by Thomas Hall
Kade ignored him, collected his gun from a different girl, and left the brothel. He had no intention of leaving town. He only had one more stop to make before satisfying himself that killing Travis was the only option.
CHAPTER 6
THERE WERE HALF A DOZEN MEN STANDING OUTSIDE the Sheriff’s office. They watched him as he approached, but didn’t say anything until he reached the door.
“Help you?” a man leaning against a wooden fence said.
“I’m looking for The Sheriff,” Kade said. “Is he here?”
“Depends who’s asking,” the man said.
“Name’s Kade, wanted to introduce myself.”
“That right?”
“Is.”
The man straightened up. He stood a foot taller than Kade and a shoulder width wider. “Sheriff’s a busy man,” he said.
“Suppose he is, living here.”
The man frowned, unable to tell whether he had been insulted.
“Is he in or not?”
“He’s here.”
Kade reached for the door meaning to go in before the man could say anything else. The door was locked. He looked back at the man and saw that, while his back had been turned, the others had walked up behind him. A dozen men as big as the first now blocked his way back to the street.
“Sheriff’s a busy man.”
“I heard you the first time,” Kade said.
The man’s face grew darker. Kade guessed that it was an even shot as to whether he got smashed in the face right then. The fact that he didn’t proved to him that the men had something else in mind.
“What’ll it cost?” Kade said.
“You’re trying to bribe me?” the man said.
“I’m offering to,” Kade said.
The man smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Just so we’re clear,” he said. “What have you got?”
There were a few coins in his pocket but not enough to buy his freedom. The pleasant whiskey buzz that he’d picked up at no charge helped with his confidence. He pulled out his money and held it up to the man.
“This do you?”
The man looked at the coin purse. He could tell that it was heavy. He nodded and then reached forward and hammered on the door. “Open up Sheriff! You got a visitor.”
Kade heard someone crossing the floor on the other side of the door. Slow, lumbering footsteps which seemed to take forever to reach him.
When the lock started to turn, the man held out his hand and Kade poured the coins into it.
The man backed away to count his new wealth and the door opened. Kade found himself looking at a middle-aged man with a white beard. The Sheriff was dumpy with red cheeks. He was wearing a stained uniform and didn’t have a badge.
“Who are you?” The Sheriff said.
“Name’s Kade, and you are?”
“Farley. Sheriff Farley. What do you want?”
Kade glanced at the men, who were now gathered around the one who had taken his money. It didn’t take a genius to work out that they were in Travis’ pocket. He looked back at Farley. “Need to talk to you. Can I come in?”
Farley rolled his eyes but Kade didn’t wait for him to agree. He stepped into the man’s office and was almost blown away by the reek of whiskey coming from him. It smelled as if Farley had bathed in the stuff.
Farley’s office was filthy. There were papers scattered all over his desk. Piles of damp boxes, which presumably contained more of the same, in the corners of the room. There were bits of food everywhere, rats gnawing on a chunk of bread in the corner. The holding cells were empty, except for the clothes that were hanging in them.
Kade watched Farley walk back to his desk and saw that the man wasn’t even wearing boots. The Sheriff sat down and Kade sat opposite him without invitation.
“What’s this about?” Farley said.
It was difficult to see the man over the piles of crap on his desk. The empty whiskey bottles were taller than Kade when he was sitting.
“I haven’t got all day,” Farley said.
“You’re a busy man,” Kade acknowledged, trying not to sound ironic.
“Damn straight,” The Sheriff said. “So why don’t you spit it out.”
“I’m here about Travis,” Kade said.
Farley looked at him for a moment and then reached for a bottle of whiskey with an inch still at the bottom. He poured it into a coffee cup and drank without offering Kade any.
“You know the man?” Kade said.
“Course I know him. You think I’m stupid or something?”
“Of course not,” Kade said. What he thought was that Farley was weak and a drunk, but sometimes telling the truth didn’t get you what you wanted. Usually, in fact. “I’m making sure we’re on the same page.”
“What about him?” Farley said.
“He’s taken a girl against her will. I want to get her back.”
“Someone paying you?” Farley said.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I’m Sheriff, course it’s my business.”
Kade would usually have agreed, but he wasn’t going to give up Madeline to this man. There was no doubt in Kade’s mind that Farley was bought and paid for.
“Fine, you won’t tell me. What do you want me to do about it?”
“You’re Sheriff,” Kade said. “Seems like the sort of thing you should be interested in.”
“Maybe where you’re from…”
“But not here? He’s free to go around kidnapping people and you don’t do anything about it?”
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation,” Farley said.
“We both know that’s not true.”
Farley emptied his cup and started looking around for the next bottle, shifting paperwork and knocking over empties.
