Lawless Liberty Ch. 03

I ride to the outskirts of where their camp was marked, but as far back as I can go because they likely have roaming guard. A group like this will take their security seriously. I crawl up the hill and see the fires of the camp lighting up as the dark is nearing. Damon gave us a looking glass, so I use it to peer at the camp to see if I can get idea of the size. They're on the hill, and obscured by vegetation, so I can't see much.

After darkness I hear some movement behind me, and quickly grab for my gun.

"Oak," I hear Justin say.

"Acorn," I say back, and hear both him and Jesus crawling up next to me. "You get it?"

"Got it," he says, tapping the bag over his shoulder. "Could you get a shot from here?"

"Too much obstruction," I say, and Jesus asks for the looking glass.

"We're maybe four hundred out, I couldn't tag a barn from here," he says and hands it back to me. "You go in there, you're on your own."

"Could you reposition?" Justin asks.

"We could close it to maybe two hundred, a hundred if we're real lucky, but if we miss, we don't have enough separation to not get routed," Jesus says, and I agree it'd be too risky. It's already a risky plan.

"If you hear a gun shot, or I don't come back within the hour, get out," he says, and I slowly nod. Justin take a shallow breath, then gets to his feet and mounts the horse.

"Come back," I say, but he says nothing and rides off.

--

June 6, 1883

-Justin-

I wish we had a better plan, but this is what we got. I ride the horse straight to their camp and stop just outside of the tree line. I don't see anyone approaching me immediately, but I see the light from the camp bleeding through the trees, and smoke rising from the center. Now or never.

"Hardgrave!" I shout as loud as I can. I hear movement almost immediately, and hurried feet coming toward me. "Hardgrave!"

"You got a death wish?" I hear a voice say, and moment later see a man exit the brush with a rifle raised. "Holy shit."

"I'm here to talk to your boss," I say, and he keeps the gun trained on me. "I'm here to parley."

"Parley?" he asks and laughs a little.

"That's what I said," I reply.

"I think you mean parlay," he says, and I roll my eyes.

"No, I mean parley. Parlay is gambling," I say, and he's silent, as if he's thinking.

"I knew that," he says, and I hold back a snicker. "You got nothing to parley with as far as I can see."

I open the bag, and then show him the gold bar.

"Plenty more where that came from," I say, and he reaches for it, but I hold it back. "We gonna parley?"

I dismount the horse and hand him the gold bar, and he escorts me to the camp, shouting my arrival for everyone to be on the ready. Their camp has two wagons toward the middle, and several small tents for sleeping. Some of the tents are larger to cover supplies, and they appear to have a few women with them as well doing random chores like cooking and laundry.

"Boss," the man says from outside of one of the larger tents. "You ain't gonna believe this shit."

"Believe what? What's with the commotion?" I hear a familiar voice say from inside. "Talk inside."

The man enters the tent, and I follow, ducking down under the flap as I do. Sitting on a chair at a makeshift table is the man I punched in the face. Now I have a name to go with it. Kennan Hardgrave.

"I'll be damned," he says when he sees me. "You are just full of surprises."

"He had this on him. Says he's got the rest," his man says, placing the gold bar on the table. "Says he's here to parlay."

"Parley," Hardgrave corrects, and the man looks down. "Let's negotiate, take a seat Justin."

I see a chair against the side, so carry it over to the table and sit across from him. Kennan picks up the gold bar to examine it, then laughs a little.

"You know anything about eight of my guys being killed?" he asks, and I lift my left hand. He looks at the bandages then says, "That's Bonaparte's handy work."

"He let his guard down," I say, and he nods.

"He does that from time to time. Well, did that. Probably figures he had a banker pegged. Damned fool," he says, then puts the bar on the table. "Take it you had help?"

"Let's get to the point," I say, and he gestures for me to continue. "I want this to be over, you want this to be over. You've lost over a quarter of your men, and I'm still standing. I understand you likely want some retribution, but my fingers should cover that."

"I don't begrudge a man for surviving, and you are certainly doing that. Funny thing is, I was gonna let you live once we left the town. I had no reason to kill you," he says, and I blink. "Quite frankly I still don't. You haven't slighted me in an unjust manner. My men can't kill a banker outnumbered one to four, they don't belong on my crew. What's your proposal?"

