‘It’s Thursday today,’ she said on the evening of their arrival. ‘We’ll lay up here until Saturday and then Ina, Tawny, Belle and Winnie’ll go with me to the ranch house.’

  ‘There’s been nobody up this way for a few days,’ Calamity remarked. ‘I’m getting sick of hard-tack and beans. So tomorrow I’ll take Winnie and Sadie out to see if I can get us some deer meat.’

  ‘Sadie and Dora,’ corrected Anna. ‘I need Winnie here to make sure I know everything about the house.’

  ‘You’re the boss,’ Calamity said amiably, despite her disappointment at not managing to have her friends with her. ‘I’ll take my carbine and Colt, though.’

  ‘Sure, Belle,’ Anna agreed and Tawny let out a disapproving sniff but said nothing.

  On waking late the following morning, the remainder of the party found Tawny had already left the cabin. Mitzi offered an explanation, claiming that Tawny said she intended to go hunting and show that red headed cow how it should be done. Knowing that Tawny always handled the outfit’s hunting, and was still smarting under her defeat at ‘Belle Starr’s’ hands, Anna saw nothing to feel concerned about in the disappearance.

  Although she wore her gunbelt, with the loaded and capped Colt holstered in it, and carried the carbine, Calamity had not been able to produce a weapon for Belle. Claiming that the blonde did not need a gun for her part, Anna refused to return Belle’s Manhattan Navy revolver or loan her one of the Bad Bunch’s arms. Rather than create suspicion, Calamity did not press the point and cheerfully agreed that, as Dora carried a rifle, they only needed ‘Sadie’ along to do the heavy toting.

  The line cabin had been built in the days before Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid helped persuade the Comanches to make peace and move on to a reservation. xv It sat in a small valley, a refuge hidden from view by sloping, bush-dotted folds of land. On two occasions members of the OD Connected crew hid there undetected while Indian raiding parties went by. Looking back as she rode away, Calamity realized that the place would strike any owlhoot planning such a robbery as an ideal base for the raid.

  Apart from Tawny none of the girls rose early and the time passed noon before Calamity’s party took to their horses. Nor did they find their quarry for almost two hours. At last, however, Calamity’s carbine tumbled over a whitetail buck incautious enough to let her come within fifty yards before deciding to run. While gathering about the

  body to start butchering it, the girls heard the sound of approaching hooves. Turning, they saw a small, beautiful, black-haired girl dressed in a shirt-waist and Levis pants riding towards them on a good-quality roan horse.

  ‘That’s Betty Hardin!’ Dora hissed. ‘I’ve heard Winnie describe her.’

  Calamity and Belle exchanged glances. One of the things Belle Boyd told them was that she arranged to steer the Bad Bunch to the line cabin, using the county fair and chance to rob Ole Devil’s home as bait. Although there had been no sign of it, the floating outfit probably kept the cabin under observation after Belle left San Antone with Mitzi. From what both Belle Starr and Calamity knew of Betty Hardin, they did not doubt that she insisted on taking her full share of the watching. By sheer bad luck, she appeared to be alone and continued to ride in the trio’s direction.

  Give Betty credit, she did not ride up full of arrogant assumption that nobody dare interfere with Ole Devil’s granddaughter. When she saw the girls, her first inclination had been to hide, make sure they hid out at the line cabin and then head for the ranch house as fast as her horse could run. Not until she recognized Belle Starr and Calamity, from photographs in Mark’s possession, did she offer to let herself be seen. While not sure how the two girls came to be involved, Betty knew them to be allies and hoped to learn of Belle Boyd’s fate.

  Her arrival handed Calamity and Belle one hell of a problem: deciding how they should act. Having heard from the floating outfit of Betty’s special talents, Belle decided that the Texan girl might bring the odds down to where a chance of taking the Bad Bunch would be worth taking.

  ‘Let’s grab her!’ Belle hissed. ‘I bet the boss’ll find some use for her.’

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Dora. ‘I reckon Anna’ll be real pleased when she sees that we’ve brought in a prime hostage.’

  Which comment only went to prove that Dora was a lousy prophetess.

