so he waved Beaufort back.

“Get everyone together,” he gasped, pulling air into his lungs.

Beaufort took one look at his and Nahnia’s state and didn’t ask any questions, just wheeled around and raced back in the direction he’d come from.

Payne was on the porch of the main house, rifle in hand, when Cade pulled up and slid from Nahnia’s saddle. At least half the hands clustered around the steps, with more running up every second. “JR,” Cade ground out. “They’re planning to attack tonight. We have to be ready for them.”

Chel pushed through the men to his side. “Javier and Erick?”

“Sanders shot Erick.” The words cut like knives, all the more since Cade knew Erick might already be dead. “We brought him to Dr. Lillard, and Javier stayed with him, but….”

“He’s strong, petit loup ,” Michele said as curses rung out from the rest of the hands. Payne looked as grim as Cade had ever seen him, which was saying something, given everything the man had lived through before coming to Wellspring. “If anyone can pull through, it’s him.”

Cade tried to take comfort in her words, but with his hands still covered in Erick’s blood, comfort was beyond him. “Miz Roarke, it’s you they’re after as much as anything else.”

“Of course it is,” she spat. “They won’t find me easy pickings.”

“They won’t find Wellspring easy pickings,” Payne added. “Logan, you have the most experience with a full-scale assault. How do we stop them?”

“And how do we keep Lutz from throwing us all in jail on made-up charges even if we do?” Svensen added.

“We need a lawman we can trust,” Matt said bitterly. “I just wish I knew where to find one.”

“There’s a US Marshal in San Angelo,” Cade replied, “but how do we get him here? If we can even convince them to pay any mind to what Reichardt’s doing? We need every gun we have and a dozen more as it is.”

“I’ll go,” Mac offered quietly. “I’m getting better, but I don’t trust my aim yet. If someone is going to ride for San Angelo, it should be me.”

Kit gave Mac a hard look, but Mac stared back without flinching. “If you’re going, now’s the time, before the fighting starts.”

Mac nodded sharply and took a step toward the barn, but Kit caught his hand and spun him back into a fierce kiss. “Ride hard and don’t look back. No matter what you hear, don’t stop.”

“Yes, Captain,” Mac said. Cade heard the undercurrents in his voice that, before Erick, he wouldn’t have understood. Then Mac was gone into the barn, and a short minute later the sound of hoofbeats indicated his departure.

Kit watched him go for a moment, then tore his attention back to Payne. “There isn’t anywhere on the rangeland we can hide to pick them off. Best we can hope for is darkness and the element of surprise. Did anyone see you ride off?” he asked Cade.

“I didn’t see anyone,” Cade answered. “Lutz and Sanders were still in the saloon, and he’s the only JR man I saw in town. He said something about giving Carter a chance to prove himself, so it will probably be Adam leading the attack.”

“Let him come,” Chel purred, stroking the hilt of the knife in her belt. “He’s mine.”

“Not if anyone else has a bead on him first,” Kit cautioned. “We have to stop them by any means possible. We can’t let personal scores get in the way.”

Chel grumbled at that, but she didn’t argue.

Cade could sympathize. He wanted Sanders on the business end of an arrow so badly he could taste it, but Kit was right.

“We’ll be outnumbered and probably outgunned, especially at first, but no matter how many guns they bring, they can only carry so much shot.

And they don’t know the lay of the land like we do.

Those are our advantages, so use them. Shoot to kill, stay behind cover so you aren’t an easy target, and make for damn sure you’re shooting at JR hands and not at each other. ”

“Cade’s right,” Kit said. “We want to sow chaos wherever possible, anything to keep them guessing.”

“Buildings can be rebuilt. Livestock can be replaced,” Miz Roarke interrupted.

“Your lives can’t be. If saving those means sacrificing the barn, the bunkhouse, even the main house, do it.

We may not be the biggest or richest spread in the area, but we can afford to rebuild as long as we have the people to rebuild for. ”

Payne cut through the murmur of agreement.

“Beaufort, find Quinn and Walsh and bring them back in if you can. I won’t risk JR catching them by surprise just to keep a watch on the herd.

Chiles, wake up anyone who’s still sleeping and get them armed.

I want every hand ready to blow JR’s men to hell. ”

“Speaking of blowing things to hell….” Burke stepped forward.

“I may be able to throw together some grenades to surprise our guests. They won’t be pretty, but they’ll bring them down.

” Burke had been an ordnance officer during the war, Cade remembered, so it wasn’t surprising that he knew his way around explosives.

“I’ll take any advantage we can get,” Payne said.

“Just don’t blow yourself or anything else up in the process,” Kit added.

“You wound me.” Burke mimed being shot, but no one laughed at his antics the way they usually did. Burke scowled and stalked toward the smithy as everyone else scattered to their assigned tasks or to gather weapons and ammunition for the coming fight.

Cade strode toward the bunkhouse, Chel on his heels. He tossed his gun belt on his bunk and stripped down, heedless of her presence. He pulled his buckskins from his trunk and on and then painted his face with careful deliberation the way his Comanche brothers had taught him.

“Cade,” Chel said, but he ignored her. He would defend Wellspring, but the moment that fight was done, he was going hunting. He had a score to settle with Sanders now, and nothing would stop him from finishing it… tonight.

“T?taat? Isa,” she tried instead.

“What?” he snapped.

“When you go after Sanders, I’m coming with you.”

“This is my fight,” he started.

“And I’ll let you fight it, but you need someone to watch your back.”

Cade flinched. Sanders had managed to shoot Erick in the back even with Cade watching.

“You won’t do Erick any good if you get yourself killed,” she added.

“Just drop it,” Cade ground out. “We’ve got to get through the night first.” He filled the empty bullet loops on his gun belt and buckled it around his waist—he might prefer his bow, but in this fight he’d use every weapon he had.

After adding a few throwing knives, he checked his arrows, filled the quiver, and slung it over his shoulder. Last he picked up his bow.

He stalked back out of the bunkhouse and headed toward the windmill behind the main house. He’d climbed the first two supports when Payne barked, “What the hell are you doing, Webster?”

“Lookout,” he replied. “It’s the tallest structure around. It’ll give me the best sightlines to pick off JR assholes.”

“And the least cover when they start shooting back,” Payne replied.

“They can’t aim worth shit,” Cade said as he continued to climb.

“Don’t get yourself killed. I ain’t explaining that to Heller,” Payne said with a frown.

Cade just kept climbing. To have Payne’s acceptance was a gift without price, but the words only underscored Erick’s absence and the reason for it.

He couldn’t let himself dwell on that now.

Once the JR attack was stopped, he’d head back to Erick as fast as Nahnia could carry him.

Erick just had to survive until then. He had to.

Yeah, definitely the best vantage point around , Cade decided when he reached the top.

He settled onto a crossbeam and considered the blades.

There was enough wind to set clouds scudding over the moon, which would reduce visibility even more, but wolves see best at twilight.

He could already spot a few pinpricks of light moving over the plain—the JR men must be carrying torches.

All the better to pick them off. He swung the metal head around and jammed one of his knives into the gears to keep it from turning.

He could shoot between the blades, and they’d give him some cover, at least until any of the JR hands passed him. And he didn’t plan to let that happen.

As the riders drew closer, lights went out in the main house, the bunkhouse, and last of all in Burke’s smithy, leaving the landscape in near darkness.

Carter knew most of the ranch would be asleep by now and must think he’d be catching them unaware.

He’d soon learn differently. Cade fit an arrow to his bow and settled in to wait for them to ride into range.