Packing Iron (13 page)

In Rockfall Pass things were much worse. The earthquake and after-shock had undermined the cliffs on both sides of the trail, splitting them apart. They collapsed, causing twin landslides that buried Reece, Sheriff Vogel and most of the deputies under thousands of tons of rock and dirt.

The Utley forces, hidden among the rocks on the cliffs, fared no better. Unable to save themselves, they were trapped in the landslide and soon buried alongside their enemies in one colossal, enigmatic grave.

The screams of the dying and injured gradually lessened. So did the clouds of falling dust. Finally, only a few painful groans could be heard. And eventually, they too ceased.

There were few survivors.

Buried under the collapsed cabin, Gabriel, Ingrid and Raven heard the thunderous roar of the two landslides.

The silence that followed was almost as deafening.

‘Dear mother of God,’ Ingrid breathed. ‘What was that?’

‘Nature,’ Gabriel said grimly. ‘Reckon she’s decided to put an end to this feud herself.’ Crawling out from under the mattress, he cleared a hole in the mass of debris
overhead
and pulled Ingrid and Raven to safety. Other than a few scratches, none of them was hurt. They looked toward
the pass but could see nothing but a cloud of swirling dust.

Anxious to get out of the canyon in case another quake hit, Gabriel hurried to the corral. Two unsaddled horses stood huddled together against the fence. Frightened by the quake, they shied away from him. Grabbing a lariat from a post, he entered the corral and spoke gently to them. It took a while but gradually they calmed down. He then roped one for himself and let Ingrid and Raven ride double on his saddled buckskin.

As they approached the blocked pass the still-settling dust hid the few remaining survivors who were frantically digging among the rocks. But it didn’t hide the wailing coming from the widows looking for their husbands, or the sobbing of their children.

‘You’n Raven stay here,’ Gabriel told Ingrid, ‘while I look around for—’

She cut him off. ‘No, no, I’m going with you!’

‘Wouldn’t advise that.’

‘I’m still going,’ she said, fighting not to panic. ‘I have to find out if Reece is all right!’

‘An’ you can forget about leaving me behind,’ Raven chimed in. ‘’Cause nothing you say is gonna make me stay here by myself.’

Gabriel shrugged, ‘Suit yourselves,’ nudged his horse onward and led them to the pass.

When they were almost to the narrow, rock-strewn entrance, the massive figure of Remus Utley appeared out of the dust. Bruised and bleeding, he staggered toward them carrying a corpse in his arms.

It was Mitch, Gabriel realized, crushed almost beyond recognition. Feeling a tug of regret, he started to offer his condolences. But the huge man lumbered past him without speaking or looking up. Swallowing his remorse, Gabriel dismounted alongside Ingrid and Raven.

‘That poor man,’ Ingrid whispered sadly. ‘How’s he ever going to live with himself?’

‘He’ll survive,’ Gabriel said bluntly. ‘His kind always does.’

For the next two hours the three of them clambered over the mountain of rocks and dirt looking for Reece. Soon their nails were broken and their hands cut and bleeding. But there was no trace of Ingrid’s brother. Still they searched. The sun blazed down remorselessly. Gabriel knew they were wasting their time, but he kept his thoughts to himself and continued looking.

‘Momma, we’re never going to find him,’ Raven said finally. ‘Uncle Reece is dead and—’

‘We don’t know that for certain,’ Ingrid snapped. ‘And until we do, I’m going to keep looking for him. He’s my stepbrother,’ she added defensively to Gabriel. ‘I must know if he’s alive or dead. Surely you can understand that.’ Desperate, she continued searching.

Gabriel gently squeezed Raven’s shoulder and smiled encouragingly at her. She sensed he was trying to make her understand what her mother was going through, and
reluctantly
went on looking among the rocks.

The sun was directly overhead when Gabriel found Reece Blackwood. His body lay mangled between two boulders, about halfway into the pass, and by his agonized expression Gabriel knew he had not died quickly or without pain.

He looked behind him and saw Ingrid tending to an injured, raggedly dressed Utley woman. Covered in cuts and bruises, she looked dazed and was still clutching her pistol. Nearby, Raven was giving one of the deputies a drink from a canteen she’d found among the rocks. His chest was crushed and he wheezed with pain.

