The Devil's Destiny---6
Rain fell around them, filling each man with a sense of dread as the tracker pulled up in front of an abandoned homestead. They knew there was no way they could continue on, the trail was now wiped away by the heavy rainfall. The sky overhead was devoid of stars as black clouds added to the bleakness in their hearts.
"Vin, there's nothing else we can do until the storm ends," Jackson assured the young sharpshooter, as they pulled in front of the battered barn.
Tanner nodded and slowly dismounted, an icy feeling of impending doom running down his spine. He knew in his heart Maguire was the one who'd taken the gunslinger. He swore under his breath, cursing the rain that usually soothed his own burning soul. The cleanliness he usually felt emanating from the earth after a hardy rainfall was replaced by a feeling of utter helplessness. The tracks they were following would be wiped out. He stood before the doors and let the rain wash over him in an effort to get his mind thinking clearly. Somehow they needed to find Chris Larabee before it was too late.
Buck led his horse into the rundown barn, securing him to one of the posts before leaning his aching head against the animal. 'Dammit, Chris, what's he doing to you?' he thought. His mind conjured up images of the other men who'd fallen victim to the so-called salesman. He knew wherever the gunslinger was he was in a great deal of pain. He felt it as easily as if it was his own. They'd been friends a long time and although he didn't share the same strong link as Vin did with Chris, he could still sense when the other man needed him. 'I'll find him, Sarah, don't you worry about that,' he silently vowed.
Nathan led his horse inside, secured it to the one of the posts, and quickly found a lantern hanging beside the door. He rattled it, surprised to hear oil slosh around in the base. Reaching in his jacket he felt the tin box he kept handy and lit a match. The soft glow from the lantern lit up the debris cluttered shelter. His dark eyes roamed around until they saw a small pile of dry hay in a darkened corner of the rundown barn. He walked towards it and grabbed an armful and placed it before the horses. He watched through tired eyes as each man cared for his animal.
It wasn't long before the horses were settled for the night and the five men headed for the battered house. Buck shoved the door open and stepped inside. Nathan came in behind him holding the lantern high above his head.
The interior of the house was covered in broken furniture and littered with other debris. The bare walls and ceiling were covered in cobwebs. Jackson watched as a spiders shadow grew large in the glare of the lantern's light. He moved further into the room, shaking his head at the boarded windows and the layers of thick dust covering the floors. A small doll sat in one corner, the clothes torn and the eye sockets empty. He stepped forward and picked up the toy. He wondered if somewhere a small child might be wondering where the doll was. He shivered as he looked into the empty sockets as Maguire's dark eyes swam in front of his vision. 'Where are you, Chris,' he thought as he dropped the broken form back to the floor.
The others were cold and wet; a fire was needed to take away the chill. Vin Tanner stepped over and investigated the spacious fireplace. His weary blue eyes looked up into the fireplace and made sure the flue was open. Satisfied it wasn't in danger of catching fire he cleared the broken glass and debris from the base. The exhausted tracker silently moved around the room gathering enough of the broken wood to start a small fire. White light bathed the darkness as firelight joined the lantern's tiny flame. He knew by the haggard faces of the four men they wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. He sighed heavily as he thought back on the first day Robert Maguire entered their lives. Chris Larabee's instincts were right about the newcomer and now he was paying the price. One look at Buck's expressive blue eyes told him the ladies man felt the same way.
Standish stood off to one side, hiding the worry that surged through his mind. These new friends showed him there were other things to life besides a sharp con or the nifty turn of a card. Larabee gave him a chance even after he cheated the men in the saloon. He was surprised by the man again when he gave him a second chance at the Seminole village. Since then he swore he would stick with them and do what he could to help. He felt a special bond surrounding them all, molding them into a force to be reckoned with. An intense sense of belonging was what he felt since becoming part of the seven. Something he'd never felt in his life. 'Don't run out on us, Chris, we'll find you and kill that bastard,' he silently vowed.
JD stood by the boarded window. Growing up in Boston did little to prepare him for the harsh realities of frontier life. In the short span of time he lived in Four Corners he'd seen men killed for little or no reason. He saw families forced from their homesteads by brutal men who cared only about themselves. The six men he worked with were his new family and he hated when one of them was injured. Now Chris was missing and most likely in the hands of a maniacal killer. JD remembered reading about a man who liked to torture others and his body trembled involuntarily. The man was hung for his crimes but there was no way to bring back the victims. The face of the victim he caught a glimpse of floated before his eyes and he closed his eyes to blot out the sight.
