Warpath (White Apache Book 2)

  Taggart was an outcast hated by his enemies and feared by all others. Now the twelve S.O.B.s who has left him swinging from a rope were the only reason he had for living. Together with his renegade warriors, he’d have his revenge. One by one, he’d hunt the yellow-bellies down. One by one, he’d make them wish they’d never drawn a breath. One by one he’d leave their bones scorching under a brutal desert sun.

  WARPATH

  WHITE APACHE 2

  By David Robbins Writing As Jake McMasters

  First Published by Leisure Books in 1993

  Copyright© 1993, 2015 by David Robbins

  First Smashwords Edition: September 2015

  Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  Our cover features Yellow Nose Counts Coup at Little Big Horn, painted by Andy Thomas, and used by permission.

  Andy Thomas Artist, Carthage Missouri. Andy is known for his action westerns and storytelling paintings and documenting historical events through history.

  This is a Piccadilly Publishing Book ~ Text © Piccadilly Publishing

  Series Editor: Ben Bridges

  Published by Arrangement with the Author.

  Chapter One

  A rare cool wind blew out of the northwest, bringing welcome relief to the hot Arizona night. It whipped across the Mojave Desert, past the Harcuvar Mountains, then across the Sonoran Desert to the basin in which Tucson flourished and beyond.

  Southeast of Tucson the breeze fanned Clay Taggart’s brow as he squatted in high grass within a hundred yards of a frame house belonging to a rancher named Prost. But Clay hardly noticed. All he could think of was Prost, a man he had sworn to kill.

  The prospect of making wolf meat of the rancher was so sweet it brought a grim smile to Clay Taggart’s thin lips. He gave each of the twin ivory-handled Colts at his waist a pat, then firmed his grip on his Winchester and stalked forward, his blue eyes agleam with bloodlust.

  Somewhere to the south a coyote yipped. Clay paid no heed. His thoughts were solely on his vengeance. For weeks now the only thing that had mattered to him was paying the twelve bastards back for the nightmare he had endured. His craving was like a blazing flame that seared the core of his being, preventing him from sleeping soundly at night and rendering him uncommonly restless during the day.

  “I’m coming for you, you mangy polecat!” Clay whispered and stopped short, appalled at his lapse. He glanced to the right and the left, but the others were too far off to have heard, except for Delgadito, who was making a beeline for the stable and gave no sign of having noticed.

  Relieved, Clay pressed on. His knee-high moccasins made little sound as he set down each foot. Even so, he was like a blundering bull in comparison to the stealth exercised by his companions. They were virtual ghosts. He knew where they were, could even see three of them quite clearly in the moonlight, yet not once did he hear them make the slightest noise. Small wonder their people were widely regarded as the scourges of the Southwest.

  Clay closed his mind to such thoughts and concentrated on the front door of the house. There was only the one way in and out, so the others would be able to keep Prost from escaping if, by some fluke, the rancher got past him. The only real cause for concern lay in the three hands asleep in the bunkhouse. If they were loyal to the brand—and most cowboys were almost fanatical in their devotion to those they rode for—they’d pose a problem if they were accidentally awakened. Clay wasn’t too worried though. Fiero, Amarillo, and Ponce were more than a match for any three cowhands.

  When Clay was within a dozen feet of the house, he stopped. Delgadito and Cuchillo Negro converged on him and waited for his hand signal to advance and squat on either side of the door. Clay tested the latch, found it unlocked, and slipped inside.

  The living room smelled like tobacco smoke. Clay was also sure he detected the lingering scent of whiskey in the air, but he told himself that was impossible; his senses couldn’t be so sharp. Keeping low, he crept across the room to a narrow hall.

  Loud snoring guided Clay to the bedroom. The door hung ajar. He pushed gingerly with his left hand, flinching as if struck when one of the hinges creaked lightly. The man on the bed sputtered, turned onto his side, and resumed snoring with gusto.

  Clay rose into a crouch and drew his bowie knife. The keen blade glinted dully as he applied it to the soft flesh at the base of the sleeper’s throat and growled in the man’s ear, “Rise and shine, Prost! It’s time to die!”

