Cougar's Prey (9781101544846) Read Online Free PDF Page A

last out. Charlie got a taste for blood and no rules, and I didn’t see it until it was too late. He went bad on me, took off on a killing spree and robbing banks as much as he could, whenever he could. I thought he was my friend, but I was wrong. He was nobody’s friend.”
    Major Jones scooted his chair back. “Really, General Steele, what does this have to do with a man killing his captain?”
    â€œI asked Wolfe to tell me about himself, sir, or were you not listening?” The tone in Steele’s voice was unmistakable, hard and cold. He came by his name honestly.
    Jones ran his finger down the right side of his mustache. “I am late for an appointment.”
    â€œThat is your problem, Major Jones. We are not done here yet. We are just starting. Go on, Wolfe, pay this man no mind.”
    Josiah moved to the edge of his seat. Instinct told him to prepare for a fight of some kind, coming from Jones’s way. He drew in a deep breath. “About that time, after there was no need for a marshal in Seerville any longer, I began to ride with Captain Hiram Fikes, irregularly, as a Ranger. It was a much looser organization then, sir, as you well know, with little money to pay us, so men came and went, but Pete Feders was always there, riding alongside Captain Fikes. They seemed an odd team, the captain almost ignoring Feders at every move, but Pete never gave up trying to impress the captain, trying to get in his good graces. It always struck me as strange, but I didn’t question his motives too much back then. Just noticed. I came to trust Pete. I thought he was a good man to have your back. I was never ambitious, didn’t ever want to be a captain, so I wasn’t a threat to him, I suppose. That came later, though even when the threat did come, I didn’t understand it.”
    Steele nodded, listening intently. “So you have known Peter Feders for a long time?”
    â€œYes, sir, before the reign of the State Police, and since the creation of the Frontier Battalion.”
    â€œSo, you rode with Fikes when he commanded a troop of State Police for the previous governor, as well?” Steele asked.
    â€œInfrequently,” Josiah answered. “I had three daughters by then, and my folks had died. I was trying to make a go of the farm. I was never much good at being a farmer, but my wife, Lily, loved that life, and she was none too fond of me being away for long stretches at a time.”
    â€œThen how is it you ride with the Rangers now?”
    â€œMy wife died, sir. The fevers took my three girls first. One after another. Slow. With the death of each one, I didn’t think the pain could be any worse. But I was wrong. After my last girl died, Lily became pregnant again. We were infused with hope, thought that maybe we’d turned a corner, been given a second chance. If you believe in such things. But Lily died in childbirth. That was the worst of the pain, and I nearly went mad. The midwife and I were able to save the baby, a boy, named Lyle. He lived—is still alive—and is the only reason I am here today, standing before you as sane a man as I can be, I believe.”
    Josiah’s eyes had welled up with tears. He hadn’t spoken of Lily’s death in a very long time, and with all that had happened recently, his emotions were rawer than he realized. He missed his old life. It was just a faint memory now. He could barely hear Lily’s voice in his mind. It was as if she had never existed in the first place.
    Steele didn’t say anything. He let Josiah’s words fade away. Neither McNelly nor Jones seemed moved, or had changed his expression. Jones remained impatient, and McNelly remained uncommitted, void of any readable emotion. Both men were being forced to stay where they were, and judgment, for once, was not theirs to dole out.
    Josiah wondered what their roles really were, why they were there at all, as he tried to regain his breath