Earthbound

by Adam Lewinson

  “If you can get me to the outskirts of a town,” Becca said, “I’ll purchase supplies while you hide out nearby.”

  “That’s a little risky,” I said, “if the Nuggets have spread word to look out for you.”

  “I’m not sure what choice we have,” she replied. “If we ration between us we can maybe stretch an extra day or two, but that only postpones the inevitable. And your horses. They need water and bales of hay.”

  She was right of course. Odds were better with her buying supplies than us.

  “Let’s go to Choteau,” Pace suggested.

  I didn’t love that idea. About a third of the way was the same route to Augusta and Conrad. Lots of people could be looking for us in those parts.

  Becca, however, loved that idea. “I’ve always wanted to go there!”

  Choteau was not known for being much of a settlement, but Freezeout Lake was supposed to be pretty good if you like that sort of thing. So we resolved that we’d leave the next morning at dawn for the sixty mile ride.

  Meantime we wound up actually having a pretty nice night. We sat around the fire drinking whiskey, and things actually felt kinda normal if you know what I mean.

  “Do you think you’ll miss working at the general store?” Pace asked.

  Becca laughed pretty hard at that one. “No, I don’t think so. And what about you, Pace? Miss working at the bank?”

  “I feel like I still do, in a fashion.” We all laughed at that.

  “Still dreaming of going to the stars?” Becca asked.

  “Of course,” Pace replied. “And I kind of feel like I’m a step closer to that, even if that’s still a long long ways away.”

  That’s bullshit of course. But the more he drank the more Pace loved to talk about going starbound. Whatever.

  More whiskey.

  “Well, Rebecca,” Pace said, “I remember clearly you dreamed of a life without poverty. Looks like you’re getting your wish!”

  “No!” she said pointedly. “I want a life without fear! It’s not about the poverty, it’s about the fear!”

  “Oh, I heard that completely wrong.”

  “You’re effing things up again,” I muttered to Pace. Becca shot me a look. I know, language.

  “All you’ve done is replace one set of fears for another,” Becca explained. “Only these fears are probably a lot more deadly.”

  “I’m not seeing anything to be afraid of,” Pace replied.

  “Not even Shādo Shay?” I asked.

  “Nope. I don’t see fear. I just see opportunity.”

  More whiskey.

  “And what about you, Asher?” Becca asked me. “Last time I asked, you said you don’t dream.”

  I grunted for a second, trying to figure out what to say. “I reckon I still don’t dream about the future. But I do like this. Right now.”

  That was something we could all drink to. Then Becca did something that surprised me a little. She reached out and put an arm around my shoulder and then Pace’s.

  “My boys,” she said. “My little bank robbers.

  Becca was pretty excited when we headed out to Choteau. We took turns with her riding in the saddle behind me, then Pace. I coulda rode with her the whole time, feeling her arms wrapped around my waist. But in fairness to Charon it was good to trade off with Flashbound. Okay, Becca didn’t weigh much and that wouldn’t make any difference to Charon. I guess it was in fairness to Pace I suppose.

  We crossed the railway bridge, for real this time. Wished I coulda seen Becca’s expression on her face. I just heard her gasp a few times. She’d never been this far from home before. She’d never seen the freeways covered in overgrowth and moss. These were new plains for her. New mountain ranges. New abandoned buildings along the side of the road. New air to breathe, sorta.

  “This almost makes life with a couple of criminals worthwhile,” she said.

  The horses ran for a while so we could make good time. We were hoping to get back to our hideout before nightfall. But we had to take a detour to check out Freezeout Lake. Not sure how it got its name, maybe it used to freeze out, I dunno. Anyway, now that it was the beginning of Spring it wasn’t that cold mid-day. Nothing was freezing. Didn’t really feel like I needed my overcoat actually.

  About a mile away from the lake you could hear something. Kinda sounded like birds calling. But it was too loud, didn’t seem possible. That would be a lot of birds. Well, sure enough, when we arrived at the lake we saw some birds. Thousands of birds. Thousands and thousands. Maybe hundreds of thousands I dunno. They filled up the whole sky, like locusts in those Bible stories Becca used to read me. And when you’re right up against them it’s pretty deafening.

