The Violent Storm by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2022-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

When they were ready to leave the next morning, Will put Reese on the horse his brother had ridden. He figured his Choctaw friend was going to be hot enough when he saw Reese, so there was no sense in fanning that flame by seeing him on his gray gelding. They arrived in Atoka in the early afternoon after having split the thirty-mile trip in half to rest the horses and eat a late breakfast of coffee, bacon, and fried apples. It finished Will’s sack of dried apples, but he thought his prisoner deserved something special when he didn’t want to go to the trouble of cooking something substantial. He told Reese he was going to get a big supper from Lottie’s Kitchen to make up for it. Reese made no reply, but it was very obvious that his return to Atoka was making him very tense. “Kinda like comin’ home, ain’t it?” Will couldn’t resist the taunt. It still made his blood boil when he thought about what Reese and his brother had done to Jim Little Eagle.

Seeing Stanley Coons out in front of his stables, Will pulled up and asked Stanley if he had seen Jim in town that day. “Not so far,” Stanley said, gaping at Reese, his hands cuffed behind his back.

“I reckon we’ll ride on out to Jim’s place,” Will said. “If you see him, tell him where we went.”

“I expect he’ll wanna scalp that one,” Stanley said, nodding toward the scowling Reese Trainer as Will pulled away from the stable and headed for Jim’s cabin on Muddy Boggy Creek.

Mary Light Walker was the one who saw them first. She was taking her wash off the clothesline when they turned onto the path to their cabin. She ran at once to tell Jim, who was working in the barn. He came out at once to meet them, a deep frown etched into his face. “Ho, Jim,” Will called out as soon as he saw him. “I need your key to the jail.”

“I see you got the man who lock me in my jail,” Jim said.

It was plain to see that the Choctaw policeman was still carrying the guilt for having been the victim of Reese and Frank’s jailbreak. Will did his best to ignore it. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll lock this one up for tonight only. And I’ll start out for Fort Smith in the mornin’. I’ll take care of him, get his supper from Lottie’s, and be gone tomorrow. Is there anybody in the jail now?”

“No, nobody in jail,” Jim answered. “Where is other man? The one who sneak up on me?”

“He’s dead,” Will answered. “I left him for the buzzards to eat near the Red River.”

“My fault you have to catch this one two times,” Jim started apologizing again.

“It wasn’t your fault, Jim. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. Nobody knew the other man was his brother. I didn’t know. If I had been in your place that night, what happened to you would have happened to me.

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