“So what happened?”
“Couple of miles from here he quit,” Joe said.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Les said. “He saw the smoke comin’ from yer chimney.”
“Miranda!” Clint yelled.
She came walking over.
“Tell her what the man looked like,” Clint told the two teamsters.
They did.
“That’s the man who came to see me, lookin’ for you,” she said. “That’s why I came to warn you.”
“Was he with any other men when you saw him?” Clint asked them.
“No,” Joe said.
“And was anybody following you?”
“No,” Les said, then, “nobody that we saw.”
“Well, which is it?” Clint asked. “No, or not that you know.”
They exchanged glances, and then Joe said, “Not that we know.”
Clint looked at Miranda.
“They could have been followed,” Clint said. “They just wanted these gents to lead them here.”
“Is there gonna be trouble?” Joe asked. “We need our guns?”
“You might,” Clint said, “but it would be better if we finished unloading and then you left. In fact, that might be what they’re waiting for.” He looked at Miranda. “We’ll keep going, but keep a sharp eye out for anything.”
“Gotcha.”
“Gents,” Clint said, “let’s get moving.”
Givens made them all dismount and move forward on foot. Before long they were able to see the house, the two buckboards, and the people.
“They’re unloading, like you said,” Roman commented.
“We take ’em now?’ Donnie asked.
“No,” Givens said.
“Why not?” Lefty asked.
Givens turned his head and looked at all three of them.
“They got two extra guns down there,” he said. “That makes five. We go in now, we go in without our edge.”
“He’s right,” Roman said. “We gotta wait until those two leave.”
“You three go back to the horses,” Givens said. “I’ll keep watch and let you know when it’s time to go.”
“Suits me,” Donnie said. “I’m hungry anyway.”
“Jerky only,” Givens said harshly. “No fire, no whiskey.”
“Jesus—” Lefty said.
“Shut up,” Roman said. “He’s right. Now see if you can move without making noise.”
The three of them drifted off, and Givens settled down to watch the activity in front of the house.
The big cat wasn’t happy.
There were too many of the two-legged creatures around. He decided just to circle around and around, until some of them had gone away.
THIRTY-FIVE
The two teamsters had to stop and rest after unloading the first buckboard. Clint let them come inside, but suddenly the house was cramped while Tesla was assembling his equipment.
“Let’s go back outside,” Clint said.
They did, taking their coffee with them.
“So that fella we brought with us,” Joe said. “He lookin’ for you with bad intentions?”
“Real bad intentions.”
“We’re real sorry we brung him,” Les said. “We didn’t know—”
“I understand,” Clint said. “Did he say anything to you on the way?”
“Nothin’,” Joe said.
“He didn’t talk at all,” Les said.
“That didn’t bother you?”
“Nope,” Joe said. “We just wanted him for his size.”
“Big?”
“Real big,” Joe said.
“Bigger than us,” Les said.
Clint looked at Miranda.
“Real big.”
“Why don’t you fellas go and check that other buckboard, see what we can take first?” Clint said.
“Sure.”
As they moved away, Clint said to Miranda, “This big man, he’s new. He wasn’t with the other three when we tangled with them.”
“So he must be pretty good if he’s all the help they brought,” she said.
“I guess so,” Clint said.
Clint looked out into the trees.
“I ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” she said.
“They’re out there.”
“How do you know?”
“Same way I know that cat is out there,” Clint said. “I can feel them.”
“Why don’t we go out and get them?” Miranda asked. “We could go around back of the house and circle around.”
“No,” Clint said, “they’re watching. If they don’t see us, they’ll know something is up.”
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“Wait,” Clint said, “we just wait.”
They got the second buckboard unloaded without incident, but it was too late in the day for Joe and Les to leave, so they decided to spend the night.
“We can sleep in that lean-to in the back,” Les said.
“You don’t want to do that,” Clint said. “A big cat killed one of our horses last night. The ground back there is saturated with blood, and that cat might come back.”
“Thanks for the warnin’,” Joe said. “We can sleep under the buckboards.”
“Or in the beds, since they’re empty,” Clint said. “Might be better off doing that, with that cat still around. Tie your horses off next to ours right here in front of the house. With all of us bunched up here, it might discourage that lion from paying us a visit.”
“What about the two-legged critters?” Miranda asked.
“We’ll keep watch all night,” Clint said. “I don’t think they’ll want to do anything in the dark. They’ll still wait for Joe and Les to leave in the morning.”
“Okay then,” Joe said. “We’ll get set up for the night.”
“You’re welcome to take supper with us inside,” Clint said. He figured to cook the rest of the venison.
Givens realized the two teamsters were staying the night. He turned and walked back to where the other three were sitting.
“Get them saddles off,” he said. “Them teamsters are staying’ overnight.”
“Why don’t we take ’em in the dark?” Donnie asked.
