Six-Guns Or Surrender (Lincoln's Lawman Book 1)
Page 28
Riker kept a careful eye on Chang but listened as Dalton nearly frothed at the mouth as he recited what Riker suspected the mayor didn’t even recognize was sounding like a sales pitch.
"But if those same people relocated to what was once Dalton's Creek but now renamed as Paradise they can buy shares in the community and move right in. No construction, no hardship while waiting for a house to be built or a barn to be raised. Entire businesses, including cattle ranches, ready to go. Those who don't want shares can lease the properties and if they don't like it they can move back to the city when the lease ends!"
Riker had heard enough. "Grand plans for sure! But you could have done this same thing by building a community, but a greedy son of a bitch like you had to take a shortcut and drive people from their homes with your bogus taxations, using your dead flunky and his bank. When that didn't work, outright murder through your Peace Officers, killing good people like Captain McBride. All your schemes are going to end in one place though … at the end of a hemp rope!"
“Doesn’t have to be that way, Riker. I got the town’s treasury funds downstairs. Everything is yours if you just look the other way and let me ride on out of here! What do you say?” he said clasping his hands before him in supplication before dropping them and letting them swing before placing them behind his back
Riker regarded him for a moment and then slowly walked up to the man.
“This is my answer, Dalton.” Riker’s hand blurred as he spun the Colt around in his hand and used the butt of it to strike the man on the top of his head. As Dalton crumpled down into unconsciousness, he spun his gun back around into a shooting position. Riker could still feel his ears burning from being incensed that Dalton would even think for a moment he would entertain a bribe.
“Marshal Riker, that does not seem like something a lawman would do.”
“I misjudged Dalton earlier. He had a little more guts to him than I gave him credit for,” Riker said as he squatted down and flipped over the back of the man’s suit coat to reveal the silver handle of a knife in a small scabbard. “When he put his hands behind him, I figured he was up to something.”
“You seem to be a most formidable man. I am sure whatever he was going to try you would have survived,” Tzen said with a smile as Riker patted down the unconscious man and found a derringer hidden on his person. All three men looked at it for a moment before Riker slipped it into his pocket and rose.
“Souvenir. Now you and I can agree on your take on me, but the question remains what to do with you and your man Chang?”
“There is nothing to be done.”
“The Peace Officer who told me what Dalton was up to said that he had a foreign backer…some Chinese woman in San Francisco who would work to supply the people who would resettle Dalton’s Creek. I suppose you are going to deny you know anything about this. Obviously, you work for her.”
"I do work for Madan Daiyu Chen," he admitted, and Riker drew his face back in a frown. He had heard of Madam Chen, a young, notorious crime lord in San Francisco. How Dalton had partnered with her in this scheme he had no idea but would find out eventually from the mayor, he supposed. There was only one thing he was confident of at the moment. He would have to settle for Dalton as his only prize. Authorities on the West Coast had tried and failed miserably to bring the woman down. She was too good at covering her tracks, bribing the right people and manipulating the system to get anything ever to stick.
"I see you a recognize the name," Tzen paused as he looked at the crumpled figures around him. "For the record, the Madam believed this to be an above-board business opportunity. If these men were responsible for any harm to have befallen anyone here, Madam Chen knew nothing about it."
Riker gritted his teeth. It was a lie, of course, but she would have covered any tangible trail connecting her to the goings on here. He would make a report for the state’s attorney, of course, but he knew it would do little good.
“Go on your way then. But you’ll be leaving empty-handed,” Riker growled as Tzen looked surprised.
“What do you mean, Marshal?”
“The Peace Officer I killed told me that Dalton didn’t try and have me killed because I was going to be a gift to the foreign backer—captured, smuggled out of the country on a China-bound clipper to work as a slave in some mines back in China.”
Tzen looked down at the prone form of Dalton and nodded his head. “Mayor Dalton would seem to have a vivid imagination. Of course, Madam Chen has no such operations.”
“Of course,” Riker echoed mockingly. “You can give a message to Madam Chen. The people of Dalton’s Creek are going to breathe easy from now on. The stranglehold on this town is now over and it belongs to its people, and she can damn well keep her tentacles out of the Sierra Nevada.”
Tzen only gave an oily smirk before giving a bow and nodding his head towards the door. Obediently, Chang followed him. Riker listened as their footsteps going down the stairs faded to nothing. He didn't like letting them go one bit, but the sounds of jubilation still carried from out in the main street and it was a sound that he loved—the sound of liberty. The corners of his mouth turned upward as a thought took hold. Let freedom ring.
EPILOGUE
OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST
As Dalton fought his way back out of his haze, the first thing he became aware of was that one of his wrists was chained to a wall. Groggily, he tried to recall the last thing that he remembered with any clarity. That had been sitting in his jail cell when he had been knocked from his bunk by a loud explosion. The wall of his cell had crumbled, and a pair of giant hands were grabbing him just before he was thrown into the back of a wagon.
