Sky vs. Spies

Fiction by Frank Knebel

Chapter 9

Joanna Dorrin stood looking out of the glass doors leading to the concrete patio and pool of their rented house several miles north of Kermit. It was early enough that the spring sun was still pale, though the day promised clear and fair. She was dressed for the day’s activity: brown slacks tucked neatly into high black boots and a white, long-sleeved blouse buttoned only two-thirds of the way up. In her left hand was a glass of orange juice; in her right was a riding crop, which she tapped absently against her boot between sips.

     A ripple of youthful female laughter came from the hallway behind her. She turned just as Donna and Myra entered the living room. The girls were dressed for an active day as well. Both wore blue jeans and clingy, low-cut short-sleeved tops, Donna’s with red and white horizontal stripes and Myra’s light blue. They also carried small duffel bags over their shoulders, which both girls dumped on the couch.

     “All ready, Auntie Jo,” Donna announced brightly.

     The two stood at attention, grinning expectantly at their aunt who strolled over and gave them a thorough look from head to toe.

     “I’m glad to see that you have both worn boots,” she said, pointing with the crop at the sturdy cowboy boots visible under their jean cuffs.

     “You told us to,” said Myra.

     Mrs. Dorrin’s eyes worked their way up the girls.

     “But there may be some exertion necessary to subdue our little friends,” she continued. “So I think it would be a good idea for you to wear bras.”

     Donna pouted slightly.

     “But the men will like it better if we don’t wear them.”

     “You may tease the men some other time. This is important.”

     “All right, Auntie Jo,” Myra said glumly.

     The two turned and slowly went back toward their room. Joanna stood one of the duffel bags on one end and opened the other to check its contents. Three rolls of two-inch wide adhesive tape had been carefully stored near the opening. The rest of the bag was stuffed with coils of rope. She also found two items she had never seen.

     When the girls returned, they were not laughing as before, but their smiles and eager conversation with one another showed their high spirits remained.

     “Just what are these, pray tell?” Joanna asked, holding up two red rubber balls in the middle of foot-long pieces of rope.

     “Do you like them?” asked Donna excitedly. “Klee made them for us!”

     “We saw them in some pictures he got through the mail!” added Myra.

     “But what are they?”

     Donna took one from her aunt. She turned to Myra, who giggled and opened her mouth wide. Donna gently pressed the ball into her cousin’s mouth. Myra giggled again, though very little sound came out.

     “Gags!” Donna announced proudly. “One of these covered with tape will keep a girl quiet as a mouse.”

     Joanna nodded.

     “You have done well, girls. I take it that one of these bags is for me?”

     “It sure is,” said Donna as she helped Myra remove the ballgag. “There’s plenty of rope and two gags in each of them.”

     “The Captain may bring her Sergeant along,” said Myra, wiping some saliva from her lips.

     They heard the sound of car engines in the driveway outside the house.

     “It’s time,” said Joanna.

     Both girls took a duffel bag and followed their aunt through the foyer and outside where two cars were waiting. Rowlands got out of the first car.

     “What arrangements have you made, Rowlands?” asked Mrs. Dorrin.

     “I figure that the girls won’t need too much help with the Ryder’s niece and the Smithers woman, so Bradford and Klee will go with them. Lynch is headed for the airport, and he’ll join us later. Wilke and Duncan are watching Ryder’s ranch to see what they’re up to. Gentry and I are with you.”

     “Very good. Let’s go.”

     Donna handed one of the duffel bags to Rowlands, who tossed it in the front seat. He opened the back door of the sedan and stood waiting for Joanna Dorrin. Donna and Myra went to the second car where Klee held the back door open for them.

     “Good hunting, girls,” called Joanna.

     The two giggled.

     “Don’t worry, Auntie Jo,” said Donna. “We’ll bring ‘em back alive.”

     They giggled again as Klee shut the door.

“Hummingbird calling Deputy Cole, Hummingbird calling Deputy Cole. Do you read me, Amy? Over.”

