No Rescue for the Traitor – Preview

Chapter One

West Oak, California, 1889

“Who wouldn’t want to be mayor?”

Benedict stifled a groan as he looked up from the leg of mutton he had just finished chopping up on the wooden block. He offered his customary smile to the man nagging him, the one he always used whenever he was asked this question.

“Mayor Tindall, I hardly said I didn’t want the job—”

“You as good as did!” the mayor said, flicking his head back round so fast that the white hair bound in his ponytail practically whipped him in the cheek. Benedict began wrapping up the meat in fresh paper, to be bound with twine.

“It’s just that I don’t know what I want. Not yet.” Benedict shrugged, tying the twine. “This is my life right now.” He gestured to the butcher shop around him. “I like it. Very much.”

That was an understatement. He was incredibly happy with his life. Everything was in place—from this large butcher shop with big timber beams above their heads and counters upon counters of the finest meat in town, to the great line of people leading out of the door, mostly made up of women. He lived above the butcher shop with his partner in the business, Curley.

They were practically brothers, though there was no such blood bond, and Benedict knew he could never abandon Curley to shoulder the business alone. Curley may be a fine friend, but he didn’t have the best business head on his shoulders. He tried to pull his weight, yet if Benedict were to ever leave, he knew well enough that Curley wouldn’t be able to manage the business alone.

“Benedict, listen to me.” Mayor Tindall leaned over the counter, whispering conspiratorially.

Benedict leaned in, too, reluctant to have anyone else in his shop listening in to the private conversation. Enough people gossiped about whether he would put his name forward to be the next mayor. The last thing he needed was this conversation going around town.

“I’m too old for this position anymore.” The lines in the mayor’s face betrayed the truth of this statement. “I’ve done my time, and these aching bones can’t face this job for much longer. West Oak needs someone young with new ideas. I know that. If even I can see it, then I don’t doubt you can see it, too.”

Benedict passed the mutton into Mayor Tindall’s hands.

“That doesn’t mean I’m the man for the job,” Benedict said and moved away, turning to calculate the cost of the order of meat.

“Right, and the number of times I’ve heard you complaining about the gang-related incidents in this town mean nothing, do they?” Mayor Tindall hooked the meat package under his arm and adjusted the black bolo tie around his neck. Benedict flinched, pausing in his work and looking back up to the mayor. “Given the opportunity, wouldn’t you want to do something about it?”

Benedict turned away, shaking the dark hair out of his eyes as he bought a few seconds to think of an argument to put up to this particular point. It was true, he was tired of gangs encroaching on West Oak these last few years. They not only jeopardized his happy life, but the entire town’s prospects, too.

“Don’t you have other people who want the job?” Benedict said with some desperation as he turned back to the mayor. Beyond the window, he could see the line was growing ridiculously long. All the ladies lined up against the window were trying to wave at him and catch his eye. He looked away and fixed his gaze on the mayor instead.

“Plenty,” he agreed. “But none so well respected as you are.”

“Hmm.” Benedict held his hand out for the money.

“And none so well suited, either. You have a good head on your shoulders, and that’s more than can be said for many a man I’ve seen say they want the job.” Mayor Tindall handed over the cash. “If you put your name forward, I would endorse you to all my supporters. With that, you’re bound to be elected.”

“Mayor Tindall—” Before Benedict could put up another objection, he was interrupted.

“Come on, lad, I don’t want all my hard work these last fifteen years to go to waste. When I leave this post, I want to see it go to someone good. Please.”

“Pleading with me won’t make a difference,” Benedict sighed and gestured to his customers. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a long line of customers to attend to.”

“So I see,” the mayor chuckled, looking over his shoulder. “Around ninety percent of your customers are women, have you noticed that?”

“No,” Benedict lied, offering a satisfied smirk that only made the mayor laugh harder.

“You’ll make one of them very happy someday when you eventually pick one.” The mayor sighed and stepped back, making an appearance of readying to leave the shop. “Or do you not intend to pick one?”

Benedict opened his mouth to reply but no words came out—he was distracted by the ladies in the line. Some were fussing with their hair, others with their dresses, while others just tried to bat their eyelashes at him.

He knew well enough he was a favorite in town. His Spanish heritage had given him black hair, tanned skin, and sharp features that seemed to have made him popular. Yet as he looked around the women, not one of them took his liking.

