by Scott Connor
He glanced at Seymour and Marvin, but neither of them met his eye.
With jerking movements, Truman straightened and rolled on to his back.
‘You haven’t finished me,’ he said. ‘I’ve fought and overcome bigger obstacles than the likes of you.’
Rocco grinned and strode towards Truman, but Crane shook his head and paced round to stand before him with a hand raised.
‘That’s enough,’ he said. He seized Rocco’s arm and pulled him away from Truman. ‘You’ve got no reason to carry this on.’
‘Perhaps he hasn’t, but I do,’ Truman said from the ground.
Shaking his head, Crane turned. ‘Why?’
‘Because I have to show you that you aren’t like Rocco. He’s a vicious bully, but you don’t have to threaten us. Just end this and walk away from that—’
‘I can’t do that,’ Crane snapped, pointing a firm finger at Truman.
‘Then I can’t walk away from this fight.’
‘You can’t even walk right now. Just stay down.’
Truman snorted. He pushed his hands to the ground and levered himself to a sitting position, then to his knees.
Finally, he stood, his clothes now dirt-streaked, his face puffy and reddened. He raised his fists, although the arms shook.
‘Rocco, I’m ready to end this,’ he said.
Rocco chuckled and jerked back a fist. ‘If you insist.’
By the door, Wallace coughed.
‘Stop that,’ he shouted, beckoning Crane and Rocco to join him with a sharp wave of his arm.
Rocco glared at Truman, then lowered his fist.
‘What’s wrong?’ Crane asked, pacing from the fire.
Wallace stood to the side of the door until Crane joined him, then pointed through the doors.
‘The fog is lifting.’
Crane glanced over Wallace’s shoulder at the terrain, noting that he could now see the outline of the ridge against the sky.
‘I’m not worried about that.’
‘Yeah, but the trouble is – I can see a whole lot further now, and I can see what’s coming.’
Wallace pointed at a line of shapes wading through the last sparse tendrils of fog.
Even as Crane looked, the shapes coalesced into the forms of the riders heading down the side of the ridge towards them.
Crane gulped. ‘The raiders are coming.’
Chapter Eleven
With their chains clumping them together, Lincoln, Decker and Raul hurtled from the stagecoach. In a tangled sprawl, they hit the ground and rolled from the trail to flop to a scraping halt beside a ditch.
Zandana and the other deputies were ahead of the lead horses. As Lincoln shook his head to regain his senses, the driver cried out that he’d seen them fall, but the stagecoach was traveling fast enough to disappear into the fog within moments.
Lincoln staggered to his knees, numbness from his bruised body slowing his actions, only to find that Decker had looped a length of chain around Raul’s neck and was staring at him. In his grip, Raul lay, slack-mouthed and possibly unconscious.
Lincoln grabbed Decker in a neck-hold and prized him away from Raul. Decker rolled with Lincoln’s pull and the three men fell into the ditch in a heap.
From down the trail, cries ripped through the air as Zandana and the other lawmen doubled back to recapture them.
Lincoln edged up ready to leap to his feet and alert them, but Decker grabbed his arm, halting him.
‘Don’t,’ he said, pulling Lincoln round to face him. ‘This is our chance.’
‘I told you,’ Lincoln said, ‘no matter what the provocation from these men, I’m not helping you escape.’
Hoofs thundered as Zandana and his deputies closed on them.
‘Just give me time to tell you my story.’ Decker released his hold of Raul, letting him slump at his feet. He darted his gaze over Lincoln’s shoulder, then fixed him with his earnest gaze. ‘If you alert Zandana, you’ll die. If you don’t, and we escape, you can still alert him later.’
Lincoln glanced over his shoulder to see a rider emerge from the fog.
In a sudden decision, Lincoln dropped into the ditch. A moment later Decker dropped to lie beside him and the three men lay prone.
To his side, Lincoln heard the deputy approach, then clatter by. Then more riders clumped past, stopping around fifteen yards to his right.
‘Spread out,’ Zandana roared. ‘They’re close.’
Horses thundered in all directions, one deputy even vaulting over their ditch.
‘They have to find us,’ Lincoln whispered. He glanced up, but saw nothing but the deserted trail fading into the fog on either side of them.
