Page 41 of God’s Country

I looked at Stan. “Care to give it a try?”

Stan shot me a sour look, then eyed Leticia. “We let your father go, you’ll make that climb?”

“I can do it blindfolded,” she replied.

Stan rubbed his temple and squeezed his eyes nearly shut, as if he was having a tension headache. He sighed deeply, opened his eyes, and said, “All right. Your dad goes free.”

CHAPTER 25

Tucker Jackson hadn’t moved. He still looked in bad shape, and there was a cloud of blackflies buzzing all around him and around the bloody piece of pant leg I’d cut away from his wound. But his relief at seeing his daughter was obvious.

“Hey, Daddy. They’re letting you go,” Leticia said as she knelt beside him.

“I don’t understand.” He looked from his daughter to me.

“The deal she struck,” I explained. “She’ll get them what they want up that cliff face, but only if they let you go first.”

He eyed the Kennedy brothers. “I’m not leaving my daughter.”

“You’ve got no choice, buddy,” Ollie said, still pressing his hand to the bloody scrape he’d got when he tried to scale Devil’s Bottom.

“A man’s always got a choice,” Tucker said.

“Choose wisely,” Stan advised, sounding a little like Yoda.

“Tell you what,” Ollie said. “Why don’t I have a little fun with your girl while you take your time in deciding.”

He reached out, grabbed Leticia, and yanked her to her feet. Then he drew her roughly to him and, as she fought him, mashed his lips to hers.

Tucker tried to get up, but his wounded leg failed him. Instead, I pulled Leticia away and did something I’d been wanting to do all that day. I threw my fist as hard as I could into Ollie’s fat face. He stumbled backward, tripped, and went down. His brother stepped in, the barrel of the Glock aimed at my chest.

“Get back,” he ordered.

I did but kept myself between the brothers and Leticia.

“I’m gonna kill you,” Ollie snarled, struggling to his feet.

“No, you’re not,” Stan said.

“The hell I’m not.”

Ollie started for me. Then, to my great surprise, Stan turned the gun on him, and spit out, “Cool it, goddamn it, or I swear I’ll…”

He didn’t finish, but it was enough to stop Ollie in his tracks.

Stan turned his attention to Tucker. “I give you my word no harm’ll come to your daughter if she helps us.”

“Your word? Like that means anything.”

“Or,” Stan said, “I can just shoot you all, and my brother and I will figure some other way to get what we’re after. Now I’ve given you a choice.”

“Do what they say,” I urged Tucker. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

He gave his head a faint shake. I couldn’t tell whether he didn’t believe me or was simply seeing the dead end we were at.

“You harm my daughter, I’ll hunt you down, I swear to God I will.” His voice was pure animal menace.

“She keeps her part of the bargain, she’s got nothing to worry about,” Stan said.