“Will you do something about it?” Kade said.
“You want me to get the girl back?” Farley said.
“Can you?”
Farley shook his head. “Not going to happen. What did you say your name was? Kade? That’s right. Not going to happen.”
“You sure about that?” Kade said.
“I am.”
“You’ll tell him I was here?”
The Sheriff looked at him, looked at the gun on his hip and Kade could see what he was thinking. He didn’t see a gun on The Sheriff, but even if he had, he was sure that he was a quicker draw than the fat man, even if he’d been sober.
“You’ll tell him I was here?” Kade repeated.
Farley nodded.
“Good. Tell him that I’m coming for him. Tell him that I’ll get what I came for.”
Farley looked confused for a moment and then he nodded again.
Kade stood up. He’d wasted enough time with The Sheriff and it was clear that he wasn’t going to get anywhere.
“He’s not a bad man,” Farley said.
Kade stopped. He was halfway across the room, ready to face the men who would be waiting outside to shake him down again.
“You don’t know what this place was like before he came.”
“Worse than a whore house?” Kade suggested.
“We were at war with ourselves. People came and went as they pleased.”
“So you let one of them take over? That seemed like the right idea to you?”
“It’s better this way,” Farley said. “Travis knows what he’s doing. He’s making the town better.”
“For who?”
“For everyone.”
“Those girls he kidnapped?”
“There are always victims.”
Kade shook his head. He didn’t want to listen to any more of this, but he couldn’t turn away. Farley might have been a good man once, a man who wouldn’t have believed the things that were coming out of his own mouth. These were lies that he’d convinced himself were the truth so that he could sleep at night. Judging by the bottles and the smell, he wasn’t doing a great job of it though.
“There’s other ways,” Kade sa
id. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“So you’re going to rescue us from him, is that it?”
“I’m here for the girl. Nothing else.”
“Tell me who she is. I can talk to him.”
Maybe Kade would have told him about Annie, but not now. If he told Farley who he was trying to rescue, then he’d be giving up Madeline. He was sure The Sheriff couldn’t be trusted for spit.
“Too late Farley, much too late.”
Kade turned away from him a final time, walked to the door and left The Sheriff’s office.
The men were waiting for him outside. His sudden appearance seemed to catch them by surprise. They drew their weapons on him.
He looked around, there was a new man there.
“You sure you want to do this?” Kade said with a smile.
“We know who you are,” the man who had taken his money said.
“And you still want to do this?”
“You’re supposed to be leaving town,” the man said.
“Got till noon tomorrow.”
“What you talking to The Sheriff about?”
“That’s between me and him.”
“You need to go,” the man said.
Even with a dozen guns pointed at him and his hands in the air, he thought he could take the men. It would be fun finding out, either way.
“Get back to the tavern, pack your bags and get out.”
Kade smiled.
“What are you waiting for?”
“Doesn’t seem like a good idea to move while you’ve all got your guns pointed at me.”
The man cursed and spat on the ground. “Get the fuck out of here,” he said.
Kade nodded. Still with his hands in the air he walked down the steps so that he was level with them. He wanted an excuse to shoot them, but this wasn’t it.
He turned his back on the men with the guns and started walking. No longer welcome in Swift Creek, the feeling was liberating. He didn’t need to hide anymore because people would be watching him everywhere he went. He could do and say as he pleased, which was exactly what he intended.
The men followed him to the corner of the street and stood there until he had turned another corner. He lowered his hands and walked back to the tavern.
CHAPTER 7
MADELINE STOOD AT THE DOOR AND WATCHED HIM. She hadn’t said a word since she’d slipped into his room five minutes earlier. He was laying on the small bed staring at the ceiling.
He was secretly thrilled to have her there. Although there was nothing of himself in the room, it felt more intimate than any of the other places they had met.
“You went to see The Sheriff?” she said.
“Farley? He’s no Sheriff.”
“And Travis?”
“True.”
“Why?” She didn’t sound angry or upset.
“Had to give him a chance,” Kade said. “There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way.”
“So which did you pick?”
He smiled. She was quick.
“Does he know about us?”
“I didn’t tell them anything. Just that I was looking for a girl.”
“And they told you?”
“That they weren’t going to help.”
She seemed to relax a little. To Kade’s disappointment, she didn’t come further into the room.
“I want my sister back Kade,” Madeline said.
“You’ll have her.”
“This isn’t a game, I’m serious.”
“And so am I.” Kade rolled off the bed and sat up. “You’ll have your sister back.”
“You promise?”
“Would it mean anything to you if I did?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Means I don’t know if you trust me or not. Not a lot of good promising you something if you won’t believe me.”
“You’re playing games with me,” Madeline said.
