Chapter Thirty

Ruth was standing beside the house, while Nick and the men who had riding with him were standing next to the corral and getting ready to remount their horses, when McColl came barreling through the gate; Timmy was with him.

"Timmy!" Ruth screamed and ran towards Timmy as McColl helped him down. "Where did you find him!"

"I came across him a few miles back on the road, running great for someone with a bad leg like his. He says Barrett and a couple of men are holding Heath at the old Mills' place." McColl told Nick, who had quickly stepped away from his horse.

"What happened?" Nick looked at the young boy who now stood next to Ruth, her right arm draped over Timmy's shoulder.

The young boy related the story from beginning to end. "I didn't want to leave him, but he insisted." Timmy wrapped his arms around Ruth and held on for all he was worth as he looked up at Nick. The young boy then turned his eyes from Nick to Ruth and asked, "Why does Uncle Kyle want me dead, Mama?"

Ruth felt the hugest struggle going on inside her as her own eyes moved from her Timmy to Nick. She knew Timothy deserved the truth only, heaven forgive her, she didn't know how to tell him. She needn't have worried as Nick, who had mounted his horse, spoke up.

"You're due a lot of money, son, and your uncle's greedy enough to want it. Don't worry though; we'll go get Heath and then deal with Kyle Randall afterwards." Nick wasn't about to say that if Barrett thought he had been beaten up before he was going to find out different, whether it was by Nick's hand or by the hand of one of his men Barrett would be made to suffer. "Go ahead and take him inside." Nick told Ruth as he and McColl, along with the men who were with them, rode off.

"Come on, Timmy." Ruth turned her 'son' around. "Let's get you inside where you can change clothes and wash up. We'll also do something for that leg of yours." The young lad's pants had been ripped slightly after going through the open window, and she'd see how hard of a time he was having walking.

"Yes, Mama," Timmy answered as he limped alongside Ruth. After all the running he'd forced himself to do, his leg was hurting him quite badly.

~oOo~

"How could you let him escape!" Kyle Randall bellowed. He had surprised Barrett in town and then demanded to see the young boy the courts claimed was his nephew. Barrett had taken him to the old Mills home, only to find the boy missing and two babbling idiots he had hired to watch the boy making excuses for the boy being gone. All four men were standing outside the house looking at the broken glass lying next to the window. "How could you just sit in the living room and do nothing when you heard glass breaking?"

"Like we told you before, we'd heard glass breaking time after time and there was nothing to indicate actual glass being broken!" The blonde haired man working for Barrett barked back. "How were we to know that the window had actually been broken by someone?"

Barrett and Kyle looked through the window where they could see Heath still sitting in front of the pole he'd been tied to. Unable to see behind him, the men thought the prisoner was still sitting there unable to move. "What I want to know is how on earth the boy got loose and how he broke the window!" Kyle Randall had made the statement before, only he and Barrett were now both sweating up a storm. If that boy talked, both he and Kyle knew they would be wanted by the law.

"Bring that man out here!" Kyle demanded as he turned and started walking towards a nearby tree. When Barrett and both his men went to go inside the house, Kyle exploded. What kind of idiots had his contact hired for this job? "Not you, Mr. Barrett! I want to talk to you!"

Barrett muttered under his breath and walked over to where Mr. Randall stood. He figured the man was going to give him the lecture of a life time. He was close to right as Randall turned on him and started yelling, calling Barrett a fool, along with a number of things. If it wasn't for the money the man had promised to pay him once the job was done, Barrett would have let the man have both barrels. Barrett might have interrupted only his two friends started shouting; they could be heard through the broken window.

"What is it?" Barrett demanded as he and Kyle Randall ran to the side of the house.

"He broke the window and let the boy out!" The blonde haired man, who had a hold of Heath's right arm, while his dark haired friend had a hold of Heath's left one, yelled from the cellar floor. "He got out of his ropes!"

Barrett swore and drew his gun only to have Kyle Randall stop him. "NO! Don't shoot him yet!" Kyle snapped and demanded the two men get their prisoner out of the basement and to bring him outside.

"You heard the man." The two captors forced Heath towards, and up, the basement stairs. Once they were out on the porch, Heath was forced to walk down the front steps and towards Kyle Randall, who looked like the top of a volcano close to erupting.

"How did Charles get loose, and where did he go?" Kyle asked as he took a step towards Heath.

"I don't know anyone by that name; that is, not anyone in this area!" Heath growled back. Who cared if he knew what Kyle meant? Besides, not knowing how far Timothy had gotten, Heath was trying to buy the boy as much time as he could.

Barrett doubled up his fist and hit the side if Heath's face. "Don't lie you bastard!" He would have swung again, only Kyle reached up and grabbed Barrett's wrist.

"My nephew's middle name is Timothy." Kyle hissed at Heath. "Where did Timothy go?"

Heath said nothing even as the men holding him pulled his arms backwards, causing a great deal of pain to shoot through his shoulders.

"Answer him!" Barrett kicked Heath in the lower leg. However, having his mind on making Heath talk, the man didn't look at which leg he was kicking. That being the case, Kyle felt a wave of nausea roll over him when the prosthetic leg came off. While the leg stayed inside Heath's pants, the action caused Heath to lose his balance. Although they knew about Heath's disability, the men holding him were still thrown for a surprise and-without thinking-let go and let Heath fall to the ground.

Kyle, recovering from his shock, pulled his pistol out from his holster. "That boy and his sister are costing me a lot of money. Now, either tell me where the boy went, or I will kill you!"

Heath lifted his head and, glaring at the man, replied in quiet even tone, "Never."