Lester leaned back in his saddle as if that would put him out of harm’s way. “Where are you taking me?”
“You came along this far, you might as well come along for the rest.”
“Y…you’re gonna shoot me and bury me with Cobb.”
“I dragged Barrett a hell of a lot farther than this. If I’d wanted you dead, I would’ve done it a long time ago, just to keep from hearing you whine so much.”
Lester glanced around, but found nothing to give him any solace. Reluctantly, he nodded and gave his reins a limp-wristed flick.
Waiting until Lester caught up with him, Nick got Kazys moving just fast enough to keep pace with the other man. “What did you say your name was?”
“Lester.”
“I’d rather not kill you, Lester. In fact, I’d like you to get a good look at what I’m about to do and then go tell all your friends or cousins about it. In fact, tell everyone you know. I’ll even give you some money so you can buy drinks at all the saloons from here to Texas, have a few beers, and tell the story some more.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I couldn’t care less,” Nick replied. “I’m not the sort who enjoys swapping stories with a bunch of drunks. In my youth, perhaps, but I did plenty of other stupid things back then that I’ve also given up.”
“But…why would you want me telling folks about you? Don’t you know there’s a price on your head?”
“I know,” Nick said.
Lester blinked and waited. When a hammer didn’t fall for what he’d already said, he decided to keep going. “I heard you were a killer. I heard about some of the things you’ve done and if even half of them stories are true…” He couldn’t even finish that sentiment as the conclusions ran through his mind.
Holding up his gun hand, Nick said, “Take a look at that.”
When he caught a full look at the gnarled remains of Nick’s fingers and the scars that were smeared across his flesh like so much tar, Lester winced.
Nick recognized that look, having seen it on plenty of other faces. “That’s just a taste of what I’ve been through.” He lowered his hand and let his eyes settle upon the trail that wound in front of him. “Whatever’s out there…whoever’s out there…it all gonna come to me whether I run from it or not. After a while, a man just gets sick of running.”
“So why bother to come here?” Lester asked. “You need your money back?”
Nick shook his head. “You ever see one of your friends get killed?”
“No, but my brother was stabbed in Dodge City when I was nine.”
“All right, then. How’d you like it if a bunch of assholes decided to dig up your brother, pull the rings off his fingers, rip the pins off his suit, or take whatever else you might have buried him with?”
“I don’t suppose I’d like that too much.”
“There you go.”
Something caught Nick’s eye. It wasn’t much more than a small movement to his left, but it didn’t blend in with the rest of the movement around him.
Nick had come too far to divert his path now. The grave was somewhere just ahead, and it was in a spot that would allow him to get a good look in all directions. His memories were of a pristine spot with nothing but open land for miles around. The land around him now seemed to rise up and close in on him like a set of giant hands getting ready to slowly crush him between them.
Kazys let out a few strained breaths as he negotiated a steep incline. Some loose rocks slipped from beneath his hooves, but the horse never lost his balance. Lester’s mount was having a bit more trouble, but still managed to climb the incline and get to the level ground on top.
The first thing to hit Nick’s senses was how perfectly the spot matched the memories he’d been sifting through moments ago. At the top of the incline, the land flattened out into a wide stretch covered by rust-colored soil. The dirt was hard and full of rocks, which made it heavy and reluctant to blow too far no matter how much the wind howled. A few trees sprouted here and there, but were outnumbered by tough, thorny bushes.
The spot was somewhat larger than Nick had recalled and since he hadn’t marked the grave with so much as a simple cross, he’d wondered if he’d be able to find it.
As it turned out, Nick didn’t have any trouble at all finding Barrett’s grave. All he needed to do was look for the hole that had been torn into the ground and the broken wooden planks sticking up like crooked, petrified fingers.
TWENTY
Nick dropped from Kazys’s back and ran to the desecrated grave. Stopping at the edge of the hole, he looked straight down at the mess of broken wood, which led down to a skeleton lying on its side. Nick dropped to his knees and began pulling the splintered boards up one at a time.
