by Shorty Gunn
Mongollon was a town full of loud, tough, grimy men who made their back-breaking living swinging picks, shovels and lighting off dynamite charges deep down in dark, dangerous mine tunnels blasted through hard rock mountains. After a day’s sweat and labor they spent nights in town raising whiskey hell, spending all their money, broke before next pay day. Anyone offering a shiny twenty dollar Liberty gold piece, could buy their services from a simple back alley beating to ambush murder for an additional twenty. Krago’s office safe in the back room of the Elk Horn was stacked with three heavy steel trays of Liberty twenties. He picked out two of his toughest customers, hiring the pair with a promise of an additional twenty each to teach Fan a lesson he’d never forget. He didn’t want a killing. That was too messy, too many questions asked even in this wild town with no law. Just a good, bloody beating would deliver the message he wanted. The two men were all too eager to make a fast forty dollars, waiting in an alley next to the Elk Horn, when Fan and Rita stepped out that morning.
As the love birds passed, both men stepped out, each carrying a hardwood axe handle. One grabbed Rita from behind yanking her backwards to the ground as she screamed with fear. His partner viciously swung his club hard across Tyge’s back legs collapsing him with a sudden shout of excruciating pain. ‘This is a message from Mr Krago!’ the second alley man shouted, stepping over the top of Fan, lifting the club high over his head with both hands for another crippling blow. Fan twisted on the ground yanking his six-gun out of its holster and firing one thundering shot straight up. The bullet caught the big man under his whiskered chin collapsing him in a heap, dead atop Fan who struggled trying to roll him off. His partner ran forward swinging his club until Rita got to her feet leaping on to his back clawing his face with long, sharp fingernails on both hands. He screamed in pain, twisting and trying to throw her off, giving Fan precious seconds to stagger upright on shaky feet. His six-gun roared again, the bullet impact driving the miner backwards. Rita fell off screaming at the man in Mexican, as he rolled on the ground moaning loudly, grabbing his stomach. She ran to Tyge’s side helping him stand on battered legs. Suddenly emotion swept over her and she began to cry, wrapping her arms around him while he still gripped the pistol tight in his hand.
The few men still on the street ran up eyeing the wild scene all asking questions at the same time. ‘What just happened here!’ one man asked, looking down on the two bodies.
‘Hey,’ another man cut him off. ‘That’s Frank Brice and Leon Coons. They work up at the Deep Six Mine, or they did until now.’
‘They tried to bushwack me and my woman,’ Tyge answered. ‘They would have if I didn’t stop them.’
‘Why would anyone want to do that?’ the first man questioned.
Skip Krago suddenly ran out the front door of the Elk Horn, looking up the street, wild eyes at the sudden carnage. He stopped dead in his tracks staring at Fan, Rita and the other men standing over the bodies. Very slowly he began to retreat step by step back toward the door, still facing them with his hands lifted palms up. ‘I’m not armed. Don’t do something you’ll be sorry for, Fan. You’ll hang if you do!’ His voice broke in fear as he shouted.
‘You’re the one who’ll hang, Krago. And I’ll be right here to help them tie the knot around your skinny neck, if I don’t kill you first!’ Tyge shouted back starting the six-gun toward the saloon owner until Rita grabbed his arm pulling it away.
‘No, Tyge, please don’t do it. I don’t want to be part of any more killing!’ More tears began running down her face until she wrapped both arms around Fan who fought back the urge to pull the trigger. Instead, he slowly holstered the wheel gun, trying to comfort her, but he wasn’t done yet.
‘You’re going to have to face me one way or the other, before I leave this town,’ he warned Krago. ‘I know you’re behind this. I’ll make you pay for it. It’s just a matter of time. Remember what I said!’
Krago disappeared inside the saloon, Tyge continuing to lean on Rita for support. It was obvious the crushing blows had nearly crippled him. The small group of men surrounding the pair saw it too.
‘We ain’t got no doctor here,’ one said. ‘you’d best get off your feet with those shaky legs of yours.’
