“It means that we’re going to bring your father’s gang to justice without a bunch of good men getting killed, us being among ‘em. Is that clear?”
“NO.”
“It will become so as we ride,” Longarm said, grunting with pain as he climbed stiffly into his saddle.
“Side hurts pretty bad, huh?” Randy asked.
“It’s more of a bother. How is your head today?”
“Clear and seeing things for the way they are, thank you,” Randy said with a smile.
“Good,” Longarm said, liking the spark and determination he was witnessing in the kid.
They said a hurried goodbye to the Sanchez family, and rode away with prayers for their safety ringing in their ears.
“Nice family,” Longarm said, looking back and waving.
“Arturo said that my father came here not too long ago.”
“He did?”
“That’s right,” Randy answered. He turned to look at Longarm. “And do you know what else Arturo said?”
“No.”
“My father threatened to kill the lot of them if Lupe ever testified or named him as the leader of that train robbery.”
“I see.”
Randy’s voice shook with anger. “Can you believe that! My father threatened to kill the children!”
“I imagine that Arturo is pretty scared.”
“Damn right,” Randy said. “Clyde and my father lashed him to a post in the barn and used a whip on him until he bled. When he still wouldn’t tell them where Lupe had gone, they nearly went after Monica and the kids, but he begged them to leave his family alone, and finally they did.”
“They could have a change of heart and return to Arturo’s homestead and carry out that threat.”
“I know that,” Randy said. “And that’s why I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that they never hurt anyone again.”
“We’re going to Reno,” Longarm told the kid. “We’re going to see the marshal there and tell him about that upcoming bank robbery.”
“But why can’t we just tell the authorities that we have evidence and let them take a ride into Helldorado? Hell, Custis, they could even drag the United States Army into it.”
“And a lot of good soldiers would be killed. No,” Longarm said, “we’ll catch them in the act of robbery so that there can be no doubt as to their guilt.”
“Whatever you say,” Randy replied.
“Which brings me to another question,” Longarm added. “Do you know where your father has stashed that Donner Pass train robbery money?”
“He’s spent a lot of it,” Randy said. “Those Helldorado girls and all that whiskey don’t come cheap.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
“My father has a big floor safe in his office. I’ve never looked inside it, but I think Desiree knows the combination.”
“What makes you think so?”
“She knows everything,” Randy said. “After Lupe left, she just moved in and took over.”
“It’s not hard to see why,” Longarm said, remembering that body.
“Desiree is a witch,” Randy said. “She is poison.”
“Yeah,” Longarm agreed with a wink, “but we all have to die sometime.”
“She even tried to pull me into her web,” Randy confessed, missing Longarm’s poor attempt at humor. “Can you believe that? She tried to get me to hump her one day out in the hills.”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t because of my irresistible good looks and philosophical bent of mind,” Randy said. “She’s screwing Clyde too. I think she’s doing it to use one of us against the other. That’s all that I can figure.”
“She does sound evil.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Randy said, lapsing into his own deep thoughts. Longarm guessed that the kid had a lot on his mind. Like the killing or arrest of his accursed father and brother and the suffering that they’d inflicted on Lupe Sanchez, Arturo, and his wonderful little family.
“You’re in all the way with me, aren’t you, Randy?”
“I’m in,” he vowed. “I’m in until we either get them or they get us.”
“Good,” Longarm said as he drummed his heels against the ugly black’s ribs and sent it galloping toward Reno with Randy’s buckskin matching him stride for stride.
Chapter 17
