Outlaw Pass (9781101544785)

by West, Charles G.

  Still drained of emotion, Adam shrugged and replied, “I shot Lon and the fellow he had with him. That’s all there is to tell. What else do you wanna know?”

  “Sweet Jesus, but you’re an emotional man,” Finn responded facetiously. “Tell me what happened when you found him. Was it a blazin’ shoot-out between you and the two of them? What about that joke of a sheriff? Is he chasin’ you now?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Adam replied, still puzzled over why Finn needed a detailed accounting of the execution. “There ain’t nothin’ more to tell. Lon drew on me and I had to shoot him. He didn’t give me no other choice. Now I expect I’d best get my gear and move on before I bring Ainsworth and his boys down on you.”

  “Well, if there wasn’t anybody chasin’ you here, why would they come to my camp to look for you?” Finn replied. “Did anyone see which way you headed when you left town?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure they didn’t,” Adam said. “I was careful about that.”

  “Then they’ve got no reason to think they’d find you here, so you might as well spend the night with me, and figure out what you’re gonna do come mornin’.” When Adam paused to consider the suggestion, Finn asked, “What are you plannin’ to do—go back home?”

  “I reckon,” Adam replied. “I don’t know . . .” He hesitated, not sure himself. He had a feeling that there was unfinished business here. The deaths of Lon Bridges and Junior Brown had not resulted in the feeling that the ledger was balanced concerning Jake’s death, and that troubled Adam. He was left with no more than the feeling he might expect after killing a coyote slinking around his cattle. He thought about the events of the past couple of days, events that had caused him to be responsible for the deaths of seven men, eight counting the one Bonnie shot. It was not something that sat well with his conscience, yet when reviewing the incidents as they had occurred, he could not see that they could have been avoided. Only the two this evening were premeditated. He told himself that Jake had been avenged, and there was no cause for more bloodshed. But then there was the matter of Lacey Brewer. What, he wondered, was his obligation to the young prostitute—if any? He wished that he could know Jake’s mind on the subject of Lacey, if he really had intended to take her back to the Triple-B. It was not at all like the Jake Blaine he knew. Could he have honestly fallen for the pitiable young girl? And did Adam now have the responsibility to live up to his departed brother’s promise to a prostitute? “Damn it to hell!” he suddenly blurted without thinking, startling Finn, who was waiting for him to answer the question he had posed some brief seconds past.

  “What’s the matter?” Finn asked. “Is anything wrong?”

  “Everythin’s wrong,” Adam answered in obvious frustration. “I’ll never know who killed Jake.” Then, looking to the little Irishman for help in making his decision, he posed a question. “Was Jake serious about that girl in Bannack? Did he ever talk about her?”

  “Yes, he did,” Finn replied. “He talked about her a lot. I think he saw a lot more in the girl than a common whore. He wanted to take her out of that evil town and give her a chance to live a respectable life. I don’t know if he was thinkin’ on marrying the girl or not. He never said. I think he was more determined to save her from the trap she was in.” He shook his head slowly in sad memory of the young man’s comments about Lacey. Looking back at Adam then, he said, “I never met her but once when I went with Jake to the Miner’s Friend, so I’m afraid I can’t say if she was pullin’ the wool over his eyes or not.”

  Finn’s comments were not of much help to settle the quandary in Adam’s mind. Damn it, he thought, she ain’t my responsibility. She ain’t the first girl Jake made promises to that he had no intentions of keeping. It ain’t up to me to do a damn thing for her. But it was no use. He knew he would not fail to keep his brother’s promise. He had not been there to help him before he was killed, so he should carry out his wishes as best he could. After all, he was his brother. What the hell am I going to do with her? What’s she going to do on the Triple-B? Pa and Mose will think I’ve lost my mind. “Well,” he finally decided, “I reckon I’m gonna take the young lady home if that’s what Jake wanted.”

