The Angel's Devil (Savage Series)

by Lisa Rae

  * * *

  Wolfe and Angel rode in silence until they come upon one of Brook’s steers grazing off in the far distance. “I’d say that steer is probably a good 800-900 yards away, wouldn’t you?” Wolfe asked Angel.

  Nodding her head she replied, “Yes, that would be my guess.”

  “Then let’s see what you can do,” Wolfe said as he climbed down from his horse and motioned for her to do the same.

  “You want me to shoot one of your brother’s steers? That’s wasting good meat.”

  “We won’t be wasting it, I’ll send some of my boys back to cut it up and we’ll have steaks for supper. That is if you can kill it from here,” Wolfe commented dryly, still doubting she was that good of a shot.

  Angel pulled her Sharps .50 caliber out of the rifle scabbard that hung from her saddle. It was already loaded, and she considered quickly turning it towards Wolfe and permanently relocating his spine, but he would be expecting her to try something like that. So she calmly braced her left shoulder against a stout tree, took note of the slight breeze and the direction in which it was blowing, carefully aimed, and gently pulled the trigger. The loud boom was deafening as they waited and then watched the steer drop to the ground dead.

  Smiling Wolfe said, “I guess everything I’ve heard about the famous ‘Angel’ is really true.”

  “So Wolfe, does this mean you’ll hire me?” Angel asked, knowing that if she didn’t get him to hire her on, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her to keep her quiet.

  “I don’t know . . . how do you feel about holding up stagecoaches full of gold?” Wolfe asked with a grin.

  Knowing she now had her foot in the door, Angel smiled wide and said, “As long as I get my share of the gold, I’ll kill anyone you want me to.”

  * * *

  Diablo had managed to maneuver in close enough to where Angel and Wolfe were standing to overhear their conversation, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This man was obviously the leader of the Treasure Coach Gang, and Angel just agreed to work for him.

  Hurt and confused, he watched as they rode off. It didn’t make any sense . . . Brook hired him to transport his brother’s gold to town for him. Was this man ‘Wolfe’ also Brook’s brother? If so, why would he be stealing gold when he has a mine full of it? Determined to figure it out, Diablo followed Angel and Wolfe . . .

  * * *

  “Where are we headed?” Angel asked, even though she already knew the answer, thanks to Roark.

  “To my mine shacks to meet your new family,” Wolfe replied.

  When they arrived, Angel saw a row of shacks near a small stream, a dozen horses in a corral, and some mining equipment that did not look like it had been used in a while sitting outside the entrance of the mine. Some of the gang was sitting around on the porches of the shacks, while a couple was in the stream bathing and washing their clothes.

  Angel spotted Roark reclined back in a chair on a porch pretending to be asleep with his feet propped up on a rain barrel at the corner of the porch.

  A man walked out to meet them as they approached. He eyed Angel with curiosity and asked, “What’s up boss?”

  “Jed, I’d like you to meet Angel. She will be joining the gang, and I expect you to make her feel right at home here. Use her for long distance shots when you need it, she’s an ace with that Buffalo gun of hers. She just downed a steer at about 900 yards back on the ridge of the middle pasture. Send some men back out to cut it up for y’alls supper,” Wolfe replied.

  “Sure thing, but I hope she don’t get offended easy. You know how crude this bunch can get,” Jed answered.

  Before Angel could speak for herself, Wolfe said laughing, “Don’t worry about her. She’s as tough as an ol’ mountain lion. I done tried to kill her once.”

  Angel couldn’t help laugh herself at the look of shock on Jed’s face. “Alright, is there anything else?” Jed asked when he regained his composure.

  “Nope, just lay low for a while. Oh, and give this to her after I leave,” Wolfe replied as he handed Jed the holster and Colt pistol that belonged to Angel.

  Jed took the holster from Wolfe and looked back and forth between the two of them. He didn’t understand why Wolfe would hire her if he didn’t trust her not to shot him. Especially if he had already tried killing her before.

  As Wolfe turned to ride back towards Brook’s ranch house, Jed said to Angel, “While you unsaddle and put your horse in the corral, I’ll go clear you out a shack.”