     Sky Ryder released the transmit button of his radio handset and leaned over to look at the station wagon at the side of the road below as he waited for a reply. It was only a few seconds in coming.

     “We’re here, Sky,” came Amy Cole’s voice. “We can see you above us. Over.”

     Sky looked again. A Sheriff’s department Jeep with two deputies in the front seat was parked nearby. He pressed the button and made another call.

     “Hummingbird to Car 10. Are you there, Ben? Over.”

     “We read you too, Sky,” Deputy Norris replied. “Any signs of trouble? Over.”

     Sky swung his gaze over the country around them. He could not see anything but the landscape of jumbled rock formations and rust colored gorges.

     “I don’t see anybody, Ben,” said Sky. “I’ll start on my first run to the east. Stand by and keep your eyes open. Over.”

     “Roger that, Sky. Norris out.”

     “Cole out.”

     In the Flying Coronet station wagon, Amy Cole hung the radio handset on its hook and swung her legs out of the car. She stood up and gazed at the rugged terrain around her. It was forbidding looking country. The Jeep was about fifty yards behind the station wagon and trailer. Deputy MacKeever was keeping watch, slowly searching the horizon with a pair of binoculars. Norris yawned and stretched in the seat beside him.

     Amy drew out her service revolver and checked to be sure it was loaded. The sounds of the horses’ hooves on the wooden floor of the trailer and Julie’s voice as she spoke to them came to Amy. Just as she was holstering the weapon, Julie, wearing khaki colored slacks, a white blouse and Army-type boots, appeared behind the trailer. She held a white, broad-brimmed hat in one hand. She wiped her forehead on the back of her arm as she sauntered to Amy.

     “We’ll have to get them out of the trailer pretty soon,” said Julie.

     The deputy nodded.

     “I know. The sun’ll make the trailer too hot for them Better to get them out now, even if we have to walk them down the road as Sky searches.”

     The two women went to the tailgate of the trailer.

Copper Ryder and Summer Smithers were smiling coquettishly at the tall, crew cut young man behind the counter.

     “You know, Copper,” he said, “I really shouldn’t be doing this without talking to Mr. Barry.”

     “Oh, come on, Tim,” said Copper. “You know that Sky and Ted have been friends for thirty years, and Ted would never object to him using his plane.”

     “Yeah, but Sky’s not the one using the plane,” Tim said uncertainly. “You are.”

     Copper leaned over. She had left one more button open at the neck of her checkered shirt than she usually did. She crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned her forearms on the counter. Her hand brushed against his fingers that were fiddling with the corner of a stack of papers lying between them.

     “But you know that it’s all the same,” she said. “I’m helping Sky with something really important right now. He just didn’t have time to call you this morning to let you know.”

     Both women noticed Tim staring at Copper’s cleavage.

     “And I’m paying for the gas we’re using,” added Summer. “What trouble could you possibly be in?”

     She took a deep breath. Tim watched as her chest expanded.

     “Well, all right,” he said, glancing around as though checking for witnesses. “You’ll take good care of it, won’t you?”

     “You know we will,” said Copper. She ‘inadvertently’ touched his hand again.

     Tim ran his tongue over his lips.

     “Okay. I’ll have Ralph and Johnny bring her out and gas her up. But don’t go around bragging about it.”

     “We promise,” said Summer.

     Tim left the little office building. Copper and Summer looked at each other and laughed. They quickly stifled their merriment when they saw it had drawn the attention of the lone occupant of the waiting room. He was a medium-sized man in his forties with light brown hair thinning to a widow’s peak. He looked up at them from the magazine he had been reading.

     “Anything wrong?” he asked.

     There was a pleasant smile on his face though his voice was harsh and grating.

     “No nothing at all,” replied Summer pleasantly.

     The man turned back to his magazine, but stopped to check his wristwatch. He peered at the clock over the counter.

     “Excuse me, ladies,” he said. “Do you know if that’s the right time?”

