by Wesley Ellis
Ki sat cross-legged on the roof of the coach and now he slowly revolved in a complete circle. Dark shadows were reluctantly giving way to sunlight. Ki saw nothing but mining claims and prospectors‘camps dotting the hills and desert floor. Their small mounds of tailings made it all look like a thriving colony of prairie dogs.
He returned his attention to the north. When would the attack come? Ki strained to see beyond the range of human vision. This land was rough and hilly. Their enemies could be just ahead. Anywhere.
Austin Higby glanced sideways at Ki. He looked damned unhappy. “You and the Bonaday girl sweet on each other?”
“Why do you ask?”
The man shrugged. “I’m sorry. None of my business.”
Ki relaxed a little. This man was risking his life to help them. The question was out of line but, given the circumstances, Ki decided to make an allowance. “Roxy is a fine girl. She has made a few mistakes. Namely, trusting that Orin Grayson was an honorable man when he falsely promised to help Dan Bonaday salvage something of this company.”
“Dan Bonaday never had a chance.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jessie asked.
The driver just shrugged. “You can’t win against a stacked deck. You shouldn’t even try.”
Jessie frowned. “You seem to know a lot about things. Why?”
Higby kept his eyes on the road ahead. “I just learned a long time ago that the little guys like Dan and me, well, we either get smart and join the winners of this world, or we let them crush us.”
“I don’t think I like your attitude,” Jessie said angrily. “The ‘little guys,’ as you call them, are the ones who have to fight the hardest. If they persevere long enough and hard enough, they can win, too.”
“Not against a stacked deck,” Higby said, his face deeply troubled. “I sure wish that . . .”
“Wish what?” Ki asked expectantly.
“Nothing. Not a damn thing, mister. I just forgot my good sense for a minute and—” He clamped his mouth shut when he saw the Sierra stage suddenly emerge. Higby recognized the driver and the shotgun. It was too late to switch horses in midstream now. He had to go through with this or they’d kill him, too.
“How are you going to play this?” Jessie asked the man beside him as she checked to make sure that the shotgun was ready. Beside her, Ki notched an arrow into his bow.
Higby was slow in answering. He swallowed and said, “There’s just two of them, the shotgun guard and the driver, and they got as much right to this road as we have. I’m fixin’ to do nothing but sail on by them. But... well, no matter what, I wish you luck.”
Austin Higby waited until the coaches were just twenty yards apart and thundering toward each other. Suddenly, he pulled hard on the lines and sent the lead horses into a sharp turn. The wheel horses tried to follow, but the Concord coach went into a skid and hit the exact rock that Higby had aimed for. The oaken spokes of the right back wheel shattered, and the Concord crashed over on its side with the sickening sound of splintering wood and twisting metal.
Jessie cried out as she felt herself being hurled into the sky. Beside her, Ki was launched off the stagecoach, too. He heard a tremendous crack as the Concord coach broke apart. A scream filled the air, and then Ki hit a boulder and the world went blank.
He awoke less than a minute later with blood trickling down his face. He tried to see, but everything was in doubles. “Jessie!” he shouted groggily. “Jessie!”
“Get him!” someone yelled, and before Ki could clear the fog and pain from his mind, three men were pinning him down. One punched him in the jaw and Ki sagged as if unconscious. He had to clear the cobwebs from his brain if he was to be of any help.
“Get the women and the blankets!” someone yelled. “The bullion can wait until Ford and his men come. Let’s take our pleasure with the women before any more men arrive!”
Ki heard Roxy yell. He felt two of the men leave him and heard the third one cuss. The man punched Ki once more as if to insure that he was unconscious and no threat. “Goddamn it,” he bellowed, “we drawed for them women and I got the Bonaday girl first! Get outa my way!”
Ki opened his eyes to see Jessie and Roxy being hauled over to the blankets. Both of them were still too dazed to fight. Ki guessed that Billy was still in the ruined coach, maybe killed in the crash.
