Vengeance Creek

by Robert J. Randisi

  19

  Cardwell had taken into account the fact that the bank was in the center of town. His men were spread out in front so they could handle trouble from any direction. Two of them saw Dan Shaye running toward them, the early morning sun glinting off his badge, and they opened up on him. One bullet struck Shaye in the hip, made him stagger and fall, but he drew his gun as he did so and fired back.

  James came running from the same end of town as his father. He’d had a longer run, and when he got there, he saw that his father was down but was firing. “Pa!”

  He drew his gun, ran to where his father was kneeling on the ground. He fired two shots of his own, then grabbed Shaye and dragged him behind a horse trough.

  “Pa? You hit?”

  “Yeah, I’m hit, James,” Shaye said, the pain plain in his voice.

  “Bad?”

  “Can’t tell yet,” Shaye said.

  The robbers were still firing, keeping them pinned down. Shaye assumed that the first two shots he’d heard had come from inside the bank. There were no more shots from there.

  “James, where’s Thomas?”

  “Other end of town, Pa, checking hotels,” James said. “He should be here soon.”

  “Gotta warn him—” Shaye said, but then there were shots from another quarter, and he knew they were too late.

  Thomas came running onto the scene from the other direction, and was immediately fired upon. The shots flew uselessly around him, and he took cover immediately behind a bunch of barrels in front of the hardware store. From where he was, he could see the bank but not his brother or his father. He returned fire, but a barrage from three other men forced him to duck back down behind the barrels. From the writing on them, he knew the barrels were filled with nails. They were plenty good cover against the fusillade of shots being laid down at him.

  He knew his father and brother would either hear the shots and come running or had already done so. He could hear other shots beyond the bank when the men stopped firing at him. Apparently, his father and James were in the same situation he was.

  “There were other shots bein’ fired,” James said to his father once all the shooting had stopped for the moment.

  “Thomas,” he said. “James, look around. Has anyone else responded to the shootin’?”

  James looked around them, but there were no townspeople coming to their aid. If anyone had heard the shots, they were hiding inside until the danger passed.

  “No one, Pa,” he said.

  “Epitaph all over again,” Shaye said.

  “What do we do, Pa?”

  “Can you see the bank?” Shaye asked. “I assume that’s what this is all about.”

  James craned his neck. “I can see the front door.”

  “James,” Shaye said, “if there are men inside the bank, we can’t let them leave—whether it’s with money or a hostage, or both.”

  “Nancy,” James said, rising into a crouch.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, son,” Shaye said.

  “We can’t do anything at all, pinned down like this,” James complained.

  “We can see the door,” Shaye said. “That’s something.”

  James looked at his father, saw the blood on his hip and thigh.

  “How bad are you hit, Pa?”

  “I think the bullet took a chunk out of my hip and kept on goin’,” Shaye said. “It’s not bad, but it would help if we stopped the bleeding.”

  “Let me shift you back a little so you can watch the bank entrance, and then I’ll see about that.”

  He gripped his father beneath his arms and moved him just a bit, then removed his bandanna and tried to plug the wound. He needed his father’s bandanna as well, but eventually got the bleeding under control.

  “Hurt?” James asked.

  “A lot,” Shaye said.

  “I wonder why they’re not shootin’ anymore,” James said.

  “We’re not tryin’ to move,” Shaye said, “and Thomas probably isn’t either.”

  James looked at his father. “Or he’s…”

  Jacks looked out the front window. One of his men saw him, waved, and used sign language to fill him in on the situation.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Cardwell demanded.

  “Looks like our boys have got the law pinned down,” Jacks said, turning to look at Cardwell. There were four sacks at the man’s feet, all filled with money. On the floor in front of the manager’s office was the foolish manager, who had come running out holding a gun. Cardwell had gunned him down immediately, and the manager fired a couple of harmless shots as he went down.

  “What about the law?”

  “Best I can figure,” Jacks said, “they might have an angle on us.” He moved to another window. “Looks like they’re on both sides, under cover.”

  “What about Davis? With the horses?”

  Jacks peered both ways. “I can’t see the horses.”

  “He might have them in an alley,” Cardwell said.

  Jacks turned to face Cardwell fully. He had his gun in his hand and his hand at his side. The other employees were grouped in one corner of the bank.

  “Your call, Ben,” Jacks said.

  “Take these money bags over to the door,” Cardwell said. “I’m thinkin’.”

  Jacks came over and dragged the canvas bags over to the door. Cardwell walked over to where the bank employees were grouped. There were four of them, two women and two men, and they all looked frightened.

  “Is there another way out?” he asked. “Side door? Back door?”

  When there was no answer, he raised his gun, cocked the hammer back, and pointed it at one woman.

  “I’m only gonna ask one more time.”

  20

  “Pa?”

  “Yes, James?”

  “There’s a back door to the bank,” he said. “It leads to the manager’s office. If I can get to it—”

  “You have to cross the street to get to it, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir,” James said. “I can use the alley across the way.”

  “They’d cut you down before you got across the street.”

