by Jon Sharpe
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” said the bald one.
“Since I’m holdin’ the gun, I’d say my business is anything I want it to be.”
Red Beard shrugged, looked at his partner, then back to Fargo. “Nothin’ worth getting shot over.”
“Sensible,” Fargo said.
“We just keep track of the comings and goings at the mine.”
“The shipments, you mean.”
“Who the hell are you exactly?” the bald one snapped.
“Name’s Fargo.”
Red Beard snorted. “Skye Fargo? Sure you are. And I’m George Washington.”
“You can believe me or not. All I care about is finding out who hired you to sit on your lazy asses up here.”
The bald one said, “You really Skye Fargo?”
“I’m really Skye Fargo.”
“Well, hell,” Red Beard said. “If that’s the case, then I’ll tell you right off. Sarah Brant hired us.”
That rocked Fargo back a moment. It was not the answer he had been expecting.
“Not her father?”
This time both men shook their heads no.
“Does he know you’re up here?”
Red Beard said, “We’re just pickin’ up some wages, Fargo. We don’t ask no questions.”
“They wouldn’t tell us even if we asked,” the bald one agreed.
“What about Daniel Parker? Does he know you’re up here?”
The bald man said, “That kid is so under Sarah Brant’s skirts, I doubt he knows when the sun comes up.”
“Yeah, leads him around by the nose.”
Hearing that about Daniel made Fargo feel disgusted, and sad for his friend Cain. Clearly, Daniel hadn’t turned out to be the man Cain had hoped he would become.
“How long you two been working for Brant?”
“Three days,” Red Beard said. “We met her in Sacramento and she offered us a lot of money to take down a gold ore shipment she said was being stolen from her father’s rightful mining claim. She didn’t say anything about going up against you.”
Fargo nodded. After she had lost her last band of robbers willing to do her deeds, she had apparently decided to go for a little more talent. Fargo pointed over the edge. “Does that look like stealing from the Brant mine?”
Both men shrugged. The bald one said, “Fargo, we don’t know what goes on inside those mines. We were just hired to do a job.”
“Well,” Fargo said, “unless you have a desire to be dead real soon, you go down the mountain, get your gear and horses, and without a word to anyone about this conversation, you both ride out hard and fast.”
Both men nodded and just sat there.
Fargo stepped back and waved the Colt at them. “What are you waiting for? You have some hard riding to do and the day is still young.”
Both men scrambled to their feet and took off running toward the Brant mine. Neither of them looked back.
At the main house, Cain was having lunch by the time Fargo returned from his hike, so he joined him in his big dining room where it was clear he ate most meals alone. The walls were covered in a fancy wallpaper, the wood floor polished to mirror level, and a huge glass chandelier hung over the table, sparkling in the morning light.
“So, have a great hike?” Cain asked, pointing to the tray of sandwiches for Fargo to help himself.
“A productive one,” Fargo said, taking a thick beef sandwich from the tray. “I know how the robbers are pinpointing your ore shipments and who’s behind it.”
Cain stopped in midchew and stared at his old friend. “You’re kidding.”
Fargo bit into the sandwich, then, between bites and chewing, told Cain exactly what had happened, leaving out only the part about Daniel.
When he was finished, Cain slammed what was left of his sandwich down on his plate and stood, clearly very angry, as he paced near the head of the table. “It’s hard to believe any woman could be that ruthless.”
“I’m still not so sure her father isn’t pulling the main strings,” Fargo said. “I haven’t met him yet, but from everything I’ve learned, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with her.”
Cain nodded. “You’re right about that. You sure those two men you scared off aren’t going to say anything to Brant about what happened?”
“Yeah,” Fargo said. “They were new hires and had no loyalty to the Brant woman.”
“So, you think she’s going to send two others up there tomorrow morning?” Cain asked.
“More than likely. Once a snake, always a snake, and her little outlook post has worked so far.”
