by Tony Masero
“But you are a government man, Secret Service, isn't that what you're supposed to do?”
“Who says I am a government man?” chuckled Smith. “Did you have any assurance I was who I said I was? No and neither did you check out my story either, even with all your high society connections in Boston. You are an ingenuous fool, Mister Endeavor and you fitted into our plans most successfully.”
Zack compressed his lips bitterly as he recognized his own stupidity in taking Smith at face value “What about Long and the others?”
“Oh, I have used them many times before. They were as simple as you in that respect. People, you see, Mister Endeavor, if you know how to guide and manipulate them, will see what they want to see. An unfortunate loss but I am being well remunerated. I shall never need to work ever again so they are of small matter to me.”
“And what is your goal in all this? Why did you want The Ten destroyed if it was not to stop them controlling the upcoming election?”
“Because, my dear man, I wanted to control the election. My hopeful and wealthy client has hired me to bring him into power and now the cartel of The Ten are out of the way it is possible.”
“So, all the attacks on us during the way down were your doing?”
“Oh, yes. It was necessary to convince you. They were lame attempts in reality, not intended to do you any real harm merely incentives for you to hurry along and give you some commitment.”
“And James?” Zack asked, nodding towards the advancing couple.
“You were his suggestion. He had inveigled his way into the cartel and became a fine informant as to their plans but as I'm sure you well know, dear James is not one to get his hands dirty if he can help it”
“I resent that,” pouted James, coming up behind Smith. “I have done my part and fulfilled my role, perfectly I believe.”
“Are you alright Mary?” Zack asked quickly, cutting across James with a steely look and she nodded a silent and sorrowful response.
“She's fine,” bragged James bumptiously, his face flushed with victory. “And don't you worry about it one little bit, Zack, I intend to take good care of her.”
“How could you do this James?” asked Zack, a look of disgust on his face. “We were army men together, brothers-in-arms. I saw you safe from Libby Prison and this is how you repay?”
“Oh, spare me,” sneered James. “Possession is all, my friend. And now, despite your vain attempt to take her from me, I have Mary and very shortly I will own a place in government also. It is the ultimate goal, to own an entire country.” There was a hint of megalomania in his voice and Zack realized that James was verging on the edge of insanity.
“You are the one who intends to stand for the Presidency?” Zack asked in surprise.
“Why not?” James answered with smug satisfaction. “I have money enough, all I need now is the power to go along with it and Caleb Smith will see that I get it. Both of the prospective candidates standing are already at loggerheads and polling is a hairsbreadth between them, I shall bring a fresh look to the race. The country is divided and we shall give the people a promise, any pretty thing they want as long as it gets me into office. Then, well then, the world is my oyster and I shall have pleasure in picking out the pearls for myself and the rest can go to hell in a hand basket. Isn't that right, Caleb?”
“You are footing the bill, Mister Van Olen,” Smith answered. “Whatever you want....”
The bullet past so close to Zack that it singed the material of his pants leg. He never noticed though, his attention was fixed on the sudden dark hole that appeared just below Smith's left eye. A hank of hair lifted at the back of his head as a part of his skull shot upwards along with his hat in an explosive spray of blood and brains. The man paled visibly, the color draining from his face as he faltered. Swaying slightly, his lips parting silently as he stumbled a step forward. Smith tottered, the gun dropped from his hand and all capacity left his muscles and he collapsed to the ground in a sudden heap.
“Get the pistol,” Zack heard Long croak from behind him.
He spun around to see Long holding the smoking gun out to him, it was his own pistol, the one he had dropped at Smith's earlier command.
“Finish it,” Long said, his head dropping down in a faint as Zack took the six-shooter from his limp fingers.
Mary screamed suddenly, “Zack!”
He spun around at the crouch to see James had already leaned down and picked up Smith's pistol. He raised it in Zack's direction but the lock of fair hair he had worn with such affection for so long dropped into his eye as he bent over, irritably he brushed it aside. But the moment of hesitation was all Zack needed and by then it was too late for James.
Zack pulled the trigger from where he crouched and watched James curve back with a look of surprise as the bullet struck. Then Zack stood up to full height and a cold merciless anger descended over him and he pulled the trigger again. Both shots struck James in the chest and he fell over to sit down and stare back up at Zack stupidly.
“For pity's sake!” James managed with begging hands outstretched. “You can't do this.”
But there was no pity left in Zack's heart only anger at all the grief James' greed and selfishness had caused. He strode towards the seated figure, firing as he came. Each shot pumped into the body until Zack could fire no more and the revolver was empty.
When Mary laid her hand softly on his gun arm she felt that it was as rigid and hard as stone.
“It's done now,” she whispered. “Let it go.”
With a shuddering sight, Zack lowered the empty pistol and tossed it onto the ruined chest of his one time companion. Then he turned to see if there was anything they could do for Long.
Epilogue
The 1876 Presidential election was fraught with difficulties and it was not until the next year that the matter was finally settled. Despite outpolling his opponent in the popular vote and holding 51% of the people with him, the Democrat, Rutherford Hayes lost the election. With questions of ballot rigging and all the whispers of misconduct finally resolved only after lengthy legal and political battles, the Republican candidate Samuel Tilden was eventually successful in gaining office as the 19th President on the 3rd of March 1877. It was a resolution much debated but by then Zack and Mary gave it little concern as their thoughts were elsewhere.
Long Golightly lived, although he would never walk again. He remained in Fort Worth alongside Zack and Mary and despite being allowed only recourse to a wheelchair he served faithfully in Zack's law office as a desk bound investigator.
It took Zack a long eighteen months to sort out his business in Boston and to finally separate from his engagement to Isabel. It was a trial even more arduous than his recent adventures but by the end of the year the separation was made and Mary and he were married, having decided to make the frontier town of Fort Worth their home.
Zack chose to change his brief in future and settle for more corporate clients. With the growth of new railroad companies spreading across Texas and having many of them as clients, Zack continued to do well.
Having a vested interest in the whole affair of The Ten and James Van Olen's attempt to undermine the election, it was in 1878 that Zack was called to Washington to take part in investigations into the New York Tribune's discovery of secret cypher telegrams purported to have been sent by Tilden's agents during the election, in which it appeared that substantial bribes had been offered to vote-counters in the suspect States of Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.
Although it was ultimately decided that no blame could be attached to candidate Tilden himself, the telegrams did give Zack pause to consider just how deep the influence of The Ten had reached. Zack and Long were privately commissioned by a Senate sub-committee to root out any evidence of underhand dealings that might continue within the electoral system. Despite extensive research they could find no evidence of any further symptoms of malpractice but Zack often wondered if The Ten were truly extinct. It was a concern
to haunt him for many years to come and on some dark nights he would worry that their subversive inheritance still lived on secretly in the halls of power and might remain as a legacy to haunt the generations of American voters still to come.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue