'There isn't going to be a trail this afternoon. It's been washed
away.' Ryan glanced over his shoulder.
'I know that too. I just wanted to get rid of Sloan.' Cole folded his
arms across his chest and leaned back. 'The men who did this are long
gone.' Ryan nodded. 'Wires were sent to every lawman in the territory
yesterday. By now all the main roads are being watched.
There are also men at the train stations and the river. The bastards
will still get through the net, though. They're slick, real slick. '
He let the paper he'd been reading drop down to the desk and turned
around to face Cole.
'You know what I used to be worried about? ' 'What's that? ' Ryan's
voice lowered. 'That they'd stop and I wouldn't be able to catch
them.
' Cole shook his head. 'They aren't going to stop.' Nodding toward
the bloodstains, he added in a whisper, 'They're having too much fun.
' 'Yeah, I think you're right. They've developed a real taste for
killing.'
'How many banks have they robbed? ' 'This makes almost a dozen.'
'They've gotten away twelve times? ' 'They're either very lucky or
very smart.'
'Where and when was the first robbery? ' 'It happened late spring two
years ago. They robbed a bank in TexastBlackwater, Texas, to be
exact.
That's how they got their name.
' 'The Blackwater gang, ' Cole said.
'Yes, ' Ryan said. 'Anyway, they went in during the night with
kerosene and burned the building to the ground when they left. No one
saw anything.'
'Was anyone killed? ' 'No, ' Ryan answered. 'Then, two weeks later,
they hit another bank in Hollister, Oklahoma. Once again, they went in
during the night, but they didn't use kerosene.'
'Did they tear up the place? ' Ryan shook his head. 'They were nice
and tidy. They didn't touch anything but the money, and they didn't
leave any evidence behind.'
'How do you know the two robberies were related? ' 'Gut feeling
