up about the reward.”
“Reward?” Thorpe repeated with a puzzled frown. “There’s no more reward. Shade’s already been convicted and sentenced to hang.”
“That’s what I mean,” Lopez said. “Somebody started a rumor that Shade’s gang will pay a thousand dollars to anybody who kills you four and sets him free.”
Thorpe didn’t seem to be the sort of man who surprised easily, but his eyes widened at that news. Matt and Sam glanced at each other, and the faces of the blood brothers were grim. This bounty on their scalps was an added complication they sure as hell didn’t need.
“Someone from the gang must have slipped into town unnoticed and started spreading that rumor,” Sam said quietly.
“They’re tired of gettin’ shot up, so they’re tryin’ to bribe somebody else into doin’ their dirty work for them,” Matt said.
Thorpe nodded in agreement with the theory. He called to Lopez, “What are you going to do about this?”
“Me?” The word came from Lopez in a plaintive yelp. “I can’t do anything. Some of the cowboys in the saloon were already gettin’ likkered up because they were mad about Bodine shootin’ Dub and Court. I told you that was maybe gonna happen, Bodine.”
“It’s your job to put a stop to it,” Matt called.
“I can’t stop a whole mob of loco cowboys,” Lopez protested. “And now it’s just gonna be worse because of that bounty the gang put on your heads. I’m sorry, amigos, but the town don’t pay me enough to get my ass shot off. I’m ridin’ out.”
“You’re just going to leave and let all hell break loose?” Thorpe demanded, sounding as if he couldn’t believe that any lawman would do such a thing.
“I got no choice,” Lopez whined. “I got a family, a wife, and a bunch of kids. If I’m dead, who’s gonna take care of them?”
“Let him go, Marshal,” Sam advised. “I don’t think he’d be much help anyway, even if he stayed and tried to stop the mob.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Thorpe raised his voice. “All right, Lopez! Run out on us if that’s what you want to do! Keep running long enough and far enough and maybe you can forget what you did here.”
“You can shame me all you want, mister. At least, I’ll still be alive to feel ashamed.”
And with that, Lopez left. They all heard his boots scuffing away in the street.
“Every time we think things can’t get any worse, they find a way, don’t they?” Matt said. “Now probably half the town wants to kill us, and the other half will be too scared to do anything about it.”
Thorpe grimaced and took off his hat. He scrubbed a hand over his face wearily. As he replaced his hat, he said, “If we stay here, they’ll bust down the door and get in. We can’t hold off that many men forever…or even for as long as it takes that damned train to get here.”
“Well, it seems like there’s only one solution,” Sam said.
The others all looked at him and waited for him to go on.
“We don’t stay here,” Sam said.
Chapter 30
Garth thought it was a good idea, and for once Jeffries and Gonzalez seemed to agree with him. Not that he really cared what they thought, but they had wormed their way into being his lieutenants, sort of, and he knew things would go better if they supported what he wanted to do.
Maggie Winslow had ridden out in the middle of the day, bringing the news that the trestle still wasn’t repaired, but might be by the next morning.
“The clerk at the depot said the train might be here by nine or ten o’clock,” she reported. Her voice was strained as she went on. “Now, can I see my husband and son?”
Ike Winslow had surprised Garth by living through the night. In fact, even though he still hadn’t woken up, he seemed to be breathing easier and some of the color had come back into his face. The hombre might actually live, Garth thought.
Whether he would recover fully and ever be the same man he’d been before the injury was another question entirely. Garth didn’t care one way or the other about that, but as long as Winslow was alive, that meant the hold they had over Winslow’s wife was even stronger.
Since they might have only a day, maybe even less, before the train arrived to take Joshua on to Yuma, they had to act fast. But an open attack on the livery stable where the prisoner was being held would just result in more men lost, and the numbers had already shrunk a lot more than Garth liked.
Also, if they came riding into town with guns blazing, there was no telling how the citizens would react. Chances were, most of them would hunt for cover and lie low until the shooting was over. But some of them might get brave and join the fight. That could result in disaster, too.
Garth knew one thing he could always count on, though.
Greed.
So when he’d told Jeffries and Gonzalez what he wanted to do, they had thought it over and nodded. “Who are you going to send into town?” Jeffries had asked. “You can’t use the girl for that.”
“No, I reckon it’ll have to be one of us.” Garth looked at Gonzalez. “I’m thinkin’ about sendin’ you. We’re close enough to the border that nobody’s gonna notice one more greaser in town.”
