Escape from Fort Benton

by Scott Connor

  ‘Struck a good deal?’ Nathan asked.

  ‘Sure did. The horse, belongings and gun are now yours – again.’ Quincy reached into his pocket, then counted out four dollar bills into Nathan’s hand. ‘You two worked hard today, so buy yourself a meal and a drink.’

  ‘We’re even more obliged, and if you’re so satisfied, could you use the services of two hard-working men?’

  ‘Nope.’ Quincy rubbed his jaw as he considered, then pointed out of town. ‘As the nearest town is Providence, about fifty miles south of here, I assume you’ll be heading further east.’

  ‘We sure will. We’re not risking meeting Kenton Taylor again.’

  ‘Then you’re being sensible. You’ll get to Dearborn City in two days. You could try Carter Jones there. He’s a bigger horse-trader than I am. I don’t know whether he’ll have work available, but just mention my name and that you did good work for me. It’ll give you a place to start.’

  They tipped their hats and thanked him. While Quincy rode off, they debated whether to stay in town and get that meal and drink, or whether to buy provisions from the store and cook for themselves.

  Despite the mouth-watering aroma of sizzling steak coming from somewhere and the lively chatter emerging from the saloon, they agreed that staying out of people’s sight when they were still so close to Fort Benton was the best plan.

  So they looked for the store, but whereas Jeff continued turning until he located it, Nathan’s gaze stopped at the saloon.

  ‘Come on,’ Jeff said. ‘We agreed to move on and not go to the saloon.’

  ‘We did, but we can’t move on just yet.’

  Nathan pointed, drawing Jeff’s attention to the line of horses at the hitching-rail. The horse furthest from them was Jeff’s horse.

  ‘Kenton Taylor is in the saloon,’ Jeff said, his eyes flaring.

  ‘Yeah. Even if we are moving on, we’ve got unfinished business with him.’

  Nathan set off at a determined pace with Jeff hurrying to catch up with him. He reached the boardwalk and stomped to a halt in the saloon doorway.

  With his hands holding on to the batwings, he looked around the room. A dozen or so men were within, most playing or watching a poker-game by the side wall, but Nathan’s gaze alighted on the man sitting alone at the back nursing a coffee.

  This man had his hat pulled down low and he didn’t look at them as most of the other people did, but even with his limited view of his features, Nathan was sure it was Kenton.

  He glanced over his shoulder. He received a nod. With Jeff a pace behind him, he headed across the room and swung to a halt before the table looking down at Kenton.

  Although Nathan’s shadow fell across the table, Kenton didn’t look up, but his hand tensed then shifted to the edge of table. Nathan noted he was wearing the initialed gun.

  Nathan waited. Slowly Kenton raised his head to look at him. Long before his gaze reached Nathan’s face, he nodded with recognition.

  ‘It seems you found me, Nathan,’ he said. He flashed a grin, then let a deep scowl contort his features before he lowered his head again. ‘Now, leave me.’

  ‘You know we can’t do that. We broke you out of jail and yet you stole everything we had and left us to face a whole heap of trouble back in Fort Benton.’

  ‘I did you a favor. The likes of you would never have seen off a posse. I gave you a chance to get away while I lost them.’

  Nathan snorted. ‘That’s a lie and you know it.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Kenton laughed then looked up, showing no sign of humor in his cold eyes. ‘But think of this – I did you a favor by not killing you. Now, unless you want to call me out and get yourself all filled with holes, leave.’

  Nathan gestured at Jeff. ‘There are two of us.’

  Kenton’s gaze flicked to Jeff then cupped a hand around his mug.

  ‘You’ve still got only the one gun between you.’

  ‘We aren’t going nowhere until you answer our questions.’ Nathan waited for a response, but Kenton just sipped his coffee. ‘We want to know who really killed Frank Reed. We want to know why you were to face a firing-squad on Wednesday. We want to know about—’

  ‘Nathan, we only came for our horse,’ Jeff urged.

  Nathan shook his head, now feeling the pent-up irritations of the last few days welling up inside.

  ‘Just talk,’ he grunted.

  Kenton took another sip before he replied.

  ‘Answers to questions like those haven’t got nothing to do with you.’

