Roy came out of the Mercantile just as his quarry passed in front of him
on his way out of Red Springs. By the time he set aside the items he
had purchased, the wanted man was already cantering out the other end of town.
The ex-sheriff rushed to the livery but, by the time his horse was loaded
and ready for travel, he knew the young criminal was at least twenty minutes
ahead.
"Damn it!" Hunt cursed as he picked up and lost the trail three times in
as many hours.
Coming to a fork in the road, a well traveled place by the numerous wagon
and hoof marks, Roy decided to take a break.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Vin pulled up on Peso's reins and dismounted. He'd thought briefly
of just riding on as soon as Chris and Buck turned toward town, but knowing
Larabee, the gunslinger would be hunting him as soon as he figured out what
Tanner had done. Sometimes it was a burden to have such good friends.
Squatting down on his heels, the tracker picked up a smooth pebble and rolled
it between his thumb and forefinger.
He thought of Matthew, hoping that the kid would soon forget the horrors
of seeing his parents murdered right in front of him. At least he had
the Rutenbergs, an Aunt and Uncle, real family, to care for him. Vin
had been much the same age when he lost his mom, the only family he'd ever
known or ever would know. Maybe, if someone at the orphanage, the foster
homes or even the workhouse, had shown him real kindness, Tanner might have
forgotten his mother and the pain that remembering brought. He'd not
been so lucky to have something replace what she'd been to him, so he hung
on to the memory of her like the treasure it was.
Looking down at the stone in his hand, he'd heard it referred to as a worry
stone, and that, by rubbing across the surface, it would somehow take some
of a person's troubles away. He huffed in disbelief as he threw it as
far as he could.
Looking around, Vin figured he was only a few miles from the Texas/New Mexico
border. It was a bittersweet thing to be so close to his home state.
He'd been driven out like an animal a few years ago and was headed back because
some son-of-a-bitch, thought to use the Tanner name for killing.
"I'll die first," he whispered on the wind, a promise and a vow he meant
to keep.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
The twins were arguing when Roy entered the small camp.
"I ain't stayin' 'round here an' gettin' my fool head shot off!" Dow
paced back and forth in front of the fire listening to his brother rant.
It was the same argument they'd been having for the last several days, every
time Roy rode away, Dewey started in about leaving.
The older twin quieted when he heard the footfalls of their leader's horse
as it entered through a grove of trees. He wondered anxiously how much
the younger man had heard. For the last two hours, he'd been trying
to get his brother to ride out with him but Dow was so afraid of Roy, he refused.
They had enough money stashed to live like kings in Mexico for the next few
years and the outlaw was puzzled why they kept exposing themselves with more
robberies.
Gross dropped the reins and crossed his arms across his narrow chest; as
a first response, he had thought to put a bullet between Dow's eyes.
He fought down the urge to murder, figuring that even if he got a killing
shot off, Dewey would have enough time to pull his own gun. Time enough
to take care of these two later, but for now he'd pretend like he hadn't heard
anything.
"Boys." He swung down off the tall leggy bay and pulled down the saddlebags.
Dewey was the first to speak, "No luck, boss?" he referred to the trip into
Red Springs to gather information on the next stage.
"Nope, but I got some dry goods." Pulling the items out of the bag,
he tossed the sack of ground coffee to Dewey. "Put a fresh pot on, will
ya?" He smiled to see the nervous movements of the other man.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Half the day was gone by the time that Chris and Buck headed out of the
old boomtown. Larabee had sent a telegraph to Four Corners, letting
the other men know what direction they were headed. He had not waited
for a response, wanting to get back to Vin as soon as possible.
Five miles outside town, Buck found the first marker pointing toward the
western side of the pass. It was nothing more than four rocks crudely
shaped into and arrow and lying on a bed of dry sage grass. Wilmington
shared a smile with the gunslinger, knowing that Tanner had gone out of his
way to make sure the two men could read his sign.
It was getting dark by the time they came along side the river. They
moved slowly, making sure they would not miss any of the rock formations that
the tracker left them.
"I think we should be plum insulted, pard," Buck shook his head at Chris.
"Why's that?"
"That boy don't think two old men like us can read trail."
Before the blond could reply, a lone figure stepped out of a corps of trees
about 100 yards to their right.
"Speak of the devil," Wilmington threw back over his shoulder as he spurred
his mare into a trot.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Mary Travis waited with the growing crowd for the stage to come through.
She'd been expecting a missive from Orrin and Evie regarding their plans for
the coming holidays. Christmas was several months away and her in-laws
had been putting pressure on her to bring Billy and come to Kansas City for
the season.
