When Marcy returned with the boiled instruments, she was accompanied by her father. Hicks had finished cleaning around the wounds with the water Jimmy had brought and was waiting for her. “Mighty considerate of you to come down here to help this man,” Fred Sullivan said. “My wife is makin’ you some coffee. She’ll bring it down directly.” Hicks nodded a halfhearted acknowledgment, then turned his full attention to his patient.
The first rays of the morning sun peeked through the small windows in the side of the barn, casting shadows across the hay-covered floor of the stall as Hicks stood back and gazed at the still form on the bed of hay. Taking his cup from a shelf by the window, he drained the last of the now cold coffee and announced, “That’s about all I can do for him.”
Jimmy tiptoed into the stall and asked, “Is he dead?”
Hicks shook his head and sighed. “No, but he oughta be.”
“Mama said to tell you she’s got breakfast ready any time you want it,” Jimmy said.
Hicks answered with a weary nod of his head. He turned then to confront Cody, who stood waiting in the doorway. “You did a helluva fine job, Doc,” Cody said. “I appreciate it and I’ll pay you your fee for coming down here.”
Hicks shook his head in tired amazement, finding it hard to remain angry at the persistent young man. “Don’t thank me too soon,” he replied. “He ain’t out of the woods just yet. It’s up to him now, but I’d say he’s got a fifty-fifty chance. I got the bullet out of his back and one out of his chest. I couldn’t get to that other one near his lung. I’da killed him sure enough if I had probed any deeper. They’ll leave some pretty bad scars, but I can’t help that.” He turned to face Marcy then. “I’ll leave this bottle of laudanum with you. He’s gonna be in a lot of pain, but go easy on this stuff, one or two teaspoons. No more than that or you’re liable to kill him. You can give him a dose when he wakes up.”
“Come on, Doc,” Cody said, “let’s go on up to the house and get some breakfast.”
“I need to wash up first,” Dr. Hicks replied, and looked down at some spots of blood on his chest, just then remembering that he was still wearing his nightshirt tucked in his trousers. “I reckon I’m lucky I pulled my boots on,” he mumbled. Then casting an eye at Cody, he quipped, “I suppose you would have shot me if I had tried to put on my shirt.”
Cody laughed. “Ah, Doc, you know I wasn’t ever gonna shoot you.”
Hicks studied Cody’s face for a long moment before admitting, “Well, you may well have saved your brother’s life. If those wounds had gone untreated, infection would have probably killed him. At least now he’s got a chance.”
Eager to show her appreciation for the doctor’s work, and in view of the conditions under which he had been enlisted, Myra Sullivan went all out in preparing a breakfast of bacon, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, hot coffee, and fresh milk. Never before had a hostage been treated so royally. Before the breakfast was over, Dr. Hicks found himself chatting neighborly with Fred and Myra, and telling them the news from Deer Lodge.
When it was finally finished, the doctor announced that he had better be getting back before his wife had a posse out looking for him. Cody offered to ride back with him, but Hicks insisted that he didn’t need an escort. “Besides, Nora’s probably got hold of the sheriff by now, and there might be a welcoming party waiting for you.”
“All right,” Cody said, “if you say so. How much do I owe you for the call?”
Hicks had to chuckle, astonished by his new attitude. “Nothing,” he said. “I’ll take a dollar for that bottle of laudanum. Myra’s breakfast was payment enough for the surgery.”
“That’s mighty kind of you, Doc,” Cody said. “Put it down in your ledger that I owe you a favor.” He walked to the corner of the corral with him where Jimmy was waiting with his horse. When Hicks was seated in the saddle, Cody grinned and said, “If you change your mind by the time you get home and decide to tell the deputy marshal ’bout being kidnapped, I’ll be gone by the time they can get here.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Hicks replied. “Tell your brother I’ll come back in a couple of days if I can, just to see if he’s still alive.”
“’Preciate it,” Cody said. He was only halfway joking when he had said he’d be gone before the sheriff could get there. He would stay long enough to make sure Cullen was going to make a recovery, but then he would be on his way as soon as he got a little more information from his brother about the man who shot him.
