Chapter Twenty-Three

Heath and Carl, who had tethered their horses far enough away from the cabin so as to keep them out of view, made their way quietly, but quickly, to the kidnappers horses they saw tethered near the cabin. They held their breaths as they drew closer, doing their best not to spook the animals. Spooking them was the last thing either man wanted to do. Ethan, Kyle and Frank, were still standing on the front porch with Lyman. The four men were arguing over the fact that Kyle still felt they'd been better off simply taking off the moment he and Frank got back. They stopped talking when Lyman, who had been in on the fight, raised his hand to silence them and turned his head slightly, as if to listen to something else.

"What is it?" Kyle asked, as he looked around

"I thought I heard something." Lyman answered, and then he began walking to the side of the porch only to gasp and let out a string of cuss words when he realized what he was hearing; his brother and the others did the same.

"The horses!" Ethan screamed and yelled, "Someone's letting the horses loose!"

Realizing the man was speaking the truth had the other men running around the side of the cabin. They could see their horses galloping up the side of the hill and disappearing and Heath and Carl still standing where the horses had been. Lyman let out a string of cuss words as he pointed his pistol at the two men. If he hadn't cursed so loudly, Lyman might have succeeded in shooting either Heath or Carl. As it was, the two men jumped behind the trees as Lyman pulled the trigger. Carl let out his own choice words as the bullet nicked the tree he had just hidden behind.

The moment the shooting between Audra's captors, Heath and Carl began, Nick and the men with him, who had moved closer to the cabin, pushed the horses forward as hard as they could. Before Lyman and his men knew it; they were in for the fight of their lives. Kyle, who had missed Nick by an inch when he tried shooting at him, bolted and disappeared inside the cabin. He slammed the door shut behind him, effectively leaving his comrades to do without any cover. Needless to say, the fight outside was over in a matter of seconds. Lyman, his brother and Frank all lay dead while James, who had taken a bullet to his arm, had dismounted and was hiding behind a medium sized bush as Bart helped him stop the bleeding.

"Back off," Kyle yelled as he dragged Audra over to the window and broke the glass belonging to one of bottom window panes in the large four squared window. "I've got this pretty filly here and I won't hesitate to shoot her."

"Let my sister go!" Nick bellowed from beside the house.

"No way, not until you get me a couple of horses, and we're clear of this place."

"Follow me," Heath told Carl as he saw the back door to the cabin. If he could get in there while Nick had the man distracted, he was sure he could stop this once and for all. When Heath ran for the back door, Carl was right behind him.

"What the…." Kyle whirled around and pulled the trigger to his pistol when the door flew open. Heath took the bullet to his right shoulder, but he was still able to get a shot off before he fell. His bullet hit Kyle's leg, while Carl who had pulled his trigger the moment Heath had been hit shot the man square in the chest. Kyle stiffened, tried again to pull his trigger again, but dropped to the floor; dead. Nick and the men with him burst in through the front door a split second later.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked Audra.

While flattered that her brother's first thought was for her, Audra was still upset. "I'm not the one shot!" She ran and knelt beside Heath, who was now being tended to by Carl. "You didn't have to do that. You could have been killed!"

Heath gave her a lopsided grin and grimaced as Carl finished covered the wound. By this time Nick was standing next to him also looking down with a look of concern himself. "I was thinking the same thing. Why didn't you just wait? We could have flushed him out easy enough!" He barked to cover up the unsettling feeling he'd had come over him the moment he realized Heath had purposely done. His new brother had purposely put himself into a position where he knew he would run a high risk of being hurt in order to put an end to what could have very well been a long, drawn out fight. No coward, or someone who put himself first in everything, did anything like that.

Heath was helped to his feet by Carl and Audra, who was making sure she had a hold of him. Heath gave her the tiniest of smiles and answered Nick's question, "Never saw much use in taking hours to do something that could be done in minutes or seconds," he quipped, trying to ignore the burning pain in his shoulder.

Nick could say nothing to that as he'd felt the same way on many occasions. "Come on, you need a doctor and you," he looked at Audra, "can explain how those men got inside the house. I'd like to know where we went wrong."

Now it was Audra who was cringing as she knew what would happen once she confessed everything. "Let's get home first." She saw no reason to go through what was waiting for her from more than one member of the family, once she got home. She then watched as Nick helped Carl get Heath outside and onto his horse. Because he was in so much pain, and it was clearly showing, no one took the time to notice that the look in Heath's eyes wasn't just from the pain in his shoulder. If they had looked, and thought about it, they'd have seen the look of a man who knew he no longer had time to bounce between decisions. He had to decide once and for all where he was meant to live and if he'd fight for what rightfully belonged to a son of Tom Barkley.