‘I’ve spent every moment since I left jail planning how to escape,’ Decker whispered, pulling Lincoln down to lie beside him. ‘Ever since this fog came down, I’ve reckoned it’s my best chance. Zandana expects me to run and if I did, he’d pick up my trail no matter where I went.’
‘Going nowhere leaves no trail.’ Lincoln snorted. ‘That isn’t much to put your faith in.’
‘It’s all I have.’
Lincoln and Decker burrowed down on either side of the prone Raul, searching for that extra inch of hiding space in the shallow ditch.
Every second, Lincoln expected Zandana to take his decision away from him and find them, but aside from the occasional irritated holler from Zandana’s deputies, they showed no sign of closing on them.
Within ten minutes, the deputies returned to a spot some thirty yards down the trail – far enough away that Lincoln couldn’t see them, but close enough that he could hear Zandana’s barked orders.
To Lincoln’s surprise, Zandana ordered his deputies to give up the search and head down the trail again after Crane.
Within a minute, hoofbeats clumped away and the stagecoach resumed its journey.
Lincoln glanced up and confirmed that they were, in fact, alone.
‘Surprised?’ Decker asked, joining Lincoln in peering down the trail.
‘Yep.’
‘I’m not. Zandana reckons he knows where I’ll go.’
‘After the gold?’
‘Yeah.’ Decker opened his mouth wide and prodded the inside of his cheek, then raised his bloodied finger. ‘Wish I hadn’t bit myself so hard to get some blood.’
‘I should have realized you weren’t hurt, but I now have a decision to make.’ Lincoln shuffled away from Decker as far as his chain would allow. ‘So, tell me a story that’ll convince me I was right not to alert Zandana.’
‘I will.’ Decker shuffled round to face Lincoln and rested a foot on Raul’s side. ‘Tell me this first – why did Zandana beat you?’
‘He reckoned I was trouble.’ Lincoln shuffled down to gain a more comfortable sitting position on the side of the ditch. ‘I’ll just have to convince him that I’m a lawman later.’
‘You won’t get the chance. A lawman will be the first to die when Zandana finds the gold.’ Decker laughed without humor. ‘So, if I were you, I’d come up with a better story.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean you figured out that Zandana took me from Barton jail to help him locate the gold.’ Decker leaned forward and snorted. ‘You didn’t figure out that when he finds the gold, he won’t send me back to jail.’
‘You mean you did a deal with Zandana and he’ll let you go?’
‘Nope. He’ll kill me, and that isn’t the worst of it.’ Decker glanced down the trail, a long sigh escaping his lips. ‘He’ll keep the gold, too.’
‘Zandana wouldn’t do that.’
‘Perhaps he’s not the only one who’s spent the last twenty years thinking about the gold that got away.’
‘He’s still a lawman.’
‘Even lawmen think, and you’ve seen how ruthless he is. Raul almost killed you back in the stagecoach.’
‘Except he didn’t. He just tried to control me.’
Decker tapped Raul with his foot, receiving a subdued moan.
/> ‘It looked like he was just beating you to me.’
‘He let me know how determined he was, but fell short of killing me.’
‘Wrong. He kept you alive because that was Zandana’s orders.’
Lincoln glanced at Raul, then at Decker. Decker was looking at him with his eyebrows raised and the directness of his wide-eyed gaze bored into Lincoln’s mind demanding that he believed every word he’d just uttered.
Lincoln rolled to his knees and knelt on the edge of the ditch.
‘It can’t be,’ he said, rubbing his chin as he fought down the dread thought that Decker could be right. Then he smiled. ‘And it isn’t. If you’re right, Zandana would have killed me the moment I walked into his camp and claimed I was a lawman.’
‘He nearly did. I saw the look in your eyes when Zandana asked you whether you knew where the gold was. You knew, but you didn’t tell him because you already feared he might have another plan in mind. If I saw that look, so did Zandana, and that was the only thing that kept you alive.’
Lincoln shuffled round to look away from Decker.
‘Whatever you say,’ he said, the shock that he was only just choking back coarsening his voice, ‘I’m not letting you escape.’