He cleared a spot toward one end of the hole, climbed down into it and reached toward the remains with both hands. Everything was there, right down to the bandanna Nick had tied around Barrett’s head. Everything, that is, except for the jewels that Nick had given to his friend for safekeeping.
Nick didn’t even realize he’d climbed back out of the hole. One moment he was standing more than waist-deep in dirt. The next moment, he was rushing over to grab Lester by his arm.
“Who did this?” Nick snarled as he pulled Lester closer to his level.
It was nothing but sheer panic that kept Lester from being pulled off of his horse altogether. His feet were wedged firmly in the stirrups and his hands were gripping the saddle horn so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. “Did what?” Lester asked.
Shifting so he could stretch out his other arm and point toward the grave, Nick snarled, “That! Tell me who did that or you’ll be buried in there with what’s left of Barrett!”
“I don’t know!”
“All right.” With that, Nick took hold of Lester with both hands and pulled him completely from his saddle.
Lester came along kicking and squirming. Although his hands were peeled from the saddle horn, one of his feet remained ensnared within the stirrup. After a few strong pulls, Nick got Lester’s foot loose and dragged him toward the grave. Once he was certain there was no way he was about to break free of Nick’s grasp, Lester began to talk.
“I told you I’m not the only one who knows about this!” Lester squealed. “It could’ve been anyone else who heard the rumors! Anyone else would’ve come looking for all that money!”
“But you seemed to know a hell of a lot,” Nick said as he continued dragging Lester along. “You and your cousins had a good idea of where to look and what was here.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And don’t try to tell me that anyone would be stupid enough to spread around where this spot was when they were intending on getting those jewels for themselves!”
As Lester tried to come up with something to say that would get him out of this mess, he found himself being hauled up by his shirt. Nick’s hands may have been wounded, but his gnarled fingers clamped around Lester’s shirt with so much strength that they even got some skin clamped between them along with all that dirty cotton.
Lester felt his feet leave the ground. When he looked down, he could see the broken planks stretching up toward him as if they meant to grab his boots and pull him into the gaping, stinking hole.
“Jesus Christ!” Lester hollered.
“Unless that’s the name of the man who did this, I don’t wanna hear it,” Nick growled.
“I don’t know if my cousins did this or not! I been on the run for the better part of a year!”
“You stopped running long enough to check in with your cousins.”
“They sent me letters, but I barely got a chance to answer them.” The more he talked, the shakier Lester’s voice became. Soon, it was difficult to tell if the streaks down his face had been put there by sweat or tears. “When I haven’t been runnin’, I’ve been getting my ass dragged here and there by someone or other trying to cash me in for the reward money.”
“My heart’s fucking aching.”
&n
bsp; Feeling himself slip out of Nick’s grasp, Lester sucked in a desperate breath and spat out, “I know where they’re at!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah! I’ll take you to them!”
“You want me to believe you’ll double-cross your own blood?” Nick said. “My guess is that you’re saying whatever you can just to keep from being buried alive in this hole.”
Lester looked down again as he thought about those words. Somehow, Nick had struck a chord that hit harder than when Lester had been worried about dying. Seeing the body curled up on its side amid all that dirt and broken wood made something crack within Lester’s brain.
“I don’t got a choice!” Lester said. “I’d rather take my chances with you than with Kinman!”
Lester felt the grip holding him over the grave tighten for a moment. Then the bottom of his boots scraped against the ground and he was set down. Nick let him go just long enough for Lester to realize he was standing on his own again. When he started to make a move, Lester nearly slipped straight into the very pit he was trying to avoid. Nick’s hand snapped out again to grab Lester by the collar. That was the only thing keeping Lester perched on the edge of the grave.
“So you’re with Alan Kinman?” Nick asked.
Lester nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he whispered. “He said he already crossed paths with you. He said he met up with you in—”
“In Rock Springs.”
