The Gallows Gang (9 page)

Shackleton hit the ground and rolled, letting the slug whine over his tumbling form, then he
scrambled
into hiding behind the only available cover, a mound.

Kurt followed him behind the mound, diving full length as a volley of gunshots whistled overhead.

‘Well,’ he said, shuffling round to lie beside him, ‘it appears we found ’em.’

Shackleton risked looking up to see that their assailants had also gone to ground in a hollow twenty yards away.

‘Some of ’em,’ he said. ‘There’s just two men out there and neither of them is Javier Rodriguez.’

‘But we’re picking them off now.’ Kurt drew his gun and crawled closer to the top of the mound. He lay quietly for several seconds, then took a deep breath and turned to Shackleton. ‘So before we do this, I just want to say, you and Elwood have done well this last week.’

‘We spent a whole week failing to find Javier,’ Shackleton said.

‘I know, but you learn a lot about a man when you ride with him for a week and I reckon you both did everything you possibly could do to get him.’ Kurt sighed. ‘If we could start again back at Beaver Ridge jail, I reckon I’d listen to what you had to say.’

Shackleton reckoned that was the nearest he would get to an apology for having ignored his recommendations. He might have made a
magnanimous
comment of his own, but the memory of Barney’s death was still too recent.

‘Let’s not get all misty-eyed,’ he said. ‘We’ve got two outlaws to take.’

Kurt nodded. Then, after a brief exchange of views on tactics they split up. Shackleton rolled away from the hollow to lie flat while Kurt went the other way and, doubled over, made his way towards the hollow where the outlaws had gone to ground.

He’d covered half the distance when one of them risked looking up with his gun aimed squarely at the mound, but then he found that his targets had moved. He started to swing the gun to the side, but Shackleton’s low shot winged along just inches off the ground and sliced through his hat.

The man flopped to lie flat and when Kurt put a second bullet in him the body merely twitched,
lifelessly
.

‘You over there,’ Kurt shouted, gesturing at Shackleton to be ready. ‘We only want Javier Rodriguez. Tell us where he is and you can go free.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ a voice shouted from the hollow.

‘What you got to lose?’

‘All right. Javier Rodriguez ain’t here. He’s got some big plan. Something important to him.’

‘Not good enough. You get to die.’

Then Kurt threw himself to the side to move away from the last place he’d spoken. Sure enough the man bobbed up, but his gun homed in on Shackleton.

Staring straight down the barrel of a gun over twenty yards Shackleton fired but the man was still moving and his shot buried itself in the dirt two feet away from his target.

Shackleton winced, but then another shot rang out and to his relief Shackleton saw Kurt’s deadly slug to the chest make the man roll away. Then Kurt was on his feet and running for his assailant, shooting on the run. This time Shackleton didn’t complain when he didn’t try to take the man prisoner.

‘Obliged,’ he said when he joined Kurt. ‘You saved my life there.’

‘We saved each other’s lives,’ Kurt said, standing over the dead bodies. ‘But even if we’ve got another two, we’re down to the last few hours to save our careers.’

‘You don’t think two more bodies will satisfy Mayor Maxwell?’

‘Nope.’

‘Then you got any idea what Javier’s last big plan could be?’

Kurt shook his head. ‘Nope to that too. We have no hope.’

‘We have.’ Shackleton remembered something his father had once said to him. ‘Those who plot evil go astray. Those who plan what is good find success.’

Kurt narrowed his eyes. ‘That some sort of biblical quotation?’

‘I reckon so.’

Kurt sighed. ‘And just when we were starting to get on so well.’

The shadows were getting longer, shrouding the gallows in gloom.

Nathaniel tried to avoid looking at them but with nothing else to occupy his mind he frequently found himself jumping up to look through the small grille at the platform they’d obligingly built outside the jailhouse.

If nobody responded to his message in the next hour, his would be the only neck anyone would see stretched. Every time Deputy Albright had checked on him he’d urged him to get his message out and had even shouted through the grille at passers-by, but nobody had showed.

