Vengeance Creek: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

55

James decided on a cold breakfast, had Colon saddle all three horses quickly. They rode hard for most of the morning, but at one point, as the sun approached its zenith, James looked behind him and knew he saw something.

“Wait!” he said.

He reined in his horse and turned. The other two went on ahead a few yards, then came back.

“What is it?” Cory asked.

“This time I did see something.”

Cory and Colon looked off into the distance but saw nothing.

“James,” Cory said, “you’re just seein’—”

“No,” James said, “this time I’m right.”

The terrain behind them was uneven, could have been hiding a rider from them. All three men continued to stare, and then James cried out, “There! See?”

“Berto?” Cory asked.

“I see it,” Colon said. “A rider.”

“It’s Thomas!”

They continued to watch, and finally the rider came into full view. He was on a different horse, but it was Thomas.

“Yes,” Cory said, slapping James on the back, “it’s Thomas.”

The three of them were dismounted by the time Thomas caught up to them. He swung down from his mount, approached his brother and stopped just short of hugging him.

“James.”

“Thomas. It’s about time you caught up.”

“Actually,” Cory said, “I think you made pretty good time.”

“Fresh mount,” Thomas said. “Back in Blue Mesa.”

“Jesus,” James said, “did you have to deal with that Scotsman? McShane?”

“Yeah,” Thomas said, “but the sheriff helped me a bit.”

“What happened with the Double W rancher?” Colon asked.

“Yeah,” James said, “I forgot about that.”

“Let’s mount up and keep movin’,” Thomas said. “I’ll tell you about that, and about what I found out in Blue Mesa.”

“From Davis?” James asked.

“Yes.”

“He wasn’t talkin’ when we left,” Colon said.

“I knew Thomas would get somethin’ out of him,” James said. “I knew it.”

“Come on, little brother,” Thomas said. “Let’s keep movin’.”

James, Colon, and Cory listened intently while Thomas told them of his conversations with Wendy Williams and Sean Davis.

“Well, too bad about the rancher,” Cory said, “but did you believe Davis?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

Thomas hesitated, then said, “Let’s just say he wasn’t in a position to lie to me.”

“So if Cardwell and Jacks are going where Davis thinks they are, what should we do?” James asked.

“I don’t know this area,” Thomas said. He looked at Cory and Colon. “What about you two? Is there some way we could get there ahead of them?”

Cory and Colon exchanged a look, and then Colon shrugged and said, “I do not know.”

“Ralph?”

“There might be,” Cory said, “but if we do that and Davis is wrong, we’ll lose them.”

“I know that.”

“So whose call is it gonna be?” Cory asked. “It’s got to be one of you two.”

“Let’s give it some thought,” Thomas said. “We can talk about it again when we make camp.”

“Sounds good to me,” James said.

Thomas looked at Cory and Colon.

“Fine by me.”

“Muy bien,” Colon said. “I also agree.”

“Okay then,” Thomas said, “why don’t you fellas tell me what you’ve been up to, then….”

They brought Thomas up to date on what had happened since they split up. Among the things they mentioned was Sheriff Gibney thinking he had recognized “Ralph Cory.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that to me too,” Thomas said.

“Doesn’t matter, really,” Cory said. “I mean, it’s not like I’m wanted or anything like that.”

“Maybe not,” James said, “but you don’t really want people to know who you are either.”

“No,” Cory said, “but hey…there are other names, other places.”

“No reason you can’t go back to Vengeance Creek when this is all over,” Thomas said.

“Maybe not,” Cory said. “What about you fellas?”

“What about us?” James asked.

“You goin’ back?”

“Sure,” James said, “why not?”

Cory looked at Thomas, who looked away.

“Just a thought,” Cory said. “I thought maybe you were havin’ second thoughts.”

“About what?”

“The law.”

James laughed. “What else would we do?” He looked at Thomas for support, but found none there. “Thomas?”

“There are other things, James.”

“What?” James said. “You’re thinkin’ about…givin’ up the law?”

“Right now,” Thomas said, “I’m thinkin’ about gettin’ this job done. Anything else can wait until we get back.”

James looked as if wanted to say more, but in the end he simply fell silent.

Rigoberto Colon had observed the conversation between the other three but had stayed out of it. He had his own demons to deal with, which none of these men would understand. Dan Shaye had given him a reason to crawl out of the bottle. Now he had to decide whether he would crawl back in when this was all over. He had to admit that giving up the whiskey had not been as hard as he’d thought it would. Perhaps there had never really been a need for it at all.

They all rode in silence, alone with their own thoughts, until night began to fall and they made camp.