Slocum 382

“Whoa, hold your horses, Charlie. There’s a good way to find out.” Jesse James turned and looked hard at Slocum. “What’re you doing here?”

Slocum didn’t miss how Jesse had his hand on his own six-gun. There wouldn’t be any hesitation if a good answer wasn’t offered. The rest of the gang riding behind him also looked a bit confused. That meant Jesse had told them to follow but hadn’t said where. They would have thought he was supposed to join them along the trail if Dennison and Jesse hadn’t made such a big point of asking what he was hunting for so near their cache.

“There’s nothing up there,” Slocum said. He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder, but both Jesse and Charlie Dennison looked directly at the rock overhang. Nobody else in the gang so much as twitched. Only they knew the location of the cache.

Slocum explained how he had been slugged by two soldiers in Berglund’s command but didn’t elaborate on how he had come to still be alive. He saw that question burned on Dennison’s lips, who was willing to finish the job the soldiers had started. Jesse held up his hand to silence his henchman.

“I figured you had a hankering for a drop of whiskey and went on back to town. When me and Berglund finished our business, I looked for you but Las Vegas was swarming with deputized drunks. The sheriff must have pinned badges on anybody that could stand up straight for more ’n ten seconds. Never saw so many lawmen this side of a Pinkerton convention.”

“That you didn’t know anything about Berglund wanting me dead and sending his two soldiers out to take care of me. I wish you’d been a bit more curious about why I’d up and ride off like I didn’t have a care in the world. I thought you knew me better than that.”

Slocum had turned the tables on Jesse and made it seem that the outlaw leader was in the wrong. The best Slocum could tell, Jesse hadn’t told Berglund to eliminate an unwanted member of his gang.

Better than this, they had swapped lies back and forth long enough for Audrey to get away. He wished it were easier to determine what game she played. The only way he could be certain was to get a look at the wanted posters stuffed into her bag. If his was there, he would know she was trying to use him as a chip in a bigger poker game with Sheriff Narvaiz and Jesse James as players.

“That don’t explain why he’s here, Jesse. He’s here.” Charlie Dennison had freed his pistol and laid it across the saddle in front of him where he could swing it around and get off a shot or two before Slocum could clear leather. Slocum saw how Dennison hesitated around Jesse. He wasn’t likely to let his fiery temper get out of control unless Jesse permitted it.

“I got back to the other cave to see if you left any new message. There were a few symbols I could make out from what you’d said before. They led me here.”

“I figured since everything was put down backwards this time, all the instructions were reversed, too. You wrote ‘north’ so that had to mean south. I read the cipher for ‘pass’ and this was the best choice, so I came here thinking to find you or more code.”

“A hollowed-out spot where gold might have been cached,” Slocum said, again taking Jesse aback with his honesty. The outlaw had expected him to lie, but Slocum saw no reason. Either Jesse let him live or there’d be one hell of a gunfight. Slocum doubted he would ride away from it, but Jesse and Dennison would be his first victims.

“That’s more than I wanted the rest of the boys to hear,” Jesse said. “But the gold’s never been here. It’s closer to Fort Union so moving it when the time comes won’t be such a chore. But I’m glad you’re here because I’m getting everyone in the gang together for a little raid.”

“Charlie, shut up. Slocum’s a crack shot and mighty fast with that Colt of his, unless I miss my guess. You good, Slocum? Real good?”

The outlaw goaded him, but Slocum refused to give in. He smiled, pulled back his coat to expose the ebony butt of his six-shooter at his left hip, and then squared off.

“Who you talking to, Slocum? Me or Charlie?” Jesse was amused now. Slocum doubted there would be any gun-play but didn’t relax. He watched Charlie Dennison closely for the slightest sign the owlhoot would lift his pistol. He saw how Dennison kept his thumb on the hammer, ready to draw it back and get off the first shot. A flicker of doubt clouded his eyes, and Slocum knew he had him. Before this moment, Dennison figured he could gun down his foe, but the time had passed. He doubted his ability to lift and fire before Slocum could get to his six-shooter in its cross-draw holster and send a bullet winging his way.

“Put your gun away, Charlie. And you, Slocum, mount up. We’re riding on through to the other side of the pass to a town called Encantado. What do you know about it?”

“Nothing,” Slocum admitted. He tugged at his horse’s reins so he could mount without turning his back on Dennison. Seeing such caution, Dennison slammed his six-gun back into its holster. If looks could kill, Dennison would be spitting out death like a Gatling gun.