He was embarking on another round of pacing his cell when he heard approaching footfalls. He threw himself to the bars and pressed his face between them.

‘You’ve got to get word to Shackleton,’ he demanded. ‘It’s not just my life that depends on it.’

‘He did,’ Shackleton said, pacing into view.

Nathaniel looked skyward, relief overcoming him for a moment.

‘You came,’ he said when he felt composed enough to talk.

‘Don’t get too excited. We didn’t exactly have much of a choice.’

‘No luck finding Javier, then?’

‘Nope. We followed every trail we could find, but none of them led to Javier or even your friend The Preacher. So in the end we had to admit defeat. Kurt’s getting a few drinks inside him before he hands in his star, and I might join him before I tell Governor Bradbury want I think of him.’

‘It doesn’t have to end that way.’

‘Governor Stuart’s train is due in five minutes. If we couldn’t find Javier in a week, there ain’t much hope we can do in that time.’

‘But there is time. I wasn’t lying. I know where Javier is.’

‘So you reckon Javier is in town?’ Shackleton mused.

‘No guessing. Do we have a deal?’

Shackleton snorted. ‘I figured there’d be a deal, so Elwood is buying his old friend Deputy Albright a drink and generally distracting him. Spell it out.’

‘It’s like this: I can’t trust this to others. Turner Jackson is the only man who knows the truth and can save me from the gallows. I have to find him and make him talk. Let me out of here and I’ll lead you to him, and to Javier.’

‘And if we fail?’

‘That won’t happen, but if I’m wrong….’ Nathaniel sighed. ‘I won’t lie to you. I will try to run, but I won’t harm nobody.’

Shackleton raised a key and dangled it on an outstretched finger.

‘If you’d said you’d give yourself in, I’d have walked away, but I’ll trust you enough to accept that. So now trust me and I’ll put this key in the lock. Where is Javier?’

Nathaniel considered for a moment then leaned forward.

‘It’s not a where, but a who.’

‘This is all very interesting,’ Governor Stuart said, his voice muffled by the kerchief he held over his mouth as he considered Mitch Cartwright’s body, ‘but I came to see an execution, not bodies.’

Mayor Maxwell wafted away a fly and forced himself to move down the line.

‘I thought it important you saw the whole Gallows Gang. So you knew all about the good work we’ve been doing.’

Two of the governor’s aides had already passed up the opportunity for this examination of the men they’d brought to justice and the third had merely passed out. The governor was built of sterner stuff, something Mayor Maxwell had counted on when he’d set out to buy himself a few more minutes’ leeway before delivering the bad news.

Stuart harrumphed, but he moved on to consider the next bloated corpse, the passage of a week
ensuring
that even Casey Dawson’s family wouldn’t
recognize
him.

‘This is good work.’ He looked at the next body, which, as it had come from the battle in Devil’s Canyon was in an even worse state. ‘But now that I’ve seen them, get these men buried and stop them stinking up the town.’

‘We’ll do that, Governor.’

‘And show me to Javier Rodriguez.’ The governor turned to the door and marched purposefully outside.

‘Ah,’ Mayor Maxwell said. ‘I thought that first I could interest you in something to eat and drink with my only daughter.’

‘No more delays, Maxwell.’

Mayor Maxwell let his shoulders slump. ‘That’s a pity. My daughter was looking forward to spending a few minutes with you, especially after she suffered such a traumatic experience recently….’

Stuart’s glare said he knew Mayor Maxwell was applying emotional blackmail as well as wasting his time, but the consummate politician nodded.

‘I’d be delighted to meet your daughter.’ Stuart waited until Mayor Maxwell smiled. ‘But this is the last delay.’

‘Of course,’ Mayor Maxwell said, looking around. ‘Now where is Narcissa? She should be back by now.’

‘You!’ Narcissa Maxwell exclaimed.

Javier Rodriguez stepped out from the confines of the mercantile.