  The rancher’s eyes snapped wide, and he opened his mouth as if to shriek. But one look into the hard face above him and the feel of cold steel against his skin choked his outcry. He blinked and said, “Taggart? It can’t be! You’re dead!”

  “You wish I were, you bastard!” Clay hissed. “The next time you hold a necktie social, you’d better be damn sure the rope does its job before you ride off and leave the guest of honor.” His smile broadened. “’Course, there won’t be no next time for you. I’m the last innocent man you’ll ever hang.”

  Prost gulped, then licked his lips. He went to sit up, but the bowie dug a bit deeper into his neck, freezing him in place. Mustering his courage, he said gruffly, “Now listen here, Taggart. You can’t hold what happened against me.”

  “Like hell I can’t!” Clay snapped, flushing with anger as he remembered the harrowing ordeal. “I’m going to make each and every one of you sons of bitches pay, and pay dearly.”

  “But we were a posse!” Prost protested. “We had to do as Marshal Crane wanted!”

  Clay barely restrained himself from punching Prost senseless. “Since when does a posse have the right to hang a man without a trial? That’s called a lynching, remember? And it’s as illegal as sin.” He shook his head. “You should have known better than to listen to Crane. When lawmen step outside the boundary of the law, they’re no better than the lawbreakers they hunt down.”

  “I didn’t want to hang you!”

  “I didn’t hear you object.”

  “What good would it have done? Crane wouldn’t have listened to me.” Drops of perspiration had formed on the rancher’s forehead and upper lip. “There was no reasoning with him or those gunsharks who backed him up, Santee and Quarn. If I’d spoken up, they might have turned on me.”

  Clay touched the barrel of his Winchester to the scar on his throat. “So you let them do this because you’re cold footed?” he said with contempt. “I ought to cut out your innards and strangle you with your own guts.”

  “Please! Let’s talk this over. I’m certain we can come to some sort of agreement.”

  “Oh?” Clay lowered the bowie a few inches and drew back a step. “What sort of agreement?” he asked sarcastically.

  The rancher slowly sat up. He looked at the closed window, gauging whether his hired hands would hear if he yelled for help. Then he stared at the bowie and decided not to invite instant death. It wasn’t until that moment that he happened to notice the way Taggart was dressed. “My God! Look at you!”

  Clay said nothing.

  “You’re wearing a headband, a breechcloth, and moccasins, just like some stinking redskin. Why?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve made some new friends since you saw me last and let it go at that.”

  Prost’s forehead knit. Suddenly his mouth dropped open, and he jabbed a finger at Clay’s bronzed chest. “You’re t
he one the Army is looking for! The one they call the White Apache!”

  This was news to Clay, unwelcome news that confirmed his worst fears. “The Army has posted circulars on me?” he asked.

  “Not yet. But the last time I delivered beef to Fort Bowie, I heard talk about a patrol that tangled with a band of savages. They nearly got themselves wiped out.” Prost paused. “One of the savages was supposed to be a white man, but I didn’t really believe it could be true until just this minute. Riding with Apaches is as low as a man can go.”

  “Not if he owes them. Not if those Apaches saved him from a lynching.”

  “They what?” Prost exclaimed, astonished. “I never heard of such a thing! Why’d they save your hide?”

  “I’m not here to chew the fat about them,” Clay reminded the rancher. “I’m here to have you answer for my hanging, just like Jacoby answered for it.”

  “Art?” Prost said. “But he was killed by a rotten pack of renegades—” Prost stopped, gulped, and said, in horror, “Oh, my God! That was you!”

  “He was the first,” Clay admitted, a tone of regret in his voice. “I thought he was my friend. We used to buck the tiger together, drink together. Yet at my lynching he didn’t say a word. All he did was check the knot on the rope so I’d swing good and proper.” Clay snorted. “Some pard he turned out to be.”

