“Maybe for me, too. Oh, be careful!”
As the band rode off, Callie rode up to ride beside Waco. “We’re going to get that gold,” she said quietly so that it could not be heard over the sound of the horses’ hooves hitting the hard ground. “I mean we’ll get all of it.”
“Your plan could get us both killed.”
“No. We’ll get that gold. We’ll leave, and we’ll find a place where we can spend the rest of our lives doing whatever we want. We’ll have a new life.” She suddenly looked very young, and there was something like joy in her face that Waco had never seen. “I can change, Waco.”
“I guess you can. I guess any of us can.”
“I’m tired of being what I’ve been all my life, a bad woman.” She laughed and said, “Wouldn’t it be something if we got married and had a house full of kids? Can you see me changing diapers?”
“Can you see me doing that?” He grinned and said, “Both of us need a change, but we’ll have to be careful. If LeBeau even suspects either one of us, he’ll kill us in cold blood. Stick close after we get the gold.”
“We don’t have much of a plan.”
“Impossible to plan for a thing like this.” Waco felt a sharp pang as he realized that he was being as deceitful to this woman as a woman had once been to him. He knew he did not love Callie, never had really, but when he saw the joy in her eyes, he felt like a traitor. He said no more. The troop headed steadily toward the site of the holdup.
CHAPTER 22
The room was crowded, but Heck Thomas, the chief marshal, wanted to see all of the men he had chosen at one time. He looked over the room and saw that at least four regular marshals were there plus six more that he had recruited. These were men who he knew were tough and could shoot and would not hesitate in a fight to take Trey LeBeau and his bunch down.
Thomas started to speak, and then his eyes fell on Charles Warren and Frank Morgan. They stood out blatantly against the other members of the posse. Both were wearing suits and looked like what they were, businessmen ready to go to work in an office but hardly fitted to go up against hardened, cold-blooded outlaws who would kill them without a second thought.
Shaking his shoulders in a gesture of dismissal, Heck spoke up in his husky voice. “All right, you men, we’ve been over this war plan, I like to call it, several times. Let me repeat. There will be no passengers on this train. This a special train designed to do one thing—-to wipe out LeBeau and his band once and for all. Now I put most of the men in the car next to the mail car where the gold and silver is usually hauled. Nothing in there now, of course, except two of you who will be ready in case LeBeau does get the door open. They think only one man will be waiting for them, but I think they’re going to come with all guns blazing. That’s the way they always do, and they’re convinced that they’ve got the inside track on the biggest train robbery since there were trains. All right. Any questions?”
For a moment there was silence; then one of Isaac Parker’s marshals, Ted Summers, said, “You want us to try and keep ’em alive, Heck?”
“No. Put them down any way you can. If they live, they’ll be hanged. If they get shot in the heart, that’ll just save the judge an extra trial. All right. If there are no more questions, we’ll meet at the train. I’ve already assigned you your places. When the train slows down, that’ll be when they’ll send a man to go up and stop the engineer. The train will stop, and that’s when they’ll come in. All right. Let’s get at it.”
The men started to leave, but Heck said, “Mr. Warren, you and Mr. Morgan, just a word.”
Charles Warren and Frank turned and faced Heck. “What is it, Mr. Thomas?”
“Just Heck will do. I’m gonna tell you one more time. This ain’t a good idea.”
“Don’t try to talk us out of it, Marshal. We’re going. Those are our folks that LeBeau is holding. We’re going to get them back.” Frank’s face was paler than usual, but his jaw was set. He glared at Heck Thomas, daring him to reply.
“Well, I can see your mind is set on this, Mr. Warren, and you, too, sir, but let me bring this up. How would you feel if I came into your business office and tried to take over your duties there? You wouldn’t permit it for a minute.”
“Not the same thing,” Charles Warren said abruptly. “This is a matter of family, and you know it.”
“Can you shoot?”