“Do it.” His voice carried a steel bite to it, telling Slocum that Dennison had been kicking up a fuss and this was Jesse’s way of establishing who was in charge.

Slocum silently took the pistol Charlie passed over and tucked it into his belt. He knew then what the gang was going to do and it didn’t set well with him.

“We won’t have to do more than hurrah the place,” Jesse explained. “There might be some resistance but not much. I picked this as the place to start because it was isolated and yet on the road through the mountains. We can control the freighters as they go from Las Vegas to Taos.”

“Encantado doesn’t have much of a population and no marshal to get in the way. If they have any trouble, they call on the cavalry over at Fort Union.”

Slocum began to see the way the plot was fitting together. Berglund was supposed to send only men loyal to the Knights of the Golden Circle or maybe only those who weren’t. Riding into a sleepy mountain town, expecting only a few drunk cowboys and finding the James Gang in charge would be quite a shock—and one the troops wouldn’t be ready for. He remembered that Frank had mentioned having a couple mountain howitzers.

As he rode, he studied the higher ground. A single field piece could command this pass, giving that much more authority to the claim of a new country.

“I ought to have you doing my planning,” Jesse said, laughing. “This is going to be great fun. By the end of the year, we’ll all be governing our own separate states and the Golden Circle will be forged. There’re uprisings in Mexico and Central America planned. From this we can sail on over to the Caribbean and take those islands, completing the circle. You ever been on a sailing ship, Slocum?”

“Me neither. Might be fun to lead a marine invasion of Cuba or one of them other islands. I hear tell them local folks are swimming in rum and smoking the best damned cigars anywhere. The señoritas roll the best cigars against their naked thighs. A sight to behold. Or so I’m told.”

“If I can’t ride there, I don’t want to go,” Slocum said. He saw several riders approaching from the north, just as they started down the slope on the far side of the pass. Ahead he saw a small town of a few dozen adobe buildings. Hornos were filled with baking bread and the people went about their lives, unaware of the tide about to wash over them.

“Reinforcements,” Jesse said when Slocum spotted the riders. “We got damned near fifty men in our little army, and when the gold is swapped, we’ll quadruple that, with more ’n a hundred all trained soldiers.”

“Don’t trust Berglund,” Slocum warned. He wanted to sow the seeds of discord, but he shouldn’t have said a word to the outlaw leader. Let him find that Berglund was a sidewinder about ready to strike. The more confusion in the outlaw ranks, the better it was.

“Don’t go givin’ Jesse advice. He’s got everything planned out all good and proper.” Dennison grated his teeth together as he spoke. His festering anger was barely held in check. Slocum considered pushing him over the edge but Jesse interrupted.

“I do not, indeed, need any advice at this moment,” Jesse James said. He drew his pistol and fired it once into the air. The newcomers rode to his signal and the small army massed a mile from Encantado.

Slocum let his horse sidestep away and go to the edge of the gathered army. He didn’t want to ride into this town, shooting innocent men and women the way he had during the war, but if he didn’t, Charlie Dennison would be on him in an instant. As Jesse began addressing the men, whipping them into a killing frenzy, Slocum wondered if Audrey had gotten back to Las Vegas yet. If she contacted Sheriff Narvaiz, that might derail Jesse’s battle plan. The sheriff was likely to bring along a posse. With the resistance to be expected from the men in Encantado, the outlaws would find themselves caught between the law and the citizens.

It wouldn’t be the first time for Jesse and the others to be in such a situation. They’d probably escape, but the wild-ass scheme to forge a new country out of New Mexico Territory would be ended. That might be worth the deaths of a few of the townspeople because it would prevent even worse killings in the future.

“You hush up, Slocum. This is going according to my plan. There won’t be any bluecoats down there. Not a one. Everybody! Guns ready?”

A cheer went up. Slocum drew the spare six-shooter he had been given, cocked it, and considered how hard it would be to accidentally—on purpose—cut down Charlie Dennison during the fight.

Before he had a chance to position himself so he could ride near Jesse’s henchman, a shot rang out and the entire gang moved as one, save for Slocum. His horse reared before joining the throng rushing downward toward Encantado.

The people in the town must have had some small hint that a whole lot of hurt was washing down over them. Slocum saw several men duck indoors and come out with rifles. They started shooting before any of Jesse’s gang was in range. The men wasted their shots—and then their lives were wasted. The front of the onslaught hit the main street with the force of a hundred pounds of dynamite exploding. Jesse and Charlie rode side by side, Jesse shooting at everyone on his left side and Dennison on his right. Slocum saw no fewer than six men sag under the leaden onslaught.