Struggling with his conscience, Gabriel finally decided
Ingrid had a right to know her brother was dead and brought her over to the corpse.

She tried to control her emotions but it was too much for her and she broke into tears. Kneeling beside Reece, she gently brushed the dirt from his face, wiped the dribble of licorice chewing gum from his lips and tearfully kissed his cheek. As she did a second, smaller after-shock brought another section of the cliff crashing down around them.

Gabriel grabbed Ingrid’s hand and they scrambled over the rocks to Raven. She was staring at the deputy’s corpse, seemingly unaware of the impending danger.

‘He’s dead,’ she said in a tiny, lost voice. ‘I was giving him a drink and he … he just died.’

‘C’mon,’ Gabriel grasped their hands and pulled them away. ‘Hurry or we’ll be buried ourselves.’

Ingrid balked, reluctant to leave her brother’s corpse. ‘I c-can’t just leave him here,’ she sobbed. ‘He deserves a proper b-burial and—’

More rocks and dirt showered down behind them. They were followed almost immediately by a larger landslide, this one burying Reece’s body beneath it.

Gabriel draped his arms around Ingrid and Raven, trying to protect them from flying debris, at the same time
shouting
that they had to get out of there! ‘Dammit, woman, I mean it,’ he yelled when Ingrid didn’t move. ‘We have to go – now!’

As if to remind them of the imminent danger, the earth again shuddered, bringing down another rockfall.

Still Ingrid refused to leave.

‘Please, Momma,’ Raven begged. ‘I already lost Daddy. I don’t want to lose anyone else I love.’

Ingrid heard the fear in her voice and finally relenting, hugged Raven to her. ‘All right, lamb. We’ll go.’

It took them all afternoon to reach the other end of the pass. By then they were exhausted. But Gabriel wouldn’t let the women rest. It was still several miles to town, he reminded them, and walking in the dark could be
dangerous
.

‘I’m not walking anywhere,’ Raven said. ‘Not when there’re horses around.’ She pointed to a nearby hillside where three of the horses belonging to Sheriff Vogel’s deputies – horses that had escaped the landslide – were grazing. ‘Want to help me catch ’em?’ she said to Gabriel.

Tired as he was, her impudence made him smile. ‘You got gall,’ he said. ‘I’ll give you that.’ But he went with her anyway.

The earthquake had scared the horses, making them wary, but between them Gabriel and Raven managed to coax two of them close enough to grab their reins. Giving

Ingrid and Raven the placid-looking bay, Gabriel took the skittish roan and they wearily headed toward town. Ingrid rode in silence. All cried out, she stared straight ahead, seemingly unaware of Gabriel or Raven, her compressed lips expressing the anguish she was feeling.
Reece’s death, like her husband’s, had happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly she wasn’t prepared for it. She had come to Old Calico to be looked after, and to give Raven a better life – and now, in a heartbeat, she was once again a single mother trying to raise a rebellious teenage daughter. The big difference, of course, was she no longer had to worry about money. The landslide had made her a rich woman. Years ago Reece had promised her that if anything ever happened to him, everything he owned would go to her. But rich or poor, she thought bitterly, I’m still husbandless, still fending for myself in a world of violence, a man’s world, instead of being loved and cared for by someone I love and who loves me.

Distant gunshots interrupted her thinking.

Signaling for Ingrid and Raven to stop, Gabriel spurred his horse almost to the crest of the low hill ahead. There he dismounted and crawled to the top. After a few moments, he remounted and beckoned for them to join him.

They obeyed.

The smell of fire drifted up to them from the canyon in which Old Calico was snuggled. The town had been shaken by the quake and they saw smoke and flames rising from several burning buildings. They could also hear sporadic gunfire.

‘Could be looters,’ Gabriel warned Ingrid and Raven. ‘Stay close to me when we reach town.’ They kicked their horses into a trot, descending the long gradual slope that ended at the north end of Old Calico.

‘You ever been in an earthquake before?” Raven asked Gabriel.