"Mrs. Travis."
Hearing her name, Mary turned to see the telegraph operator head toward
her waving a yellow piece of paper.
"Yes, Lester. What is it?" She met him and took the paper from
his hand. Scanning the contents, she thanked the young man and headed
toward the jail.
It seemed that the three peacekeepers were near Red Springs and from the
brief note from Chris, it sounded like they were getting ready to head into
Texas.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
"I tell ya what, Dewey. What say, we divvy up the money now?"
Those were the first words Roy had spoken since he'd asked for coffee earlier
in the day. "You boys can go on 'bout your own business."
Dow glanced nervously from one man to the other. His loyalty to his
brother was bound by blood and he would stand with him no matter what.
He realized that things had taken a deadly turn when Roy's hand swept his
duster back off his left hip, stood suddenly and shot Dewey right between
the eyes.
The younger twin was so shaken that he didn't have time to think of reaching
for his own gun. His first instinct was to get to his brother.
A bullet in his back pierced his heart as it passed through him.
Gross smiled and re-holstered his weapon, "Well, I guess Tanner got greedy
boys."
He kicked the fire out and then let one of the horses loose, keeping the
other to carry his money and supplies.
He had one more stop before he left the area. His cache was only about
a half mile back toward Red Springs, at the base of a rocky outcropping.
Roy rubbed his hands together… all that money was his now.
He rolled the twins bodies over into a ravine, knowing that the wildlife
would soon take care of their remains.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Ray Hunt sipped the warm coffee. He'd put his small fire out as soon
as he'd cooked his supper. He felt confident that he had picked up the
gang's trail and would be upon them by morning. Close enough that a
fire might give his position away, so he'd drink cold coffee and head out
at first light.
Come hell or high water, he was taking Vin Tanner in to stand trial for
the murders and robbery. If he were lucky, the old sheriff would have
all three outlaws under arrest.
Gunshots in the distance had Ray on his feet and reaching for the Winchester
by his bedroll.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
The echo of shots bounced off the rock base behind the small camp. Chris
was on his feet, spinning around toward the sound just behind Vin. Tanner
was up and over the boulders before the gunslinger could reach him.
"Buck, get the horses ready," Larabee threw over his shoulder as he scrambled
up after the tracker.
Vin kept down behind the rocks; scanning the area and wishing it were light
enough to use his eyeglass. A dark shadow, leading two horses, edged
along the tree line, heading in their direction.
The moon gave off enough light that the Texan could see by the shape that
it was a man, but his features were obscured by the added shadow of his hat.
Chris cursed softly under his breath when his boot scuffed against a rock
as he moved in beside Tanner, the noise loud enough to snap the sharpshooters
blue eyes around in warning.
Vin used hand signals to show the gunslinger the direction of the shots
and point out the lone man moving along the bottom of the rocky base.
He dropped his wrist down and wiggled two fingers, and then pointed in the
direction of where the gunfire had sounded.
The blond shook his head and just missed a handful of buckskin jacket as
Tanner turned away, scuttling over the boulders and dropping down the other
side. Chris kept his eyes trained on the stranger who was slowly disappearing
in the darkening night.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Ray and Buck came face to face as Wilmington lead the three horses out onto
the trail. Both men reached for their guns simultaneously.
"Now, this is what I'd call a Mexican standoff, if'n we were South of the
Border," a grim smile graced his handsome features.
Ray tipped his head, acknowledging what the younger man said was true.
Buck's head came up sharply when the older man's gun lifted and trained
on something or someone at his back. He felt relief when he heard Chris'
voice.
"You going to use that thing?" Larabee was pissed. He'd lost
Vin and the other man out in the darkness. Then he'd come back to camp
and find Buck gone. It hadn't taken the blond long to find his friend.
"My name's Ray Hunt, ex-sheriff from Tascosa. I'm after a gang of
killers." He didn't mind disclosing that information, knowing these
men were not part of the gang. Still, he held his gun pointed at the
man in black, since he didn't know they weren't part of another gang.
Buck walked backwards until he was level with Chris, "You got papers to
prove it?"
"I'm going to reach real slowly into my vest pocket." Ray pulled out
the tin star and flung it at the men's feet.
"Name's Chris Larabee and this is Buck Wilmington. We've got another
man with us. We're the law from Four Corners."
As soon as this was disclosed, Hunt returned his weapon to its resting place
in his holster and stepped forward to shake hands.
