The Intruders

by William W. Johnstone; J. A. Johnstone

  He looked back at the stable as the horse ran away. No one was following him, and several men were attempting to put out the fire. It had not spread very far, and Pete figured they had saved the stable. If they got the ranch hand a doctor in time, they might be able to save him as well.

  Pete continued to allow his horse to blindly follow the other horses through the darkness. It was going to be a long night for him, and a lot of other people in Blackstone, too.

  CHAPTER 29

  A warm oven and a quiet jail were a dangerous combination for a lawman, even Buck Trammel. He had his feet on the desk and his chair at just the right angle to make himself cozy enough to fall asleep. He would pay for it later with a sore back and tight shoulders, but at that moment the price was worth it. And he needed sleep.

  Trammel did not think he had been asleep long when he was jolted awake by someone pounding on the jailhouse door. He got up and went to the rifle rack as he called out, “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Bobby from the Clifford,” said a young boy’s voice through the door. “You’d better come quick. There’s cowboys coming.”

  Trammel recognized the voice as belonging to the little orphan boy who did odd jobs around the Clifford.

  He took down his Henry from the rack and listened at the front door before opening it. He did not want to walk into a trap. Hearing and seeing nothing of concern, he went outside, shut the door behind him, and walked next door to the Clifford. He had no idea what time it was, but it was late enough for the streets to be empty. He could not even hear the tinny pianos or the bawdy singing coming from the saloons along Main Street. What could possibly be so urgent at such a time of the morning?

  He glanced over at the barn where the ranch hands were holding vigil over Mr. Hagen’s remains. Lonnie had agreed to keep the number down to around six. But now there were about twenty men near the barn. And all of them were mounted.

  “Evening, Buck,” Adam said as he stepped out of the hotel and onto the boardwalk. “Looks like the natives are getting restless.”

  Trammel saw the man was in a fresh suit, and his Colt was back on his right hip, but his eyes were red and puffy. “You just wake up?”

  Hagen kept looking at the men by the barn. “Figured I ought to grab as much sleep as I can while I can. The night clerk heard a bunch of men ride into town and sent Bobby to wake us. Looks like he had a good reason, too. I’ll have to remember to raise his salary.”

  Trammel saw the men looking over at the hotel and knew they were making the decision to ride over. “You do anything to antagonize them? And don’t give me one of your cute answers. This looks serious.”

  “I’ve done what you said,” Hagen told him. “I know going on the porch bothers them, but I can’t look like I’m afraid in my own town, Buck. I still have an image to uphold and a town to run.” He nodded toward the men. “But I haven’t done anything to warrant this.”

  Trammel found there was always the trace of the truth in any lie Hagen told. He rarely answered a question directly when sarcasm would do. He was in the habit of avoiding the truth even when he did not have to.

  But Trammel found himself believing him when he said he had no idea why the men of the Blackstone Ranch were gathering nearby. Lonnie had given him his word and Trammel intended to hold him to it.

  “I’m going over to see what’s going on.”

  Hagen surprised him by grabbing his arm. “Don’t. Not yet. Stay here and wait it out.”

  Trammel looked at the right hand on his arm until Hagen realized his mistake and removed it. “Give me one good reason why I should.”

  “Because you don’t know what you’re walking into, for one,” Hagen said. “And this might not have anything to do with us. It might be a ranch problem. Or they might be taking their time changing the guard. Or they might have been planning this from the beginning and think now is the best time to betray you and come after me. No matter how you look at it, watching this from afar is the wisest thing to do. Please.”

  Trammel decided to stay in front of the hotel. He had lived through enough fights with this man at his side to know he understood situations like this. Maybe better than Trammel understood them. His size and grit often made up for his lack of insight, but not even he would stand much of a chance against twenty mounted men in open ground.

  “Where are your Celestials?” Trammel asked as he kept watching the scene.

  Hagen was watching the men, too. “They’re close. Don’t worry about that. These boys will regret it if they start any trouble now.”

  Trammel watched Lonnie climb up on his horse and hoped they turned left and headed out of town along the back road that led up to the ranch.

