by Scott Connor
Within moments, footfalls pattered down the tunnel then across the plaza.
Frank put a bullet in the door to ensure Decker stayed put a while longer but by then footsteps were pounding up the steps. Then two guards came hurtling around the corner, but they hurried back out of sight before they could fire at them.
With Jeff at his side, they fired down the steps, aiming for the wall. Their bullets cannoned back and forth in the confined space, but the shadows on the wall told Nathan the guards had backed away for only a few steps and several other men were hurrying up to join them.
As if the gunfire was the cue for Frank’s ranch hands outside to act, gunfire blasted. Then the door to the mayor’s office edged open as Decker goaded his guards on to risk confronting them.
‘We can’t fight our way down there,’ Frank said, gesturing down the steps.
‘We can’t, but if we can’t go down, we can go up,’ Jeff said.
‘Agreed,’ Frank said. He fired down the steps then at the mayor’s office.
Then they ran up the steps to come out on the roof, but further along the roof, looking down into the plaza, was a line of guards. They were keeping Frank’s people pinned down in the tunnel, but the moment Nathan emerged, the gunmen swung round and fired.
They ducked, aiming to head down the steps, but several guards were already running up to them. With no choice they turned and ran for the tower, bullets tearing at their heels.
The door was open. Nobody was within, which allowed them to dash inside, slam the door shut, and take up defensive positions.
Jeff stood before the door with his gun thrust through the grille, waiting for anyone who made the mistake of trying to come in. Nathan and Frank took a window apiece, alternating standing beside them, then nudging to the side to glance outside.
None of the guards out on the roof ventured into their line of sight, but they shouted encouragement to each other and presently, Decker’s annoyed tones sounded.
‘Don’t worry,’ Frank said. ‘My ranch hands are coming, and Decker will see sense soon enough and accept that he picked the wrong people to intimidate. We just have to hold on until they can force their way up here.’
‘Let’s hope that’s soon.’ Nathan shrugged. ‘I guess this is a good time as any to say we’re sorry we didn’t work out what was happening here sooner.’
Frank flashed a wan smile. ‘I’m guessing you came across Jim Harlow.’
Nathan nodded. ‘He never gave a name, but I assume it was him. Decker’s guards had got to him first, but before he died, he gave us your gun and the key to your prison. Trouble is, he didn’t live long enough to tell us what we had to do with them.’
‘Don’t tear yourself up about it. You did well.’ Frank glanced outside, then darted back. ‘As did Jim and Rory.’
‘Were they your ranch hands?’
‘Yeah. They were with us when Decker came for Kenton and me. They got away, but I knew they wouldn’t give up until they got me out.’ He mustered a grim smile. ‘I never thought the first thing I’d do when I got out was to hide in here.’
Nathan laughed sympathetically but before he could ask for more details, Decker shouted from outside.
‘You in there!’ he roared. ‘Give yourself up. It’s time to come to a deal.’
‘I registered my land,’ Frank shouted through the window. ‘There’s no way I’ll deal with you now. The Bar T is where your empire ends and it always will.’
‘Always is a long time when you’re trapped in that tower.’ Decker edged into view. ‘Your people are going no further than the plaza. If you want to live to join them, you’d better do that deal.’
‘No deal, Decker, not now, not ever.’
While Frank and Decker continued to trade insults, Nathan looked through each of the windows. He confirmed that only the front windows could be reached from the roof and the others had long drops down to the parade-ground, so the only realistic way in was through the door.
He conveyed this to Frank, who ducked down and confirmed that the grille in the wall was locked, then ordered Jeff to listen out for anyone trying to come up that way.
Before any of them could relax, Nathan darted back from the window as a flaming brand hurtled past his head. It landed in the dry straw on the floor and immediately started to burn.
Frank gathered up the brand and hurled it through a window, but even before it’d disappeared from view, a second brand came spinning in through another window, then a third and a fourth.