Austin Higby stood back from the other men. His face was skinned up, his pants torn away, and his knees were bloody where he had landed on them. “Now wait a minute, boys!” he said. “Nobody said anything about raping women!”
“Aw, shut up!” an outlaw yelled, knocking Higby aside as he fumbled for his belt. “You’re just mad because you’re gonna be last in line.”
Higby stumbled back, his face a mask of revulsion. He had killed men, but never women. He had beaten men, but he had never struck a woman nor raped one, and that was the single thing that he was proudest of. But now, if he was a part of this and didn’t stop these animals, he would be just as guilty as they were.
He staggered into the sagebrush and grabbed a shotgun that someone had dropped in the excitement. “Hold it!” he bellowed, raising the gun and pointing it at the knot of men. “Let them girls go and get back away from them, or so help me God I will kill the first man jack of you who touches them again!”
The outlaws spun around. They were armed men and dangerous. There were ten of them, and there was no way that Higby could stop them from having their way with the women. The problem was, Higby held a double-barreled shotgun in his fists, and there was also no way that he could fail to take at least two of them along with him to hell.
“Are you crazy!” Frank screamed.
Higby took a step back. He saw the outlaws start to fan out and knew that he could not stop them. They would get far enough apart that their chances of surviving were increased. “Now listen,” he said, “raping and killing women is no damned good. Let’s take the bullion, all of it, and ride out now! Don’t you see that we’ll get bigger shares? We can be in California and—”
“You’re a fool!” Frank hissed. “We’d never make it over the Sierras. Ford and his men would catch us in this coach and—”
“But we could cut the traces off both teams and go,” Higby argued, almost pleading now. “We could scatter, too. They’d never catch us and—”
“Put it down, Higby! By God, this is your last chance. You can’t win.”
“Let the women go!” Higby roared.
Frank raised his hands and then made a sideways pushing motion that further widened the line of outlaws. “You lived like a fool,” he whispered. “And you are going to die like a fool.”
Austin Higby pulled the trigger and saw Frank lift off his feet and blast over backward. He swung the shotgun and killed another man, suddenly understanding that he had at least a slim chance to live. An instant before firing he had seen Ki and both women pull weapons, and as he fell he reached for his sidearm. Another shotgun blast filled the air as Billy Bonaday leapt out of the coach and unleashed two volleys down the line of men. They went flying like bowling pins.
The gunfire died as suddenly as it had started. Ki stood up, walked over to Jessie and Roxy, and put his arms around them. Billy hobbled over to join them.
Jessie turned and walked over to Austin Higby, who was holding his bloodied shoulder. She gently pulled back his shirt and studied the wound. “You’re going to live, Austin. But you were in cahoots with them all along, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. I make no excuses for it.”
Jessie looked up into his face. “None are necessary. When it came right down to things, you chose honor and courage. You saved our lives, Austin. Help us the rest of the way out of this and you’ve got a job and friends as long as you live.”
“You mean you’d not see to it that I went to prison?”
“How much do you know about Orin Grayson and the three Sacramento men who are named Warner, Wilkins, and Heath?”
“I know most all of it. And I�
��d testify in court.”
Jessie nodded. “What’s going to happen next?”
Higby took a deep breath. “Any time within the next half hour, Lee Ford and the rest of his men are going to come riding over a hill expecting to find things just as they are, only with them alive and in control. Did you know that right after we pulled out, they was fixin’ to rob the Jumbo Mining Company of that payroll you brought in?”
“I had a feeling they might. And then I expect they were going to put it right back on this stage with the bullion and take it back into Candelaria, where no one would ever think to look for it.”
“That’s right, miss. Next day or two, they would ship it all back to Reno on this very same stage and no one would be the wiser.”
“Pretty smart,” Jessie admitted. “But I think it’s time we outsmarted Ford. Let’s hide the dead in the overturned Bonaday stage and all of us get inside this undamaged one and go meet Ford.”
Austin Higby grinned. “When he and his boys see me driving back to Candelaria, they’ll just think everything went as smooth as could be.”
“That’s right. Imagine their surprise.”