  ‘But they have got plenty to do with you.’ Nathan softened his voice. ‘No matter how often you threaten us, I reckon you’re not the outlaw you appeared to be back in Fort Benton.’

  Kenton laughed. This time his amusement reached his eyes before he blinked it away.

  ‘Don’t risk finding out.’

  ‘I will, because you’re just being too tolerant for a man who they say killed Frank Reed. So answer my questions and then tell me about the subject Jeff didn’t want me to mention – the ten thousand dollars.’

  Kenton tensed, his sudden hand-twitch making the mug slip from his hand and splash coffee over the table.

  ‘Go away.’

  Nathan leaned down to the table, placing his hands flat to the wood and sharing Kenton’s eye-line.

  ‘I’m not and while you’re talking, you can tell me about Decker’s prisoner in the tower.’

  Kenton narrowed his eyes as he looked into Nathan’s eyes.

  For long moments they glared at each with their faces just inches apart. Nathan heard Jeff shuffling from foot to foot as he resisted the urge to drag him away.

  He could also sense the eyes of everyone in the saloon on them and he reckoned that scrutiny more than anything else would prey on Kenton’s mind. Sure enough, Kenton flinched back.

  ‘Not here,’ he said and stood up. Without further word he walked past them and headed to the door.

  ‘What did you go and raise all that for?’ Jeff said when Kenton had left the saloon. ‘I thought we were getting my horse off him, then moving on.’

  ‘We were, but like you keep telling me, I’m just plain too curious for my own good.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Four miles out of Shinbone, Kenton headed off the trail.

  He rode alongside a series of increasingly large boulders until he reached a grouping of two huge boulders, a line of small rocks set before them providing a semicircular shelter.

  As agreed, Nathan and Jeff followed 200 hundred yards back as they ensured nobody followed them out of town.

  When they joined Kenton, he was sitting on a rock and looking at the plains, the gathering darkness isolating him. He gestured for them to sit with him.

  In the gap between the huge boulders and the smaller rocks there were several circles of blackened stones, suggesting this was a common place for travelers to make camp.

  ‘Give me a straight answer or I’ll tell you nothing,’ Kenton said. ‘Why do you want to know?’

  Nathan picked up a handful of dirt and sprinkled it through his fingers while he put his thoughts in order.

  ‘We heard a rumor about ten thousand dollars being in the fort,’ he said. ‘We got it into our heads that freeing you would get us that money as a reward.’

  ‘Do you still want that money?’

  ‘No. We’re wanted man in Fort Benton so we’re moving on.’

  ‘So why do you care about any of this?’

  Jeff spoke up. ‘Because you stole my horse and we’re not leaving here until you—’

  ‘Yeah, I know, but I don’t reckon that concerns Nathan.’

  Nathan shrugged. ‘We broke you out of jail and if someone ever comes looking for us, we’d like to know whether you’re a guilty man or an innocent man.’

  ‘Then I’ll tell you this,’ Kenton said. ‘I’m guilty of plenty, but I didn’t kill Frank Reed.’

  ‘Then who did kill him?’

  Kenton stood up and paraded around on the
spot, his firm jaw suggesting he was debating whether to answer.

  ‘Nobody killed him,’ he said, finally. ‘He’s still alive. That’s why it’ll be easy after Wednesday to prove I didn’t do it.’ Kenton snorted a harsh chuckle. ‘Frank’s the prisoner in the tower.’

  Nathan looked aloft, nodding. ‘Some of this is starting to fit together, but what I don’t understand is, if that’s true, why did you leave him there?’

  ‘Until you mentioned him in the saloon, I didn’t know where Decker was hiding him, but once I’ve gathered together the rest of my folk, I will go back for him by Wednesday.’

  ‘Why then?’

  ‘You’ve got an awful lot of questions in you for a man who’s moving on. Will it stop those questions if I say you’ll never get your hands on the ten thousand dollars?’

  ‘But it does exist?’

  ‘Nope. That was Decker’s offer to Frank and me for our land. We turned it down and that’s why he took Frank prisoner and tried to destroy me by claiming I killed him.’

  Kenton turned to look into the descending darkness, not offering any more details. After waiting a polite amount of time, Jeff spoke up.