Chapter 10
It was her belief that the world owed Roberta Sykes a hell of a lot for the injustice she had suffered when God, fate, or whatever decreed that she should be born the daughter of a penny-ante drunken gambler named Wilfred Sykes. Sykes was an abusive husband and father, and Roberta was glad when he was knifed to death in a barroom brawl. She was only twelve at the time, but she remembered the feeling of grim satisfaction when seeing her father’s body, his shirtfront starched with dried blood from his wounds. Although her mother sobbed at the funeral, Roberta was convinced the tears were shed because of the poor woman’s despair for being widowed with two young children, and none wasted for the demise of the worthless husband.
It was pick and scratch for Bonnie Sykes and her two young’uns for the next three years, but for Roberta, it was the only happy time of her young life. Sadly, that ended when her mother met widower Jonah Morris. It was soon evident that Morris was looking for a wife to replace his dearly departed one, but he was not in the market for children. This was soon blatantly demonstrated when Roberta and her younger brother, Jack, were instructed to address their new stepfather as Uncle Jonah, instead of father. This was in an effort to appease the Morris side of the family. Naturally this helped ensure that the Sykeses and the Morrises never got along, and in fact, enjoyed open hostility between the offspring of the two sides of the union.
Jack was the first to break away from the arrangement. Being more like his father, he naturally gravitated toward the lawless side of society, establishing himself as a certified member of the outlaw world when he killed a man in a bar fight. Unlike his late father, he came out of the confrontation the winner, but found himself wanted by the law. Roberta remained in the unpleasant home environment until her mother died from pneumonia. While Jonah Morris was never abusive, he was instrumental in furthering Roberta’s disgust for men in general when he suggested that she might consider taking her mother’s place and become the third Mrs. Morris. A concept that was certainly repugnant to anyone with a modicum of decency, for Roberta it aided in an outright hatred for the male species. Just turned seventeen, she left the home of Jonah Morris, determined to make her way in the world on her own, promising herself that she would never be subservient to any man. She soon discovered that her main attribute was the beauty she inherited from her mother, unlike Jack, who seemed to be a replica of his father. It naturally followed that she learned that this asset gave her power over men, and she never hesitated to use it to her advantage.
Now, as she strolled out of the hotel on her way to the haberdashery to look at some material for a new gown, she enjoyed a smug sense of accomplishment for her aggressive acquisition of Gabriel Morris’ fortune. The cost in human lives had been dear, but not to her, for there were none lost that she deemed worth saving. While ol’ Gabe’s gold was substantial, she was shrewd enough to know it would not last forever, and would best be used to invest for her future. The investment she had decided upon came to her quite by accident when a gentleman she met in the hotel dining room told her that he was traveling through this part of the country mapping out future lines for the railroad. In the intimate privacy of his bedroom, he confided to her that the next year would see the tracks reach as far as Coulson. Contrary to common belief by the people of Coulson, however, the railroad planned to go beyond that town about six miles to a new settlement called Billings. Roberta was smart enough to know that land for the new railroad would be worth a great deal, so she decided to use her fortune to buy up as much of
that land as she could before the news reached the locals of that small town on the Yellowstone. She frowned when reminded of that portion of the gold dust that was wasted on Jack. Like so many men, she thought, Jack hasn’t got enough sense to handle that amount of money. It’s too bad I had to cut him in for part of the deal. It had been necessary, however, for she had required his outlaw connections to take care of the messy parts of her plan. She registered an involuntary shudder, accompanied by an expression of disgust when she thought about the sacrifices she had made of her body.