Cain asked the exact location and Fargo told him.
“Thanks, Skye. I’ll take care of that problem tomorrow morning.”
With that he stormed out of the dining room, leaving Fargo to finish his sandwich alone in the huge, formal room.
Fargo had no idea what Cain would do, and it was better he didn’t know. That was between two mine owners and their crews. Fargo’s job was on the trail.
Daniel had never lived at the mercy of a willful woman before and he didn’t like it. The few girls he’d known were sweet and straightforward. If they liked you, they told you so and it was that simple. And then they acted like they liked you.
Daniel sat on the stump of a sawed oak, using his knife to whittle away at a small piece of a branch. Whittling usually calmed him. Usually. Right now, as he sat watching for Sarah Brant to come out of the house, he decided he needed something a lot more powerful than whittling to ease his temper and hurt feelings.
She’d charmed him into throwing in with her and her father, treating him as if they would be lovers forever. But, he was discovering, she paid attention to you when she wanted to. Otherwise it was as if you didn’t exist.
Half an hour ago he’d walked up to where she’d been sitting in a chair outside the house talking to one of the hired guns. He’d approached her to ask if he could see her alone. But her cold stare and the smirk of the gunny embarrassed him. It was clear he wasn’t wanted.
So now he sat about twenty yards from the house, waiting for her to come outside again. The gunny she’d been talking to had also been dismissed.
Everything was so damned confusing. He loved her—that was the terrible thing. He’d deserted his own father for her. But what was he going to get for his betrayal? Her treating him like a nuisance?
Maybe, he thought, maybe she doesn’t realize how serious I am about her.
And then he felt better. Yes, that was it. Up till now he had enjoyed her as a lover but he’d been afraid to tell her how he felt. Maybe that would make all the difference. Maybe when she understood his feelings—
A sweet mountain breeze ruffled his hair and soothed his cheeks. He tossed the piece of branch away, closed his knife, and prepared himself to go up to her when she came out of the house again.
Then she was there. Sunlight dancing in her hair, her blue silk blouse tucked tightly into her black riding pants. Her rich body almost haughty as she stood with her hands on her hips.
He had just started to approach her when one of the other gunnies came from around the side of the house. He said something that Daniel couldn’t hear. She laughed with a passion that was almost sexual. He saw her put her hand fondly on the man’s arm. He’d never been jealous over a woman before and the feeling startled him. He wanted to draw down on the man, kill him. What right had this bastard to spend time with Daniel’s woman?
He cleared his throat loudly enough to get their attention. Her gaze was even colder than before. The man looked at him briefly and then went back to talking to Sarah. She laughed again. Daniel didn’t know if he could control himself. Rage, humiliation, pain.
The gunny stayed for five more minutes. Daniel knew how awkward he must look standing there watching them. But he felt paralyzed. He didn’t want to see it—didn’t want to see that she had lied to him— but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t turn away.
After the man was
gone, Sarah turned and started back to the house. Daniel double-timed his way to her. Grabbed her roughly by the arm.
“You don’t have time for me but you have time for them?”
“Unless you want to get slapped very hard, take your damned hand off me. And right now.”
The harshness of her voice stunned him. He had the sense that she had just ended their relationship permanently. He pulled his hand away and said, “I’m sorry, Sarah. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“You’re damned right you shouldn’t have.”
“I just want to say something to you.”
She sighed impatiently. “Then go ahead. I need to get back inside.”
“I love you.”
And when she didn’t say anything, simply stared at him as if he’d spoken in a language she’d never heard before, he said: “Maybe I made a mistake. Throwing in with you, Sarah. I guess I’ll be heading out now.”
The panic in her eyes surprised him. Now it was her hand on his arm. “Oh, Daniel. Daniel, you misunderstood me. We need to talk this over in bed. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really didn’t. It’s just that I have so much to do, I guess I don’t realize when I’m not treating you right.”