“I can shoot this.” Warren reached over to the wall and picked up a double-barreled shotgun. “I’ve got plenty of extra shells. If they get within range, I can blast their heads off.”
Despite himself, Heck smiled. “That’ll do the job, I guess. What about you, Mr. Morgan?”
“I spend my winters hunting ducks. Not the same as hunting men, I know that’s what you’re going to say. But I’ve been in several shooting matches. I’ve got this rifle. I don’t think I can hit anything with a handgun, but with this rifle I won’t miss.”
Heck paused and tried to summon another argument, but one look at their stern faces and the determined light in both their eyes and he finally shrugged and said, “Well, some of our men are liable to get shot, and you may be the ones.”
“We’re going to get our womenfolk, Heck,” Charles Warren said grimly. “Whatever it takes.”
“All right. When the shootin’ starts, just be sure you shoot one of them and not one of us.”
The mounted party arrived at the cabin where the women were to be kept. It was set back in deep woods, and the path had almost grown over. “This house hasn’t been used in a long time,” Waco said. “Nobody ever comes here.”
“I still don’t like it,” Breed Marcos said. “They could get loose.”
“No, they can’t,” Waco spoke up at once. He stepped off his horse and saw that LeBeau had done the same and the outlaw was eyeing him with a hard look.
“Why’d we bring all these extra horses?” Rufo Aznar said. He required a big horse himself since he was over six two and weighed well over two hundred and thirty pounds.
“We want fresh ones,” LeBeau said, not taking his eyes off Waco. “When this is over, they’ll be sending a posse after us. We’ve got to outrun everything.”
Waco said, “That’s good thinking.”
Le Beau said, “Well, let’s see the inside of this place.” The men all dismounted, and Waco stepped up to the door. It was a solid door made of two-inch-thick oak. “They’re never gonna break this down,” he said. He shoved the door open, and they stepped inside. LeBeau saw that there were only two windows, and a large fireplace dominated one side. The furniture was simply a battered old table, a few chairs, and what was left of a bed.
“This won’t do, Waco,” LeBeau said. “All they have to do is shove the door open. It locks from the inside.”
“We’re going to nail it shut on the outside. I already thought of that,” Waco said. As a matter of fact, he had not, but he could not show a moment’s hesitation. The men were walking around, and Zeno Shaw said, “They must have been expecting Indians or something. This place is like a jail.”
“That’s right. They can’t get out of here. That’s why I thought of this place. We can fasten them in, come back after the job’s over, and turn ’em loose.”
Waco walked over and pulled Sabrina off her horse. “Come on, sweetheart,” he said.
Marianne slid off her own horse, and the two walked inside.
Waco said, “Don’t be tryin’ to bust out of here. If you do, it’ll be bad for you.”
“We won’t do anything,” Sabrina said, staring at the rough outlaws.
“No, you won’t,” LeBeau grinned. “I’m leaving a guard here.”
“You can’t do that,” Munro protested. “We need all the firepower we got.”
“No, Callie will watch these women.”
Callie said, “No, I won’t do it.”
“Do it or I’ll shoot you in the leg,” LeBeau snapped. “Somebody has to watch these two, and you’re the right one.”
Waco said, “That
’s a good idea, Trey.” He was facing Callie and winked at her. She caught his meaning and nodded, saying, “All right, I’ll do it.”
Waco said, “Let’s get out of here. We don’t have all that much time.”
They started out, and Waco saw to it that he was last. He said, “Oh, I forgot something.” He turned and came to stand before the two women. “You two women don’t try anything funny. You’ll be all right if you do what we say.”
Sabrina was watching his eyes, and he winked at her, his back to LeBeau. “If you try anything funny, you could get killed, both of you.”
“We won’t do anything,” Sabrina said quietly.
Waco turned and walked outside.
“We’ll leave the horses here in that corral right there, tied out back here,” LeBeau said.
It took a few minutes to get the extra horses tied out so they could get to water in a trough, and then they all mounted up. “Let’s do it,” LeBeau said. He turned to Waco and said, “This better work, Waco, or you’ll pay for it.”