  “We’re in luck!” Pace shouted. “I was hoping we’d see this. Around this time every year snow geese visit here during their migration. It’s incredible!”

  Becca was also in awe. It was okay I suppose, but I was mostly concerned those birds would poop on my hat. We watched them for maybe an hour anyway. Just swirling in the sky.

  “This is their world now,” Pace said. “We’re just visiting.”

  I had to pull them away from the lake after a while cause I was getting concerned we’d lose daylight. And a little less than an hour after that we arrived in Choteau.

  The plan was me and Pace would wait outside the settlement for Becca, but once we were there that didn’t appeal none to Pace. To me neither.

  “Let’s just go to the saloon,” Pace suggested. “Anyone who suspects we might be the bank robbers, well, you can cover for us Rebecca. If anyone’s looking for a kidnap victim, you clearly are here willingly.”

  “Mostly willingly,” she replied slyly. “Okay but at the first sign of trouble we’re out of there.”

  It was an okay little settlement I suppose. Smaller than Great Falls. Not as homey as Augusta. Probably the least favorite of the ones we’ve seen. But it was easy to spot their saloon, the only one in town, conveniently located next to the bank. Becca caught me and Pace kinda drooling while we stared at that bank.

  “No way, boys!”

  That bank was the most protected we’d ever seen. They had three armed gunmen stationed at the front porch. Wouldn’t have been surprised if those were Shādo Shay’s men. No one was foolish enough to try to rob that bank. Course Shādo Shay knew us well enough by now to know we were exactly that foolish.

  And it looked tempting.

  The saloon was pretty empty, which I guess made sense for mid-day. There was the barkeep and one old guy who looked like he was already drunk, plus two girls who sure looked like prostitutes. I felt pretty good that we’d go unnoticed in there.

  Right away Becca noticed a Wanted poster on the wall. Our reward had gone up considerably. This poster said “WANTED – for Bank Robbery across the Great Plains. $20,000 Alive. $80,000 Dead.” Becca looked at that ugly portrait of me and compared it to my real face.

  “Not a bad likeness,” she giggled.

  The barkeep didn’t say much. Just gave us our bottle of whiskey and left us alone.

  “So this is what outlaw life is like,” Becca commented. “Kind of boring.” She was right. Choteau was pretty boring. Nothing a bank robbery wouldn’t cure. “Well, I’m going to go buy our supplies and then we’ll…”

  Becca didn’t finish her sentence, cause right then the saloon door swung open and the three armed gunmen from outside the bank waltzed in. Each had a big ol’ shotgun. Had they recognized us? Turned out nope. They left those shotguns leaning by the door. Two of them sat at a table while the third stood right next to me at the bar to order a drink. We tried to play it cool but I gotta think Becca was scared shitless, right?

  “Howdy,” the gunman said to me.

  “Howdy,” I said, trying to be neighborly.

  “You folks aren’t from here.” The gunman gave the three of us a very close look.

  “We’re from Conrad,” Pace responded quickly, always thinking as usual. “We just came by to see the snow geese migratio
n. Figured we’d have a drink before we headed home.”

  That explanation seemed pretty good to the gunman. He looked around the room for the barkeep who seemed to have disappeared.

  “Only time of year to see it,” the gunman said.

  “That’s right,” Pace replied. “Had to take that opportunity while we could.”

  “Where is that damned barkeep?” the gunman grumbled. I wanted that damned barkeep to come by too, just so that gunman would move on. He eyed me and Pace a second time. “You boys look familiar. Have I seen you in these parts before?”

  “I don’t think so,” Pace answered. “First time for us.”

  “Hmm…” The gunman pondered us for a moment. “Passing resemblance to those bank robbers. You know about them, right?”

  “Oh do we!” Pace said with a laugh. “We saw them ourselves actually. They robbed our bank in Conrad. I don’t think we look much like them, though. They both seemed a lot taller.”

  “I think the bigger one looked part Cherokee,” Becca interjected. Good on her.

  “Hmm…” the gunman grumbled.

  “I heard they took a hostage,” Becca added. “A girl.” Good strategy on Becca’s part I suppose. Putting it out there to further deflect attention from us. Course I had my hand on the trigger the whole time.