"We're looking for a man wanted for murder." Buck reached down as
he spoke and picked up the lose reins and handed the blond Peso's.
"Might be, we're after the same man."
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Vin got close enough to see the stranger disappear off the trail.
He studied the tracks and knew that he could find this man later. The
lead horse had a chunk out of its front left hoof and left a distinctive mark.
For now, he wanted to see what had been shot and, with that in mind, Tanner
moved cautiously toward the remains of a campfire.
It took him less than a minute to find where the two men had been dragged
and shoved over the ravine. He didn’t bother climbing down, with the
blood on the ground and the shadow of the moon, he could tell nothing was
moving down in the pit.
The tracker was quiet but fast as he moved back toward his own camp.
Suddenly worried about Chris and Buck, a knot of anxiety settled in the pit
of his stomach.
He'd reached the clearing just as the old man made that last statement.
Vin started stepping backward, intending to keep himself away from this lawman,
but it was too late. Even as he moved, the other man's hand went for
his gun.
"Stop or I'll shoot." Roy almost lost his breath when he saw Vin Tanner
standing there bigger than life. He saw the longhaired man reach for
his gun, and he fired his own in response to the threat.
Chris stepped in front of the old sheriff as soon as he saw him reach for
his gun, throwing his hand up. The grunt of pain he heard from the tracker
let him know he was too late.
Vin realized his mistake as soon as he reached for his hog leg. It
had been an automatic reaction to the threat he felt. Throwing himself
sideways and hoping to avoid a serious wound, he felt the shock of the bullet
as it entered high on his hip. He was thrown off balance and flew backwards,
hitting his recently wounded shoulder hard on the rocky ground.
"What the fuck!" Buck was frozen as he watched Vin get shot and then
Larabee fire a second bullet that took the gun out of the old man's hand,
leaving a bloody furrow along the back of Roy's wrist and his weapon broken
in the dust.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Roy had just reached his stash when he heard the echo of gunfire.
Pulling his revolver out of its holster, he reached for the two sets of saddlebags
that were stuffed with silver, gold, and paper money.
The moon kept falling behind clouds and obscuring his vision as he made
his way out of the narrow opening. Shadows danced along the ground
and set his heart to pounding. Twice, he almost fired his weapon before he
reached the place where he had ground tied the two horses.
"Damn!" Both animals were gone. Hunkering down, he studied the
brush he'd tied his horse's reins to and saw the bit of leather laying on
the ground. Looking behind him, Roy half expected to find the culprit
over his shoulder. For a brief moment, he regretted shooting the twins.
At least they would have offered some protection.
This close to Texas on one side, and a few days ride from Mexico, he was
caught in the middle of Apache and Comanche territory.
Roy knew he wouldn’t get far without at least one horse, and the bags of
money were too heavy to take any distance on his back. Scanning the
area again, he looked toward where he thought the gunfire might have come
from. The outlaw figured he could find at least one beast there to carry
him and his burden.
Taking no chances with his money, Gross shoved the leather pouches back
under some brush. Breaking off a branch, he used it to wipe away any
marks that would give away its hiding place.
Feeling confident he'd be back before light, the killer headed straight
back down the dusk covered trail.
Buckskin fringe flashed as a broad faced Indian stepped out onto the landscape
behind the white man. A big smile bloomed as he moved back into the
shadows and retrieved the items hidden under the bush and faded into the night.
The Apache would meet up with his brothers and they would celebrate this
night's raid. He had two strong horses with two rifles. Now he
had whatever was in the bags that the white man thought was worth killing
for.
The Indian left no clear sign he'd ever been there.
^^^^^^MAG 7^^^^^
Chris squatted down beside Vin, reaching out with one hand to push the tracker
back down on the ground, even as he kept his gun leveled on the lawman.
"Buck!" The blond was pleased to see that the other man was already
taking the canteens and medical bag down off his horse.
"Get off a me!" Tanner choked. Larabee's hand in the middle
of his chest was pushing his injured shoulder back in the ground. The
Texan could already feel a wetness soaking into his shirt from his blessedly
numb hip.
"Hold still." The black clad gunslinger hissed.
Ray took off his bandana and wrapped it around his bleeding hand.
Careful not to look at his gun, he stepped to the left. Opening his
mouth to explain who this man was that the two peacekeepers were trying to
help, he shut it when the sawed-off pointed at him from the injured man.
Finally, he recognized the protective way the blond was positioned in front
of Tanner, so he backed off.
Buck put his hand on Chris' shoulder, letting his friend know he was there
before he knelt down on the other side Vin.