“It’ll work.” Waco nodded and said, “Go this way.” He led the band to the place that he had selected. He pulled up and said, “There. You see that steep curve. Every train that goes through here has to slow down to no more than ten miles an hour.”
“Why’d they make it curve like that?” Breed Marcos asked.
“Because they couldn’t run it through that big rock formation over there, so they just laid the tracks around it. It slows the train up, and then they have to get up speed again.”
“Where are we going to hide out where they can’t see us?” LeBeau demanded.
“Right over there in that patch of trees. By the time the train slows down, it won’t be going over more than fifteen or twenty miles an hour. So all you have to do is put one man on that train; he goes up and puts a gun on the engineer and makes him stop the train. As soon as the train stops, go for that gold, LeBeau.”
“Well, you’re always wantin’ to show off, Waco.” LeBeau smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. “It’ll be your job to stop the train.”
“I can probably do that better than anybody I see here,” Waco said, holding LeBeau’s glance.
“All right. Let’s get the horses hidden.”
“I’ll stay here, and the rest of you get on down about a hundred yards. It’ll take that long for the train to stop. You can hide out behind those oak trees.”
“If anything goes wrong, I’ll put a bullet in you, Waco.”
“Nothing will go wrong.” Waco stepped off his horse, tied it up, and said, “All we have to do is wait.”
LeBeau stared at him for a moment then said, “All right. Let’s get on down there and get ourselves ready. How long will it be?”
“It’ll be another hour,” Waco said, “but we’ll need to stay under cover.”
“Don’t tell me how to run my business,” LeBeau said.
LeBeau led the troop up to the clump of oaks that offered shelter. “Get those horses tied down. When we rush the train we won’t need them,” LeBeau said.
Breed spoke up. “According to what that letter you got said, there’d only be one man on there, but he’s expecting us to give the girl to him.”
LeBeau grinned. “Let him wait. He can expect anything he wants, but if he argues, we’ll give him a bullet in the head.”
“Better not do that,” Al Munro said. “According to the letter, he can give the word to get us in to where that gold is.”
“We won’t kill him, but we’ll hold a gun to his head and make him think so,” Trey said. “Now everybody knows what to do. Scatter out here.”
The others moved to both sides from where LeBeau was standing, all except Al Munro. The two men were silent. LeBeau said nothing for so long that his lieutenant said, “What’s on your mind? I know you’re thinkin’ about somethin’.”
LeBeau turned and grinned at Munro. “I tell you what, Al. It grates me to have to split all this money with Waco.”
For a moment Munro looked startled, and then he grinned. “I don’t reckon we have to do that, do we, boss?”
“One of us will take care of it. Once we get the money, take him out.”
“What about those women?”
“I guess we can let ’em out of that house and let ’em walk wherever they’re goin’.”
“Well, they can identify us. Maybe we ought not to give them that chance.”
That Al Munro was suggesting that the women be killed to keep from testifying did not seem to shock LeBeau. “Might come to that. Let me think on it. Now let’s wait it out here.”
Waco had been waiting impatiently, and finally he heard a faint whistle. He got on his horse and said, “Okay boy, get me on board that train, and then you can do as you please.” He checked the loads in his guns and pulled his horse out almost to the clear.
Five minutes later he saw the train appear, puffing black smoke, the drivers churning. It began to slow down as it always did, and as it made the curve, the speed lessened even more.
When it came out at its slowest speed, Waco kicked his mount in the side and said, “Get ’em, boy!” The horse shot out like a racehorse opening a race and soon was galloping beside the engine. Waco looked up and grabbed the handles that led beside the stairway. When he got on he saw that the engineer was a tall, lanky man wearing a marshal’s badge.
“You must be Waco Smith. I’m Marshal Fred Gierson. He grinned and said, “I used to railroad before I became a lawman. How’s it lookin’?”