“But those two men who came up—”
She pressed herself against him, her soft breasts making his need for her almost frightening. He knew what had happened. He’d threatened to leave. He’d meant it. He hadn’t known what else to say or do. But he was obviously a part of her plan and she didn’t want to let him go.
In that moment, he knew that she was using him. That she didn’t give a damn about him at all.
And the terrible thing was he didn’t care. He’d take her on any terms he could have her.
“You won’t leave me, will you, Daniel?” she said, her warm breath like a balm on his neck.
“No,” he said. “No, I won’t leave you.”
Two days later, Cain was ready with another shipment into Sacramento.
So with a long and very tender kiss good-bye from Anne, Fargo again left her soft feather bed for the cold predawn air. Part of him regretted leaving; part of him felt good about being back on his big Ovaro stallion again, doing what he did best.
Fargo set up the guards and the wagon movement the same as the time before. He scouted ahead, watching for any activity or trap, staying wide of the road, often moving along a ridgeline above and ahead of the wagon.
After three dull hours of sitting his horse, rolling and smoking cigarettes and reliving some very pleasant memories of Anne, trouble finally struck around the middle of the afternoon.
One glance at the gunnies ready to rob the gold shipment told Fargo that the Brants had stepped up in the world. These were hardened killers, ready to do whatever was necessary to take the gold.
Ten of them.
Their plan was simple and hard to see coming. The Placerville road had a decent amount of traffic in the afternoon. Since Fargo had the gold shipment moving slowly to give him time to scout ahead, it had been passed numerous times by other wagons and men on horses.
As Fargo watched from a low ridge just over a rifle shot away, three men came riding up from behind the wagon, their rifles in sheaths, their guns on hips. They nodded hello to the men guarding the wagon and Cain even pulled the wagon slightly off to one side to let them pass.
Everything seemed fine, but Fargo had a gut sense it wasn’t, so he moved a little higher so he could keep an eye on the three for a little farther down the road.
And he had been right.
The three men went on ahead, moving at a normal pace around a bend in the approaching narrow canyon. Then Fargo caught a glimpse of them stopping their horses and dismounting where the road went between two rock ledges along a mostly dry streambed not far from the wagon at all, pulling carbines from their sheaths.
Fargo glanced back at Cain. The wagon would be on the bushwhackers before Fargo could get down the hill.
Fargo grabbed his Colt and fired into the air twice to get the wagon to stop and to warn his party as he headed down through the rocks toward them as fast as he could.
Suddenly, from the direction of Placerville, seven more men appeared and rode at the wagon hard and fast, guns drawn, dust kicking up behind their horses.
Cain had heard the warning shots and then heard the men pounding down on them from behind. He directed the team and wagon off the road and into some rocks. Then he and his men took cover as the robbers burst upon them.
It sounded like a small war going on as Fargo rode hard and fast for the fight, pushing his Ovaro over the rough ground. He had his carbine out and in his hand. All he had to do was get into range.
At the same time as the men on horseback were attacking the guards and Cain, the three men who had passed the wagon moved quickly back up the road to join in. Two of them saw Fargo coming and leveled shots at him, even though he was mostly out of range.
Suddenly, something hit his shoulder, the force stunning him. The impact spun him backward and off his horse, knocking the wind out of him as he hit the ground hard, facedown.
It took him a second through the echoes of gunfire to realize he had been shot. He gasped for air as stabbing pain coursed through him.
From what he could tell, the bullet had gone through his shoulder. He’d been shot before. He knew when a wound was bad and when it wasn’t. This one, if he got to a doctor soon enough, would be all right.
He ignored the pain and took the deepest breath he could to clear his head. Then he grabbed his handkerchiefand stuffed it against the wound, pushing hard against the intense pain to stop the bleeding.
He grabbed the Henry that had fallen beside him and crawled up on a boulder just enough to rest the carbine and get a shot at the men below.