Fan nodded, looking Rita in the eyes. ‘Help me get up to my cabin,’ his breath came in short gasps as the pain soared. ‘I can rest there. Let’s get to it while I can still stand up.’
The moderate climb to the cabin took every ounce of strength Tyge could muster. Before he reached the front door, both Cort and Red came outside watching him and Rita slowly coming closer. It was clear something was wrong with Fan the way he struggled step by slow step, stopping frequently to steady himself.
‘We heard shots,’ Cort called out. ‘I hope it didn’t have anything to do with you two?’
Tyge didn’t answer, finally making it to the front door. The brothers eyed him as he leaned on Rita, his face twisted with pain. Without his answer, both Kellers knew he was involved. Once inside Fan lowered himself groaning on to a bunk with Rita helping him. After slowly stretching his legs out, he admitted what the shooting was all about. Cort and Red exchanged quick glances when he was finished.
‘That’s the worst thing you could have told me,’ Cort shook his head turning away, trying to hold his temper. ‘I told you not to start any trouble. Instead you’ve gone and done exactly that so everyone in town will begin to wonder about all three of us, not only you. We might have to pack up and run again, just when we found someplace to stop and take it easy for a while. And all because of this woman, which I also told you would be trouble. Why don’t you listen to me when I warn you about things like this? You want all of us to get hung by a gang of vigilantes?’
Tyge might be in real misery, but he instantly met Cort’s anger with his own. ‘I had no choice. Did you hear what I just said? Those two bums would have beat me, and Rita, to death, if I didn’t stop them. And don’t try to lecture me on who I can see and who I can’t. There’s nothing perfect about you either. Why do you think we’ve been on the run for over a month? It’s because of your doings between you and Whitman. Take a look at yourself, Cort, before you start yelling at me. You ain’t my daddy!’
Fan struggled pulling himself upright on the bunk. His eyes narrowed to angry slits, as his hand moved down toward his six-gun. Rita quickly grabbed his arm.
‘Don’t do that, Tyge. Please don’t,’ she begged, wrapping her arms around him trying to force him back down. ‘I don’t want anymore trouble.’
‘That does it,’ Fan shouted, trying to push her off. ‘I’ll get my gear and get out of here. You two see how far you get on your own without me backing you up. I want my share of the money too, and I want it right now!’
‘All right. You called it. Maybe it’s best we do split up. I’ll get your money. Your horse is out back, if you can even get on him.’ Cort turned away.
‘But Tyge, where will you go?’ Rita cupped his face in her hands, fearful she would lose him if he was forced to leave town.
‘Don’t worry. I’m not going far. I’m moving in with you and your mother and father.’ He stunned her wide eyed with his sudden demand. ‘I’ll pay them to put me up. They’ll need the money, because you’re not working at the Elk Horn anymore either. I’ll be the only cash they have, now!’
Rita groped for words that would not come, slowly shaking her head until she was finally able to take a deep breath regaining the power to speak. ‘But . . . you cannot do that, Tyge. My mother and father will not allow it. You have to understand why . . . please try.’
‘Who is going to stop me, Rita? Are you, or either of them? You just tell them that’s the way it’s going to be and don’t worry about anything else. They were living off the money you made working for Krago. That’s gone now, but I’ve got plenty of cash. Help me up so I can get my gear. We’re leaving here!’
After paying Fan his cut of the money, Cort and his brother stood at the door watching Tyge slowly hobble down sl
ope toward town, while Rita led his horse.
‘Looks like we’re down to two,’ Red put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
‘That’s the way we started out, remember?’ Cort turned toward him with a grim smile on his lips. ‘Maybe it’s the way it has to be.’
‘Yeah, I do remember. It seems a long, long time ago, brother.’
‘Almost half a lifetime,’ Cort replied. ‘I wonder what the other half will bring?’
Fan forced his way into the small de la Vega adobe at the far end of town. Rita’s mother and father spoke very little English, only enough to get by on. Both were terrified of Fan’s sudden presence, avoiding him as much as possible even in the same house. Rita tried in vain to explain away the tense situation, but as far as the elderly couple were concerned their daughter had suddenly chosen a life of sin they were helpless to understand or change. Bewildered, they rarely talked to her either.