  Instead, they rode straight for the Clifford Hotel.

  “Damn,” the sheriff said out loud.

  “And here comes our answer.” He pulled his Colt and held it flat against the holster.

  Trammel kept his pistol tucked under his arm but held the Henry tighter. He walked toward the approaching riders, intentionally putting himself between them and Hagen. Trammel rested his rifle butt on his belt. The barrel pointed up at an angle.

  When the men were only a few yards away, Lonnie raised his right hand and brought the men to a stop. He slowed down his horse and approached the sheriff at a slower pace.

  “Me and my boys have had enough, Trammel.” Lonnie looked over at Hagen. “We’re here to give that low-down skunk what he deserves. I’m asking you to get out of our way and let us do what needs doing.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, and neither is Hagen,” Trammel said. “Not until you tell me what all of this is about.”

  “Someone rode out to the ranch tonight, cut open poor Ray, and set the stable on fire.” Lonnie pointed at Hagen. “Someone working for him.”

  “Whoever did it wasn’t working for me,” Hagen said.

  “Liar!” one of the ranch hands called out, and the rest agreed.

  Trammel did not know which one was Ray but figured he would probably recognize him by sight. “Is Ray still alive?”

  “Barely,” Lonnie said. “They tell me the dirty dog sliced open his belly and he’s barely hanging on.”

  Trammel turned to tell Bobby to go fetch Dr. Moore, but saw the little boy was already running toward the doctor’s office at Hagen’s direction.

  “What about the stable?” Trammel asked. “Any stock hurt?”

  “My boys got there in time to keep the fire from spreading, but Ray’s arm is burned pretty bad. It’s a miracle he’s still alive.” Lonnie pointed at Hagen again. “But fire’s his way of doing things, ain’t it? So it was either him or that colored guy up the street who did it like he did it to Bookman.”

  Trammel held up his hand before the men got any more worked up than they already were. “Did Ray tell you what the man who did this looked like?”

  One of the riders behind Lonnie said, “That’s all he kept saying when I left him. Big guy, black beard, had a knife and was damned fast.”

  Hagen said, “No one who works for me looks like that.”

  “So he says,” Lonnie said to Trammel. “He could’ve hired it done. Brought someone up from Laramie to do it.”

  Trammel remembered his dustup with Albertson and the man he claimed as his cousin earlier that night. The only time he had a decent look at the man was when they stopped at the head of Main Street before riding away. The man he saw had the same build the ranch hand described.

  And Lonnie’s mention of Laramie gave him a pretty good idea of who the attacker might be.

  “Hagen’s right,” Trammel told them. “I know most of the men who work for him and none of them look like the one Ray described. But Hawkeye and I had a run-in with a man earlier tonight that matches that description to the letter.”

  Lonnie did not look impressed. “I care less about who did it than who he was working for.” He glared at Hagen. “And I’m pretty sure I’m looking at the man who hired him.”

  Trammel spoke over Hagen as
he said, “The man I’m looking for doesn’t work for Hagen, but someone else who’s been causing trouble in this town. I’m asking you boys to wait until sunup to see if we can track this man in the daytime. I think you’ll see that I’m right.”

  Lonnie stiffened in the saddle. “You taking Hagen’s part in this, Trammel?”

  “I’m saying Hagen doesn’t have a part in this,” the sheriff responded. “And I’m not going to let you boys lynch him without proof. If this man is working for Hagen, I’ll arrest him. He’ll stand trial for it.”

  “You said that about Mr. Hagen, too,” one of the ranchers called out. “And you haven’t done squat about it.”

  “I’m still looking into that,” Trammel said. “Me and Doc Emily, too. We’re waiting for the family to get here before we tell them what we found.”

  Lonnie sneered. “Still protecting your friend, eh, Trammel?”

  “I’m enforcing the law.” He sensed a shift in the men and knew they were getting ready to do something. He kept the rifle butt on his hip but moved it slowly, until it was pointing at Lonnie’s head. “I’m done trying to reason with you boys. Now I’m telling you to wait until morning before you jump to any conclusions. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

  The men flinched when ten Chinese men stepped out of the shadows behind the riders. Every one of them had a rifle. Every one of them was pointed up at the ranchers.