From that moment on, he had continually been fed food and drink that had been laced with some sort of drug that kept him perpetually groggy. How long he had been in the hot, stuffy bed of the covered wagon, he could not say. His most recent dosage must have been extra potent because he didn't remember anything about being put on a ship. But Dalton knew that was indeed what he was on as the floor heaved under him, rising and falling with each wave.
Panicking, he fought to orientate himself. There was enough play in the chain to turn and gaze through a small porthole that gave the only illumination in the small room in which he was confined. Using his free hand, he pushed the circular glass window open and there was just enough room to stick his head out. The salty ocean air assaulted his nostrils as he turned his head to look backward. Behind the ship, the land was rapidly receding, but he recognized the view.
After a chance encounter with a card shark over a poker game, he had learned from the scoundrel the existence of a female crime lord to whom the man had once been employed. It was said she was a cunning, forward-thinking young woman who was open to new ideas that would enrich her. Learning of Madam Chen seemed like a godsend as someone like her could transform his scheme into a reality.
When he had first traveled to San Francisco to approach Madam Chen, he had traveled overland to Los Angeles and caught a steamer up the coast and passed through the two points of land jutting out towards each other—the same points that were falling behind him now … the Golden Gate! In horror, Dalton turned his head to look forward and saw only open ocean. His terror was complete as above him he heard the scrum of voices, Chinese voices. Recoiling back into his chamber, he curled up in the fetal position. Mayor Danforth J. Dalton knew he was on a voyage of the damned to spend the rest of his days as a slave laborer in some nameless mine deep in the mountains of China.
***
OUTSIDE ALAMIEDA, ARIZONA
Riker slipped the telegram back into his pocket as McKenna stared at him from where she trotted along, the pair riding side by side as usual.
“How many times are you going to read that, Nash? It won’t change anything.”
He sighed, she was right of course, but still, he knew he shouldn’t have been surprised to have read the news they had received when they had stopped at the Arizona cattle town to do a routine check
-in with their headquarters to let them know they were almost to Nevada for their next assignment. After sending their message, they had taken their meal in a nearby establishment that went by the name of Gabriella’s Cantina before returning to the telegraph station to see if there had been any reply.
The waiting message had said to proceed as planned, but it also had some news for them. A few days ago, someone had busted Danforth Dalton out of the jail he was being held a prisoner in the town of Bullet. A hole had been blown right into the wall of the jail and Dalton had vanished. Witnesses reported seeing him being thrown into the back of a wagon by a massive looking man who was described as Chinese.
“It seems Madam Chen lives up to her reputation for covering her tracks,” McKenna said wistfully. It’s clear now that it’s not like she could let Dalton testify as he was a loose end that could lead back to her. She was very efficient.”
“That she was,” Riker agreed, wondering if he should have foreseen Dalton’s capture. At least he could take heart in knowing this Madam Chen would be meting out her own form of punishment for Dalton’s failed operation in the High Sierra.
“So was Dalton in his own way.”
“How do you mean?” McKenna wondered.
"His plan was sound. If he had just done it without the violence and bloodshed and built a town from scratch, he could have filled it full of settlers. An entire planned community built from the ground up, Mickey. Think about it. It could be the wave of the future!"
“Does that mean you’re ready to quit the law and go seek investors to build a Paradise of your own?”
“Not on your life! I’d miss the law too much, and Abraham did put his faith in us to uphold it.”
McKenna laughed, "That he did, but if he were here, he would be the first to say if you gave it up you'd miss all the lady friends you make along the way like Sara and Miss Callie that you left behind. That's the truth, and you know it, Nash Riker!"
He returned her laughter and didn’t try and deny it. He and Callie had parted ways in the best way possible with a final passionate tryst this time at the Becketts’ empty ranch house while Luther, McKenna, and the others met in Johann’s church and worked to make plans for the future of Dalton’s Creek that included getting real lawmen to see to the town’s security. Riker had arranged for some rank and file U.S. Marshals to arrive in town and collect up the surviving Peace Officers. Those who had reward posters on them would furnish money to take care of the kin of the several vigilantes that had lost their lives in the battle against the Peace Officers. Anything left over from that would be spread out amongst those who had unfairly lost their homes and businesses to Dalton’s scheme to help towards getting their properties returned after a judge that was to be brought in sorted things out. As they had ridden away, Callie and the others thanked the Rikers for leaving Dalton’s Creek a better place than when they had ridden in out of the wilderness.
As they traveled further along leaving Alamieda in their wake, up ahead along the road, Riker noticed to the right was the entrance to a ranch with a large gate and sign. Also, to the right set back from the road was a river. The noonday heat was pressing down on them and he knew their canteens were low. They should probably stop and refill them, knowing a drink of the cool water would be a treat.
