Chapter Twenty-six
English Nate Condor’s face was black with rage. “Two more? You’re telling me we lost two more?”
“That’s how it shapes up, Cap’n,” Barney Merden said. “Luke McLennan and Tom Barden left dead on the ground.”
“Who did it? Damn you, Barney, give me a name.”
“Lum Park says it was Dallas Steele.”
“Steele? He gunned two of my boys?”
“Seems like. It’s not a story Park would make up.”
“McLennan was good with a gun, fast on the draw. He killed his share.”
Merden, who was wasn’t hearing anything he didn’t already know, nodded. “I guess Steele was faster.”
“Why did he kill McLennan and the kid?” Condor asked.
“Lum says Steele had a girl with him when he came snooping around his place,” Merden said. “You know how them two boys were about women, Cap’n. I guess they wanted to screw the girl and Steele shot them.”
“Steele is dangerous,” Condor said. “I have a bad feeling about this. The Pinkertons didn’t send him into the territory to a dung heap like Recoil without a real good reason.”
“You think he knows about the wagon?”
“He might suspect something, or the government does. The damned army and the Pinkertons are close as two fleas on a frozen dog.”
“Want me to take a couple boys and do for him?”
A contemptuous smile touched Condor’s lips. “No, you damned fool. You can’t take Steele even if you have ten more just like you backing your play.” English Nate was silent for a while, then said, “No, I’ll take him myself, and I’ll kill him in a fair fight. The man who guns Dallas Steele will earn a rep that fighting men will be talking about a hundred years from now.”
Condor rose to his feet and stepped to the cabin window. “There’s a couple hours of daylight left. We’ll go talk to Lum.”
“He found the wagon, Cap’n,” Merden said. “You know he wants a half share.”
“Rhody found the wagon, not Lum,” Condor said. “But I’ll take care of him when the time comes.” His smile was unpleasant. “And Rhody.”
“Did Steele mention the pay wagon?” Condor asked.
“No, I did,” Lum Park said.
“You did!” Condor almost jumped out of his chair.
“I told him it was just a big story. What was wrong with that?”
“You damned—” Condor stopped himself in time and waited a moment until he calmed down. “I’m convinced Steele knows the wagon could be here, or at least he suspects it. I reckon that’s why he was sent to the Playas, to ferret out the wagon and its one hundred and thirty thousand in gold and silver.”
Park shook his head. “Hell, I should’ve gunned him and the woman, and we’d be done with him.”
“Well, it’s too late to cry over spilled milk,” Condor said. “The damage has been done.”
“What now, Cap’n?” Barney Merden asked. “I say we hit the town and get it over with, once and for all.”
“No. One thing we’re not doing is moving against Recoil,” Condor said. “Steele is there and those two troublemakers O’Brien and Ironside. All three of them are good with guns and the two old men routed your riders last night.”
“We had orders not to stand,” Merden said, his face aggrieved. “You told me plain to do plenty of hollering and no shooting, Nate.”
“Nonetheless, you ran from two men,” Condor said. “I can’t risk an attack on the town, not with Dallas Steele there.”
“Then what?” Park said. “What the hell do we do with the wagon and the gold?”
“We move the gold earlier than I planned and head for Mexico,” Condor said. “We can spend it there without anybody asking questions.”
“Hell, I don’t want to spend my money in Mexico,” Merden said. “What the hell is there in Mexico to interest a man?”
“Whiskey and women, Barney,” Condor said. “They both taste the same, no matter what side of the border you’re on.”
“Half of the gold is mine, remember.” Park’s wrinkled face shone with greed.
“Rhody found it,” Condor said. “I’d say the half share is hers.”
“She’s my daughter and she’ll do as I tell her or she’ll get the back of my hand.”
“Nate,” Rhody said, “Dallas Steele is the man who killed my husband.”
“Did he now? What a pity, Skate being such a fine, upstanding gentleman and all.”
“No matter what he was, and he was evil, he was still my husband.”