  ‘We know your family and the Reeds feuded for years until Frank married your sister,’ he said. ‘Is Decker trying to take advantage of that situation?’

  Kenton didn’t reply immediately. When he did eventually speak his voice was low and resigned and had none of the arrogance he’d shown earlier.

  ‘It’s common knowledge we ended our feud, but what isn’t commonly known is the deal our fathers did to ensure it would end for good. They wrote in their wills that a year and a day after the last of them died, Frank and me would have to draw up a new title to our land to combine our ranches into one. If we didn’t, we’d have to put all the land up to auction.’

  ‘Did you draw up that title?’

  ‘We did, but we didn’t figure on Decker stopping us registering it. His office is the land office and we have to report there by three o’clock on Wednesday, a year and a day after Frank’s father died, or the land goes to the highest bidder. You can guess the rest. With me in jail and with Frank in the tower, we couldn’t stop the land going to auction, and Decker will ensure he’s the only bidder. It’ll fetch a lot less than ten thousand dollars.’

  ‘But now that you’re free, you’ll register?’

  ‘I sure will, but I’ll get Frank out first so Decker doesn’t take out his rage on him.’ Kenton turned to them. ‘Anything you can tell me about what you saw in that tower will be appreciated.’

  Nathan nodded and reached into his pocket for the key.

  ‘Hey,’ Jeff shouted. ‘You threw that . . . ’

  ‘I’m sorry, but I kept it.’ Nathan patted Jeff’s shoulder until he smiled, then held out the key. ‘Take it.’

  Kenton took the key. It might have been a sudden cooling breeze passing over him, but that action relaxed the tension from Nathan’s shoulders. Then Nathan described the layout of the tower and the space he’d seen behind the wall.

  Kenton nodded frequently and rechecked the details. Then he turned away and rocked his head from side to side.

  ‘Have you got a plan in mind?’ Nathan asked.

  ‘Not yet. I’m guessing Decker locked Frank in there so he can hear him taking control of our land. It isn’t enough for that man to win. He has to see his victims suffer. But if I can get in and get him out . . .’

  Kenton continued to look down the trail towards Shinbone, but then he swirled round to face Nathan, his eyes opening wide.

  ‘I’ll tell you anything you want to know,’ Nathan said. ‘You can keep the horse now that we—’

  ‘I don’t care about that,’ Kenton roared, his gaze darting up to look over Nathan’s shoulder. ‘You brought Decker with you.’

  Nathan swirled round and saw that 300 yards down the trail, seven riders were thundering towards them. They were still too far away to see who they were, but Nathan was sure Kenton was right and the lead man was Decker.

  ‘We didn’t lead Decker to you,’ Nathan said, backing away from Kenton.

  ‘I don’t believe that,’ Kenton snapped. ‘I know I abandoned you in Fort Benton, but I was desperate. I didn’t think you’d repay me like this.’

  ‘We’re not repaying you for what you did, because we’re fighting with you against him.’

  Kenton continued to glare at them, but as a gunshot from the advancing men whistled into the rocks to his side, he vaulted over the rocks and hunkered down on the other side.

  Nathan and Jeff jumped over to join him and although both men looked at Kenton, hoping to discuss tactics, he didn’t look at either man. Instead, he crawled away in the opposite direction, seeking the more substantial cover of the larger rocks.

  Nathan raised himself and saw that Decker and his men were gaining cover behind a tangle of rocks about forty yards away.

  ‘It’s time to give yourself up, Kenton,’ Decker shouted from behind his cover, the delight in his tone evident.

  ‘Go to hell,’ Kenton shouted. ‘I’d sooner die here than face your firing-squad back in Fort Benton.’

  Decker laughed. ‘That’s pretty much what Frank Reed said, just before I killed him.’

  Kenton glanced at Nathan, urging him with flared eyes to be quiet and not reveal that he knew Frank was still alive. Nathan returned a downwards calming gesture with his hands, conveying that he realized that Decker was trying to goad him into acting rashly.

  ‘Frank always was impetuous,’ Kenton said, his tone calm. ‘He probably had it coming to him. Me, I just want to return to Providence.’

  ‘I can’t let you do that – unless you accept my deal – five thousand dollars.’