"Hey, Kid, are you alright?"
Dunne opened his eyes and looked at the moustached man. He swallowed against a dry throat and slowly nodded his head. "I...I'm fine, Buck," he stammered
"You coulda fooled me," Wilmington smiled thinly.
The easterner turned his face back to the furious storm taking place on the other side of the splintered pane of glass. "How can people hurt each other like that, Buck?" he asked softly.
Wilmington knew the youngest member of the seven was thinking about the article Mary found. He often wondered about the same thing when he came across similar cruelties against man or animal. "I don't know, Kid. Sometimes people are just bad inside and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. Maguire..."
Dunne's face came up at the name, his youthful eyes brimming with unshed tears. "How could he fool me, Buck! I mean I bought something for Casey off that Bastard!"
"He took us all in, JD. He pulled the wool over our eyes and stabbed us in the heart when we weren't looking..."
"He didn't fool Chris or Vin. I saw the way Chris looked at him. He didn't trust that salesman..."
"JD." Jackson placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself. Chris wouldn't want you thinking that way. We have to stick together and we'll find him."
"What if Chris is already...?" the Bostonian couldn't finish the sentence.
"Chris ain't dead, Kid." The tracker vowed with a trace of venom.
"How do you know, Vin?" Dunne asked.
" 'cause I can still feel him in here," the sharpshooter touched his heart. "He's out there and he's alive. Maguire's doin' things to 'im and he's hurtin'. Hurtin' bad, but he's waitin' fer us and we ain't gonna let 'im down. Are we?"
"N...no," the kid answered and followed the others to the fireplace. Five sets of eyes gazed intently into the open flames, each man thinking of the missing members of the group. One safe in the town they called home, the other in the hands of a madman.
M7M7M7M7M7M7
Maguire stood in front of the window as the horizon brightened with the onset of dawn. He was eager to see his victim, to share more of his own life with him. The time of reckoning was almost on hand and he would own the unownable. He wanted Larabee ready for his death. His plans would take place on the anniversary of the death of his first victim. "Two days, Chris, two days."
He turned back to the table and picked up the bottle containing the remaining drug from the Nightshade plant. He lifted the bottle, grateful that one of his victims was a well known chemist in the east. The man's disappearance nearly cost Maguire his life, but he'd managed to escape before the noose tightened around his neck. He felt the lingering scar made by the coarse rope and smiled. The two men who decided they could take matters into their own hands were feeding vultures in the dessert. Their bones picked raw by the carnivorous birds as the sun baked whatever flesh remained.
A sardonic smile twisted the corners of his mouth. He glanced around the cabin, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the smell emanating from the back room. He placed the dead members of the family in there, but now the stink was overwhelming. He realized his mistake too late and now refused to go into the room. The door was closed, but it didn't stop the sickly smell of rotting flesh from reaching the well kept living room.
Maguire hurried to the front door and pulled it open. He breathed deeply, enjoying the smell of rain drenched soil as he sat on the porch. He looked at the bottle in his hand; his eyes grew serious as he looked towards the trail leading to the cave. 'Today marks the beginning of the end,' he thought.
M7M7M7M7M7M7
Chris Larabee was no fool. He knew he had to escape before Maguire returned. His body was rapidly weakening and pain seemed a natural state for him now. His mouth was dry and his tongue felt swollen. He knew his tormentor could return at any minute and tried to concentrate on making good his escape.
He struggled against the bonds, unable to remember how many times he tried the same thing. His fingers were numb and his wrists stung as the cords continued to dig deeper. "SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted in frustration as he lost the little strength he had. He hung in the darkness, alone, and in misery.
He wondered how much time passed since he became a victim of Robert Maguire's twisted mind. Hours, days, or weeks; there was no way for him to tell. His eyes closed and his mind drifted to the day they'd come together as a group.
Vin Tanner, was an ex bounty hunter with a price on his head. A man who grew up fast and hard, but still refused to become a victim. If eyes were the windows to the soul then Vin's soul had a space reserved for it amongst the angels. The young man gave his friendship and trust to him with a simple nod of his head. He hoped and prayed he'd feel that simple method of communication once more.
Josiah Sanchez, was an ex-preacher with a troubled past. He was a hard man to read and still refused to share much about himself. Chris respected that. He knew what it felt like to have others speak of your private life. Even with the little he knew of the man he felt he could be trusted.
