Page 90 of The Heart’s Charge

Despite her legs feeling like jelly, Katherine held her chin high as Ortega dragged her toward his campsite, where her fiery furnace awaited.

Either God would deliver her, or she would meet her end with dignity.

Or spend an hour tethered to her captor like a dog on a leash, tripping after him while he searched for the best place to do her in. A gully or shallow ravine, preferably, so the burying would already be half done.

“I suppose this spot is as good as any.” Ortega set down his lantern and turned to face her. “It’s a pretty place, don’t ya think? Got some nice prairie grass. Even a few wildflowers. There are worse places to spend eternity.”

Her eternity would not be spent here. She wanted to shout at him that glory awaited her. That her eternity would be spent with the God of heaven, singing with the angels in praise to the Lamb. But the gag kept her silent.

Ortega took hold of the rope that bound her to him and reeled her in, wrapping the hemp in a circle between his left elbow and palm. “I’ll make sure it’s quick,” he promised as he wound another coil. “You won’t feel much pain.” He unsheathed a wicked-looking hunting knife. Its blade shimmered in the lantern’s glow.

Katherine’s courage evaporated. She screamed through the gag and pulled against the rope. She spun and ran. Or tried to. Ortega jerked on the rope and yanked her off balance. She crashed to the ground, her bound arms useless to break her fall.

She rolled and kicked out at him, but the blow glanced off his thigh, doing nothing to halt his charge. In a blink he was on her, pinning her to the ground. His knee planted against her chest. Breathing became nearly impossible. He thrust her chin up, exposing her throat.

Tears streamed down her face. Prayers cried from her soul.

The knife lifted.

A yell suddenly echoed from the night. The knife paused its downward slice. A dark figure rushed forward and smashed Ortega across the shoulders. The blow would have collided with his skull if the man hadn’t lurched up at the last second.

Her rescuer reared back for a second blow, his face close enough to see.

Abner! Dear God in heaven. The boy was no match for this man. Ortega blocked the second blow and knocked the metal rod out of Abner’s hands. The boy backed away. Ortega advanced. Katherine screamed through her gag, praying for Abner to run, then pushed to her feet and launched herself at Ortega’s knees. He cursed and fell forward, the knife falling from his grip. A heartbeat later, his gun cleared its holster. The barrel pointed at her head.

Crack!

Katherine flinched. But it was Ortega who fell to the ground. Dead.

Abner ran to her and buried his face in her side. She wrapped her body around him as well as she could, sheltering him from the gruesome sight of death.

Then came the sound of hoofbeats. Of her name being called. And the sight of a Horseman, rifle splayed across his lap. His stiff motions lacked their usual grace as he dismounted, but his steps were sure when he hurried forward.

Jonah Brooks. The Lord’s deliverance.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-EIGHT

Jonah swallowed the bile that rose in his throat as he strode past Ortega’s body. He hadn’t killed a man since Wounded Knee. Had prayed never to have cause to do so again. But anything less than a kill shot would have left Katherine and Abner vulnerable. The weight of a life taken justly would be easier to bear than the weight of two innocents lost when he’d had the power to protect them.

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. The Horsemen had adopted the verses from Psalm 82 as their creed when they left the Army, vowing to preserve life whenever possible. Yet when Ortega had gotten a bead on Katherine, Jonah hadn’t hesitated. There’d been only one way to rid her and the boy from the wickedness that threatened them, and Jonah thanked God his aim had been true.

Still, no woman or child should see such violence and death up close. Jonah placed himself between Ortega and Katherine. Going down on one knee, he gently tugged the gag down over her chin, leaving it to dangle at her throat.

“Are you all right?”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Y-yes. I th-think so.”

Jonah gave her a quick scan, then frowned at her bound arms. It looked like apron strings wrapped around her wrists. He slipped his knife from its sheath and met her eyes. “I’m gonna cut you free. Hold still.”

She nodded.

Standing up, he bent over her shoulder and slid his blade between her wrists. One good slice, and she was free. He barely had time to sheath his knife and hunker back down before she snatched him around the neck and squeezed the breath out of him.

“Thank you, Jonah. Thank you.”

Her body shook as if she were crying, but no sound emerged. Probably trying not to alarm Abner. The poor kid had been through enough already. Taking on a grown man. Nearly being killed. Then seeing the villain shot down right in front of him. The kid could do with some sheltering.