The Outlaw

Chapter Ten

The scent of coffee teased Caroline's nostrils and she yawned loudly and stretched her arms out in front of her enjoying the feel of the sunrise on her face. Her mouth watered at the thought of having a hot cup of coffee. They hadn't had any in the past week because Ethan had not allowed them to start a fire….. A fire!

Caroline's eyes flew open to see Jasmine sitting in front of a small fire. Jasmine was filling two tin cups with coffee.

"What the hell?" Ethan yelled removing his arms from Caroline's waist and jumping to his feet. Jasmine jumped at his sudden outburst and spilled the cups she was holding onto the dusty ground.

"Didn't I tell you not to start any damn fires!" he demanded. Caroline could hear the fear in his voice and his fear caused her own to rise.

"I'll be right back." Ethan said and he grabbed his gun belt off the ground and ran up the steep path of the ridge.

"Jasmine, honey, why did you start that fire?" Caroline asked her sister. Jasmine's eyes were full of tears and she pointed to the coffee pot. "I know you were just trying to do something nice but Ethan told you not to start any fires."

It was only a matter of minutes before Ethan came running back to them.

"We gotta go!" he practically yelled as he untied her mare and his stallion from the bush they were tied to. Caroline could hear the hoof beats that seemed to be getting closer by the second.

"Is that Mitchell?" she asked as she climbed onto her mare and helped Jasmine up as well. Ethan nodded.

"Listen to me, Caroline. You run that horse just as fast as it can run. Don't you stop for anything. No matter what happens you just ride." he said handing her his second revolver.

"I won't leave without you!" Caroline argued. Ethan jumped on his stallion and came along side of her. He pulled her to him and gave her a quick fire filled kiss before pulling away.

"I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon, darlin'." he promised. Then he swatted her mare on the rump. "Now let's go!"

They took off as fast as their horses could run. Caroline knew that Ethan's stallion was faster than her mare but he stayed behind her. She didn't look back as she bent over the mares neck and urged her faster. She could hear the hoof beats from the gangs horses and she could hear the men whooping and hollering.

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"There they are boss!" Franks yelled.

"I got eyes too, you moron!" Mitchell yelled back and Franks quickly fell behind him. After going to Caroline's room that morning two weeks ago and finding hers and Ethan's rooms empty and both Bullocks and Crenshaw dead, Mitchell had been even more unpredictable and violent than usual. Two weeks they'd been riding from town to town looking for the girls and Ethan…. The gang had just wanted to let them go but Mitchell had refused.

They had a posse about a day behind them now because Mitchell had killed the sheriff in the last town they'd stopped at after the sheriff had said that Ethan Thompson had indeed been in his town.

"I want all three of them alive!" Mitchell yelled. "If they die, you die!" The thirteen men Mitchell had left riding with him all nodded and spurred their horses faster. They were in no hurry to anger their boss because they knew damn well he meant it when he said he'd kill them.

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Caroline looked out of the corner of her eye when the bullets started flying to make sure Ethan was still behind her. He gave her a reassuring look and she turned her eyes back to the front. Another bullet passed close by them and then she heard a sickening thud as another bullet found its mark.

Caroline screamed when she saw Ethan's horse go down and he was sent flying over the stallion's head.

"Keep going, Caroline! Don't stop for anything!" Ethan yelled loudly as he pulled his gun and started firing at the gang. Doomer threw a rope and lassoed Ethan tightly. Ethan cursed when he realized his arms were pressed too tight against his body for him to even fire a shot at them with any accuracy.

"We got him boss!" Doomer yelled. He jumped from his horse and walked over to Ethan, intent on hogtieing him but Ethan swung his leg up and caught the man hard on the chin sending him staggering backwards.

"Watch them feet, boy." an older gang member named Maxwell warned, walking over and punching Ethan hard in the face. He grabbed the rope and hogtied Ethan. Ethan stopped fighting then.

He knew Caroline could get away and thank God it seemed like she had listened to him though he couldn't see her from the angle. Just then a bullet slammed into Maxwell's chest and he fell backwards with a surprised look on his dying face.

"What the hell?" Ethan demanded. Surely she hadn't turned around for him. He wasn't worth dying for!

"Get away from him!" Caroline yelled as she fired another shot though this one missed its target and went sailing harmlessly past Mitchell's head.

"Get her!" Mitchell yelled and the men quickly surrounded Caroline and Jasmine and within minutes they were hogtied on the ground beside Ethan.

"I thought I told you to keep going no matter what." Ethan demanded gently. Caroline shook her head.

"I wasn't going anywhere without you, outlaw." she replied matter-of-factly.

"How touching." Mitchell said as he walked over to them. Caroline stared at the toes of his brown dusty boots. She could see the sunlight shining off his silver spurs.

"You killed one of my men, little Caroline." he said as he crouched down and grabbed her by her hair lifting her face to his. She bit back her moan of pain and glared at him.

"Darn, only one?" she spat. "You killed my entire family."  Mitchell's eyes flashed cold and angry and he punched her hard in the mouth. Caroline felt her head start spinning and she could no longer focus her eyes. She could feel the blood trickling from her lips but could do nothing to wipe it away with her hands tied behind her back.

"Get your fucking hands off of her!" Ethan yelled, fighting uselessly against his ropes. Mitchell let go of Caroline's hair and her head fell back on the dusty ground. He stood straight and walked over to Ethan, his spurs ringing out in the silence.

"Did you touch her son?" Mitchell asked calmly. His voice was cold and flat.

"Let her and Jasmine go." Ethan replied. Mitchell let out an angry roar.

"You touched her!" he yelled. "My own son betrayed me! She was mine!" Mitchell kicked Ethan hard in the face and then turned to Franks.

"Load them up. We'll go back to that nice little ridge they were camped at and teach them a lesson about what happens when you betray Mitchell Thompson."