Outlaw's Reckoning (16 page)

“Answer my question, dammit,” Dell croaked. “Are you holding up your end of the deal or not? I need a goddamn doctor.”

Clint looked around and then nodded. “You'll get your doctor.”

“Fine, then. There's a town not too far down the way. It ain't too big, but there should be a—”

“There's a town even closer,” Clint cut in. “It's called Lohrens. Perhaps you've heard of it.”

Dell was quiet, but he was squirming enough to almost slip off of Eclipse's back. “You take me there and they'll arrest me.”

“That's the idea.”

“God damn you. God damn both of you.”

“If that upsets you so much, maybe we should just leave you here,” Matt offered. “I'm sure you can inch your way along to a safer town in a day or two. Or maybe a week or two considering your injury.”

Clint turned Eclipse around and flicked the reins. He knew Ben and the others weren't about to show up if they weren't already there. Already, Clint was feeling foolish for taking the gamble that Ben would wait around to see if Dell might be able to meet up with him.

“I'll take him back into town,” Clint said.

But Matt remained at Clint's side. “Alone?”

“I don't see a need for both of us to go.”

“You could use a scout,” Matt said. “After what you've done to help me so far, the least I can do is make sure you don't wind up in a jail cell for what Ben Jarrett did to that woman.”

“You don't want to keep after Ben yourself?” Clint asked.

“Sure I do. But, truth be told, I think I stand a better chance of finding him with you than without you.”

Clint nodded. “All right, then. If you'd really like to help, I can think of something that would be a whole lot more useful than scouting.”

 
Marshal Lind was still kicking himself for losing sight of all those horses. He'd had a hard enough time pulling together enough deputies to form a posse, but keeping them riding toward a gun battle was even tougher. When the outlaws had scattered like buckshot from a shotgun barrel, some of his deputies had even seemed glad.

Now, as he circled the town and led his men along a few broken trails, Marshal Lind felt as if he'd wasted his time in trying to hunt down the killers. The woman in the hotel was still dead and the murderers were out of the town's limits. Lind's job was done. It was time to go home.

“Marshal!” shouted one of the few deputies who were still enthusiastic about being out there. “I see someone!”

“Where?” Lind asked.

“Right there. You think it's one of those men we're after?”

Lind squinted into the distance as more of his men gathered around. “He's coming this way.”

While Lind watched, the rider they'd spotted stopped at a spot less than a hundred and fifty yards away. The marshal didn't like the way the man was perched in his saddle, but before he could say or do anything about it, the rider had already fired a shot at him.

“That's enough of that,” Lind said. “Gather up anyone you can find and follow me. We'll either bring that gunman in or send him across the state line with his tail between his legs.”

The deputies who were eager to continue the chase were more than willing to follow Lind's command. The rest of the posse, who were more interested in going home, were reminded of why they'd agreed to come along with Lind in the first place.

Every one of the lawmen got his horse running toward the rider with the gun until the ground rumbled with a sound similar to a stampede.

Seeing what had been unleashed, the rider pointed his horse in the opposite direction and dug his heels into the animal's sides. That sent a wave of excitement through the younger lawmen, which turned the pursuit into a race to see who could nab the rider first.

 
“What the hell's going on out there?” Dell asked in a delirious voice that was becoming more slurred the longer he was forced to stay upright.

Clint lowered his spyglass and grinned. “Matt's doing one hell of a good job, that's what's going on.”

“Sounds more like he's stirred up a goddamn riot.”

“Exactly.”

Clint watched for a few more seconds, until he was satisfied that most, if not all, of the posse members were chasing after Matt. Once the path back into Lohrens had been cleared, Clint flicked his reins so Eclipse could take a straight run into town.

“All right,” Clint said. “Let's make sure the marshal has a nice little gift waiting for him when he gets back.”

“Did you get Dell to a doctor?” Matt asked. “Or did you just drop the whining bastard off somewhere?”

Clint pulled back on his reins and took a moment to catch his breath. “As inviting as that second choice was, I followed up on the first.”

“Oh well.”

“Don't be too disappointed, though. I made sure the doctor knew who he was getting and why he should hand him over to the marshal at his first chance. Before I left, the doctor almost had Dell tied up even tighter than we did.”

Matt chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn. I almost feel sorry for poor Dell.”

“Almost, huh?”

“Yeah, but not quite.”

“Did the marshal or any of his men get any lucky shots in?”

“I didn't even see the marshal or any of his men. Still, I don't think we should press our luck by staying anywhere in the vicinity of Lohrens for a while. My business is done there, but I wish we could see the looks on some of those people's faces when they get word about what happens to Ben Jarrett after we get ahold of him.”

“So you're still going after him?” Clint asked.

There was no mistaking the intensity in Matt's eyes as he replied, “I won't rest until he's taken care of. Even if he never came after me for that money I took, I would've gone after him sooner rather than later.”

“So you really took all that money from Ben Jarrett's pockets?”

Although Matt had been intense before, some of his fire dimmed a bit and was replaced by a mischievous glint as he said, “Yeah. Every last penny of it.”

“Do you know where it came from?”

“I doubt even he knows. It was pulled together from so many robberies, but a good chunk of it came from when they cleaned out the coffers of a railroad tycoon in Sacramento.”

“You mean Harrold Winstrom?” Clint asked.

“You know him?”

“I read about him in the papers. It said he was supposed to have extorted money from all of his investors to pay for a new line running all the way to the Badlands. Turns out he just pocketed the money and tried to make a run into Canada.”