“Don’t worry about it, Rhody,” Condor said. “I’ll take care of Steele in my own good time.”
“So when do we move the gold?” Park asked. “I’m itching to get all them double eagles under my bed.”
“Soon, I reckon. I’ll talk to the boss tonight.”
“Hell, Cap’n, is that wise?” Merden asked. “You going to Recoil would be like sailing a loaded slave ship into Boston harbor.”
“I need the go-ahead from the boss to move the gold and I need it now,” Condor said. “I have no other choice. There’s always the possibility that Steele knows he’s on to something and he could come back here with a cavalry regiment.”
The Park cabin was a small lean-to and when Condor rose he filled it. “I want to take a look at the wagon.”
“No need,” Park said. “It’s there and it’s not going anywhere.”
“Nevertheless I want to see it,” Condor insisted. “It will put my mind at rest, Lum. You understand that, don’t you?”
“I’ll show it to you, Nate,” Rhody said, getting to her feet.
“You sit down, daughter,” Park said. “I’ll take him to the gold since he’s so all-fired determined to see it.”
Condor’s eyes hardened. “She’s showing me the wagon, Lum. You and Barney sit tight and keep an eye open for Steele and those other two old gun-slinging reprobates.”
The sun was setting in the west, the sky above the Little Hatchet Mountains banded with ribbons of rust, red, and jade when Condor and Rhody stepped out of the cabin. The evening was cool and a low breeze carried with it the scent of sage and pine.
Rhody led the way into a waterless, rocky draw that rose gradually between stands of juniper and piñon. After fifty yards, the ground leveled and Rhody stopped and pointed to her left. “It’s there, Nate. In the break in the rock.”
“All I see is the rock face,” Condor said. “I don’t see any damned break.”
“Come closer, you’ll see it.” Rhody walked ahead and Condor followed.
Then he saw the break. It was as though the rock had split open during some ancient earth shake. The gap was shaped like an arrowhead; no more than eight feet high by same wide. The interior was dark.
“How the hell did you find this place? What brought you up here?”
“Sometimes I come up here to be alone and get away from Pa,” the girl said. “I think it was on my second or third visit I noticed the break and stepped inside. The wagon is in the cave, where the Apaches left it ten years ago.”
Condor pushed the girl aside and stepped into the darkness of the break. He thumbed a match into flame and held it high, revealing an army escort wagon designed to be drawn by four horses or mules. It seemed to be in good shape. Even its paint, a blue exterior and dark red interior, was still bright.
He let the burning match drop, rubbed it out under his boot, and lit another. Burlap sacks, each bearing the letters, US, were stacked in the bed, When he pushed on one, the coins inside chinked.
He lit a third match and slit a sack with his Barlow knife. Gleaming double eagles tumbled into the box and Condor smiled. The shine of gold was the stuff of dreams.
Rhody stepped to his side. “We could live like royalty with that much money, you and me. Ever think about that, Nate?”
“You and me?” Condor said, grinning. “No, I never thought about that.”
“Yes, Nate, it would be just the two of us.”
“Living in a little rose-covered cottage with a tree in the yard, you mean?”
“Yes, Nate, if that’s what you want.”
“What about your greedy pa and my equally greedy boss?”
“They can be gotten rid of, both of them. It would be easy to kill Pa.”
Condor smiled. His hands moved to her neck, then lower over her breasts, belly, and hips, like a man assessing the riding potential of a saddle mare. “I’ll think about it, and let you know.”
“I’ll give you anything you want, Nate, anything. Just take me away from this hellhole. I can’t stand it here any longer.”
Condor’s hand cupped a breast and he squeezed hard until Rhody cried out in pain. “I told you, I’ll think about it.” He walked out of the cave and the girl followed him.
He turned to her. “How would you get rid of your Pa?”
“Shoot him, of course.”
Condor smiled. “A real loving daughter, aren’t you?”
“I’ll kill anybody for a hundred and thirty thousand dollars,”