Hell Is Empty (The Frontier Book 3)

by Travis E. Hughes

“Maybe you should challenge him?” Frank said. “Call him out for a stun duel.”

  Talbert snorted a laugh.

  “I’m serious,” Frank said.

  “What if he tricks you and turns his gun back to lethal before the fight?” Roslyn asked. “I wouldn’t trust that bastard to fight fair.”

  “No,” Talbert agreed.

  “I have a feeling he promised those Amazons revenge for Lahky Reems,” Frank said.

  Hattie, Kidd Wylie, and Silvia broke off from the group and headed down a side street that led to her apartment building. She was going to show them the space.

  The rest of them headed to the IPKDA building, located across the street from the sheriff’s station.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “More Red Scarves arrived in town from Yanker,” Berry Gould said, coming into the boardroom. He was out of breath, panting and putting his hands on top of his head. Talbert, Grace, Roslyn, Frank, and Siringo all stood and went to the large window that looked out over the street.

  “Shit,” Siringo muttered, watching Drago and five other Yanker Red Scarves move down the sidewalk toward the bank.

  “I’m going to take that tub of lard down this time,” Talbert said, steely eyes narrowing on Roslyn’s ex-boyfriend.

  “It wasn’t enough for him to run us off of Athena,” Siringo said. “This shit feels personal.”

  “Yeah it does,” Talbert said, checking the charge of his pistol. “Maybe I need to pay the bank another visit.”

  “Whoa, easy, Bill,” Roslyn said. “You can’t just walk in there now. That would be suicide.”

  “She’s right, Bill,” Frank said, leaning against the glass to look back down the street for more Red Scarves.

  “So what do you suggest we do about this?” Talbert asked, desperation in his voice that Roslyn found unsettling.

  “We just waiting and waiting for attack coming?” Grace said throwing up her hand as if waving off the idea.

  “We send Kidd Wylie to poke around,” Frank said. “They don’t know that Kidd Wylie has come back to work with us yet. The Red Scarves wanted the kid to be set free. They think he can be one of them. They know what he’s capable of. The Dead Bunnies are on his resume.”

  “I got another suggestion for a new hire,” Talbert said. “I just need to go to the casino and fetch him.”

  Talbert put on his hat and headed out of the room before anyone could stop him.

  “Where the hells is he going?” Roslyn asked, turning away from the window to catch his back vanishing through the door.

  “He said something about the casino,” Siringo said with a shrug.

  “What is he going to hire Granny Shades?” Roslyn asked.

  *

  Talbert found Jane Goodaire first. She was drunk, squatting in an alley, urinating. She held a bottle of whiskey in her hand.

  “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she shouted when she noticed Talbert standing at the mouth of the narrow alley.

  “I need to find Bull,” Talbert said.

  “Oh, you need to get screwed, is what you need to do,” Jane said, standing and pulling up her suede pants. The fringes of her large jacket flailed violently back and forth as she struggled to do it and still hold the bottle.

  “I got a job for him,” Talbert said.

  “A hand job, no doubt,” Jane said, bouncing off the Da’akwood wall of one of the buildings before moving toward him. He took a step back out of the alley to allow her to pass. She reeked of grilled onions, seaweed and whiskey, but also of a rotten septic stench. Her hands and face were smudged with dirt and grease.

  “Okay, Miss Goodaire,” Talbert said. “I didn’t want to fight, Bull. He called me a coward and a bitch and everything else to get me to do it. He had it coming, what happened. But that’s over now. Time to move on.”

  “Is it?” Jane said over her shoulder. She swayed along the sidewalk, shoving people out of her way.

  “Hey, watch it,” someone said.

  “Rude,” another voice added.

  “Disgusting,” came yet another. “That’s the woman that runs with Wild Bull. Sad really.”

  After a moment to consider her, Talbert decided to catch.

  “Is it time to move on?” Jane continued, ignoring the rest of the world. “Cause that’s easier said than done for Bull. He put everything he had left into this business venture. To come back out here from Earth to have you shit on him.”

  “He had to know there was a risk he might lose to somebody,” Talbert said, regretting even engaging the woman further on the subject.

