The Dark Sunrise

by Terrence McCauley

“There’s no way you’re locking us in with that animal,” Grant protested again. “There are rules, Mackey, and this is beyond the pale!”

  The door to Adair’s stall stood open, the biggest stall in the stock car. The black Arabian mare had her head over Mackey’s shoulder as he stroked her neck. He kept his voice mellow for her sake. “Be quiet or you’ll hurt her feelings.”

  Aaron’s ability to be two different men at the same time still amazed Billy, even after all these years. He had just killed two men—three within the last twenty-four hours—but around his horse, he was as gentle as a lamb.

  “I’ve seen what that animal can do,” Brenner yelled.

  “You should’ve thought about that before you sent two men to the station to kill us, Brenner. You don’t get tea and crumpets after that.” He patted the mare’s neck. “Now you get to spend time with this sweet little girl right here.”

  Brenner balled his fists and punched his legs. “That damned hell beast of yours will kick us to death if you put us in there with her!”

  “Not if you both stay nice and still.” Mackey continued to soothe the mare and spoke in a gentle tone. “The rocking of the train always puts her to sleep, and she’ll lay down in the hay like a newborn foal, especially since Billy or I will be here with you all the time. She’ll stay that way for most of the trip, as long as you two idiots don’t make a sound. That means no talking, no rattling those shackles. No trying to escape. One noise, even a whisper while she’s sleeping, and you two will find yourselves busted up or worse.”

  “And what about when she relieves herself?” Grant asked.

  “You’re an old stagecoach man,” Mackey told him. “What do you think? There’s plenty of hay in the stall to soak most of it up. The rest is your problem.”

  “And what about when we have to relieve ourselves?” Grant persisted.

  “Like I said, there’s plenty of hay in the stall.” Adair lowered her head even farther on Mackey’s shoulder, drawing him closer to her. He stroked the mane on her neck. “Now’s a good time to put them in, Joshua. She’s good and quiet now.”

  Sandborne used the double barrels of his coach gun to prod them into the stall. The prisoners held the chains of their shackles to prevent them from rattling as they reluctantly moved inside and bunched up in the farthest corner of the stall.

  Both men flinched when the stock car jerked as the train began to pull out of the station. Adair fussed a little, and her hooves sliding dangerously close to the prisoners, but Mackey kept stroking her mane and she quickly found her footing again.

  Mackey patted her a final time before he slid out from under her and closed the stall door. She lifted her head over it and put her snout against her owner’s head.

  Mackey looked down at the prisoners. “You two behave yourselves, and we’ll all have a nice comfortable ride to Helena.”

  Mackey walked to the back of the stock car, but Grant yelled after him from the corner of the stall. “I’m going to kill you for this, Mackey. As God is my witness, I’ll make you suffer for what you’ve—”

  Billy watched Adair swing her head around and butt Grant in the face. Not as hard as Billy had seen her do in the past, but hard enough to knock the man back against the wall. She kept her head an inch away from his, snorting loudly as she smelled his fear.

  Billy held his finger up to his lips to remind both prisoners to be quiet and went to join the others at the far end of the car.

  CHAPTER 7

  Mackey was glad the railroad had followed his orders and gave them a clean stock car to house the prisoners. The train ride down to Helena would take a couple of days and, despite what he had said to Grant, he did not like the idea of sharing the space with a car full of livestock. The car was more than big enough for them to share with Billy’s roan and Josh’s bay, along with Adair.

  “How are we going to work this, Aaron?” Joshua asked as they got situated in the three stalls at the far end of the car. “I mean, we weren’t planning on getting stuck back here like this.”

  “This was the plan from the beginning,” Billy told him. “Grant’s got a lot of friends who depend on him. They’ve been known to rob trains before. Locking them up back here where there’s only one way in and one way out is safer for all of us.”

  “But there’s no way for us to get to the rest of the train from here,” Sandborne continued. “We can’t go back there to eat or sleep.”

  Mackey normally encouraged the young man’s questions, but all the run-ins he’d had over the past several hours had put him in a bad humor. “We can’t get out and no one can get in. That makes it safer for all of us. Sorry to ruin your dream of a grand rail adventure, Joshua, but you can have one on the way back. Maybe they even stock up on that soda pop you’re so fond of.”

  The look of disappointment on the young deputy’s face immediately made Mackey feel like a bully. And if there was one thing in this world he hated more than anything, it was a bully. Taking out his anger on Josh would not make him feel any better. It was like kicking a loyal dog who would just take the abuse and come back for more.

  Which was why he tried taking some of the sting out of his words. “We’ll make sure one of us is always awake and keeps watch over the prisoners. When we pull into a station, one of us will get off and grab something to eat. There are a couple of empty compartments on the train we can use to sleep in. You’ll take first watch, Joshua, and when we pull into the station, you get first crack at going inside the train. Mr. Rice saw to it that the railroad set aside a compartment just for us. Billy will take the next watch, then me.”

  Young Sandborne brightened a little. “Didn’t mean to sound like I was complaining, boss. I guess I’m just not used to all of this.”

  “That’s your first lesson on being a lawman,” Billy said. “Never get used to anything. Complacency is a good way of getting yourself killed.”

  The young man looked confused and Mackey asked him, “You bring along that dictionary I gave you?”

  He patted his saddlebag. “Got it right here.”

  “Good. Go look it up and see what it means, then come back to us.”

  Joshua hauled his tack into his own stall across the aisle and began digging through his saddlebag, leaving Mackey and Billy alone.

  Billy leaned against the wall of Mackey’s stall. “You’re getting soft in your old age, Captain. I could be forgiven for thinking you almost apologized to that boy just now.”

  Mackey rearranged his saddle so it could serve as a pillow. The thick layer of straw would make for decent bedding. “Quit calling me Captain. We’re not in uniform anymore.”

  “Kind of comes naturally when we’re out in the field like this.” Billy dug out some cigarette paper from his top pocket and patted his pockets for the tobacco pouch. “And don’t go taking your bad mood out on me. I’m as bothered by what happened back at the station as you are.”

  Mackey knew he was. “It’s not just that.”

  “It’s what Mad Nellie said up at the cemetery. You’re worried about something happening to Pappy and Katherine in Helena.”

  Mackey set the saddle aside and sat against the wall. As usual, Billy could practically read his mind. “Of course, I’m worried about them, but not as much as you might think. Sean Lynch works for us in Helena. He’s keeping an eye on them, too, and from what I’ve heard of him, he’s a good man.”

  “That dustup back at the station isn’t bothering you, is it? We knew they were bound to try something before we loaded them onto the train. Hell, you handled it before any of us had the chance.”

  “What happened doesn’t bother me,” Mackey admitted. “How it happened bothers me.”

  Billy looked up from the cigarette he was building. “What do you mean?”

  “A gunman and a man with a knife?” Mackey still could not get his mind around it. “With all the guns we had on the platform? How far did two men expect to get against odds like that? Especially charging us the way they did.”

>   Billy went back to building his cigarette. “Maybe they were the only two who showed up. After Grant and Brenner laid eyes on them, maybe they were too scared not to go through with it?”

  But Mackey was not so sure. And he would not be sure until he got a wire from Jerry Halstead telling him who the men were. “It was a suicide mission, Billy. Hell, Custer had better odds at Little Bighorn. And why a knife? That man had a pistol on his hip. Between the two of them, they would’ve had at least twelve shots at three men. They could’ve gotten lucky, especially at that distance. But they stuck to their plan instead.”

  Billy stopped tapping tobacco into the paper. His eyes grew distant, as if he was watching what had happened again in his mind. “The one with the knife was heeled, wasn’t he? I didn’t remember that until you just said it.”

  But Mackey had seen it as it happened, and it had bothered him ever since. “We’ve seen Comanche do that. Apache a few times, but never a white man. Not a sober one anyway.” He looked up at his deputy. “And them being Hancocks puts a whole different light on things, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” Billy lowered his tobacco pouch. “Doesn’t make sense.”