‘What about the gold? Are you letting Zandana escape with that? Because he won’t leave any witnesses to what he’s planning to do. That includes, you, me, Crane.’ Decker sighed. ‘Even those hostages.’
Lincoln swirled round to face Decker. ‘I can’t believe that.’
Decker shrugged. ‘So, if you won’t listen, what are we doing?’
‘There is no we. I’m getting to the gold and helping my fellow lawmen. Then I’ll . . .’ Lincoln threw his bound hands above his head, pulling Decker forward. ‘Then I’ll figure out the rest later.’
Decker jutted his chin and stamped his foot.
‘Then I’m going nowhere.’
Lincoln tugged on his chain, but Decker firmed his back and glared at a spot just above Lincoln’s right shoulder.
Lincoln half-heartedly tugged the chain again, then slipped into the ditch. He rummaged through Raul’s pockets, but on failing to find a key to either their chains or their handcuffs, he looped an arm under Raul’s armpit and pulled him to his feet.
Decker planted his feet firmly in the ditch and remained seated. Lincoln tugged but Decker had flexed his bony form and he failed to move him an inch.
Without Raul to deal with, Lincoln could have slung Decker over his shoulder and carried him as far as he liked. With the bulky Raul on one arm, he wasn’t going anywhere that Decker didn’t want to go.
Lincoln swung round and stared down at him.
‘Come on, Decker. I did what I promised. I listened to your story. Now I’m leaving.’
‘I’m not.’ Decker grinned and shuffled down into the earth. ‘You can’t drag me and Raul.’
Lincoln looked to the fog-shrouded sky, then down to Decker.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘What will it take for you to help?’
‘A promise to let me go.’
‘Try again.’
Decker tipped back his hat to scratch his forehead, then nodded.
‘Best I can offer is – promise me you’ll find out whether my story is true before you rejoin Zandana. If it is, you’ll help me to get away.’
Lincoln considered and then nodded.
‘I suppose I can agree to that.’ Lincoln watched Decker grin. ‘But I will come for you after I’ve sorted out everything else.’
‘I know. I only want a chance to escape. I’ll back myself to hide from you.’
As Lincoln snorted, Decker widened his grin and jumped to his feet. He grabbed Raul’s other arm and, with an arm apiece draped over their shoulders, they dragged him from the ditch, his feet trailing behind him.
In keeping with his promise to Decker, Lincoln let them walk about thirty yards off the trail, keeping it in view, but far enough away that if Zandana doubled back they had enough time to hide.
This precaution had a lessening effect as the afternoon sun burned away the fog with increasing speed. Even so, with Raul’s bulky form weighing them down, they made painfully slow progress.
At a corner to the trail where the route swung east towards Sweetwater, the stagecoach emerged from the fog ahead. It was stationary and nobody was beside it, even the horses were standing quietly, but they slowed then approached it in a cautious arc.
A slow circuit confirmed that Zandana had abandoned it and they found his tracks heading off the trail and uphill towards the mist-shrouded ridge to their side.
With both he and Decker breathing heavily, Lincoln ordered a rest.
‘You’d have thought Zandana would have caught up with Crane by now,’ Lincoln said, rubbing his strained arms. ‘Crane is walking and he’s guarding his hostages.’
‘I’m not sure Zandana’s following Crane. He followed him earlier in the week, and he knows the gold is on the other side of the ridge.’ Decker pointed uphill. ‘He doesn’t know exactly where.’
‘Where exactly did you bury it?’ Lincoln said.
‘I reckon you already know that.’ Decker rolled to his feet and stood, creaking his strained back into a straight position. ‘You’d better find a way to free us from Raul, or we’ll never drag him up and over that ridge.’
Lincoln tugged at the chains, finding no suggestion of give, then considered Raul’s bulky form.
‘You got any ideas?’
‘I have.’ Decker glanced at the stagecoach.
Lincoln followed the direction of Decker’s look. He nodded as he considered how he might safely use the wheels to roll over the chains and break through them, but no matter what set of actions he devised, his plans were all dangerous.
He turned back to Decker, but it was only to find that Decker had a gun in his hand and had aimed it at his chest.
