Dan was wide-awake now. "He's got more blood-suckin' friends than a dog has fleas. What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure yet," Longarm admitted. "I think that the first thing I need to do is to get you out of danger."

"h.e.l.l, I'm not afraid to die! I'm old and shot up already. It's you that needs a hiding place."

"I'm not in the habit of hiding," Longarm said stiffly. "Never have been."

"Then this should be a first," Dan argued. "Can't you wire your federal friends for some help?"

"I could," Longarm said, "but no one would get here before the shooting was over. That being the case, whatever will happen will happen. It's up to me."

"I'll help."

Longarm smiled. "What about your a aversion to taking another human being's life?"

Dan closed his eyes for a moment, then said, "I was being self-righteous and trying to make up for some past mistakes. I don't think that the Lord will condemn any man for trying to save his own hide."

"Neither do I," Longarm agreed. "And as for finding a room or-"

Longarm's words were interrupted by a faint knock on his door. He turned and shouted, "Go away!"

"It's me, Victoria Hathaway. Please let me come inside."

Longarm hurried over to open the door, and the woman immediately threw her arms around his neck and hugged him very tightly. "I heard about last night, Custis! I was so upset and worried for you."

"What about me?" Dan asked from his bed.

Longarm disengaged from the lovely woman. "Victoria, this is my friend, Preacher Dan. He and I have been through quite a lot in the last few weeks."

"I can see that you have," Victoria said, pretty eyes shifting back and forth between them. "Custis, you've lost ten or fifteen pounds."

"I suppose so."

"And you're both wounded."

"Just scratches," Longarm a.s.sured her. "But we've also been evicted, and I was just about to tell Dan to keep his eye on things while I went looking around for another place for us to stay while we sort things out and try to lick our wounds."

"I have just the place in mind," Victoria said. "That's part of the reason I came here."

"You do?"

"Yes. I'm staying with a friend and a"

"That won't work," Longarm said quickly. "If Hank Ba.s.s gathers more men and comes hunting for me, that would be one of the very first places he'd come. You and your friend could be shot by accident. I can't take that chance."

"Would you please allow me to finish?"

"All right."

"As I told you on the train, I have investments in this part of the country and one of them is a mining shack about ten miles northwest of town. There's water and a mine that has run out of gold, but not before I recouped my investment five-fold. It would be a perfect hideout for us."

"What do you mean, *us?'"

"I mean that I won't just sit back and allow you to face Hank Ba.s.s alone. I would insist on being with YOU."

"Not a chance!" Longarm exclaimed. "Forget that idea. I'll find a hiding place in Wickenburg."

"No you won't," Victoria told him. "Everyone in town is scared to death of Hank Ba.s.s. No matter that you have killed most of his gang. They're still afraid and know that, given his reputation and the smell of Spanish gold, outlaws will flock to his side."

Longarm frowned. "You paint a very grim picture."

"Hank Ba.s.s and his gang shot my fiance to death. Never mind that I wasn't very much in love with hima"he still didn't deserve to die."

"No, he did not."

"And then a" Victoria said, her voice catching with emotion and tears filling her pretty eyes, "they raped me as if I were some a"

"Stop it," Longarm said, pulling the woman to his chest and squeezing her tight. "What happened can't be changed, but what matters is that you know that you have nothing to be ashamed about. Nothing at all."

"I know," Victoria choked, "but it would help if Ba.s.s were dead."

"Maybe it would also help you to know that Dan and I managed to gun down his gang. The ones that violated you, Victoria."

"You did?"

"Yes." Longarm tipped her head back and used his thumb to wipe away her tears. "There's only Ba.s.s left to pay for what happened. And I swear that I'll kill him. There will be no arrest."

Victoria kissed Longarm's mouth. Kissed him hard and with great pa.s.sion. When she pulled back, she whispered, "That's for what you are and what you said you'll do."

"Heavens to Betsy!" Dan exclaimed from his bed. "Can I get kissed like that too?"

"No," Longarm said with a smile. "You're too old and you're a preacher, remember?"

"Bible says nothing against getting kissed."

"Shut up," Longarm told the old man without any heat in his voice.

"My prospector's shack," Victoria said, "will be perfect, and you do need a sanctuary."

Longarm's smile faded. "I just can't allow you to come there with us, Victoria. I'm going to have enough to worry about taking care of my own problems. Can't you understand that?"

"Yes, I can."

"Then you agree?"

"All right. Whatever you say."

Longarm hugged her tightly. "Good! Now all we have to do is figure out how to get to your claim without being seen by anyonea"no easy task."

"You'll have to sneak out through the back alley," Victoria said. "And maybe a diversion would help."

"What kind of a diversion?"

"I don't know. How about a fire?"

