Chapter Thirty-Three
Doctor Bruce Banner had kept his horse at a fast trot so he could cover distance quickly without exhausting the poor animal, passing a man on horseback heading in the same direction as he neared the ranch. As he turned onto the drive for Bluestone Ranch, he could see some of the devastation from the road, but the scope of it wasn’t clear until he neared the ranch house. The main outbuildings were still smoldering in heaps, the ranch hands keeping the fires contained so they didn’t spread and endanger the land around them. The house was mostly in one piece, though one end of it was a ruined wreck, timber charred black, the wood damp from where water had doused the flames.
Bruce stopped his horse and buggy in front of the house, catching up his bag and stepping out of the buggy quickly. Dum Dum jogged over to the buggy, and pointed in the direction of the springhouse, where a canvas had been rigged as a sunshade.
“We’ve got the injured over here, Doc. Happy Sam is hurt pretty bad, and Steve and Bucky are shot, but they can wait a bit for help. They’re not as bad off as Happy Sam is.”
“Thank you.” Bruce said, hurrying towards the makeshift sunshade as the lone rider approached the ranch as well, but Bruce paid him no mind, more concerned with his patients. He saw three figures lying beneath the sunshade being tended to by Laura and Lila Barton, Sheriff Rhodes crouched between two of them, talking in a low voice. There were two other figures slightly apart from the others, but whoever they were, they had been wrapped up in sheets, telling Bruce all he needed to know about the state of their health.
Laura looked up from the third figure as Bruce approached. She was putting pressure on his abdomen, and Bruce hurried to kneel beside him on the other side.
“Someone got him with a knife.” Laura said fearfully. “I’ve done my best to stop the bleeding, but it’s still pretty bad.”
“We’ll get the bleeding stopped.” Bruce promised, looking to the unconscious man, before moving to check his injury. “I’ve seen worse. I need to check for more interior damage, but it looks like a clean slash. It didn’t breach the abdominal wall.” He looked to Laura, “I’m going to need boiling water. Can you-?”
She managed a smile. “We knew you would. We’ve got some on the fire, should be ready now. I’ll go and fetch the pot.”
Bruce nodded his thanks to Laura and went to work, listening to the sheriff’s conversation with Steve and Bucky as he did so.
“Clint Barton was able to get the gunman?” The sheriff was asking.
“Yeah. We have him covered up over by Falsworth, not that he deserves it.” Bucky agreed.
“We need to find-” Steve started, but the sheriff interrupted.
“The Fords raise some of the best hunting hounds in the state. I’ll go over myself to get them to join the search, use some of the hounds to find her.” Sheriff Rhodes promised Steve, which made Bruce pause in alarm. There was only one “her” on Bluestone Ranch.
“As soon as Doc gets us patched up, we can help look.” Bucky grunted out, a hand over his side.
“The two of you would be more hindrance than help. Neither of you will be able to ride a horse with those wounds without aggravating them.” Rhodes scoffed, “And I’m certain the Doc will tell you the same thing.”
“But-” Steve started, but the sheriff shook his head.
“We’ll find her. I’ll get a search party together as soon as I get to town. Don’t worry, Mister Rogers. He won’t get far with her. We’ll get your wife back.”
“Before he passed out, Sam gave a description. You’re looking for a man named Brock Rumlow, came into town just before the fourth. Yesterday he told me he was in town to get a filly his mother sold. I thought he meant a horse, but now I think he must have meant Runa.” Bucky said, remaining flat, though Steve tried to sit up, only to be pushed down by sheriff Rhodes.
“Any idea why this man wants your wife so badly?”
“I don’t know.”
“Perhaps I can fill in some of the gaps there.” A man said gravely, everyone three looking over at him.
“And who are you supposed to be, friend?” Sheriff Rhodes demanded, standing and facing the man while Steve and Bucky struggled to sit up.
“Agent Coulson with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. I was hired to find Miss Runa Freydis, who I understand is now Missus Runa Rogers?”
“If you were hired to find her, you can help look for her. She got carried off by someone.”
“I’m guessing a Mister Rumlow?”
Sheriff Rhodes narrowed his eyes. “And how did you know that?”
“Because I had hoped I would beat him here and warn her about what was coming. Here, I’ll lay it all out for you so you can understand what is going on.” Coulson promised.