Kade stood up. He took two and a half steps across the room and reached the door. He was then standing so close to her that he could feel the warmth from her body. She looked at the ground and he used a finger to tilt her chin upwards.
“Don’t,” she said.
“Don’t what?” Kade said.
She shook her head. He could feel her trembling.
“Kiss me,” Kade said.
“Please don’t,” she said.
“You don’t want to?”
“You know I do, but you’re playing a game with me. I know it.”
“You don’t.”
“Why would you want to kiss me? I’m so ugly.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”
Kade hadn’t intended to kiss her, but now he was there, it seemed right. “You’re beautiful,” he said.
She looked down again. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
Madeline shook her head and he realised that she was crying. He took half a step back.
“You’re a cruel man,” she said. “I know I’m ugly, but I’m still a woman. I still have feelings. Don’t play games with them.”
“I’m not,” Kade said.
“I never thought you were a liar.”
Kade shook his head. He couldn’t imagine the life she’d led, the things that people had said to her, the cruelties that she had suffered. He wanted to touch her, to run his fingers over the scar tissue on her cheeks and chin, but he kept his hands down.
“Please,” Madeline said. “Find my sister.”
“Leave with me,” he said.
“Excuse me?” The look of sadness left her and became more like anger.
“Leave Swift Creek, travel with me.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I just… I can’t. I won’t.”
It was what he had expected her to say but it made him feel sad. He wanted her in a way he hadn’t wanted anyone in a long time, but he had to accept that he was being rejected.
Kade nodded. The softness he had been speaking with left him. “I’ll find your sister, I promise.”
Madeline looked at him, but Kade said no more.
“Thank you,” she said.
She turned to the door. He wanted to call her back, to make her understand that he did care for her, that one day it might even become love. Yet he didn’t.
CHAPTER 8
HECK WAS GLAD TO SEE HIM, KADE COULD tell. She pushed her face into his hand and he rubbed her vigorously. It had been too long since they’d ridden together.
“Need to be quiet girl,” he said.
The other horses watched him as if they understood what he was planning to do.
He saddled his horse and led her out into the darkness of the night.
“Wait a second,” he said.
Kade had managed to buy extra weapons for the mornings events. They were in an ancient leather bag which he had left by the stable door before going inside. He picked it up now.
They were all old-world guns, but they would work. He hefted them up with him when he got into the saddle.
The streets of Swift Creek were still lively. There were people spilling out of the tavern, and more making their way home. Some of them looked at him but none of them said anything. He wasn’t one of them and somehow they knew it.
Kade arrived at the street opposite the brothel before the sun had started to rise. It was a cold morning and he was itching to get to work, but he needed to wait. There were still more than a dozen armed men in front of the building.
Jareth had told him that there were fewer guards during the early morning. Kade hoped that was still true. After their conversation, Travis might have increased the numbes. Now there might be this many people there all the time.
Still he waited. He needed to be smart about this. The guards outnumbered him twelve-to-one outside and who knew how many inside. They weren’t insurmountable odds, he was that good, but he still couldn’t go i
n guns blazing without a plan.
He could still hope that some of the men would leave and grant him easier access.
Heck was restless beneath him. After more than a week cooped up in the stable, she wanted to be on the move, not standing in a dark alleyway.
Kade climbed off her back. “Wait here,” he said.
She snorted, which he thought was an agreement.
He picked up his bag and walked to the end of the street.
The guns were in good condition and he’d checked them half a dozen times before leaving the tavern. He checked them again, one by one, making sure the mechanisms were smooth and that they were all loaded. In the bottom of the bag he had more bullets.
When he had finished, he lined the guns up in a row. Some of the smaller weapons went into his belt, the rest remained on the ground.
The men were still standing in front of the door.
He rubbed his hands on his jeans and got rid of the sweat which was only in his mind.
The first gun he picked up was a small rifle. He lowered his head and aimed it at the first man. He was tall and wide and looked as if he ate bricks for breakfast.
Kade mumbled to himself, asking for forgiveness for what he was about to do, that he knew it was for the greater good.
He squeezed the trigger.
The gunshot was loud but he aimed true and the first guard fell to the ground. The other men looked up, pulled their own guns and stared into the darkness.
They couldn’t see him, but as soon as he started shooting again they would be able to work out where he was.
Kade packed the rest of the guns back into the bag and replaced the rifle with a machine gun. He no longer needed to worry about being quiet. The brothel fell silent. Everyone inside was aware of what was happening.
He crouched on the ground and took another shot. A burst of gunfire sent three more of the guards to their deaths.
The one’s who survived returned fire at once.
Kade grabbed the bag and started moving.
He went back down the alleyway and past Heck. He wanted to keep her close but he wasn’t prepared to risk her getting hurt in the gunfight. He slapped her flank.