  “It makes sense if the men knew they were outgunned and running to their deaths anyway. Makes sense if it means they were too scared not to come at us despite the odds.” Mackey ran his hand over his face. “They either came at us because they were loyal to the Hancocks or Grant. Or because they were too afraid not to. Either way is a bad sign for us.”

  Billy went back to tapping tobacco flakes into the paper. “Think we’ll have more of the same waiting for us when we get to Helena? Hancocks, I mean.”

  Mackey had thought about that, too. “Not Hancock men. They only travel in packs, and Lynch would sniff them out in a second. Besides, they’d blow whatever money they had on whiskey and women before we got there. They’d be too hungover to do any good.”

  “But . . .” Billy encouraged him.

  “But it took Grant a couple of months to be healthy enough to make the trip,” Mackey continued. “That gave him plenty of time to put something else together. I know we’ll have plenty of marshals at the station to cover us, but after what just happened, I’ll bet Grant probably has something else up his sleeve.”

  “We’ll be ready for it no matter what.” Billy tucked his tobacco pouch away and licked the paper sealed. “Always have so far.”

  Mackey knew the fact they were still alive was testament to that.

  But he also knew there was a first time for everything. And they had never gone up against the likes of Grant or the Hancock clan before.

  Josh Sandborne appeared in the aisle with the old dictionary Mackey had given him. “I found it!” He looked down at the dictionary and began to read, albeit slowly. In the two months since Katherine had been in Helena, the young man had fallen behind on the reading lessons she had been giving him, but he still practiced on his own every day. “Says here ‘complacency’ is a noun. Means ‘a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction in one’s achievements. ’” He smiled at the lawmen, clearly pleased in his ability to read it. “Complacency.”

  “That’s the word.” Mackey stretched out and laid his head on his saddle. “Something we should all keep in mind for the rest of the trip.” He glanced at Billy as he made himself comfortable. “That includes all of us.”

  Billy took the jibe well and patted Sandborne on the shoulder. “That was good reading, Josh. Now, you take first watch while the marshal and me get some sleep. If Adair takes to stomping them, give a shout.”

  Mackey felt himself slip away as his men took up their positions.

  CHAPTER 8

  By the time the train pulled into Helena two days later, Mackey, Billy, and Josh were well rested and ready for the second leg of their journey.

  But James Grant and Al Brenner had not weathered the journey well. Both men had been fed hardtack and powdered milk that Billy had brought along for them, while they watched the lawmen eat three meals a day from silver trays the porters brought them at station stops.

  At each stop, when the lawmen mucked out the stalls and laid down fresh hay, the men were doused with two buckets of water to keep the stench of their own mess down to a manageable foulness. Refusing to allow them to relieve themselves with dignity was part of Mackey’s plan to keep them humble. The terror of Adair trampling them to death had served to keep them quiet.

  When Grant gave Billy a hateful glare, the deputy said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be in hell in a week, and this will seem like paradise.”

  They had just doused the prisoners with two more buckets of water when someone pounded three times on the stock car door.

  “Inside the car,” came a booming voice from outside. “This is Marshal Sean Lynch. We’re here to escort you and the prisoners to the courthouse.”

  “Is that so?” Mackey yelled back, waiting for the password he had telegraphed Lynch the day before they had left Dover Station.

  “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot.” Lynch cleared his throat and yelled, “Mr. Rice sends his regards.”

  Mackey threw open the latch and Josh helped Billy slide the door open.

  The man he took for Lynch was of medium height, but barnyard strong. It was clear he was bald beneath the black Plainsman he wore and sported a full reddish moustache. The Winchester he held on his hip glinted in the sunlight and appeared to be kept in fine working order. Mackey began to feel better already.

  The deputy U.S. Marshal did not waste time with pleasantries. “We’ve got a wagon right here at the back of the train to take the prisoners to the courthouse.”

  Mackey was glad to hear it. “Come take them, then.”