Chapter 16
Ki had changed into one of the dead outlaws’ coat and hat. Now, as Lee Ford and the last of his men came galloping up, he left the shotgun in the boot of the Sierra stagecoach. To pick up the weapon would be to warn Ford something was amiss.
Ki glanced sideways at Austin Higby, who was hatless and thus easily recognizable by Ford and his men. “Just take it easy,” Ki said as he palmed a shuriken star blade and tugged the battered Stetson down low to cover his face. “With luck, there won’t be a shot fired.”
Austin Higby nodded. When Ford and his outlaws reined their sweating horses in and stopped the coach, Lee Ford shouted, “Any hitches?”
“Nary a one!”
Ford grinned broadly. His round face with its many chins ducked up and down. “We got the Jumbo Mine payroll slick as could be! Twelve thousand dollars in addition to the bullion you’re carrying!”
Higby laughed. “Biggest haul ever made in Nevada.”
“Big enough to make us all a whole lot better off. And ruin the goddamn Bonaday Stage Line. Where are they, anyway?”
Higby jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Back over that hill yonder. Coach all smashed to hell.”
“And them pretty women?” a mounted outlaw asked. “Where are they?”
“Dead.” Higby shook his head sadly. “It was terrible the way that coach splintered up. All aboard were killed in the crash.”
“Damn! Them women was beautiful!”
Ford glanced sideways at the rider. “Think, man! We got us a huge chunk of money and gold. You complaining? Hell, your share alone will buy you enough women to work you to death.”
The outlaws snickered and the complainer clamped his mouth shut.
“Why don’t you load the payroll before somebody comes along and sees this big powwow,” Higby suggested, nervously looking toward Candelaria.
Ford nodded in agreement. He ordered the transfer. Two hard-looking outlaws dismounted, carrying saddle-bags bulging with twelve thousand dollars in cash. Ki steeled himself. When the outlaws threw open the coach door to stare into the guns of Jessie, Billy, and Roxy, they jumped back and threw up their hands.
“What—” Lee Ford’s hand scratched for his gun.
“Freeze!” Ki yelled in warning as Billy jumped out with the shotgun trained on them.
They all froze except for Lee Ford, who went for his sixgun. Ki’s wrist snapped forward whiplike, and the shuriken star blade sliced through the air and caught Ford in the throat. The man choked, toppled from his horse, and died most unpleasantly.
The sight of the dead man with his spastic hands clawing at his severed jugular totally unnerved the outlaws. They threw up their hands in a panic. It was easy to disarm and tie them. And it was going to be even easier getting them and the Jumbo Mining Company payroll back to Candelaria.
Ki had a strong hunch that the Jumbo miners would make sure justice was swiftly served.
They returned three days later to Reno. They trudged over to Sheriff Colton’s office and Austin Higby spelled out the story once, then once again to Judge Heath, who reluctantly wrote out a warrant for the arrest of Orin Grayson.
Jessie studied the warrant and then waved it until the ink was dry. “You can write out your own resignation now—or after the truth comes out in a trial. Take your pick.”
The judge did not hesitate and his pen scratched out the termination of his own unethical career.
Jessie took both papers and gave them to the sheriff. “The night you stepped out of the jail and left Ki to be burned to death I was sure you were as crooked as Judge Heath. I found out I was wrong when I checked with the doctor and discovered that your wife really did have a very grave fever and illness. How is she now?”
Colton shook his head and his eyes grew misty. “She died, Miss Starbuck. We buried her last week. It’s hard on me, but it’s even worse on my little girl.”
Roxy stepped forward and touched his arm. “I’m so sorry. When this is over, can I help by being your friend?”
The sheriff looked right into her eyes. “My wife always said you were a good woman. You grew up together and she liked you very much. She said you just took a wrong path for a while, but that you would see the light of truth come shining through again.”
Roxy swallowed and seemed to grow a little taller. “I have many faults. I guess you know about—”
“Miss Roxy,” Sheriff Colton said, “I know and I don’t give a damn. When this is over, I want you and my little girl to get better acquainted.”
