Carnage of Eagles

by William W. Johnstone

  “Marshal, I know that we have to be there to sort of keep an eye on things, and to keep order,” Les said. “But will it be all right if I have a few dances with Miss Julie?”

  Falcon chuckled. “Les, I think if I said no, you’d probably turn in your deputy star.”

  “Well, no, sir, I wouldn’t do that,” Les said. “But I would be some disappointed, that’s for sure.”

  “Well, you can keep your star, and you can dance. It will be perfectly all right.”

  “Thanks!”

  That night the Cattlemen’s Association Hall was brightly lit with hanging chandeliers and wall sconce lanterns, while inside the young men and women of the town and county were gathered in several groups, waiting for the music to begin.

  “Ladies and gents, choose your partners and form up your squares!” the dance caller shouted.

  Les found Julie, and they joined the first square to be formed.

  Once all the squares were formed, the music began, while the caller began to shout, dancing around on the platform in compliance with his own calls, bowing and whirling about as if he had a girl and was in one of the squares himself. The dancers moved and swirled to the caller’s commands.

  Les danced two more sets with Julie, but because she was a pretty, and popular, girl, others came around afterward so that, for the next several dances, Les stood on the side and watched the activity.

  As there were no dance cards being used, Les managed to dance with Julie about every third dance, and it became such a routine that Julie started waiting for him, turning down invitations until he arrived. Then, just as he was approaching, he heard Julie turn down Deputy Toombs.

  “What do you mean you won’t dance with me? I been watchin’ you all night; you’ve danced with just about ever’ cowboy in the county and that worthless buzzard Karnes. You may be the mayor’s daughter, but that don’t mean you’re too good for me.”

  “It’s not because I’m the mayor’s daughter that I’m too good for you, Deputy Toombs. Any woman in the county is too good for you,” Julie said.

  “Yeah? Well, you’re goin’ to dance with me whether you want to or not. Otherwise, you ain’t goin’ to like what happens next.”

  “Julie, I believe this is our dance,” Les said, coming up to her.

  “I do believe it is,” Julie said with a relieved smile.

  “I told you, you was goin’ to dance with me!” Toombs said angrily, and he grabbed her by the shoulder. That was as far as he got, because Les laid him out with a powerful right cross to Toombs’s jaw.

  Toombs’s loud voice had already drawn the attention of the other dancers, and when they saw Les knock him down, they applauded.

  Les offered Julie his arm, and they started to walk away thinking, as did the others, that it was over.

  “Karnes!” Toombs shouted, having gotten to his feet. “I’m going to settle this, here and now.” Toombs had a pistol in his hand, and he was pointing it at Les.

  “I don’t have a gun, Toombs,” Les answered easily. “I don’t wear a gun when I’m on the dance floor.”

  Toombs smiled, though it wasn’t a smile of mirth. “Well now, ain’t that just too bad. Because I do have a gun.”

  “What a coincidence,” Falcon said, “so do I.”

  “This ain’t your fight,” Toombs said.

  “Yeah, it is,” Falcon said. “I just made it my fight.”

  Toombs lowered his pistol. “I—I don’t want no trouble,” he said.

  “Then I suggest you leave.”

  “You got no right to throw me out of this dance,” Toombs said angrily.

  “Yeah, I do. You’ll either walk out, or I’ll kill you and have you carried out. Either way, you are leaving.”

  Toombs glared at Falcon, but he didn’t challenge him. Instead, he holstered his pistol, and to the derisive laughter and a few catcalls from the others at the dance, he left.

  The night creatures called to each other as Deputies Sharp and Toombs sat astride their horses just on the edge of town. A cloud passed over the moon, then moved away, bathing in silver the little town that rose up like a ghost before them. As they came into town, they rode toward a big white house that stood at the end of the street. With its cupolas, dormers, balconies, porches, and gingerbread trim, the house was shining brightly in the moonlight. The property was surrounded by a white picket fence, which enclosed not only the house, but a carriage house and stable as well. A neatly lettered sign in front of the house read JOE CRAVENS.