  But when Jed walked back to the shacks, Roark was standing there waiting for him, and said with no room for objection, “She will bunk in the shack with me.”

  “It’s your funeral. Boss already so much as told me she’s a hellcat,” Jed replied.

  “I’ll take my chances,” Roark said dryly.

  Angel walked up to Jed and Roark with her bedroll under her arm and saddlebags over her shoulder. She held out her hand to Jed for her holstered pistol as she said, “Howdy Roark.”

  “Mornin’ Angel. You’re bunkin’ with me in the last shack on the end.” Roark replied.

  Nodding her head, Angel headed for the shack to put away her belongings. Along the way she discreetly observed the other gang members. A couple of them eyed her suspiciously, while others leered at her with big evil smiles.

  Later that day when Roark and Angel had a moment alone he asked her, “What are you doing here? I told you to stay away!”

  “I didn’t have no choice in the matter. Do you know who that was that I rode out here with?”

  “I’m assuming it’s the gang leader we are looking for,” Roark replied.

  “Yes, he is. But he’s more than that. He’s Christopher Wolfe, the man who shot my husband!”

  Stunned, it took Roark a moment to respond, “I saw he had your gunbelt. I think you need to tell me what all happened?”

  Angel looked over their shoulders to make sure no one was around before she told him all that had happened. How a simple poker game turned her into a Treasure Coach Gang member.

  * * *

  Diablo followed Angel and Wolfe from a far distance back. When he spotted Wolfe coming back his way alone, he just barely managed to hide himself and his horse behind a hill off to the side. While he waited for Wolfe to pass, he wondered what lay ahead? Obviously Wolfe took her to the gang’s hideout. It couldn’t be too much further ahead because Wolfe and Angel hadn’t been that far ahead of him.

  After waiting plenty of time for Wolfe to pass, Diablo quietly continued on in the direction Angel had went. He was still having a hard time believing that she would willingly want to be a member of the Treasure Coach Gang.

  When Diablo was just close enough to view the outlaw gang’s camp with his spotting scope, he stopped. He didn’t know if they had sentries posted, and wanted to survey the situation closely before going any closer. The place was an actual mining camp. He could see the entrance to the mine and the mining equipment sitting around, but the men were not doing any mining. He counted about a dozen horses in the corral, but only saw ten people counting Angel and her brother. Were there possibly two more men somewhere? He didn’t see any guards posted anywhere.

  Carefully, Diablo skirted all the way around the mining camp. He still didn’t find any sentries. They must figure the mine was a good enough cover if someone happened along. But where was the gold Mr. Brook was giving him to take to town coming from if no one was mining the mine?

  Having seen enough, and starved from no supper or breakfast, Diablo headed back to Deadwood for some dinner while he figured out what he planned to do . . .

  * * *

  Back at the mine shacks, Angel was sitting on a shack porch cleaning her guns. She had shot her Sharps .50 caliber earlier and always cleaned and reloaded her guns after using them. Since Wolfe took her ivory handled pistol last night, and it was out of her possession for some time, she wanted to make sure it had not been tampered with as she took it apart and cleaned and reloaded it too.

  As she
cleaned her weapons, she thought about how they were the only things she had left from her husband Wes Sutherland. He had been a good man and a loving husband. They were both so excited when they found out she was pregnant. To be closer to home, Wes was going to take a local Marshal’s job as soon as he caught the outlaw he was chasing after. That outlaw was Christopher Wolfe.

  Wolfe destroyed her life with just one shot to her husband’s head, before he pushed her off the balcony of the hotel room he was keeping her hostage in, killing their unborn child and badly injuring her. And now to take him and his gang down, she was working for him.

  “Hey Angel,” one of the outlaws by the name of Clint hollered to her. “When you get done polishing your pretty pistol, I got something for you to polish!”

  Not missing a beat, Angel had a comeback, “If I polish all that dirt off the top of that bald head of yours, the sun is going to burn you something awful.” The whole camp roared with laughter.

  “Why you no good, worthless whor─,” Clint started to reply when Angel snapped the cylinder shut on her pistol, after loading it, and aimed it right at Clint as she pulled back the hammer. “You wouldn’t dare!” he spit out nervously.

