Tritchka said softly, “Good, good bow.” Near to my ear.
I squeezed her arm and said as softly, “Wait morning, you sleep, I sleep.
Morning came finding us both fresh. Just before sunup, I heard the last sound from the bodies in front of us. I was almost sure they were all dead. I wasn’t about to go see, though. There was, for certain, another Indian out there. In the cold, so far from a camp, the leader would have never left the horses unattended. The other one would show, eventually.
I sent Tritchka back into the valley to make food and bring my shoulder pouch. When she returned, I took out the spyglass I had left over from my time at sea and slowly searched the area in front of me as I had done when I was lookout on the Privateer. Look, shift a little, look again, making sure not to shift too much at once. As careful as I was, I almost didn’t see him. He was on a knoll about two miles away. One of their horses shifted in the thicket behind him or else I would have overlooked him. Once I focused, I kept close eye on him to see if he was alone. It seemed he was. He would look a while and go check the horses and walk in circles. Toward early afternoon, he seemed to make a decision. Leading all of their horses and pack animals, he started toward us.
At the bottom of the drop before he started up my slope, still some three hundred yards away, he took out a white cloth and started waving it. I was totally surprised. An Indian who wanted to make a truce--and knew how. Surprise indeed. He came to about two hundred yards and laid down what seemed to be all of the weapons on him. I sent Tritchka back to the fire for my long rifle. Setting it near me, I took up my spyglass and examined him closely. He had a long knife along his right leg, hidden except for the hilt, under his furs.
He said in English, “No weapons, come to collect dead, father there dead, too. No weapons, we talk.”
At a hundred yards, I centered my sight on his chest and killed him with one shot. He seemed to be surprised as the bullet slammed him backwards. To me, a knife wasn’t, "No weapons."
Toward dusk just before the snow started to fall, again, I went out and collected the bodies and their horses. I stripped them of all useful and their pack animals, too. They had a goodly supply of food. Some of it, I recognized as Army rations. They had Army rifles and pistols also and odd bits of clothing. I tied the bodies to their horses and shooed them away down the valley with a strong branch across their rumps. It was a terribly tiring task and I was about done for when I finished. I took off my sweated through clothing and fell into my robe.
Tritchka said,”You rest, I watch.”
OPERATIONAL AREA SANTE FE NEW MEXICO SEPTEMBER 1854
JASON DILLARD AKA PIERRE LA FUETTE
CHAPTER FOUR
I rose from my couch, shaking off the past. Looking in the mirror I didn't see Marshall Jason Dillard's long bearded face. Instead I saw the clean shaven pale face belonging to Pierre La Fuette. I hadn't used that name in fifteen years and not on this continent. I dressed and walked out of my quarters to meet the rest of my life.
I sat at my table and considered that this could be the last time I was having breakfast in the courtyard of my old Mexican Government administrative building. It was a square massive structure two stories high, built around a large central courtyard. The ceilings of the rooms were ten feet high, good for cooling, which was important most of the year in Sante Fe. I wasn’t sitting far from the five tiered water fountain with its spacious basin. It was lulling me into a trance, gentle trickling, like music. I looked back over the years to when I had bought this building with the last of mine and several friends' money. It had served us well. Almost as well as the ranch which was all mine, and a town alongside a manmade lake which I had planned and supervised most of the construction.
Ben, who was on guard at the Main Gate, sent Felipe, the cook's son; to tell me I had visitors, who wanted but a few moments of my time. I asked how they appeared and Felipe said, “A man and a women, both in uniforms I have never seen before.”
Curiosity brought me out of my pessimism for a moment, 'why not'? My date with death had no time constraint. “Go, Felipe, bring them to me.”
Changing my seat at the table from a position in the sun to one in the shade I loosened my revolvers in their holsters under my arms. They were hidden by my best jacket. One should never go slovenly dressed to meet the reaper. Despite the jacket, it was cold in the shade; I felt a shiver go through me. Wait, death, wait a while.
I stood as the visitors approached. Felipe walked alongside them. Despite them being in the sun, they had an odd light around them. When they were closer, I waved Felipe away, and he went off in the direction of the kitchen. They both were carrying long thin cases, which for sure contained rifles. I could not decide what material they were made from. They sat them down about five steps from the table and came closer. I had not seen such uniforms before, either. When the man stopped before me and stuck out his hand, I could read the insignia on the color tabs. They read CSA. On his shoulder epaulettes, was the symbol of an eagle. I just knew they weren't from my here. Whatever hope I could have had for this day faded away and my insides went cold. In a daze, I shook his hand feeling great strength. I said, “So, The War occurred despite my efforts.”
He spoke, “Not yet, in your time. I’m Colonel Rafe Berger, formerly of the 603rd Scouts Battalion, Army of the Confederacy. This is First Officer and my wife, M.Verdai Dunn Berger of ARK IV. We’ll explain what that means. May we sit?”
“Excuse my manners, of course. Would you like coffee?”
“Yes, black for both of us. Is it from Africa?”
“No, South America, but I’ve drunk that from Central Africa, best in the world.”
