Cougar's Prey (9781101544846) Read Free Page B

fire.
    â€œYou better tell me what you’re doing here, Ranger, or you’re a dead man.”

CHAPTER 2

    December 1874
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    Josiah sat alone in a room on the second floor of the state capitol building. There were three empty chairs sitting behind a simple table void of any papers, pens, or anything that might look official. The room smelled musty, like it had been locked up for a long time, and there was a slight chill in the air; a draft circled around his ankles like a set of invisible shackles had appeared out of nowhere to hold him in place. Beyond the temperature of the air, Josiah barely felt anything. He was numb from the inside out.
    On the other side of the table, a single-pane window looked out over Capitol Square, then south, down Congress Avenue. The Old Stone Capitol building stood at the end of the avenue, a three-storey Greek Revival building that was less than grand but would have to suffice, considering the budget constraints put on the state by the Panic of ’73. Everyone was having to make do, including the Rangers, and all of the government agencies, because of the nationwide financial collapse.
    The avenue was lined with buildings, mostly two-storey but some, including the hotels, were three storeys. It was a clear, sunny day, and daily life was progressing at a normal pace. Wagons were coming and going. A stagecoach sat waiting in front of the old Bullock Hotel, just arriving from Brastop. So far, the winter season had been reasonably dry. Horses kicked up dust on the road as they came and went, even at a slow pace. The sounds of activity were audible but slight. Even though it was midday, a piano banged distantly from a nearby saloon, the sound muffled but unmistakable.
    Josiah was wearing his best set of clothes, the ones he reserved for funerals and other important matters. The last time he’d worn them was not so long ago, to a fine dinner that he had been invited to at the Fikes estate. It was the night Pete Feders asked Pearl to marry him in front of every important man and woman in Austin, and she had declined. It was also the night that Feders relieved Josiah of duty with the Frontier Battalion, reassigning him to Captain Leander McNelly’s company of Special Rangers. That night was hard to forget, indelibly imprinted in Josiah’s mind, as a night of tragedy and pure happiness, as he ended up spending the night making love to Pearl Fikes in the barn. The beginning of the end. Days later, Josiah faced Pete Feders, a gun in his hand, and surprise and regret in his heart. He shot and killed his captain, who had joined up with an outlaw to start a cattle rustling operation.
    Now he had to suffer the consequences of his own actions—answer for them in a way that he’d never thought he would. Though during the many sleepless nights of late, even he had questioned if his response had been of pure intention. His own motivations were a mystery even to himself, other than to stay alive—for his son, for himself, and whatever the future held. At that point, he thought he actually had a future for the first time in a long, long time. But he couldn’t be sure if the future was all he had been protecting. It was not the first time Josiah had ever killed a man, but it was the first time he ever had reason to question whether he was a cold-blooded killer or not. His feelings for Pearl Fikes were confusing everything in his life.
    Footsteps approached down the long corridor. They echoed, causing Josiah to stiffen in anticipation.
    The room he was sequestered in was at the very end of the hall.
    At first, the steps were distant, but they grew closer at a quick pace, like thunder rolling toward him, announcing the coming of a storm of undetermined severity.
    The doorknob turned. Josiah stood up and turned to face those who entered the room.
    Captain Leander McNelly looked away from Josiah and pushed by him with an air of discontent.
    McNelly was a thin, bony man, with a