Man Who Burned Hell!, page 10
‘If you hit her again, you son of a bitch, I’ll put a slug in your guts,’ Eddie snarled.
Cordis turned to look at Eddie and Beck reached for his gun.
‘Don’t even think about it, Beck, or you’ll get it first,’ she hissed at Cordis’ right-hand man.
‘Get out of here, girl, before you get yourself hurt,’ the boss’ icy voice sent a shiver down Eddie’s spine.
Not letting it show she said, ‘No. You let her go, now.’
As if to emphasize her point she lined the six-gun up on his face. ‘Camilla, can you walk?’
Camilla nodded as she rose to her feet. ‘I’ll manage.’
‘I’ll kill you both,’ Cordis hissed.
‘Get out the door, Camilla,’ Eddie said. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’
After she had passed her, Eddie slipped the key from inside the door and closed it. She then locked it from the outside. Turning around, she saw Camilla waiting for her inside the main door.
‘We have to get out of town,’ Eddie told her.
‘And go where?’
The heavy crash of boot on wood echoed loudly as their prisoners tried to break free of their prison. Eddie grabbed Camilla by the arm. ‘Come on, I have an idea. We’ll head to the Rocking K.’
‘I can’t go there,’ Camilla said, coming to a sudden stop. ‘They know who I am.’
Another crash and the lock splintered, allowing the trapped men to escape.
Eddie pulled at Camilla’s arm. ‘Come on, we’ll argue about it later.’
Gunshots filled the entryway and slugs chewed woodchips from the jam and scythed through the empty space not long vacated. The two women moved quickly towards the livery. More gunshots rang out and Camilla grunted under the impact of a leaden slug that bit deep into her back. She staggered and went down.
‘Camilla!’ Eddie cried out and brought up her six-gun. She fired at the approaching figures making them take cover.
She bent down to check Camilla but found no sign of life. Her mind reeled at the realization that she was dead. There was no time to think about it, as another shot sounded and the bullet fizzed dangerously close overhead. Eddie fired two more shots and began to run in a low crouch, towards the livery where she hoped to find a horse she could steal.
Eddie, however, didn’t make it. She tripped over a protruding rock and her momentum propelled her forward forcefully, smacking her head into something hard and stunning her.
She lay there momentarily, bright lights before her eyes. She tried to rise, and managed to regain her feet, then toppled forward again, her head a haze of cobwebs. A voice inside her mind screamed at her to get up, but she was incapable of heeding the advice.
She felt rough hands begin to drag her to her feet and a distant voice said, ‘Don’t kill her. We can use her to get to Ford.’
It was the last thing Eddie Yukon heard at the time because everything went black.
Chapter 14
When Father Michael O’Sullivan entered Serenity church the following morning, he was not expecting to see a man pointing a gun at him. Especially a man with a badge pinned to his chest.
‘I see that the Lord has seen fit to guide a dead man to his house,’ O’Sullivan said, then nodded at the Peacemaker. ‘You’ll not be needing that in here.’
Ford dropped it into his holster and apologized. ‘Sorry Father, you can’t be too careful around here.’
O’Sullivan nodded his understanding. ‘It be a pit infested with snakes for sure. But one day maybe, God will send us a prophet to rid us of the evil that ravages our fair town.’
‘Will I do?’ Ford jested.
O’Sullivan sighed. ‘It seems you may have to. Have you ever heard of the phoenix, Marshal Ford?’
‘Only vaguely,’ Ford admitted.
‘It is said that the phoenix is a beautiful bird that rises from the ashes of what it once was,’ O’Sullivan explained. ‘I fear that may be true for our Serenity also.’
Ford frowned. ‘You mean burn the town?’
‘Not literally, Marshal Ford, metaphorically,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘First, the bad element must be removed before the new town can grow and blossom into something even better than it once was.’
‘That’s what I’m tryin’ to do,’ Ford told him.
‘It seems that whatever you are doing is working. The snakes are turning on themselves. Why, last night they killed one of their own.’
‘Who?’
‘The woman.’