  Prost listened attentively, or pretended to. While sitting up, he had been secretly working his right hand around behind him and under his pillow. Now his fingertips brushed the revolver he always slept with, and he suppressed a smirk. “Look, I agree we did you wrong,” he said, stalling in the hope his unwanted visitor would look away for the fraction of a second it would take to bring the pistol into play. “I’d like to make amends, if you’d let me.”

  “How?”

  “By going with you to the U.S. marshal and telling him everything. He has the authority to arrest a town marshal like Crane.”

  “You must figure I’m the biggest yack this side of the Pecos,” Clay responded. “I’d be thrown into irons for Jacoby’s death before I could get two words in edgewise.”

  “No one knows you were to blame. And I’d never tell.”

  “You expect me to trust you?”

  “Suit yourself,” Prost said with an exaggerated shrug that disguised the movement of his arm as he placed his hand onto the butt of his six-shooter. “I’m just trying to make good for my part in the hanging.”

  Clay Taggart thought for a moment. He gave the bowie a deft flip, grabbing the blade instead of the hilt, and began to lower the knife to his side. “Maybe you’re right,” he said softly. “Maybe I should tell all I know about Crane and Gillett to the U.S. marshal.” Pivoting on a heel, he turned toward the doorway.

  That was the moment Prost had been waiting for. Although a stocky man, he was exceptionally quick, as he proved by jerking his six-gun from under his pillow and leveling it in the blink of an eye. But as quick as he was, the man now known as the White Apache was faster. Prost’s thumb was just curling the hammer back when Clay Taggart whirled, his right arm a blur. Too late Prost realized Taggart had thrown the bowie knife with practiced skill. Too late Prost tried to throw himself to one side, out of harm’s way. Prost felt an intense, searing pain in his chest and fell back against the headboard. He gaped in growing shock at the hilt jutting from him and uttered a pathetic whine as rampant weakness assailed him. “No!” he said.

  “Did you really reckon you could pull one over on me?”

  Prost glanced up, saw Taggart’s icy smile of triumph, and tried one more time to cock his pistol. To his dismay, Taggart took a swift stride and plucked the Remington from his hand as easily as if taking candy from an infant.

  “Two down, ten to go,” the White Apache said.

  Tears welled up in Prost’s eyes, and his lips moved soundlessly a few times before he blubbered, “Please—” Sluggishly lifting a hand, grunting from the exertion, he snatched at Taggart. “Please!”

  “You’ll get no mercy from me,” Clay said, swatting the arm aside. “Not after what you did.” He gingerly touched the scar again. “Not any of you. Not now. Not ever.”

  “Lord, no!” Prost rasped, his body sagging against his will, sinking flat on the bed where he gasped like a fish out of water and clutched feebly at the bowie. “I don’t want to die!”

  “And you think I did?” Clay retorted. “Miles Gillett used you, used all of you, and none of you had the grit to stand up to him.” He bowed his head and balled his right hand into a tight fist. “I’ve never paid much attention to the Bible thumpers, so I have no right to be swearing by the Good Book, but I do swear that one day I’ll make Gillett beg me for mercy just like you’re doing. And when he does, I’ll laugh in his face just before I slit him open from ear to ear.”

  Rage gripped Clay, rage so overwhelming he shook from head to toe, the same rage he had nurtured since the lynching, stoking it with the memory of the event as a man stoked a fire with logs, hour after hour, day after day. There wasn’t the slightest shred of compassion in his soul for the men who had wronged him.

  Once, Clay Taggart had been a rancher like Prost. Once, Clay Taggart had been a decent man who did his best to abide by the law and keep out of trouble. Once, but not now. He had a new creed that he lived by, a creed as old as the hills, a creed that he would follow until the day he died: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He would do to others as they had done to him, and he didn’t care a lick about the consequences.

  “Damn you all to hell!” Clay said bitterly, and looked up to find his words had been wasted.

  Prost was dead.

  With a sharp wrench Clay yanked the bowie out, wiped it clean on the rancher’s nightshirt, and slipped it into its beaded sheath. Grabbing Prost’s revolver, he wedged it under the top of his breechcloth and turned to depart but halted in mid-stride on seeing a dark shape framed in the doorway. “Delgadito?” he asked in his heavily accented Apache.

