Don't Make Me Aske Twice

Jacob was finding it hard to think straight when Josie's very life was at stake. It seemed his fears were coming true. Brandy's mess, dragging in Josie too. But like hell would he sit by and watch a third or fourth sister die.

He was so angry at Brandy and scared too as he slipped one knife into his boot, then another two. His hands shook as he touched the metal there, but right now he had bigger care. 

One gun he slipped into his back waistband. The other gun he made sure to holster it near his hip. Where no one with eyes would miss it. Rue and Jujube were already mounted, waiting to disband.

He wanted to tell Rue to stay behind. He wanted to tell her lots of things on his mind. But now was not the time.

So he took a deep breath, heart pounding in his chest. He swiveled in his saddle to look at Rue. "If things go south, I want both of you, to promise me, you'll get Josie to safety. And Jujube, I'm counting on you to protect Rue too. Nothing else matters, understand?"

Rue gripped her reins tightly, "That won't be necessary if things go to plan."

"We will do what we can," said Jujube, "I'll protect them both with my life, you have my word."

Jacob nodded at the other man. "Rue, if it things go badly, save yourself, do you hear me?"

Rue sighed, tilted her head towards the sky, and spoke to the great spirits, before she looked back at Jake.

"Make no mistake, I can take care of myself. Jacob, just worry about keeping your head. Keep your wits about you too, any mistake will cost you. We'll get Josie back safe and sound. And make them sorry, they every came to our town."

Jacob put his heels into the horses flank, gave the reins a firm yank. Urging the beast into a run towards the falls. Rue and Jujube went a different way, a short cut to the falls to lie in wait. When their distraction came, his shot he was to take.

But what that distraction was they didn't say. Just to be ready when it came without delay. Jacob's heart fell into time, with the sound of the hooves, as his horse did fly.

The falls soon came into his view. He counted three men and his sister too. He slowed his horses as he approached the gang. Two guns at him were aimed. A third was pointed at Josephine,as she sat on a rock near the ravine.

Josie yelled his name and began to cry.

"Alright Cowboy, stick your hands up high. Do anything stupid and your sister dies!" He eyed the gun strapped to Jacob's side.

Jacob raised his hands toward the sky, "It's alright Josie Pie. This will be sorted soon, no need to cry." The fear on Josie's face tore him up inside.

"Well don't just stand there you flapdoodle, get his gun!" The kick he gave his man was a brutal one.

The man standing in the front of the pack was the leader no doubt about that. The shorter man grunted from the kick, then jerked the gun from Jake's holster real quick. He yanked Jacob roughly down off his horse, not giving him much time to find his footing of course.

"You have me now, just let Josie go. You don't need us both, just so you know. Josie will only slow us down when I take you into town to Brandy," said Jake with a frown.

The leader sized him up and puffed out his chest.

"So you're the brother of that whore Brandy Vine? Though a family resemblance I cant find. Now that little one there looks like your sister Lou alright, though she didn't put up much of a fight."

Jacob knew the man was trying to get under his skin, but if he lost his head, his life would end. And then he couldn't help Josie or that other sister of his.

"And who might you be? And why do you need Josie and me?" asked Jacob.

In reply, the guy hit Jacob with his pistol above the eye. Josie once more began to cry. Jacob cursed, the wave of dizziness was the worst. Next came the trickle of blood, finally the pain, but he could take a hit. No doubt about it.

"You don't get to ask any questions! Shut your mouth! You'd better hope that sister of yours decides to show. Or Lou will get some company, just so you know," finished the man with a grin.

It was then that a stampede did begin. A herd of Bighorns came barreling around the bend. Something was chasing them. Jacob squinted his eyes in the bright light, no that can't be right! 

He'd seen many big cats with the show, so a bit about them, he did know. A golden leopard was chasing a herd of Bighorn through the desert near BG. Leopards were not found here naturally.

The shorter man began to curse and backed towards the safety the rocks would provide. But then an arrow sunk deep into his hide. Jacob was still a bit dizzy and dazed, but he heard Josie scream and it captured his gaze, while the leader ducked down behind a horse, for the arrow looking for the source.

The leopard had changed its course. No longer chasing a heard of prey, instead, it locked onto the man holding Josie. The man screamed and aimed his gun at the beast, but the cat knocked him to the ground with ease. Josie cowered terrified, behind the rocks trying to hide.

Jacob took cover behind a rock. He pulled his hidden gun and at the cat took aim, fired one round, but before the second, an arrow came. Jacob jumped and yelled, as it knocked the metal from his hand.

Then he heard Jujube demand, "What is wrong with you? That's Rue!"

Jujube was crouched up in the rocks, but Jacob was still reeling from the shock. He couldn't grasp what the other man had said. "That was my only gun!" he said instead.