I poured for both of them, “What do you mean, not yet. War is, or isn't. Do you know of my activities to stop the war? How could you?”
“We’ll explain in detail how. We know all about you, your family, your cargo boats along the Mississippi, your Island, your attempts to get more Federal Troops here, everything. We also know of your present plan to go to Mexico and kill a Senor Constanza, who hired the people that almost killed you recently. We know him as a part of a much larger plot. He has you convinced you can prevail against him. He knows you plan to have him take in a woman of yours, who will kill him when you attack. You can’t win against him with that plan. You will be killed.”
The woman took out an instrument from a pouch on her belt, which looked like a small red glass ball on a stick no more than six inches long. She spread the one leg into three and sat it on the table. It glowed when she touched the ball, and showed Constanza’s valley in my courtyard with all of the out buildings and the main house. I blinked my eyes, but could hardly believe what I saw.
Rafe said, “That the main building is a Fortress, which you could overcome with your cannon, but what you don’t see and what your scouts haven’t told you about, is in the out-buildings. Those, your scouts took as workers dwellings, which they usually are. But these are in reality hiding places for fighters with long barreled rifles. Once you and your men are in the valley, they will come out of hiding, surround you, and kill you. Why we know this is because we can move back and forth through time. I know this sounds crazy to you, but, all you have to understand, for now, is that we have come here to prevent you getting killed and to kill all of the fighters in his valley. The result will be that the entire area won’t ever again oppose you.”
I looked at the representation of Constanza’s valley and knew they must have come from a long time in the future to be capable of showing me this. For a moment, a twinge of regret passed through me that I had not counted my blessings and made a smaller circle. Perhaps everyone could have been safe inside it? But safe, just to have ones spirit whither, had never been my way. Now, many around me were going to pay for my beliefs.
“How do you intend to carry out my plan where I would have failed? But more, why should you care? Most assuredly, you have control over vast forces and would lose nothing personally by my death.”
The
woman spoke, “Before I explain, look inside what you took as workers' houses.”
The scene in the courtyard contracted to one worker house, then inside the walls of it. No workers, but men of the roughest sort were laying about, playing cards, or cleaning their weapons. I could hear them speak and listened long enough to hear what I’d been told seemed true. Or, it was all a complete delusion and I was a silly fool. I gripped myself tighter by realizing, if I didn’t trust my senses, all was totally lost, complete failure. “So, it could be true. What do you want from me?”
“For reasons which we will explain, we want to purchase all of your gold. We will give you the rate you get now, plus twenty percent. To show you what we say is true, that we can protect your family and you. We will go now and destroy your enemies. But, one thing at a time--first to decide; is whether we go after breakfast, or before?”
The man waited for my answer calmly. These were jokesters, or the coolest killers I’d ever met. I reached behind me, pulled the bell rope saying, “After breakfast. While it’s being prepared, show me your rifles. I like rifles.”
Rafe got up and brought one of the cases to the table, opened it and said, “We know you like rifles. Actually, we’ve brought two different kinds.”
He handed the one in the case to me as I stood. I put it to my shoulder, about like a Sharps weight wise, but the end of the barrel didn’t pull down. I aimed at the roof through the telescope above the barrel. It held rock solid. Out of the case, he brought a round canister about a foot in diameter. Somehow, I knew that would be the cartridges.
He said, “This rifle is mainly for daylight. It will shoot 'dead on' at a distance of five miles. The cartridges explode on contact; some, additionally, are designed to go through walls. Some will start a fire. We’ve brought along more ammunition than you would need to flatten his whole valley. We will go to a point overlooking the valley where no one can get to us. We will just kill people until no one is alive. Any reinforcements, we will kill also. We won’t shoot any Rurales, or a person who does not have a weapon. The other rifle will do all this one can, only at a distance of six miles, in the blackest of nights. We may need to use it. There are more important events playing out here than your life.”
Food came and we ate heartily. Between courses, I asked, “Tell me about the war?”
M.Verdai said, “There is a ten volume set in your bookshelves, here, and at your ranch, marked ‘Study of Consequences’. The war is all in there. But even though that road has already been traveled, you and yours don’t have to travel it. You can, are now, creating another road toward a different future.”
Another course arrived, and over it, I looked at Rafe and saw a kindred soul. That he was here and not with his family meant he didn’t have one, or at least not the one he had had as a Confederate soldier. I questioned myself every day should I return to the family of my youth, whom I had to leave under a lie. They believed me dead. I figured that lie would not make any foundation to build a life upon, and even if they shot me in anger, I’d not fault them. No going back for me. I had a life here. Perhaps I could include my sons in my separate road and spare them serving in a senseless war. I noticed Rafe had finished his meal. M.Verdai, odd name, still ate. Her uniform reminded me of the French ceremonial guards at the Palace in Paris. Sure a lot of unrest there too, but then, when weren’t the French in a war, or even peaceful among themselves? They wanted Mexico for its raw materials. I pulled my mind back to today and asked, “How long will we be underway? I need to organize provisions from our stores.”
