The Western Justice Trilogy

by Gilbert, Morris

  “No, nothin’ like that, Waco. I picked this little girl up back East. She’s got a rich daddy, and you don’t have to talk about makin’ me rich. As soon as I get tired of her, I’ll sell her back to him. I expect he’d pay a pretty good ransom for you, wouldn’t he, honey?”

  He had spoken to Marianne, who refused to answer.

  “Not very talkative, is she, Trey? Well, this one of mine’s not either.”

  “You two aren’t on a honeymoon. I can see that, Waco.”

  “Why, it is kind of a honeymoon. She’s not used to the idea yet, but she’ll be fine when she is.”

  Trey was watching Waco carefully and said, “Well, this ain’t exactly a hotel for honeymooners, Waco. Was you thinkin’ to stay the night?”

  Waco drank from his coffee and leaned back and nodded with sleepy satisfaction. “Good meal. Thought we might, Trey.”

  LeBeau said, “You’re losin’ your bedroom tonight, Breed. We’ll let the lovebirds have it. You go sleep in the shack.”

  All the outlaws were waiting to find out what Waco was up to, and finally Trey said, “Well, what’s this all about?”

  “So you didn’t get rich on that train robbery?”

  “No, I’ve told you we didn’t. It’s not my fault.”

  “We wasted our time. It wasn’t worth the trouble,” Zeno Shaw said. He stared at Trey with discontent in his eyes.

  “I can’t guarantee what a train’s carrying,” LeBeau snapped.

  Waco studied Callie carefully and openly.

  She held his gaze and said, “What’s on your mind, Waco? We’ve got no secrets here.”

  Waco said, “All right with me. How about you, Trey?”

  “Just say what you got on your mind,” Trey said. “For all I know Parker might have got you out of jail to be one of his marshals. You might be wearing a badge under that vest.”

  “No badge,” he said, pulling his vest away from his shirt, “but if Parker wants me to work for him, that shows you what a good cover I have, doesn’t it? I’ve got a job coming up, Trey, but I’m not sure your bunch is able to handle it. You’re down a few men, aren’t you?”

  “We’re able to handle any job you come up with, Waco. What is it? Spit it out.”

  “All right.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “Here it is. My lady friend is Miss Helen Richards. Her father’s name is Charles R. Richards. That mean anything to you?”

  Nobody spoke, and Waco grinned. “Mr. Richards is in charge of the Express Company over in Durango.”

  Suddenly everybody in the room grew alert. They obviously were well aware that the Western Express handled large amounts of gold and silver. There were no mines where the offices were located, but they received shipments of gold and silver coins from the Treasury in Washington and transported them over different parts of the country.

  Al Munro’s eyes gleamed. “Western Express! You’re not dumb enough to hold that place up I hope, Waco. They’ve got enough guards to furnish an army.”

  Waco grinned at Munro. “No, nothing like that. What I’ve got in mind is helping the ‘transport’ end of things.”

  Trey said impatiently, “You know every train robber in the country has tried that, Waco, but they’re clever. They ship out empty boxes one day. Then boxes loaded with rocks the next day, and any day they might or might not ship the real stuff. Anything to throw us off. Nobody ever knows what or when.”

  Waco leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his dark hair. He glanced over at Trey and said, “That’s right. We don’t know—but Helen’s dad knows.” The silent tension built up in the room. “Her dad’s in charge of the shipping. He always knows.”

  An electrifying current went around the room. Rufo Aznar said, “Why, if we knew which train to hit, we’d all be rich.”

  “Shut up, Rufo!” Trey snapped. He leaned forward and stared at Waco. He was silent for a moment then stared at Sabrina. “That’s right, is it? Your daddy runs that express?”

  Sabrina said, “Yes, but he’ll never tell you about the shipments. Men have tried to get at him before. You wouldn’t believe how much money he’s been offered just to tell them when things are shipped.”

  Waco laughed broadly, his eyes gleaming in the twilight. “But they didn’t have his only daughter held in Indian Territory away from the law, did they, honey?”

  “He’ll see you hanged if you do this!” Sabrina muttered. “You won’t get away with it.”