  Lonnie looked back at the Celestials and realized he and his men were surrounded. “Never thought you’d be the kind of man to take up with heathens, Trammel.”

  “Oh, they’re mine,” Hagen said. “Well, a few of mine anyway. I think I have a couple more in the shadows.”

  Trammel lowered his rifle and said, “Damnit, Lonnie. I’m not looking for a fight here. Come back at dawn and you, me, and Hawkeye will take you to where all of this started. We’ll track the wolf together and I promise you, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  Lonnie was chewing it over when Dr. Moore rode up to them and pulled his horse up short. “I came as fast as I could. Where’s the wounded man?”

  Lonnie snapped out of it and said, “Up at the ranch, at the stable.”

  “I don’t know where that is, but if you men can bring me to him, I can try to save his life. But hurry. We haven’t a moment to lose.”

  Lonnie looked back at his men. “Six of you stay here with Mr. Hagen. The rest of you take the doc up to the ranch.”

  If the men disagreed with him, they did not show it. Six men at the back turned and rode past the Chinese riflemen to the barn. The rest rode out along Main Street with Dr. Moore in the middle of them.

  That left Lonnie alone with Trammel and Hagen.

  Trammel could finally allow himself to breathe. “You made the right choice, Lonnie. We’ll start the search in the morning. You’ve got my word.”

  “And you’ve got mine,” the topman said. “Because if I find out Hagen had anything to do with this, not even you will be able to keep me from him.”

  Lonnie brought his horse around roughly and galloped after the others along Main Street.

  Hagen holstered his pistol. “Well, that was invigorating, wasn’t it?”

  But Trammel was in no mood for his mouth. “Are you sure none of your men had anything to do with this? Maybe struck out after them on their own, hoping to please you?”

  “Not a chance.” Hagen grinned. “None of my men would have left Ray alive.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Lonnie hated being wrong, but he had no choice but to admit it. Right after sunrise, he had ridden to the jailhouse only to find Trammel and Hawkeye ready to go. They led him to old Mrs. Higgins’s house, where he saw what had happened, as Trammel had described. The marks in the compact dirt in front of the place pointed to a squabble. He found the spent bullets Trammel had ejected from his Henry. Even the crack in the front wall of the house was there, just where Trammel told him it would be.

  The two lawmen had hung back to let Lonnie follow the track of the fleeing man. He had never considered himself much of a hand at tracking, but he could read the signs as well as the next man. Certainly better than a city slicker like Trammel ever could.

  He followed the tracks up the incline and spotted broken blades of grass. Droppings and hoofprints continued up to the ranch and around the bunkhouse, before doubling back on themselves toward the stable. The wood bore scorch marks from the fire. The ground was still stained with Ray’s blood. All the stalls were empty, and he had sent out some of his men to round the horses up and bring them back.

  He leaned over and spat over the side, careful not to hit Trammel or Hawkeye when he did so.

  “Looks like I owe you an apology, Sheriff,” he said. “I can admit when I’m wrong.”

  But Trammel was not looking for that. “After all the crap Hagen has pulled in this town, I can understand why you blamed him. I’m thankful you stopped and listened to reason.”

  Lonnie looked down at the blood on the ground and urged them to ride back toward the bunkhouse, where Dr. Moore was tending to Ray’s wounds. “Can’t believe Ray lived after being cut like that and losing all that blood. The human body’s a strange thing.”

  “Doesn’t hurt that Doc Moore’s a good doctor,” Hawkeye observed. “He’s the reason why Ray’s still aboveground and not in it.”

  “He’s alive,” Trammel said, cutting him short. “That’s all that matters. Your men track where his attacker headed off to?”

  Lonnie shook his head. “We followed it as much as we could, but they all ran in the same direction. It looks like he broke away from them after a while and headed back into town, but I told the boys not to bother following him. It’s rocky as hell and hard to track someone through there. Besides, I figured him heading back into town kind of made him your problem.”

