Reese Read Free Page A

which was more than a lot of towns had and a white building that must be the school. Beyond the settlement, trees and greenery hinted that a river ran just over the slope, but the land everywhere else stood dry, brown, and rugged.
    "There it is."
    Reese spared a glance at the large, somewhat unkempt man who rode to his right. Jedidiah Rourke had a habit of stating the obvious, usually with a large amount of profanity thrown in.
    "You would know, since you're the one who got us into this."
    Jed grunted. "Free room and board and a little bit of change is better than a whole lot of nothing. Which is what we were all down to when you sent for us."
    Reese didn't comment. He knew as well as Jed that when one of them called, the others came. It had little to do with money and everything to do with honor and loyalty, two tenets they all clung to, even though everything else had gone as dead as the Confederate Army. They might be rough, but they knew what was right.
    "I was doin' fine in Fort Worth, gentlemen. My ship wuz gunna come in." Nate Lang took a sip from his ever-present flask, then slipped it back into the breast pocket of his dandified suit with an ease born of practice.
    Nate rode on Reese's left side for two reasons: Reese could grab him if he drank too much and slipped off Bessie, and Nate, despite his constant state of drunkenness, was the best sniper shot of the bunch. Reese often wondered if Nate could shoot straight while sober. Since he hadn't seen Nate sober since well before Gettysburg, Reese figured that was one worry he didn't have.
    "Las mujeres, who are they?" Rico Salvatore always wanted to know who the women were.
    Reese turned his attention toward Rock Creek. Two women stared back at him, the winds of Texas whipping their skirts. They held hands, obviously frightened, but as he watched, one of them stepped forward and waved at him.
    "Mary," he whispered before he could stop himself.
    "Maria?"
    "Knock off that Mex talk, Kid," snarled Daniel Cash. "You're in the recently reunited United States."
    Rico and Cash rode hip to hip more often than not, though the two annoyed each other to no end. Rico often spoke the language of his father, even though he'd been born right here in Texas. For some reason, this grated on Cash, which only made Rico do it more. Something Reese couldn't quite figure.
    Cash was the most dangerous of them all. When he wasn't with the six, he was a gunman of some renown. What had happened in Cash's life to turn him sour, Reese didn't want to know. They all had their little problems.
    "Reese!" Mary's voice carried on the spring wind. She waved again, even though the girl at her side pulled on her arm to make her stop.
    The woman was a puzzlement. She'd actually given him all of her money before telling him where to find Rock Creek. Being the man he was, Reese had taken it. He was also trotting into Rock Creek exactly when he'd promised.
    Despite being run out of his home in disgrace, it seemed he wasn't much of a thief or a cheat.
    Just a murderer.
    Reese let out a low growl and kicked his horse into a walk. Sinclair Sullivan, the last of the six, joined him. Reese enjoyed being with Sullivan the most because Sullivan knew how to keep his mouth shut. Reese liked that in a man.
    "She the one who hired us?" Reese nodded. "Sweet on her, aren't ya?"
    Reese shot a narrow glare at the half-breed scout. "Keep your private thoughts private."
    "That's what I thought." Sullivan snorted and dropped back to join the others, muttering, "A hundred and fifty dollars plus room and board."
    Reese ignored him. Sometimes Sullivan's ability to see what wasn't visible saved their lives, and sometimes it just made Reese's head ache.
    Mary ran out to meet them, her face one big smile. He would really have to talk with her. The woman was asking for trouble the way she trusted the untrustworthy and wore everything she felt on her face. But for a moment he let himself bask in the warm welcome of her eyes. No one had