Chapter 25

The moments of relief Jean Blakely had briefly enjoyed at the realization that Mark was not about to make an issue of the night before, and especially, tell all to Steve as he'd threatened, were short-lived. The shared emotions were no less predominant in Carol Foster. Though pleased at Mark's decision to spare her young husband's feelings, his revealed plans to definitely destroy Caesar and his pack had nearly sickened her with concern.

Throughout the morning, the two young wives had attempted to console one another, but by noon when Steve arose and left the house to join the posse, they knew that their efforts were useless. Both had reached a state of near-panicky concern for the welfare of the massive wild animal they had uncontrollably come to love!

"Still, Honey... he's managed to elude all attempts they've made so far," Carol reminded her lovely, blonde-haired hostess over their umpteenth cup of coffee. "Is there any reason to believe he can't go on doing it... ?"

"Only the law of averages, Carol," Jean replied, her small hand trembling as it raised the cup, her smoky-blue eyes level with the willowy brunette's incandescent, dark ones. "And up until now, Mark hasn't entered the hunting picture. He's determined, Carol... determined to destroy Caesar... and I can't let him do that!"

Carol Foster watched the full lower-lip of her closest friend solicitously quiver, the tears that had been ever present all morning once more dampening the beautiful young wife's alluring eyes. "But... but, darling, why do you think he'll be more successful than Link Morgan, or the others? You, yourself, said that the Chief of Police is considered the most skilled hunter in the Valley..."

"Oh Carol... don't you see?" Jean tried to explain. "Mark is a very capable hunter, himself, and certainly a much more thorough man than Morgan. There'll be no liquor passing around amongst the men this time... and most of all, Mark has a very personal reason, or believes he has, to want the beautiful animal dead! Oh God... !"

Carol needed no resume concerning the latter fact. Though she could well understand his jealous reasoning, her sympathy was with Jean. Wasn't she, herself, nearly as much under the handsome animal's spell as the golden-haired girl seated across from her? Fleeting moments of her first night in the house when Caesar had mistakenly come to her, flashed through the vivacious brunette's anxious mind. Yes... yes, Jean was right; they just couldn't sit there and let those men destroy the erotic beast... !

"Oh Jean... wh-what can we do... ?"

"I-I don't know, Carol, but I've got to try and do something... at least, somehow warn him that they're out to kill him!" the young, curvaceous blonde wife exclaimed, suddenly getting to her feet.

"But how, Darling? I want to help, too!" the other earnestly declared. "But... but where do we start?"

"I-I'm not sure... somewhere out in those hills, I suppose!" Jean wildly reasoned. "I-I know we'll never find him... but maybe he'll find us!" She stared excitedly into Carol's sparkling eyes, her decision to act restoring some measure of confidence. "I-It's the only way I know to help him! Are... you with me, Carol... ?"

"Yes... yes! It may be crazy, but I agree, Honey... we have to do something!"

"Then, come on... let's change into clothes a little more practical for scouting!"

Link Morgan was a very infuriated man by the time he reached the Crescent Inn Tavern. Not only had he not slept in over twenty-four hours, but he'd just been thoroughly out-maneuvered by a cock-happy, spirited bitch named Lydia Newell! Without the slightest qualm, she had brazenly devoided him of his luscious, fuckable, suckable young niece Annie, and he didn't know how nor if, there was a goddamned thing he could do about it! Then, before he'd had time to regroup his mental forces, Frank Clifford had stood at his door saying something about a hunting posse being formed to wipe out the wild-pack with Mark Blakely leading it, and the deputy would like him to ride with them!

Shit, he could ill afford not to, and that was the truth! With three of his wanted, teenaged pushers hiding out in those hills, he damned sure didn't intend that Blakely should stumble onto them! Not that he gave a damn for their welfare, but sure as hell they'd crack under questioning and implicate him! He knew well enough where they were hidden and it shouldn't be too difficult to steer the deputy and his bunch clear of the place...

Sonofabitch, he thought as he drove toward the Inn, following Clifford in his pick-up, he'd think of some way to counter that Lydia bitch's lesbianistic piracy! He wasn't about to give up his little Annie after just turning on the nympho sex in her! Not by a damn sight!

His powerful legs trembled as he climbed from the car and walked toward the Inn, a combination, he realized, of no sleep and the wild fucking of lecherous young Lydia Newell taking their toll. Christ, that part of it had almost been worth the fee, he luridly thought, but not quite. His niece's sixteen-year old, rounded white tail of the pair, had a lot more lustful miles in it, and somehow he intended to reclaim its hot, youthful beauty... !

"What the hell's going on, Blakely?" the big man growled, grabbing a chair at Mark's table and dropping down onto it. "What's this about a posse?"

The young deputy sheriff glanced at Steve Foster across from him, then calmly advised the arrogant police chief of his plans and how he'd selected the other hunters. Finally, he added: "No liquor, Link... not on this mission."

"Wh-What the hell's it going to be, a meeting of the A.A. for Christ' sake?" the big man spat, his blood-shot, mean eyes and whiskey-flushed face twisted in a half-grin. "Hell, a man needs a nip or two out there to keep him going, Deputy. I don't know about any of the rest, but I'm taking a pint with me..."

"Then, we'll count you out of this expedition, Link," Mark said, with a matter-of-fact pencil-strike through the police officer's name on the paper. "I said, there'll be no booze on this posse..."

"And who the hell are you to give the orders in my town, Blakely?" the barrel-chested man angrily snarled, kicking back his chair and standing, his huge hands balling into ham-like fists.

The sound of male voices around them suddenly died into silence, but in several reminiscing minds, a shivering, similar occurrence of years past was vividly recalled! It too, had dealt with a Blakely, Mark's father, and this very same police chief had been his antagonist! Even Mark couldn't help but note the shuddering parallel, for it'd been shortly following his dad's public beating of Morgan that he'd been accidentally shot and killed while riding in a hunting posse... and by the huge man who stood ragingly before him!

With every ounce of effort he could muster, Mark forced his own anger under control as he stared unflinchingly upward into the big man's fury-reddened face. "It may well be your jurisdiction in town, Link, but outside those city limits, it's mine... and we'll do this my way! That's final! There'll be no liquor before or while we ride! If you're agreeable, we want you with us... and that's the way it is, Link!"

The powerful man's strained breathing filled the room. There was no question to any tensed occupant there but that he was struggling desperately to determine his next move, though they could hardly reason how or why he decided as he did. Only the big police chief, himself, realized that he couldn't chance discovery of the three wanted teenagers hiding in the hills. But there were other ways... one in particular that was evilly forming in his enraged brain. He'd been shamed in front of everyone, just as the sonofabitch's old-man had publicly shamed him... and no one could do that to Link Morgan and get away with it... !

Mark carefully watched the other, trying to anticipate any sudden move he might make. And then, he heard the massive man's sudden release of breath, indicating that the immediate crisis might be passed.

"All right, Blakely... okay," Link Morgan huskily said. "You win this round. I-It's more important that we finish off that goddamned wild-pack first... then, you and me... we'll settle our differences man to man, once and for all! Agreed?"

Mark shrugged his young, broad shoulders. "If that's what you want, Link. I'm ready anytime... after this Caesar menace is done away with."

"Good... then, let's get to destroying the fucking mutt- rapist and his pack!" the big man growled. "I'm ready... !"