The Outlaw's Return

The Barn

CHAPTER 11 - The Barn

COLE'S POV

I found Seth and Jack and we headed for Hudson Ranch. It was going to be a long ride. "We're goin' to have to stop for camp pretty soon. The horses need to rest and so do we." Seth called from behind. I slowed my horse and turned around to face them.

"Seth is right, Cole. We can't fight James and all his men after we've been ridin' all day. The horses probably won't make it there if they don't get some rest." Jack said with a tiredness lingering on his voice. I didn't want to stop, but they were right.

The three of us were laying around the fire when we saw the lightning. There was a storm moving in and by the looks of it, it was going to be a bad one. It was coming in pretty fast. "We should probably move out and try to make it to the ranch before the storm hits. It looks like it's gonna' be gettin' pretty bad soon." Seth said as he was standing up. Jack and I did the same. I rolled up my blanket and picked up the saddle blanket. I put it and the saddle on my horse and then put my blanket and my saddle bags on the back. We were all finished around the same time, and we left.

The storm was moving just as fast as we were. We were about an hour from the ranch when the winds picked up. The dark clouds were getting a little closer every time I turned back to look. Seth rode up next to me and punched my arm to get my attention. "Do you really think the baby is with Cassidy?"

"I don't know where else the baby would be. Why?"

"I just don't have a good feelin' about it is all. Why would she take a newborn around James?"

It made sense. If Cassidy knew before hand that James was coming to get her, she would have done something to protect the baby. The only problem was that I had no idea what that would have been. She must have made some friends that she would have left him with. That thought led to another, That son of a bitch. That's why he didn't mention the baby!

"Seth! The man that said he used to work for Cassidy, he has the baby! That's why he said he didn't know anythin'!" I yelled in anger. I made a mental note to kill him when we came back through.

"Are you sure?" Seth questioned. I just nodded. We rode on to Hudson Ranch.

We were close enough to see the ranch house when the sun finally went down. We could see the lights from the oil lamps that hung around the front of the barn. We stopped and dismounted. We walked to the pasture fence where the cows were kept and knelt down to stay out of sight. I didn't know where on this ranch Cassidy was, but I was sure we would find out.

We scanned the area, but no one was even outside. Seth leaned over to me and whispered, "There is noise comin' from the barn." We slowly crept that way. The noise stopped when we got closer. I leaned against the back wall of the barn. I heard some movement and what sounded like a cup hitting the ground. "Damn it!"

Jack flinched from the loud voice, but froze when the top hatch door swung open. We leaned as close to the barn as we could to avoid being seen. Someone was throwing out hay. After there was a waist high pile on the gound in front of us, the door was pulled shut and we could hear someone climbing down the ladder to the bottom. I motioned to Seth and Jack to follow me as I slowly snuck around the corner. There was a windmill next to the barn. My plan was to climb to the top, and then jump over to the hay loft. There was a small walk way that ran around the top of the barn. I could sneak in through the hatch door and we could take them all out.

We made our way to the top of the windmill. I jumped over first and waited. No one from inside seemed to have heard me, so I motioned for Seth to do the same. Once the three of us had made it to the walk way, we surrounded the door. I was about to go in, but I heard James.

"C'mon darlin'! Take that dress off for me!"

"You have to kill me first, you sick bastard." I recognized that voice. That was Cassidy. A few seconds later I heard her scream. It was enough to make my blood turn cold. I reached for the hatch door, but Seth grabbed my arm.

"You like that, baby?" James yelled over her screaming. I tried again for the door, but this time Seth pointed his gun at my face. I stopped and stared at him. I knew he wouldn't do it, it would blow our cover.

"You can't do that yet, you'll get killed. You have to wait until they won't be expectin' it, dumb ass. She's fine... you know that's the toughest woman west of the Mississippi." Seth whispered. He was right, she was, but that didn't mean she could handle this on her own.

"Take her dress off, boss!" Someone yelled from right under us. The closeness startled me. It made me even more nervous. I'd let too much happen to Cassidy already, I couldn't stand the thought of James touching her, let alone what he was planning on doing.

"What you think, darlin'? You wanna take that pretty dress off for us?" James was a sick bastard. He had no respect for anyone but himself. He didn't care about anyone or anything. People like him don't deserve to live, and he won't be much longer.

"Hey, boss! Your woman is here!"

"Who is that desperate?" Seth whispered with his blue eyes going wide. In any other situation, I would have laughed at his remark.

I peeked through the crack in the hatch door. I couldn't see Cassidy, but I could see the top of James' head. Five men stood behind him and there was another closing the barn door. When he stepped away I saw a familiar face. Blonde hair, tall and slender frame. Catherine.

"Seth, Catherine is in there." I whispered in disgust. Seth looked through the crack himself and leaned away in disbelief.

"I reckon that answers my question."

"We have to kill James first, that way we lower the risk of Cassidy bein' shot in the cross fire." Jack whispered. Seth and I simultaneously nodded. I watched through the crack for the right moment to jump in. This was going to have to be fast and we were going to have to be accurate.

We waited for a few minutes until I heard Cassidy scream again. I looked through the crack to see two of James' men picking her up by her hair. That was it. That was all the spark it took to set off the fire of rage inside of me. I swung open the door and jumped in. Seth and Jack were right behind me. I stood up and pointed the barrel of my pistol on the back of James' head.