“A bachelor’s life it is, then, eh?” Mayor Tindall said, chuckling with one last wave.

Perhaps, Benedict thought to himself with a sigh. He wanted to pick just one woman, yes, but none of these felt right.

“Just promise me you will think about what I said, Benedict, please?” the mayor called back from the doorway.

“I’ll think about it,” Benedict said with a nod as the mayor left. “Now,” he clapped his hands together, “who was next?”

About four women all put their hands up at once.

He had to stifle a groan and instead turned on a charming smile. “One at a time, please.” He pointed to one of the ladies, who shot victorious glances at the other three before hurrying up to the counter.

“Bennie, love, how are you today?”

Eleanora was her name. With long flaming-red hair, she was a town beauty who seemed to visit Benedict’s shop at least twice a week, though sometimes she made it three. He had to stop himself from recoiling at the use of the awful nickname.

“I am well. Now, what can I get for you?” he asked.

“Three rump steaks, please, and an invitation out would be nice, too.” She smiled up at him, hardly being subtle at all.

“Three rump steaks, coming up.” He turned away and grabbed the meat from under the counter, lifting his slicers to cut the steaks perfectly into shape.

“And what about the latter?” She rested her elbows on the counter nearest to him, trying to capture his gaze again.

“Too busy, I’m afraid.” He was glad of the excuse. Eleanora may have been a beauty, but she did nothing for him. There was no spark there, nothing at all that gave him any excitement. “Curley is out of town for a few days on a buffalo expedition, so I can’t leave the shop unattended.”

“You could close up shop?” she suggested, attempting a sweet tone that made Benedict want to shove the meat into her hands and wave her out of the shop.

“For the sake of a evening out?” He laughed. “This is not only my livelihood, but Curley’s, too. I wouldn’t damage that for anything.”

“Even for me?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Definitely not! He had to clamp down his lips before he said the words aloud.

“I’m afraid not,” he said, opting for the politer choice.

“What if I asked?” the lady behind Eleanora spoke up, leaning beside her on the counter and resting her elbows there, too.

“It doesn’t matter who asked,” Benedict said with a sigh as he tied up the steaks. “I’m not closing the shop for a drink with anyone.”

He pushed the steaks into Eleanora’s hand, eager to be rid of her. Some days he rather liked having the ladies follow him round so much; it was flattering and certainly a boost of confidence. Other days, he wished they’d leave him alone. It was as though he were the very meat on sale at the butcher shop, and they had just come to look at him.

“You’re a hard man to pin down, Bennie,” Eleanora said, narrowing her eyes at him in a playful way.

“So it shall remain that way,” he sighed as he gestured for her to hand over the money. She did so, reluctantly.

“Must I leave so soon?”

“You’ve seen my line.” He pointed out of the window. “I must serve everyone else.”

“Well, maybe I could keep you company back behind the counter instead.” She smiled again.

“As charming as your company would be,” he said, and his flirtatious comment made her wriggle with pleasure, “I am afraid I cannot accept it today.”

She began to back away slowly from the counter.

Just as he began taking the order of the next lady in the line, there was a commotion in the line outside. He looked up, pausing with the lamb shanks, to see that someone was trying to push through the crowd. It was causing quite an argument, with several ladies pushing back whoever was trying to get through. There were indignant cries of outrage, and hands placed on corseted hips in reprimand.

“It seems someone really wants to be in your shop,” the lady in line said, leaning over the counter toward him.

“Hmm.” He tried to look past her toward the commotion.

“Can’t say I blame them.”

At the bold comment, Benedict looked up with his eyebrows raised and offered his usual smile. She mistook it for flirtation rather than politeness and leaned farther over the counter.

“Benedict!” a voice cried up from outside. He snapped his head toward the problem in the line only to see the familiar face of Curley’s sister trying to get through.

“Hallie?” he called out to her, surprised, just as her curly chestnut hair became visible between two ladies’ shoulders in the doorway. “You can wait your turn like everyone else.”

“I’m not here to just join the line of your fan club!” she cried in complaint and pushed through the two women. She stumbled into a small open space in the room so that Benedict could see her properly.