Ford felt as though he had been punched in the gut and all the air forced from his lungs. His mind reeled and he thought for a moment that he’d misheard what O’Sullivan had said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Apparently, they had a falling out last night over at that den of iniquity the woman ran,’ O’Sullivan explained. ‘There were two women involved. The woman they call Camilla was shot and killed by one of the men. The woman who was your deputy was taken by them to the Royal Palace. It appears that they didn’t take too kindly to you blowing up the Dead Dog, which has set in motion a violent chain of events. Ike Cordis not only killed the two guards from that saloon but he also killed our esteemed judge.’
‘Are you sure he shot Camilla?’
‘Yes.’
‘God damn it to hell,’ Ford cursed, then remembered where he was. He shot a glance at O’Sullivan and said, ‘Sorry, Father.’
‘I couldn’t have said it better myself.’
Ford’s thoughts switched to Eddie. There’d be time enough later to reflect on Camilla’s fate. At this moment, Eddie needed him more than a dead madam did.
‘Can you do somethin’ for me, Father?’ Ford asked.
‘I’ll try.’
‘I need you to take a message to Cordis for me. Can you do that?’
He nodded. ‘I can do that. He hasn’t taken to killing men of the cloth just yet.’
‘You might want to hear the rest of it before you agree.’
Bass Reeves walked into the Lander livery and stopped dead in his tracks.
‘About time you got here,’ Roy Willis said, as he limped around his horse to finish adjusting his saddle. ‘We were thinkin’ we might have to leave without you.’
Reeves looked across the horse’s rump at Clay Meredith, who was doing the same as Willis.
‘Where the hell do you all think you’re goin’?’ Reeves grumbled. The pain from his wounds made him more irritable than usual.
‘The same place as you,’ Willis told him. ‘To help Ford.’
‘We’re goin’ to have to ride like the dickens if we’re to get there in time,’ Reeves pointed out. ‘Can your leg stand it?’
‘It’ll stand it for as long as I can,’ Willis assured him.
‘What about you?’ he asked the other man.
‘I’ll be fine, Bass. It only hurts when I move.’
The tough marshal felt a surge of pride flow through him. Here were two men, both wounded, yet still willing to go the extra mile to help him, and a fellow marshal, out of trouble. Then he dismissed it as being the emotions of a fool.
‘Where’s my damned horse?’ he grouched. ‘It’s time we were gone.’
Twenty minutes later the three marshals, wounds and all, rode hell-for-leather out of Lander, hoping that they would not be too late.
‘He what?’ Cordis asked disbelief etched on his face.
‘He says he has your money and is willing to trade it for the woman,’ O’Sullivan repeated. ‘But it will be tomorrow at the church at 9 o’clock.’
Cordis thought about it a moment and then the penny dropped. Tomorrow was Sunday and the church would be packed with parishioners. ‘You tell him it ain’t going to happen that way.’
‘He said you’d probably say that,’ O’Sullivan told him. ‘He said to give you this.’
O’Sullivan held out a small sack for Cordis to take. The killer did so and opened it up. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but then he figured from the burnt smell that it was ashes. Frowning, he reached in and pulled out a handful. It was crunchy but powdery. Something caught in his fingers, a larger piece of what he assumed to be paper.
Which is what it was. The paper was printed on. Cordis looked at it briefly before he looked back at the priest.
‘The marshal said he would do the same to the rest of it if you couldn’t meet his terms.’ O’Sullivan explained further.
Cordis’ eyes grew cold. ‘You tell him that if he doesn’t meet my terms, then I shall kill the woman.’
‘The marshal figures that there is somewhere in the vicinity of $29,000 left. He also figures that you’ll be wanting it back more than you’ll be wanting to kill the woman.’
‘He’s bluffin’,’ Beck growled.
‘I guess we’ll find out,’ Cordis said. ‘All right, preacher, tell him we’ll be there.’
After O’Sullivan had left the saloon, Beck said, ‘Surely you can’t be serious, Ike?’
Cordis shoved the small sack into Beck’s hands. ‘The son of a bitch has most of my money. If he don’t get the woman back, this is what’ll happen to the rest of it. Take a look.’