Colonel Rafe spoke, “We’ll leave soon. No need for stores unless you want something special.”
“I always take along bacon and beans. I’ll get the kitchen to make sandwiches and food for a few days.” I pulled the bell cord. Felipe came and I gave him instructions.
M.Verdai finished her meal and said, “First, we have to code you to these weapons. Rafe, get the other case, won’t you. Jason, put your right hand in the indention by the carrying handle.”
I did and she inserted some tool in a slot which gave me a tingle.
She said, “Now, no one can open the case but you. Believe me. Next case, thank you. Now open them, and we’ll do the same for the rifles themselves.”
I noticed the night rifle had four different tubes along the barrel.
She said, “Full instructions are in the cases. If they ever malfunction someone will come and replace them. I never heard of that happening, though.”
Felipe came back with the food in a bag with a shoulder strap, which I put over my head and across my chest. I picked up both rifle cases and said to Felipe, “Tell everyone we are going hunting. Be back in a few days. Off you go now.”
To M.Verdai and Colonel Rafe, I said, “I’m ready.”
We marched out through one side of the huge wooden gates. I stopped long enough to tell Ben to put on ten extra guards per shift, just on general principles. And that he should pay them $50.00 a month and found. He should get some good men for that amount. That's all I could do. The place would be safe, or not.
We walked across the sandy field and down a slope, where we were hidden from the gate. Then we took another step into something/nothing. Inside I looked around. It looked like a sort of trolley car with a lot of windows, oddly placed seats though, as they looked directly out the windows. We'd entered at the rear. At the far end there were two seats at a right angle facing toward some controls. I saw four more rifle cases on the floor, plus a solid black shinny case twice as wide and half again as long as mine. Dinosaurs were hard to kill was my guess. Keep a grip; I told myself, keep a grip.
Rafe seated himself up front and called over his shoulder, “Take any seat. This is called a Grouper Wagon. Why is a long story, which I'll tell you some time. When we start to move straps will come out of the seat back and hold you loosely. Set your cases anywhere. They’ll be held in place. Why is another story for later. We won’t be going fast. Enjoy the ride. We’ll take about an hour to get to where I picked a place above the valley. We’ll circle around beforehand and if you see a better place we’ll use yours. Here we go. No one can see us, story three, so we won’t stir up the people along the way.”
My seat was on the right side of the trolley car, about midway along. During our start, webbing had come out and was now holding me loosely. It was no worse a sensation than being in a harness up in the crows nest aboard a sailing ship. I didn’t believe we would toss and turn as bad as I’d experienced there. Rafe lied. We were going fast, far beyond the speed of a galloping horse. I could still see things by focusing on something distant and keeping that object in sight as it came closer, and do it again. The countryside didn’t change much, but I knew when we crossed the Rio Grande. Not long after we were above Constanza’s valley. We went twice around it and then up to a plateau on a mountainside which no one could climb. Rafe had chosen well and I told him so. The car settled gently well back from the cliff face.
The straps let go of me. I stood and walked back to the door I’d entered, picking up my rifle cases along the way. M.Verdai left her seat up front and came back to stand alongside me. “We will be about a half hour getting ready. A message has been sent to everyone in the valley to leave. Also, that if anyone has a gun on, or nearby they will be killed. You don’t have to know how they’ve been warned, but rest assured they have been.”
I stepped out and she followed me carrying two cases of her own. I glanced over my shoulder; Rafe was in the rear with his own two cases. We walked toward the cliff edge and sat our cases down about ten feet back. They walked back to where I knew the car was, calling, “Come help with some chairs.”
We went inside and got the chairs from a compartment under the floor and took them outside. They were sort of a chair/table mixture. Back by our cases Rafe showed me how to unfold it. A small table was in front of the cushioned seat and back.
She said, “No sense being uncomfortable while killing. The rifles have adjustable bipods which fit into not
ches in the table tops. Try it. If you can’t get used to it, use whatever method suits you. No one can see us from the valley because I’ve extended the car’s invisibility wall to the cliff edge. You can help Rafe with the extra ammunition boxes. There are umbrellas, but it’s not too hot today, for me.”
I walked back to the car and helped Rafe by grabbing one end of a large case. It looked heavy but it wasn’t, just unwieldy. We put it into position behind our seats. She was drinking what I took was water. I thought about putting on a pot of beans, but we still had sandwiches.
Rafe said, “Unless you have another idea, Jason, I suggest we start on the outlying houses while keeping an eye on the main building. Agreeable with you?”
“Yes. I just don’t want that bastard Constanza to get away."
“Watch the main house and he won't. I’m going to put a display up behind us. There’s a red dot for each house. When the dot goes away everyone in that house is dead.”
She said, “Time has elapsed gentlemen. Start. I’ll take the furthest away along the right wall, Rafe you take the left wall. Jason, you start with the closest. That way you will always have the main house in view.”
I sat and picked up my rifle trying to think of a word to describe their degree of efficiency. What came up was exterminator, pure and simple.
Greener Green II: The Balls Brigade Page 6