Turnback Creek (Widowmaker) Page 16

  “I guess this is the big storm Molly said was coming,” Locke said. “If you knew about this basin, why did you ever come this way?”

  “It’s the shortest way over the mountain,” Cooper said. “How was I to know I’d get stuck right at the bottom of it?”

  “Fate,” Locke said.

  “What?”

  “It was fate that you got stuck there, so I could catch up to you.”

  “It was a bad break, that’s all,” Cooper said. “After we’re finished with these men, we still have our own business to finish. I’m still takin’ this gold, John. I deserve it.”

  “The miners have worked for it, not you, Coop.”

  “Bullshit!” Cooper said. “I worked real hard for it, believe me. And I’m still gonna work harder, thanks to this plan of yours.”

  “At least we know no one will get to the gold for a while,” Locke said. “How fast did you say the basin drains once the rain stops?”

  “I don’t know,” Cooper said. “I just heard stories. I never expected to have to time it.”

  Locke was starting to wonder if the rain would ever stop.

  The rain stopped at night, so even without the driving downpour, they couldn’t see anything.

  “What if they’re sneakin’ up on us in the dark?” Cooper asked.

  “They’re not moving, Coop,” Locke said. “They couldn’t see through the rain, and now they can’t see in the dark. There are still clouds, and they’re blocking the moon. Don’t worry, when the sun comes up, we’ll be here, and they’ll be all the way on the other side. It will take them hours to work their way around.”

  “And what will we be doing in the meantime?”

  “Getting ready for them.”

  When morning broke, the seven men got to their feet and looked down at the basin. It was more than half filled with water.

  “I thought you said it drained quick,” Hoke said to Rome accusingly. He pointed his finger. “It stopped raining halfway through the night, and there’s still a ton of water down there.”

  “I don’t know,” Rome said with a shrug. “That’s just what I heard.”

  “Where’s the buckboard?” Turpin asked.

  “It’s underwater,” Eli said. “They’re all underwater.”

  “I don’t think so,” Bailey said.

  They all looked at him.

  “What are you talkin’ about?” Hoke asked.

  Bailey pointed, and they all looked. They saw across the basin from them the buckboard, with two men standing next to it.

  “What the hell?” Rome said.

  “They got out?” Hoke said.

  “Looks like,” Rome said.

  “But why didn’t they just leave?”

  “In that downpour?” Rome asked. “They couldn’t see any better than we could.”

  “Well, they can see now.” Hoke’s tone was still accusatory as he glared at Rome.

  “And so can we,” Rome said.

  “Hey,” Sharp said. “What are they doin’?”

  They all turned their eyes to the two men across the basin again.

  “They’re holdin’ somethin’ up in their hands,” Hoke said.

  “Somethin’ shiny,” Turpin said, squinting his eyes.

  “Whadda they got that’s shiny?” Eli asked.

  The seven stared at the two, who were both holding something over their heads that reflected the sun.

  “Gold,” Rome said.

  “What?” Hoke asked.

  “They’re holding gold over their heads,” Rome said.

  “The bastards have our gold!” Turpin said.

  He raised his rifle to fire. Rome shouted, “No!” but Turpin pulled the trigger, then levered another round into the chambers and fired again. Four other men started firing, and then Rome saw Hoke firing angrily as well and figured … what the hell.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Locke and Cooper scampered for cover as bullets began to whiz past them, striking the back of the buckboard.

  “We’ve got to move the horses before they get hit,” Locke shouted.

  They both ran to the head of the team and quickly walked them away from the edge and down out of sight.

  “I guess they saw the gold,” Cooper said.

  “Yeah,” Locke said, dropping the two handfuls of gold coins he had been holding into one of the empty crates. “Luckily, they don’t know that we only have two handfuls each.”

  “What do you think they’d do if they knew the rest of it was underwater?” Cooper asked.

  “They’d probably dive in after it,” Locke said. “But nobody’s got any hope of getting to those coins until that basin drains.”

  “And who knows when that’ll be?” Cooper asked.

  “I thought you did,” Locke said, “but I was wrong.”

  “I told you,” Cooper responded, “I only know what I heard.”

  “Well, I guess we’re going to find out for sure.”

  Across the basin, all the men except Hoke Benson and Eddie Rome were panicking.

  “They got our gold,” Eli cried.

  “They used the cover of the rain, and the night, to get it out of the basin,” Hoke said. “They must have hitched that stray horse to the buckboard.”

  “That means they’ve got a mismatched team,” Rome said. “Horses in teams work together, and they don’t like it when strange horses are next to them. They’ll have some trouble for a while. That’ll slow them down.”

  “We have to work our way around to the other side and pick up their trail,” Hoke said.

  “Why don’t we go across?” Turpin asked.

  “The water level is too deep, so shut up, Roy.”

  “I thought you said it drains fast,” Eli said.

  “Not that fast,” Rome replied. “We can’t afford to wait. They’ll get too far ahead of us.”

  “Let’s go,” Hoke said. “We can push the horses, because they’ve had a long rest, thanks to the rain.”