  Acting just as if the kidnapping were real, Calamity and Belle covered and searched a suitably-behaving Betty. Then they loaded the deer on to Calamity’s buckskin and started back to the line cabin by a roundabout route. The sun hung down in the western sky as they rode up to the cabin. To one side stood Tawny’s horse, lathered and showing signs of hard use. As usual Anna kept her mount saddled and ready to ride close to the building. Ordering her two companions to off-load the deer, Calamity told Betty to dismount and not try anything. Already the other women emerged from the cabin and approached, with Tawny hanging behind them. ‘Where’re the boys?’ Calamity whispered to Betty.

  ‘They had to go into town to help Uncle Hondo handle some trouble. It looks like we’ll have to take them, Calam.’

  ‘Who’s she?’ demanded Anna, ignoring the two girls as they dumped the deer on the ground. ‘What took you so long?’

  ‘She’s Ole Devil’s granddaughter, no less,’ Calamity replied. ‘And she’s what took us so long.’

  ‘You mean to say that you brought her here!’ Anna shouted.

  ‘She found us just after we dropped the buck,’ Calamity snapped back. ‘We should maybe have shot her and left her there to be found?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because I figured she’d be worth less dead than alive.’

  ‘Mitzi, Carrie, grab hold of that gal and haul her up to the cabin,’ Anna ordered. ‘Tromp her some if she gives you any fuss.’

  While Betty might have given considerable fuss, she meekly submitted to having one girl take a double-handed hold of each wrist. However Mitzi and Carrie did not obey immediately. Sensing a dramatic development, they contented themselves with holding Betty’s arms and waited to learn what happened next.

  ‘I reckon Ole Devil’ll pay well to get her back,’ Calamity told Anna. ‘And she’ll make a jim-dandy hostage happen anybody finds us.’

  ‘They’ll be looking for her,’ Anna pointed out.

  ‘I can’t see what you’re worrying about, boss,’ Belle Boyd put in. ‘With Dusty Fog and Mark Counter dead, that outfit’s nothing.’

  ‘Then it’s something again,’ Tawny put in, stepping to one side of the others and lining her Bulldog at Calamity. ‘She gone loco, Anna?’ demanded Calamity.

  ‘What’s up, Tawny?’ Anna barked. ‘You’ve not said two words since you came back here.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking instead of talking!’ Tawny hissed, never moving the revolver’s barrel out of line. ‘Thinking

  about these three here. How it was mighty strange that all of a sudden they’d decide they wanted to join up with us.’

  ‘We told you why,’ Calamity said. ‘Only you wasn’t listening too good that day.’ Her eyes went to Anna. ‘The licking I gave her must’ve shook what passes for brains up, boss.’

  ‘I went into Polveroso today,’ Tawny said, the words dripping out as if each carried a load of poison. ‘It’s a mighty interesting place for seeing ghosts.’

  Calamity watched the other all the time she spoke and stayed very still. Maybe she could handle a gun better than Tawny, but not to the extent of getting her Colt clear and throwing lead against the other’s advantage. Given only a moment of inattention, the red head figured to make her move; but Tawny watched her all the time.

  ‘How do you mean, ghosts?’ asked Anna.

  ‘Either that—or Mark Counter’s alive.’

  ‘Ali—’ began the boss of the Bad Bunch, emotions playing on her face.

  ‘That’s right!’ Tawny screeched. ‘He’s alive. I saw him in Polvero—’

  At which point Betty, guessing from the first mention of Polveroso what Tawny must have seen, made her move. The girls holding her stood staring at Tawny but not releasing their grips. Allowing the hold on her arms to maintain her balance, Betty shifted her weight on to the left leg and bent it slightly. Up rose her right foot and shot sideways at Mitzi. Betty wore riding boots and the hard edge of the sole collided with the front of Mitzi’s shin then slid down the thinly-covered bone. Even as Mitzi screeched in pain and released her hold, Betty began to pivot towards Carrie. Moving at speed, Betty whipped her freed arm across. Held for the hira-nukite of karate, Betty’s fingers drove straight into Carrie’s left breast. A cry of pain broke from the bigger girl and she too lost her hold. Before Betty could make a move to help her friends, Mitzi, tears pouring down plump cheeks and face twisted in mingled pain and fury, stopped clutching the kicked shin, plunged forward to tackle the little Texan around the waist and brought her down.