  “Ain’t nobody faster in the damn galaxy than Wild Bull,” Jane said, almost like it was a mantra more than a fact.

  “Yep,” Talbert said, shaking his head. He decided to stop talking and to simply follow her. She was probably going to lead him straight back to Bull. So he slowed down and let her move ahead.

  “Devil Bill!” came a voice from across the street. Talbert put his hand on his gun.

  “What do you want, Chuck?” shouted Jane. “You piece of shit, left us high and damn dry first set back.”

  “Jane, get lost,” Chuck the Duck said, coming toward them. “Devil Bill, I have a proposition--”

  “Ain’t happening,” Talbert said, cutting him off.

  “But think of the money you can make?” the Duck said. “You are the hottest name in the galaxy right now.”

  “I doubt that,” Talbert said. “But either way, I ain’t interested in that shit.”

  Talbert looked back to find that he’d lost sight of Jane. She had literally taken the Duck’s advice and gotten lost. He glanced up at the marquis of the surrounding businesses and realized where’d she vanished. The Fickle Pickle Casino.

  It was a smaller place than most of the casinos downtown but it had a fair crowd for an early evening.

  Talbert knew to look for the table farthest from the door. There he would find a tall, lean, longhaired man wearing a red sash and sitting with his back to the wall. Wild Bull didn’t disappoint. He had already spotted Talbert before he found him. Jane had found the bar and was in the process of buying another bottle.

  Talbert fought his way though the crowd to get to Wild Bull’s table.

  “Come back to pity me some more, Devil Bill?” Wild Bull asked.

  “Nope,” Talbert said. “Never pitied you. But I know of a better way for you to make a living than sitting all day at this damn poker table.”

  “How’s that?” Wild Bull asked, discarding three cards.

  *

  Hattie and Kidd Wylie entered the IPKDA building and Sage sent the to the boardroom where the others were waiting.

  “The key is,” Roslyn explained. “They don’t know you work for us yet. Your first job is to infiltrate them.”

  “Don’t that sound exciting,” Kidd said with a broad grin. “What should I do once I get their trust?”

  “Well,” Frank added. “You should already have their trust. They tried to help set you free when we had you.”

  “We already have a man on the inside,” Roslyn said. “His name is Drago but now he goes by Dred, I think.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Frank said. “He’s no longer our operative. He’s been let go. Do not trust him.”

  “I don’t know about all that, Frank,” Roslyn said in a softer tone.

  Commotion brought everyone’s attention to the door of the boardroom. Talbert stood with Wild Bull McQueen.

  “What’s this?” Roslyn asked.

  “Our newest hire,” Talbert said. “I say we call in all our soldiers, junior and senior who are in town still and we march down there in a show of force.”

  “We go down there with stun guns while they are shooting at us with high powered laser bolts?” asked Siringo.

  “This is an act of war,” Talbert said. “They have come for our heads. We have to defend ourselves and put an end to it.”

  “But we’ve made such progress,” Hattie said.

  “Hat’s right
,” Roslyn said. “There’s got to be a better way.”

  “I ask for a sit down with Rex,” Talbert said.

  “Are you even sure he’s still in town?” Frank asked.

  “Saw him at my duel, sipping blue drinks with Jia Fang,” Talbert said. “All this muscle in town? He’s here.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s here today,” Frank countered.

  “Then I sit down with whose ever calling the shots for the Red Scarves and these Amazons,” Talbert said, trying to hide his annoyance. “If it isn’t Rex it’s that Rondell Moseby. Either way, we march down there in full force to show our numbers. Hell, we have Wild Bull and Kidd Wylie with us now.”

  “I still like the advantage Kidd gives us,” Frank said. “Of them not knowing he’s with us.”

  “I agree,” Roslyn said.

  “Send Kidd down there alone first,” Frank said. “Have him infiltrate them. Say the same thing you told us, Kidd. That you need a job. That you want to marry that pretty girl of yours. They’ll take you on.”

  Kidd nodded his agreement.

  “Have him leave out the back so as not to be seen,” Frank said. “Hopefully no one made him coming in here.”

  “Okay,” Kidd said.