  “I like the way you think, Lonnie.” Trammel extended a hand to him. “No hard feelings?”

  Lonnie shook his hand, knowing he would be breaking his promise to him by this time tomorrow. “None whatsoever, Sheriff. And I didn’t forget about taking down those trees either. A chipmunk would have a hard time getting past the tangle of trees we plan on leaving.”

  “Good man.” Trammel pulled up short of the bunkhouse. Hawkeye followed his lead. “I imagine you and your men have plenty to do around here, so we’ll head back to town and get looking for the man Ray described.”

  “We’ll let you know when we’re done blocking the road,” Lonnie told him. “I think you’ll like what you see.”

  Lonnie watched Trammel and Hawkeye ride back down into town as Tom, one of his ranch hands, came out of the bunkhouse.

  Lonnie asked him, “Ray still doing OK?”

  “The doc says he’ll pull through,” Tom told him. “I would’ve bet a year’s wages he was done for when we brought the doc up here. It was one time I was glad I was wrong. He’ll be laid up for a few weeks, but he’ll be better before we know it. The doc is just finishing up with him now. Says we have to keep the wound clean on account of inspection.”

  “Infection,” Lonnie corrected him.

  “Well, whatever it is,” Tom said, “I’ll be the one tending to him.”

  Lonnie knew he would. “Thanks for handling that for us. It’ll allow me to think on other things.”

  Tom slid his hands into his pockets as he watched Trammel and Hawkeye ride down toward Stone Gate and the town beyond. “Guess you and the sheriff are friends again.”

  Lonnie shrugged. “You could say that.”

  “You still intend to go after Hagen tomorrow during that march?”

  “Won’t be much of a march,” Lonnie told him, “especially after we block that road this afternoon. But yeah, we’re still going after Hagen tomorrow.”

  “That won’t make your friend the sheriff very happy.”

  Lonnie spat. “Friends don’t always agree.”

  * * *

  As they rode through Stone Gate, Hawkeye could not hold his silence any longer. “I hate it
when you get quiet like this, boss.”

  Trammel had been too deep in thought to realize he was quiet. “Why?”

  “Because it means something’s bothering you or you’re cooking up something,” Hawkeye said. “And either way I don’t learn anything unless you talk. That’s what bothers me.”

  “I don’t set out to bother you, Hawkeye,” Trammel said. “Just working some things over in my mind. The man who shot at us and almost killed Ray is a man by the name of Pete Stride, out of Laramie. He’s one of Lucien Clay’s topmen.”

  Hawkeye let that sink in. “Then that means Lonnie was right. Mr. Clay and Mr. Hagen are partners. So, this Stride fella was working for Mr. Hagen.”

  “I don’t think it’s that simple,” Trammel said. “I think Clay only has one partner in this world and that’s himself. I think Clay sent Stride here to start some trouble during tomorrow’s march. I don’t think it’s just him, but he got here early to get the lay of the land. Pick out the best places to start trouble. Maybe to go after Hagen himself.”

  Try as he might, Hawkeye still could not make sense of what Trammel was saying. “But if he’s partners with Mr. Hagen, causing trouble in Blackstone will cost him money, too, won’t it?”

  “A man like Lucien Clay is willing to pay a certain price for control,” Trammel explained. “Maybe he figures a hundred percent of everything is better than fifty percent of something.”

  It was still a lot for Hawkeye to think about. “I’d be happy with a quarter of what those two make between here and Laramie.”

  Trammel grinned. “You’d make a rotten crook, Hawkeye. Better stick to the law.”

  “I plan on it.” A new thought came to him. “So, if this Pete Stride fella came back to town, where do you think he is?”

  “We’re going to begin at the beginning,” Trammel said. “Let’s pay Mrs. Higgins a visit.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Trammel and Hawkeye watched Mrs. Higgins leave her house and paddle along Main Street. The basket she carried swayed easily on her arm, which Trammel took to mean she was going to Robertson’s store to buy provisions.