We moved as a group down the stairs, with Jake and Kayla leading the way. Julia and I slowed slightly to give us more room to move if we needed to. Julia squeezed my arm slightly, and I responded in kind.
A man was standing at the counter talking to the clerk, and at a quick nod, the man turned and faced us.
“Jake Talon?” the man asked. He was an older gentleman, roughly the same age as our father, with a graying mustache and deep brown eyes. His was the face of man who had seen many things, and not all of them pleasant. He was dressed as a western man, with boots and tall hat, and a silver star peeped out from under his coat lapel. Wrapped around his waist was a western-style gun belt, complete with cartridges and a low hanging holster. The six-gun in the holster looked to have been well cared for, but I had a feeling the smooth walnut grips weren’t worn from age. The man in front of us may be a little saltier than we were used to.
Jake stepped down to the floor and faced the lawman directly.
‘What can I do for you, sheriff?” Jake kept his tone neutral and his hands in his pockets. There wasn’t any need for trouble just yet.
To be honest, I was curious as hell as to what was going on. Why did these men know Jake’s name, and what was he wanted for?
“You’re Jake Talon?” the sheriff repeated. “Son of John Talon?”
Jake smiled slightly. “He’s my father, yes. What’s this about?”
The sheriff ignored that question to ask another. “What’s your mother and brother’s names? I have a reason for asking.”
I stepped into the conversation at that point. “His brother’s name is Aaron, which would be me. My mother’s name was Sarah, and she was Jake’s mom, too. What’s going on, sheriff?”
The sheriff looked up at me and quickly measured me with a glance. His eyes returned to Jake, but not until they looked past me. I heard a shifting sound behind me and knew there was probably a deputy somewhere behind me. Julia’s quick squeeze on my hand confirmed my suspicions.
The sheriff looked at Jake and broke into a wide smile. “Well, if that don’t beat all. I was worried sick that I was going to have to face down John Talon’s son, and then eventually face John when he heard about it, but this has to be the best news I’ve gotten all day.”
Jake was probably as stunned as I was, but he hid it better.
“What the hell are you talking about, sheriff? Why the hell is everyone interested in who I am and who’s related to me?” Jake said irritably.
The sheriff waved off his deputy and put out his hand. “Name’s Frost, Scott Frost. Why don’t I get you and your wives over to the restaurant, and I’ll explain everything.” Frost looked at me with a sly gleam. “You knew about my deputy, didn’t you?”
“The one behind me, yes. And the one on the porch,” I said. “He kept shifting on a creaky board, and the wind doesn’t do that.”
Sheriff Frost chuckled as he lead the way out of the hotel. I looked at Jake and got a shrug for an answer. Julia just shook her head while Kayla looked as confused as I probably did.
Dinner was a pleasant affair, with Sheriff Frost giving us a history of the town of Casper. “We had a big fire that took out most of the buildings in the town proper. The upside of that was it took out most of the zombies that were still hidin’ out. Problem was we had winter comin’ on, and a lot of people without any place to live. Case you hadn’t noticed, things get cold hereabouts during the winter. Zombies wouldn’t have been the problem then, just freezin’ to death. Anyway, one of us remembered this place as a movie set from years ago, and that the local western re-enactors had given shows. We all moved out this way, grabbed what supplies we could, and made a good run at survivin’ the winter. Come Spring, we decided to stay and pick up where the Old West left off. Several of our survivors were carpenters, and we all went about making this movie prop a place we could call home.
“Things were good for a while, then we started to get some more difficult elements coming in, and that’s when we decided to go western fully. Men packed guns, and women were treated with respect. We hung a few criminals, and in general, things were good. I’ve had a few gunfights myself, and settled some feuds, but in all we’re getting’ by pretty well playing out an old western movie.”
Sheriff Frost took a drink of his coffee before continuing. “Then last month a newcomer came to town. Rolled in like he owned it, told everyone he was Jake Talon, and everyone had better watch out. Tough thing to do in this town, but this guy could back it up. He killed two men in three days, both stand-up gunfights. Next he nearly beat a man to death for spilling a drink on him, and basically he’s been a pain in the ass. Trouble is, he’s paid for any damage he’s done, and the killings were legal in that the dead men called him out.” Frost looked at Jake. “The latest is he beat up one of the whores over at the saloon. Said she tried to steal from him. I was about to call him out and try my hand at putting him down when you showed up.”
“The real Jake Talon,” Jake said.
“I have to say I let him go this long because I knew your daddy and considered him a friend of mine. I tried to get a message to him, but he’s not much for communication,” Sheriff Frost said.
“No, he isn’t,” I said. “So what do we do now? You’re the sheriff, and we’re just passing through. You and your deputies should be able…”
“I’ll deal with it,” Jake said suddenly. “Where is he now?”
“I can’t ask you to do that, son, you know that,” Frost said. “I sympathize, but it’s my bronc to fork.”
“Not this time, sheriff. There’s someone out there using my name, and he’s a bigger asshole than I am. That doesn’t get to stand,” Jake said. The look in his eye told me there wasn’t any arguing.
Sheriff Frost saw the same look. “All right, but I’ll be backing you up just the same.”
“Fair enough. Come on, Aaron, let’s get ready to meet me,” Jake said, standing up and taking Kayla’s hand.
I just shook my head. This was beyond weird at this point. I never expected to see Jake actually have an out of body experience with another body.
Chapter 18
We went back to our rooms and put our gear on. I slipped my sword into place and made sure I had two loaded magazines for my Glock 17. I’d played with other guns, and this one just seemed to shoot the best for me. I hadn’t been a very good shot before, but with dad coming home, I’d gotten better. His instruction was simple, “Shoot better; your life and that of your wife depends on it.”
My knife went into its sheath, and my tomahawk went into its custom sheath as well. That was a simple formed leather pouch that slipped onto my belt, and the ‘hawk fit in from above. If I grabbed it palm back, it came right up and out. If I grabbed it palm forward, I could just lift slightly and swing, driving the spike into whatever needed another hole.
Another knife rode my belt in the back, and the nylon straps that held my sword in place had small pouches with lethal goodies in them. I was ready to meet anything, from a zombie horde to the second coming of Jake.
Out in the hall, I met with my brother. The girls decided to stay behind and play with the maps and figure out where we were going once we settled things. Jake was dressed in his usual black with his customary knives riding horizontal at his hips. He wore his gun as well, but it rode on his thigh as it would have interfered with his knives. His pick was on his back, along with a long knife Uncle Duncan had given his son-in-law as a wedding present. It was sixteen inches of razor steel with a handle long enough to use two hands. I’d seen Jake use that knife once on a zombie, and it fell to the ground in four pieces before it knew it was dead.
“Ready?” Jake asked.
“As ready as I can be for something like this,” I replied.
“I hear you. I feel like we’re in one of those old western movies dad likes to watch,” Jake said as we headed down the stairs and out into the street.
I nodded in agreement as we met the sheriff halfway across the street. His appra
ising lawman’s eyes swept over us quickly and he smiled, more to himself than at us.
“Something funny?” Jake asked as we fell in alongside Sheriff Frost.
“No. I just got reminded of a couple men I knew from a long time ago. You both look like one of them, and you,” Frost stuck a finger at me, “you’re about the size of the other one.”
Jake and I didn’t reply as we walked across the street. People who were out at that time of night watched us walk by, and I could feel the eyes on my back. We were strangers, and we were dressed for war. Chances were pretty good they were going to guess correctly that things were going to happen in our vicinity, and soon.
We walked up to a place called The Palamino, and the lights and sounds coming from the place gave us the impression that things were moving along pretty well. Out on the street I could hear the sounds of a piano being slowly strangled, mixed in with laughter, cursing, glass clinking, and shouting. Just the place I would have avoided if I had the choice.
Jake took a look at the building and glanced at Frost.
“What’s your plan?” he asked, loosening the knives in their sheaths on his hips. I checked the chamber on my Glock and adjusted my tomahawk.
Frost shrugged his shoulders. “I figure to come around the back, and take him by surprise if needs be; avengin’ your deaths if I have to.”
“We’ll count to ten then head in. That good enough?” I asked.
“See you.” The sheriff slipped between two buildings and made his way through the darkness to the back of the building.
“Let’s get this done,” Jake said, stepping towards the door.
“Right behind you.”
We pushed into the room and several of the patrons glanced our way. No one approached us, and no one seemed to mind what we were up to. Chances were good they had seen several travelers over the years and were used to people wearing weapons. As I looked around, I saw most of the men wearing a gun of some make, although the clear favorite was a single action revolver. There were tables for drinking and tables for gambling. A bar ran the entire length of the back of the building, and three bartenders barely kept pace with the request for drinks from patrons and waitresses. A small man was banging the keys of the piano, and several men tried to sing along with varying degrees of success. Several women circulated around the room, and during the short time I watched, two took smiling men up a side stair to the second floor.
Jake made his way to the bar and waved at one of the bartenders. A tall man with massive forearms looked down at Jake.
“Need something, sir?” The bartender had a surprisingly high voice for such a big man. His hair was held back in a ponytail, and his eyes were tired and red from the smoke in the room.
“I’ll have a beer and an introduction,” Jake said. “My friend will have the same.”
The bartender raised an eyebrow. “Who do you want to meet?” He waved a hand around. “Any of the girls will gladly talk to you.”
“I want to talk to Jake Talon,” my brother said.
The change in the bartender’s face was subtle, but very real.
“Friends of his?” he asked slowly.
“Family friends. Heard he was here,” Jake said.
The bartender pointed to a table with a stiff finger. “Over there, playing cards. Big guy with the black hair and tan coat. Can’t miss him.”
“Thanks.” Jake took his beer and handed me mine. I drank it sparingly, wondering what Jake was up to.
I didn’t have long to wait. Jake wandered over to the table and stood across from the man pointed out to us.
“Jake Talon! Well, I’ll be damned! I never thought I’d ever see the day! How the hell are you?” My brother stood there with his hands on his hips, and a big smile on his face.
The room suddenly got very quiet, and I eased my way over to the left of the room, keeping an eye on the unreal Jake.
The fake Jake took a look at the real one and squinted his eyes. He had a hard face that was cruel and cautious, with a straight nose and dark eyes. His shoulders were broad, and the hand that held the cards was thick. He looked like he could do a lot of damage if he wanted to.
“Not sure I remember you,” Fake Jake said, looking over my brother’s gear. “Where did we meet again?” He dropped his hand to his lap, and I knew he was setting his hand closer to his gun, should things turn ugly.
“Oh, come on!” Jake said. “Outside of Chicago? You and your brother had just finished some collecting in the city.” Jake smiled and nodded his head as if enjoying the memory.
Fake Jake looked around and saw all eyes on him. “That’s right, Chicago. My brother and I had just gotten out of the city ahead of a bunch of zombies. Good thing, too. They were right on our tails.”
“Exactly. I picked you two up in the boat, took you back to the capital. What was your brother’s name again?” Jake asked.
Fake Jake took a long look at Jake, and I could almost see him thinking about what he ought to do. If he called Jake a liar, he’d have a fight. If he played it out, maybe Jake would leave, and things would go back to normal.
“Arthur. His name was Arthur. Good to see you.” Fake Jake figured that would end the conversation.
Jake wasn’t going to let it go. “Arthur! Of course!” Jake looked over at me and gave me a half grin. I was going to hear about that one, I was sure. “But you talk about him as if he was not here anymore. Is he gone?”
Fake Jake looked up with a pained look, and I had to give him credit for the act, it was pretty good.
“He bought it outside Omaha. Some drifter gone zombie crazy shot him by mistake,” Fake Jake said. There were soft murmurs of sympathy, that sort of thing really happened every once in a while.
“I do apologize,” Jake said. “I’ll leave you to your game. Perhaps I could buy you a drink later, catch up on old times?” Jake leaned over the table with about as sincere a face as I had seen.
Fake Jake smiled. “Sure enough. Can’t remember your name, sorry.”
“Oh, my manners! Of course! Sorry!” Jake stepped back and folded his arms across his abdomen. “I’m Jake Talon. The real one,” Jake said.
There was a collective intake of breath as the room took in that information. There were looks between the two men, and I could see the imposter sizing up my brother. His hand was likely on his gun now, and I shifted my grip on my tomahawk. I figured I’d have to throw it underhand, not having time for anything else, but it would be enough of a distraction for Jake to get into action.
A touch at my wrist made me look down. An elderly gentleman looked up at me and shook his head. “Between them, son. Keep it fair.” The eyes that held mine were steely, and I knew I had to leave Jake to his own self. I hated it, but we weren’t near home anymore, and this town had its own rules.
Fake Jake slowly stood up, confidence washing over him as he looked my brother over. Jake’s hands were away from his gun, and the man easily outweighed my brother by fifty pounds. If I had to guess, the man was weighing his odds and liking them very much.
“The real Jake, huh? That’s funny. What if I was to call you a liar?” Fake Jake said.
Jake smiled. “Then you’d be lying, you worthless bastard. I don’t know why you picked my name, but you’re done with it now.” Jake’s smile didn’t reach his face, and I knew what was going to happen, fuming that I was helpless to do anything about it.
Fake Jake smiled back. “Well, then…”
Whatever he was going to say didn’t matter, because he pulled his gun in a swift motion from its holster. A shot rang out, and there was a scream and a roar of pain.
I didn’t see what happened, but the imposter was grabbing his gun arm, clutching at the handle of the knife that had suddenly sprouted from his elbow. His gun hand was useless, having fired a shot reflexively into the floor. I don’t know who had screamed, but the roar was from the man Jake had stuck a knife into.
The man was game, though. He dropped to his knee and reached for his gu
n with his other hand. Jake pulled his gun from its holster and shot the gun away from the man’s grasping hand. Dad had instructed Jake on gun skill as well.
“You’re done,” Jake said. “Try anything further, and I’ll kill you where you stand. I am Jake Talon. My brother is Aaron Talon, and he’s standing over there, ready to help or avenge me. Between the two of us, you’re lucky you didn’t face him. He’d have just killed you.”
With all eyes on me I just looked the phony in the eye and nodded slowly, taking my hand off my ‘hawk.
The sheriff came through the back and brought a deputy with him. The two of them hauled the fake to his feet and started the man to the door. Jake stopped them with a gesture and yanked his knife out of the man’s arm, eliciting a fresh roar of pain.
I met Jake across the room, and there were a lot of nods and smiles of appreciation. As we left, the room started up its noise again, but I was willing to bet that we’d be the topic of conversation for a while.
Back at the hotel room, Kayla and Julia were waiting for us. There were several maps all over the room, and the one on the table had a destination circled and a route planned.
“How did it go?” Kayla asked. She gave Jake a quick once over to check for damage, and finding none, her worry fell away. She still had vivid memories of Jake being too wounded to move after his capture at the hands of Ben.
Jake grinned. “Easier than I thought, although I’ll give him this, he was fast.”
Julia looked at me. “Was? Did you two kill him?”
I shook my head. “Jake stuck a knife in his arm, kept him from shooting us. Seems like you two were busy here,” I said, changing the subject and getting out of my gear.
Julia smiled. “We were! We found out where the coordinates lead to, and we planned a route to get there as quickly as the roads will let us.”
I scanned the map. The circled area had a name. “Enterprise, Oregon,” I said. “Okay, that seems far.”
Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates Page 7