Calling her mind back to more pleasant thoughts, she smiled at the prospect of an even greater increase in her wealth as a landowner, but was suddenly stopped cold by the sight of a man on a horse near the end of the street. “Damn!” she uttered softly, not sure at once, and stepped inside the doorway of the hardware store until she was certain. “Damn,” she hissed again, for after a hard look, she recognized Cody McCloud. That worthless son of a bitch, she thought, thinking of Bob Yeager, who had been paid to take care of the McCloud brothers. She watched for a moment more until certain that he was going to continue down the street past her. Then she stepped inside the store to watch him through the window. How did he even know to look for her in Helena? And there was no doubt in her mind that he was looking for her.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
She turned to give the proprietor a cursory glance and replied, “No, thanks. I was just looking at these tools you have in the window.” She pretended to look at them until Cody rode on past the store toward the stables at the end of the street. Forgetting the haberdashery then, she left the hardware store and made her way quickly back to the hotel.
“Howdy,” Malcolm Barnes greeted Cody when he reined up before the stable door and stepped down. “You lookin’ to board your horse?”
“Yeah,” Cody replied. “I don’t know for how long, though, so I’ll just pay you a day at a time.”
“All right,” Barnes said. “You can stow your saddle in the tack room.” He turned and pointed. “You want grain?”
“Yep,” Cody replied as he loosened the girth strap and pulled the saddle off. Barnes walked over and held the gate open while Cody led Buttermilk into the corral, pulled his bridle off, and gave him a slap on the rump. He closed the gate again, then stood with a foot propped on the bottom rail and looked over the other horses in the corral. “See any strangers in town the last few days?”
Barnes shrugged. “Some,” he said.
“Who belongs to that bay over there against the fence—the light one with the white stockin’s?”
“I don’t know his name,” Barnes answered. “Feller brought him in here with another horse.”
“Have a long scar across the side of his face?”
“Matter of fact he did,” Barnes replied. “Friend of yours?”
“Yeah,” Cody said softly. “Know where I can find him?”
“Nope. I ain’t got no idea.”
“Know when he’s comin’ back?”
“He didn’t say. Didn’t seem to be in any hurry, though.”
Cody turned his attention away from the horses to gaze at Barnes. “Much obliged for the information. How much you charge to sleep in the barn?”
“Quarter.”
“Fair enough,” Cody replied, and paid Barnes what he owed for one night plus a portion of oats for Buttermilk. When Barnes asked if he needed anything else before he went back to the house, Cody said, “Have you got a file I can borrow for a minute? I think my horse has a burr on one shoe that needs filin’ off.” Barnes went to get the file while Cody carried his saddle into the tack room and pulled his rifle out of the sling.
“Here you go,” Barnes said when he returned. “Just leave it in the tack room when you’re done. I’ve got some dinner gettin’ cold in the house.”
“Much obliged,” Cody said. He waited until Barnes walked away before opening the gate to the corral. He had no difficulty then cornering Cullen’s horse. The bay knew him well and stood patiently while Cody filed two deep marks in his right front shoe. That’ll make it a little easier if I have to find you later on, he thought. That done, he picked up his rifle and headed back up the street to check in the saloons for the man with a scar.
“Feller down at the desk said you were lookin’ for me,” Jack Sykes said when Roberta opened the door. “What’s goin’ on?” He walked into her room when she held the door wide for him. She didn’t look pleased.
“There’s a little matter of some business that wasn’t taken care of,” she said. “I just saw Cody McCloud riding down the middle of the street. He didn’t look very dead to me.”
Jack grimaced. “You sure it was McCloud?”
“Of course I’m sure,” Roberta responded. “So you need to find that damn Bob Yeager and tell him to finish the job he was paid to do. And I mean right now. This town isn’t big enough to avoid McCloud.”
“All right, all right,” Jack replied. “I’ll get him. I know where he’s probably at. Don’t get all riled up about it. I’ll take care of it.”
He started to leave, but she stopped him. “After you see Yeager, get our horses from the stable. We’re checking out of here today.”
“And goin’ where?” Jack asked.
“Coulson,” Roberta replied.
“Coulson?” her brother replied incredulously. “What in the hell would we want to go back there for?” He couldn’t believe she would want to return to the place where Jonah Morris and his clan lived. They had both escaped the little settlement to get away from them.
