by JR Roberts
Andrea was still quite a sight. Although the dress was a simple garment that could be found at any store, she wore it as provocatively as the sheet she’d just cast onto the floor. The front was meant to be laced up but she hadn’t gotten around to that. Beads of sweat ran down the front of her body, forming a shimmering line between her pert breasts. The fabric clung to every inch of her body in a way that promised at the pleasures she could give once she peeled it off again.
“There’s no reason for you to be so upset,” she told him.
“I ain’t upset.”
“Really?”
“The plan was to set things up in New Mex so folks like you, me and Howlett can do as we please,” Hall said. “We needed cash, so I’ve been getting it while the rest of you set up shop here.”
“Setting up shop means breaking down the institutions holding this entire country hostage,” Andrea snapped. “Law, government, morality, all of it has to be weakened before anarchy can take root. Once the seed is planted, it can only grow once it is out there for all to see. Just like our little trees,” she told him with a smile.
“That’s real clever. Who came up with that one? Farraday?”
“Why yes. Our Mr. Farraday is full of plenty of good ideas. One of those ideas was to take full advantage of the successes we’ve had by expanding our operation.”
“Expanding?” Hall asked warily. “By how much?”
“You’re not the only man we sent out to collect for us. Admittedly, you are the most successful. One thing we found was that our efforts to fertilize the bounty market brought some attention to me and Farraday.”
Hall let out an exasperated breath. “I warned you about that. God damn it.”
“Actually that turned out fairly well. Most of the men who came here to follow up with us decided to join our cause.”
“What cause is that? Last I checked, we were all just out to make some quick cash.”
“Oh, it’s gotten much larger than that,” Andrea said. “Using all the extra hands we’ve managed to draw under our banner, we’ve been able to erode a good amount of confidence people used to have in the government and the laws that can no longer protect them.”
Hall examined her through narrowed eyes. When he spoke, it was in a hushed tone. “The cause? Rallying under a banner? You sound more like a bunch of damned revolutionaries.”
She matched his tone but more out of excitement instead of any sense of nervousness. “That’s exactly what we are, Jarred. It’s very exciting and it’s all a lot easier than you might expect. When was the last time you were in Parker?”
“A couple days ago.”
“If we wanted, we could ride in and take over that town. Or, if we were in a different mood, we could burn it to the ground and divert the survivors to any location we chose.”
“Listen to yourself,” Hall said. “What the hell are you proposing?”
“It’s not just me.”
“You and Farraday, then.”
Andrea nodded. “When he told me about his new plan, I didn’t believe it could possibly work. But the beautiful part is that it doesn’t have to completely work in order to succeed. Even just a few scattered victories would be enough to make us wealthy. Any more than that will make us legends.”
“All right, then,” Hall said calmly. “Let’s hear it.”
She told him and when she was through, Hall knew that all the bodies he and Clint had found on the way into the camp was nothing compared to what was to come.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Clint sat at a table fashioned from three uneven pieces of lumber and what looked like the back side of an old bookcase. Despite the furnishings, however, the food was just as good as it smelled. The plate in front of him was mostly clean but there were a few stray pieces of flaky pie crust and filling left. He used a fork to scrape it off while Sven sat across from him working on a hunk of pot roast and several halved potatoes.
The lanky fellow with the bandaged leg sat hunched over his food as if he was afraid someone was going to steal it right out from under his nose. He was speaking to Clint in a hurried whisper when Hall stepped inside the tent. Since there was about half as much space in the whole restaurant as there had been in the cathouse’s makeshift parlor, Hall had no problem finding the men he was after.
“Well now,” Hall said as he crossed the room to march straight over to Clint’s table. “This place does some of the best business in town.”
Clint looked up at him with an easy smile. “Why don’t you pull up a chair? I recommend the chicken and dumplings. Best in the country, I’m told.”
“Yeah, well cooks say a lot of wild things about their own food. Still, I’m real hungry.”
“I’ll bet you are,” Clint said. “You were at that cathouse for a while.”
Winking, Hall said, “I always ask for seconds. Know what I mean?”
“Course I do. Sven, why don’t you take the Remington from Jarred’s holster?”
“What’s the meaning of this?” Hall asked.
Clint shifted in his seat so Hall could see that his hand was already on the grip of his Colt. “I’d ask you to hand over your gun on your own but thought that might make you a little suspicious. And don’t think about using our friend there as any kind of shield. I’d just as soon shoot through him as push him aside. No offense, Sven.”
“None taken,” Sven replied. He already had the Remington in hand and quickly sat back down in his chair. “Where do you want this?”
Clint kept his eyes on Hall and his voice calm when he replied, “Just drop it on the floor.”
The pistol made a solid thump when it hit the boards that had been laid directly onto packed dirt. After that, Sven didn’t seem to know quite what to do with himself so he placed his hands upon the table.
“Why don’t you tell Jarred where you spent your evening,” Clint said.