Buck Wilmington, a man he knew from his younger, rowdier days. The days before Sarah entered his life and showed him what it meant to have a family. Buck stood up for him at his wedding and was there when his life crumbled. The ladies man held him back when he would've thrown himself into the flames. He knew in his heart he was too late, but Buck was there to save him. He cursed his tall friend high and low, blaming him for not letting him join his family in their fiery death. He regretted pushing Buck out of his life. Regretted losing the one living reminder of the happiness he'd shared with Sarah and Adam. A smile crossed his pale face as he remembered discovering his friend was in Four Corners. Their friendship was back and stronger than ever.
Nathan Jackson was an ex-slave and Union stretcher bearer. The healer skill was short changed in that he wasn't a real doctor, his skin color made that difficult. Chris knew in his heart this was true. He prayed someday people would get past their prejudices, and see beyond skin color or religion. Nathan's hands were strong and skilled; Chris Larabee trusted them further than any doctor with a degree on his wall.
Ezra Standish was a gambler with a penchant for cheating. A shrewd manueverer who could con a blind man into buying a book, a man who was still trying to get out from under his Mother's influences. Chris saw beyond the cheating gambler facade. He glimpsed the man Ezra really was, someone he would trust to watch his back now that they understood each other. He remembered the day at the Seminole Village. The words he grated out in anger and frustration. 'Don't ever run out on me again,' he thought, and although he'd been tempted the gambler stood with them time and again.
Chris felt a small smile forming as he thought of the youngest member of the group. JD Dunne arrived on the stage, carrying nothing but his saddle. The kid had something to prove from the very beginning. The fancy clothing on the young Bostonian shouted that he was a greenhorn, a tenderfoot and new to the ways of the west. At the Seminole village, the youth proved he was willing to do anything to protect his friends.
Larabee pushed himself to a standing position, taking the weight off his shoulders once more. The dampness of the cave coupled with his lack of clothing caused shivers to course through his body. Somehow he was going to stay alive for them. There was no way he was going to let them find his dead body, strung up in a cave.
The darkness was so complete he couldn't see his own body. As the pain pulsed, his eyes narrowed; a distinct sound told him that his tormentor was back He fought to keep his trembling body from reacting in anticipation. A spark of light forced his eyes closed.
"The time of reckoning is almost at hand, Chris," Maguire said as he lit the fire. "This will not be a long visit. I've come with food and water for you. Just a little of each. Enough to keep you alive a little longer. This food is safe," he explained as he poured a thin broth into a pot. "...for now." he teased of the drug to be given later. "Right now I think it's time you understood who I am and why you were chosen."
Larabee listened to the hated figure, the words grating on his frazzled nerves. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind and let the all encompassing anger come to the front. He gripped the cords around his wrists and snapped them.
Maguire watched the face as new emotions overrode the ones he wanted to see. Instead of pain and weariness, newfound fire blazed in the twin green beacons. He wanted this man's soul. However the eyes he looked into now seemed a harbinger of hatred and the promise of suffering. He held the look as long as he could, but was forced to turn away as the blond's gaze never wavered.
Shaking off the nervous tension, the serial killer picked up the thin broth and walked towards his near naked victim. "I have something for you."
"D...drink it yourself," Larabee hissed forcefully.
"It's only broth, Chris. It really won't hurt you. I want to tell you something about myself before I send you on another trip. Now, please tell me I don't have to resort to force feeding you again?"
The prisoner's eyes remained focused on his tormentor. His breathing was shallow as he realized there was nothing he could do to stop Maguire from forcing the liquid down his throat. He clamped his mouth shut in an effort to stop the other man, knowing to give in would be admitting the enemy controlled everything about him.
"So be it, Chris," Maguire forced the head back, pinching the nose and forcing the salty liquid into the injured gunman.
Dark spots swam before his eyes as he fought to keep from drinking. The gunslinger tried not to swallow, but eventually the need to breathe won out. As the last of the broth flowed down his throat he filled his lungs over and over with air.
"I didn't lie, Chris, it's only broth. Do you want a little water?"
"D...don't w...want anything f...from you," he snarled as his chest heaved painfully.
"Have it your way for now," Maguire walked back to the fire, warding off the chill of the cave. He opened a bottle of whiskey and took a sip. "You really should have accepted this bottle that day on the trail. It would've been the last bottle of your life. Oh, well, I guess I'll have to enjoy it myself."
Larabee watched as the whiskey disappeared from the bottle. His body craved the soothing alcohol, but he refused to let this man see it. He let his eyes slide shut and prayed the others would find him soon. He knew the salesman would kill him soon, but until then he'd keep his wits about him and try to escape.
TBC