“Yeah,” Givens said, “why don’t we break a leg tryin’ to walk around this mountain in the dark? And why don’t we run into the mountain lion whose tracks I saw on my way back here?”
“Lion?” Lefty asked.
“We’re gonna have to build a fire,” Givens said. “It’ll keep the cat away, keep us warm.”
“Can we cook?” Donnie asked.
“Yeah,” Givens said after a moment. “Let’s backtrack some. They’re gonna be smellin’ their own cookin’ all night, but we’ll put a little more distance between us.”
“Plus we’re downwind,” Roman said.
“We’ll set watches for the night,” Givens said. “You three can take care of that since I watched the house all day.”
The three men didn’t argue. They all grabbed their horses’ reins and followed Givens back along the trail a ways.
THIRTY-SIX
The two teamsters went to sleep right after their supper of venison stew and biscuits, and in moments they were snoring.
Clint stood out front with Miranda for a while.
“We still haven’t had a chance to finish what we started,” she said.
“I know,” Clint said. “We might have to wait until we get someplace that has a hotel.”
“I have a room back in Gunnison,” she said. “You will have to go back that way to get off this mountain.”
“Yes, I suppose I will.”
The teamsters’ snoring increased.
“I’m not gonna be able to sleep with all that racket,” she said. “I’ll take the first watch.”
“Might not be as loud inside,” he said, “but I won’t argue.”
She nodded and he went inside.
The house was now crowded with T
esla’s equipment. Except for the kitchen and the table, there was not much room to move around—other than in the bedrooms.
“It looks . . . crowded,” Clint said. He almost said “impressive,” but he really didn’t know whether to be impressed or not.
Tesla stepped back to view his work. His shirtsleeves were pushed up, revealing his stick-thin arms. He was breathing hard from exertion.
“Do you have everything where you want it?” Clint asked.
“Pretty much,” Tesla said, “down here. But I must go up on the roof and connect these wires.”
“To what?” Clint asked.
Tesla pointed and said, “The antennae must be erected up there. Remember you told me you would help?”
“I remember,” Clint said. “We’ll have to do that in the morning, when we have light.”
Tesla looked unhappy, but said, “Very well.”
“Tonight you should get some rest,” Clint said.
“Yes,” Tesla said, “yes, I am quite fatigued. What of our two new friends?”
“They’re in the buckboard, snoring away,” Clint said.
“And the lady sheriff?”
“On watch outside.”
“For the cat?”
“For anything, and anyone.”
Tesla approached Clint.
“Is there coffee on the stove?”
“Enough for a couple of cups.”
“Good, then will you join me?”
“Sure.”
Clint poured two cups and brought them to the table. The two men sat across from each other.
“So, Nikola, you have no idea who would have sent an assassin after you?”
“None.”
“Edison?”
“I believe I told you the man is a scientist,” Tesla said. “Scientists do not stoop to murder. I am afraid I would never believe that of him.”
“Well, we can’t be sure that whoever sent him sent only one,” Clint said, “so we’ll have to be on our guard.”
“Seems we’ve been on our guard since we left Denver,” Tesla said.
“Yes, well,” Clint said, “sometimes that’s the only way to stay alive.”
“I would have to bow to your knowledge of these things,” Tesla said. “Where will you be sleeping tonight?”
“I’ll share the bedroom with Miranda,” Clint said. “No point in leaving the bed empty.”
“Good point.” Tesla yawned, and Clint thought he heard the scientist’s jaw crack. “I will turn in now with an eye toward rising early tomorrow. Hopefully, there will be some storms coming.”
“Smells like it,” Clint said, “but why do you want storms?”
“I need lightning for my experiments,” Tesla explained, standing up and stretching. “I need to get those antennae up.”
“Okay,” Clint said, “first thing in the morning, then.”
“After breakfast?” Tesla asked hopefully.
“Sure, after breakfast.”
“Good night, then.”
“Night.”
Clint finished his coffee, then rinsed both cups out and stowed them away. He took a moment to study Tesla’s equipment, some of the pieces as large as furniture. Other smaller pieces were joined together to form one large one. He finally admitted he didn’t know what he was looking at, and went to bed.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Givens, Roman, Donnie, and Lefty sat around the fire. Donnie had been able to whip up a combination of beans and jerky, as well as a pot of coffee.
“I was just thinkin’ about them smellin’ our food,” Lefty said.
“Hey, you wanted a hot meal,” Donnie said.
“It don’t matter,” Givens said. “They know we’re comin’ .”
“How do they know that?” Lefty asked.
“Those two teamsters surely told them about me,” Givens said. “And that lady sheriff, she woulda recognized the description.”
“So,” Roman said, “they know you’re comin’.”
“They probably figure it’s the four of us,” Givens said.
“I ain’t so sure,” Roman said. “You’re the only one anybody’s seen.”
“What’re you getting’ at?” Givens asked.
“I’m thinkin’,” Roman said, “that you should ride in there alone tomorrow.”