Lincoln rubbed his eyes, chiding himself for forgetting to search for Raul’s gun when he’d rolled into the ditch.
‘I was just beginning to believe you never meant anyone any harm,’ Lincoln said, raising his hands to waist level. ‘Turning a gun on a lawman isn’t helping that belief.’
‘I won’t shoot you. I’ll just free me from Raul. Then it’s up to you what you want to do.’
Decker edged back to gain himself the maximum distance from Lincoln, then raised his chain and dangled it before the gun. At the first attempt he shot through the chain connecting him to Raul, then rolled free.
‘Don’t run,’ Lincoln said.
Decker shrugged and backed a pace from Lincoln. He blasted through the chain connecting his handcuffs, then spread both his arms, flexing the muscles and smiling at the relief.
Gunfire echoed nearby.
Decker dropped to his knees, then shuffled behind the nearest boulder while Lincoln rolled over the prone Raul and peered up the ridge.
The high sun was burning away the last of the fog and he could now see the outline of the angular ridge against the sky.
The gunfire blasted again, and this time, Lincoln reckoned it came from the other side of the ridge. So he sat, as Decker rolled out from behind the boulder.
Decker gestured for Lincoln to remove Raul’s gunbelt then peered in all directions as he wrapped the belt around his waist.
‘If you free me from Raul, I’ll speak up for you,’ Lincoln said.
‘I’m not doing that.’ Decker stood and backed away from Lincoln to peer at the ridge. ‘If you have any sense, you’ll keep your head down here. If not, I wish you luck.’
‘You won’t get that gold.’
Decker rubbed his chin, a mischievous smile invading his features.
‘You just don’t understand me. I know of something a whole lot better than gold – freedom.’
‘You’re right there, but once I’m free and have released those hostages, I will come for you.’
Decker pointed towards the direction of the shooting.
‘Well, if it helps, the gold, Crane, Zandana and all
that shooting is that way.’ Decker pointed over his shoulder. ‘I’m heading that way.’
Decker turned and paced away. At a steady pace, he walked by the stagecoach and headed down the trail towards Sweetwater.
‘I know you’re trying to confuse me as to where you’re heading,’ Lincoln shouted after him. ‘It won’t work. I’ll be right behind you once I’ve sorted out the rest.’
Decker walked for another five paces, then stopped and turned.
‘Why?’ he said, heading back towards Lincoln with his hands upturned. ‘I stole a whole mess of gold twenty years ago. I didn’t hurt anyone, and soon several former lawmen will have stolen the gold for themselves. Why punish me any further?’
‘If you have to ask, I can’t answer.’
Decker sighed and stomped to a halt. ‘You won’t take my advice to not rejoin Zandana, will you?’
‘Nope. I have my duty and I have to help free those hostages.’ Lincoln looped an arm under Raul’s back and dragged him to his feet. ‘I’ll do that, whatever the cost.’
‘Joining Zandana won’t free anyone.’ Decker kicked at the earth and sighed. ‘But you seem like you’re a man who always keeps his word.’
With Raul dangling from his grasp, Lincoln shuffled round in a circle to face Decker.
‘I am.’
‘Then if you give me your word that you won’t go after me, I’ll shoot through your chains and give you a better chance to free those hostages.’ Decker raised his eyebrows. ‘Please do it without seeking Zandana’s help.’
‘No deal. You’re asking me to let a jailbird go free, and I can’t do that.’
Decker whistled under his breath. ‘Guess you do keep your word. You could have let me free you, then gone back on your promise.’
‘I could have, but I didn’t.’
‘Obliged.’ Decker sighed. ‘Then take this advice – you gained Crane’s confidence. Use that. It’s your only advantage.’
‘Obliged.’ Lincoln flashed a smile. ‘See you later, Decker.’
Decker returned the smile, then turned and took two steady paces. He wavered then swung back and drew his gun. With one eye closed, he sighted the chain connecting Lincoln to Raul and shot through it.
Lincoln shook the broken chain dangling from his arm, then lowered Raul to the ground. He flexed his arms, enjoying feeling the lack of Raul’s weight dragging on them, then spread his hands as wide as he could above his head.