“Because I found out that the railroad is going to run their tracks that far within a year. Not many people know it, but they are going to bypass Coulson and go about five or six miles west of there to a new settlement called Billings. I plan to buy up as much of that land around there as I can with Gabe Morris’ money. If you’re smart, you’ll let me use your share, too.” Seeing the instant frown on his face, she said, “It’d be a lot smarter than spending it on whiskey and whores.” When he still seemed hesitant, she continued. “Picture the look on old Jonah Morris’ face when he finds out we own the whole damn valley. And the joke of it is we’ll buy it with his brother Gabe’s gold.”
That brought a smile to Jack’s face. “Maybe you’re right. That’ud be somethin’, wouldn’t it?”
“Good,” she concluded. “First thing, though, is to take care of Mr. Cody McCloud.”
“I’ll go find Yeager.” He left her then, his head filled with thoughts of returning home a wealthy landowner. He chuckled when he thought about his shrewd sister and realized how fortunate he was to be able to benefit from her gall. I wonder if I’m still wanted by the law over there.
As Jack suspected, Yeager wasn’t hard to find. With his recent accumulation of cash, he had practically made the Red Dog Saloon his center of operations. Having earned a new status of respect from Stumpy as soon as he flashed a sizable roll of greenbacks, he seemed content to languish in the rough saloon on the edge of town, even renting one of Stumpy’s spare rooms to sleep in. Jack found him seated at a corner table in the rear with his back to the wall. When Sykes walked in the front door, Yeager favored him with a scornful sneer as he approached his table. He was still irritated by Jack’s rejection of his attempt to become a partner in what he suspected was a moneymaking caper. “Well, well,” he slurred sarcastically, “if it ain’t my old pal, Jack Sykes. You got another little job you want done?”
Jack glanced at Stumpy long enough to order a glass of beer, then pulled out a chair and sat down. Fixing a stern eye on Yeager, he replied, “No, I’m wantin’ you to finish up a little job you already got paid for.”
Not sure what he meant, Yeager tilted his head back to glare at Sykes for a long moment before responding verbally, “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
Jack waited for a few seconds while Stumpy placed a glass of beer before him on the table and waited for payment. When the peg-legged bartender went back to the bar, Jack continued. “I�
��m talkin’ about Cody McCloud walkin’ around town big as life,” he said, making an effort to keep his voice down.
“Who?” Yeager responded.
“McCloud, damn it,” Jack said, “the other McCloud brother. There were two of ’em. You only got one of’em, and you were paid to take care of both of ’em.”
“Now, wait a damn minute.” Yeager rose, indifferent to whether Stumpy heard him or not. “The deal was to take care of ’em, one or two, however many showed up. Didn’t but one of ’em show up and I by God took care of him.” He paused to toss back the rest of the shot glass of whiskey, then looking calm again, said, “Our business was finished.” He sat back to watch Jack’s reaction.
“How the hell can it be finished when there’s still one of ’em walkin’ around lookin’ for trouble?” He refrained from saying looking for Roberta. “You don’t understand,” he continued when an idea struck him. “I’m just tellin’ you as a favor. I expect Cody McCloud is in town lookin’ for the man who killed his brother. He ain’t lookin’ for me. He ain’t ever laid eyes on me. I’m just tryin’ to warn you that you’d better get him first.” He could tell by Yeager’s reaction that his comment had struck home.
A sudden change of expression from insolence to one of concern revealed that Yeager had not given thought to that possibility. He was giving it his attention now. To begin with, he had no way of recognizing Cody McCloud other than the fact that he rode an Appaloosa. If they met him walking on the street, neither he nor Jack would know him from the man in the moon.
“Hell, I can’t just shoot him down in the street, even if I did know what he looks like,” Yeager complained. “They got law in this town.”
“I expect you’d best figure out what he looks like before he finds out what you look like,” Jack suggested, his enjoyment of the situation growing with Yeager’s obvious concern. “And you’d best do it quick.” He had expected to have to pay Yeager more money to take care of the second brother. He was complimenting himself for placing the onus upon the assassin. “I just wanted to warn you so you could get the jump on him before he finds you.”
Thunder Over Lolo Pass Page 16