  “Let’s go,” Sharp said. “We’ll tie the horses off in the stable at the back of the property. That way no one will notice a couple of strange horses hangin’ around the house.”

  The two men continued on, avoiding the main street so that they approached the house from a direction that provided them with the least chance of being seen. When they reached the stable behind the big white house, they dismounted, then tied their horses off just inside the carriage house. One of the stabled horses snorted.

  “What was that?” Toombs asked.

  “You ain’t never heard a horse snort before?”

  “Yeah, it just startled me, is all.”

  The two men left the stable, then moved across the backyard, picking their way through the shadow of the trees in order to avoid the bright moonlight. The back door to the house was locked, but Sharp stuck his knife in between the door edge and the lock plate and had it open in a couple of seconds.

  Quietly, and quickly, they stepped inside. The curtains were open and the shades were up, so a bright moonlight spilled into the room, casting a silver glow on the big cook stove that occupied one side of the room, giving back a faint aroma of the pork it had cooked for supper. There was a white cloth at one end, and as they walked by Toombs lifted the cloth. Under the cloth was half a cherry pie.

  “Hey, Sharp, look,” Toombs whispered. He broke off a piece of the pie.

  “Leave it, we don’t have time for that.”

  “I ain’t goin’ to leave it. It’s cherry pie. That’s my favorite.”

  Toombs raised the pie to his mouth and took a big bite. Some of the pie broke away and fell to the floor, but he stuck the rest of it in his mouth, then, chewing it, followed Sharp through the rest of the house.

  The moonlight that allowed them to navigate through the kitchen illuminated the parlor and showed, clearly, the bottom of the stairs. They started up the stairs and were on the third step when there was a sudden whirring sound, followed by four “bongs.” It was the clock, striking four a.m.

  “Son of a bitch,” Toombs whispered. “That scared the bejesus out of me.”

  “Keep quiet,” Sharp warned.

  They continued to the top of the stairs. Slowly, quietly, they moved to the nearest bedroom, then opened the door. The same splash of moonlight that had illuminated the parlor also illuminated this room, and they could see a woman, sleeping alone.

  “That’s her,” Toombs said.

  Quietly, Sharp and Toombs moved on into the room, then stood over Julie’s bed, looking down at her. She was wearing a silk sleeping gown and, because it was very warm, she was sleeping on top of the covers. Even in the moonlight, Toombs could see her nipples pushing against the silk, and he felt a sudden, powerful erection. For a moment he was ready to forget what he was here for, but he managed to put the urge down. He pulled his pistol from his holster, then he bent down and clamped his hand over her mouth.

  Julie awoke with a start and, looking up, saw Toombs staring down at her. She tried to scream only to have it cut off by increased pressure from Toombs’s hand.

  “Don’t you be doin’ no screamin’ now,” Sharp hissed. “You just lie there real quietlike, and you won’t get hurt.”

  Julie’s eyes were opened wide in terror.

  “I’ll bet you’re wishin’ you had danced with me now, ain’t you?” Toombs asked.

  “Where at’s the mayor?” Sharp asked.

  Julie continued to stare at the two of them with fear-crazed eyes.r />
  “Is your pa in the house?”

  Julie made no attempt to answer, and Sharp cocked his pistol.

  “Shake your head yes or no, girl,” Sharp said gruffly. “Is your pa in the house, or ain’t he?”

  Julie shook her head yes.

  “I’m goin’ to have Toombs take his hand away now,” Sharp said. “You make a sound, I’m goin’ to blow your brains out. Then I’m goin’ to kill your pa and your ma. Do you understand that?”

  Julie nodded.

  “All right, Toombs, take your hand away.”

  Slowly, he pulled his hand away.

  “What . . . what do you want?” Julie asked in a small, frightened voice.

  “We want you to come with us.”

  “Is this because I didn’t dance with you?”