Tyge’s legs slowly heeled over the following weeks but he still walked with an obvious limp that would never completely vanish. When he and Rita walked down the narrow street of Mongollon, other men passed with furtive glances without a word of greeting. His quick temper reputation and gun speed preceded the pair everyplace they went. Tyge Fan was someone to avoid at all costs. Even his old friends the Keller brothers went out of their way not to run into him. Another man stood at the grimy, front window of the Elk Horn saloon watching Fan and Rita pass arm in arm. Skip Krago stared longingly at the beautiful Mexican girl who’d once sung in his establishment, remembering his own personal plans to get close to her. That was before Fan began dominating her time and causing trouble. He’d not only taken Rita away from him, but even killed the two men he’d hired to beat fear into him. Krago would not forget what Fan had done but would not directly try to confront him again. That was too dangerous, as everyone in town already knew. But if he ever had the chance to get even in some other way, he’d strike fast as the deadly diamondback rattlesnakes that infested the mountains around town.
After another Saturday night of Tyge and Rita making the rounds drinking and dancing late in several other saloons, Sunday morning found Fan lying in bed with a whiskey hangover, while Rita got up and dressed. She leaned down running a slender hand through his tousled hair. ‘Tyge, I have to go to town and buy some flour and salt for tortillas. I need some money to do so, hon.’
Tyge rolled over his head pounding, irritated she’d disturbed him. ‘Wait . . . we’ll go later . . . when I get up,’ he ordered sleepily burying his head under the covers.
‘But I have to go now. We have nothing to eat. Please give me some money and I’ll go while you sleep.’
Fan uttered an insult under his breath before groping for a leather pouch on the small table next to the bed. Extracting a fistful of silver coins, he tossed them on the end of the bed, rolling back over without another word. Rita quietly scooped up the money leaving the room.
‘You’re up early, Miss de la Vega,’ Thomas Fulton, owner of Fulton’s Dry Goods store greeted Rita as she came through the front door.
‘What can I get for you this fine morning?’
She flashed a half-hearted smile, ordering a sack of flour, tin of lard and salt. While Fulton headed for the back room to retrieve the flour, Rita’s attention was suddenly drawn to the street outside where the sound of many horses passing by drew her attention. She went to the front window looking out seeing a line of dusty uniformed cavalrymen as they passed, before pulling to a stop in front of the Elk Horn. Fulton came back to the counter, quickly putting the flour down and joining her at the window.
‘I thought I heard horses. I haven’t seen a military outfit like that in years,’ he commented, adjusting his spectacles.
‘Why would they be here?’ Rita wondered out loud.
‘I don’t know. Maybe the Apaches are on the warpath again. That’s about the only thing I can think of why they would be way down here. Usually they stay up north near Fort Jackson. Looks like they even have a US Marshal with them. See that man just getting down? I saw he had a badge on.’
The phrase ‘marshal’ suddenly made Rita’s heart beat faster. Tyge never revealed much about his earlier life before riding into Mongollon, however she’d remembered he’d once said something about wanting to kill a US Marshal. Could this star man riding with the cavalry be that kind of man. She did know Fan had lived outside the law, even though he never explained any events or details.
‘I’ve got to get home,’ she said turning away from the window. ‘What do I owe you?’
Rita ran as fast as she could all the way back to the adobe house on the hill, arriving out of breath. Hurrying into the bedroom, she found Fan still sound asleep. ‘Tyge, wake up, honey. I have to tell you something important.’
Fan opened one eye glaring at her. ‘Why do you keep doing this? Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep off last night? Wake me when my breakfast is ready.’
‘No, you have to listen to me. A bunch of soldiers and a marshal just rode into town. I remember you once said something about a marshal. I ran all the way to. . . .’
Fan suddenly threw off the covers leaping to unsteady feet struggling to pull on pants, a shirt and his boots. Strapping on his six-gun, he grabbed Rita hard by her shoulders.