  “Try me!” Angel replied back calmly as she held his gaze. Her beautiful brown eyes turning stone cold.

  “Clint, that’s enough! The boss done told me she ain’t one to mess with,” Jed ordered.

  “And I am?” Clint asked angrily.

  “You are the one who started it,” Jed replied with irritation, knowing Clint was only the first of many who would harass Angel while she was staying here in camp.

  Clint gave Angel one last evil glare before walking away. Already plotting how he would get back at her for humiliating him in front of the gang.

  * * *

  Back at the café in the Grand Central Hotel, Diablo was busy eating a second helping of dinner when Calamity Jane walked over to his table. “Howdy Diablo, you haven’t seen Angel around today, have you?”

  Looking at Jane, Diablo wasn’t sure how much to tell her. “I saw her ride out yesterday evening to Mr. Brook’s ranch for a high stakes poker game,” he said sadly.

  Picking up on Diablo’s mood Jane asked, “What’s got you down in the dumps?”

  He didn’t want to tell Jane that her good friend got greedy and joined up with the Treasure Coach Gang, so he didn’t answer her.

  Without an invitation, Jane sat down beside him and softly said, “Diablo, it’s obvious you care for her, and that something is bothering you. Please tell me, maybe I can help.”

  Before he realized what he was saying, he blurted it out, “Angel and her brother have joined that murderous gang that’s robbing the gold coach.”

  Smiling, Calamity Jane patted his arm that was resting on the table and said, “Now don’t fret, things are not always as they seem.”

  “What do you mean?” He asked confused.

  “Just exactly what I said. Things are not always as they seem. It’s not my place to tell you her business. You need to go talk to her about this.”

  “And how am I supposed to do that? She is now staying at the gang’s hideout. I can’t just ride in there.” Diablo asked irritably.

  “Your resourceful, you’ll find a way,” Jane replied as she glanced down to his holster tied low on his leg, before standing up and saying goodbye.

  Now sitting alone, Diablo was trying to figure out what Jane meant by ‘things are not always as they seem’. Unable to figure it out, he decided to concentrate on his current problem. Mr. Brook hired him to haul his brother’s gold to town, but it was obvious that no mining was being done at the mine. So where was the gold coming from? He had a good idea where, but proving it might be difficult unless . . .

  An hour later, Diablo had his saddlebags restocked with some jerked meat, hardtack, and coffee. He never was one to go looking for trouble, but today he was headed for the lion’s den, and he wanted to be prepared. He cleaned and checked his rifle and pistol. He did the same with the small derringer he just bought, and then slipped it into his boot. He wanted to have a backup in case he was forced to drop his weapons. After brushing down and saddling up his big stallion, he took off for Mr. Brook’s ranch.

  When he approached the house, he found Mr. Brook sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch reading.

  “Well hello, did you change your mind about borrowing a book to read?” Brook asked innocently.

  “No, I come to see your brother,” Diablo replied.

  “My brother? Why on earth for?” Brook asked surprised.

  “It is him that I am actually doing the work for, and I wish to discuss my employment with him.”

  Wolfe happened to be standing just inside the screen door, and overheard the conversation. Curious as to what the man had to say, Wolfe stepped out the door and asked, “What is there to discuss?”

  Diablo was pretty sure that Mr. Brook did not know what his brother was really up to, so he asked, “May we speak in private?”

  Wolfe’s curiosity was eating at him now as he looked Diablo over from head to toe. Too nice of clothes to be a cowboy, his gunbelt hung tied low and the holster leather was worn like it had been well used. No doubt, this was a gunslinger. “Howard, why don’t you go inside and makes us a snack, while I have a chat with Mr. . . ?”

  “Just call me Diablo.”

  After Wolfe’s brother went inside the house Wolfe asked, “Diablo, as in El Diablo, the one who killed Matt Kane?”

  “Yes,” Diablo replied coldly as he sat on top of his horse. Not yet knowing for sure what he was going to say to Wolfe.