  “When do we get to eat?” Bailey asked.

  “When we get the gold,” Hoke said, “we’ll eat.”

  He and Rome mounted up, and the rest followed. Eli reached into his saddlebags and brought out a hunk of beef jerky.

  “Here, Bob,” he said. “Chew on that.”

  “Thanks.”

  Some of the others reached out and grabbed some jerky as well, chewing on it as they followed their two leaders.

  Locke and Cooper were on their bellies, peering across the basin while trying to avoid being seen themselves.

  “I think they rode off,” Cooper said.

  “Let’s give it some time,” Locke said. “It’ll take them hours to work their way around.”

  Cooper looked at Locke. “If the basin doesn’t drain quickly, what do we do? If we wait here, we’ll have to face the seven of them when they reach us.”

  “Well,” Locke said, “one of us could take the buckboard and lead them away.”

  “While the other one stays here with the gold?” Cooper asked. “I’m for that. I’ll stay with the gold.”

  “I don’t think so, Coop.”

  “Even if I could get down there to it, how would I get away with it?” Cooper asked.

  “I wouldn’t put it past you to have another accomplice trailing us,” Locke said. “No, I’ll stay with the gold, and you lead them away.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “I don’t have an accomplice trailing us,” Locke said, “if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I’m not letting that gold out of my sight.”

  “Well, it’s out of your sight now, Coop,” Locke pointed out. “It’s underwater.”

  “It’ll be there when the water drains.”

  “Maybe.”

  Looking alarmed, Cooper asked, “What does that mean?”

  “Well … when it was in the wooden chests, it was pretty heavy, but I don’t know if each individual coin will be able to resist the current, depending on just how quickly the water does
drain.”

  Cooper turned to face Locke. “Why didn’t you bring that up before?”

  “This was the only plan I had,” Locke said. “So far, it looks like it’s worked pretty well.”

  “So far?” Cooper asked. “You wouldn’t really care if the coins drained out with the water, would you? Just so long as I don’t end up with the gold.”

  “We’ll just have to wait for the basin to drain out to find out for sure, won’t we?”

  “And manage to fight off seven gunmen with gold fever.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Locke said. “That, too.”

  FIFTY-FIVE

  They were still faced with the prospect of the seven men working their way around the basin before the basin could drain, giving them the chance to recover the gold. If the gold coins drained away with the water, Locke would have to explain it to Molly. But Cooper was right about one thing. Locke would have preferred that the gold be lost so that Cooper wouldn’t get it. That would be small consolation to Molly and to the miners waiting to get paid.

  “Okay,” Locke said after an hour of watching the basin. “I have another idea.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “We both get on the buckboard and get out of here,” he said. “We lead them away from here and then double back.”

  “What if there’s nowhere on the trail to double back?”

  “We’ll have to take that chance,” Locke said. “We can’t let them find us here with empty crates, waiting for the water to drain.”

  Cooper cast a forlorn look at the water. “What if it drains and someone comes along and finds all that gold?” he complained.

  “No one’s going to find it, Coop,” Locke said. “There’s nobody just riding around up here. Anyone up here is already looking for the gold.”

  “What if there are other men?”

  “Coop, we’ve got to do something. We can’t just sit here and wait for them.”

  Cooper suddenly brightened. “Maybe we’ll find someplace along the way we can ambush them.”

  “I’m not shooting anybody in the back, Coop,” Locke said. “Not even them.”

  “I didn’t say anything about shootin’ anybody in the back, did I?” Cooper demanded. “We get the drop on them, we can take their weapons and their horses. Leave them on foot.”

  “Let’s get moving, then,” Locke said. “We’ve got to get these two horses to work together.”

  Locke moved to the buckboard and climbed into the seat. Cooper gave one more morose look to the water—filled basin, with the gold coins languishing at the bottom, then turned and followed.

  The horses eventually came to some sort of mutual understanding, and they were able to get under way. Once they got away from the basin, the road widened and continued up, but then suddenly it peaked, and they were on their way down.

  “Let’s not go too far down,” Cooper said. “We just have to come back up again.”

  “Looks like plenty of places for an ambush now,” Locke said, studying the terrain.

  They had their pick of rocks and clumps of trees and bushes on this side of the mountain.

  “Should we leave the buckboard out in the open to bait them, do ya think?” Cooper asked.

  “No,” Locke said. “They’ll think something’s up. Let’s find someplace we can hide it completely and then find some high ground from where we can get the drop on them.”

  “Okay.”

  They found a stand of trees that actually had a clearing inside it. They had to force the horses to push their way through while pulling the buckboard along with them.

  “Now, if the horses will be quiet, we’ll be fine,” Locke said.

  “That’s if they come this way.”

  “They’ll come,” Locke said. “To have followed us this far, they have to have a pretty good tracker with them. They’ll come.”

  “Then let’s find that high ground,” Cooper said. “You on one side, me on the other. We’ll get them in a cross-fire.”

  “Coop,” Locke said warningly, “no firing unless they force our hand. I mean it.”

  “But there’s seven of ’em!”