  “Lickoyee-shis-inday,” said the stout warrior who entered and cast an indifferent gaze at the corpse. To Delgadito the only good white-eye was a dead white-eye, so the death of the rancher meant no more to him than would the passing of a horse or a mule. Indeed, the latter would affect him more since horse and mule flesh was a main staple of his people, and there was never enough meat to go around.

  “You took a long time,” Delgadito said, using small words so he would be understood. “I came to see if you were hurt.”

  “Thank you, partner,” Clay said, resting a hand on the warrior’s muscular shoulder. “I’m fine. Let’s skedaddle while our luck holds out.” He clapped the Apache on the back and headed from the room.

  His features inscrutable, Delgadito trailed along. Inwardly, he was amused. He knew that Taggart mistook his concern for genuine friendship, a mistake the white-eye had made many times since they first met. Yet his interest in keeping Clay alive had nothing to do with liking the man, and everything to do with his plan to regain a position of leadership among his tribe. Taggart was a means to an end for him, nothing more.

  Delgadito wondered how Clay would react if he were aware that Delgadito had been watching the whole time, ready to intervene if Clay needed help? Delgadito rarely let the white-eye out of his sight, but never revealed as much. A shrewd judge of character, the warrior was smart enough to know that keeping quiet was wiser, given Clay’s temperament.

  What strange man, this white-eye! Delgadito marveled. So full of hatred for those who had wronged him, yet so unwilling to kill them outright with a single stroke or gunshot while they slept. Twice now, Delgadito had seen Taggart rub out his enemies, and each time Taggart had seemed more intent on talking them to death than on stabbing or shooting them.

  Endlessly spouting empty words was the one trait all whites appeared to have in common. They reminded Delgadito of chipmunks with their constant chatter. It never failed to amaze him that such weaklings had been able to defeat his once proud people and drive the Shis-Inday onto th
e Chiricahua Reservation.

  Delgadito stopped abruptly. Clay had veered to one side and was taking rifles off of pegs that were imbedded in the wall.

  “Here. Take a couple,” Clay said in English.

  “We need bullets too,” Delgadito answered in the same language, slurring the alien words. Since the first step in overthrowing enemies was understanding them, he had been working hard to master the outlandish tongue. Seldom did a day go by when he didn’t find out something new about the strange Americanos. More importantly, he was learning their various weaknesses, weaknesses he would one day exploit to liberate the Shis-Inday.

  Nothing mattered more to Delgadito than throwing off the bitter yoke of the arrogant whites. Every time he visited the reservation, every time he saw his people groveling for the paltry scraps of food and cheap clothing handed out in the name of the Great Chief in Was-i-tona, he could barely restrain himself from grabbing a weapon and running amok among the soldiers and reservation workers.

  Who could have foreseen such a horrible fate for the once mighty Apaches? Reduced to the status of slaves! Delgadito thought, and then he had second thoughts. No, not slaves, not in the sense the whites had once enslaved the blacks. More like animals. Delgadito had heard whites speak of his people as inferior to their own kind. “Little better than dogs,” one trooper had put it. Well, the white-eyes would do well to remember that sometimes dogs bit the hands that fed them, and if provoked, might attack their masters.

  Delgadito turned as Taggart stepped to a cabinet in a corner and rummaged inside. Three boxes of ammunition were found for the two Winchesters and the shotgun Delgadito held.

  “This looks like all there is,” Clay said, holding the boxes in the crook of his arm as he hurried to the front door.

  Outside Cuchillo Negro waited. The name meant black knife, a name he had earned when he slew a Nakai-yes in hand-to-hand combat with the man’s own knife, a finely crafted blade sporting a large black hilt. He was never without his prized trophy, and he knew how to wield it skillfully, so skillfully he was rated as the best knife fighter in the Chiricahua tribe. Now he looked at Clay, saw the ammunition, and grunted in approval. “We go?” he whispered.