  Hearing Mitzi, Tawny could not prevent herself glancing around and in doing so her Bulldog wavered slightly. Calamity needed no more. It was not a chance one wanted to take but the red head figured she had nothing to lose under the circumstances. As Tawny held the gun in her right hand, Calamity dived to the left and grabbed for the Colt as she went.

  At the red head’s first move, Tawny jerked her eyes away from Betty’s captors and squeezed the Bulldog’s trigger. Calamity felt as if somebody had pressed a hot iron against her side, knew she had been nicked by the bullet but did not panic. Out came the Colt in a move well-practiced but never before used against another human being. For all that Calamity did not hesitate. On landing upon the grass, she pressed the Colt’s trigger and released the hammer. Powder smoke momentarily blurred Calamity’s vision, yet she saw enough through it. Tawny jerked, a hole appearing in her chest just over the V of the shirt’s neck. Shocked pain twisted her face, her hand fell to her side and the Bulldog dropped from limp fingers. She followed it to the ground.

  ‘Get them!’ Anna screamed.

  Letting out a low hiss of suppressed excitement, Ina flicked out her knife. Much as Belle Starr wanted to deal with the girl who knifed Mark Counter, she had no chance to do so. Being the closest of the law’s side to Anna, Belle knew she must be the one to tackle the big woman, a task she did not relish but tried to begin. Even as Belle started towards the big woman and saw the Remington Double Derringer slide from its sleeve holster, Dora attacked her from the side. Two arms locked around Belle’s waist and the weight of Dora’s body bore her to the ground. After which Dora rapidly wished that she had not made the move. On their first meeting Belle fought Calamity Jane until they both collapsed exhausted and had lost none of her skill. Not that Belle had things all her own way, Dora being a tough girl in her own right and well-versed in such matters.

  ‘Ina!’ Belle Boyd shouted as the blonde started towards where Calamity, left hand pressed to her bleeding side, tried to rise.

  Hearing Belle’s voice, Ina swung around. One quick look warned Belle of the danger she faced. Ina came in with deadly precision, body crouching slightly on flexed knees so as to give her security and extreme mobility. Close to her body, handle held diagonally across the palm of her right hand, the knife slanted towards Belle. At the same time Ina kept her left hand extended for balance and to distract the other girl with sudden movement, grabs and gestures. That stance offered the best protection against an attacker armed also with a knife, served as a guard should the other try to use a club or chair and put an unarmed opponent in an exceedingly dangerous position.

  If possible, the expression on Ina’s face made things far worse. The wild almost ecstatic play of emotions on the angelic face, eyes glinting with anticipation, made Belle realize what she had suspected all the time: Ina was mentally deranged and found pleasure in killing. Facing an efficient armed girl would be bad enough, but a mad-woman with such ability—

  The knife made a flickering arc towards Belle’s stomach. Forcing her fears down, she danced aside and kicked, her foot driving into the blonde’s thigh. For the first time Ina received physical pain; the other members of the Bad Bunch never dared pick a quarrel with her. A screech almost animal in its tone burst from her and she brought back the knife. Once more Belle moved, yet almost too late, so fast did the blonde strike. Cloth ripped as the knife’s clipped point cut through Belle’s shirt and made a shallow gash across her torso just under the bust. Belle felt a stinging sensation, knew that she had been nicked if nothing worse, caught her balance and made a high kick which caught Ina under the jaw. If that kick had landed with full strength, it might have broken the blonde’s jaw and certainly would put her down. At extreme range, the kick only arrived hard enough to hurt. It made Ina reel back without causing her to drop the knife.

  Once more Ina screamed and her face distorted in hideous rage. Forgetting caution, though not losing her deadly stance, she attacked again. Belle leapt aside and the force of Ina’s rush carried her by. Snapping a kick to the back of Ina’s knee, Belle destroyed her balance. Like a flash Belle kicked again, her foot driving into Ina’s back with all the force she could manage. Ina screamed and shot forward, her impetus and the second kick hurling her towards where the whitetail buck lay on the ground. Its neck had twisted when the girls laid it down and jaw rested upon the grass while its hat-rack head of horns stood erect. Too late Ina saw her danger, if she recognized it in her state of crazed fury. Completely off balance, she fell forward on to the buck’s compact, powerful antlers. A scream broke from her as the rising tines bit into her flesh.