‘I said I’d come.’

‘But Father’s got men looking out for you, lots of them.’

‘That doesn’t concern me. I have enough money to leave for Mexico.’

‘I never thought you were serious about that,’ she said, putting a hand to her heart.

‘Of course I was. It’s far enough away for a new life, for all of us.’ Javier gestured at Turner and Aaron as they emerged from their hiding-places around the store. The sight made Narcissa gulp.

‘With these men?’

‘They’re not as unfriendly as they look. We all just want a second chance, don’t we?’

Aaron provided a supportive grunt, but Turner didn’t.

‘We came back here for a woman?’ he muttered.

‘Yeah.’

‘But you said back in the trading post that we didn’t take women with us, unlike Pablo.’

The mention of Pablo made Javier snort and advance on Turner.

‘Don’t ever question my orders again.’

‘I’m not,’ Turner murmured, backing away a pace. ‘You said you’d brought us here for something even more important than the bank.’

‘Quit talking about the bank! This is more
important
and you’ve made a big mistake, Turner. You showed your hand too early. You won’t take over from me.’

‘I never wanted to do that and besides, look at us, there’s nothing to take over.’

Javier dismissed that matter with a wave of the hand.

‘Don’t think I don’t know what you did to Mitch.’

Turner gulped. ‘I didn’t kill him, and I don’t want to take over.’

Javier considered Turner’s darting eyes, then nodded.

‘You don’t. That’s not the way you operate. On your own you’re nothing, but you wheedle and plot against others until you get what you want, but no more.’ Javier pointed at him. ‘I know who you are, Turner Jackson. I’m watching you. The moment you stop being useful to me, I’ll kill you, understand?’

‘Yeah,’ Turner murmured, lowering his head.

Javier glared at him for a moment longer then turned and converted his harsh expression to a soft smile as he faced Narcissa.

‘So are you coming with me?’ he asked.

‘Of course,’ she said.

She moved towards the door, but Javier thrust out a hand to grab her arm and squeezed.

‘Tell me what I want to hear first.’

‘You’re hurting me.’

‘I’d never do that. Just say it.’

She firmed her jaw to avoid showing she was in pain, then nodded.

‘Pablo meant nothing to me.’

‘You’d have never left with him, would you?’

‘He never asked.’ She squealed when Javier
tightened
his grip. ‘But if he had, I wouldn’t have left town for him, only you.’

‘And you didn’t play us off against each other?’

Narcissa fluttered her eyelashes, making Javier
smile. He released his hand, letting her come up to him and throw her hands around his neck.

‘It was only ever you,’ she said. ‘Pablo never had the guts to do any of the things you’ve done. Only you could impress me.’

‘They’re inside,’ Elwood said when he’d hurried back into hiding behind the cluster of barrels facing the mercantile. ‘They’ll come out any moment now.’

Kurt raised his eyebrows, surprised that Nathaniel’s information had proved to be correct. Nathaniel limited himself to sighing with relief, but Shackleton felt a need to say something.

‘I have to say,’ he said, looking at Kurt, ‘I really am obliged to you for saving my life earlier, and I reckon you did well this last week, too.’

‘Glad we got ourselves an understanding,’ Kurt said, ‘eventually.’

‘We have. You’re a better lawman than I gave you credit for. You worked out that what happened to Narcissa wasn’t what it seemed. If I had listened to you, we’d have probably found Javier a whole lot faster.’

Kurt shrugged. ‘And if I had listened to you, Javier would probably never have got away in the first place. But, like you said to me earlier, this ain’t the time to get all misty-eyed.’

Shackleton snorted in agreement. Then they settled down to wait.

Presently a man sidled out of the mercantile. Nathaniel murmured that he was Aaron, one of the
escaped prisoners.

Aaron paced out into the road while glancing around and taking in the lack of people. Everyone in town who was out had congregated around the gallows either to witness the grisly event or to see Governor Stuart.