  An excited babble rippled through the room, everybody talking at once. Sabrina watched them. Each one of them was visibly excited. This is going to work, she thought triumphantly. They’re going for the bait.

  Suddenly Callie’s voice commanded the attention of the room. “And how do we know all this is true?” Her dark eyes were a feline glow in the lantern light, reflecting its yellow flame. Coolly she stared at Waco and Sabrina. “These two come out of nowhere and have this big scheme, and I don’t believe a word of it.”

  LeBeau gave Callie a thoughtful glance. “You may be right,” he said. He turned back to Waco. “You’ve never done anything like this before. You may have done a little holdup work, but you’ve always been a lone wolf.”

  “What have I got to show for it?” Waco shrugged. “A horse, a gun, and a blanket.” Every eye in the room was locked on him. This was the moment in which they would stand or fall. His voice grew rock hard as he said to LeBeau, “I’m not proposing to join you, Trey.” Looking around scornfully, he went on. “I don’t want to live in a shack out in the desert somewhere running from Parker’s marshals. Not me! I’m gonna do one job, make a pile, and buy a ranch somewhere far out of this forsaken territory.” There was a loaded silence in the room, and Waco banged his cup down on the table and told the group curtly, “But I can see you’re more interested in listening to Callie than anything I’ve got to say.” He rose to his feet and said, “Come on, honey, let’s get a little sleep. Tomorrow we’ll pull out of here and see if we can find somebody else. I’ve been thinking about Jack Chambliss.”

  “Jack could do the job,” Callie said.

  Callie’s words infuriated Trey.

  “We can do anything Chambliss can do!” LeBeau snapped. “But we don’t need you, Waco.”

  LeBeau was on the verge of pulling his gun and shooting Waco, at least so it seemed, but Al Munro said, “Wait a minute. We can do this job, Trey.”

  “All right, put these two in the room, Al.”

  Munro led them to a room at the end of the hall. “You two can stay in here tonight.”

  “Get in there, Helen!” Waco said and pushed Sabrina through the door. He shut it at once and took a deep breath. “Well, all right so far.”

  “Oh, Waco,” Sabrina whispered. She was feeling weak, and she put her hand on his arm. “I was so scared.”

  “That’s good. I wanted you to look scared.”

  “I think they all believed you… except that woman.” She watched his face as she mentioned Callie, but Waco’s expression didn’t change. She thought for a moment then said, “I saw how she stared at you. She hates you.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “A woman doesn’t have that kind of animosity unless she loved a man once.”

  Waco ran his hand through his hair and wiped his forehead. “We were friends at one time,” he said briefly.

  From that one sentence Sabrina knew what she had suspected was true. Waco and Callie were lovers. That’s why she hates him. He must have walked off and left her or done something awful. Bluntly she asked him, “So you were lovers?”

  Strangely enough, her words seemed to embarrass Waco. He looked into her eyes and asked, “Why do you care, Sabrina?”

  “I don’t care.” Even as she said it, she realized that she did care. Resolutely she thrust the thought away from her. “But she was in love with you once. You may have to use her to get us out of here.”

  “No.”

  The refusal was so flat that Sabrina knew instantly there was no use in purs
uing it. She was embarrassed by the scene and agitated by her own show of jealousy when faced with Waco and Callie’s relationship. Confused and conflicting thoughts crowded her mind. She said, “Well, Marianne’s here and she’s all right, so we have a chance.”

  Waco breathed out heavily. “Yeah, we got a chance, and I don’t want to mess this up, but it’s going to be tough. They’re gonna be watching us like hawks no matter what we do.” He pushed himself away from the door, walked to the window, and looked outside. “They’ve already put a man out front. We’ve got to be careful because they could sneak up here. He’s probably watching through this window, and someone will be watching it all night. They’re not about to let us leave here unexpectedly.”

  Sabrina’s shoulders drooped. The hard ride and the immense strain of the past few hours had begun to affect her.

  Waco glanced at the single bed. “You take the bed, and I’ll take the floor.” It was early, and they were both tired. “I’ll blow out the light, and you can get undressed.”