She had bold features indeed, the kind that made Benedict stare at her, though he would never confess that to her. Her big blue eyes in particular were quite hypnotic, right down to her full lips, high cheekbones, and the mass of brown curls that fell about her face. She was not the tallest of women, but she had presence.

Right now, her face was flushed from having apparently been running, and the blush traveled all the way down her neck and to her chest that was just visible above the curve of her neckline. She was wearing a slimline dress, deep emerald green in color, that was cinched at her waist and flared out just a little bit at her elbows. The entire effect flattered her hourglass figure. Benedict had to snap his gaze away from the slender curves.

She’s Curley’s sister, remember! Of all women, Hallie was out of bounds. Doubly so, as she seemed to be just about the only lady in town who wasn’t captivated by his charm or looks.

“Benedict!” she called his name again and tried to push past the first few women in the line to reach his side.

“What has got you in such a state?” he asked, pushing the lamb shank into his customer’s hand. He’d meant the comment as a jest, but then he really looked at Hallie. Something was wrong. It was evident in the tremor of her full lips and the way her blue eyes were searching his. “What’s happened?” he asked, abruptly giving her his full attention and walking away from his customers.

“Excuse me?” one of the women asked. “We’ve been waiting for half an hour here!”

“Oh, hush,” Hallie said quickly over her shoulder, “you can wait a few minutes more to get what you wanted.”

“I need some chicken for dinner!”

“And we all know you didn’t come here just to order chicken.” Hallie looked away from the woman just as she harrumphed and crossed her arms.

Benedict stifled his temptation to laugh. It was hardly unusual for Hallie to poke fun at the women who followed him around. He had wondered more than once in the past what it would be like if Hallie were one of them. Clearly, she had decided she never would be. It was rather frustrating to find that the one woman in town he did feel some excitement for evidently did not like him.

“If you’re here just to stir up trouble with my customers again, Hallie, then you can go right now—” Benedict gestured toward the door, but she interrupted him, waving her hands manically in the air in a kind of fraught panic.

“I haven’t come here just to argue and cause fuss,” Hallie said quickly.

Benedict scoffed at this, for it was what they had always done. He had known Hallie ever since he was a teenager and had first met Curley. While she was a few years his junior, they had known each other for so long that they should really be friends, but they weren’t. Instead, they argued at every opportunity, sparking off one another and teasing one another, too.

“It’s Curley.”

“Curley? What about him?” Benedict’s body froze with worry as he saw Hallie’s hands tremble. “He’s out on a buffalo hunt.”

They were desperately in need of more buffalo for the shop and Curley had joined a local hunt that week in order to obtain some.

“The hunting party has just got back to town.” She waved toward the window, as though in the direction of the party themselves. “They’re injured.”

“How?” Benedict stepped forward, closer to the counter separating the two of them.

“They were attacked on the hunt. Some have bullet wounds, others broken bones.” She shook her head, helpless. “They were set upon by the Pablo Javier gang.”

Benedict winced and clenched his fists together. The Pablo Javier gang were one of the groups slowly encroaching on West Oak that Benedict despised so much. This was beyond the pale, though—it suggested an escalation in their attempts to control the town.

“It gets worse,” Hallie said, biting her lip. “They took Curley with them.”

“Wait… what?” Benedict snapped the word, desperately hoping that his ears were deceiving him.

“He’s missing, Benedict. The gang attacked and took him away with them.”

Chapter Two

Hallie could see the shock in Benedict’s face. For a minute, he said nothing. He just stared back at her.

“Don’t just stand there!” she ordered him, waving a hand in front of his eyes. “Say something.” Her words seemed to snap him out of his stunned appearance.

“Where is the hunting party now?”

“They’ve gone to the sheriff’s office,” Hallie said, already stepping away from the counter. “I’m heading there now.”

She’d heard the awful news where she worked as a maid up at a cattle ranch on the edge of town. She had been on the way to the office when she saw the line outside Benedict’s shop. Benedict may not have been her favorite person in the world, but she knew well enough how much he cared for Curley. Practically like brothers, he deserved to know what was happening.

“Wait, no!” Benedict had walked around the counter and was beside her.

“Why wait? I want to find out what has happened to my brother.” She pushed past the line to exit the shop, yet Benedict’s hand on her arm stopped her. She snapped her head back, gazing at him in shock.