  “I didn’t realize that it was you my brother hired. A bit of a waste of your talents, isn’t it?” Wolfe asked as his mind raced at the thoughts of the work he’d like to put Diablo to work doing.

  Given the perfect opportunity Diablo answered, “Yes, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. You and I both know that your brother has no reason to fear being robbed by the Treasure Coach Gang as he takes the gold to town. But I can understand why you have kept it a secret from him. He makes for a good cover, and I doubt he would go along with what you’re doing. But I’d rather be helping you acquire that gold, than just being a lackey delivering it to town.”

  Seeing that Wolfe was uncomfortable with the fact that Diablo knew so much, and was getting itchy to draw his iron he continued, to ease the man’s mind. “Don’t worry, no one else has a clue who is behind the robberies.”

  “Then how did you figure it out?” Wolfe asked worried.

  “I fancy a beautiful brunette that is now in your employment,” Diablo answered with a wide grin.

  “She told you?” Wolfe was becoming angry.

  “No, nothing like that. I happened to be following her this morning when I overheard the two of you talking, and figured it out for myself.”

  “Why would you be following her around?” Wolfe asked curiously. Not sure what to think about what Diablo was telling him.

  “I said I fancied her, but I never said she returned the attention. So that made me more curious about her.” Diablo hoped that would satisfy Wolfe’s curiosity. He did not want to tell him that he actually suspected her of being involved, even before he overhead them talking.

  “So are you wanting to become part of the gang for the gold, or to be near her?” Wolfe asked.

  “Both. Is there a problem with that?” Diablo said with an attitude in his voice, a serious look on his face, and his hand resting on the butt of his Colt for emphasis.

  Liking that Diablo didn’t beat around the bush and was ready to back his play, Wolfe said grinning, “Not at all.”

  Chapter 10

  Angel eased the hammer of her Colt down gently after Jed healed Clint, but not before Wolfe and Diablo came into view and saw Angel draw on Clint.

  Laughing, Wolfe said, “You might be wise to keep your distance from that hellcat. Anyone she cares for ends up dead.”

  Before Diablo could ask what Wolfe meant by that, Jed walked up t
o them. “Is this another replacement?” Jed asked, eyeing Diablo.

  “Yes, this is El Diablo, the famous gunslinger that shot and killed Matt Kane,” Wolfe replied.

  Recognizing the name, Jed smiled and said to Diablo, “Welcome. Put your horse in the corral and make yourself at home.”

  Diablo nodded his head to Jed, and looked past him to Angel who was staring a hole through him from the mining shack porch she had been cleaning her guns on. Smiling, Diablo turned his horse and rode over to the corral where he unsaddled his stallion and turned him loose with the other horses. By the time he walked back towards the mining shacks with his bedroll and saddlebags, Wolfe had already left.

  Unlike Angel, Roark was glad to see a friendly face, but concerned as to why he was here. He knew Diablo did not hire his gun out to just anyone. Especially to a killer like Wolfe.

  “Howdy Diablo,” Roark said with a welcoming smile.

  “Howdy Roark, Angel. Where could I find myself an empty bunk?” Diablo asked.

  “Why don’t you bunk with us,” Roark replied before Angel could say anything. “We’re in the last shack down on the end.”

  “Obliged,” Diablo said as he headed down to the last shack to put his gear away.

  “Why did you have to go and invite him to bunk with us?” Angel snapped. “He’s obviously not the person we thought he was, or he wouldn’t be here working for Wolfe.”

  “Easy there sis, we don’t know why he’s here yet. Why don’t we find out, before you crucify him.”

  Just then Diablo walked back up to where Roark and Angel were standing. Angel snorted to what Roark said and purposely walked off. “What’s got into her?” Diablo asked.

  “You,” answered Roark.

  “Me? What did I do? I just got here.”

  “Grab your rifle and let’s go hunting,” Roark suggested. “We can talk then.”

  Diablo walked back to their shack to retrieve his rifle and then they walked a ways out into the woods. Diablo spotted a young doe and killed it with a clean shot through the lungs. As they were field dressing the doe Roark asked, “What are you up to? I know you wouldn’t work for a man like Wolfe.”