  “I’ll just sleep in my clothes,” she said hastily.

  Waco didn’t reply. Finding a blanket in the gear they had brought in, he made a bed beneath the window, took off his boots, and started to lie down. Instead he rose, walked over to the single chair in the room, carried it to the door, and shoved it underneath the doorknob. “Somebody might want to come bustin’ in here, Sabrina. They’d expect us to be in the same bed.”

  Sabrina didn’t reply as Waco lay down. For days now she and this man had slept within five feet of each other beside a campfire, but somehow being in a bedroom with him was totally different. She was apprehensive, almost afraid. She lay down on the bed, pulled the blanket over her stiffly, and lay unmoving and tense until she heard his even breathing. Then she relaxed.

  Sleep didn’t come all at once though. Sabrina lay quietly thinking of the strangeness of it all. Her other life, her life of teas and parties and balls and fancy dresses—those all seemed a million miles away. With a mental start, Sabrina realized that she could not easily go back to such a life. It would seem so tame after all she had gone through.

  She began to worry about the next day, when suddenly Waco’s voice came quietly. “I’m glad Marianne’s all right.”

  “Yes, I was afraid. She’s going to have a hard time even when we get her away. She’s ashamed of what she’s done.”

  “Never easy to get over your bad deeds.”

  His words intrigued Sabrina. “You’re speaking from experience.”

  Waco didn’t answer her for a few moments, but finally he said, “We’re not on this earth here for very long, and sometimes I think it doesn’t mean anything. But then once in a while I meet someone who’s found more meaning and purpose than I ever thought about. Like Silas.” His voice grew soft as he spoke of the marshal. “I’ve thought a lot about him. He was a good man, and his life meant something.”

  “He did die well, didn’t he? I’ve admired him very much.” When Waco didn’t reply, Sabrina turned over and allowed sleep to claim her.

  “All right. Tell us how this thing works. How are we supposed to know when that train with the gold moves?” LeBeau said.

  They were all in the main room, even Sabrina and Marianne.

  Waco said, “All right. Here’s the way it will work. I’ve got a man out there, an in-between sort of fella. But I don’t know about your bunch. It’s going to take all of us. What about these women?”

  “I’ll take care of mine. You take care of yours.”

  “Who will take care of me?” Callie grinned like a cat.

  “Here’s what’ll happen,” Waco said. “I got us a man between me and Helen’s father. As soon as her father finds out she’s all right, he’ll send the information about the shipping.”

  “So he’s got to have proof that she’s alive. How will we do that?” Trey demanded.

  “All she has to do is write her dad a letter. Tell him to send the money. That she’s been treated good.”

  They were talking for some time about the plan, and finally Trey said, “How are you going to contact him? You’re stayin’ with us until we get the job done.”

  Waco leaned back and said, “Well, Trey, if I told you everything I know, you might not need me. So I’m not telling you, but I’ve got a meeting place and I’m not telling who he is, but I will tell you this. When I get the lowdown, which is what train to hit, I know the place to hit it.”

  “They’re bound to be carrying plenty of guards with a big shipment,” Al Munro said.

  “Nope. That’s one thing I found out about Richards. They don’t send out a whole lot more guards when they ship the real stuff. They figure it’d be sort of like posting a sign saying that gold and silver are on this here train.” Amused laughter ran through the room. “Sometimes they don’t even send out one guard more than usual, and that’s what’s going to happen this time.”

  No one said anything for a time. Waco was leaning back in his chair, and he dropped it with a crash and slapped the table. “Come on, Trey, look at it! No guards, lots of money, one train. Hit it, we’re gone, and that’s the last you’ll see of me. Any of you.”

  A thick silence fell over the room, and Waco knew they were greedily weighing the possibility. His eyes surveyed all their faces. “What do you think, Al?”

  “I put no trust in any man,” Munro said. “But I think Waco’s hungry enough to pull it off.” Then his voice changed slightly, and his heavy lips twisted with cruelty. “We’re going to watch you, Waco. You’re going to be in the crosshairs at all times. One thing goes wrong, you get a bullet in the brain. You got that?”