She tried to ignore the little leap of excitement that happened in her stomach at his touch. Staring at him, it was impossible to deny that Benedict was a handsome man. He had sharp features, with a strong jawline, a firm nose, and dark eyes the color of cocoa beans. Even his black hair that often looked an unruly mess was somehow enthralling to her. She had sometimes wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through his hair—before, of course, she chastised herself for such a thought.

“Benedict,” she lowered her voice to a harsh whisper, “I know there are many women in this shop who would like you to touch their arm right now, but I am not one of them, so release me.” She snapped her arm out of his grasp. He barely seemed to notice her jibe.

“I’ll go to the sheriff’s office. You watch over the shop.” He waved her toward the counter.

“What? No!”

“You’ve looked after it for us before,” Benedict said quickly, “you know what to do.”

“I don’t think helping you two out on busy days counts as knowing what to do.” She pushed past him again. “Besides, I’m hardly going to wait back here while you go and find out what has happened to Curley.”

“Hallie, listen.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. She narrowed her eyes at him, making clear her thoughts without words. “By jing, it’s like trying to calm down a bumble bee, talking to you sometimes.” He lifted his hands back off her shoulders. “Curley is like a brother to me. I’m not waiting here when he could be in danger. I’m going to the sheriff’s office.”

Hallie reached out and grabbed his arm this time, pulling him back. He looked to her, with his eyes so wide with surprise that she could see the whites around his irises.

“So, it’s okay for you to touch me, but not the other way around?” He revealed the smallest of smirks.

“Listen here, Curley may be like your brother, but he is my brother, and he is the last…” she faltered, swallowing quickly before she could say the words aloud. She didn’t like to talk of it, of the fact that he was the only family she had left in the world. “There is no chance in hell that I am waiting here, manning your shop and business now. I am going to find out what is happening to Curley, whether you come or not.”

Benedict said nothing, but he looked over her head at the crowd around her. All at once, several of the young ladies offered little waves at him. Hallie didn’t bother trying to stop the groan that escaped her.

“The shop’s shut!” Benedict called. “All go home.”

“What? No! Benedict?”

“We’ve been waiting here for half an hour.”

Lots of complaints shot up, but Hallie was quite impressed to see Benedict ignore them all. He ran back to the counter, threw covers over the meat, and then began ushering people out of the door. Hallie waited with folded arms, watching him flounder around with irritation and urgency.

“I’ll be open again tomorrow. It’s an emergency. Out now,” he ordered.

The moment the final person had left, he closed the door behind them and leaned against it, sighing greatly.

“That was like watching you herd cats,” Hallie said tartly, to which she earned a sharp look from Benedict. “Can we go now?”

He nodded once and turned over the sign in the shop window before opening the door and leading her out.

The moment they were in the street, Hallie didn’t even bother waiting for him to lock up the shop. She picked up her green skirt around her knees and began to run down the road. She whipped past people, trying not to knock into people’s shoulders in her eagerness to reach the sheriff’s office. The road was so busy, it was a difficult task, with multiple people complaining at her speed, or even that she was flashing her ankles as she ran. She hardly cared.

Curley could be hurt, lying in a ditch somewhere, or worse… She wouldn’t let herself think the word. A little bit of impropriety was hardly going to stop her when Curley’s fate was unknown.

As she tried to cross the road, multiple carriages blocked her way. West Oak was a large and busy town, always full of activity and traffic. She was about to take her chance and step out to run between two carriages when she felt an arm around her waist, hiking her backwards.

“Ah!” she cried, falling back into someone’s chest. She looked up, startled at the arm around her waist, to see Benedict there. He had clearly caught her in her run. “What did you do that for?” she said loudly and pushed away from him.

“Did you want to be run over by a horse and cart?” He gestured to the road.

“I would have been fine,” she complained, looking back and forth for her next opportunity to cross.

“Sure, you would have,” Benedict said with obvious sarcasm. “That’s just what we need, isn’t it? Curley missing and his sister going splat in the center of the street.” Hallie flinched at the word ‘splat.’ “Cross now.”

“I don’t need you to tell me when to cross like I’m some child,” she snapped, though she crossed anyway, running alongside him.

“Are you capable of saying anything nice?” he asked.

“Like what?”

“Like, thank you for not letting me get run over by a carriage?”

