* * *
The hours passed with interminable slowness. Once Rosa had finished clearing the dinner things away, a tangible silence settled over the house. Carson and Olivia sat in the office, she in her usual place behind the large desk, he in a nearby chair. They talked little.
Had Jared noticed the missing ammunition? Surely. It hadn’t stopped them. Had Pepe gotten away with his warning in time? The questions came at Lauren out of a dark void which provided no answers.
She lay on her bed wondering how she would survive this nightmare. Visions of Jared wounded and bleeding crowded those of him with the mocking sneer on his face, his eyes cold and hard, resembling those of his mother. Dimly she saw him tender and loving. But only dimly.
The pounding hooves were heard from far off, so quiet was the house. Lauren held her breath as she heard the single horse being reined in just outside the fence-enclosed yard. When she heard the rapid knocking on the front door, she rolled off her bed and fled to the top of the stairs where she could see Carson hurrying to open the door. Kurt Vandiver lunged into the hall.
“Jared’s been shot!”
Chapter 24
“It looks bad,” Kurt told the startled Carson. “Where is Lauren?” Just then he spotted her at the top of the stairs, gripping the bannister so hard her knuckles were as white as her face.
He stepped quickly to the bottom of the staircase and looked up at her. “Can you get into some riding clothes? He’s asking for you.”
She didn’t even answer him, but whirled away and ran toward her room.
Olivia was standing next to Carson when Kurt turned back to them. “The bastards were waiting for us. Somehow they were tipped off. There was a lot of shooting. I don’t know how many of our men were killed or wounded. None of the fires we planned really got started because of the damp weather. It’s raining now.”
“Are Jared’s wounds serious, Kurt?” Carson asked anxiously.
Kurt’s eyes darted to Olivia, then he answered slowly, “It’s hard to tell just yet, Carson. I thought his wife ought to be with him.”
Olivia’s features remained calm. She asked no unnecessary questions. Carson had always respected her stoicism in the face of trouble. He patted her arm reassuringly.
Lauren came racing down the stairs. She had donned one of her split riding skirts and boots, but left on the lace-trimmed shirtwaist she had been wearing. She had raided the bathroom for first-aid implements and stuffed them into a small cloth bag.
“I’m ready.” She hurried out the front door, never even glancing at the others.
Kurt glanced hastily at Olivia before he followed Lauren swiftly out the door. “I told your man in the stable to saddle up a horse. I’ll get it,” he called to her.
His stocky legs carried him quickly across the yard and he turned down the side of the house toward the stable. Lauren was unmindful of the rain that fell gently around her. She saw lightning flash and light up the sky to the west in the direction of Keypoint, but it was far away. She clasped her hands in front of her and prayed silently for the life of her husband. Don’t let him die. Please, God, don’t let him die.
She had changed her clothes with trembling fingers, shaken to the depths of her being at Kurt’s news. Judd brought the gelding around and offered to give her a boost up. She hesitated only an instant. Would it hurt the baby for her to ride? But she had to get to Jared. She mounted quickly.
“Where is he? Jared. Where did you take him?”
Kurt shouted over the crunching sound of the horses’ hooves as they sped down the lane, “He was shot up pretty bad. We took him to a cave one of the men knew about. I think they were going to try to fetch a doctor. They were afraid to move him anymore. He was bleeding pretty bad.”
Lauren clung to the reins and shut her eyes momentarily. Shot up pretty bad. What did that mean? Bleeding. Oh, God!
* * *
Carson never ceased to be amazed at Olivia’s composure. She sat with her eyes closed, her head leaning against the high back of the leather chair behind the desk. It had been an hour since Kurt had ridden in with the news of Jared’s injury and the terrible turn of events in Pueblo. Soon after that, Parker had arrived and stormed into the office in a rage.
“The whole goddam thing blew up in our faces. I tell you, they were like animals hiding in the buildings where we couldn’t even see to shoot them. They picked off our men one by one. They knew we were coming. They knew!”
“Parker, please calm down. There’s nothing we can do now.” Olivia’s voice was dispassionate. “In a way, we can turn it to our advantage. We can say that the degenerate citizens of Pueblo went on a shooting spree and shot a few cowboys who drifted into town after dark. We’ll think of something.”
“Well, it better be damned good. I’m getting tired of all of this muck.” The Teutonic features were congested and contorted.
“We’ll work it out, Parker,” Carson said with more assurance than he felt.
“You’d goddam better. I could call off this whole thing just like that.” He snapped his pink, sausage fingers loudly and then turned his bulky body and strode out the door.
Even after that altercation, Olivia had remained tranquil. Carson paced the rug in front of the desk as if hypnotized by the pattern woven into it.