  “I see,” Finn uttered softly, his mind churning with speculation of a different nature as he studied Adam carefully, seeking to see into the big man’s very soul. He had been thinking of his dilemma for months before Adam arrived, and had almost approached Jake with the problem, but decided against it. He knelt by the fire, staring into the flames for a few moments more before speaking of it. Finally deciding that Adam was a man to be trusted, he stood up to face him. “I’ve been in this hole since the fall of ‘62,” he started. “I found pay dirt, a helluva lot of it, and I kept findin’ it long after it played out in the claims around me. People moved out and others moved in, but the vein I struck never quit yielding high-grade ore. Well, I kept it quiet and every night I hauled the day’s yield down to the bottom of this ravine and buried it under the bank of the stream.”

  Astonished by the little man’s frank disclosure of his fortune, Adam interrupted Finn’s confession. “Whoa, you ought not be tellin’ people where you’ve got gold buried.”

  Finn smiled knowingly. “I ain’t tellin’ nobody but you. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I can trust you.” He continued. “Anyway, the vein finally ran out early last summer, but I already had more gold than I can ever spend the rest of my life. Ainsworth’s men have been watchin’ me almost every day, so I kept at it, so they wouldn’t start to think I had all I needed. When your brother joined me, I think that kept Ainsworth at a distance. Jake would go into town to see that little girl, and I don’t think Ainsworth’s men even recognized him as my partner. If they did, they mighta killed him sooner. We found a little bit of pure stuff after that, enough to make Jake think he was strikin’ it rich. But he didn’t know that there was a king’s fortune buried under the bank.”

  He paused to pour more coffee in his cup and topped off Adam’s, while he thought about the likable young man who had been his partner for about a year. Jake never seemed to have the capacity to stick with the hard work of mining for any length of time before having to take a little vacation. Every once in a while, he would take off for as long as a week—to spend time with his little saloon girl, Finn supposed. Then he’d show up again, ready to go to work. If Adam knew his brother well, he probably guessed as much.

  “Well, what I’m gettin’ around to is this,” Finn finally continued. “I wanna go with you.” Adam recoiled in surprise, but remained silent, for it was obvious Finn had more to say. “I’ve got what I came for,” Finn went on. “But like a lot of miners in the gulch, I’m trapped here in this hole, and it don’t look like there’s gonna ever be any improvement in law and order. I ain’t a prayin’ man, Adam, but I believe God is tryin’ to tell me that He sent you here for a number of reasons. And one of ’em is to give me a chance to get outta here with my fortune while I’ve still got a few years left to enjoy it.”

  Adam was speechless for some moments, taken aback by Finn’s request. He was hard put to consider himself an instrument of God. “Are you sure you wanna hitch up with me? Hell, half the outlaws in the territory are already gonna be lookin’ for me. You wanna risk all you worked for on the chance that I’ll get away from here without gettin’ my ass shot off?”

  “Yes, I do,” Finn replied, nodding his head in determination. “I can’t stay here forever waiting for someone to come in and get rid of the lawless bunch that runs the town. The army ain’t likely to send in a troop of soldiers to escort me out of this valley. So I figure you’re my only chance to finally get out. From what I’ve heard since you arrived in town, I can’t see how I could find a better man to team up with, and you could use another gun. Whaddaya say?”

  Still astonished by the proposal, Adam hesitated, thinking of the added risk of trying to smuggle a string of pack mules out with him and Lacey. “Damn, Finn, I don’t know. You’d be takin’ a helluva chance of los
ing everythin’, includin’ your life.”

  “I would expect to pay you,” Finn said. “I wouldn’t ask you to do it for nothin’.” He paused to study Adam’s obvious uncertainty about the prospects of success. “Adam,” he continued, “I know the risks. But I can’t wait here and die with the gold hidden in a stream, and that’ll happen just as sure as we’re sittin’ here talkin’ about it. Ainsworth will soon get tired of waitin’ for me to pack up, and send his bullyboys in to take care of me. I’d sooner get shot tryin’ to get out to somewhere where the fruits of my labor could be enjoyed.”

  Adam shook his head in amazement. “Two men and a prostitute against I don’t know how many bushwhackers,” he said. “It ain’t a bright idea, but it’ll sure as hell be interestin’. If you’re certain that’s what you wanna do, then I reckon we’ll give it a try, but I don’t expect you to pay me for it.”