  “But they can also get out that way.”

  “Where would they come out?”

  “That depends,” James said. “They have access to two alleys, one on either side of the bank building. If they come out this way, we’ll see them. If they come out the other way, Thomas will.”

  They had both decided, without speaking, that Thomas was still alive and pinned down on the other side.

  “Cardwell probably put this whole thing together,” Shaye said, “but he apparently forgot one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “His men may have us pinned down,” Shaye said, “but we have them pinned down too.”

  “Why would he make a mistake like that?”

  “Two reasons,” Shaye said. “Firing shots inside the bank was not part of the plan, and we’ve been alerted too early.”

  “And the second reason?”

  “Maybe it wasn’t a mistake.”

  Thomas listened to the quiet. He was waiting to hear something—anything—helpful. Voices from the bank, or the voices of his brother or father. He wondered if he should call out to them or maintain his silence. He peered up over the barrel he was using for cover. He saw two men watching for him, but they didn’t fire. He looked past them to see if he could spot his father or brother, but the street curved slightly as it passed the bank, and that’s where they must have been.

  He could see the bank, though, and nothing was happening there. He didn’t know the bank layout well, so he didn’t know if there was another way out. He knew James would know, though, since he’d spent so much time in the bank trying to get up the courage to talk to Nancy Timmerman. Then he felt bad for his brother, who must have been worried about Nancy.

  Thomas looked behind him and then across the street. He knew no one was going to come to their aid. Just like in Epitaph, the people of Vengeance
Creek were going to do nothing to try and stop the bank robbery.

  Now he felt bad for his father, who must certainly have been thinking, Not again.

  Cardwell came back from the manager’s office, stepping once again over the two bodies that blocked the doorway.

  “There’s a door back there, all right,” he said to Jacks, who was holding his gun on the employees.

  “Where does it lead?”

  “I opened it and looked out. We can make it to either side of the building.”

  “Now if we only knew where Davis put the horses.”

  “He was supposed to be ready to bring them around as soon as we needed them,” Cardwell said. He hadn’t wanted the horses to be right in front of the bank. That would have been a dead giveaway—but now it would have been convenient.

  “We’ll have to go out and check both alleys,” Cardwell said. “Hopefully, there won’t be any law in either one. Our boys will still have them pinned down.”

  “And be pinned down themselves.”

  “At least that part is goin’ accordin’ to plan,” Cardwell said.

  “So would this part, if you hadn’t shot those people.”

  “He came out holdin’ a gun,” Cardwell said. “What was I supposed to do?”

  “Never mind,” Jacks said. “Let’s just get out of here. Which one of these folks should we take with us?”

  “None,” Cardwell said. “A hostage will just slow us down.”

  “But…they’ll raise the alarm as soon as we go out the back door,” Jacks said.

  Cardwell looked at the knife on Jack’s gun belt and said, “No they won’t.”

  “It’s too quiet,” Shaye said. “We’ve got to do somethin’.”

  “Can you walk?” James asked.

  Shaye tried to move his leg, but the right one wouldn’t work for him. The pants leg was soaked with his blood, and the leg itself felt numb.

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll have to make a run for it, Pa,” James said. “If I can get down that alley, I can make it to the back door.”

  Shaye grabbed his son’s arm. “You’ve got to be careful, James,” he said. “If they know about the back door—”

  “I know, Pa,” James said. “I might run right into them.”

  “Help me get into position to lay down some cover for you,” Shaye said. “I wish I had my damn rifle.”

  Once again James placed his hands beneath his father’s arms and dragged him to a new position. The move caused the bleeding to start in his hip again, but he hid that fact from his son.

  “Okay,” Shaye said, “this is good. I can pull myself up and lay down some fire.”

  “Do you want my gun, Pa?”

  Shaye thought it over. He’d be able to cover his son better with two guns, but that would leave James without a weapon when he reached the back of the bank. There was no point in that.

  “No,” he said, “you’re gonna need it.”

  “I wonder what Thomas is doin’?” James asked.

  “Thinkin’,” Shaye said, “just like we are. Maybe when he hears my shots, he’ll fire as well.”

  “I wish we could see him from here.”

  “So do I, James,” Shaye said.

  They both hoped that Thomas was all right, but neither voiced that concern.

  Shaye reached up with one hand to grasp the horse trough, preparing to pull himself up.

  “Ready?” he said to James.

  “I’m ready, Pa.”

  “Okay,” Shaye said. “Go!”

  21

  Rather than fire off his six shots as quickly as possible, Shaye tried to place the shots to give his son the maximum amount of cover. As James began his dash across the street, the two shooters stood up and prepared to fire. Shaye ignored the pain in his hip—while his leg was numb, the hip seemed to pulse with fire—and fired two deliberate shots. He saw one man jerk back as if hit, and the other duck back down. Having located them, he placed his next four shots very carefully, but one of the men was still able to get off a couple of shots at James, which missed.

  As Shaye watched, James disappeared into the alley.

