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“Don’t do this,” Rattigan said.
He raised his hands and backed away for a pace now that he and Warner had done Thornton’s bidding by scraping out graves for the dead marshal and for themselves. Thornton had been supervising their excavations and he shook his head before he raised his gun, but Orville came over while beckoning Thornton to hold his fire.
“You have one chance,” Orville said with a smirk that promised his offer wouldn’t be a good one. “Where did Corbin hide the silver?”
Warner caught Rattigan’s eye, letting him know that if he had a ruse in mind, now was the time to employ it, so Rattigan thought quickly.
“Finding the silver and avoiding Corbin, if he’s alive, is only half your problems. While you were searching for Corbin’s grave, the marshal found out that Victor got here first. He’ll be angry we haven’t found him.”
The revelation made Thornton grin, but Orville winced and gestured with the gun, indicating that Rattigan and Warner should walk on ahead.
“Show me where he saw him,” he said.
“They’re trying to buy time and Victor won’t cause us no problems,” Thornton said. “Let me finish them off now.”
“You’re a railroad man, but I’m not and I’m in charge. I say what we do with them.”
Thornton narrowed his eyes, seeming as if he’d defy him until he gave a sharp nod. Although, when Rattigan and Warner moved away, he considered the rest of the men as he clearly weighed up how many of them sided with Victor.
When they reached the edge of town and nobody was willing to venture beyond the buildings, Rattigan surmised that Thornton was in the minority. As the two men walked toward the wash, an unsettling feeling of vulnerability made Rattigan’s heart quicken.
Every few steps he lowered himself so that he walked doubled over and then crouched down. By the time they were approaching the lip of the wash, they were snaking across the ground on knees and elbows.
Warner pointed at footprints ten yards ahead. Rattigan followed their path until they disappeared over the lip of the wash thirty yards ahead, so he directed Warner to stop. Then he crawled sideways seeking to gain a different angle on the scene ahead.
Slowly, the opposite side of the wash revealed itself as being steep-sided with loose scree covering half the height. The base and then the near side became visible. A gunshot broke the silence.
Rattigan jerked around on the spot seeking its source while Warner did the same. Warner turned to the lip of the wash where the footprints had led, but Rattigan faced the town. A second shot tore out.
This time Orville and the others moved within a building fifty yards away. Clearly, Victor had come looking for them before they’d sought him out. He got Warner’s attention with a wave so Warner was lying on his side and facing the town when Victor and another man came out from a low building and ran toward the wash.
They hammered gunfire and Rattigan could do nothing other than to dive to the ground where he burrowed down into the dirt, seeking any available cover with his arms over his head. He heard only footfalls until Warner murmured in alarm.
When he raised his head Victor and the man had hunkered down beside Warner. Then, to Rattigan’s surprise, from the town Orville hammered an accurate and deadly shot into the man’s chest that made him stand up straight before he flopped down to lie over the edge of the wash.
Victor roared in defiance and in a coordinated move five men came over the lip of the wash to either side of him. They all had guns brandished and while they advanced, they peppered lead at the town forcing Orville and the rest of the prisoners to dive into cover.
Then a volley of gunshots rattled as Orville fought back. One of Victor’s men keeled over clutching his neck, but then a cry of triumph sounded. Thornton had shown where his loyalties lay.
He was standing over Orville, who was lying propped up against a wall with his head resting on his bloodied chest. Then he toppled over. The sight made one of the prisoners run for safety.
He vaulted over the short wall he’d been hiding behind and with his head down he ran away from Thornton. Unfortunately, that moved him toward Victor’s men and as one they fired.
He covered five paces before he threw up his hands and plowed face first into the dirt holding his chest. He arched his back and flopped down to lie still. This made the rest of the prisoners stay where they’d gone to ground while Thornton stood guard on the edge of town.
“Now it’s time to repay you for assaulting me in Bear Rock,” Victor called, turning his gun on Rattigan.
“That was an accident,” Rattigan said. He had no hope of clemency, but as keeping Victor talking was the only way to delay the inevitable, he babbled an explanation as he shuffled toward him. “As you’d lost our silver, I went to your office to steal money. All I found was documents so I fled.”
“What did you do with them?”
Rattigan didn’t think that bargaining for information would work so he shook his head.
“They looked worthless so I threw them in the trash behind the Sagebrush saloon. Then I went back to see what else I could steal and I got the drop on you.”
Victor flinched as gunfire erupted in the town, but he hadn’t been the target. Thornton had decided to eliminate the rest of the prisoners. He’d already mowed down two men and the only surviving prisoner aside from Warner and Rattigan was jerking from side to side in confusion as to which direction would give him the best chance.
Then he turned on his heel and ran for the town, but unfortunately that took him toward Thornton, who shot at him. His shot slew wide and by the time he was ready to fire again, the man ran into him.
Both men tussled and then fell, landing on their sides and facing each other. Thornton kept hold of his weapon and he loosed off an involuntary shot that made his opponent fall away. Then he rolled to his feet and gestured triumphantly to Victor, who nodded and then turned back to Rattigan.
“Shoot us, and you’ll never find Corbin,” Rattigan said with as much defiance as he could muster.
“You know nothing,” Victor said and snorted a laugh. “You’ve been scrabbling around in the dirt here without success.”
“Except we know more than you do. For a start, Corbin never went to the dry creek.”
Victor narrowed his eyes, this taunt appearing to annoy him more than Rattigan had expected.
“Your only chance is to show me Corbin’s body.” Victor flashed a thin smile. “You have one minute.”
Rattigan didn’t believe Victor would honor his offer, but as he didn’t have a choice, he spread his hands.
“You know I can’t show you his body in a minute.” Rattigan raised his chin. “Because Corbin’s not here and he’s not dead.”
This proved to be the right thing to say as Victor winced, appearing as close to accepting defeat as he’d ever seen.
“I always suspected your idiot brother couldn’t have defeated Corbin, so take me to him.”
Buying time with a poor guess would anger Victor even more, so Rattigan sifted through the information he’d gathered about Corbin. He had learned little, but his conversations with Delano Metz felt as if they were the only times he’d heard the truth.
Delano had said he’d find his brother using the simplest means and, as far as Rattigan was concerned, the simplest way to find someone was to stay where you were and let them find you. He gestured back along the route they’d taken to get here.
“I’ll take you to him,” he said.