Death by Grit by A. T. Butler

Author:A. T. Butler [Butler, A. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Jacob and Blaze continued their trek west. Each jostle brought him pain, but he couldn’t stop yet. Maloney was still on the loose and Jacob didn’t trust for a moment that he was done with his path of destruction. The afternoon wore on, and Jacob had more than one occasion to be irritated that the sheriff of Haven had so delayed him that morning. The bounty hunter tried to gauge how many hours of sunlight he had left and what his plan would be once he could no longer see to travel. He would go as far as he could, hindered only by his own hunger and tolerance for pain.

When he was only an hour outside of Haven, Jacob noticed a ranch in the distance, maybe half a mile off the main road. It was the only civilization for miles. From this distance it looked deserted other than the horses milling around the corral. But there was something—something small, something he almost missed—that caught his eye.

Jacob peered toward the ranch, uncertain if he had seen what he thought he saw. Was it possible what he was looking for, what he had been prepared to travel all over the desert for, would be right in front of him?

He directed Blaze down the long path toward the ranch. As each step brought him closer, he tried to catch a glimpse of what had drawn his attention before. That color. That hint.

When he was just a hundred yards from the house, he stopped. Most of the landscape was small dry shrubs and saguaro cactus, but whoever lived here had put additional work into building up their homestead. A small group of trees along the track from the main road offered Jacob a little concealment. He dismounted and lead Blaze to the shade on the far side.

From that distance, he looked again. His suspicions were confirmed. One of the horses in the corral had snagged his attention. There, under the saddle just as Andy had described, was a purple woven blanket. Jacob’s thoughts echoed what the man had said: he had never seen anything like it.

There was no question. That horse was the same one Maloney had rode off on. This ranch could be where the outlaw was hiding out. For a brief moment, Jacob was grateful for his luck. But then he recalled what the outlaw must be after to stop at the one residence outside of the town. Jacob needed to get in there and capture the man.

Jacob watched the ranch for at least twenty minutes, waiting for something to happen. All he had to go on was seeing that purple woven blanket under the saddle of one of the horses. Why the horse had been left to roam around the corral still with a saddle on, Jacob could only guess. Likely Maloney intended to take what he needed and escape again.

In which case, Jacob only had to watch long enough to see him leave.

The bullet wound in his side throbbed with pain.

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