Chapter Twenty-One

Audra, who had grown tired of constantly having somebody with her, snuck quietly down the stairs and made her way out the front door. Since she was simply going to the barn to check on her horse, she didn't see why she would need anyone with her. Besides, the sun had long since set. Who in their right mind would be out on a night like this?

Kyle and Frank Adams, who had just finished dousing the barn with kerosene, hurried and hid themselves when they heard someone coming. Because they'd seen Jarrod board a train earlier in the day, and it was so late at night now, they hadn't expected anyone to be out and about this time of night. When Audra walked in, they couldn't believe their luck, especially since she stopped not two feet in front of Kyle.

Audra, who became alarmed when she smelled the kerosene, turned to hurry back into the house only to find Kyle's one hand over her mouth and the other one around her waist. She might have fought him only Frank had also appeared with a gun in his hand. "Lyman's going to love this! She just saved us a lot of time! He won't have to worry about taking any risks getting this pretty filly now." He chuckled softly as he managed to slip a bandana in between Kyle's hand and Audra's mouth. The men then secured her arms behind her back. "Get her out of her now! I'll give you fifteen minutes before I light this thing on fire and then hightail it out of here."

Fear ran through Audra as Kyle began pulling her towards the opened door. She began struggling to get free, but it did no good. Before she could stop it, Kyle had gotten her behind the barn and up onto his horse, with him sitting right behind her. "Looks like our trip to Mexico is going to happen sooner than planned," He nudged his horse forward, but did not actually push the animal into a slow gallop before they were quite a ways from the house. Fifteen minutes later, Frank lit a match and then high tailed it away himself.

Nick, who was having troubling sleeping, awoke for what seem to be the tenth time that night, though it was only actually three times, and sat straight up. From his window, he could see the flames leaping up from the barn. "FIRE!" He yelled as he flew out of bed, into his pants and out the bedroom door.

He continued yelling waking up his mother and Heath, who had under Victoria's insistence, moved into the main house until the trouble with the Stoddard brothers was over. Both of them came running out of their rooms and followed Nick down the stairs. By the time they got to the barn, McCall and a lot of the ranch hands were running back and forth, throwing bucketfuls of water onto the fire. A good thirty minutes later, the fire was out and the damage was being assessed.

"How did they get past our guards! That's what I want to know!" Nick bellowed as he silent cursed both he and Heath for sleeping, both men had taken their turn at playing night guards the night before.

"They killed them." McCall shocked Nick as he walked up and answered the question. "We found Mike and Adam dead over there." He pointed off to his left, towards more than one pile of empty crates.

"The son of a…" Nick started to swear only to stiffen and fear run through his veins, as did Heath. Victoria's screams could be heard coming from the house. Nick and Heath looked at each other, both having the same thought. Audra! Both men took off at a dead run towards the house leaving McCall to help with the clean up.

By the time Nick and Heath reached the house, Victoria was coming out the front door. "She's gone! Audra's not in her room! She's gone!"

Nick let out a string of cuss words while Heath cursed under his breath. Since they didn't know Audra had snuck out of the house, they were again cursing themselves for allowing themselves the luxury of sleeping. Though, if the truth was told, they wouldn't have been able to stay awake if they had tried. Both men had simply been too worn out to do so.

"Stay here mother; we'll find her!" Nick turned and ran to saddle up Coco, who McCall had been able to get out of the barn safely.

Heath said nothing only he too hurried to get to his horse. If Nick thought he was going alone, the man had another thing coming. It didn't matter if Heath still had a war going on inside himself, he wasn't about to just stand aside while there was the danger of Audra being taken to Mexico and sold. Both brothers were just getting ready to mount when McCall, who had stepped out from behind the barn called out for him to stop.

"You need to look at this!" McCall was holding up something up in his hand. Nick wasted no time in hurrying over to where the foreman stood; Heath was right behind him.

Nick and Heath's eyes widened. McCall held a small pocket knife in his hand, though the carving on it was as large as possible. On one side was the name Kyle, on the other side the name of Anders. Nick grabbed the pocket knife and barked, "I don't know any Kyle Anders! Lyman's got to have hired him!" Nick was shocked when Heath spoke up, his voice as cold as ice during the dead of winter.

"If he's related to a man by the name of Gil Anders, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. The man would be no good if I'm correct."

Nick turned on Heath and snapped. "Who's that?"

If it wasn't for the fact that Heath knew how scared Nick was for Audra, Heath might have taken offense at the way Nick had looked at him or the tone he'd used. As it was, Heath started looking around as he answered. "A gentleman who looks out only for himself, as does the majority of his family." By the time Heath finished, he was kneeling down on the ground looking at some fresh tracks.

Nick, who had moved quickly, stood next to Heath looking down. "We didn't bring any of the horses out of the barn this way."

"They have to belong to the ones who started the fire and…" Heath said as he paused.

"And took Audra," Nick finished the sentence for him. He looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and then at Heath. Since the man was his brother, he could ride during the night to help him, Nick, find their sister. "I know it's late; still, the full moon will give us plenty of light to guide us and, with no wind, we can also carry torches to help see anything that might stay hidden."

Heath wondered how much luck they'd have even with the advantages Nick stated, only he sure wasn't going to argue and stand by doing nothing either. He turned around and headed back towards Charger.

Nick then turned to their foreman and spoke with great urgency in his voice. "Please, go tell my mother what Heath found and what we're doing. Have men start searching the ranch also! Whoever did this and took Audra can't be that far away!" He turned to James, Carl and Bart, three dark haired ranch hands that had worked for them for quite some time. "You three come with us."

"Yes sir, Mr. Barkley," McCall headed for the house as Nick and Heath and the three ranch hands hurried to their horses. It wasn't long before the two brothers and their help were following tracks Kyle and Frank had had no time to cover up.