Free The Loner: The Blood of Renegades by J. A. Johnstone Page A

to see the large scorpion that had climbed onto her arm and was now crawling over her shoulder toward the open throat of her shirt. If the venomous creature got inside the shirt, it was bound to sting her. Conrad knew the sting of a scorpion that large might sicken Selena for days and really slow their flight from Leatherwood.
    He sprang toward her, reaching out with the Colt. Moving with the same speed that made him such a deadly gunman, he used the revolver’s barrel to flick the scorpion away. It landed on the ground near Arturo, who brought his boot heel down on it with crushing force before the scorpion could scuttle away.
    Selena stopped screaming, but still shuddered as she looked down at her shoulder where the scorpion had been. Conrad holstered his gun and held out a hand to her.
    “Come on. Better get up in case any more of the critters are stirring around here.”
    That got Selena’s attention. She grasped his hand and let him pull her to her feet. She turned around in front of him. “Are there any more of them on me?”
    “I don’t see any.” Conrad was slightly amused even though he knew the situation could have been serious.
    Selena noticed him smiling and punched his shoulder. “Stop that! Don’t laugh at me. That awful thing could have stung me.”
    “I know. That’s why I knocked it away. You’re welcome.”
    “Oh.” She looked contrite. “I’m sorry, Conrad. Of course, I meant to thank you. I just . . . when I opened my eyes and saw that thing . . . I was so scared.”
    “It’s fine,” he assured her.
    “Were you asleep?”
    “I was, but it was time for me to wake up anyway.” He gestured at the fading light in the sky. “We’ll eat a little, give the horses some water, then get moving again.”
    By the time they were ready to go, the last of the light from the sun was gone. The glow of a million stars had replaced it. The heat of the day disappeared as the cool night breeze sprung up.
    Conrad drove the extra horses along the railroad right-of-way while Arturo and Selena followed in the buggy. The miles fell behind them quickly.
    After several hours, low, dark humps appeared in front of them. Hills, Conrad realized. Several small mountain ranges stretched across the isolated country along the Utah-Nevada border. After the flat, arid desert, the higher country would be a relief. On the other side of the border, the terrain dropped again to the vast Humboldt Basin, which was as bad or worse than the country in Utah, but at least there were a few small towns along the rail line. They would be able to put Selena on a train bound for San Francisco. As Conrad had mused earlier, once Selena reached the city by the bay, she wouldn’t be completely out of Leatherwood’s reach, but at least he would have a lot harder time finding her. Conrad planned to send a wire to his lawyers, Claudius Turnbuckle and John J. Stafford, asking them to help Selena. He was sure they would find a safe place for her.
    “I’ve never been this far away from home,” Selena said in wonder. “In fact, there were times I asked myself if there really was a world outside Juniper Canyon. The elders like to teach that the world beyond the bounds of our home is nothing but a wasteland.”
    “That’s a good way to keep the young people from getting restless and wanting to leave, I suppose,” Conrad said.
    “I’m sure that’s part of it, but the way my people have been persecuted, I’m sure sometimes it does seem like the rest of the world is a savage, terrible place.”
    From everything Conrad had heard, the Mormons had indeed suffered from persecution in the past, but they had done their own share of persecuting, too, including more than one massacre of Gentiles who didn’t share their beliefs. He had no interest in arguing religion with Selena or anybody else, so he didn’t say anything, just kept pushing the little horse herd westward.
    The heavens were gray with dawn in the east and the moon was a glimmering