‘I’ve got to go. Get my horse out back and grab my saddle too. I’ll be out there soon as I pack up a few things. Move!’
‘Go, go where, why?’ Her face instantly twisted in fear.
‘Don’t ask me any questions now. I don’t have time to explain it. Just do what I say, and hurry up!’
In their cabin on the far side of town, Cort and Red had also seen the troopers riding downhill into town. They were busy doing exactly the same thing, packing fast. ‘I don’t know how Whitman followed us all the way down here, but we don’t have time to worry about it,’ Cort said, shucking into his jacket.
‘Yeah, I thought at last we’d found someplace to take it easy for a while,’ Red answered. ‘What about Fan, should we warn him too?’
‘Tyge decided to cut us loose, remember? Not the other way around. He’s on his own. We’ve got to get the horses saddled and get out of here fast.’
‘Where we going?’
‘The only place left is Mexico.’
‘Mexico? We don’t even know how to get there.’
‘Yes we do. Remember what Beckett said? It’s due south about a week’s hard ride away. That’s where we’re headed, brother. And once we get there maybe we can stop running once and for all.’
‘Why is that?’
‘Because US law doesn’t mean anything once we cross the border. We’ll be in the clear. Let’s get to it!’
Captain Longstreet, Nate Whitman and Little Hawk stepped down out of the saddle in front of the Elk Horn, as a growing crowd of passersby formed a curious circle around them. Before Longstreet could utter a word, Whitman took over as usual.
‘Men, we’ve been on the trail of three killers we think might be here in town. We’ve ridden a long ways getting here and don’t want to miss them now. Their names are Tyge Fan, and the Keller brothers, Cort and Red. If any of you know even one of these men I want you to speak up and tell us about it right now.’
‘You came to the right place,’ Krago immediately stepped forward. ‘This man Fan, lives in a house at the far end of town. He’s already caused enough trouble around here even killing two of my own men. He was around town just last night. I’m pretty certain he still is.’
‘Can you take me to this house you’re talking about?’ Whitman asked.
‘You bet I can.’
‘Take one of our trooper’s horses and let’s get up there. I don’t want him or the other two to slip away again!’ the marshal ordered.
Tyge hurriedly stuffed personal belongings in two cloth sacks. His money and extra cartridges were next before he could buckle up both saddle-bags. Tossing the sacks over his shoulder he grabbed the heavy leather bags with his other hand yelling out for Rita, at the top of his
lungs.
‘You got my horse ready?’
There was no answer. He ran through the house toward the back door calling her again. “Rita, do you hear me. I’ve got to get going!’
Kicking open the door he came to a sudden stop. A line of cavalry men stood in front of their horses forty feet away, rifles leveled on him while Little Hawk held one arm around Rita’s waist and the other one over her mouth as she struggled trying to break free to warn him.
‘Think you’re going someplace, Fan?’ Whitman relished asking the question taking a few steps forward. ‘Tell me where your pals are and I won’t even kill you where you stand. Instead I’ll take you back to Fort Jackson, to hang.’
‘You go straight to hell,’ Tyge yelled back. ‘No matter what happens to me, I’ll take you down before I go!’
‘You think so? There’s a dozen rifles aimed at you. Before you can draw a breath they’ll cut you down like ripe wheat. I’ll drop the hammer on you too. I won’t ask you again. Where are the Keller brothers? Spit it out and you’ll live a little longer!’
Tyge let the saddle-bags fall from his hand shrugging the sacks off his shoulder. He squared off against Whitman and the line of troopers, his right hand dropping to his six-gun. ‘Let’s see just how fast you are, Whitman!’
Cort and Red kicked their horses up canyon, topping out on the rim, pulling to a quick halt looking back toward Mongollon. The sudden sound of thundering rifle shots echoed across the valley mixed with the single crack of a six-gun. Red turned to his brother.
‘They found Fan,’ was all he said.
‘Maybe, but they won’t find us. Let’s kick for the border!’
A wisp of dust twisted up into the air as the brothers spurred their horses away disappearing into a thick tangle of cedars heading south. Mexico and safety beckoned, if they could make it to the border first.