People can Change
Ch. 14
McCall was galloping his horse towards the main house and was relieved the moment the house came into sight. Even with the sun close to setting time he handed the reins off to one of the nearby hands and raced into the house. He was not going to waste one more second before he told Nick what Heath wanted. Once he entered the house he soon spotted Nick talking next to Jarrod in the front room.
Nick who had been talking to his brother about the last few weeks was startled when the door was swung opened reveling one tired and agitated McCall. Straightening up he noticed his brother was not with McCall.
"Where is Heath?" Nick barked out the question.
Jarrod might have normally told Nick not to be so loud, but he was also concerned about Heath and the ladies and wanted answers about what was going on.
McCall told them what had happened and where Heath was headed. He was not surprised when Nick ran out of the house to put a small group of men together and head off to join his brother.
"Do you think they will be okay?" McCall asked Jarrod.
"I think so. And heaven help the men who took Juliet and Audra when they get caught." Jarrod said.
McCall nodded and headed back out. Nick had ordered him to stay. The man was far too exhausted. So, McCall was going to get a little something to eat then he was going to bed and get some sleep. As he walked to the bunkhouse he watched Nick and a small group of men ride out. He sent a prayer up for the safety of everyone involved.
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Hank woke up as usual before dawn and he noticed that the girls were gone. Jumping up cussing, he woke Mo and Slick up. It wasn't too long before they too were going up the path that Juliet and Audra had headed up just a few hours before.
Mo and Slick were not too happy about getting woken so early and without breakfast. Once this business was taken care of they planned on taking one long nap. They weren't sure what Mr. Hank was going to do and at this stage they no longer cared.
Hank was leading the group and cussing under his breath about Juliet. If only that half-breed stayed with her kind of people and not gotten mixed up with Scott. As far as hank was concerned, his nephew had great potential and was going far in this world. He didn't care if Scott didn't care for it, but Scott would do what Hank told him to do. It never crossed his mind that he would not have the power to make Scott what he wanted him to do.
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Heath had not stopped all night. He became thankful he hadn't stopped when he came across the camp site the girls had been kept at. It didn't take long before he figured out that his sister and Juliet had escaped from the men that had kidnapped them. Somewhat relieved that things were not so urgent and knowing that he needed to get some sleep before her confronted anyone, he decided to unsaddle his horse and wait for his brother and whoever came along with him.
A couple hours later Nick came upon his Heath who was resaddling his horse and dismounted. The group with Nick consisted of two of his hired hands; James Hendrix and Rodriguez Cotulla; James and Rod. Though they hadn't been on the payroll long everyone knew that they were men to ride the river with. Nick yelled hello causing Heath to jump a little as he turned around and saw his brother, James, and Rod. Heath walked up to them and said, "I am sure glad to see you three."
"Have you seen them?" Nick asked.
"No, though we are only probably a few hours behind them. They went up that path. I figure that Audra is the only one who knows that path; as long as Juliet stays with our sister she will be fine. I don't know about the three men trailing them."
"Let us go then." Rod said speaking heavily with a Mexican accent as he dismounted his horse and then examined the prints leading to the mountain trail. .
No one argued with him as they all remounted and rode off. They all ate dried jerky as they followed the prints left by the horses before them.
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Audra and Juliet kept on traveling until Audra spotted the cave she had been looking for. The cave was well hidden, unless you knew where to look; after a conversation she had with Juliet she knew the men they were not familiar with the area. That was a blessing Audra counted, as she led the way to the cave.
Juliet felt like crying as she followed Audra towards the rocks. She wanted to be back in Scott's arms not out here running for her life; not just her life, but Audra's as well. Now she had a glimpse of what the last two years had been like for her husband, being hounded by this evil man. She hoped that it would not be long before she was back beside him.