“And get my head shot off?”
“They ain’t gonna shoot you right off,” Roman said. “They’re gonna wanna know what you want.”
“And then what?”
“While you keep ’em busy, we work our way around behind ’em,” Roman said. “Or better yet, we get ’em in a cross fire.”
“And me, too,” Givens reminded him.
“We won’t start shootin’ ’til you hit the ground,” Roman said. “All you gotta do is keep them talkin’, then hit the ground. It should all be over in no time.”
“Says you,” Givens said.
“You got a better idea?” Roman asked.
After a moment Givens said, “No.”
“There ya go, then,” Roman said.
“Maybe I’ll come up with somethin’ else by mornin’,” Givens muttered.
“Well, you sleep on it while the rest of us keep watch,” Roman said, “and if you come up with somethin’ else, you can let us know.”
Givens glowered at the three men, then rolled himself up in his blanket and went to sleep.
Clint woke up before Miranda could rouse him. He made a pot of coffee and carried two cups outside.
“Thought you might like one before you turned in,” he told her.
“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t see nothin’ out there, but it’s like you said. I can feel somebody watching us.”
“Could be them,” Clint said, “could be that cat wondering why the horse smell and man smell are so close together.”
“What about the female smell?”
“Maybe—if he’s a male—he’ll like that one most of all.”
“Thanks a lot,” Miranda said. She placed her left hand on his crotch. “Maybe he can smell that I’m in heat.”
He slapped her hand away and said, “Stop that. What are our two friends going to think?”
“They’re dead to the world,” she said. It was true. Clint could hear the two of them snoring, competing to see who could be the loudest.
“We could sneak off to the bedroom,” she said.
“That didn’t work so well last time, Miranda.”
She became serious and said, “I know. I’m sorry about that.”
“Not your fault,” he said. “Or it was both our faults. Pick one.”
“Don’t like either,” she said. She tossed the remnants of her coffee out into the dirt. “Guess I’ll go ahead and turn in.”
“Good night,” he said.
“Night.”
She went back inside, leaving him alone with the teamsters snoring.
The cat circled wide enough so that he could see the four men sitting around a fire, and then the people at the house, bunched up together with the horses. There was no fire there to dissuade him, but one of the two-legged creatures was constantly moving around.The cat finally settled down, resting its muzzle on both front paws, and watched the house.
The cat also knew there was one more predator out in the trees, but seemed to instinctively know that the lone man was the most dangerous of all, and so decided to leave him alone.
The man with the rifle looked down at the house from his elevated vantage point. He had seen the result of the cat attacking his partner, had watched as Clint Adams found the body and took the rifle. Hopefully, Adams and Tesla would think there was only one assassin on the job.
The second predator had watched the buckboard drive in with the two teamsters, then became concerned when they spent the night. He didn’t need to go against four guns in his quest to kill the scientist, Nikola Tesla.
He didn’t know why he’d been hired to kill Tesla. In fact, he didn’t even know who had hired him and his partner. All he knew was th
at he’d been paid half of the money up front, and had a job to do in order to get the second half of his payment.
He placed the stock of the rifle on the ground and leaned on the weapon. He knew the cat was around, but if it came near him, he was going to kill it. He believed the animal knew that, and would leave him alone. After all, predators recognized other predators, and knew to leave each other alone.
But even if he had to deal with the cat first, he’d never missed a target before, and he wasn’t about to start now.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Givens awoke the next morning, told the other three to stay where they were. He rode back up to his earlier vantage point, walking the last hundred yards so his horse wouldn’t alert anyone. He wanted to make sure the two teamsters were going to leave. They weren’t gunmen, but anybody could fire a gun and get lucky. He didn’t need two more guns going against them.
As he looked down, he didn’t see anyone in front of the house. They must have all been inside the house, having breakfast. The horses had not yet been hitched to a buckboard.
As he watched, he saw the mountain lion come into view on the other side of the house. He was sand colored, one of the biggest cats Givens had ever seen. The cat stopped on the edge of the clearing, lifted his huge head, and sniffed the air. Givens watched with interest to see if the cat would move any closer.
The horses in front of the house shifted nervously as they smelled the nearness of the cat.
“What’s that?” Tesla asked.
“The horses,” Clint said. He ran to the door, grabbed his rifle, and stepped outside. He saw the cat, lifted his rifle, but he’d never seen anything that big move so fast, and it was gone.
Miranda came up behind him.
“What was it?”
“The cat,” Clint said. “He’s getting braver. He was coming closer until he saw me, then took off fast.”
“What’s he look like?” she asked.
“Big,” Clint said, “real big. Biggest one I’ve ever seen—and fast.”
“Then I’m not lookin’ forward to going back to Gunnison alone when this is all over,” she said.
If she was hoping he’d offer to go with her, he didn’t bite. Instead, he said, “I don’t blame you.”
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