  “Hadn’t heard that,” the gunman said. “Doesn’t surprise me none.” Then the gunman got a good look at Becca. Eyed her up and down. Didn’t like that much. “And who might you be?”

  “Me? I’m his sister,” Becca said, indicating Pace. “And his fiancé,” she said, grabbing my arm. That made me feel pretty good. Pace got the sibling. I got the fiancé. Pace probably didn’t like that much. Hah.

  The gunman seemed a might disappointed. “Spoken for,” he said, “I understand.” Then he moved his attention away. Can’t blame a guy. Based on the quality of prostitute in their saloon, he probably had slim pickings to choose from. “Damned barkeep. Where the eff are ‘ya!” he yelled. Then he indicated brief apologies to Becca. “Sorry for the language, ma’am.”

  “Not a problem. Both my companions have issues with profanity as well.”

  “My sister and would love it if we could buy you and your friends a drink,” Pace offered.

  “Thank you kindly,” the gunman replied, “but this barkeep owes me. All hell.” The gunman reached back behind the bar and took a bottle of whiskey. He headed back to his table, finally. But before he sat down, he turned back to us. “Might see you up in Conrad. Me and the boys have been hired to guard over a transport once it gets there.”

  “A transport,” Pace said with interest.

  “Bringing gold to replenish everything that got stolen across the Great Plains. Making stops in Great Falls and Augusta too, I believe. Heard it might be around a hundred thousand coins all told.”

  “A hundred thousand?” Pace definitely was interested. “When’s that coming around? I mean, when are you coming around? We’ll look for you. Show you some good Conrad hospitality.” The gunman didn’t seem interested so Pace upped the ante. “I know a couple of nice girls I can introduce you boys to. Girls not spoken for.”

  That definitely piqued the gunman’s interest. “We’ll be up there in two days’ time.”

  “What route is that transport taking?” I was concerned Pace was pushing it too much. “Straight up route 15?”

  The gunman seemed okay with the question. I was relieved. “Yup. Starting out in Helena I believe.”

  “That will certainly be the most excitement Conrad has seen since, well, the bank robbery. Looking forward to seeing you up there. And good luck catching those bank robbers.”

  “Oh we’ll get ‘em.”

  The pleasantries ended and everyone went back to their drinking.

  “Your brother?” Pace whispered. “Why couldn’t I have been your fiancé?”

  “Cause she has good taste,” I said.

  “Don’t let that get to your head,” Becca snapped, ripping her arm away from my arm. “I said you were my fiancé because you’re bigger and if you needed to fight with that guy over me you’d have a better chance of winning. No offense, Pace.”

  “I understand,” Pace said. “I’m more a lover than a fighter anyway.” That cracked all of us up. And even though there was a practical reason why Becca chose me to be her fiancé, it sure felt good. “So how about that transport.”

  “Pretty interesting,” I said. “Sounds like they’ll have plenty to guard it when they arrive in the settlements. But when they’re in between settlements, that’s a different situation.”

  “How many guards do you suspect they’ll have in the transport itself?”

  “Probably not that many. Not that much room if they’re carrying a hundred thousand coins. Probably just a couple of men. Maybe a shotgun or two if they’re taking likely precautions.”

  “Plus there can’t be any Mankins. No place to hide, because they’d have no idea where anyone like let’s say us decided to rob it.”

  “So creating an ambush along route 15…”

  “Would be the smart way to do this.”

  “This is just bar talk, right?” Becca asked.

  Pace and I looked at one another over Becca.

  “It’s better than a bank,” Pace mused.

  “Makes sense,” I agreed.

  “Boys, I don’t like this,” Becca interjected.

  But Pace ignored her. “There’s supposedly a location maybe thirty-five miles south of Great Falls on the road to Helena. A rock formation, maybe four hundred feet high. I read all about that place. It’s called Tower Rock. Lewis and Clark had been there, climbed to the top, said it had a great view.” Those useless Lewis and Clark guys. Always blabbering on about stuff. “I always wanted to go there. And maybe we should. It’s the perfect place to wait and look for the transport coming. And when we see it, we can hustle down the mountain in time to intercept it.”

  “That’s a good plan,” I agreed.

  “You two aren’t serious are you?” Becca asked. Actually she sorta pleaded.

  “A haul like that,” I said, “and we can afford to move on to wherever you want.”

  “And you know what?” Pace added. “We’ll need a transport ourselves if we’re leaving the Great Plains with all our gold. It’s the perfect scenario.”

  Becca didn’t say much after that. She seemed upset though. She grabbed a bar napkin and started dabbing her eyes. Then she excused herself to go to the toilet.

  “She doesn’t like our plan,” I said.

  “Not much,” Pace replied, “but she’ll like it better when we’re two hundred miles from here, with a clean start.”

  I agreed and we downed a little more whiskey.

  “She seems upset,” I said.

  “Only because she’s frustrated,” Pace explained. “It’s because she wants you and doesn’t know what to do about it.”

  “Oh shut the eff up, Lewis Clark or Clark Lewis or whatever the eff your name is!”

  “I’m serious. She wants you. She did pick you to be her fiancé.”

  “She said it’s cause I can protect her better. It’s pretty obvious she likes you.”

  “Me? Ah, no. She just likes my style. But she doesn’t like me. Not in that way. Believe me, I know women. I know what’s in their heads. She wants you. You should think about it.”

  What the eff did he think I was thinking about all the time?

  This was just bar talk. Pace enjoyed teasing me. Putting ideas into my head. I just needed to ignore him.

  A few minutes later I noticed Becca at the other end of the saloon. Guess she was done peeing. Seemed like she was talking to one of the prostitutes. That struck me as strange. And then I could swear I saw something, a glint of metal exchanging hands. I admit I was a little suspicious.

  “What was that about?” I asked as Becca came back to join us.

  “Oh that?” she replied quickly. “I just feel sorry for her, because she needs the lifestyle she’s chosen.
So I gave her a little money. We can afford to do things like that, right?”

  “You be as generous as you’d like,” Pace replied.

  I admit, I was a little skeptical. Becca must’ve noticed, cause she reassured me. “Asher, you look like there’s a thought in your head. Don’t you worry. I would never do anything to harm you. You know that.”

  And I did of course.

  Becca excused herself to go buy the supplies. She’d load up the horses and we’d meet her in about ten minutes.

  Once she was gone, I glanced over at the gunmen. They seemed happily getting drunk, paying us no mind.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “The question is, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  In unison we stood up and headed for the door. It was a stupid idea. But we couldn’t help ourselves.

  We wasted no time, grabbed a few important supplies from our horses and just waltzed right up to that bank. With the armed guards gone and Becca preoccupied, we had a very short window. We needed to do this fast.

  “No drama, right Pace?”

  “No drama,” he agreed.

  He went in front and I went round the back, so we’d meet in the middle. By the time I got through the back room Pace already had his weapon drawn and was ordering the four bank tellers to put their hands where he could see them. Four tellers, more than we’d seen before. I wondered why that was.

  “We’re in a hurry,” Pace said, “so we’ll need to keep this quick.

  Pace and I made eye contact when we were both near the vault. Now with me providing cover, Pace was freed to holster his revolver and tie three of the tellers up with some rope. Pace purposely let the strongest looking teller stand untied for the moment. So far so good.

  “Which one of you knows the combination to the safe?” His question was just met with a bunch of scared eyes. “No one? What’s the matter, did the Great Plains Holding Company threaten to terminate you if you cooperated with bank robbers?”

  The strongest looking teller seemed to be the bravest. Maybe because he was the only one untied. “Terminate is a good word,” he said.

  Pace went right up and looked that guy in the eye. “You know the combination?” The strongest looking teller shook his head no. The Pace looked one of the tied up tellers in the eye. Then another. They didn’t speak. But that third teller darted his eyes to the left toward the fourth teller. That guy was the oldest one. Made sense that he’d be the one trusted with the combination. Pace pulled out his revolver but kept it a safe distance from the fourth teller. “Easy way or hard way?” The fourth teller started breaking down. I kinda felt bad. Pace put his gun away. The easy way. “Hey listen, I’m not going to let the bank retaliate against you. I’ve got a hell of a good plan. But I just need that combination. I promise it won’t get traced back to you.”