That was his plan, until Poe answered him.
“I believe the reservation is about twenty miles wide for most of it.”
Well, shit.
That wasn’t happening.
Gamble knew what he needed to do. Honestly, he had very little choice. There was no way they’d outtravel the men. He fully expected them to show up with quads and begin tracking them.
Time was running out.
They needed to get somewhere safe.
“We need to send Diablo to the orchard where the other horses are, and then we’re going to have to be on foot for the rest of the time. We need to find a place to rest for a while.”
The man was curious.
“Why?” he asked. “We could make it to Native land on Diablo. He can do twenty miles with both of us on him.”
There was one reason.
“Because I have to go back to the house when it gets dark,” he stated.
That caught the man off-guard.
Poe gasped.
“Wait. What?” he asked. “You’re going to head back there?” he asked. “Where the men with guns are?”
He nodded.
It sounded crazy, but he had a good reason.
“Yes, I need to do that so I can figure out who we’re up against, and we need provisions. I can keep us alive in the woods for weeks,” he admitted. “I can play hide-and-seek with them and win, but I can’t do that without the basics. Plus, we left Rufus behind. I have to go back for our dog.”
Poe wasn’t shocked at his words.
He was a little shocked at the fact that he’d called Rufus‘our’dog.
As for his survival and heading back…
Poe was well aware of what was in Gamble’s military folder. Gamble had gone into countries and crept around for the CIA all of the time.
This would be the same thing.
No shock there.
What did confuse the hell out of him was that he’d go back for Rufus. The dog was more than likely going to be fine.
Who hurt dogs?
Or horses?
“Why the dog?” Poe asked.
For Gamble, that was easy. Maybe it was sentimental, or the fact that he’d been a Marine and they left no one behind.
“Because you gave him to me. He’s my dog,” he said. “I’m a Marine, and loyalty matters. If they haven’t killed him already, they will. If they did kill him, I’m going to do some damage.”