Nathan shouted at Jeff to stay by the door. Then he and Frank dashed around, gathering up the brands and throwing them outside, while kicking up their feet and stomping to put out the flaming straw.
For every brand they threw out, two came in, and they soon had to give up on removing them. Instead, they kicked the straw into a heap in the corner, ensuring the brands could find nothing to burn.
Even so, smoke soon filled the room and it was thicker than Nathan would have expected the brands to deliver. Then he realized why.
Smoke was pluming in through the grilles in the wall. Someone had lit a fire in the corridor behind the wall and the air whipping along the gap was gathering up the smoke and pouring it into the room.
Already the top half of the tower was smoky down to the level of the windows.
Although the windows stopped the tower filling with the choking smoke, Jeff was coughing and finding it hard to stand guard before the door and Nathan’s eyes were watering and blurring his view of what was happening outside.
Then another brand hurtled through the window. This time it found the fresh pile of straw in the corner which within moments burst into flames, adding stifling heat to the cloying smoke.
‘You ready to come out now?’ Decker shouted from outside.
‘Go to hell,’ Frank shouted and then coughed.
‘It’ll be hell in there soon. I’ve got a hundred more brands to throw in.’
Nathan looked out the window to see that half-way along the roof, Decker was lining up his men, taking in the available covering blocks. They trained their guns on the door, their stances those of a firing-squad who were waiting for their order to fire.
‘The moment we come out we’ll be shot to pieces,’ Nathan said, spluttering out his words.
‘And we can’t hang on in here any longer,’ Jeff said, coughing.
The smoke was pluming out through the windows, but not fast enough to avoid it stealing every spare scrap of air, forcing Nathan to agree.
‘You prepared to do that deal?’ he asked Frank.
‘Never,’ Frank grunted. ‘I’d sooner die.’
‘You’ll get that wish in about two minutes if we stay in here,’ Jeff said, ‘and in about two seconds if we go out.’
Nathan considered the windows and then looked up. He patted Jeff’s arm, encouraging him to follow, then hurried to the back of the tower.
‘We’ve just got to get on the roof.’ Nathan slapped the window-ledge. ‘I always knew your size would come in useful one day.’
Jeff didn’t need to ask what Nathan had in mind. He climbed onto the ledge and reached up.
He nudged his head back and gestured for Frank to go first. Without discussion, Frank climbed onto the ledge.
Jeff grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him up on his shoulders. Nathan watched Frank wriggle, then lift himself from Jeff’s shoulders, his legs disappearing from view.
Nathan wasted no time in following. He quickly let Jeff place him on his shoulders before he reached up and pulled himself on to the flat roof of the tower.
Then he and Frank reached down and taking one of Jeff’s hands apiece, they dragged him up. They hurried over to the other side of the roof, lay down, then crawled to the edge.
Through the plumes of smoke Frank glanced down and confirmed that Decker and his men were lying behind the projections and so were hidden from the tower windows, but from on high he had a reasonable view of them.
‘Are you ready to shoot them
up?’ he asked.
Frank received two nods. Then he crawled to the edge.
They joined him. Through the thick smoke Nathan looked down and sighted the man furthest to the right.
Frank counted down from three. Then they started firing.
Their initial burst was deadly, scything through three of Decker’s men. With them returning fire at the tower windows and not at the roof, they were able to respond with another destructive round that took out another two men.
They rolled back from the edge to reload and Frank again counted down from three, but when they crawled back to the edge, they faced a different scene.
Decker’s men had panicked and were hightailing it across the roof towards the steps. Decker was shouting at them to stop retreating and take them on, but the sight of the bodies sprawled over the roof had spooked them and they kept going.
Frank hurried them on their way with a round of gunfire. Then he swung round to aim at Decker, but the last volley of shots had identified where they were hiding and it was Decker who got Frank in his sights first.
He fired up at the roof, the lead clipping into the edge of the roof and forcing Frank to duck. On either side of him, Nathan and Jeff also ducked, stayed down a few seconds, then looked up again.