  “If we get the drop on them, we’ll control them,” Locke said. “They’ve got to have a leader they’ll follow. Not like those storekeepers we killed. If we have to kill one, it can be the leader. I don’t want to kill seven more men unless it’s necessary.”

  “What makes you think these ain’t just a bunch of storekeepers, too?” Cooper asked.

  “Well, for one thing, I already said they must have a good tracker with them,” Locke said. “For the other, they shot pretty good back there. They almost took our heads off, remember?”

  “All the more reason—”

  “Coop,” Locke said, “if you start shooting and I don’t think it was necessary, I’m going to let you face them on your own. I won’t fire a goddamn shot!”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “I would,” Locke said, “and I’ll go back for the gold.”

  Cooper frowned, trying to figure a way out of this argument, but he couldn’t. “You drive a hard bargain, John.”

  “Are we agreed?”

  “We’re agreed.”

  “Then let’s find that high ground.”

  FIFTY-SIX

  “Wait.” Hoke Benson held up his hand to stop the progress of himself and the six men with him. “ “What is it?” he asked Eddie Rome.

  Rome didn’t answer right away, just cocked his head. He was either listening or thinking—maybe both. “Somethin’s wrong.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know,” Rome said. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

  They had reached the other side of the basin and paused to look down at the water.

  “Not drainin’ fast,” Hoke said. “Good thing we went around.”

  It wasn’t hard for Rome to track them from there. There was only one trail leading away from the basin. When the trail widened and the terrain began to offer more hiding places, Rome became cautious. Unfortunately, his caution had to be tempered with the impatience of the other men.

  Eli Jordan leaned over and said to Bob Bailey, “They’re gonna keep gettin’ farther and farther away the more careful Rome gets.”

  Hoke turned around and gave Eli a hard look.

  “Eli, you and Bailey want to ride up ahead and check things out?” he asked.

  “That’s okay, Hoke,” Eli said, shaking his head. “We’ll ride along with everybody else.”

  “Eddie?”

  Rome looked at Hoke. “Could be a trap.”

  “Can we go around?” Hoke asked.

  “I don’t know enough about these mountains to say.”

  “Okay,” Hoke said. “We’ll go in single file from here, spread out. If a trap gets sprung, we won’t all be in it.”

  “Two men are gonna set a trap for seven?” Roy Turpin said. “It don’t make sense.”

  “It makes perfect sense,” Hoke said.

  Rome turned and said, “You saw those two men handle five pretty easily out in the open. From cover, they could take most of us out before we know what’s happenin’.”

  “I’m just sayin’—”

  “You say too much, Roy,” Rome said. “Shut up.”

  “Eli,” Hoke said, “you and Turpin take the lead, and we’ll string out behind you.”

  “Hoke—”

  “Do it!”

  Eli looked at Bailey, who shrugged and looked away. Eli then looked at Turpin, and the two men rode ahead.

  Locke noticed immediately that the seven men were riding toward them in single file, pretty well strung out. This would make it difficult to get the drop on all seven at one time.

  Locke and Cooper had found rock formations they could climb to get to high ground, and they were able to see not only the approaching men but also each other. Locke tried gesturing to Cooper, attempting to wave him off. He wanted to let the seven men pass without incident. If that happened, they’d be able to double back to t
he basin.

  If Cooper did not get his message and opened fire, they were going to be at a distinct disadvantage, despite having higher ground. Locke hoped that Cooper was still enough of an experienced lawman to realize this and let them pass.

  Locke crouched down, now out of sight of the men and of Cooper. He waited tensely, not knowing what Cooper was going to do. Despite what he’d said, there was no way he’d leave his friend—or ex-friend—to face the seven men alone. If Cooper opened fire, there was definitely going to be a bloodbath.

  One by one, the men passed Locke’s position. He could tell from their hunched shoulders that they were probably waiting for something to happen. Once the seventh man went past, Locke breathed a sigh of relief and started climbing down from his position.

  Hoke rode up next to Rome and said, “No ambush.”

  “Not there,” Rome said, “but it could still happen somewhere up ahead. I suggest we keep ridin’ this way, single file.”

  “You heard the man,” Hoke snapped at the others. “Single file!”

  Locke met up with Cooper by the buckboard. “You got my signal,” he said.

  “You were waving frantically enough,” Cooper said. “Not that you needed to. I could see how stretched out they were. We were better off lettin’ them go by. Now we can double back and pick up the gold.”

  “If the basin has drained.”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Cooper said.

  “Let’s just hope they go a long way before they realize we doubled back,” Locke said.

  “Jesus!” Cooper said.

  The sun had come out and was shining so brightly that the piles of gold coins at the bottom of the water-filled basin were practically glowing. The water, having run off from the tops of the mountains, was crystal clear, and they could plainly see the gold gleaming beneath it.

  “We can’t leave it there!” Cooper said. “Someone will see it.”

  Locke didn’t bother arguing that nobody traveled this way by accident. He had argued that already. They did have to do something, though, because the water was not draining as quickly as they would have liked, and if the seven men did double back, they’d know in an instant it was there.