     Both women checked their watches against the clock. They verified that the time showing was correct.

     “I wonder what’s keeping my friend?” the man said.

     “Is it something important?” asked Copper.

     “Oh, probably not,” he replied. “It’s just that I have a friend who flies his own plane. He was out southeast of town a few days ago and saw something odd in the desert. I was interested and asked if he’d show it to me. We were supposed to meet here at 8:30, but it’s past that now.”

     “What was this thing he saw southeast of town?” Copper asked, trying to sound casual.

     The man shook his head. He began to smile broadly.

     “It was just something shiny, he didn’t know what. But after he was done describing it he said, ‘You know, it looked like one of those flying saucers.’”

     He laughed.

     “Can you imagine?”

     Copper and Summer looked at one another. Copper grabbed Summer’s sleeve.

     “That sure sounds odd all right,” said Summer. “Just where was this?”

     “Oh, about thirty-five miles south of town and a few miles east of the main county road. My friend said that some woman owns the place. A good-looking brunette he claims, though I wouldn’t know.”

     “Just imagine that,” said Summer with a look at Copper. “A woman rancher with a flying saucer!”

     “Personally, I don’t believe in those things from other planets,” the man said affably. “But they have made some interesting movies about them though, haven’t they?”

     “You know,” said Copper, “we weren’t going that way but it might be worth a look”

     Tim came through the door at that moment.

     “You can go on out, ladies,” he said. “They’re almost finished filling her up.”

     “I hate to bother you, son,” said the man. “But did anyone call and leave a message for me? The name is Lynch."

     Tim ruffled through some papers.

     “Yessir. A man left a message just over a half-hour ago. Said he wouldn’t be able to meet you today, and that you should call him.” He handed the paper to him. “Here’s the number.”

     The man made an agreeably rueful face.

     “Well, I guess I don’t get to chase any mysteries today. Good luck to you with it, ladies.”

     He nodded in farewell and walked easily to the door. Copper and Summer hurried out the opposite door toward the field. Lynch smiled as he paused to put on his hat.

Wilke, his long, sharp nose making him resemble a large bird of prey, looked down from the rocky tor to the county road below. From his perch, he could see Julie Atkins and Deputy Cole standing by their saddled horses a hundred feet beneath him and some two hundred yards to his front. A bit behind them and to their left he noted the two deputies in their Jeep. Beside him, Duncan was peering through a pair of binoculars at the hilltops to the south.

     “Any sign of Ryder?” he asked.

     “Nope,” replied Duncan moving the binoculars back and forth as he searched. He swung the glasses in the direction of the women below. “They sure are a couple of cute little numbers! You s’pose the Dragon Lady’ll give us a chance for some fun with ‘em?”

     Wilke snorted.

     “By the time she and those two nieces of hers get through with ‘em, I doubt that---“

     Rowlands’ voice over the hand held radio interrupted him

     “Wilke. Wilke, this is Rowlands. What do have to report?”

     Wilke picked up the radio.

     “The Captain and that girl Deputy are out here with horses. Ryder’s searching some canyons to the south of us. It looks like he’s gonna give ‘em directions or something. And there’s two deputies in a Jeep with ‘em, standing guard, I guess.”

     “All right. Just keep watchin’ ‘em. We’ll be there shortly.”

     Wilke put the radio down. He looked anxiously at the sky to the south, then at his partner. Duncan still had the glasses trained on the two attractive, dark-haired women below. He ran his tongue over his thin lips.

     “They sure are a couple o’ good lookers, all right,” he muttered.

     Wilke gave him a light backhand slap on the upper arm. Duncan looked up.

     “Keep your eyes open for Ryder,” Wilke growled.

Copper Ryder giggled. Summer Smithers turned from the plane’s window to look at her.

     “What is it, Copper?” she asked.

     “I was just thinking what Sky’ll say if we’re the ones to find the balloon.”

     Copper giggled again. Summer raised a qualifying finger.