Matt nodded like a proud poppa watching his child win a footrace. “That's the one. It was the perfect job, too. He stole all that money from folks who trusted him, so he couldn't just go to the law when the money was stolen from him. I bet he didn't even want it showing up in the newspaper.”

“You really do strike down that whole honor among thieves idea.”

“There ain't no honor where thieves are concerned,” Matt said quietly. “Leastways, not among the thieves I've ever met. One thing I can say for certain is that Ben Jarrett don't even know what honor means.”

Both men were riding at a steady pace, allowing the horses to catch their breath while still covering some ground. They were headed south, but hadn't exactly pinned down where they would wind up. For the moment, Clint was enjoying the calm after the storm as the sun worked its way to the horizon and bathed the land in a warm, purple glow.

“Speaking of Jarrett,” Clint said, “do you know where we might be able to find him again?”

Letting his eyes wander in the same leisurely fashion as his horse's, Matt replied, “Not as such. I didn't ride with him for more than a few months, or maybe pushing close to a year, but he's not the sort to tip his hand to anyone. All I know for certain is that he'll be coming after me.”

Clint nodded and shifted his eyes toward Matt so he could see the other man's reaction when he told him, “I do have an idea about that.”

“And why do I have the feeling that the idea involves one of us dangling on a hook like a worm?”

Although he didn't want to confirm that suspicion right away, Clint had to admit that Matt was thinking along the right lines.

“It's all right, Adams,” Matt said. “That's the same idea I had. Besides, putting me out there for Ben to find is a hell of a lot easier than trying to track him down.”

“I'll do my best to make sure Ben doesn't get a clean shot at you.”

“No need for the sweet talk. A man shouldn't make promises he can't keep.”

“Don't worry,” Clint said. “This is a promise I know I can keep.”

Considering they had a gang of killers after them, Clint and Matt had a relatively easy ride farther into Wyoming. The air grew crisper and colder as the hours wore on, forcing them to pull on a few more layers to protect themselves from the elements. The cold also made every last sound crackle through the air and catch their attention like pebbles rattling on a tin roof.

Clint could never quite figure out why things sounded louder in the cold. They just did. Rather than try to figure out how nature's little oddities worked, Clint leaned back in his saddle and reaped the rewards of being able to hear anything bigger than a jackrabbit running his way.

Neither man allowed himself to relax fully, however, since even the coldest air wouldn't allow them to hear a rifleman sighting in on them. They kept their eyes open and stuck to trails that cut across wide stretches of equally open land. There wasn't much more for them to do beyond that. Everything else would boil down to keeping their senses sharp and their instincts sharper.

After riding for two days, neither Clint nor Matt had seen more than a glimpse of Ben Jarrett or any other men who might have been riding with Jarrett. Those glimpses had come in dribs and drabs, ranging from a fleeting bit of motion miles away to seeing a couple of men on horseback perched upon a ridge.

Clint and Matt had taken turns trying to get a closer look at these riders, but had never been able to find any of them. That only served to make Clint certain that they were either Jarrett's scouts or Jarrett himself looking in on them from afar.

Although Matt's good humor only grew better as they drew closer to their destination, Clint wasn't so quick to follow suit. When they finally reached the little town of Saddlewood, Clint raised his spyglass and took in the surrounding area through the polished lenses.

Saddlewood was a small place that basically consisted of one street and a few buildings scattered away from the two rows facing the street. Since it was situated in the middle of a flat piece of ground stretching for miles in every direction, the town wasn't exactly in danger of being taken by surprise.

“You sure about coming here?” Clint asked.

“Definitely. It's one of the main reasons I stopped stealing money and started handing it over.”

“Would Ben know about this reason of yours?”

“Yep. And he would have made his way here one way or another. I'd much rather be here than let him have free rein.”

Clint lowered the spyglass and tucked it back into his saddlebag. “Looks like we're on our own for now, but it wouldn't be hard for Ben to figure out we're here.”

“It wouldn't have been hard to track us even if he hadn't been keeping an eye on us the whole time. Besides,” Matt added while showing Clint a wry smirk, “isn't it the plan for him to know right where he can get to me?”

“You're right. Ride on ahead and I'll hang back here for a while so I don't get in the way of Ben's sights.” Clint held onto his stony expression for a few seconds before letting out a short laugh. “So what brings you to this place anyway?” he asked. “Are you looking to hand out some more of that money?”

“There isn't much more of it left,” Matt replied as he dug into one of his pockets. “But I figure you should have most of what there is.”

Clint looked down at the hand the outlaw was extending and saw a fat wad of money in it that was close in size to the other ones he'd handed out. “What's this for?”

“Consider it a way of paying you back for the time you've spent helping me out.”

“I didn't have any plans anyway.”

“Then consider it payment for putting your neck on the line,” Matt said with exasperation. “Just take the damn money.”

Clint shook his head. “Keep it. I won't tell you again.”

Matt grumbled to himself and stuffed the money back into his pocket. “I've run into plenty of firsts over the last few months and this is another one.”

“Don't you have anyone else on your list who could use it?”

“There's more folks on that list than there's money in anyone's pockets, but that ain't the point. After this stop here, there's only one more.”

“Sounds like you've got everything pretty well figured.” Shrugging, Matt shifted his eyes to the small town. The longer Clint looked at Saddlewood, the less it looked like a town at all. In fact, it seemed more like a populated stretch of road that just happened to have a few buildings lined up on either side of it. A few folks could be seen moving along the street, but there were as many figures wandering back and forth between the houses scattered around the main street.

“Where does she live?” Clint asked.

Matt glanced over at him again, but this time there was a bit of surprise on his face. “How did you know there was a woman?”