Decker had given up on getting his men to stay on the roof and was running towards the tower door. The moment they looked down at him, he thrust his gun arm up and aimed for the nearest man – Jeff.
From the corner of his eye, Nathan saw blood fly as his friend took the lead high in the chest, the shock of the blow rolling him away from the edge of the roof. With the thick smoke curling around him, Nathan couldn’t see whether his injury was serious, but a burst of raw anger surged through his veins.
Decker was below him and he reacted without thinking. He jumped to his knees then leapt off the roof.
He hurtled down to catch Decker around the shoulders and send him reeling to the roof. The drop pole-axed Decker and winded Nathan, their guns spinning from the hand of both of them.
Before Decker could recover, Nathan grabbed his jacket and dragged him to his feet. He stood him straight and felled him with a round-armed blow to the cheek, then dragged him up again and slammed an uppercut to his chin that had him staggering back towards the edge of the roof.
The anger still burned in Nathan’s veins as he advanced on the sprawling mayor. Gunfire sounded behind him, but he guessed it came from Frank as he kept the guards pinned down.
He put the danger they represented from his mind as he loomed over Decker.
‘I have had enough of you and your schemes,’ he roared, then grabbed his arm, yanked him to his feet, and kicked him away.
Decker swayed and staggered back a pace, taking him to the edge of the roof. Only its sudden closeness appeared to snap him into realizing the danger he was in.
He righted himself, then stomped towards Nathan, aiming a long swinging blow at his head.
Nathan ducked under the punch and came up aiming to deliver another uppercut, but Decker had anticipated the move and he kicked out. His boot crunched into Nathan’s knee and sent him to his knees and sprawling towards the edge of the roof.
Nathan had a dizzying moment of looking down into the parade-ground where many of Frank’s ranch hands were peering up, having now taken control of the tunnel. Then he lurched forward as Decker kicked him again, aiming to bundle him over the side.
Nathan fell on his chest, searching for purchase as his head and shoulders protruded beyond the edge.
Then Decker prized a foot under his chest and kicked upwards, aiming to roll him. Nathan did roll but he lunged, grabbing hold of anything he could reach, and his hand closed on Decker’s calf.
He came to rest with his body arced backwards and dangling while he sat on the edge of the roof. Decker loomed over him, swaying and wheeling his arms as he fought to keep his balance.
‘Let go of me,’ he grunted.
Nathan looked past Decker to the tower where Frank had forced Decker’s men to retreat down the steps.
Now he had Decker’s back in his sights, but Nathan guessed he hadn’t fired because Decker was the only reason Nathan hadn’t fallen. He couldn’t see Jeff.
A sickness descended on Nathan’s guts as the terrible thought hit him that his friend could be dead and that this man had killed him. He peered up at Decker.
‘I’m not letting go of your leg,’ he grunted, then flexed his fingers, gaining a tighter grip. ‘In fact, you’re going over, even if I have to come with you.’
He yanked Decker’s leg with all his strength, tumbling him forward. Decker teetered, but his foot landed on air and he came falling forwards.
He grabbed at Nathan as he fell past him, but his clawing grasp closed on air as Nathan kept his momentum going and threw himself to the side.
Still, he followed Decker in falling, but with a trailing hand he grabbed hold of the very edge of the roof and clung on.
As he dangled one-handed he heard Decker’s fading screech fall away from him. Then a thud sounded and an accompanying cry of disgust.
Nathan continued to dangle until he grabbed hold of the roof with his other hand.
When he was sure he wouldn’t fall, he risked looking down to see Decker lying on the ground. He’d fallen head first and the ranch hands around him were looking at his twisted body with distaste.
Nathan tore his gaze away to look up, accepting that he could do nothing but hang on and hope Frank came down from the tower to help him.
A minute passed and then another. He accepted that it’d take Frank some time to reach him while he kept Decker’s men at bay. He heard no more gunfire and he expected that once the word of Decker’s demise reached the guards, they would surrender.
