Carnal Innocence

it in the way the men were shifting their feet, shifting their eyes away from the woman who lay bleeding on the ground.
    He set his gun down and unbuckled his belt. He was already hard at the idea of taking a woman by force. Once they saw how it was, what kind of man he was, they’d be behind him again.
    “Somebody’s coming, Billy.”
    “Probably that Will. Always was a day late and a dollar short.”
    He stepped over to Winnie, straddled her. He hooked a hand in the bodice of her nightgown when the car fishtailed to a halt, kicking dust as rifle fire split the air.
    “I got this pointed right at your balls, Billy T.” Tucker stepped out of the car, skin twitching at the idea of having guns aimed at him. “It’s got more of a kick than I do, I guarantee.”
    “This ain’t your concern.” Billy T. straightened, cursing himself for setting his weapon aside. “We come out here to do what should have been done already.”
    “Yeah, burning crosses is your style. Like killing anunarmed man.” He saw the blood on Winnie’s face and was sickened. “Hitting women. It takes a lot of guts to come out here, what, six of you against one man, a woman, and a couple of kids.”
    “This nigger’s been killing our women.”
    Tucker merely lifted a brow. “For all I know, you’ve been doing it.”
    “We’re hanging us a killer tonight. You think you can stop us? You and your drunken brother?” He hauled Winnie up in front of him and took two backward steps to reach his gun. “Seems to me there’s six of us and two of you.”
    Another set of headlights sliced the dark, and Della’s Olds cruised to a halt. Three women stepped out with rifles.
    “Remind me to give them all hell later,” Tucker muttered to Dwayne. “Looks like the odds just changed,” he said to Billy T. “Evened up quite a bit.”
    “You think we’re worried about a bunch of women?”
    To show her feelings about that, Della let off a shot that plowed the earth between Wood’s feet. “Y’all know I can shoot. And these two ladies here, well, they’re liable to get lucky. Caroline, you aim that Winchester at that asshole bleeding by the porch. He ain’t liable to be moving around too much, so you should get a clean shot.”
    Caroline swallowed, then shouldered the rifle.
    “Fuck this.” Wood tossed down his gun. “I ain’t shooting at no women any more than I’d be raping one.”
    “Then you might want to step out of the line of fire,” Tucker advised him. “Looks like it’s five to five.” His lips curved as he heard the siren. “And that’s about to change. Now, if I were you, Billy T., I’d set that woman down, real gentle like. Otherwise, my finger’s going to slip and I’m going to blow a hole through your brother.”
    “Jesus Christ, Billy, put her down.” John Thomas scrambled back against the steps.
    Billy T. licked his lips. “Maybe I’ll put one through you.”
    “I expect you could. But since you can’t work that rifle one-handed, you’ll have to put her down just the same. Then we’ll take our chances.”
    “Put her down, Billy,” Wood said quietly. “The gun, too. This is crazy business here.” He turned to the others. “This is crazy business.”
    In agreement, they tossed down their guns.
    “You’re standing alone now,” Tucker pointed out. “You can die alone, too. Doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me.”
    In disgust, Billy T. dropped Winnie to the ground, where she began to sob and crawl toward her husband. After tossing his gun aside, he started to walk toward his car.
    “I’d stand where you are,” Tucker said quietly.
    “You won’t shoot me in the back.”
    Tucker squeezed off a round that shattered the windshield. “The hell I wouldn’t.”
    “Go ahead and do it,” Cousin Lulu suggested. “Save the taxpayers money.”
    “That’s enough.” Caroline wiped sweaty hands on her jeans and hurried over to Winnie. “There’s nothing to worry about now.”
    “My babies.”
    “I’ll go to them in just a minute.” She fought the knot loose from Winnie’s wrists, hoping to free her before the children saw it. But they were already racing out of the house, Jim still carrying the butcher knife stained with John Thomas’s blood, and the little girl tripping over the hem of her nightgown.
    “Here now.” Caroline dragged the noose over Toby’s head. Her vision wavered with tears as she took the bloody knife to cut his bonds. “You’re hurt.” Her fingers came away