  “Sure, Al. I know that. But don’t you forget. I want to be rich more than any of the rest of you.” His tone couldn’t have been milder, but every person there recognized the seriousness in his words.

  “All right. Let’s do it then,” Rufo Aznar said. “I’m tired of penny ante stuff.”

  LeBeau said, “All right, but one thing more. I get some cash out of this girl. I’ll get word to her man to lay his hands on some cash and give it to me or I’ll send her head in a sack.”

  “That’d be hard to do two things at once,” Zeno Shaw said.

  But Trey was adamant. “I’ll send a telegram to her old man. Tell him to have the cash in Fort Smith and we’ll hand the girl over.”

  Finally LeBeau turned to Callie. “You’ve been awful quiet, Callie. What about it? You for it?”

  “It’s all right with me. I think it’ll work.”

  “When’s this message coming?” Callie asked.

  “I got a spot staked out. I’ll have to ride out and check it every day until we hear from the old man.”

  “You ain’t goin’ alone,” Trey said.

  “No, he’s not. I’ll go with him,” Callie said.

  “I don’t think I trust you either.”

  “Shut up, Trey,” Callie shot back. “You do your job, and I’ll do mine. That’s the way it’ll be.”

  “Might as well ride out today,” Waco said. “I don’t think it’ll be there, but I don’t want to risk missing it.” He nodded to Callie. “Whenever you’re ready, Callie, we’ll take a little ride.”

  “All right, Waco.”

  The two were ready at once, and as they left, Marianne came up to Sabrina and said, “I can wash your clothes if you need some help.”

  “Oh, thank you,” she said.

  As soon as they were alone, Marianne fell against the other woman, crying out, “Oh, Sabrina, I’m so glad you’re here! But what are you doing here?”

  Sabrina was holding on to Marianne and felt the tears come to her eyes. She was so glad to see her sister, and there was at least a hope of getting her away. “We’ve come to get you out of here.”

  “Who is that man that’s with you? He looks like an outlaw himself.”

  “His name is Waco Smith. He’s been made into one of the marshals, and his job is to get you out of here.”

  “Just one man?”

  “We
have another man outside there, and we’ve got a scheme. But you and I, we’re going to have to be sure that they don’t suspect that we’re sisters.”

  “I don’t see how anybody can do it, especially with that man. He looks so rough.”

  “He’s a good man, Marianne. He’s been—well, a little wild, you might say, but now he’s risking his life to get us out of here.”

  “I’ll have to lock you in, but I’ve got to go clean up. Why don’t you lie down and get some rest, and we’ll have time to talk tonight.”

  Marianne clung to Sabrina fiercely and began crying. “I’m so glad to see you, sister. I thought I was lost forever.”

  “No, we’re going to get out of this. You lie down now.”

  Marianne said, “I’m afraid. What if Waco goes away and doesn’t come back?”

  “He’ll be back,” Sabrina said briefly.

  Looking sharply at Sabrina, Marianne said, “Well, who is he? What kind of man is he? The others talked about him and Callie being sweethearts once.”

  The words cut Sabrina much deeper than she cared to admit, but she gave no answer.

  “I suppose he’s just another hired killer like everybody else around here,” Marianne said bitterly.

  “A man should learn to fight or let him put skirts about his knees,” Sabrina rasped, trying to hold her anger in check.

  Marianne had never seen her sister so passionately defend a man. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. I didn’t mean it, but I’m so scared.”

  Sabrina closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. Finally she said, “Don’t worry about Waco. He’s a hard man, and in this situation I think that’s a good thing. He will get us out of here. He will.” She stared at the two riders disappearing into the distant shimmer of the heat on the horizon. “I don’t know what he’ll do after that, but I know he’ll never quit until he does what he sets out to do.” They continued washing, and all Sabrina could think of was the long ride that Callie and Waco would take and what that ride would entail.

  Waco said little as he and Callie rode steadily east, but her presence had a powerful influence on him. From time to time he turned slightly, and vivid memories came trooping through his mind.