Even so, he hoped Frank would hurry.
Then footfalls closed. A shadow fell over Nathan’s head and he looked up to face his rescuer.
He had to narrow his eyes against the high sun, but there was no mistaking the large form of the man who had come for him – Jeff. He was clutching a bloodied shoulder and he had to gesture at the following man, Frank, to help him, but he was smiling.
Chapter Nineteen
With Nathan supporting Jeff by his unwounded shoulder and Frank at his other side, the group walked down the steps from the roof.
They proceeded cautiously, expecting Decker’s guards to be lying in wait, but Nathan was right in his assumption that after Decker’s demise, his men had lost heart and had melted away into the fort.
So when they reached the parade-ground, Frank disappeared into the relieved arms of his waiting wife while one of his hands who had doctoring experience sat Jeff down to assess the damage.
Nathan loitered nearby, asking too many questions and generally getting in the carer’s way. Before long, he felt superfluous, which was an odd but not unwelcome feeling after being at the center of everything that had happened here over the last week.
Before he could relax, Sheriff Buckthorn emerged from the jailhouse, rubbing his head.
Buckthorn picked Nathan out, then hitched up his belt and headed towards him, his jaw set with the same level of firmness he’d had when he’d faced up to Decker yesterday.
‘You really did assault a lawman this time,’ he said. ‘Nothing you can say will . . .’
Buckthorn came to a halt. His gaze took in the scene of several of Frank’s ranch hands standing around the bent and dead body of Decker. A smile twitched at his lips.
‘He’s dead,’ Nathan reported.
‘He sure looks it,’ Buckthorn said, a grin emerging before he forced it away with a determined shake of the head. ‘Now, how did that happen?’
‘It’s one hell of a tale, but you’ve got to hear my side of it first. We only—’
‘I’m sure it is one hell of tale, but from what I can see, Decker clearly slipped and fell.’ Buckthorn looked around and received several nods from nearby hands. ‘So is that what happened?’
Nathan shrugged. ‘I gue
ss when you look at it that way, Decker did slip and fall.’
‘Good. Then I don’t see no need to concern myself with this, but this is your final warning – if you haven’t got a job by sundown, I’ll arrest you for vagrancy.’
‘Understood,’ Nathan said.
Buckthorn then headed back to his jailhouse, whistling, leaving Nathan to kneel down beside Jeff. He learnt from his carer that Jeff had been lucky, as the bullet had only torn through skin, but he would need rest.
So after Nathan had given Jeff a relieved slap on the back, they just had to face the problem of what they did next. Before Jeff’s carer cleaned out the wound, Frank joined them and provided a possible answer to their problem.
‘Are you boys looking for work?’ he asked. ‘Because I always need cattle-punchers at the Bar T.’
Nathan and Jeff couldn’t help but look at each and wince.
‘We came to Fort Benton to get away from that line of work,’ Jeff said. ‘We’re obliged for the offer, but we want to do something else.’
Frank nodded and moved to turn away, but Nathan raised a hand, halting him.
‘Don’t be hasty, Jeff,’ he mused. ‘We did want to do something else, but every time we tried to find out what that something else was, we got into a whole heap of trouble. Perhaps it’s time we admitted it’d be more sensible if we just stuck to doing what we’re best at.’
Jeff’s eyes glazed as he pondered before he gave a slow nod.
‘All right,’ he said, turning to Frank. ‘After due consideration with my good friend, we sure would like to take that offer of work.’
‘We will do that,’ Nathan said. ‘But you’re forgetting that we’ve got to do that month of unpaid work for Quincy first.’
Jeff sighed. ‘A month of hard work for no pay, then cattle-punching again. The future sure isn’t looking good for us, is it?’
Nathan was about to agree, but then saw the twinkle in his friend’s eye.
‘As you once said to me,’ he said, rubbing his hands and smiling. ‘Honest work and no worrying about other people’s gunfights, and money hidden in forts, and prisoners in cells, and prisoners in towers is just about right for us.’