Free Katy Run Away by Maren Smith

if to shield Katy from what was coming. She felt his whole body stiffen when the bandit pointed at him again, not with his finger this time, but with his gun. It made a very cold and gut-clenching sound when he cocked it.
    “Wait!” It wasn’t until she felt Cal startle against her, that Katy realized she had spoken at all. And God help her, but she couldn’t get her mouth to stop moving. “I have money.”
    Cal snapped around to look at her, his eyes huge with shock and alarm. The bandit was much more subdued, but she still shivered when he locked his eyes on her and didn’t blink.
    “What are you—” Cal stopped when the bandit pressed the tip of his gun right up against his cheek.
    “You have money?” the bandit asked, beginning to smile once more.
    “Not on me,” she quickly told him. “It’s in the bank back in Dustwallow, almost eight hundred dollars, and I will give it to you. Every penny if you promise not to hurt anyone.” Katy swallowed hard, not sure she knew how to read that sudden hardness creeping through the bandit’s eyes. Not that it mattered. At this point, nothing else mattered to her but one thing.
    “Exactly what are you suggesting? That you write me a check?” The bandit tipped his head slightly. “Do you think I can just walk into town and cash it?”
    “No, b-but if you take me with you back to town, I’ll withdraw my money and give it to you. You won’t even need to rob me.”
    Heedless of the gun against his cheek, Cal turned all the way around to stare at her. “Katy, what—”
    “I’m sorry, Cal.” She shook her head, her eyes darting nervously between the two men: one, openly appalled; the other, watching her through narrow, shadow-hidden eyes. “I can’t go home. I just can’t.” She turned back to the bandit. “Take me with you, promise me you won’t hurt anyone here, and I’ll give you all the money I have.”
    Cal tried to grab her arm, but again stopped, grinding his teeth in frustration when the bandit moved the cold, metal press of gun from his cheek to his left temple. Cal held up his hands helplessly, but his eyes fairly burned, pleading with her not to go.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. She quickly turned her face away so she wouldn’t have to see the way he stared at her when the bandit at long last smiled and held up his hand. She took it, and without another thought, let herself be pulled down off the stage.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Her stomach full of nervous fluttering, Katy followed the bandit away from the coach, leaving Cal behind her, his hands still held up in the air and all those guns pointing straight at him. One of the other men had slipped in to take the lead bandit’s spot, guarding the coach’s open door with his revolver steadily aimed inside. There were six bandits in all, and every one of them was armed. Only the leader was smiling.
    “Eight hundred dollars, eh?”
    Katy glanced back over her shoulder, wringing her hands slightly as she watched the men point their guns at Cal. “They’re not going to hurt him, are they?”
    “Ah now, darlin’,” the lead bandit drawled. “Don’t you worry about his well-being. Were I you, I’d be much more concerned right now about my own.”
    Snapping around, Katy locked her eyes on the bandit. He was still smiling, the light from the coach lamps bathing parts of his face in soft amber and leaving the rest of him lost in night’s shadow.
    “Do you or do you not have eight hundred dollars?” he asked.
    “I do, and I meant what I said. I’ll give it to you, every penny, if you take me back to town.”
    He folded his arms across his chest, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards as he studied her. “Where did you get that kind of money? No offense, but you don’t look rich. Did you steal it?”
    She blanched “No!” She swept him with derisive eyes. “Unlike you, I work for my way.”
    That quirk of a smile broadened, but nothing else