"Sorry I didn't think that through," said Jujube.

The big cat. Rue was pacing back and forth in front of Josie, daring anyone to come near the girl. It gave a fierce growl which made Jake's toes curl.

The leader was the last man standing, using the horse for cover, though the poor beast tried to flee, it was tied firmly.

He began to fire some shots at the rocks, near Jujube, then Jake, and lastly the cat, not sure which shots to take. Jujube didn't want to strike the horse, so he loosened an arrow down low, under the horse's belly it did go. It sank into the calf of the man.

He screamed and swore, and decided to abandon the plan. He had never signed on for this. To kidnap a girl and her drunk of a brother, not to take on a leopard, a master with a bow, he jumped on the horse, cut the ropes, and urged it to go.

Jacob swore and looked for a horse to give chase, though chasing a man with a gun, was likely a mistake. 

Another horse was tied nearby, Jacob quickly mounted the steed, and with great speed, went after the leader of the band.

He had some questions needing answerin' and he couldn't have the others tipped off as well, that their kidnapping had gone to hell.

A bullet sailed past Jacob's head, a couple of inches lower and he'd be dead. He hunkered down lower on the horse and kept chasing the bandit of course. The dust was kicking up all around, the man was headed back towards town.

He fired another shot behind him at Jake, though the bullet went wide sunk into a cactus on the trailside. But if given the chance to fire many more, his luck would run out, Jake was sure. So he needed to act now to shut this scoundrel down.

His heart pounded and his hand did shake, from his boot, a knife he did take. Jacob had learned from the best, now that was put to the test. He lined up his shot a let that knife fly. It sank into the back of that guy. Down the man toppled of his mount. Landed in a heap upon the ground.

Jacob was on top of the man in a flash, another knife held to him, he didn't have a chance. He stepped on his hand that reached desperately out towards his gun, and when Jake picked it up instead, the leader knew he was done.

Jacob rolled him over, and the man began to laugh loudly. Blood was already staining his teeth.

"What business do you have with Brandy?"

"You might as well kill me. I'm dead already."

The man continued to laugh crazily. Jacob put a foot on his chest, and dug his heel in, stealing the man's breath.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll make it quick. A more generous offer, you're unlikely to get. Tell me who you're working for and why he's after Brandy Vine!"

Jacob eased up his foot a bit at a time. Sweat and pain both beaded headed across the man's face. He spat blood up, coughed a time or two.

"Wrong answer, what is wrong with you?" Said Jacob, his patience growing thin, as he pressed the man roughly into the ground again.

From his own brow, the blood was dripping down. The cut above his eye did sting. Jake wiped it away impatiently. Later, there'd be time to deal with such things. This time he pushed him down harder in the sand, the blood pooling beneath the man. He grunted and grabbed at Jacob's foot, but Jacob stayed put.

"Let's try this again, shall we? Now answer me! Give me the name of the man who sent you after Josie and me. The man out to get my sister Brandy."

Jacob eased up his boot from the man's chest, he gasped in a big breath. He swore too.

"Why the hell should I tell you? What is in it for me?"

"I won't let you die slowly. I will let your own blood creep up your throat and steal all your breath, as you grasp and choke to death. So what will it be?"

The man considered his proposal carefully.

"His name is Regan. Your sister, Lou worked for him a long time ago. Then she double-crossed him and struck out on her own. So he has a bone to pick or two. Brandy tried to come in and take over what was rightfully his, and he ain't the type to forget and forgive. Now that whore sister of yours must pay the price."

"And where is Regan now? Don't make me ask twice!"

"Waiting for Brandy in Big Pool" 

"Big Pool, that's in Crusted County!"

The man went into a coughing fit, a mouth full of blood he did spit. His time on this earth was growing slim. Time to do what Jacob promised him.

"I suggest now is the time, to say a prayer. Get right with the man upstairs. Ask him to save your soul, forgive you for the things you've done," suggested Jacob as he raised the gun.

He aimed between the man's eyes, but a prayer he didn't offer towards the sky. Blood trickled from his mouth as he laughed once more. "I know where I'm headed, and it ain't heaven for sure."

"May God have mercy on your soul then," Jacob said to him.

Besides he had to protect Rue. The man had seen what she could do. About that Jake was still certainly confused. And Jacob couldn't take the risk, of him tipping off his friends, if he happened to breathe long enough for them to find him.

Jacob nodded solemnly pulled the trigger, made it quick. It made his stomach feel sick. Even if the man had deserved it. Jacob had only taken three lives before, and the fourth hadn't gotten easier, that was sure. But he could think about that later, and he would no doubt, but right now this mess wasn't entirely sorted out. He emptied his stomach into some brush. Then on horseback, made towards Big Pool in quite a rush.