     “Hold on there, chum,” she cautioned. “We haven’t found anything yet, and there’s no guarantee that the thing the man’s friend saw was the balloon.”

     “Oh, it has to be! Nothing belongs out here. Only something that fell from the sky could even get here! It just has to be."

     Summer smiled.

     “Well, we’ll see.”

     The Cub being a wing above type aircraft made their search of the ground relatively easy. Not many minutes had passed when Summer reached over to grab Copper’s arm.

     “Copper! I see it!”

     Copper banked the plane toward Summer’s side. She could see some kind of oval or rectangular patch of shiny silver material below.

     “Do you think that’s it?” the girl asked excitedly.

     Summer looked at it through binoculars.

     “I’m pretty sure it is,” she said. “The balloon must have gotten torn somehow, but that must be it. Let’s go down and take a look!”

     Copper pointed to the area just east of the balloon.

     “It looks like I can land over there. I’ll check it out.”

     The girl eased the yoke forward.

Ten minutes later the two women were scrambling over the rocks and scrub toward the balloon skin. Summer reached it first. She dropped to her knees and took the flapping edge of the material in her hands. Copper knelt beside her, looking at the wreck in amazement.

     “Oh, Copper!” shrieked Summer. “I can hardly believe my eyes, but this is it! We found it!”

     “We really did it!” Copper said dazedly. “We got here first.”

     The two women hugged each other in their excitement.

     “I’d say that congratulations are in order,” said a woman’s voice nearby.

     Summer and Copper turned. Two attractive young women, one blond the other brunette, and two men had appeared from behind a nearby rock formation. Both men had pistols pointed at them. The blond woman had a length of rope on one hand; the brunette had rope ends hanging from her pockets. Both women recognized the two men from a few days before. One man was very lean, with the long, pointed face of a weasel; the other was strongly built, with an equally strong, stoic face.

     “What is this?” asked Summer. “Who are you?”

     It was a rhetorical question, though the two young women were strangers.

     The blonde spoke again.

     “It doesn’t really matter who we are, as long as we have the guns.”

     “We don’t have much money with us, if that’s what you’re after,” said Summer.

     A smile spread slowly over the blonde’s sweet-looking face.

     “Oh, we don’t want any money, Sweetie. We just want you.”

     Copper gasped. She involuntarily covered her mouth with one hand as the realization came to her.

     “These must be the two women who tried to kidnap Julie the other day,” she whispered to Summer.

     “Very good, Miss Ryder,” said the brunette. “And now we’re here for you.”

     “Don’t bother getting up,” continued the blonde. “You two are going to spend quite a bit of time on your knees for a while. So just stay there.”

     The men kept the pistols pointed at Summer and Copper. The women circled behind the two prisoners. The brunette pulled a piece of rope from one pocket as she moved. Copper looked over her shoulder.

     “What are you going to do?”

     “Isn’t it obvious?” said the blonde as she stepped behind Summer and dropped to one knee. The brunette took her place behind Copper. “Hands behind your backs, ladies.”

     Copper looked at Summer. The beautiful rancher glanced at the pistols in front of them and nodded as she swung her arms behind her. Copper did the same. The women began tying them.

     “Well, how nice!” cooed the blonde. “That’s making it easy on yourselves. Still it seems a shame that we don’t have the pleasure of making it a little rough.”

     As she said the last word, she pulled hard on the ropes around Summer’s wrists. Summer grunted as the loops were drawn taut.

     “Don’t worry about that, cuz,” said the brunette. “I’m sure we’ll think of something later.”

     Summer and Copper exchanged a worried glance.

     “Just wait until my Uncle Sky gets hold of you two,” said Copper, trying to sound confident. “You’ll be in jail so fast that---“

     “Yes, we know all about that,” said the blonde, in an exaggeratedly bored tone. She finished knotting Summer’s bonds, and drew one of the homemade ballgags from her hip pocket. “But for right now, we’d like some quiet.”

