Chapter Seven
Turning away from Jess and Mort momentarily, the man walked over to the front door and peered out the window. Two horses stood in the front yard, casually grazing on the grass at their feet. Neither had a rider, and the man couldn't see anyone else around. The yard was dark. The night was cloudy and barely any moonlight shone down through the clouds. The man turned momentarily to look back at his captives.
"Stay quiet, or whoever's out there dies," he whispered menacingly, and then he went to stand by the front door, just out of sight should anyone try to look inside. Mort looked over at Jess, who was lost in a world of pain and grief. His eyes had shut again, and his head was dropped forward now, his chin practically touching his chest. Over Jess' shoulder, Mort could make out the dark kitchen, where the stranger had been hiding while Mort and Jess had been investigating the bedroom. The kitchen was so dark that he couldn't even make out the stove or any of the cabinets, but beyond those stood another door. And though the night outside was dark, there was just enough of a difference between the darkness of the night sky and the darkness of the kitchen for him to notice the shadow that now crept by the window of that door and silently slid it open.
Mort looked quickly away and back forward. He didn't want his staring to draw the man's attention towards this new intruder. In the meantime, Mort continued to work on the ropes that were tied around his wrists; something he had been struggling to do every time the man's attention had been focused on Jess. They were just about loose now; he just needed a little more time.
But there was no more time to be had, because now the new stranger had entered the living room. He held his gun up and called out to the man by the door. Mort yelled out as he recognized the tall, imposing frame of his deputy, Warren Lane. "Watch it, Lane!" Mort yelled, and then he pulled at the bonds around his wrist and snapped them free. In an instant, Mort was on his feet and running towards the door, but the stranger's gun had already fired.
Mort slammed into the stranger and they both tumbled to the ground. Shocked by the sudden attack, the stranger dropped his gun and Mort reacted by slamming his fists into the man's head, swiftly knocking him unconscious. He stood up in a panic and scooped up the stranger's gun before turning to look at his deputy, who now sat on the floor, his hand wrapped around his left shoulder.
"Lane! Lane, talk to me!" Mort yelled out, sprinting over toward his deputy.
Lane looked up and smiled at Mort. "Not bad for an old man," he chuckled, nodding towards the now unconscious man lying near the door. "It's all right, Mort," Lane reassured the sheriff. "It's just a scratch." He lifted his hand and showed Mort his shoulder, which had been grazed by the bullet released from the stranger's gun.
Mort smiled back at his deputy and patted him on his uninjured shoulder. "Take care of that one for me," he said, his head pointing back towards the unconscious man by the door. Then he stood and walked over to where Jess sat still tied to the table, his head still drooped down low. He had not even startled from the gunshot, which had Mort frightened.
"Jess," he said, bending down and lightly placing both of his hands on the young man's shoulders. "Wake up, boy," he said, but still Jess did not react. Mort went behind him and worked to untie his hands, and once he was released Jess' body tilted forward, and he lay sprawled on the floor. Mort frantically worked to turn Jess over and laid his head on his chest, listening for the sound of a heartbeat or the ragged intake of breath. When he heard both, Mort let out the breath he did not realize he was holding.
"He okay?" Lane called from over by the door, where he had just finished putting the man who had shot him into cuffs.
"Not really," Mort said. "We need a doctor."
"M-Mort?" Jess said, his eyes slitting open as he stuttered.
"Hey, Jess," Mort smiled down at him. "How're you doing, son?" he asked.
Jess paused in thought for a moment as he took mental inventory of his body. His head was still throbbing, the nausea was coming and going in waves, and he felt unbearably hot. On top of all that, his leg was aching – why was his leg aching? – and, most devastating, his heart seemed to literally be breaking in half as he thought of his partner, his best friend – gone.
"Not so good," he answered honestly, his words slurring together as his eyes flickered closed.
Mort realized that Jess was fading fast, and he knew it wasn't just the physical issues that were causing him so much trouble. Suddenly curious why Lane had followed them to the ranch, Mort remembered how he had told Lane to send someone out at once if there had been any change in Slim's condition. Now he was concerned that the news was bad, and if it was, he needed to find out away from where Jess could hear.
Mort stood up and walked over to the couch, grabbing off it a pillow and a blanket that was strewn across the back. He walked back over to his friend and tried to make him as comfortable as possible on the floor. "Hang on, Jess," he whispered down to his friend, who had slipped back under. "I'll be right back." He stood up and walked over to Lane, then asked the deputy to follow him onto the porch. They took the stranger with them, just in case, though he remained unconscious for the time being.
"What's going on, Warren? Why'd you come out here?"
The deputy crossed his arms and leaned back against the porch railing. "You told me to ride out if anything changed with Slim. The surgery finished up," he sighed, then smiled softly up at the sheriff. "Slim pulled through. Doc thinks he's gonna be okay. I thought Jess would want to know as soon as possible."
Mort let a huge smile stretch across his face for the first time all day. He reached up and tapped his deputy on his hat. "He absolutely will," he said, and then he turned to go inside. He paused as he reached for the door handle. "How'd you know to sneak in the back door?"
"I saw your horses tied up a little away from the ranch. I figured if they were still there, you'd run into trouble." He motioned with his head towards the two horses that were still grazing in the yard. "And I figured sending them in ahead of me would be a good distraction."
Mort chuckled softly. "I knew there was a reason I hired you," Mort said. He slid open the door and walked inside. "Let's get this boy taken care of," he called out as the door swung shut behind him.