  “I insist,” Finn stated with a happy grin. “If we get outta here with any gold, it would be my pleasure to pay you.”

  “How long will it take you to get ready?” Adam asked.

  “I’m ready now,” Finn said. “I’ve been ready for months.”

  Adam looked around him then and had to remark, “How the hell are you thinkin’ about carryin’ all this gold? I don’t see but one horse. Exactly how much gold do you have to carry?”

  “I’ve got ten bags with about fifty pounds in each one, and I’ve got three mules to carry them.”

  Surprised again, Adam asked, “Where the hell are they?”

  “Down at the bottom of this gulch where the gold is hidden,” Finn replied. “I bought ’em from a man who gave up and went back east a few months ago. I keep’em down at the stream where they’ll be out of sight of Ainsworth’s spies ridin’ along the ridge.” He gave Adam a wide grin. “Give me time to dig up my sacks and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “We’ll start on it first thing in the mornin’,” Adam said. “Lord help us,” he added.

  Chapter 7

  It was still early evening when Lacey heard the knock on her door. She paused before answering it to decide if she should or not. I told Fred I wasn’t entertaining any gentlemen for a spell, she thought. Fred, the bartender, had merely laughed when she had told him, and had said that she’d have to start entertaining them pretty soon because her rent was about due. He probably told some friend of his that I was in my room, she thought. The problem facing her was that Fred was right. She really had no alternative if she was to survive. She had even asked for a job in the hotel kitchen, but had only succeeded in bringing Grace Marshall’s wrath down upon her for trying to take the waitress’s job. There was no other respectable employment for her.

  The knocking on her door continued, and whoever it was seemed to know that she was there. So when it was apparent that her visitor was not going to go away, Lacey finally gave in and went over close beside the door. “I’m sick,” she lied. “I can’t party tonight.”

  “Open the door,” a low voice replied softly. “I ain’t here to party.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Adam Blaine. Open up, I wanna talk to you.” Lacey felt a surge of emotion run through her breast, for she had given up on ever seeing Jake’s somber brother again. “Just a minute, Adam!” she exclaimed excitedly, and hurriedly unlocked the door.

  Adam stepped quickly inside after a glance up and down the deserted hallway, and locked the door again. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “How sick are you?”

  “I’m not sick,” she answered, and explained that she thought he was someone the bartender had sent up to her room. “And I haven’t been doing any of that since you told me not to,” she was quick to reassure him. Like a puppy begging for a treat, she gazed earnestly into his eyes, hoping to hear something that would mean her salvation.

  “Tell me how serious this thing between you and Jake was,” he said. “You said he was comin’ to take you home. Was he talkin’ about your home or his? Were you two thinkin’ about gettin’ married?”

  Looking into his eyes, she was struck with a feeling that he would know if she lied to him, so stern and somber was his gaze. She had always told the truth before, except in cases where she felt forced to lie to protect herself. This, she thought, might be one of those times, but his eyes seemed to be burning right into her brain. After a moment’s hesitation, she confessed, “Jake was such a sweet young man. He came to see me when he could, and it troubled him to see me in this place, so he decided to take me away from here. I don’t think we were in love. At least he never said he loved me.” She paused and shook her head sadly. “How could he fall in love with a prostitute? I think he just felt sorry for me, so he said he was going to take me to his home north of the Yellowstone—said I could start a new life there.” She shrugged and sighed, feeling that she had not presented much of a case for herself. “That’s about it. He never said anything about marriage.”

  Adam did not respond at once while he considered what she had told him. He had halfway expected a tale of a classic love affair, but instead, she had been openly honest about the relationship. She wasn’t making it any easier for him to decide if he was, in fact, under any obligation to her. Life is tough, he thought. You make your own choices and pay the price for any wrong decisions—if she wasn’t so damn young and innocent looking. No matter how much he tried to rationalize, he couldn’t bring himself to condemn her to the life of a prostitute. When he finally spoke again, it was to state, “If you still wanna go with me, get your things together, ’cause I’m fixin’ to leave this place right now. I gotta warn you, though, it’s gonna be a rough trip, and we might run into trouble. There’s a lot of folks lookin’ for me. You know who they are, so you know there’s a good chance we won’t make it.” He waited for her reaction then.

  The excited look in her eyes should have been a sufficient answer, even before she replied. “I’ll do anything to get away from here,” she said without hesitation. “You’re a good man for doing this—”

  “Don’t go thankin’ me yet,” he interrupted. “I might get you killed before we make it, so get into somethin’ you can ride in.” He turned his back then while she put on some clothes suitable for travel, a gesture that struck her as rare. “You can ride my packhorse,” he said. While she gathered her things, he told her that they would be traveling with Michael Finn and a string of mules. “Somethin’ else liable to bring trouble down on us,” he thought aloud.

  “I’d rather be shot than stay here,” she informed him. “You can turn around now. I’m ready.”

  He unlocked the door and opened it to find Bonnie Wells standing there waiting, hands on hips. “What the hell’s going on?” she demanded. “I heard your big feet tryin’ to tiptoe up the hall.” Seeing Lacey behind him, carrying a satchel, she at once realized what was taking place. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she exhaled. “You came back for her. I never thought you would.” She grabbed his sleeve and warned, “Ainsworth’s boys are looking all over the gulch for you.”

  “I figured,” Adam replied. “That’s why we’re kinda in a hurry. So pardon us if we don’t stop and visit.”

  “Whoa!” she said, refusing to release his shirt. “I’m going with you. This place is drying up faster than spit on a hot skillet.”

  “What?” Adam blurted in surprise. This was not something he was prepared for. Taking one woman with him was insane enough; two would be impossible. “You just got here. You don’t even know where I’m goin’.”

  “I don’t care where you’re going. I’m going with you. I’ll worry about where I end up after I get there.” She turned to Lacey then and said, “Help me get my things, honey.”

  Adam stood in the darkened hallway, feeling totally helpless while the two women ran quickly to Bonnie’s room to gather up her belongings. “I ain’t got a horse for you,” was all the argument he could think of at the moment.

  “That’s not a problem,” Bonnie called back cheerfully over her shoulder as they disappeared into the room next to Lace
y’s. Long accustomed to a sense of survival, Bonnie knew she was many years beyond an age where she could hope for someone to step forward to rescue her. And she had no intention of remaining in Bannack to witness the obvious death of the mining town. Consequently she was ready to take the first opportunity to escape, and she didn’t care if she was invited along or not. Experiencing a rather dark optimism, she was optimistic nonetheless and, like a cat, believed she would land on her feet.

  The temptation to leave without them was hard to resist. Adam felt that he had been buffaloed by the hardbitten whore, and for a man who was accustomed to being in control, it was a frustrating experience. Damn me for a softheaded fool, he scolded himself, and for a brief moment, he was about to curse Jake, too, for without his younger brother’s compassion for a sorrowful prostitute, he wouldn’t have found himself in such a fix. Knowing that Finn was probably getting antsy waiting for him at the top of the ridge above town, he took a few steps down the hall to the top of the stairwell where he could see half of the saloon downstairs. What he could see told him that it was a typical night in the barroom, and no one seemed to be interested in what was going on upstairs. “Damn,” he muttered, still disgruntled over the way things had evolved. Walking back to Bonnie’s door, he met the women coming from the room. They both appeared excited as if they were going on a hayride. “You’re gonna have to ride on one of Finn’s mules,” he said to Bonnie.

  “Finn?” she responded. “Who the hell asked him along?”

  “I expect he’ll ask me the same question when he sees you,” Adam replied as he led the way down the hall to the back stairs, where he paused. “Might be a good idea for you to go down and make sure there’s nobody standin’ around the back door,” he told Bonnie.

  “See, you’re using me already,” she said, and started down the steps. At the bottom, she looked back and waved them on. After they had filed out the back door, the two women stood in the dark alley while Adam went behind the outhouse to get his horse, unaware that Fred, the bartender, had caught a glimpse of them as they left. Not overly curious, but enough to see who it was, he shrugged and returned to the bar.