Jesse James had practiced this maneuver more times than Slocum wanted to think. He put his heels to his horse and shot forward, but he held back shooting. He rode hard and drew closer to Charlie Dennison. If anyone in this town died, it ought to be him. Slocum leveled the pistol the outlaw had given him and judged the motion of his own galloping horse and that which Dennison rode the best he could. He got the man’s broad back in his sights and fired.

Slocum let out a screech as the six-gun misfired in his grip. Pieces of hot metal flew in all directions. One piece of shrapnel cut Slocum’s cheek like a hot knife. Another burned a hole through the brim of his hat. Other than this, his face was untouched. He had seen guns blow up and blind the marksman—or worse. Hands could be blown off or lives lost.

He kept riding, clutching the useless gun in his hand. Blood oozed out from around charred skin where pieces of the barrel had blown straight back and burned him.

Slocum was aware of the resistance fading throughout Encantado. The men threw down their rifles and held their hands high over their heads. A few of them died as Jesse’s excited gang couldn’t find a way to lasso in their bloodlust. A second pass through the town, then a street-by-street hunt quickly brought everyone outdoors and into the plaza.

Jesse rode his horse into the gazebo and turned it slowly, horseshoes clomping drum-loud on the wood floor. He grinned ear to ear at the quick conquest of the sleepy town.

“Feels worse,” Slocum said. He plucked a few metal splinters from his forearm and the fleshy part of his thumb. Letting it bleed to clean out any infection produced what appeared to be a bloody stump at the end of his right arm.

“You lose something, Slocum?” Charlie Dennison rode over and sneered at him. “Might be you won’t have to kill anybody again. That’d suit a coward like you, wouldn’t it?”

“Reckon you folks will have to repair those holes before it rains again. But then you’re alive and able to repair your homes and your lives, thanks to me. I’m Jesse James and I just liberated you from the U.S. government.”

His men cheered. The townspeople remained silent. If anything they huddled together more, seeking reassurance from their family and neighbors that they would not suffer the fate a dozen or more in Encantado already had.

“First off, you don’t bury none of the bodies. You let them get real ripe in the hot sunlight to remind you of what you’re leaving behind. As soon as I can, I’ll bring in supplies for a big feast to celebrate the opening shots of a rebellion that’ll bring about the Kingdom of the Golden Circle.”

“Cheer, damn you!” shouted Dennison. When only a few men did so, Dennison shot two men glowering at him. “Cheer your conqueror. Cheer for your new freedom from them damned Yankees!”

This produced more of a response. Slocum guessed not everyone in Encantado was pleased with paying taxes to a distant government. They had seen how brutal the new regime might be, but it was close at hand, not two thousand miles away in a place they had never seen.

“We’re gonna set up a ruling council. At the head of the new council will be this man, Charlie Dennison. He’ll appoint members to the council from your rank. Y’all will rule yourselves from now on.”

Slocum held his breath. The people of Encantado would rule themselves as long as Charlie Dennison and ultimately Jesse James allowed them to do so. The ones most vocal about supporting their new rulers would move up fast and find themselves in positions of power. Those that opposed Jesse would join the dozen already killed.

“Right now, get on back to work. You’ll be told when the council meeting will be held.” Jesse fired his pistol again until it came up empty. Then he rode out of the gazebo and stopped beside Dennison and Slocum.

“Charlie, you know what’s got to be done. We have to be certain the cavalry sent out here’s who we think. Then you can set about finding the men who’ll support us on the ruling council.” Jesse took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tipped his head back to bask in the sun like a lizard. “Yes, sir, this is the first baby step toward taking over the whole damn territory.”

Slocum pressed his bandanna into his wounds but never took his eyes off Jesse. If the pistol hadn’t blown up in his hand, he would have been smart to take out not only Dennison but the outlaw leader, too.

“This is the first town. But there’ll be more in a hurry. We got to move fast so we can consolidate our power. What town would you like, Slocum?” Before he got an answer, Jesse went on. “Santa Fe. You can rule over Santa Fe. We’ll need somebody with a strong hand to control there since there’s a train depot in Lamy. We wouldn’t want the bluecoats to bring in reinforcements and outflank us before we got control of Fort Union. Yes, we need a strong hand there.” He stared at Slocum’s injured hand and laughed.