‘Once. In Colorado. I was about your age an’ me’n Pa were in this gold camp tryin’ to get the miners to attend our prayer meetin’. Most of ’em refused, and went on drinkin’ an’ gambling. Pa got sore an’ warned ’em that God would
seek retribution for their sins. But they only laughed an’ rode us out of camp. Right after that the quake hit.’ Gabriel grinned, amused by the memory. ‘Next time Pa’n me came around, so many miners showed up we had to hold the meetin’ outdoors ’cause they couldn’t all fit in our tent.’

Shortly, they reached the outskirts of Old Calico. From here they could see the town had been hit harder by the quake than they realized, especially along Main Street where several of the damaged buildings were ablaze.

Looters were everywhere. Mostly riffraff, they were
breaking
into buildings and stealing whatever they wanted then loading their spoils into a large freight wagon parked outside the Lucky Nugget Saloon. And when any of the storekeepers tried to interfere, the looters frightened them off by shooting at them.

Despite the looting and chaos, the townspeople were desperately trying to stop the fires from spreading. Volunteer firemen were hosing down the blazing buildings, while the men on the horse-drawn fire-wagon pumped
frantically
to maintain the water pressure.

Farther along the street, men and women had formed a bucket-line in an effort to douse the flames threatening to destroy the bank and Harley’s Feed and Grain store.

The livery stable was only two doors down and Gabriel immediately thought of Brandy. Telling Ingrid to follow him, he spurred the roan along the street and quickly reached the stable. The doors were open and no one seemed to be around.

Dismounting, Gabriel motioned for Ingrid and Raven to keep quiet, drew his Colt and entered the stable. His worst fears were realized: all the stalls were empty. About to leave, he heard a moan. Turning, he saw the hostler’s daughter, a slim girl no more than sixteen, sprawled on some hay at the rear.

Yelling for Ingrid to join him, he ran to the girl’s side and saw she’d been attacked. Blood streamed from cuts and welts on her face and her dress was ripped down the front.

‘It’s OK,’ Gabriel said softly as she cringed in fear. ‘I’m not gonna hurt you.’

Dazed, she whispered something he couldn’t understand.

‘Who did this?’ he asked.

‘Men,’ she whimpered. ‘T-t-tried to stop them from
stealing
the h-horses, but—’ her voice faltered.

Ingrid and Raven came rushing up. One look at the girl told Ingrid everything. ‘Get some water,’ she told Raven. ‘Hurry! Go!’

Kneeling beside the girl, she stroked her hair and tried to calm her. ‘You’re going to be fine,’ she said soothingly. ‘Just fine. Now tell me where your folks are?’

The girl stared at Ingrid, as if trying to place her. ‘Pa,’ she murmured. ‘G-get Pa—’

‘Where is he?’ said Gabriel.

‘F-fires … w-went to help p-put out—’ She fainted in his arms.

Just then Raven returned with a bowl of water. Gabriel gently placed the girl in Ingrid’s arms and got to his feet.

‘You two stay with her while I go help with the fires.’

‘Be careful,’ Raven begged, clinging to his arm. ‘With all them crazy looters running around, you could get shot.’

Looking down at her he saw the fear in her big black eyes and knew she was reliving her father’s death. ‘Don’t worry,’ he assured her. ‘I’ll be careful. Now help your mom.’ Gently but firmly he pushed her away and hurried outside.

He stood in the street, immune to the uproar going on around him, looking for the Morgan. Brandy wasn’t among the horses tied up outside any of the buildings. Nor was the stallion one of the many panicked, rider-less horses
aimlessly running up and down the street.

Determined to find his horse, Gabriel walked toward the center of town. Fires blazed on both sides of him. His eyes began to water and every breath tasted of smoke.

As he approached the undertaker’s, he heard gunshots. Suddenly a rider came galloping out of the alley separating the bank from the Lucky Nugget Saloon. Saddle-bags full of money were slung over his shoulder and as he rode,
half-turned
in the saddle, he fired at someone behind him.

A shot rang out. Hit in the chest, the rider pitched from the saddle, landed, rolled, and laid still. Money spilled from the saddlebags, the loose bills fluttering about the street.

