Free Katy Run Away by Maren Smith Page B

would escort you back to town and then simply wait around to see if you signaled the law? For eight hundred dollars? And what would we do with you in the meantime, except throw you down into this very position while each of us ever so politely take turns.”
    Fighting not to make a sound, afraid to let him see the fear growing in her eyes, Katy stared straight ahead of her. A whole, great blanket of stars were winking into sight across the indigo sky above. Peripherally, she could see the coach, surrounded by bandits, and the two drivers still sitting with hands held high, watching her humiliation helplessly. The thinner of the two men kept shifting, as if so badly wanting to intervene and yet knowing he’d probably die if he tried.
    “You know what your problem is?” the leader of the bandits asked, his tone once more rising out of the ominous growl it had become, turning painstakingly cordial once more. “You’re spoiled, that’s what. You should really try thinking about the wants and needs of someone other than yourself for a while. Might do you some good.”
    “I do think about other people,” Katy said, her voice trembling with the anger she was trying so hard not to show.
    Tipping his head, the leader of the bandits regarded her in silence. Slowly, he released his grip on her hair. “No. You don’t.” He stroked the soft lengths one last time. “If you did, your old friend wouldn’t now be forced to drag you home again. Don’t be angry with him. It’s a man’s nature, to want to protect the ones he loves. Even from themselves.”
    Shoving back off her, the bandit dragged her to her feet and walked her back to the coach. His man got out of the way when he approached the open door. Planting a hand under her bottom, he didn’t just boost her up, he tossed her. Cal caught her, his arms like comforting bands of steel, pulling her onto the seat when she might otherwise have hit the floor on her knees. He all but pulled her onto his lap, holding her close.
    “Take her home,” the leader of the bandits told him. “Whip her if she won’t stay there. This is no place for a woman, much less one half-grown.” Turning to his men, he said, “We’re taking the horses. Madame Pope can walk back to town. Besides,” he smiled, white teeth flashing in the near dark as he glanced back in at them. “Wouldn’t want the law following too close at our heels, now would we?”
    Katy jumped when he shut the stagecoach door and felt Cal’s arms tighten around her. She listened, half in relief and half in disbelief as the horses were released from their harnesses and the bandits rode away.
    “My God!” Cal hugged her fiercely, his hands searching all over her for hint of real injury. “Katy, are you hurt?”
    She tried to nod, but he held her too tightly. Or was she holding him? She couldn’t get her arms to let him go. She couldn’t stop shaking, either. And when she opened her mouth to tell him she was fine, all that came out was a high-pitched keening sound.
    Cal began to rock her. “It’s all right, Katy. It’s all right.”
    But it didn’t feel all right. Burying her face against his shoulder, she began to sob. No, it didn’t feel all right at all.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Please disregard previous disregarding telegraph. STOP Bandits held up stage. STOP Everyone is safe and well. STOP We are going back to original plan and will, God willing, come up on the Tuesday train. END
     
    “We’re never getting out of Dustwallow,” Cal said as he paid the telegraph operator with what few coins the bandits hadn’t thought to rob him of. Though he was trying for humor, Katy never cracked a smile. She stood silently beside him, staring down the dusty street after the stagecoach drivers, as they entered the sheriff’s office to report the robbery. Cal looked at her, uncomfortable with how thoroughly defeated she seemed. He tried another joke, hoping he could lighten the heavy set of her small shoulders. “Remind me