Pete had spent the last couple of days constantly thinking about what was happening in town. Part of that was because he didn’t have much else to do while he lay on his belly in the weeds or sat against a tree with ants and every other kind of insect burrowing into his boots or nibbling at his sweaty skin. While he and Frank moved from one hiding spot to another watching the depot that he and Nate had found, the others were eating hot meals and sleeping in warm beds. Deaugrey probably hadn’t left his favorite saloon and Nate was surely enjoying a hot meal and a nice shave.
“Not Pete Meyer,” he grumbled as he lifted his field glasses to his eyes and used his free hand to smack a mosquito on the side of his neck. “Pete gets to sit in the dirt because that’s what he does. Pete’s a damn fool. He should’ve picked a more comfortable occupation. Maybe food taster,” he groused. “Or gambler. Gamblers get the finest rooms and all the whores they can . . . What have we here?”
Throughout most of the time he’d been keeping watch on the depot, there hadn’t been much to see. There were only a few guards. From what Nate had discovered, the place was locked up so tight that the depot didn’t require many. But there was something in there, otherwise there wouldn’t be any guards at all, and there certainly wouldn’t be reinforced doors. Every so often, one of those guards might step into the old depot. So far, Pete hadn’t been able to get much of a look inside when that happened but over the course of the last day, four men and a half dozen horses had trickled inside and had yet to come out. His luck might have changed, however, since the set of larger doors at the front of the big building were now being opened. He looked over to a spot about fifty yards away where Frank was hiding and signaled for him to sit tight.
Rusted hinges wailed and heavy wood scraped against the ground. Pete stared through the field glasses, smiling widely as he finally got a glimpse of what was being held within the old depot. It seemed a good portion of the building’s innards had been scooped out to leave a hollow area. It took both guards to open the doors wide and four of the six horses to pull a long black wagon outside.
The wagon looked like it had once been a hearse. Now it was stripped down to the essentials and covered with bulky panels on the side with holes cut through at a passenger’s eye level. Gun ports, most likely. As for the contraption bolted to the top of the wagon near the back of its roof, Pete could only guess.
“What in the hell?” he grunted while squinting through the field glasses.
Atop the wagon was some kind of large kettle with hoses and narrow pipes running along its sides. A handle was attached to a long nozzle fashioned from several pieces of various widths pointing behind the wagon. Thinking back to the specialty weapons commissioned from Caster Grunwaldt, Pete lowered the field glasses and cursed under his breath. Part of him had hoped the fire spout was just a fanciful lie, but that contraption on the wagon looked like anything but. After the wagon had been pulled far enough away, Pete looked for any more of the guards. They all seemed to be busy with the wagon and the horses, so he gave another signal to Frank. The preacher nodded to acknowledge the command and moved in to get inside the depot for an even closer look.
As much as he hated to leave Frank to his own devices, Pete knew the preacher could take care of himself. They’d already argued about what to do next, and the consensus had ended in favor of the greater good. Still, he didn’t feel good about hurrying back to the spot where he’d tied his horse. Behind him, the team tied to the wagon was straining to get it moving. Its wheels were turning and it would surely gain some momentum, but it wouldn’t be a quick ride into town or wherever they were headed.
When he got to his horse, Pete didn’t give a damn about making noise. Attracting the guards’ attention would only give Frank a better chance to infiltrate the depot, so he snapped his reins, tapped his heels against the horse’s sides and took off like a shot toward Joplin.
* * *
Nate wasn’t much for strolling and it was even rarer for him to do so while wearing the simple, contented smile of a man half his age. The source for that smile was easy enough to see. Of course, any man in the vicinity would probably not even notice Nate at all since the woman on his arm was so naturally captivating.
“So,” the woman said, “this is Joplin. I’ve heard good things about it.”
“Perhaps we can take in some sights when this job is over,” he said while shifting his weight to compensate for the heavy bag he carried in his free hand.
Even when Angelica Corday frowned, she was beautiful. Her smooth skin seemed positively luminous in contrast to the raven-black hair framing her face. Thin, red lips formed the frown, which had more playfulness in it than anything close to sorrow. “It’s always a job with you, Nate. When are you going to take better care of yourself? Or,” she added while leaning in closer to him, “you could let me take care of you.”
“We might have had time for that if you hadn’t gotten yourself locked away, Angelica.”
“I’ve been out of jail for a month! Where have you been?”
“Keeping busy. And since I had to send telegrams to four different places if I was to have any chance of reaching you, it seems you’ve been keeping plenty busy yourself.”
Angelica wore a simple black dress with a white lace collar and matching cuffs. The red ribbons woven into the bodice created a set of lines that nicely accentuated the trim curves beneath her clothing. Smiling, she put a spring in her step which made it seem more like she was playing dress-up as she took hold of her skirt and gave it a little twirl. “I have been busy,” she said. “I was also very flattered that you took such pains to bring me here. Your message sounded so . . . urgent.”
“I need you, Angelica.”
Her eyes widened and she sighed. “I like the sound of that.”
“You’re the best in your line of work. If you sign on to this job with me, you’ll be more than happy with your share of the pay.”
“Back to jobs again,” she pouted. Before she could get too worked up, her other arm was taken by a second man who fell in step with them. Her smile returned as she unhooked herself from Nate so she could cling to the second man’s arm like he was saving her from drowning. “Hello, Deaugrey,” she purred. “At least there’s someone here I can rely on for a good time.”
“Indeed, you can,” Deaugrey said. “And I’ve already started to fill your dance card.”
“See, Nathan?” she said. “Someone around here knows how to treat a lady.”
“I’ll let you spend every waking hour with the crazy man,” Nate said. “We’ll see how long you last.”
“That,” Deaugrey said as he tightened his grip on her arm, “is what I believe is referred to as a verbal contract. From what I hear, they’re quite binding.”
Angelica laughed with him and continued to rake Nate over the coals while the three of them walked back to the Joplin Grand Hotel. They were about five long strides away from the wide front porch when the hotel’s doors opened and Pete frantically hurried outside. The tracker looked to either side and was about to take off running in another direction when he finally spotted the threesome headed his way.
“Thank God!” Pete said as he hurried over to them. “I just tried looking for you inside . . .”
“Let me guess,” Deaugrey said. “We weren’t in there.”
“What is it, Pete?” Nate asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Over the last few days, a few men have taken their horses into that old depot,” Pete explained. “Just like I told you when I saw you last time. Those horses are hitched to some kind of wagon that looks to be too damn heavy to be carrying just a bunch of men. It left the depot and there was something bolted to the top of it that could very well be that fire spout that Caster put together.”
“Fire spout?” Angelica asked. “What is that?”
“Much like it sounds, actually,” Deaugrey told her.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Nate said. “Pete, where were they headed?”
“Don’t know yet. I knew I could get to town and warn you before the wagon got here. It took a bit longer than I thought to find you, though. We gotta find that wagon and put it down.”
Deaugrey and Angelica were staring at something farther down the street. “Finding it may not be a problem,” she said.
Nate and Pete followed their line of sight as the crowd on both sides of the street began to look and point as well. Smoke was rising from another part of town that was smearing the sky with thick black trails.
“Putting it down, however,” Deaugrey said, “may not be so easy.”