  “One concern,” Hattie said, raising her hand. “If Rex is in town. What’s to keep him from reading Kidd’s intentions?”

  “Shit,” Roslyn said, realizing her friend was right. “He’s too dangerous.”

  “This is just like Athena all over again,” Frank said.

  “So are we going to keep running from this bastard forever?” Talbert asked. “He’s hell bent on putting us out of business. Something says he won’t stop until he’s done that or we stop him.”

  “But he’s dangerous on all fronts,” Roslyn reasoned. “He’s deadly accurate and quick with a gun. He has resources beyond our wildest fantasies. Which he’s used to gather an army of Red Scarves and Amazons. Oh, and if all that weren’t enough, he’s versed in Bird magic, all due respect Hattie.”

  “We need to be smart here,” Frank said, pacing back and forth in front of the window.

  “This is the same guy who killed Dogg Holly, right?” Wild Bull interjected.

  “Yes,” Talbert said turning to him. “Any suggestions would be appreciated, sir. I know you worked security in a lot of places.”

  “Stunning them won’t do the trick,” Wild Bull said, after a long sigh.

  “No,” Talbert agreed. “This is war. This isn’t security work.”

  “I agree,” Wild Bull said.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I have eyes on the bank,” Barry Gould said over Roslyn’s transponder.

  “How many?” Roslyn asked from behind her desk. Puff’s claws scratched the Da’akwood of his perch. He seemed highly agitated. He must have been sensing her.

  “Hard to say,” Barry returned. “At least twenty Red Scarves and fourteen Amazons.”

  “Do you have eyes on Rex?” she asked. Talbert leaned forward in his chair slightly at the mention. He’d been quiet.

  “Not yet, but…” Barry trailed off and then a loud pop issued over the speakers and the connection went dead.

  “What just happened?” Frank asked from the other chair against the wall.

  “They made him,” Talbert said. Hattie looked up at him with surprise and fear.

  “Shit!” Roslyn said, springing from her desk. Frank, Hattie, and Talbert hurried to follow her out. “We move now!”

  The transponder in her hand chimed. Roslyn answered.

  “Sorry, I dropped my--” came the voice on the other side.

  “Barry? What the hells happened?” Roslyn stopped and held up her hand for everyone to pause.

  “Someone bumped me from behind,” Barry said. “It was just some drunken idiot, the transponder fell out of my hand. I cracked the plastic case but its fine. Still works.”

  “Elvis Christ, Barry, you just about started a war,” Roslyn said. “What’s happening now? Do you see Kidd?”

  “Yeah, he walked right up here and Ed, the guy with the purple--”

  “Yeah, we know who Ed is, Barry,” Roslyn said, waving her hand in small circles for him to continue. Though he couldn’t see it. “What was his reaction to Kidd being back in town?”

  “Hugs and stuff,” Barry said.

  “Hugs and Stuff? Sounds like a specialty shop I visited in Ananta,” Siringo said from over her shoulder. Wild Bull gave a soft chuckle. Everyone else smiled, save Roslyn who gave him a sharp glance.

  “Then what?” Roslyn said into the transponder.

  “They all went into the bank together. Well, there are about half a dozen hanging out around the bank. One guy sitting on a bench across the street,” Barry said.

  “Call me back when you have eyes on Rex,” Roslyn said. “Keep a low profile. If they make you, take the long way back here.”

  “Roger that, boss lady,” Barry said.

  “I still say we move on them before they move on us,” Talbert said, walking beside her back into her office. Frank and Hattie followed them. Hattie closed the door.

  “We should have Bull in here with us,” Talbert said. “He’s seen a thing or two. Might have some wisdom to share on the subject.”

  “Yeah” Roslyn scrunched her nose. “For now we’ll keep it in the family. Too many cooks in the kitchen, sometimes…”

  Talbert sucked his teeth and sat down in the chair across from her desk. Hattie and Frank took the seats along the wall.

  “The thing is, Bill, we can’t just go and attack them for simply having extra security,” Roslyn said, taking her seat behind her desk.

  “So we wait for them to attack us?” Talbert asked.

  “We wait for them to do something,” Roslyn said. “Doesn’t have to be an attack. But they’re here for a reason. We need to see what that reason is.”