“I told you, I would have been fine!” she said, just as they reached the other side of the road. She caught a quick glimpse of his face and the sneer that showed he was tempted to mock her and looked away.

It was what she did. She was always mean to him. She hated the fact that in truth, she was just like all the other ladies in town—besotted by Benedict’s good lucks, intelligence, and charm. She refused to follow in their footsteps, so at every opportunity she would argue with him, just with the effort to make sure she stayed as far away from him as possible.

They didn’t say anything else to each other as they both ran the last distance until they reached the sheriff’s office.

Hallie’s feet faltered slightly on the steps leading up to the red and white brick building, for across the pale stone steps were drops of scarlet blood.

“Don’t look at it,” Benedict said at her side. He took her arm and led her in. Hallie was too sickened by the sight of the blood that she didn’t even think about pulling her arm out of his grasp. Not until they had burst through the door and were inside the office.

“Thought you two would make an appearance.” The southern drawl of Sheriff Forrester made Hallie look up and swallow the nausea she felt.

The sheriff’s office was a large one, stretching over three floors with a county jail out the back. In the main room on this floor, there were usually desks and chairs where the deputy sheriff and the town marshals organized themselves. Today, the usual order and structure to the room had been overturned.

Sheriff Forrester was sat on the deputy sheriff’s desk, with one foot perched on the surface beside him, staring out over the commotion. The other chairs and desks bore men who were all carrying injuries. At one glance, Hallie could see bullet wounds being bound, a stab wound to someone’s arm, lines of blood dripping from another’s chin and even one man who had made a sling out of an old shirt. Around them, the town marshals were scribbling down things on pieces of paper and seeing to injuries.

At the sight of so much blood, Hallie froze in place. She had seen this much blood only once before, and it was a day she preferred to forget. She dug her heels into the ground and refused to move forward as the memory flashed behind her eyes.

So much blood. She clamped her mouth shut as she brushed away the nausea. She felt a hand on her back, pushing her forward. It was Benedict, steering her toward the sheriff.

“What happened?” Benedict asked, his voice demanding. “Where’s Curley?”

Hallie turned to the sheriff, only too glad to stop looking at all that blood.

“An ambush,” Sheriff Forrester said. “Bloodiest I’ve ever seen. This gang have got some balls, I can tell you. Sorry, ma’am.” He tipped his cowboy hat to Hallie, but she didn’t even flinch at the words.

“And Curley?” Hallie said, finding her voice at last.

One of the group stepped forward. Hallie recognized him; he was one of the best-known hunters in the area. In his forties, he was an experienced hunter who never came back without a kill. The idea that someone could get the jump on someone so seasoned was unsettling.

He was limping as he stepped forward, his ankle at a position that looked very wrong.

“Jax.” Benedict turned to the man. “Your ankle…”

“I know.” Jax nodded, brushing the fair hair back from his forehead. “I’ll see the physician soon. You should know about Curley.”

Hallie stiffened, waiting with bated breath for his next words.

“We had just trapped the buffalo. Curley was about to deliver the blow. We were all distracted, looking at the kill. No one saw them coming. Ten of them, there were.”

“All wearing these,” Sheriff Forrester said, reaching behind him and pulling out a small, square bandana, the color of the night sky and peppered with red stripes. “The Pablo Javier gang.”

“They knew what they were doing. They were lying in wait for us,” Jax went on. “A fight broke out. Barely a man escaped who didn’t bear an injury. They took our things, our money, killed the buffalo themselves, and…” He paused, his eyes turning on Hallie. “I’m sorry about this, Hallie.”

“Just tell me,” she begged, stepping forward, needing to know what he had seen.

Don’t say he is dead. I won’t be able to bear it if he is. She pleaded with the heavens, sending silent prayers.

“They got Curley. It looked like they held a knife to him, might have injured him in the arm.”

“Is he…?” Hallie didn’t need to say any more.

“In truth,” Jax shrugged, “I don’t know for sure. I don’t think so. I saw them tie him up. It suggested they were taking him with them, rather than killing him.”

Hallie let out a little whimper of relief.

He’s still alive. For now. She didn’t like to think of what could happen to him next. She was clinging onto the idea that he could still be breathing, that he could still be alive in this world.

“Then, there’s hope to get him back.” Benedict’s voice was fiery. It was a tone she had never heard him use before and it made her snap her head toward him, with her hands over her mouth. “Sheriff, they can’t be far gone. If the deputy and the marshals get on the road now, they could catch up with them before they get too far away. They can bring Curley back.”

“Can’t do that, I’m afraid, son.” Sheriff Forrester shook his head and stood down away from the desk.

“What?” Benedict snapped, taking another step forward and squaring off with the sheriff. It didn’t seem to matter to Forrester that Benedict was taller than him, he just lifted his chin and stared back with equal feeling in his eyes.

“We’re not going after them.”

“Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke,” Benedict said, keeping his body deathly still. “One of our own is at the mercy of a gang, and you’re just going to sit here and let that happen?”

“I don’t have much choice.”

“By ginger, of course you have a bloody choice!” Benedict barked the words so loudly that others in the room began to look their way. Hallie backed up a little, away from their stares, mostly because she couldn’t stand the sight of all their injuries. “Telegraph the sheriffs nearby, then,” Benedict said, waving his arms madly. “If you think they’re too far gone, then they can look out for the gang and get them before they disappear.”

“Do you not know who the Pablo Javier gang are, son?” Sheriff Forrester tilted his head to the side. Hallie watched him closely, aware of the unyielding reserve in his gaze.

“They cause trouble. Wherever they go,” Benedict said boldly. “They need to be arrested, taken off the streets.”

“Then you don’t know who they are.” Sheriff Forrester matched Benedict’s loud tone. “This gang aren’t like the others that just ride by the town to do some cattle rustling or pinch stuff from the market. No, these guys have a reputation. They’re ruthless. They run the biggest illegal slave trade there is in California.”

Hallie flinched and clasped her hands together over her mouth.

They’ve taken Curley. To be a slave. The thought was too awful.

“No one can touch them,” the sheriff said loudly, gesturing to the entire room. “Men have tried. Sheriffs, marshals, agents—you name it, they’ve tried. Bounty hunters by the dozen. None of them have gotten anywhere with it. There are few people who cross this gang that don’t end up dead.”

“So, that’s it?” Benedict asked, his arms wide. “You’re going to leave Curley to these animals just because you’re too scared to go after them yourself.”

“Not scared, son.” The sheriff shook his head. “Just practical. I’m telling you what every sheriff in this state will tell you. The Pablo Javier gang are untouchable. No one will go after them. You might as well accept that your friend Curley is gone.”

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“No Rescue for the Traitor” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Life is good for Benedict Aritza… He owns a butcher shop with his best friend, he is the town’s favorite, ladies always smile his way and he’s even put forward as a potential future mayor. His perfect little life is disrupted though when Curley, his business partner, goes missing while on a buffalo-hunting expedition. Benedict is not the kind of man to give up on his friend. He’s determined to find him and bring him home safe. There’s another problem, however; Curley’s sister is dead set on coming along to search for her brother. Benedict admired Hallie’s feisty personality, even though she’d always been out of bounds for him. Now, in close quarters as they go on the dangerous hunt together, can he resist the soft spot he’s always had for her?

Hallie lost her parents suddenly a few years back. Since then, she’s been very protective of her brother, the only family she has left. When Curley goes missing, there is no way she will let this pass without a fight. When she discovers to her horror that the vicious Pablo Javier gang is behind this, she knows there’s no time to waste and that she should act immediately. If she has to put up with Benedict for a few days in order to save her brother… so be it. Yet, Hallie has always liked Benedict, more than she’d care to admit. Can she put her pride aside and convince Benedict that she is the competent and skillful comrade that should join him on this perilous quest?

As Benedict and Hallie embark on their journey together, they’ll soon find that their quest was never what they thought it would be. What started as a rescue mission ends up becoming an escape plan to save their own lives. With shots fired, and a gang that even has corrupt sheriffs on their side, will Benedict and Hallie manage to help each other out? How will they ever manage to survive when they realize that they’re not the ones on the hunt after all, but those being hunted?

A pulse-pounding drama, which will make you turn the pages with bated breath until the very last word. A must-read for fans of Western action and romance.

“No Rescue for the Traitor” is a historical adventure novel of approximately 60,000 words. No cliffhangers, only pure unadulterated action.

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