Chapter Eleven

It was almost one in the morning, and there was very little light. It was all Shaun could do not to let out a string of curse words as he made his way towards the land that the Mortons were trying to get. He had better things to do at this time night than trying throw some good solid fear into Zach Morton. Only, since he felt strongly that the man was going to try and pull something, Shaun felt as if he had no choice. How could he when Nick, Heath-who had ridden out to inform Nick that a court date had been set, and Nick's foreman had had to chase Zach and a no good friend of his away from the fence line the day before? Once again, Shaun intervened…only this time it was to keep Heath from being shot. If he could stop a death from occurring, he did. However, if this kept up, Shaun just knew he find himself in a position where he had no choice but to help someone cross over. That idea made him sick even if he was one of many "Death Angels".

As the land which was in dispute came into view, Shaun shook his head. Sure enough, Zach Morton had a wagon parked in front of the fence he'd been chased away. He was in the process of putting ropes around a few poles and then securing the other end of the rope to the wagon. It didn't take a genius to figure out the man was intending to pull down the fence line down. No one had to tell Shaun what was motivating Mr. Morton to take such actions. Shaun knew of the old mine Maria's father had never talked about. That is, Maria's father had let everyone believe the old mine on this side of the ranch had been mined out, and that there was nothing left. Only the truth was, it was full of silver-just waiting to be taken. That was a fact Shaun now realized he'd kept overlooking…as he'd been too busy trying to get Nick and Heath to talk, along with doing his best to keep them alive. He'd have to rectify that one as soon as he could.

With no witnesses around to see just how fast he could really move, Shaun moved like lightning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Shaun, who was now resting his arms over the side of the wagon, spoke up. It was all he could do not to laugh as Zach dropped the rope in his hands and jumped ten feet in the air before whirling around and landing on his feet, his gun in his hand.

Never having seen Shaun before Zach exploded. "That was pretty stupid, mister! I almost pulled this trigger! Who are you? What are you doing here?" He waved the gun through the air.

Shaun wasn't about to grace the trouble maker with any answers. Instead, he grinned wide. "Go ahead, try it." He'd love to see Zach's reaction when the bullet hit the tree behind him instead of killing him. Again, it was all he could do not to laugh at the look of disbelief that appeared on Zach's face.

"You're crazy." Zach snapped as he slipped his pistol back into his holster and picked the rope back up. "Only I suggest you keep moving old man. I have a job to do, and I don't need your help."

"I think you do." Shaun stepped around the wagon, reached out and then yanked the rope out of Zach's hands-along with removing the man's pistol from his holster. Only thing was, he did it so fast that all Zach could do was stare and mutter.

"H..How you'd d..o that!" Zach blinked his eyes, as if he was trying to wake up from a bad dream. He got an answer, but not the one he was expecting. One minute he was standing near the fence, the next minute the 'old man' had grabbed him by the collar and pinned him up against a tree…one that stood a good ten feet away!

"W…what the…" Zach started to stammer only to have Shaun interrupt him.

"Look here," Shaun's glare was enough to scare the daylights out of Zach-whose eyes were wide with fear. "Your brother backed off and is letting the law handle this stupid dispute! You need to too, before someone dies because of your greed!" He tightened his grip on Zach, as his tone hardened even more. "You came close to killing both Nick and Heath on the two occasions you tried this stunt with your friends." He wasn't surprised when Zach started to deny it, but he didn't let the man get more than a syllable out before he started laying into him again. "I'm not here to listen to you deny the truth. I'm here to warn you." Shaun's eyes turned dark-sending more chills down Zach's back. "If you ever succeed in killing Nick or Heath; for that matter, if any of the Barkleys – or any of their friends- die by your hand, I will haunt you every day of your life! You will see me every time you turn around, until you lose your mind and land in one of those places for the mentally disturbed! That is a promise…I don't care what penalty I'll have to pay for doing so!" He let go of Zach's shirt and stepped back, not caring if Zach didn't know who, and what, he really was.

While Zach was scared, he was also angry at a threat he had no way of comprehending. He lunged at Shaun only to receive another shock…the man had went from standing in front of him to standing next to the wagon. He gulped as Shaun repeated his threat…and then disappeared from view.

Zach, whose entire being was now shaking, jumped when he heard the sound of an owl break the now eerie silence. He still wanted to tear down the fences only problem was, he was shaking too much. It was all he could do to walk back to the wagon. By the time he reach the side of the buckboard, he decided he'd just had too long of a day and evening. He told himself he'd get a good night sleep and come back the first chance he got-without going to the saloon first. "Got to stop hallucinating and get that land one way or the other," He muttered as he managed to climb up on the buckboard.