  When Thomas heard the shots, he had no way of knowing who was shooting. However, he decided to add to the confusion and possibly make a move at the same time. He’d already decided that he could make a run for an alley that ran alongside the bank building, but with no one to lay down cover for him, he knew he would have to do it himself.

  He was still trying to decide when more shots came. Impetuously, he stood up and began firing and running at the same time.

  Cardwell checked one alley while Jacks checked the other.

  “No horses,” Cardwell said.

  “Same here,” Jacks said. “That goddamn Davis!”

  They were each carrying two bags of money. From the front of the bank they heard the sound of shots.

  “Look,” Cardwell said, “we can work our way down the street behind some more of these buildings, maybe even come out on a side street.”

  “Might as well,” Jacks said. “There’s nothin’ more for us to do here. But when I see Davis, I’m gonna kill him.”

  “Not if I kill him first.”

  James stopped in the alley long enough to check himself for bullet holes. When he found none, he continued down the alley with his gun drawn. He inched his way around to the back of the building, being careful in case the bank robbers decided to come out the back door. When he was sure it was safe, he made his way to the door, tried the knob and found it unlocked. He was about to open it when someone came out of the alley on the other side of the building. He turned, gun at the ready….

  Thomas also made his way carefully down his alley, watching the mouth of it behind him, in case the shooters decided to follow him. Reaching the end of the alley, he peered around and saw his brother at the back door. He stepped out of hiding, and James turned quickly toward him, pointing his gun.

  “Whoa, James! It’s me.”

  James lowered his gun. “Thomas, you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Thomas said. “You?”

  “Okay, but Pa’s hit.”

  “How bad?”

  “Don’t know,” James said. “He took a bullet in the hip. He’s says it kept going, though.”

  “Well, let’s get inside, then, and see what’s goin’ on so we can get him to a doctor. Did you know about this door?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “I didn’t,” Thomas said. “Thought I’d take a chance, though. Is it unlocked?”

  “Yes.”

  “We better go in before we get company back here.”

  “I was about to.”

  “After you, little brother,” Thomas invited. “Just be ready for trouble.”

  Out front, Shaye reloaded and continued to fire. He didn’t want the robbers trying to follow James down the alley. He didn’t hear any shooting, though, other than his and their return fire. He hoped that Thomas had acquitted himself well.

  He also hoped his boys could get him out of his present predicament, before he bled to death.

  James opened the door and stepped in, with Thomas close behind him. He watched for danger inside the bank while Thomas guarded against danger from behind.

  “The office is empty,” James said. “Come on.”

  He moved forward and immediately saw the two bodies lying just inside and outside the doorway.

  “Oh no!” he exclaimed.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked. He had paused to close the door and wedge a chair beneath the doorknob.

  “Oh God, no,” James said.

  “James?”

  Thomas joined his brother and saw the bodies.

  “Who—”

  “The man looked like Mr. Baxter, the manager,” James said.

  Thomas hesitated, then asked, “And the woman?”

  “That,” James said, “is Nancy Timmerman.”

  Thomas was afraid of that.

  22

  Outside on the st
reet, the remaining bank robbers sensed something was wrong.

  “They must have gotten inside the bank somehow,” Ed Hurley commented.

  Davis, who had abandoned the horses when the shooting started, said, “We better stick together and get inside that bank.”

  “There’s still one more over there,” Joe Samuels said. “The others made it to the alleys.”

  “If they’re inside, where are Cardwell and Jacks?” Davis asked.

  Beau Larkin looked around. “We have to make a move before this town wakes up and decides to help the law.”

  “Hey,” Bill Raymond said to Davis. “You were supposed to be holding the horses.”

  “They, uh, spooked and ran off when the shootin’ started. I couldn’t hold them.”

  In truth, he had been holding only two horses, one for him and one for Cardwell. When he heard the shooting, he tethered the horses a couple of blocks away and came to see what was happening.

  “Where’s Mendez?” Hurley asked.

  “He took one in the chest,” Samuels said. “He’s dead.”

  “One less share,” Hurley said.

  “No shares if we don’t get into that bank,” Raymond said.

  “And if we don’t have horses,” Larkin said. “Davis, you better go get them. We’ll check the bank.”

  “What about the sheriff?” Davis asked.

  “He was hit,” Larkin said. “If we make a run for the bank, he can’t stop us.”

  Davis was worried now. Not only about where Cardwell and Jacks were, but what these men would do to him if they found out he only had two horses.

  “Okay,” Davis said.

  “We’ll meet you in front of the bank,” Samuels said.

  “Okay,” Davis said. “Go.”

  “You get goin’,” Samuels said, “and don’t forget those horses.”

  Davis knew a threat when he heard it. He turned and ran toward the horses, still unsure about what he was going to do.

  Samuels looked at the other men, Raymond, Hurley, and Larkin.

  “So what do we do?” he asked. “Just rush the bank?”

  “That’s where the money is,” Larkin said.

  “Let’s do it,” Hurley said.

  23

  “My God!” Thomas said. He had stepped over the bodies and into the bank to check on the other employees. He was shocked to find them all dead, either stabbed or with cut throats.