“Yeah,” Nick replied in a tone that mocked Lester’s frightened whisper. “I know. A man like that’s not too hard to miss.” After studying Lester’s face, Nick asked, “Why do you look so surprised?”
“I…uh…didn’t know you knew who he is.”
“I know. Kinman’s a well-known bounty hunter,” Nick said. “He’s tracked down a bunch of my friends and he’s been after me for a while. I’ve managed to stay ahead of him because I make it my business to know which bounty hunters need to be watched.”
“Well, Kinman’s got his sights set on both of us.”
“What interest does he have in you?”
Blinking at the turn in the conversation, Lester replied, “I stole a horse.”
Nick shrugged. “It must have been a real good horse or it must have belonged to a real wealthy man for Kinman to step in.”
“The horse is dead,” Lester squeaked.
“And so are we, if Kinman has a say in the matter.” With that, Nick pulled Lester forward just enough for him to be able to maintain his own footing at the edge of the grave. He didn’t, however, allow Lester enough space to feel comfortable.
“I know…” As Lester started to talk, his heel slipped backward and down a bit into the grave. After wobbling and waving his arms, he managed to catch his balance just long enough for Nick to pull him forward again. “I know what Kinman is capable of. The man’s crazy. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”
Although he didn’t say anything to that, Nick pictured the faces on those dead Chinese piled outside of Hale’s door. He also pictured the grim smile on Kinman’s face when he’d had an opportunity to put down a few more Chinese just to put a few more dollars into his pocket.
“The only reason I’m still alive,” Lester continued, “is because I told him about this place.” Seeing the scowl that came onto Nick’s face, Lester winced. “I didn’t have no other choice.”
“What do you think Kinman will do when he sees this hole instead of the treasure he was expecting?” Nick asked.
“Probably shoot me.”
“Which is a damn fine alternative to what I have in mind.”
“All I want is to get the hell away from here. All I did was steal a horse and that was over a year ago. I’d serve jail time like I was supposed to, rather than hand myself over to a monster like Kinman. Hell, that rancher down in Texas has probably got himself worked into such a lather that he’ll gut me when he gets ahold of me.”
“You stole that horse in Texas?”
Lester nodded.
Shaking his head, Nick said, “They would’ve strung you up no matter when they caught you. Even I knew better than to steal a horse from a Texan.”
“Well, if they string me up in Texas or if I get buried in that hole, I’m dead either way.”
“Now you’re using your head. You forgot one thing, though.”
Lester thought about that for a moment before asking, “What?”
“I’m the only one who has any use for you while you’re alive.” Seeing Lester’s eyes dart back in the direction from which they’d come, Nick added, “Now that we’re at this spot and there ain’t nothing but an empty hole, I doubt Kinman will be too pleased. Even if you track down those jewels for him, what do you think your chances are of getting away alive?”
“Not…too…good?”
Nick squinted and then grinned. “I see. He offered you a piece of the reward if you two managed to bring me in, didn’t he?”
Lester thought of plenty of ways to answer that question. Unfortunately, every one of them required him to appear much more collected than he could manage under current circumstances.
“It’s all right,” Nick, said. “I figured as much. Just ask yourself one thing, though. If Kinman is such a big, bad bounty hunter, why didn’t he just come after me himself? After all, he did have plenty of time riding with me back in Rock Springs.”
The dazed expression on Lester’s face made it clear that he wasn’t able to come up with very much. “I guess he wanted to be sure,” he replied in a wavering tone that wasn’t even enough to convince himself it was the truth.
“I’ll bet he’s plenty sure when he’s shoving you around,” Nick said. “He must still be sure that you’ll do what you’re told if he let you come all this way on your own.”
“He’s gotta be watching us.”
“Probably, but…” Nick motioned toward the uprooted grave and said, “…there’s not much left for him to see here. If we get moving now, though, we could get a head start. I know a few shortcuts through these parts that’ll put him so far behind us he’ll never catch up.”