There were looters nearby, most of them still piling stolen goods onto the freight wagon. Gabriel expected them to fight over the money. But strangely, no one went near it.

And moments later, when a man rode out of the alley, a small, slim, handsome man with curly sandy hair and a nickel-plated .44 in his left hand, Gabriel knew why: it was Latigo Rawlins!

‘Next one of you saloon-swabbers tries to rob me,’ he told the looters, ‘dances from a rope!’ He let his threat sink in then said: ‘Now, pick up my money an’ bring it to me in the Nugget. You,’ he said to another looter, ‘finish loadin’ the wagon an’ then get ready to move out. There’ll be a deputy marshal here soon, maybe even soldiers, an’—’

He broke off, shocked, as he saw Gabriel. Then he slowly grinned and shook his head in a mixture of admiration and disbelief, muttered: ‘Harder to lose than a plugged nickel.’

Gabriel, equally shocked to see Latigo alive, said quietly: ‘Reckon you know that’s my horse you’re ridin’.’

‘Never figured you’d be back to claim it.’

‘Figured wrong.’

‘On the prod, huh?’

‘Nope. Just lookin’ to keep what’s mine.’

Latigo, eyes fixed on Gabriel, eased himself out of the saddle in one slow, fluid, graceful movement and stepped to the ground.

‘How much you want for him?’

‘He ain’t for sale.’

‘Everything’s for sale,
amigo
, includin’ a man’s soul. Just gotta find the right price.’

Gabriel felt a trickle of sweat run down his back under his shirt. He wasn’t afraid of the diminutive gunman, but he did wonder if he could out-draw him.

‘Name it,’ Latigo continued. He gestured toward the stolen loot piled in the freight wagon. ‘I’m a rich man now. Can afford anything I want. Even a stolen horse.’

Gabriel, knowing Latigo was trying to goad him into drawing, refused to back down. ‘Seems to me, that’d be the last thing you’d worry about.’

‘Guilty as charged,
amigo
.’ Latigo grinned. Deep down he admired Gabriel and hated to have to kill him. ‘Ever wonder how it would play out ’tween you’n me?’

‘Never,’ Gabriel said.

‘Never?’

‘Never.’

‘Me, too,’ said Latigo, laughing. He leaned slightly forward, onto the balls of his feet, his left hand dangling just above his gun. ‘Any time you’re ready, make your play.’

Gabriel, realizing that Latigo, like most deadly gunmen, only wore two guns for show, concentrated on Latigo’s left forearm. He knew the lefty’s hand might be quicker than his eye, but no matter how fast Latigo was, his forearm had to move first – and Gabriel hoped that that infinitesimal advantage would be enough for him to out-draw the little gunfighter.

Before he could find out he heard Raven call his name.

‘Gabe … Gaaaabe!’

‘Hold it,’ he told Latigo. Taking a chance that Latigo would oblige, he turned and saw Raven running toward him.

‘What is it?’ he asked as she charged up.

‘Momma needs you. That girl, the one hurt in the stable, she’s bleeding ’tween her legs and Momma’s trying to get the doctor to look at her.’

‘What’s she need me for?’

‘There’s a bunch of looters stopping her. They’re robbin’ all the houses on the doctor’s street. The folks who live there are trying to hold ’em off and nobody will stop
shooting
to let Momma pass.’

Gabriel looked questioningly at Latigo.

The little gunman shrugged. ‘This’ll keep,’ he said and handed Gabriel the Morgan’s reins. He then winked at Raven. ‘Remember me, missy?’

‘Sure. You’re the man who watered his horse at our ranch outside Santa Rosa.’

‘That’s right.’ He playfully ruffled her hair. ‘Got a good memory.’

‘I had a gun trained on you all the time, did you know that?’

‘Sure,’ he said, playing along. ‘Why do you think I
hightailed
it out of there.’ He grinned at Gabriel, ‘I like her grit,’ and walked off.

Gabriel stepped into the saddle and pulled Raven up behind him.

‘Know what?’ she said as they rode off.

‘What?’

‘I bet he’s not that fast.’

‘You’d lose that bet.’

‘Huh,’ she said. ‘Well, I still think you could beat him.’