  “Nah. We was goin’ to come get you tonight whether you danced with me or not,” Toombs said.

  “What—what do you want with me?”

  “I want you to do what I say without askin’ so damn many questions,” Sharp said. “Now, get out of bed and get dressed.”

  Julie nodded, then got out of bed. Seeing the clinging silk gown made Toombs’s erection grow stronger, and he was having a difficult time concentrating on what he was doing.

  “I can’t get dressed with you in here.”

  “Oh, yes, you can.”

  “Turn your backs.”

  “Not on your life. Get dressed, and be quick about it.”

  “Julie?” a woman’s voice called.

  “Who is that?” Sharp hissed.

  “That’s my mama.”

  “Julie, are you all right?”

  “If you want her to live, she better not come in here.”

  “I’m fine, Mama,” Julie answered. “I must have just called out in my sleep.”

  “All right, honey, if you say so,” Julie’s mother called back.

  Julie turned her back to the intruders and took off her nightgown. Sharp and Toombs saw only her backside, but that was almost more than they could take. They watched, entranced, as she got dressed. Then she turned toward them.

  “I’m dressed,” she said.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Look what you have done!” Mayor Cravens said the next day when he came into the marshal’s office. “They took her, and it’s all your fault!”

  “Easy, Mayor, what are you talking about?” Falcon asked.

  “Julie is gone! We woke up this morning and she didn’t come down to breakfast; her mother went up to get her. Julie was gone, but Emma found this.”

  “Julie is gone?” Les asked anxiously. “What do you mean ‘gone’?”

  “I mean somebody took her during the night,” Mayor Cravens said. He showed a note to Falcon. “This was lying on her pillow,” he added.

  Mayor, if you want to see your daughter alive again, you will issue an executive order overturning the ordinances recently passed by the city council. We will not stand by and see such evils as prostitution legalized in our town.

  Citizens for a Moral Town

  “Marshal, we have to get her back!” Les said anxiously.

  “We will,” Falcon said. “Tell me, Mayor, have you ever heard of this group, Citizens for a Moral Town?” Falcon asked.

  “No. I’m sure it was just formed.”

  “When is the last time you saw your daughter?”

  “Last night, after we got back from the dance, and just before she went to bed. But she was still home at four o’clock this morning, because Emma heard her cry out, and that was just after I heard the clock strike.”

  “Your daughter cried out?”

  “Yes, but when Emma called to her, she said it was just a dream.”

  “It was no dream. That was when whoever took her, took her.”

  “Why didn’t she say anything?”

  “Because they probably told her that they would kill you and her mother if she said anything.”

  “Yes. Julie would do that to protect us. And now I’m going to do everything I can to protect her. I’m calling a special meeting of the council, and I’m going to issue an executive order revoking every ordinance that was passed.”

  “I’ll come to the council meeting with you,” Falcon said.

  “Me, too,” Les said.

  “Citizens for a Moral Town my ass,” Smalley said with a snort after he read the note. “I don’t believe there is such a group.”

  “Of course there is no such group. Poindexter is behind this, I would bet my last dollar,” Denham said.

  “I don’t care who is behind it. Whoever is behind it has my daughter, and I’m not going to stand by and do nothing. I hereby issue an executive order negating everything passed by the council in our last meeting.”

  “You can’t do that, Mayor,” Van Arsdale said. “You don’t have the authority.”

  “But I have to, James Earl,” Cravens said. “Don’t you see that? I have to! My little girl’s life is at stake.”

  “What about this?” Denham suggested. “Suppose the mayor issues the executive order and you, James Earl, acting at the behest of the city council, immediately challenge it. We’ll have to take it to court.”

  “Judge Dawes’s court? Are you serious? We’ve all agreed, haven’t we, that he is the one behind this? Either he or Sheriff Poindexter, which, for all intents and purposes is the same thing,” Van Arsdale said.

  “Oh, I’m sure he is. But this could buy the mayor a little time. And if it comes to Julie’s safety, then I say we should do it,” Denham said.

