Chapter 10 - The Price Gideon Was Willing to Pay
Five riders descended toward the mail wagon.
Gideon counted.
Rusk.
Dodd.
Three others.
The mail driver whispered, “I’m not paid enough for this.”
Gideon agreed.
“Take the women east through the creek bed.”
“The wagon won’t fit.”
“Leave it.”
Clara climbed out.
“No.”
Gideon turned.
“Clara.”
“We stay together.”
“This isn’t an argument.”
“Yes, it is.”
Riders closed the distance.
Anna grabbed Clara.
“We have the copies.”
Gideon looked at them.
“Then those matter more than me.”
Clara’s face changed.
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
“No.”
“Clara—”
“No.”
The force in her voice stopped him.
“You don’t get to decide your life is the least valuable one here.”
Gideon stared.
She continued.
“That is not a choice you get to make for me.”
Even with armed men approaching, something almost like pride crossed his face.
“You’re learning fast.”
“From an irritating teacher.”
Rusk stopped twenty yards away.
“Touching.”
Gideon turned.
Rusk looked tired.
No polished city composure now.
His coat was muddy.
His eyes bloodshot.
“Give me the ledger.”
“We don’t have it,” Gideon said.
“Copies.”
“Don’t have those either.”
Rusk smiled.
“I know Sheriff Bell took them from his office.”
Gideon remained still.
“I know you put them in the mail wagon.”
Silence.
Rusk held out his hand.
“Give them to me.”
Clara stepped forward.
“No.”
Rusk’s eyes found her.
“You have caused an extraordinary amount of trouble.”
“You started it.”
“I offered you a future.”
“You sold me a debt.”
“I gave you transportation.”
“You took my shoes.”
Dodd smirked.
Gideon looked at him.
The smirk disappeared.
Rusk sighed.
“Clara, none of this needed to happen.”
“Anna?”
Rusk glanced toward her.
Anna stood beside the wagon.
Alive.
Furious.
Rusk looked mildly annoyed.
“You were supposed to remain where we left you.”
Anna answered, “You should tie better knots.”
The mail driver laughed before remembering the guns.
Rusk’s expression hardened.
“Enough.”
He pointed toward Gideon.
“Your land. That’s the real issue.”
Gideon nodded.
“I figured.”
“Sign it over.”
“No.”
Rusk reached inside his coat and produced papers.
“Transfer deed.”
Gideon laughed.
“You brought paperwork to a robbery?”
“I prefer efficiency.”
“You burned my barn.”
“An employee exceeded instructions.”
“Mercantile too?”
“No.”
Gideon actually believed him.
Dodd looked away.
Interesting.
Rusk continued.
“Sign. I forget Clara. I forget Anna. Everyone walks away.”
Clara whispered, “Don’t.”
Gideon looked at her.
Rusk smiled.
“She knows what your land is worth.”
“I don’t care.”
Gideon’s answer came easily.
Clara stared.
Rusk did too.
“You should.”
“Probably.”
“You spent twelve years building that place.”
“Fourteen.”
“Then sign.”
Gideon took the deed.
Clara stepped toward him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She saw something in his eyes.
A plan?
Or surrender?
“Gideon.”
He took the pencil Rusk offered.
Signed.
Clara’s breath broke.
Rusk smiled.
Then Gideon handed back the deed.
“There.”
Rusk inspected the signature.
“Copies.”
Gideon nodded toward the wagon.
Dodd approached.
Opened the mail compartment.
Found the metal box.
He handed it to Rusk.
Rusk opened it.
Empty.
His face changed.
Gideon smiled.
“Problem?”
Rusk looked up.
“Where are they?”
The mail driver burst out laughing.
Rusk pointed a gun toward him.
The laugh stopped.
Gideon’s voice became cold.
“Put that down.”
Rusk looked at Gideon.
“You’re in no position—”
A telegraph wire hummed overhead.
Rusk glanced up.
Gideon said, “We sent them ahead yesterday.”
Clara looked at him.
He had not told her.
Rusk froze.
Gideon continued.
“Bell made copies before the sheriff’s office burned.”
“Where?”
“Three packets.”
Rusk’s eyes narrowed.
“One to Fort Mason.”
Anna began to smile.
“One to the territorial newspaper in Laramie.”
Rusk’s face drained.
“And one,” Gideon said, “to a federal marshal in Cheyenne.”
Rusk tore the deed in half.
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
Clara understood.
The ledger in the mail wagon had been bait.
Rusk stepped forward.
“You think that saves your land?”
“No.”
Gideon looked at the torn deed.
“But that thing wouldn’t have taken it either.”
Rusk stared at the signature.
Gideon smiled faintly.
“My name’s Gideon Elias Cobb.”
Rusk looked down.
The deed said Gideon Elisha Cobb.
False signature.
The mail driver began laughing again.
This time even Clara did.
Dodd raised his weapon.
Then a bugle sounded.
Far east.
Riders appeared along the ridge.
Blue uniforms.
Fort Mason cavalry patrol.
The mail driver grinned.
“Scheduled escort.”
Rusk turned.
For the first time, fear appeared.
His men scattered.
Dodd fled north.
Rusk rode west.
The soldiers followed.
Gideon exhaled.
Clara stared at him.
“You knew they were coming?”
“No.”
Her mouth fell open.
He shrugged.
“I hoped.”
She hit his chest.
Not hard.
“What were you thinking?”
“Mostly that I dislike paperwork.”
She hit him again.
Then suddenly she was crying.
Gideon stopped smiling.
Clara pressed both hands against his coat.
“You signed away everything.”
“Fake name.”
“I didn’t know that!”
“I couldn’t tell you in front of them.”
“You could have told me before!”
“I didn’t know this would happen before.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Been told.”
Clara looked up at him.
Tears freezing on her lashes.
Gideon did not move.
Neither did she.
For one breath, they were very close.
Clara almost leaned forward.
Then Anna cleared her throat loudly.
The mail driver suddenly found the blocked tree fascinating.
Clara stepped back, embarrassed.
Gideon looked equally uncomfortable.
The soldiers returned an hour later.
They had caught two men.
Not Rusk.
Not Dodd.
The captain carried news.
A telegraph message had arrived at Fort Mason that morning.
Federal authorities had received Bell’s packet.
An investigation had officially begun.
Clara nearly collapsed with relief.
But the captain was not smiling.
“What?”
Gideon asked.
The officer looked at them.
“Judge Keene issued new warrants before federal authorities contacted him.”
“For us?” Clara asked.
“For all of you.”
Anna went pale.
The captain continued.
“And Keene disappeared from Cheyenne last night.”
Gideon looked toward the mountains.
“Rusk?”
“Likely.”
“Where would they go?”
The captain handed him a telegram.
One line stood out.
RAIL PURCHASE COMPLETION SCHEDULED BITTER CREEK DISTRICT, THREE DAYS.
Gideon understood.
They were not running away.
They were going back.
To his land.
To destroy whatever evidence remained.
May you like
And possibly to make certain Gideon Cobb no longer stood in the way.
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