Untamed Journey Read Free Page A

than
twenty minutes ago. We can’t arrest them yet, no matter what our
city friends out back think. We don’t have enough proof to convict
them of robbery much less murder. We need to catch them in the act.
And now I know where they’re headed.” Jackson pulled a scrap of
paper out of his coat pocket and slid it through the dirt for
Mike’s inspection.
    “Take a look at this,” Jackson ordered. “It’s
a map showing the way to a crossroads with the Union Pacific rail
line. I got it off the scout after he missed my scalp with a
hatchet. It’s got tomorrow’s date on it.”
    “Didn’t think any of them boys knew how to
write,” Old Mike mumbled under his breath. He examined the hastily
scratched dates and realized they matched the string of robberies
they’d been hired to stop.
    “They don’t,” Jackson whispered back. “Joshua
Halper and Bear Standish both had to make their mark when they were
arrested two years back. Then there’s the Mexican. His English is
broken, so can’t see him as the author.”
    “So your hunch was right. There’s someone
else been planning these train robberies all along.”
    “Seems so,” Jackson replied.
    “You figure the head honcho’s gonna show his
face this time?” Mike quietly asked.
    “Maybe,” he shrugged. “It’s a lot of cash
money to trust to outlaws, no matter how afraid they are of
you.”
    “Those tracks are pretty close to the
territorial border,” Mike observed. “Be mighty tempting to just
keep riding into Indian Territory and take your chances. If this
boss man ain’t the type to get his hands dirty, can’t figure he’d
follow them.”
    “Could hire someone to do it, though,”
Jackson suggested, running his hands through his short black
hair.
    “I suppose,” Mike replied. “But it’d cost a
pretty penny to keep a band like that loyal. Good thing your mama
brought you up right, my boy.”
    Jackson cracked the barest excuse for a
smile. “Let’s make sure I’m right and no one got left behind to
slow us down.”
    “Even Bear Standish ain’t dumb enough to
leave just one man to stop us. He might get lucky and make your
mama cry, but he’d need another two for me.” Old Mike chuckled. He
didn’t worry about keeping his voice down, knowing after ten years
of following his partner that no one left in the night or stayed
behind that Jackson didn’t know about. He’d bet his last night with
a woman on it.
    Old Mike grinned at that happy thought. Not
wanting to miss out on any slim chances at the ripe old age of
sixty-one, he whispered back to Jackson. “You take the left, just
in case.”
     
     

Chapter 6
    R uth slid across the
narrow passenger bench, as far to the left as she could manage
without falling off the edge. She quickly wedged her carpet bag on
her right side, effectively preventing Jasper Smith from coming in
physical contact with her, even though he forced her to share the
seat with him.
    Every time she caught him ogling her, she
tried her best to ignore the chill that ran down her spine. It’ll
be over soon, she kept telling herself. This train ride was the
last leg of her journey, and she could only cling to the frail hope
that her husband would respect her wish to never again lay eyes on
Smith.
    Smith grinned slyly at the girl’s efforts,
not fooled for a moment by her attempt at nonchalance. He could
bide his time. Let the skittish miss take comfort in the presence
of the other passengers, he thought, and it’d be that much easier
when he caught her alone.
    “You know, Mrs. Masterson, I been your
soon-to-be husband’s right hand man for goin’ on twenty years, now.
Knew him as a kid. We lived on the streets, even. Survived all
kinds of horrors I wouldn’t repeat to a sweet thing like you. But
it kept us close. Goin’ that far back together – you can’t buy that
kind of loyalty. And you can’t marry it, neither.” He guffawed at
his own chatter, not expecting a response from Ruth, and not
getting one