with so much strength that they even got some skin clamped between them along with all that dirty cotton.
Lester felt his feet leave the ground. When he looked down, he could see the broken planks stretching up toward him as if they meant to grab his boots and pull him into the gaping, stinking hole.
“Jesus Christ!” Lester hollered.
“Unless that’s the name of the man who did this, I don’t wanna hear it,” Nick growled.
“I don’t know if my cousins did this or not! I been on the run for the better part of a year!”
“You stopped running long enough to check in with your cousins.”
“They sent me letters, but I barely got a chance to answer them.” The more he talked, the shakier Lester’s voice became. Soon, it was difficult to tell if the streaks down his face had been put there by sweat or tears. “When I haven’t been runnin’, I’ve been getting my ass dragged here and there by someone or other trying to cash me in for the reward money.”
“My heart’s fucking aching.”
Feeling himself slip out of Nick’s grasp, Lester sucked in a desperate breath and spat out, “I know where they’re at!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah! I’ll take you to them!”
“You want me to believe you’ll double-cross your own blood?” Nick said. “My guess is that you’re saying whatever you can just to keep from being buried alive in this hole.”
Lester looked down again as he thought about those words. Somehow, Nick had struck a chord that hit harder than when Lester had been worried about dying. Seeing the body curled up on its side amid all that dirt and broken wood made something crack within Lester’s brain.
“I don’t got a choice!” Lester said. “I’d rather take my chances with you than with Kinman!”
Lester felt the grip holding him over the grave tighten for a moment. Then the bottom of his boots scraped against the ground and he was set down. Nick let him go just long enough for Lester to realize he was standing on his own again. When he started to make a move, Lester nearly slipped straight into the very pit he was trying to avoid. Nick’s hand snapped out again to grab Lester by the collar. That was the only thing keeping Lester perched on the edge of the grave.
“So you’re with Alan Kinman?” Nick asked.
Lester nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he whispered. “He said he already crossed paths with you. He said he met up with you in—”
“In Rock Springs.”
“Yeah,” Nick replied in a tone that mocked Lester’s frightened whisper. “I know. A man like that’s not too hard to miss.” After studying Lester’s face, Nick asked, “Why do you look so surprised?”
“I…uh…didn’t know you knew who he is.”
“I know. Kinman’s a well-known bounty hunter,” Nick said. “He’s tracked down a bunch of my friends and he’s been after me for a while. I’ve managed to stay ahead of him because I make it my business to know which bounty hunters need to be watched.”
“Well, Kinman’s got his sights set on both of us.”
“What interest does he have in you?”
Blinking at the turn in the conversation, Lester replied, “I stole a horse.”
Nick shrugged. “It must have been a real good horse or it must have belonged to a real wealthy man for Kinman to step in.”
“The horse is dead,” Lester squeaked.
“And so are we, if Kinman has a say in the matter.” With that, Nick pulled Lester forward just enough for him to be able to maintain his own footing at the edge of the grave. He didn’t, however, allow Lester enough space to feel comfortable.
“I know…” As Lester started to talk, his heel slipped backward and down a bit into the grave. After wobbling and waving his arms, he managed to catch his balance just long enough for Nick to pull him forward again. “I know what Kinman is capable of. The man’s crazy. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”
Although he didn’t say anything to that, Nick pictured the faces on those dead Chinese piled outside of Hale’s door. He also pictured the grim smile on Kinman’s face when he’d had an opportunity to put down a few more Chinese just to put a few more dollars into his pocket.
“The only reason I’m still alive,” Lester continued, “is because I told him about this place.” Seeing the scowl that came onto Nick’s face, Lester winced. “I didn’t have no other choice.”
“What do you think Kinman will do when he sees this hole instead of the treasure he was expecting?” Nick asked.
“Probably shoot me.”
“Which is a damn fine alternative to what I have in mind.”
“All I want is to get the hell away from here. All I did was steal a horse and that was over a year ago. I’d serve jail time like I was supposed to, rather than hand myself over to a monster like Kinman. Hell, that rancher down in Texas has probably got himself worked into such a lather that he’ll gut me when he gets ahold of me.”
“You stole that horse in Texas?”
Lester nodded.
Shaking his head, Nick said, “They would’ve strung you up no matter when they caught you. Even I knew better than to steal a horse from a Texan.”
“Well, if they string me up in Texas or if I get buried in that hole, I’m dead either way.”
“Now you’re using your head. You forgot one thing, though.”
Lester thought about that for a moment before asking, “What?”
“I’m the only one who has any use for you while you’re alive.” Seeing Lester’s eyes dart back in the direction from which they’d come, Nick added, “Now that we’re at this spot and there ain’t nothing but an empty hole, I doubt Kinman will be too pleased. Even if you track down those jewels for him, what do you think your chances are of getting away alive?”
“Not…too…good?”
Nick squinted and then grinned. “I see. He offered you a piece of the reward if you two managed to bring me in, didn’t he?”
Lester thought of plenty of ways to answer that question. Unfortunately, every one of them required him to appear much more collected than he could manage under current circumstances.
“It’s all right,” Nick, said. “I figured as much. Just ask yourself one thing, though. If Kinman is such a big, bad bounty hunter, why didn’t he just come after me himself? After all, he did have plenty of time riding with me back in Rock Springs.”
The dazed expression on Lester’s face made it clear that he wasn’t able to come up with very much. “I guess he wanted to be sure,” he replied in a wavering tone that wasn’t even enough to convince himself it was the truth.
“I’ll bet he’s plenty sure when he’s shoving you around,” Nick said. “He must still be sure that you’ll do what you’re told if he let you come all this way on your own.”
“He’s gotta be watching us.”
“Probably, but…” Nick motioned toward the uprooted grave and said, “…there’s not much left for him to see here. If we get moving now, though, we could get a head start. I know a few shortcuts through these parts that’ll put him so far behind us he’ll never catch up.”
Lester’s eyes widened as some of the color drained from his face. “You mean run away?”
“Why not? You’d rather take your chances with a bounty hunter? Those assholes aren’t much better than the law. The only difference between them and the jackasses who wear badges are whether they take their bribes above or below the table.”
“You really think we could make it?”
“I know a little something about staying ahead of bounty hunters and I’ve slipped out of Kinman’s sights more than once.”
“He doesn’t even think you realize he’s a bounty hunter.”
Nick grinned proudly and said, “My point exactly.”
Lester started to think some more. He also started to slide backward into the open grave, which seemed to