“Pull it down to a stop, Fred, right now.”
Instantly Gierson threw the brakes on, and the screeching of the brake’s steel began to sound like a banshee.
“The men all in place?”
“In every car. Mr. Warren and his employee Morgan, they’re there, too.”
Waco climbed over the coal tinder and entered the first car behind. The first man he met was Heck Thomas, who suddenly grinned and shouted over the noisy engine. “Well, I thought you might be joinin’ us. Are they waitin’?”
“They’ll jump us as soon we’re up by those trees.”
“I got men in every car. As soon as they come out, we’ll catch ’em in a crossfire. What do you want to do?”
“I’ll wait until the train stops. I’ll drop out on the other side. I’m gonna run down to that express car. That’s where LeBeau will be. I’ll try to nail him. Promise me you’ll take care of him. By the way, there’s a house about three miles northeast by a big cut, an old stone house. Anybody can tell you where it is. The Warren girls are there. You get ’em out if something happens to me.”
“Sure, Waco. We’ll take care of it. You watch yourself. That LeBeau is a wolf.” Pulling his gun, he looked out.
Waco leaped out on the other side. He had not gone ten steps before he heard shots ring out. Something’s gone wrong. They were supposed to go to the man inside. I think somebody’s trigger happy.
The train ground to a complete jolting stop, and Waco crawled beneath it. Before coming out, he saw that the band, all of the men, were shooting at the car, and fire was being returned.
He looked quickly to find LeBeau and saw him stooping down. He fired a shot but didn’t have much of a target.
He could tell that the windows were open and Heck’s men were throwing a blistering fire on the outlaws. They were completely unprepared for it, and even as he watched, Zeno Shaw was knocked backward, his face a bloody mess. The next to go down was Breed Marcos. The half-Apache was firing rapidly, but a bullet took him and knocked him backward. He tried to lift his gun, but two more slugs struck him. That left Aznar and Al Munro, as well as LeBeau.
Al Munro said, “Let’s get out of here. It’s a trap.”
Munro and Aznar started to run but were cut down by the withering fire. He could hear the boom of a shotgun and couldn’t imagine who would be firing it.
Scrambling out from under the car, Waco met Heck, who was reloading his pistol. “I think we got ’em all.”
“All except th
e one we wanted.”
Heck looked startled. “You didn’t see LeBeau?”
“No. I got a feeling he might have stayed back and let the other men take the risk. The rest of them are dead or wounded.”
The men were piling out of the cars, checking the bodies and putting cuffs on the two who were alive and able to stand up.
Suddenly Waco said, “LeBeau’s gone to get those women.”
Heck shot him a startled glance. “We’d better get there.”
Waco said, “I’ll take care of it.” He ran back to where his horse was standing with the reins dragging. He moved quickly to the saddle and said, “Let’s go, boy. Let’s have a fast trip.” The big horse strode out with a sudden lurch that nearly threw Waco off, but he leaned forward, and although the fight had caused him no fear, he knew what that was now.
The thought passed through his mind. LeBeau will kill ‘em just to get his revenge. He leaned forward and urged the big stallion to a full driving run and prayed, “God, let me get there in time!”
Heck Thomas walked the length of the train, stopping to look down at several bodies. He stopped when he saw Charles Warren holding the 12-gauge shotgun and staring down at the body of one of the outlaws. Warren’s face was pale, and he turned to ask, “What’s his name, Marshal?”
“Breed Marcos,” Heck said. “He was a real bad one. Four murders that we know of.”
“I think I killed him.”
Heck shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because those are bullet holes in his chest, not wounds from that shotgun.” He saw that Frank Morgan was standing off to one side, a bitter expression on his face. “He’s taking it hard, I reckon. When I was a soldier with Lee, I noticed that most of us felt pretty bad after we killed our first Yankee. Almost made me sick! But as time went on, we learned to live with it.” He hesitated then added, “You didn’t kill this man.”
The Western Justice Trilogy Page 47