Lester’s eyes widened as some of the color drained from his face. “You mean run away?”
“Why not? You’d rather take your chances with a bounty hunter? Those assholes aren’t much better than the law. The only difference between them and the jackasses who wear badges are whether they take their bribes above or below the table.”
“You really think we could make it?”
“I know a little something about staying ahead of bounty hunters and I’ve slipped out of Kinman’s sights more than once.”
“He doesn’t even think you realize he’s a bounty hunter.”
Nick grinned proudly and said, “My point exactly.”
Lester started to think some more. He also started to slide backward into the open grave, which seemed to influence him a lot more. “Fine, fine. I’ll join up with you, but I want your word that I’ll go free after it’s over.”
“I’m not a bounty hunter,” Nick said, “so rewards don’t mean much to me.”
“And all I can do is take you to where my cousins might be. I don’t know for certain whether they’ve got them jewels or not.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Reluctantly, Lester lowered his head. “It’s a deal.”
Nick felt something brush against his gun belt and he reflexively backed up a step. It was Lester, offering his hand across the few inches that separated them. Nick shook Lester’s hand, thinking about how he could most effectively put the other man to work in the little time before Kinman caught up with them. As he started to weave a plot in his head, Nick couldn’t help but think that Barrett would have been proud.
Suddenly, Lester’s grip tightened around Nick’s hand like a set of iron tongs and before Nick could pull his arm away, Lester was pulling him forward. Since Nick had shifted into a sideways stance to put his gun farther away from Lester, his shoulders were in line with one another. That made it even easier for Lester to sidestep while pulling Ni
ck forward.
Nick felt as if he was falling through molasses. He could see Lester moving aside, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Nick’s other arm flapped behind him like a donkey’s tail. His front boot skidded against the ground for an inch or two, which was just enough to carry Nick to the edge of the grave.
After another shove from Lester, Nick pitched around at an awkward angle and toppled into the hole. He landed solidly upon the lower half of Barrett’s coffin. When he looked down at the body of his friend, he swore he could hear Barrett laughing at him.
Once he’d gotten his feet beneath him, Nick climbed out of the grave. His gun was already in his hand and his finger was touching the trigger on the off chance that Lester was waiting for him up top.
He wasn’t.
Even though there wasn’t anyone in sight, Nick had a pretty good idea where to look. He turned toward the spot where they’d left the horses just in time to see Lester snap his horse’s reins and charge straight toward him. Nick took aim with his pistol, but his shoulder hit the ground, knocking his aim off center.
Lester twisted in his saddle to look back over his shoulder. Seeing the gun in Nick’s hand, he ducked down low over his horse’s neck and let out a sharp yell as he dug his heels into his horse’s sides. The animal bolted forward and dragged Kazys by the reins along with him until Kazys finally managed to pull free.
Nick got to his feet, straightened his arm and sighted along the top of his pistol. He wouldn’t have had any trouble whatsoever in dropping Lester’s horse, but the rifle shot that tore a piece out of his right ear was enough of a distraction to affect his aim.
“Son of a bitch!” Nick shouted under the blast of his own pistol.
Wheeling around to face the direction the rifle shot had come from, he dropped to one knee. He saw Kinman riding over the ridge that led back down along the path to the gravesite. The bounty hunter still held his rifle to his shoulder and was taking aim again as Nick fired.
Nick’s round was less than an inch off its mark. It would have caught Kinman in the face, if the bounty hunter hadn’t been sighting along the top of his rifle. Because of that, Nick’s bullet ricocheted off the rifle and knocked the stock against Kinman’s shoulder and head. The impact, harder than a punch, caused Kinman to wobble in his saddle. A few more shots went off, but none of them hit him. In fact, Kinman didn’t even hear any lead flying past him. He saw Nick walking in the opposite direction and firing at something in the distance. Kinman took that opportunity to get his rifle back up to his shoulder and take a shot of his own.
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