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“I don’t see why they didn’t just take to the plains,” Michael said as they worked their way through the foothills, winding around rock formations. “They’d have been able to get away a lot faster.”
“Yes, but they’d have been easy to target for quite some time,” Rook explained. He, too, wished that they could have an easy pursuit over fields and roads. Here, with so much towering sandstone around them, it was harder to tell if their enemy was watching them from some hidden spot. “It would be faster, but someone would see them even if we hadn’t caught up with them yet. There aren’t as many people here.”
“And only more traps,” Michael muttered. He looked around carefully, watching the tall face of a cliff overhang that towered above them.
“Yes. We’ll have to be careful. I don’t want to hear about it from your mother.” Rook took a bend in the narrow trail that threaded to the left and then quickly to the right again.
“She still hasn’t stopped worrying about me. I thought she’d be real proud when I came home with this badge, but all she did was cry.”
Rook let out a slight laugh through his nose. Now that he was a father himself, he was starting to understand those kinds of feelings. Of course, it would be a long time before little Silas was mounting up and chasing stagecoach robbers. “It’s only because she loves you.”
Soft thuds sounded behind them. Rook turned as Joseph rode up, rags tied around his horse’s hooves to keep them from making too much noise as they searched the rough and rocky terrain.
“Up ahead,” Joseph told him. “One of my men has spotted them. They’ve made a camp in a small cave.”
Rook lifted a brow. “They didn’t go very far.”
Joseph grinned. “They didn’t think they needed to. I heard them talking. They’re not from around here, and they heard the sheriff had only been in place for a couple of years.”
That explained why they’d just had the first stagecoach robbery the area had experienced in quite a while.
“I guess they didn’t realize just who the sheriff is,” Michael snorted.
Ignoring the praise, Rook focused on the situation at hand. “What’s their setup like?”
“The cave is flanked on both sides by outcroppings of rock,” the scout explained. “It keeps anyone from approaching from the side, but it also means there’s nowhere for them to run if there’s an attack. The cave is a shallow one.”
Once Rook understood exactly where the robbers were camped, he turned to Michael. “This is it. Are you ready?”
Michael had only been seventeen when his home was burned down, and he’d become a man very quickly as he’d helped defend Sagebrush Station. Almost two years later, he was starting to look like that man he’d become. His shoulders were wider, his build less lanky. Some of the innocence had gone from his watchful eyes, and he rode with ease. It was only because Rook knew him so well that he understood Michael still had a few things to learn.
Now, Michael pulled his pistol from its holster and held it with the barrel pointed into the sky. “Let’s go.”
The initial leg of the journey was slow going as they tried to remain hidden. It was vital not to let their fugitives know they were on the trail. Rook felt a surge of excitement in his chest as they drew closer. A good amount of his work as sheriff meant collecting taxes, transporting prisoners, or settling minor disputes. He liked that, because it meant he didn’t have much to worry about. Having the chance to take down some criminals, however, was still a thrill.
Michael was the first to see the camp as they worked their way along a ridgetop. “Right there,” he said, pointing.
“Good eyes,” Rook praised. Michael had been taking lessons from him about horsemanship, communication, and the law. The young man was also learning a lot from Joseph. “We’ll come in slowly and give them a chance to give themselves up.”
Michael’s mouth twisted slightly, as though he might argue that they should go in with their guns blazing, but he nodded. “All right.”
They made their way back down the ridge, checking for lookouts as they approached the camp.
The only guard the three men had set up was one man near the small fire just in front of the mouth of the cave. He lifted his rifle as soon as he heard them. “Who is it?”
“Sheriff McKenna,” Rook announced, breaking through the wall of shrubbery that protected the front of their camp. “I suggest you put that down before you make a mistake you’ll regret.”
“The sheriff?” The man nervously adjusted his grip on his gun. He spoke loudly to alert his cohorts in the cave.
“That’s right.” Rook rode in closer, keeping his aim steady. “I’m looking for some men who held up a stagecoach earlier today. Would you happen to know anything about that?”
“Of course not.” The man swallowed. He was panting a little as he tried to gain control of his breath.
Rook tipped his head to the side. “Do you mind if I ask what you’re doing here?”
“I’m just, um, on my way through. To, uh, Utah.”
“Is that so?” Rook threw his leg over the saddle and hit the ground without breaking eye contact. “That’s funny, because a man of your description was seen holding up a coach nearby earlier today.”
Just then, two more men emerged from the cave with their guns drawn. One of them had a short dark beard and hard eyes. “You’re outnumbered, Sheriff. I heard you were new to the job, but I thought any man would be smart enough not to ride in alone.”
Rook grinned. “You’re right. I am.”
Right on cue, Michael came in from the left.