  “You know Judge Dawes will uphold the executive order, don’t you?” Smalley asked.

  “Yes, but for now, I see no other recourse. Issue the order, Mayor. I’ll print it in the paper.”

  “Will you also print that the order is being challenged?” Van Arsdale asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. And, for as long as the challenge is in effect, the ordinances will also remain in effect.”

  “What does that mean?” Mayor Cravens asked.

  “That means that you have issued the order, but nothing will change until the final court decision,” Van Arsdale explained.

  “You know that Judge Dawes will make an immediate ruling, so that will accomplish nothing,” Doc Gunter said.

  “He can’t make a ruling on it until it is brought before his bench,” Van Arsdale said. “And it is going to take me a few days to prepare the case.”

  “What about Julie?”

  “She will be safe as long as they think they can use her,” Falcon said.

  “Yes, but how long will that be?”

  “Long enough for me to find her,” Falcon said.

  “You mean long enough for us to find her,” Les said.

  “Les, I know you want to go, but believe me, I can do better on my own.”

  “But I’ve got to do something,” Les said.

  “You can keep order in town while I’m gone.”

  “Are you sure you can find her? You’ve got to promise me you will find her.”

  “I’ll find her,” Falcon said. “I have done things like this before.”

  “When are you going to start?” Mayor Cravens asked.

  “Right now.”

  “If it will help you, her horse is also missing. I’m sure they took it when they took her. It’s a sorrel.”

  “Yes, thanks, that will help.”

  Falcon accompanied the mayor back to his house. There, they found a shaken Emma Cravens being comforted by several of the neighbor ladies.

  “Marshal MacCallister is going to find Julie for us,” Mayor Cravens said to his wife.

  “Oh, please find her, and bring her back safely,” Emma said.

  “I will get her back for you,” Falcon promised.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  About five miles north of town, Sharp, Toombs, and Julie arrived at an arroyo. They stopped, and Sharp whistled, mimicking the call of a quail.

  The call was returned, and Peters and Hamilton rode out of s
ome brush to meet them.

  “Well, I see you got her,” Peters said. “Did you have any trouble?”

  “No trouble at all,” Sharp said. “Is everything all set up?”

  “Yeah, there’s food and coffee at the shack,” Hamilton said.

  “Good, because you are trading places with me,” Sharp said.

  “What do you mean I’m trading places with you?” Hamilton asked. “Nobody has told me that.”

  “Well, I’m the senior deputy, and I’m telling you. Me ’n’ you are trading places. I’m goin’ back into town with Peters, you are goin’ to go on with Toombs and the girl.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Because I said so, that’s why. Unless you know something I don’t know,” Sharp added.

  “Like what?”

  “Like maybe there’s someone tryin’ to set up an ambush for us or somethin’ and you know about it,” Sharp said.

  “No, why would you say that?”

  “Good. Then you won’t have no problem goin’ on with Toombs and the girl, will you?”

  “No. I won’t have no problem.”

  “Besides, I’m ridin’ a horse with a tie-bar shoe. There’s no doubt in my mind that MacCallister will be following us, and if he is, he’ll hook on to that tie-bar shoe. And when I start back to town, like as not, MacCallister will follow me. That will give you three a chance to get away.”

  “Yeah,” Hamilton answered. He smiled as he realized the cleverness of that. “Yeah, that will be a great idea.”

  “Yeah, and I’ve got an even better idea,” Sharp said.

  “What’s that?” Toombs asked.

  “Me ’n’ Peters are goin’ to wait right here for MacCallister.”

  “Wait for him? What do you mean, wait for him? What are you going to say to him when he shows up?” Toombs asked.

  “Oh, we won’t be sayin’ nothin’ to him,” Sharp answered. “What I aim to do is, I am goin’ to shoot the son of a bitch soon as he gets in range.”

  Hamilton and Toombs went on with the girl, while Sharp and Peters stayed back to see if they were being followed. They waited for more than an hour, and nobody showed up.