Page 36 of The Last True Hero
Eleven
THE HEAT STARTEDto make people sweat as the sun gleamed far overhead. More than time to get going, but McClain wanted to talk to them first. Mia bustled about camp, seeing to the people they'd rescued and making sure the injured were drinking enough water. Jenny insisted upon following her around, despite her leg. Jenny's “just a scratch”turned out to be a nasty-looking cut from a machete. Mia didn't like the look of it. The heat and the lack of proper medical attention meant that Jenny was dead certain to be facing a fever, despite the fact she'd cauterized the wound herself.
In fact, taking stock of those in the camp revealed a newer problem. The fight with the reivers had been short, bloody, and brutal, and most of the rescuers weren't trained fighters like McClain, Jenny, and Jake. Mia couldn't stop seeing memories of her own brief experiences. She was damned lucky. That was the truth.
Others were not so lucky.
Mia paused by McClain's side. "There are only five people here who are still in good condition. Three are women who've barely lifted a shotgun in their life, one's a kid, and the other’s a ranch hand from Thwaites's. Most of those without serious injuries are the girls we rescued."
He stared down into the pot of water he'd set on the fire to boil. Sunlight gilded the golden hairs on his bronzed forearms. ”Will any of them come with us?"
There was no time to be optimistic. "No," Mia said bluntly. "That fight took a lot out of everyone. The fact that as many of them rode along with us as they did is surprise enough. I doubt they'll come any further." She swallowed a little. "What about you?"
McClain looked up sharply, then his face softened. "I'll ride with you until we get those girls back."
"This is not your fight."
"If I don't go you'll only get yourself killed," he replied, slowly though, as if he were editing his words carefully. "YouandJake. I can't live with that."
"If the reivers make it to Rust City, then we're walking into a trap," she replied. "The odds of us getting in and out of there alive aren't great."
McClain's lashes lowered. He always looked like he was the calm at the center of any storm. And it settled her nerves even now, as it always did. "One problem at a time, Mia. Besides," he glanced around. "We can't take Rust City with force. The reiver I questioned said there're over two hundred reivers there, and we don't have the manpower, not even if everyone here was fighting fit and experienced in a gunfight. In a way, this might work out better for us. A smaller group can slip into a crowd and blend."
"Blend?" she blurted.
"None of us look like reivers," he pointed out, "but there are enough bounty hunters out there who get tired of riding long hours for minimal coin. Sometimes they take up a darker trade. That's our way in."
Mia chewed it over. Her stomach twisted at the thought of what she was about to do. If this failed, she'd be the one wearing a slave collar. But he was right. It was their only chance to save Sage and the others. "Okay."
"We have to make a move and soon," McClain said, reaching out and using his sleeve to lift the pot off the hot stone it rested on as soon as it started boiling. "The reivers who took your sister might be at least fifteen hours ahead of us."
Fifteen. Her stomach sank.
"Maybe less," he continued, "depending on whether they stopped to rest."
"We should have gone last night," Mia whispered.
"In the dark? Mia, we're tired, we're injured, and we're distinctly lacking in resources. I don't work off knee-jerk impulses. At best we might have gotten ourselves killed in the dark. We don't know what's out there. I've only ever been south once, and that was years ago. If we do this, then we need to plan and we need to think." His voice softened when he noticed the look on her face. McClain rested his hand on her knee, squeezing gently. "We'll get her back."
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."
His thumb rubbed the inside of her thigh. "I don't make promises I can't keep. If I say we can do this, then it's because I know we can. I wouldn't let you go in there if I didn't think there was a chance I could keep you safe. No matter how much your sister means to you."
"If you think you could stop me...."
He smiled a little. "Yeah. Then there's that."
Mia curled her hand over his. She didn't know what she'd do without him right now. McClain was a rock. And she couldn’t help believing in him. "Okay. We do this."
"Who've we got?"
"Jake," she replied promptly.
"Jenny?"
Mia glanced at her aunt. Jenny rested in a chair now, her eyes glazed with pain and exhaustion. "She's hurt and she needs medical attention, even if she won't admit it."
McClain examined Jenny too. "She'd be handy, but you're right. We'd only end up nursing her, and we don't need that complication."