From the looks of it, three or four of Cain’s men were still alive and fighting. Fargo couldn’t tell if one of them was his friend.
Fargo took another painful breath to calm himself, then pulled off a shot at a man working his way around behind the defenders. The man went over backward and Fargo slammed another shell into the chamber.
His next target was a man on a horse. This one spun off his mount and into a large rock as Fargo’s aim proved true.
Three of the robbers turned and fired at him, forcing him off the rock to get cover.
“Get the wagon,” one man shouted, his voice echoing up the hill. “Let’s get out of here.”
Fargo poked his head back up and took another quick shot at another robber. The man slumped to the ground like someone had cut off his legs. From the rocks, Cain’s other guards renewed their fire and took down another robber, but by now one man was on the wagon with the gold, heading the team down the road.
Fargo pulled off a shot at the driver, but his lead went into the buckboard seat beside the man, sending splinters flying. The driver ducked and pushed the team even harder. By the time Fargo could get another shot off, the man was out of range.
He was about to turn the Henry on one of the stragglers when he recognized him. It was Daniel, Cain’s son.
Fargo couldn’t believe that Daniel would rob his own father. How had the kid gone that bad that fast?
Fargo knocked the last robber beside Daniel off his horse with one last shot and let Daniel get away.
The robbery was over.
Fargo slumped to the dirt and leaned against the rock as he tried to catch his breath against the pain. This had gone wrong so fast, he couldn’t believe it. He had lost the gold, and who knew how many good men were dead down there?
Suddenly he realized he hadn’t seen Cain in the last few moments of that fight.
He whistled for the Ovaro, who showed up a moment later. Using his horse to steady himself as he stood, he managed to get mounted and slowly work his way down the hill, not really wanting to look at what lay ahead.
But he did.
Six of the ten bushwhackers were down. It looked like three of the six men from the mine were also down. And Fargo could see the three r
emaining men crouching beside a man in a red plaid shirt. Cain.
It took Fargo only a moment to get out of the rocks and to the road.
It turned out that two men were dead and Cain was seriously wounded. Fargo knelt beside his friend. Cain was out cold and his breathing was shallow from the wound in his upper chest. The men had already tried to stop the bleeding. Cain might live if they got him help.
Fargo stood, ignoring his own wound and pain.
The gold was gone. Daniel, Cain’s own son, had led the attack. Why would a good kid like Daniel turn on his own father? None of this made sense.
Fargo knew what he had to do. He turned to the three surviving guards and picked the biggest one, Hank, who seemed smart and had gun sense. Cain trusted Hank; now Fargo was going to trust the big man with Cain’s life.
“Hank, can you get him back to Placerville on your own if Cain’s on your horse?”
Hank glanced at his boss and nodded. “I can get him there in just over an hour.”
Fargo just hoped Cain would live that long.
“Good. Don’t take him to the mine. We need the Brants, who are the people behind all this, to think Cain has been killed.”
“That was Daniel with them as well,” Hank said, shaking his head. “Makes no damn sense.”
Fargo didn’t disagree. “Take Cain to the back door of the Wallace Hotel and ask for Anne. Tell her I told you to put Cain in my room and swear her to secrecy. Then get the doc to fix him up and swear the doc to secrecy as well. Then, if Cain makes it through, be darned sure he stays in that room until I get back there, even if you have to tie him to the bed. Guard him with your life. Understand?”
“Got it,” Hank said.
Fargo and the other three men turned back to work on Cain to get him ready to travel.
“Get that shirt off him, and his hat. Switch them with another man’s.”
They quickly followed his instructions. Cain moaned slightly as they boosted him up on Hank’s horse and tied him in sitting up behind Hank, making sure that his wounds weren’t bleeding badly. Both of Cain’s legs were roped to the saddle, and he had a rope tied around his stomach holding him tight against Hank. With a hat pulled down low over his face, no one would recognize him.