Reluctantly, Sven said, “I … meant to stay with Mr. Adams here but then I thought it sounded better to … well … I thought I might take some time for myself with one of them ladies we saw on our way in to camp.”
Hall pulled in a deep breath.
“And after I was through,” Sven continued, “I was left to show myself out and along the way, I couldn’t help overhearing you talking to another one of them ladies.”
“Shit,” Hall said as he let out the breath he’d been holding.
“Yeah,” Clint said. “Something like that. Why don’t you tell me what you and that lady talked about?”
“Why should I bother? I imagine that idiot there already told you everything,” Hall said.
“He told me plenty. But if what you tell me doesn’t line up with what he told me, then I’ll know one of you is lying.”
“And where would you go from there?” Hall asked. “Gun one of us down while these fine folks are in the middle of eating their pie?”
There were only three other people inside the tent with food on their plates and none of them took notice that Clint or anyone else at that table were drawing breath.
“What’s the matter?” Clint asked. “Nervous?”
“When shots may be fired at me for something someone else already told you? Yeah. You’re damn right I’m nervous. Tell me one thing, though. If you do get a reason to be suspicious, how will you decide which man to blame?”
“Simple. I’ll use my gut.”
After hardly any consideration, Hall nodded. “That’s good enough for me.”
Chapter Thirty
“The whore I went to in that cathouse is named Andrea Bennelli,” Hall announced.
“Andrea,” Clint said. “As in Andy Bennelli?”
“One and the same.”
“So you knew she was here?” Clint asked.
“Not as such. I knew she’d be in the area. You see, she drifts around between here and several other camps and towns in a couple different counties. Parker included, of course. She runs that dry goods store and plenty others like it in those other places.”
“Always dry goods stores, huh?” Clint asked suspiciously.
“Well, not always.”
Since he already knew what kind of goods were sold at the place where Andrea worked in that camp, Clint moved along without dwelling on Hall’s activities there. “Sven told me you had a lengthy conversation with her. What was it about?”
“Look, Adams. I’m not about to waste our time by telling you something you’ve already been told. When I signed on to this outfit, it was for the same reason that I take any other job: money. These people running this show had a good way to make men in my line of work rich.”
“That’s what I want to know,” Clint said. “Who’s running this show? For that matter, what is the damn show?”
Ticking off his fingers one by one, Hall recited, “Andy Bennelli, Victor Howlett and someone named Farraday. They’re the ones calling the shots. When this all started, it was a simple scheme. They knew plenty of outlaws and horse thieves, which they turned loose on different ranches and such. After a bit of time passed, men like me would hunt them down and cash in the reward.”
“That’s not a new scheme,” Clint said.
“No, it ain’t. That’s why I didn’t think much of it when I signed on. These sorts of things usually pay off real well but the trick is knowing when to step away. They tend to get real messy real fast and when they go up in flames, everyone takes a fall.”
“So did you also ride back to break these outlaws out of jail?”
“Nope. And I doubt anyone had that job because I saw some of ’em swinging from those trees we passed on the way in.”
“If these three know these outlaws they’re using, why hand them over to bounty hunters?” Clint asked.
“You’d have to ask them that,” Hall replied. “All I can tell you is that none of these outlaws were friends with them three I mentioned. If they was, then I sure as hell don’t want to know how they treat their enemies.”
Clint pointed across the table at Sven, who seemed more than happy to stay out of the conversation altogether. “He mentioned something about more blood being spilled and that Bennelli wanted you to help burn down a couple towns.”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you, Adams! Things may have started off as just a bunch of like-minded sorts getting together to make some fast money, but they ain’t gonna end that way. Them three got a taste of what they could accomplish and they’re not about to pull back.”
“What power?”
“It started when a posse was formed to go after some of those horse thieves when they were spotted riding back to one of their hideouts. No bounty had been collected yet and they weren’t about to give up a good chance to rake in some of that cash.”
“Who are you talking about? Bennelli and Farraday?”
“No. Howlett. He rides with a small group of men but it ain’t hardly ever the same men more than once. He usually prefers the company of real bloodthirsty types and they tend to get into a lot of shooting fights. Howlett is usually the only one to walk away from ’em.”
“That’s because Howlett isn’t above killing them himself,” Sven said. When he spoke, both Clint and Hall seemed surprised to hear him make any noise.
“Howlett kills his own men?” Clint asked.
“That’s the word,” Sven said. “Nobody can prove it, though, because nobody survives any of those incidents.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Hall said. “Howlett’s got more bugs in his head than … well … he’s crazy is what he is. Him shooting his own men or his own brother doesn’t seem out of character for an animal like that. Anyway, Howlett and his boys got a hold of this posse and burned every last one of them off the face of the earth. It was so bad that nobody wanted to step in and take that lawman’s place.”
“So that town just went without a peace keeper?” Clint asked.
“That’s right. And it wasn’t the only one. Howlett bein’ Howlett, he decided to run the same thing on another town. This time, he was all excited about the prospect of what might happen and he slaughtered the next set of lawmen even worse than the first. Same result, though. Ain’t no man about to sign up for the job of hunting him down.”