"Are you serious?" Longarm knew that fires could sweep through a clapboard town like Wickenburg in minutes. They were the scourge of all frontier settlements.

"My friend has an old barn that sits alone in the back of her yard. We could set it on fire. It wouldn't pose much of a threat to anything nearby, but the volunteer fire department would come running and so would everyone else."

"That would be perfect!"

"All right then," Victoria said. "I'll draw you a map to that mining shack and then set the fire."

"Set it at high noon," Longarm told her. "We're going to need a little time to get things ready to leave."

Victoria nodded, then she dragged a pencil and paper from her pockets and proceeded to draw Longarm a map that would lead him to her hidden mining shack in the mountains.

"Any chance you could get us a buckboard and canvas to cover Dan when we leave?" Longarm asked. "He's not up to riding a horse and-"

"Sure I am!"

"No, you're not," Longarm countered. "And a travois would leave tracks that even a half-blind man could follow."

"How about a carriage and two-horse team?" Victoria asked. "Would that be all right?"

"It would be just fine."

She sighed. "Then that is the first thing that my friend and I will do."

"Tell Mrs. Ann Reed that I'll never be able to thank her enough."

"Me neither," Dan said.

"How did you know my friend's name?"

"The desk clerk told me last night when we came in. I was going to pay you a quick visit once things settled down and I had taken care of our horses."

"Ann is a saint and I've told her all about you," Victoria said. "She also hates Hank Ba.s.s. He is the reason that she is a widow."

Longarm nodded with understanding. "It sounds to me like Ba.s.s has made a lot of widows in this part of Arizona."

"He's made his last," Victoria said with a firm set of her jaw. "And, Custis, if he kills you before you can kill him, I'll find a way to settle the score. I swear it!"

Longarm believed her. There was a lot of hatred and pain in Victoria, but also a lot of courage and determination. It was clear from the look on her pretty face and the tone of her voice that she was not bluffing.

Victoria kissed Longarm good-bye and then, because Dan looked so envious, she leaned over and gave him a nice kiss on the forehead and said, "You both watch out for each other."

"We will," Dan promised.

After Longarm was sure that he understood her map, Victoria hugged him again and then she hurried away. Longarm stood beside his window and watched her cross the street. She was even more beautiful than she was daring and courageous, and that was really saying something.

"You are a lucky dog," Dan said. "I never in all my life had a woman that pretty kiss me like she kissed YOU."

Longarm shrugged.

"If I had, I'd have married her," Dan said.

"She was engaged to be married."

"She's not anymore," Dan said. "But she won't last long out in this part of the country. You can bet that every eligible bachelor in northern Arizona will want to court her."

Longarm watched Victoria disappear around a building and then he turned back to Dan, smiled, and said, "You know something, I like you better when you are asleep."

Preacher Dan cackled, then closed his eyes and did go back to sleep.

Chapter 17.

At high noon, the fire bell rang out sharply and Longarm went to his window to see everyone scattering down the main street of Wickenburg. A few blocks away, he watched a plume of black smoke billowing into the clear blue sky and knew that Victoria had kept her promise.

"It's time," he said, going over to help Dan. "Let's get out of here."

"What if someone comes in and takes that treasure chest while you're helping me down to the carriage?"

"Well," Longarm said, "if you want, you can hang on to it and I'll hang on to you and we won't have to worry about that."

"Sounds good," Dan grunted.

Longarm picked up the treasure chest filled with the Spanish gold coins. It probably weighed thirty pounds and he really wondered if Dan had the strength to hold it, but that doubt was soon erased. Dan hugged that treasure chest like a pretty woman, and they made their way out of the room and then down the back stairway to the alley.

"There it is," Longarm said, grinning. "Just as promised."

Longarm helped Dan into the carriage. "Lie down on the floor," he ordered, covering the man and the treasure chest up with a big purple blanket. "I've got to go back up to our room and get my rifle, shotgun, and a few other things that I can't afford to leave behind."

"Hurry back!"

"Don't worry," Longarm promised. "I'll be back before you know it."

Longarm returned to his room. He had already arranged everything he needed to take so that it only took a moment to gather his bags and weapons, then he hurried back to the alley, his mind racing as fast as his feet. He tried to prepare himself for anything that might go wrong while attempting to leave Wickenburg undetected.

The carriage was gone!

Longarm couldn't believe his eyes. The alley was empty. What in blazes was going on here?! He followed the tracks out into the street, still hearing the loud clanging of the fire bell. A volunteer fire company of six men pulling a water wagon careened around a corner and almost trampled Longarm. No one seemed to notice him; everyone was running toward the fire, most with buckets of sand or water. Longarm had seen this kind of panic before. Frontier towns were extremely vulnerable to being razed by infernos.