  Talbert hummed and looked out the window. Roslyn’s transponder chimed. She answered.

  “The reporter lady just showed up,” Barry said. “The Red Scarves are exiting the building. Here comes… Yep I got eyes on the man. Rex Omnious all gussied up ready to talk to the press. He has his arm around Kidd Wylie. They are both smiling.”

  “Turn on the screen,” Roslyn said to Hattie. “Channel One.”

  “Is there another?” Hattie asked, flipping on the screen on the wall.

  Rex and Kidd stood beside each other on the steps of the bank. Adriana Johar stood below them with her microphone in hand.

  “When do you plan to hold the fight?” asked Adriana.

  “The fight?” Roslyn asked to no one.

  “In two days,” Rex said in an exaggerated Annabellus accent. His suit was something off of Dogg Holly’s shelf, down to the kerchief in the pocket and the chain across the vest. “High noon. In the street in front of Yellow Donkeyballs. F Street for those of you not familiar.”

  “So we’re confirming that this coming Fourth Day, at exactly noon, 13 hour, local time, Rex Omnious, tycoon and renowned gunslinger, responsible for the demise of infamous legend Dogg Holly, will throw down with Kidd Wylie, known for the deaths of eleven members of the Dead Bunnies gang out of Yanker and other parts. You’ll want to get there early folks. Space is limited.”

  “What the hells is he doing?” Roslyn asked, looking at Kidd Wylie grinning from ear to ear.

  “This Rex guy’s a narcissist,” Frank said.

  “A psychopath and a narcissist,” Hattie agreed.

  “He’s taking over the city,” Talbert said. “Is there a way to check and see how much property Rex has purchased since he’s been in town? Or that Rondell Moseby has purchased in his name?”

  “Nobody’s bothering to keep track,” Frank said. “These people are so far right, out here. No government of any kind for these morons.”

  “Taxes are for asses,” Roslyn said, rolling her eyes.

  “My guess is he’s gobbling up real estate by the block,” Talbert said.

  “Why?” Roslyn asked. “What’s the
point? Why this town?”

  “Maybe someone found something in the diamond mines?” Frank suggested. “Something of incredible value?”

  “I’m going to the Yellow Donkeyballs,” Talbert said, standing.

  “You think Jia Fang sold it to Rex?” Frank asked.

  “It’s a good possibility,” Talbert said.

  “I’ll come with,” Frank said, standing and opening the door for Talbert.

  Talbert motioned for Wild Bull to come with them.

  Thorton Gunderson, the tall thin man, whose large head and spindly limbs suggested he’d grown up in low G, met them at the main bar. Juan the android was scrubbing the floor. There had been a fistfight the night before. Talbert knew about it, because Earl Wyatt had been called in to settle it. It had been in the sheriff’s morning report. The fact that Roslyn had convinced the sheriff’s department to provide these morning reports had shocked him at first, but he was grateful for them all the same.

  “I’m afraid Mr. Fang no longer owns this establishment, sir,” Thorton said with a large smile.

  “Let me guess,” Talbert began but stopped when he noticed the man walking down the stairs.

  “Devil Bill,” Rex said. He was trailed by his original two Amazon guards. “And Wild Bull McQueen both, hanging out together in my joint? To what do I owe the honor? I am beside myself, I must admit.”

  “I thought you were at the bank?” Talbert said.

  “I just arrived from there, yes,” Rex said, coming behind the bar. “Care for a toot of the old bug juice? We carry Bugsy’s.”

  “No thanks,” Talbert said and swallowed.

  “But that’s your brand. You know, I liked that about Mr. Fang. He was a forward thinker. Only the best. He made the best blue martini, I swear.”

  Talbert’s left hand fell to the butt of his pistol. He could feel Wild Bull and Frank both tense. Wild Bull’s tension had a sweeter taste to it, more like excited anticipation.

  “Did you know he made me pay for the recipe?” Rex said, grabbing the brown bottle from the back bar. “Along with fleecing me on the place. Who does that? Charges someone for a drink recipe?”

  “What are you playing at, Rex?” Talbert said. “Or should I say Dylan.”