  During her life Belle Boyd had seen gruesome sights, but none so hideous as the small, beautiful girl draped, impaled through stomach and breast, on the antlers of the dead buck. Forgetting her own injury, Belle ran forward to try to save Ina. One glance told Belle that she came too late.

  Anna Gould stood for once in the throes of indecision, unable to select the most dangerous of her enemies. Already Tawny lay dead or dying and, even as Anna watched, Ina plunged to her fate.

  ‘Turn round, Anna!’ Calamity yelled, ignoring the pain in her side and kneeling up ready to shoot.

  At the sound Anna reached her decision. Realizing that she had been tricked, she saw with terrible clarity the full danger of her position. Most likely men were already coming and she guessed that they would have little respect for her sex, knowing her to be the boss of the Bad Bunch. So she must escape. Of all her band only Tawny and Ina meant anything to her, and they because of the talents she trained into them. Neither were of any further use and the other three did not count.

  The reign of the Bad Bunch had come to an end. No longer would they have a cloak of anonymity to shield them in their activities. Once word got around, and every peace officer had been given her description, entering even a town crowded with strangers could only be done with the greatest risk. That did not matter greatly. The loot from their various jobs, even after deductions for the rest of the gang, had been stashed away safely and ought to keep her in comfort back East for the rest of her life. So she deserted the remainder of her gang, relying on them to hold the attention of the young women who tricked her.

  Bringing up her Colt, Calamity squeezed off a shot and missed. She tried to rise fast, gasped in pain and sank down again. Before she could regain control of herself, she saw Anna disappear around the side of the cabin and remembered the waiting horse. Unless something could be done, Anna Gould might yet escape. Gritting her teeth, Calamity dragged herself erect and started towards the cabin.

  As she came into sight of her horse, Anna saw a shape appear through the cranberry bushes some twenty yards away. A small man in cowhand’s clothes, but to Anna he seemed to tower like an avenging giant.

  ‘You!’ she screamed, skidding to a halt and firing the Derringer.

  On reaching Polveroso City, Dusty learned that his father had the trouble—a quartet of young outlaws holed-up in a small cabin after rashly attempting to rob a saloon—well in hand. There being work to do at the ranch, he left his two friends to enjoy the final day of the county fair and returned to the OD Connected. Hearing that Betty rode out, Dusty guessed at her destination. He waited only long enough to throw a saddle on a fresh mount before starting after the girl. Although Dusty did not claim to be in the Kid’s class as a reader of tracks, he saw enough to tell him of Betty’s ‘abduction’. From the lack of sign, Dusty concluded that his cousin went quietly with her captors. That hinted she knew at least one of the female trio. Saying a number of uncomplimentary things about Betty’s impulsive nature, Dusty headed for the line cabin. On arrival, he left his horse some distance back and moved in on foot. Hearing the start of the fighting, he dashed forward and came into sight of the saddled horse by the cabin. Even as he remembered ‘Hannah’s’ habit of keeping a horse saddled ready for escape, the woman appeared.

  Dusty missed death by inches as the Derringer’s bullet cut the air by his head. Instantly and instinctively his hands crossed, flickering almost faster than the eye could follow as they reached for, gripped and drew the white-handled Colts. Three-quarters of a second did not give Dusty time to think of Anna’s sex, or allow considerations of her being a woman to slow his hand. He knew she meant to kill him if she could, and had brought death to many people during her career of crime; yet he might even then have hesitated, given time to think. Instead he drew and fired in a bare three-quarters of a second, ripping two .44 bullets into Anna’s head as she cocked the Derringer for a second shot.

  With shocking impact Dusty realized that he had shot a woman. Before the feeling could take fully hold, he again heard the sounds of the fighting in front of the cabin and knew he must make some move. In passing, he glanced down at the body sprawled on the ground. One bullet had torn through her left eye, the other made its hole just over the right, while the ground beneath the body turned red as blood gashed from the shattered base of the skull.

  Feeling ready to fetch up, Dusty went by the body. At first he meant to go help Betty as she held Mitzi’s neck trapped between her legs and applied a strangle-hold which rapidly ended Carrie’s inclination to fight. Seeing Calamity’s wound, Dusty went towards her, but the red head waved him by.

 

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