     She held the ball up to Summer’s mouth. The brunette did the same to Copper.

     “What’s that?” asked Copper.

     “Don’t worry,” the blonde said with a smirk. “They taste great.”

     “Open up, both of you,” ordered the brunette.

     Copper slowly opened her mouth. The brunette forced the ball between the girl’s teeth and pulled it back, causing Copper to give a ‘hmmph', of discomfort. As the brunette tied the ends of the rope at the back of Copper’s neck, the blonde grabbed a handful of Summer’s dark hair and forced her head back. With a little cry of pain and alarm Summer turned her face to the sky. The blonde jammed the ball into her mouth, then pushed the rancher’s head forward so she could secure the ends. Copper and Summer gave each other a worried look as they tried to adjust their jaws to the balls.

     The blonde gave Summer a swat on the behind, drawing a muffled grunt from her captive.

     “That’s better,” she said. She leaned over to Copper and smiled sardonically. “You wanna tell me about your big, bad uncle now, Honey?”

     Copper mumbled something into the gag. Her captors laughed. The blonde took a roll of wide tape from her back pocket, tore three strips from it, and handed it to her partner.

     “Let’s seal ‘em up.” As the brunette tore tape from the roll, the blonde turned to the lean man. “Go get the car, Klee. Bring it up as close as you can. On your feet, ladies.”

     After plastering the tape over the ballgags, they grabbed Summer and Copper by their arms and hoisted the women to their feet. With two longer pieces of rope, the girls fashioned slipnoose-style leashes for both prisoners. The blonde, leading Summer, went first followed by the brunette and Copper. The tall, sturdy man tucked the pistol into his belt and took up a hand held radio as he walked.

     “Rowlands, this is Bradford. We got ‘em.”

Sky Ryder swept low over a rock and brush littered arroyo. Seeing nothing on the first pass, he banked the Hummingbird in a wide arc in order to make another pass in the opposite direction. The gnarled but sturdy little trees were just the kind of place for a dragging instrument pack to become entangled, so they had to be checked closely. But even a third pass revealed nothing.

     Sky had been following the path of a streambed that was in the final stages of drying up. The last traces of the winter and early spring rains were stubbornly yielding to the dryness that would hold the land in its grip for the next six months. In the areas exposed to the pitiless Arizona sun there was no water left, but a few of the deeper canyons and small gorges, as though paying tribute to the source of their formation, shielded a few shallow pools. Ahead of Sky, to the east, was a fairly flat area of a mile or so, after which the ground fell away. Thousands of years of water coursing through the bed had cut a narrow canyon in the rocky ground. It was a place that needed a good look.

     “Hummingbird, this is Julie. Do you read me, Sky? Over.”

     He took up the radio handset.

     “Julie, this is Hummingbird. I read you loud and clear. Over.”

     “Sky, we’ve lost sight of you. Can you climb a little so we can check your position? Over.”

     “Roger, Julie. Wait out.”

     Sky pulled back on the yoke and added some throttle. The sturdy Bobcat rose steadily. Sky turned north for a moment and looked back where he knew the road to be. He finally spotted the horse trailer and Jeep. They were not very far north of him, though he was now several miles east of the road.

     “Julie, this is Sky. I can see you. Can you see me? Over.”

     “We see you, Sky. Anything look promising over there? Over.”

     “There’s a deep gorge just east and a little south of me. I’m going in for a look. Any signs of trouble around you? Over.”

     “Quiet as can be. We’ll be here if you need us. Ground team out.”

     Sky Ryder banked the Hummingbird to the east and headed for the narrow canyon.

Rowlands shaded his eyes with his left hand and looked up to the hill where Duncan and Wilke were keeping watch on Julie and Amy’s team. The men were attentive but it was obvious that nothing unusual was happening. At the sound of approaching footsteps he turned quickly to see Joanna Dorrin coming. To avoid talking any louder than necessary, she did not speak until she was within three feet of him.

     “Anything to report, Rowlands?”

     He shook his head.