“That’s not a new scheme either,” Clint sighed.
“What’s new is where this scheme is headed,” Hall said. “And this is where Farraday comes in. He’s gotten it into his head that the law can be run out of New Mexico altogether.”
“Out of the whole state?”
“Yeah. Not only has he turned Howlett loose like some kind of wild dog but he’d recruited other killers to ride in his name. Carrying his banner, so to speak.”
“Usually killers like Howlett aren’t concerned with waving banners or anything along that line,” Clint said, speaking from his own experience. “They’re after money or just the thrill of the hunt. They concern themselves with their reputation but that’s got nothing to do with sending men out to do things for them.”
“And this ain’t got a thing to do with Howlett’s reputation,” Hall insisted. “It’s about Farraday staking a claim on all of New Mex.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?” Clint asked.
“You can believe me or not, Adams. I’m just tellin’ you what I heard straight from the source. This territory is wild enough on its own. All these killers had to do was make it seem even wilder and the whole thing can come off its rails. We’ve both seen it!”
“But what would anyone think to do once they did take New Mexico?”
Hall shook his head slowly. “I don’t profess to know how a crazy man’s head works. What I do know is that if he can’t take it for himself, Farraday intends to make it a hell all its own.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“This is a bad idea, Adams.” When he realized Clint wasn’t paying him any mind, Hall stepped in front of him and planted his feet. “Stop! Will you listen to me?”
“I’ve done enough listening. It hasn’t gotten me anywhere.”
It had been a matter of seconds since Clint had left the restaurant. As soon as Hall had told him about the chaos that was about to be unleashed, he’d stood up from the table and stormed outside. Sven had hobbled along behind him and Hall tried to follow. Judging by the angry voices behind him, Clint figured the bounty hunter was held up by the restaurant owner demanding to be paid for the food that had been served. Hall settled the bill one way or the other before charging out of the tent to try and bring Clint to a stop. He’d succeeded for the moment but was shoved aside the moment following that.
“Get in my way again,” Clint warned, “and I’ll assume you’re one of the bastards trying to separate me from what I came for.”
Hall moved aside rather than fight Clint then and there. Falling into step beside him, he said, “This is about a lot more than some damn horse. Can’t you see that?”
Without breaking stride, Clint turned his head to fix a deathly glare on Hall. The bounty hunter held up his hands and quickly added, “Okay, he’s more than a damn horse. I understand. But you’ve got to believe me that these people are serious. They may be a bunch of goddamn loons but they’re serious!”
“I understand both of your points,” Clint said. “Those trees we found made your case rather nicely.”
“Right, so we need to tread lightly here.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Hall gasped. “What the hell do you mean why? Sometimes it seems like we’re on the same page and then sometimes it seems like you ain’t even listening.”
“There’s listening and obeying,” Clint said. “Just because I do one doesn’t mean I’m obliged to do the other. Besides, if I did that, Lord only knows what would happen.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Clint didn’t bother answering. He just kept right on walking until Hall circled around to plant himself directly in his path again. There was plenty of space on the street to go around but Clint knew that would only prompt him to make the same play again.
“O
ut of my way,” Clint warned.
“Or what?” Hall asked defiantly.
“Or I’ll move you.”
Clint’s eyes narrowed into angry slits. Before he could say what was on his mind, Sven put himself between the other two men. “Let’s not start fighting among ourselves,” the lanky horse thief said.
“Too late for that,” Hall growled.
Clint nodded.
“Maybe we’ve all just gotten wound up,” Sven offered. “We don’t seem to be thinking clearly.”
“Why do you say that?” Clint asked.
“Does anyone even know where Don is?”
Locking eyes with Hall, Clint replied, “I’m guessing I’ll find him when I pay a visit to that whorehouse.”
“That’s where you’re going?” Hall said.
“Of course it is. That’s where I’ll find Andy Bennelli, right?”
“Yes. Wait! You’re just going to march in there and confront Andy Bennelli?”
“After you told me who she was and where she was, did you honestly expect me to do anything other than that?” Clint replied.
“What I thought is that you’d listen to what I had to say and then take a moment to think about what it means,” Hall said.
Crossing his arms, Clint said, “All right, then. What does it mean? Tell me. You’ve got five seconds.”
“You’re being unreasonable, Adams.”
“Four seconds.”
“Should we really be doing this in the middle of the damn street?” Hall asked.
“Three seconds.”
“This is bigger than just a horse, no matter how attached anyone may be to that horse. Men are dying and there are bloodthirsty savages out there ready to kill more. The law ain’t about to get involved because somehow they’ve already been handled and if things keep going this way, all of New Mex might just fall into anarchy! Doesn’t that even make a dent in that stubborn head of yours?”
Clint’s only reply to that was, “Time’s up.” He then shoved Hall aside and kept walking straight through the middle of the camp as if he had an entire army behind him.