Just as they reached the gate and came to a stop, a lovely Mexican woman with wavy black hair that seemed to shine came strolling through the open gate to the ranch holding a paint can and a brush. Riker could see she appeared to be half finished putting a coat of new paint on the imposing structure. Atop the bar of the sign were three letters inside a circular hoop that like the circle were also made of metal. The ranch's sign proclaimed it as Cedar Ledge, so he couldn't quite figure out what the HBH letters were for.
“Why, howdy there!” the woman said with a smile on her oblong face, speaking with a lush Mexican accent as she noticed the pair. Dropping the paint and the brush she sauntered over to them with a sway to her hips and looked up at them. Riker tipped his hat and McKenna smiled at the woman. He couldn’t help noticing the woman’s enticing hourglass figure and the prominence of her well-endowed chest.
“Right fine day, ma’am. Might I ask, do you think the owners of this ranch might do us a kindness and allow us to fill our canteens from that nearby river?”
“They sure as sugar would allow it! Go right ahead, hombre!”
Riker thanked her, and the pair climbed down, plucking their canteens free as they made their way towards the river. The Mexican woman’s eyes seemed to follow them, he noticed, until they passed her before dropping down the bank to refill their units.
Once they were back beside their horses, the woman who had returned to painting once more made her way back to them.
“Please pass along our thanks to the owners,” McKenna said with a smile.
"Don't have to do that, darlin'. I'm one of them! This here ranch belongs to my family and me." The Rikers exchanged a look of surprise, liking the fact the woman wasn't above rolling up her sleeves to tend to things on her property.
"Well, my sister and I thank you," he said as he watched the woman's eyes narrow. To McKenna, they seemed to be surveying the pair.
"Brother and sister … now that might be interestin'. You folks in a hurry? It's nearly lunchtime up to the house. We got plenty of extra. My papacito is a judge out runnin' one of his trials, and one of my sisters done went to drive him there. You're welcome to break bread with my other sisters and me." She seemed to shift her attention onto McKenna. "It would be right nice, a pair like you gracin' our supper table. Right nice, indeed."
“We’d love to, ma’am, but we are due in Nevada, and we need to be on our way,” Riker said as the siblings mounted up. The woman looked crestfallen for a moment.
“Well, if you’re ever passin’ this way again, the offer is an open one!” her eyes shifted between the pair with a glint. “I sure would like entertainin’ you … both! Safe travels, you hear!” she wished them with a twinkle in her eyes that were such a deep shade of brown they were nearly black.
“Thank you. Oh, we didn’t catch your name,” McKenna called out.
“I’m Catalina, or you can call me Cattie. Either one work for me, amigos.”
“We’re the Rikers, Nash and McKenna,” Riker said, tipping his hat for a final time before they trotted away as she picked up her brush.
“Right hospitable that one,” Riker said casually.
“Nash … was she … was she flirting … with both of us?”
“You’ve been out in the sun too long, Mickey. C’mon, let’s get Cain and Abel moving. Nevada’s waiting!” He dug his heels in and Abel sprinted away, and McKenna did the same but took one last look over her shoulder to see the Mexican beauty watching them and giving them a wave before they rounded a bend and she vanished as if she never were.
**************************************************************
THANK YOU FOR READING!
LINCOLN’S LAWMAN #2: SLAVES OF THE SIX-GUN
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Other A.M. Van Dorn books are now available or coming soon include:
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #1: THE DAUGHTERS OF HALF BREED HAVEN
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #2: THE REAPER OF THE RIO SANGRE
(THE DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY TRILOGY PART 1)
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #3: THE TOWN OF NO RETURN
(THE DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY TRILOGY PART 2)
HALF BREED HAVEN #1: WILDE-FIRE
HALF BREED HAVEN #2: IN DANGER’S SHADOW
HALF BREED HAVEN #3: DARK RIVALS
HALF BREED HAVEN #4: SILVER, GOLD, & DECEPTION
HALF BREED HAVEN #5: THE FORBIDDEN RANCH
HALF BREED HAVEN #6: SING THE DEATH SONG
HALF BREED HAVEN #7: DISASTER AT DEVIL’S CANYON
HALF BREED HAVEN #8: RENEGADES AND REVENGE
HALF BREED HAVEN #9: INTO THE LAIR OF LOS REY LOBO
> HALF BREED HAVEN #10: SPECIAL EDITION OF THE REAPER OF THE RIO SANGRE (HBH VERSION)
HALF BREED HAVEN #11: THE TOWN OF NO RETURN (HBH VERSION)
HALF BREED HAVEN #12: SPECIAL EDITION OF THE BOOT HILL EXPRESS (HBH VERSION)
HALF BREED HAVEN #13: RIVER OF DEATH
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