“My deputy here can shoot the buttons off your shirt,” Rook told them. “I’ve seen his handiwork myself, but he’d be happy to demonstrate it for you if you don’t believe me.”
The other man from the cave started to look as nervous as the man by the fire. “I don’t know about this, Wes.”
Wes, who seemed to be the leader, glanced at the other man who’d been in the cave with him. “It’s fine. Just shut up and let me handle it, Jack,” he growled.
Rook watched them carefully. This could turn sour in an instant. “Gentlemen, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you in for questioning.”
In a flash, Wes drew his gun. Michael fired. The gun went spinning from Wes’s hand. Jack reached for his weapon, but it was too late. Michael had sighted in on the movement and fired again. Both Wes and Jack were left holding their bleeding hands.
The man by the fire, however, tried to run. He darted past Rook and to the right, rounding the edge of the rock formation that flanked the mouth of the cave. A moment later, he was walking back into the campsite backwards with his hands up. Joseph was riding in front of him, his pistol loosely in his hand.
“Even the Natives around here are out to get us!” the man gibbered.
Rook quickly tied up Wes, Jack, and the third man who he learned was named Lee. While they were kept under the watchful eyes of Michael and Joseph, Rook searched their bags. He dumped a pearl necklace out of a small bag and into his hand. “Do you still want to try to tell me you’re just travelers on your way to Utah?” he asked.
“How do you know that isn’t mine?” Wes snarled.
“I don’t need to know,” Rook replied easily. “That part’s up to the judge.”
* * *
A few hours later, after getting the robbers booked into the jail to await their trial, Rook, Michael, and Joseph headed back to Sagebrush Station. Rook let his shoulders relax as he smiled at his old friend. “One of these days, you’re going to have to let me deputize you.”
Joseph laughed and shook his head. “No, thank you.”
“But you’re a key element in the safety of the region,” Michael argued. “Sure, Rook and I do a lot, but you know as well as we do that we wouldn’t be nearly as successful if it weren’t for you. You ought to at least get paid for it.”
“I don’t need the white man’s money to make up my mind,” Joseph told him wisely. “I act when I feel that I should, and I don’t want money to change that.”
“But—”
“I’m happy this way,” Joseph interrupted before Michael could make any more of a case. “I have the freedom to help, but I also have the freedom to say no.”
Michael considered this a moment and then nodded. “I suppose that’s true. Well, I’m glad we’ve got you around for when you do want to help.”
Joseph grinned. “You keep things interesting.”
When they reached Sagebrush Station, Lillian was waiting for them in the yard. She held Silas Edward in her arms, his arms and legs flailing in excitement when he saw his father.
“Come here, cowpoke.” Rook took the boy from his mother and tucked him into the crook of his elbow. “I think you’re even bigger than when I left this morning!”
“Daddy!” Silas Edward squealed. “Daddy home!”
“That’s right, at least for now.” Rook leaned over to kiss Lillian. Then he pulled back and studied the look on her face. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, although her voice told him that she really wasn’t.
He moved closer and gently touched her stomach. They’d been overjoyed to welcome their son into the world a year and a half ago, and now they’d been blessed with another little one on the way. Rook thrilled at the idea of the life that was growing inside her, making her belly strain against the confines of her dress. “Do I need to get the doctor?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. Hester?”
The cook was never far, and she appeared a moment later. Her limp had become less pronounced over time, and now it was so slight that only those who’d been there on that fateful night would even notice it.
“Could you watch Silas for a moment?” Lillian asked.
Hester gave Lillian a solemn look and nodded. ‘Of course. Come on, my darling.” She took Silas from Rook’s arms and carried him into the station.
“You’re worrying me,” Rook told her.
“Everything is all right,” she assured him as she pulled a yellow slip of paper from her pocket. “It’s just that we got a telegram today.”
He took it and read the typed lines. Then he read them a second time and looked up at her. “Barrett Crowell has died in prison.”
She nodded and licked her lips. “I wanted to make sure you knew right away.” Lillian was watching him carefully.
Rook let out a long sigh as he absorbed the information. “It’s the end.”
“Are you all right?” She put her hand on his arm.
He covered her hand with his own. “I am. It’s a strange feeling, and I can’t celebrate someone’s death. But now I know I’ll never have to worry about Barrett Crowell again. I won’t have to wonder if he’ll ever manage to get himself out of prison and what he might do if he did. We’re safe, Lillian. We’re really, truly safe.”
She got up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I always am when I’m with you. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Lillian, and it’s good to be home.”
OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Grit and Glory on the Frontier", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
Hello there, I really hope you liked my new western adventure story and the extended epilogue! I would be very happy to read your thoughts below.
Great story read in one setting!
Awesome, Donna! Thank you so much!