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The voices behind her sounded like they were just on the other side of the rocks.
Rockman said, “Then you’ll die.”
Hunter’s heart hammered in her chest. Her vision funneled to where she only saw Rockman, and she heard no sounds. He would kill her, she knew it.
Anda was twenty feet from Rockman and she saw him tense, like a lion about to charge. Anda threw the rock as hard as she could.
Rockman’s hand flashed to his pistol just as the rock struck the side of his face. He flinched and jerked his head toward Anda.
Hunter drew and shot him until her revolver was empty. Wayne fell into the raft and didn’t move. Hunter stood in a daze, looking down at him. Anda ran to her and jerked at her arm, pulling her down the bank.
Anda said, “Hurry! Hurry! You must get across the river. They are coming!”
Hunter’s hearing began to come back and she heard the men again. They sounded closer with every passing second. She said, “Come on, we can both escape.”
Anda shook her head and pushed Hunter into the raft. “You go. They are after you! I will run. They can’t catch me, and when you’re gone they won’t look anymore. Now go, they are close!” Hunter stepped into the raft and Anda pushed it into the water. She said, “I will see you again.”
Hunter moved Wayne’s legs and began to row. She watched the bank above Anda for signs of the men.
Anda grabbed the duffel bag and tried to pull it up the bank, but it was too heavy. She opened it and saw the money. Anda slid the bag under the edge of some brush, then grabbed several packets and climbed the bank, scattering the bills on the grass. She took one more look at Hunter, then moved into the brush and disappeared.
Hunter rowed hard and landed the raft at a good climbing point. She watched the cleft as she pulled Wayne from the raft. She couldn’t leave him to float down the river. He was heavy and Hunter knew she couldn’t get him to the top of the ten-foot high bluff behind her in so little time.
The voices across the river sounded so close! There was too much open country for her to get away. The men carried automatic weapons and would have two hundred yards of open area to shoot at her. She needed a diversion.
A large piece of driftwood was wedged between two small mesquite bushes. Hunter drug Wayne to the driftwood and propped him into a sitting position. Rockman’s hand still held his pistol. Hunter raised his arm and pierced his shirtsleeve with mesquite thorns to hold his hand out as if he was aiming his pistol across the river. She bent one thin green limb and wrapped it around the barrel to hold the .45 straight. She wedged a thorn in the action to hold the green limb in place.
She hurried back to the raft, grabbed his hat and placed it on his head. It was the best she could do. Hunter heard brush breaking as the mob reached the area of rocks.
The picture caught her eye as she rose to leave. It half-stuck out of the top of Wayne’s shirt pocket.
Angie was in her wedding dress, smiling at the camera. Across the bottom, Angie had written: To my White Knight. You are the love of my life.--Angie.
Hunter choked back a sob, then pushed the photo into Wayne’s pocket. She looked across the river and saw a bush move on the far side of the notch. She clambered up the bank and fell to her stomach, crawling away from the bluff through the grass and expecting a bullet any second.
***
Jesse and Johnny came through the notch in a rush. Elvis was close behind. They saw the scattered money and fell to their hands and knees, stuffing bills down their shirts as fast as they could grab. The others stormed through the notch and almost tripped over them.
Elvis scooted to the edge and snatched at a bill that blew off the bluff. He missed, but saw a bag half hidden under some brush. That’s when Jesse screamed, scaring him almost to death.
“It’s the Sheriff!” Jesse fell backward, clawing to get away. Everyone was stunned for a second, then Johnny and Elvis scrambled for cover.
Elvis pointed across the river and yelled, “He’s got a gun!”
***
To Hunter, still crawling away, it sounded like a small war. They fired hundreds of rounds in the next thirty seconds, then there was silence. She moved the yellow stems of a patch of grama grass and looked across the river. The men stood in silence, looking at Rockman. She crawled away while their attention was on Wayne, stopping once to wipe away tears that blurred her vision.
***
Elvis poked Johnny and said, “Swim over and see if he’s dead.”
Johnny said, “Are you crazy? He’s dead. I can tell from here.”
“Well, man, whatsa matter, then? Why don’t you go?”
“I don’t want to. Why don’t you?”