  Two of his men boarded the car, grabbed Brenner and Grant by the arms and crab-walked them off the car. It took a few steps for one of them to gag, then the other.

  By then, Lynch had caught wind of them, too. “God in heaven, those boys are ripe. What happened to them?”

  “Spent the whole ride in the stall with my horse. Didn’t let them use the privy, either. Didn’t want to take any chances after what happened at the station before we left.”

  Lynch gagged as he stepped back from the car and motioned for his men to get the prisoners loaded up. “Make sure you boys stay upwind from them on the wagon. Have Harry put the strap to them mules. Air those men out a bit before we bring them inside.”

  Mackey stepped out on to the platform and saw an even bigger crowd had formed here in Helena than in Dover Station. He did not look for Katherine or Pappy because he had already wired ahead and told them to wait for him at the Hotel Helena where they were staying. He did not want them caught up in any action that might pop off during Grant and Brenner’s arrival.

  Unlike the chaos at Dover Station, Lynch’s men were doing a good job of keeping them penned in a good distance away from the stock car. “Looks like you have things well in hand here, Lynch.”

  Lynch cleared his throat of the stench and spat on the platform. “That supposed to be a compliment?”

  Mackey did not like his tone. “It was, but it doesn’t have to be, Deputy.”

  Lynch wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Once we get these prisoners settled, you and me are going to have ourselves a talk, Mackey. About how you treated these prisoners and about a lot of other things, too.”

  Billy quietly stepped between them, forcing Lynch to take a couple of steps back. “You will mind that tone when talking to the marshal, son. You’re a deputy, same as me.”

  “I ain’t your son.” Lynch sneered as he looked Billy up and down. “You must be Billy Sunday. Inside of that car is dark. Guess I didn’t see you coming.”

  Billy took a step closer. This time, Lynch didn’t back off. “Didn’t hear me coming, either. You’ll have a harder time seeing me after I lay you out on that platform.”

  Before Mackey could intervene, Joshua led Adair out of the car, already saddled. The black Arabian’s coat shined in the morning sun.

  “Here
you go, boss.” Josh handed the reins to Mackey. “Figured you’d be anxious to ride behind the prisoners.” He clearly sensed the tension in the air and nudged Billy. “Anxious. That’s another one of those fancy words I learned on the ride down here.”

  Then Josh Sandborne smiled at Lynch, who was still scowling at Billy. “Did I hear right that you’re Marshal Sean Lynch? Out of Butte? The man who brought in Ed Kurtz alive?”

  Lynch glanced at the young man. “Barely alive.”

  “I’ve read all about you, sir,” Joshua gushed. “As much as I could read, anyway, on account of that I’m just learning how.” He held out his hand to Lynch. “I’d be honored to shake your hand.”

  “Pleasure.” Lynch begrudgingly shook young Sandborne’s hand but kept glaring at Billy. “Nice to see someone in this outfit has sense enough to know their betters.”

  Mackey climbed into the saddle and brought Adair around. “You bring your own mount, Lynch, or did you ride the wagon?”

  Lynch looked almost insulted. “I ride on my own everywhere I go.”

  “So do I,” Mackey said. “Let’s get you mounted and have that talk you mentioned. No sense in putting it off for later when we can settle it right now.”

  Lynch gave Billy a final glare as he went off to get his horse. “Suits me fine.”

  Billy went to go back inside to get his own roan, but Mackey angled Adair to block him. “I’d appreciate it if you’d head over to the hotel and check on Katherine and Pappy for me.”

  The deputy watched Lynch walk away. “Don’t worry, Aaron. I won’t kill him. Yet.”

  “Let’s hope you won’t have to do it at all,” Mackey said. “We’re going to need all the friends we’ve got. But after everything that’s happened, I’d feel a whole lot better if you looked in on Katherine and Pappy for me.” Billy looked at the platform and toed it with his boot. “You working me, Aaron?”

  “Lynch is just marking his territory,” Mackey told him. “It’s my job to handle him, not yours. Besides, knowing Katherine and Pappy are safe is more important than watching you and Lynch circle each other.”