     “He keeps searching, they keep waiting.”

     She idly tapped the side of her boot with the riding crop.

     “Very well. At least we have his niece and the Smithers woman to bargain with if it becomes necessary.”

     “It’s your call,” he said with a shrug.

     She stared into the distant hills for a few moments, then looked decisively back at him.

     “No!” she declared. “If we can take the device from them when they find it, we will. If not, we must get Captain Julie Atkins. She will be a very pretty bargaining chip to add to our stack.”

     Rowlands was about to reply when a small pebble landed a few feet from him. He looked up to see Duncan waving at him. He and Joanna Dorrin began climbing up to them.

“That’s great news, Sky!” said Julie Atkins into the radio mike. “How far into the canyon is it? Over.”

     “The canyon itself is about a half-mile long,” Sky answered. “I’d say the wreckage is somewhere near the middle. There are a few little trees in the shelter of the canyon walls, and it looks like the lines are snagged on them. Over.”

     Julie turned. Amy was bringing up the horses.

     “We’re on our way, Sky. Over.”

     “I’ll circle to mark the spot for you, then look for a place to land. It’ll be a little way off though. It’s pretty rough around there. Be careful. Hummingbird out.”

     Deputy Amy Cole handed Julie the reins of her horse.

     “Let’s go, Captain,” she said eagerly.

     “Right behind you, Deputy.”

     As they mounted their horses, Deputy MacKeever started the Jeep’s engine.

Summer Smithers stumbled and fell to her knees in the sand. With the large ballgag and adhesive tape keeping her from breathing through her mouth, the pace her captors had set was just too fast for her. Blond Donna turned and arched an eyebrow at her.

     “What’s the matter, Rancher Lady? Can’t keep up?”

     Myra stopped too. Though Copper was still on her feet, it was obvious that the girl was having difficulty too. Both prisoners had sweated through their shirts.

     “Mine can’t keep up either,” said Myra. “What’ll we do?”

     Donna looked innocently at her cousin.

     “They just need some encouragement.”

     She turned to Summer with her peculiar, angelic smile and yanked hard on Summer’s leash. The noose tightened about the woman’s neck. She began to make gurgling noises.

     “Come on, Sweetie,” Donna said gently. “Get up now.”

     Summer got one foot back on the ground and tried to push herself up, but wobbled and appeared ready to fall. Donna showed no signs of letting any slack into the line around her neck. Myra opened her mouth to say something.

     Before she could speak, Bradford took three or four quick steps forward and grabbed the leash rope. With one strong motion he pulled it from Donna’s hands. The loop about Summer’s throat released. She looked gratefully up at him.

     Donna regarded the big man with amusement.

     “Well, Bradford. Aren’t you the gallant gentleman?” she said. The smile remained on her face, but her eyes glittered dangerously. “However, if you ever do anything like that again---“

     “You’ll… what?”

     Though his voice was very quiet, he seemed to grow taller. His face darkened and his dark eyes blazed. Again he was the image of a powerful Indian chief. Myra took a step back, and even Donna recoiled a bit. The glitter in her eyes faded to be replaced by amusement.

     “I’ll tell my Auntie that you aren’t letting us have our innocent fun,” she finished.

     Bradford took Summer by the arm and helped her to her feet. He removed the noose from her neck.

     “Let’s go,” said Bradford. “The car’s not far away.”

     Donna took Summer by the arm and led her away. Myra looked uncertainly at him and removed the leash from Copper herself. She touched the petite blonde on the arm as a sign she should move, and they began walking. Bradford tossed the noose-leash into some nearby brush then followed.

     In less than five minutes they found Klee leaning his back on the car. He licked his lips when her saw the two prisoners with their sweat-soaked shirts plastered to their bodies.

     “You must’ve given ‘em quite a workout,” he said. He licked his lips again.

     Donna looked at him, still smiling. She avoided looking at Bradford.

     “Sorry we can’t let you have a little fun with them, Klee. Maybe later. For now just open the trunk.”

