AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What did he say?” Tim asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered, blocking the rising sun with one hand. The trees and tall swamp grass still didn’t allow her to see anything besides Elwood. “He’s waving for us to come up there.”
“You wait right here,” Tim said. “I’ll be right back. He probably shot a deer or something.”
Maddie wanted to say she’d go on to Jack’s place alone, but knew it would be useless. Whenever Lucky was away from the camp, Tim was glued to her side as firmly as the mud stuck to his boots. She turned instead, to gaze downriver, wishing Lucky would suddenly appear. The glistening water held nothing but a wave now and again. Alaska was a beautiful place, and she was going to miss it. The solitude she’d known before finding the outhouse gold was something she now longed for. Turning back around, she frowned and scanned the hillside, but was unable to find either Tim or Elwood.
A tremor let loose in her stomach as she took a step closer, peering harder.
“He’s not going to save you, darling. No one is.”
Old and mingling fears rushed forth with a frosty shiver that shredded her insides. Maddie swiveled slowly, to where the voice had come from.
“Hello, Maddie.”
She swallowed hard in an attempt to dislodge her heart from the back of her throat, but it wouldn’t slide down to her chest where it belonged. Instead, it settled there, beating frantically. His hair no longer hung onto his shoulders, straight and scraggly, and there were gray strands mixed in with the black. His face had more wrinkles, but his black eyes were the same. Menacing and cold.
“Aw, darling,” he drawled. “You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”
Willing her chin not to quiver, nor allow the memories to get the best of her, Maddie met his gaze squarely. “I remember you, Mad Dog.”
He laughed. A bitter, cynical sound that turned her bones to ice. “Glad to know, darling, but I’ve changed my name.”
“Isn’t that a surprise,” she sneered while questioning her choices. He was between her and the mine, and she couldn’t knowingly lead him into Jack’s place. He’d kill the old man for sure. The river was an option, but swimming in a dress wasn’t. “An outlaw changing his name.” Keeping him talking was a choice, too. Waving a hand at the black suit with a gold silk vest, she said, “That’s a pretty dapper outfit for an outlaw.”
He leaned on the walking stick, complete with a gold snakehead handle. “Who says I’m still an outlaw?”
Whether he was calling himself Alan Ridge or Mad Dog Rodriquez, he was an outlaw—always would be. A mean and evil one. Forcing her glare to remain as fixed as his, and as cold, Maddie said, “Once an outlaw, always an outlaw. I can’t believe you weren’t hanged with Bass.”
“Now, that, darling, would have been impossible.”
Maddie wanted to gag. When he called her darling it sounded ugly and wicked. Nothing like when Lucky said it. “Why’s that? You were hiding in the bushes?”
“No, darling, I was the one that hanged him.”
Her heart dropped. For years she’d told herself Bass had gotten what he deserved, yet he’d been her father, and she’d mourned his loss. Dying at the hand of the law was one thing, being murdered by a man in his own gang was another.
“I wouldn’t have had to do it,” Mad Dog said, “if he’d given me your whereabouts.”
She knew exactly what he’d wanted. Knew he was the reason Bass had left her with Smitty, though she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. “My whereabouts? Why? I didn’t have anything you’d want.”
“Yes, you did.” His beady eyes swept downward. “Still do.”
Maddie’s breath stuck deep her stomach, and she fought to keep her eyes from glancing around, searching for an escape route.
“Your father knew it. That’s why he hid you in the hills with that miner after you shot me. I’d have found you long before now if Bass hadn’t switched sides and sent that posse after me.”
Try as she might, Maddie couldn’t breathe. Switched sides? She couldn’t faint, not now. Blinking, she caught sight of his cane.
“Yes, your bullet left me with a way to remember you every day,” Mad Dog said. “But don’t worry. It’s not as bad as I make it look. It gives me an advantage. People feel sorry for a cripple.”
“I should have killed you,” she said without an ounce of remorse.