‘You can come out,’ he shouted inside, and Javier emerged with a smiling Narcissa on his arm.

‘You were right,’ Shackleton whispered to Nathaniel. ‘She don’t look like she’s being kidnapped.’

‘Although she’ll claim that’s what did happen later,’ Nathaniel whispered, ‘when she finds out that consorting with outlaws ain’t as exciting as she thought it’d be.’

Shackleton nodded, then glanced at Kurt and Elwood to co-ordinate their attack. Nathaniel started to say that Turner was unaccounted for, but by then the others had slapped their guns down on the top of the barrels.

Their motion alerted Javier and he pushed Narcissa away with one hand while throwing his other hand to his gun. He crouched and fired, but even his lightning speed wasn’t fast enough to draw and aim accurately and his twin slugs clattered uselessly into the barrels.

The three armed men he faced fired only two shots each in response but they all found a target. Three bullets tore into Javier’s body, making him spin away. The other slugs sent Aaron flying
backwards
through the window.

The gunfire was still reverberating when Nathaniel leapt to his feet and ran for the mercantile. Shackleton was close on his heels while Kurt headed for Javier and Elwood ran for Narcissa, who decided that this rapid turn of events provided her with the appropriate opportunity to faint.

Nathaniel leapt on to the boardwalk and moved for the door, but then flinched back when a slug tore splinters from the doorjamb. He turned at the hip, making his instinctive movement before he
remembered
he was unarmed. He saw the wounded Javier in the road looking at him, his shaking arm trying to steady his gun hand, but before Nathaniel could dive away Kurt leapt on Javier and pinned him to the ground.

Then Nathaniel ran through the door with his head down.

Aaron was still moving below the window, his gun hand rising, but Shackleton followed Nathaniel inside and blasted lead into him, making him twitch then flop.

‘Obliged,’ Nathaniel said, seeing the back door swinging open.

He ran for the door as Shackleton and Elwood shouted to each other confirming that the situation outside was under control. This time he was more cautious and darted his head out of the door, then drew it back in. His glance took in the form of a man running away – Turner Jackson.

Nathaniel pressed himself to the doorjamb, preparing himself to leap out and chase the fleeing
man, but then cold metal thrust into his neck. He turned to see that Shackleton had his gun on him.

‘I ain’t saying you were about to run,’ he said, ‘but I am saying you won’t.’

‘I wasn’t. Turner’s out there.’

Shackleton winced, then raised his gun, letting Nathaniel swing outside. But the delay in moving out had been too long.

Turner had gone.

‘I have had enough of these delays,’ Governor Stuart said. ‘Show me Javier Rodriguez now or I will leave and never return.’

Mayor Maxwell mopped his brow while staring down the road.

‘Yes, but—’

‘And don’t say you’re worried about that gunfire. I don’t care about it. The only thing I care about is seeing Javier Rodriguez getting justice.’

Mayor Maxwell nodded, accepting that his career was about to end while consoling himself with the thought that his wouldn’t be the only one. But a residual element of interest in the welfare of his town made him look down the road, wondering what
trouble
was going on.

‘I have to admit,’ he murmured as the men he’d sent to investigate emerged from the corner beyond the mercantile. ‘There’s been a problem.’

‘Then sort it out, man. I didn’t come here for no lawyers to waste my time by delaying Javier’s
execution
.’

‘It’s not lawyers, so it’ll be a short delay, I’m sure, but a delay in delivering justice to Javier Rodriguez is inevitable.’

‘Why?’

To avoid looking at the glaring governor, Mayor Maxwell looked at the advancing phalanx of men.

Marshal Kurt McLynn was amongst them, as was Shackleton Frost. They were escorting someone, but with so many people around him, Maxwell couldn’t see who. Whoever it was was badly wounded and had to be held up by two men….

Then he saw who it was.

‘Because,’ he said, licking his lips, ‘you have to congratulate the men who brought him to justice first, the two men I rank above any others I know.’