Jessie stepped away, and Ki went with her. He had told Roxy again on their trip back to Reno that he would be leaving within a few days. He was happy that she had accepted that fact and was out to become the sheriff’s friend, and probably his new wife someday. It showed Roxy’s growing confidence and strength. Maybe now Billy was also ready to be a man. He had certainly proven himself on the road to Candelaria.
“What about the sheriff?” Austin Higby asked, stepping up beside them and checking his sixgun. “Aren’t you going to wait for him to serve that arrest warrant?”
“No,” Ki said. “And this time, I’ll have to order you to stay away until this is finished.”
Higby slowed his pace, but they still heard him clearly. “Orin Grayson seems like the kind of man who has never held a gun in his life. Don’t you believe it. He has a hideout gun behind his belt over his backbone and maybe a derringer someplace else. Watch him—he’s deadly if he catches you by surprise.”
“Thanks,” Jessie said as she and Ki moved on to the Sierra stageyards.
When they walked into the office, Orin Grayson was talking to another man. He took one look at Jessie and Ki, spun on his heels, and darted out the back door. Ki went after him in a rush.
They crossed the yard, running past startled employees. One tried to stop Ki, but found himself flat on his back and stunned for his effort. Another reached up into a stagecoach he had been polishing and grabbed for a shotgun. Jessie’s bullet pinned the man to the coach, quaking in fear.
Ki was closing on Grayson. They were running down a small street and people were coming out of their yards to stare after they passed. Grayson drew a gun and fired, but he missed badly and kept on running. Ki tugged at the bowknot of his surushin, and the rope that bound his narrow waist came loose at a touch. He whirled it completely around three times before he released the six-foot rope with its leather-covered steel balls. The surushin whirled ominously toward Grayson and caught him around the knees. It pinned his legs together and dropped him to the dirt. Ki could just as easily have sent it to choke Grayson to death but he chose not to, for he preferred the man alive.
Grayson crashed to the street and cursed. He grabbed futilely at the surushin and then rolled onto his back and fired at the onrushing samurai.
Ki dodged sideways and his hand plucked a star b
lade from his vest. As Grayson started to pull the trigger again, the star blade leapt from Ki’s hand and caught Grayson in the forearm. It severed his coat sleeve and the gun dropped as Grayson roared in pain.
“I’m bleeding to death!” he screamed.
Ki stood over the man and folded his arms together. “Your legs are bound and you cannot move. You will bleed to death unless you tell me and these people that it was you who murdered your accountant, Peter Bakemore. You murdered him and sabotaged the Bonaday Stage Line. Is this the truth?”
Grayson was sobbing. He had every right to be upset, for Ki knew that his shuriken blade had severed an artery and the man really was bleeding to death.
“Help me! Someone help me!”
“I am the only one capable of saving your life now,” Ki told him impassively. “But first, you must admit the truth to everyone.”
“All right! I murdered Pete Bakemore and had a part in the Bonaday Stage Line being robbed and sabotaged! Now, please, help me!”
Ki looked around at the people. “You all heard that?”
They nodded grimly. Mothers hid their children’s faces from the sight of so much blood.
“It is not necessary for this murderer to repeat the admission of his crimes?”
“For God’s sake, save him!” an old woman begged.
“He’s getting weaker every second!”
Ki knelt beside Orin Grayson. He pulled out his tanto knife and someone screamed, probably assuming he was a murdering heathen about to slit Grayson’s throat. Instead, Ki slit the state assemblyman’s coat sleeve and rolled it up to the elbow. He yanked the wicked star blade out of the flesh. Grayson fainted just as Jessie arrived.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
“No.” Ki found the pressure point on Grayson’s muscular arm. He applied his thumb to that spot and the bleeding stopped almost instantly. Jessie took the tanto blade and cut the sleeve away completely, using it as a tourniquet. With a second strip of Grayson’s coat they bound his arm, and Ki helped the man up and removed the surushin binding his knees. He prodded Grayson toward the sheriff and watched him take the wounded man to the doctor’s office.