     Klee took the keys from his pocket and went ahead to open the trunk. Donna and Myra marched their prisoners to the rear of the car. Klee popped the trunk lid and waited hopefully. Donna stretched out her hand.

     “Give me your gun, Klee.”

     “Huh?”

     “Your gun. I need your gun.” Her eyes darted to Bradford who stood glowering at her at the other end of the car. “Just to keep them covered for a minute.”

     Klee took the revolver from his belt and handed it to her.

     “Thanks,” she said keeping her eyes on the two prisoners. As though remembering he was there, she turned to him and added. “Go on up and have a word with Bradford. He’s nervous. Maybe you can calm him down.”

     Thoroughly puzzled, Klee ambled over to Bradford. The bigger man did not even look at him. Klee said nothing.

     “Untie their hands,” Donna told Myra. As the brunette went to work, Donna pointed the gun in their direction and added: “This is only temporary, girls. Don’t try to take off those gags or you’ll be real sorry. Understand?”

     Both women nodded. When Copper’s hands were free, the girl rubbed her wrists gently as Myra moved over to untie Summer’s hands. When Myra was finished, she stepped over and opened the back door of the sedan, emerging with a small duffel bag.

     “All right, girls,” said Donna. “It’s a long ride home and there’s only room for four in the car, so you’ll have to ride in the trunk.” She smirked at them. “It’ll be pretty hot in there, so go ahead and strip.”

     One side of Myra’s mouth curled in a sardonic smile.

     “We’re only thinking of your comfort, you know.”

     Copper’s eyes grew wide over the tape. Summer hummed something into her gag.

     “You heard me,” Donna ordered. “Strip. Take everything off.”

     Copper and Summer looked at one another again. Summer shrugged and unbuckled her belt as Donna and Myra beamed at them.

When Sky was certain that Julie and the others knew the canyon’s location, he looked for a landing spot for the Hummingbird. The closest strip of hard, level ground was a mile or so south of the canyon. Though it was the closest place, the ground between it and the canyon mouth was very rough and broken. Though a mile was less than a ten-minute walk for the tall, reasonably fit rancher, the uneven terrain would at least double that time. But any other suitable landing area was so much farther that the easier walk would be longer. With a fresh canteen and his gunbelt and revolver ready in the seat beside him, Sky prepared to land.

Rowlands looked through his binoculars at the figures on horseback and the Jeep in the distance. Joanna Dorrin looked at him expectantly.

     “Well? What is it?” she demanded.

     Rowlands continued studying the scene.

     “It looks like Ryder’s landing a couple miles to the south. The women are making for the mouth of that gorge up there and the deputies are following.” He looked at the narrow opening of the gorge for some moments. “I don’t think they can get that Jeep down there. It’s too steep and broken.”

     He swung his glasses to the left. After a long look, he lowered the glasses and studied the ground between them and the gorge.

     He turned to Joanna and Duncan.

     “Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll take Gentry and Lynch and follow this wash around to the left. I think we can get through into the gorge without having to go past the deputies. If I’ve got it figured right, they’ll stay at the entrance to the canyon to protect the women’s backs. Duncan, you and Wilke get closer to the Jeep. If you hear any shooting, open up on the deputies. Keep ‘em busy so they can’t come to the rescue.”

     “And what do we do if we don’t hear any shooting?”

     “If they try to go into the canyon on foot, open up on ‘em and keep ‘em there. If they stay, just cover us when we bring the women back this way. Got it?”

     Duncan nodded. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes darted about nervously.

     “I’m going with you, Rowlands,” Joanna announced.

     Rowlands eyebrows went up.

     “It won’t be easy,” he said. “And there may be shooting.”

     She looked at him coolly.

     “Just the same, I am going. Have Lynch bring up a weapon for me and the bag from the back seat.”

     The sturdy, mustachioed man regarded her dubiously. He shrugged.

     “It’s your call.”

