“Get the boat moving,” J.B. ordered.
“I move out there, I’m going to get shot,” Morse protested, hiding by the door to belowdecks.
“You stay where you are,” Mildred promised, “I’ll shoot you myself.”
The Armorer stepped up to the man and backhanded him, turning his head completely to the side even with the short blow. “And if she doesn’t do it,” J.B. put in, “those fuckers coming down those ladders will do it. Now get your ass in gear.”
Morse yelled at his boys, staying low as he started unfurling the sails. Bullets chopped at them, delaying their work.
Dean stayed with Krysty and kept his blaster leveled on Elmore.
“You’ve got to find Ryan, J.B.,” Krysty said in a weak voice.
“Going to,” J.B. replied. He slipped one of the machetes mounted on the boat’s railing free, then ran to the mooring rope holding the prow to the pier.
Mildred kept the .38 loose, watching as J.B. slashed through the mooring ropes, prow and stern, and through the rope holding the anchor, as well. The boat was swept out into the river’s current at once, almost listing sideways, stopping just short of capsizing as the rushing water took it into its embrace.
Hanging on to the railing, Mildred watched as the river water surged up, slopping over the side. Her feet were drenched, turning cold at once. She no longer had to cover the Morse family; they were all locked into survival together.
“Do you see him?” J.B. asked.
Mildred strained to see across the river as the next current caught them and boosted them up. “No. Dammit, can’t see much of anything.”
“Bastard river’s taken him downstream,” J.B. replied.
The sails filled overhead, cracking in the breeze. Mildred felt the boat surge, like a horse fighting the tether.
“There!” Doc called. “I see him!” He stood, holding Krysty tight at his side.
Looking farther down river, Mildred spotted Ryan. The one-eyed man disappeared under the water for a moment, then came bobbing back up. “Get us over there,” she ordered Morse.
“This current,” Morse replied, “ain’t making this boat any too easy to handle.”
Still, he managed to get Junie close enough to Ryan for J.B. to hand down one of the sheared remains of a mooring rope. Ryan somehow found the strength to hang on as they hauled him up.
Mildred got some blankets from belowdecks and draped them across Ryan’s shoulders. She also found and popped a self-heat of chicken-noodle soup. By that time, the boat was well into the current, running for all she was worth.
The threat of the coldhearts died away, as they were pounded further into submission by the trading post’s 20 mm cannon.
Crossing the deck to where Ryan lay, Mildred dropped to her knees, her body rolling with the frantic pitch of the boat. She looked at his injured shoulder, at the blood spreading across the shirt material. She unbuttoned the shirt and pulled it back.
“Ruined the shirt, didn’t it?” Ryan asked.
“Got your old one in the gear.” Mildred examined the bullet hole. The round had cored through the outer deltoid muscle atop Ryan’s left shoulder. It was more messy than damaging. “Through and through. You got lucky.”
“Real lucky, Dad,” Dean said. “Thought that bastard river had taken you for sure. Glad it didn’t.”
“Me, too.” Ryan tried to sit up, managing it with help from Mildred and Dean.
Mildred pulled the blanket tighter around Ryan, noting his pallid complexion. It wasn’t from the shock of the wound; it was the chill of the water. “Eat your soup. Get your temperature back up before you get the chills or end up getting sick. I’ve got to pack that wound, get the bleeding stopped.”
Ryan did as he was instructed, ignoring the spoon he’d been given and drinking the soup straight from the container.
Mildred took gauze from the first-aid supplies and plugged the entry and exit wounds on the one-eyed man’s shoulder. Ryan, being the indomitable hardass he was, didn’t say a word during the whole procedure.
“After exposure to that water, I’m going to pump you full of vitamin B, too.” Mildred took one of the few ampoules they’d found in a recent visit to a redoubt and injected him. “You might run a slight fever with this, but you’ll be okay.”