Beck looked in the sack then back at his boss. ‘He won’t burn the rest of it, Ike. He knows we’ll kill the woman if he does.’
‘Well, I ain’t goin’ to take that risk,’ Cordis told him. ‘Tomorrow while we’re inside trading for the money, I want men all around that damn church so they can’t get away.’
‘I can’t see why we just can’t go get the son of a bitch now and be done with it,’ Beck said. ‘He’s gotta be at the church.’
‘Leave it until tomorrow, Sam. That way everyone present will see what happens when people interfere.’
‘What did he say?’ Ford asked O’Sullivan as he came through the large timber double-doors, the thud as they closed resonating across the empty pews.
‘He said he would do it,’ the preacher informed him. ‘You do realize that once he gets his money, he’ll do everything he can to kill you? How do you plan to get out of here once you have the woman back? He’ll surround this place with men to stop you.’
Ford nodded. ‘If you have an idea on that, I’d like to hear it.’
‘Maybe I have,’ O’Sullivan told him. ‘It may not work, though. It’s not quite a plan. However, it’s better than the one you have now.’
O’Sullivan went on to tell Ford about his thoughts on the subject. When he’d finished, Ford said, ‘I hope it works. If it don’t. . . .’
‘If it doesn’t work then I guess the Lord will take care of you.’
Ford gave him a wry smile. ‘Trust me, Father, I’m sure he’d take one look at me and send me on my way.’
‘I’m sure he realizes that it takes all kinds of good people to make the world go around.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ Ford said. ‘I would ask one more thing of you, though.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Get everyone that you can, safely out of town,’ Ford told him.
O’Sullivan frowned. ‘Why?’
‘There’s a storm comin’ Father, and I don’t want any innocent people gettin’ hurt.
‘I’m sure they’ll survive it, Marshal,’ O’Sullivan told him. ‘They’ve weathered storms before.’
‘Not like this one, Father. Not like this one.’
When Cordis and Beck entered the confines of the small room, Eddie was laying on the floor struggling with her bonds. The dark curtains were drawn which made the room above the main barroom of the Royal Palace very dim.
‘Struggle all you like, you won’t get free.’
‘Let me go, you murdering bastard,’ Eddie hissed. ‘If I get loose from here, I’ll damn well kill you.’
‘Calm down, Missy. . . .’
‘Don’t you damn “missy” me,’ she growled.
‘If you let me finish . . . You should be outta here come 9 o’clock tomorrow. It seems that the marshal values you more than my money.’
Eddie stopped struggling, unsure whether Cordis was telling the truth.
‘You mean to tell me that once he hands over the money, you’re letting us go?’ she asked sceptically.
‘Oh no,’ he said, giving her a knowing smile. ‘I said nothing about letting you both go. I just said that you’d be out of here. I still aim to kill you both.’
‘Son of a bitch.’
‘Got it in one.’
Chapter 15
When the assigned time came the following morning, the church was packed, an air of tension encompassed all within. However, when the door crashed back and Ike Cordis entered, everyone knew that something bad was about to happen.
‘Where is the son of a bitch who has my money?’ he called at the top of his voice.
Behind him, Eddie gave a cry of alarm as she stumbled through the opening after a shove by Sam Beck.
O’Sullivan stood behind his pulpit, staring blankly at Cordis and his hired killer.
‘Well, I’m waiting damn it,’ he snarled.
Ford stood up from the front pew and turned to face him. He also cleared the flap of his coat away from the butt of the Peacemaker.
‘I never thought I’d see the day when The Devil would be in the house of the Lord,’ Ford scoffed.
‘Where’s my money?’ Cordis demanded, ignoring the barb.
‘Send me the girl,’ Ford said to him.
‘Money first.’
Ford shook his head. ‘Not goin’ to happen.’
‘Don’t you trust me?’ Cordis sneered.
‘Let’s just say I trust me more.’
‘Let her go, Sam.’
Eddie started forward.