Summer Smithers rolled her sweat soaked panties down her legs and stepped out of them. Copper stood next to her, still gagged, now naked, and very unsure about what to do with her hands. Donna and Myra were ogling them hungrily.

     “Very pretty, don’t you think, Myra?” asked Donna.

     Myra looked Copper up and down. The girl moved her left hand to cover her crotch and folded her right arm over her bare breasts.

     “Yummy!” said Myra. She turned the duffel bag upside down, spilling coils of brilliantly white clothesline on the ground.

     “Okay, girls,” Donna announced. “It’s time to tie you up again. But this time we do it for real. Hands behind you, and keep real still.”

     The two prisoners slowly turned around and presented their hands for binding. Donna crossed Summer’s wrists left over right and began looping them with cord. Myra tied Copper’s wrists palm-to-palm. Longer lengths of cord went around their arms and bodies just below their breasts and elbows and around their waists, trapping their arms tightly against their sides and backs. Myra spread a thick blanket over the trunk floor, arranging it so that its edge extended beyond the trunk covering the rear bumper.

     “Have a seat, girls,” Myra said.

     Summer and Copper sat on the bumper. Their captors bound their legs at the ankles and above and below the knees. Donna stood admiring their work as Myra scooped up most of the unused ropes and returned them to the duffel. When she straightened up, she held another roll of wide tape.

     “Blindfolds?” she asked Donna hopefully.

     “What for? They won’t see anything from the trunk.”

     Now Myra pouted.

     “But I like blindfolds a lot. I want them.”

     “We’ll blindfold them tonight,” said Donna consolingly. She smiled mischievously. “When we take them to bed.”

     They both giggled.

     “Won’t that be great!” squealed Myra. She looked longingly at their prisoners. “They certainly are a lovely sight!” she murmured.

     Donna stepped over to the side of the car.

     “All right you two,” she called to the men.

     Klee, who had been barely able to control himself while watching, and the impassive Bradford stepped forward. Donna was studying the two bound women thoughtfully, an index finger in the center of her slightly pursed lips said:

     “I think that Miss Ryder should go in first.”

     The two men picked up Copper and laid her in the trunk. Donna strolled over and regarded her thoughtfully.

     “Bend her legs back,” she ordered.

     When they did, she used one of the remaining pieces of rope to connect the petite blonde’s ankle and wrist bonds. She doubled two more pieces and laid them one the floor, making sure to scoot them under Copper’s body, one just below her waist and the other near her shoulder blades.

     “All right,” she said. “Now the other one.”

     Bradford took Summer by the shoulders, Klee by the feet. They lifted Summer as though they intended to put in the trunk face-to-face with her friend.

     “Oh, not like that,” Donna mock scolded them. She smiled wickedly. “Put them face-to-bush.”

     Klee and Bradford lifted turned and put Summer in the trunk so that her face was opposite Copper’s crotch and vice-versa. Myra added a hogtie connection to Summer’s hands and feet. Then she and Donna each wrapped one of the doubled ropes from the floor around the women and passed the free ands through the ‘lark’s head’ loop. When they pulled the loops about the women tightened, pressing them against one another. They tied the ends off.

     “There!” said Donna. “After a while, I expect you two will be real good friends.”

     “If you aren’t already,” added Myra.

     The two giggled. Donna took Myra in her arms and kissed her long and deeply.

     “See how much fun it can be?” asked Donna. Myra giggled again then reached up for the trunk lid.

     “Well, bye for a while girls,” she said. “I hope you have a good time.”

     She slammed the lid, shutting Copper and Summer in the trunk. In a few moments, the engine started and the car began to bump along over the uneven desert floor.

     Copper Ryder strained at the ropes holding her hands behind her back. It was no use. The knots were too secure. She and Summer were helpless and on their way to some kind of ordeal at the hands of these monstrous girls. There seemed to be no escape.

     “Sky’ll save us,” the girl told herself. “Somehow he’ll find us and save us.”

     But she had no idea how.