  ‘It was ten thousand last week.’

  ‘It’ll keep going down until that deadline passes. Then, it’ll go to the highest bidder and that’ll be me.’ Decker raised himself as he laughed, the sound echoing amongst the rocks. ‘I reckon one dollar should see off all opposition.’

  ‘You won’t get away with this!’ Kenton bobbed up and fired at Decker, his wild gunfire forcing him to dive for cover.

  ‘I’ll take that for your answer,’ Decker shouted, hidden from view. ‘But my quarrel is just with you, Kenton. If your friends want to leave, I’ll let them go.’

  Kenton snorted, then fast crawled along the ground to join Nathan.

  ‘Ignore that. He won’t let any of us get out of this alive.’

  ‘We know, and know this – we’re with you,’ Nathan said.

  Kenton reached into his pocket for the gun he’d taken off Jeff two days ago.

  ‘Then we’ve got to . . .’ Kenton looked over Nathan’s shoulder. ‘Where’s your friend?’

  Nathan turned and saw that while Kenton and Decker had been trading taunts, Jeff had slipped away into the gloom.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘Jeff’s slow to get involved in fights but when he does, he ends them quickly. I’m guessing he’s sneaked off to earn us a distraction.’

  Kenton bobbed up to peer into the gloom.

  ‘Decker will make his move soon, so while Jeff’s doing that, we have to find a way out of here. We’ll start by getting closer to Decker.’ Kenton pointed. ‘You cover me while I head over there. Then I’ll cover you.’

  Several boulders were between them and Decker’s position, but Nathan didn’t welcome the thought of the dash over twenty yards of bare ground to reach them. He was about to shake his head when a cry sounded from the huge boulder to their side.

  Then a man tumbled backwards over the top of the boulder, rolling before he hit the ground. A second man followed, flying sideways with his head rocked backwards.

  Jeff appeared with a fist raised, having slugged the man’s jaw before he dropped out of view.

  ‘At least we know where Jeff is now,’ Nathan said.

  Kenton grunted his approval. ‘He’s reduced the number of men we’re facing to just Decker and four other men. Now, come on. I’m taking Decker
out before he makes a move on me.’

  Kenton didn’t wait for a reply. He jumped to his feet, vaulted over the rock, and hurried towards the nearest covering rock.

  Nathan covered him with a burst of gunfire, keeping Decker down. Kenton kept his head down and ran as fast he could before skidding to a halt behind the rock.

  The moment Kenton came to a halt, he fired at Decker’s position, pinning Decker and his men down. Nathan leapt over his covering line of rocks and hurried on to reach the next scrap of safe cover, a sprawling line of boulders about fifteen yards to Kenton’s side and twenty yards from Decker.

  He skidded into position behind them, then lay down, reloading. To his side, Kenton did the same, then raised his hand with the fingers wide, flexing the hand three times to show he’d run for the next cover in fifteen seconds.

  Nathan took that time to search for Jeff in his prowl through the gloom. He picked him out, kneeling beside a boulder.

  He raised a hand to acknowledge him, but then saw that Jeff was looking down with his hands held high. Nathan winced, just as cold metal jabbed into his back.

  ‘Any sudden moves and you die,’ a voice whispered in his ear.

  Nathan glanced back to see a man lying behind him, his arm outstretched to thrust the gun into his back. Nathan nodded, then remembered Kenton and flinched round, but his assailant was lying out of Kenton’s view and so Kenton wouldn’t be able to see his predicament.

  With mounting horror, Nathan watched Kenton count down the last few seconds. Then Kenton was on his feet and running for the next cover, five yards before Decker’s position.

  He’d run for five paces before he glanced towards Nathan, his firm jaw demanding to know why he wasn’t covering him, but Nathan could do nothing but hope he’d get lucky.

  As it was, Kenton had barely halved the distance to his intended destination when two men jumped up to confront him with guns drawn. On the run, Kenton swung his gun round to aim at the nearest, but before he could fire, a burst of gunfire ripped out from both men, scything into Kenton’s chest and cutting him off.

  At least four shots hammered into him before Kenton keeled over into the dirt to lie face down. He didn’t return a single shot.