‘Just so you know, this place is surrounded by guns. There ain’t no way you’re getting out of here.’
‘Do you think they’re willin’ to die for you?’ Ford asked him.
Cordis remained silent.
Nervous eyes watched as Eddie made her way toward the front of the church. When she reached Ford, the marshal reached down behind the pulpit and tossed the bag of money into the center aisle. Then, without hesitating, Ford drew his Colt and fired two shots into the ceiling of the church.
The reaction of the congregation was instantaneous. They all leapt to their feet and charged towards the exit. In the melee, Ford grabbed Eddie by the hand and dragged her to the back room of the church.
She almost fell down it before she saw the opening in the floor. A trapdoor lid lay open, revealing a gaping dark hole in the timber floorboards.
‘Get down there,’ Ford snapped.
‘What?’
‘Get down the hole,’ he said again. ‘Father O’Sullivan will close us in.’
‘You have to be kidding,’ Eddie blurted out. ‘We’ll be like rats in a trap down there.’
‘If we walk out the back door, the men Cordis has out there will shoot us down before we get ten yards,’ Ford grated, taking her by the arm. ‘Now get your ass down there before they come.’
‘If you get me killed I’ll never talk to you again,’ Eddie warned him.
‘You’ll be fine,’ he told her as he followed her down the steps.
‘What makes you so sure?’
O’Sullivan closed the trapdoor and the darkness became total.
‘Because if you get killed,’ Ford whispered, ‘it’ll mean that I got killed too. And I ain’t got time to die. Not today.’
There was a loud dragging sound overhead as O’Sullivan put the table back where it had been. No sooner had he done so than a commotion signalled the arrival of Cordis and Beck.
‘Where the hell are they?’ he snarled in a loud voice.
‘I do not know. When I came in, there was nobody here,’ he waved his right arm around for emphasis.
Cordis shouldered past him. ‘Get the hell outta my way.’
For the next hour, sounds of the search filtered down through the floor into the dark void where Ford and Eddie were hiding. Eventually, it all went quiet and a few minutes later, the scraping sounded again and the trapdoor swung open to reveal one Father O’Sullivan.
‘It seems you are safe for the moment,’ he told them.
‘Yes, but for how long?’ Eddie asked.
Ford climbed from the darkness and said, ‘I don’t aim to hang around to find out. Father, I’ll give you until the day after tomorrow to get the people outta here.’
O’Sullivan nodded. ‘I’ll do my best.’
‘What happens then?’ Eddie inquired.
Ford’s voice grew grave. ‘Then I’m comin’ back, and Hell’s goin’ to burn.’
Cordis looked up from where he sat toying with a half-empty shot glass when Beck entered the back room of the Royal Palace. The gunfighter had been searching the town for most of the day, with the help of miners and rail workers, trying to find Ford and Eddie.
‘I’m not even going to ask,’ he snorted.
‘It’s like they disappeared into thin air,’ Beck told him.
‘A man can’t just vanish,’ Cordis snarled. ‘He’s in this town somewhere.’
‘If I had to make a guess, I would say not for much longer,’ Beck told him. ‘It seems to me that a lot of folks seem keen to leave all of a sudden. I noticed it earlier while we were searching. It was just a few at first, but now it seems like everyone wants out.’
Confused, Ike Cordis climbed to his feet and walked through the bar room and on to the boardwalk. It wasn’t a mass exodus, but it was noticeable. Here and there packed wagons lumbered out of town, some trailed packhorses or mules.
‘Where do you think they’re goin’?’ Beck asked.
Cordis stared blankly at them for a moment, his mind working. He stepped down from the boardwalk and caught a man walking by, on the arm, startling him.
‘Where are you going? Cordis asked him.
The man hesitated before he said, ‘We’re gettin’ outta town.’
‘Why?’
The question was met with silence.
Cordis gave the man a shake, a flicker of alarm crossing his face. ‘Why, damn it?’
‘The preacher said for us to leave,’ he blurted out, wanting Cordis to leave him alone. ‘He said there’s goin’ to be a fight soon and for us to get out so we don’t all get hurt.’