"You get the money, and I go home. Simple as that," I say, and he thinks for a moment, then nods. "I point it out on the map, and I leave. If it isn't there, you know where to find me."

"I can live with that. We'll never see each other again," Hardgrave says, and reaches across the table to shake on it, but he pulls back at the last second to say, "But this isn't without conditions."

"What else do you want?"

"I want the bitch who stole my money," he says, and I shake my head.

"All or nothing," I say, and he leans over the table.

"When I said you hadn't wronged me, that didn't mean her. She took my money, and she will pay for it," he says.

"She didn't do it knowingly," I say.

"Don't care. She took that money, then likely killed a few of my men herself. You have fingers missing, she doesn't. She hasn't paid for it," he says, and I'm silent. "Give me her, you can even keep some of it. Call it a finders fee."

Right now, I have a way to walk out of this alive. All I have to do, is give them Liberty. If I don't, we're back to square one, and I'm likely dead. To be honest, I'm not so sure she saved me at all. Still, I'd rather die here than live knowing I saved myself like a coward.

"What would you do to her?" I ask.

"What do you think happens to a woman who comes into this camp as a captive? We'll tie her to a post, and my men will each have their turn. We'll fuck her till she can't stand. Then they'll fuck on the ground. Then maybe if we're real generous, we'll fuck on a bed. Then maybe the horses get their turns. We'll likely not kill her. We'll make her wish she was dead though," Hardgrave says, and my fist clenches. "Unless, you want your turn with her first."

"I'm sorry we couldn't come to an arrangement," I say, and then stand up.

"You're going to die for that bitch," he says, and I shake my head.

"No. But you're going to die because of her," I say, and look at the gold bar. "You can keep that, assuming you're going to abide by the parley."

"You came in good faith, you can leave in good faith. But know, if you walk out of here without the agreement, the shooting starts soon. I'll find that money, with or without you."

"Good luck," I say, and leave the tent.

--

June 7, 1883

-Liberty-

They let Justin go after he walked straight into the lion's den. I can't believe it. Did that actually work? Justin takes a wide path back to us, and Jesus keeps eyes on the camp to make sure he isn't being followed. So far it looks like a clean get away.

"Oak," I say as he dismounts the horse.

"Acorn," he says, and walks over to us. It's dark, but he still looks no different than when he walked in.

"What happened?" I ask, and he shakes his head.

"No deal," he says, and I my stomach sinks. What does that mean?

"No deal?" Jesus asks, and Justin nods. "But he let you live?"

"He honored the parley, but what he wanted in exchange, I couldn't give him," Justin says, and I ask what he wanted besides the money. "He wanted you."

"Me?" I ask, and he nods. "Well fuck." Justin could have turned on me, but he didn't. I can't say with full confidence I wouldn't give him up.

"What now?" Jesus asks, and I look at the two of them. We're all too quiet for my liking.

"We should head back and get ready to move. Head back to Utopia tomorrow and just prepare for the worst," Justin suggests, and Jesus agrees that's our best option now. I'm not so certain. It's time to run.

The three of us start riding back to Damon's, and as we ride, in the distance we see what is likely another rider. The glow of the lantern floats too high off the ground and too fast to be someone on foot. Might be one of their scouting parties, but there is no way they can see us because we're riding near blind. Jesus has traveled this area so much visiting the old man, he can navigate blindfolded.

"See that?" Jesus asks.

"They don't bother us, we don't bother them," Justin says, and we keep going.

A minute later, we see glowing in the distance. What the hell is that?

"Is that?" Justin asks as we ride. "That's the house!"

"Damon!" Jesus shouts and kicks the horse to move faster. "Jessica!"

"Shit," Justin says, and kicks harder as well. I can now clearly see the glow is the house on fire.

"Jessica!" I hear Jesus shout as he rides on. When I catch up, Jesus is already off the horse, looking for the Damon and Jessica. Justin is off his horse next and is helping him search. "Damon!"

Jesus runs into the house, and I grab Justin to stop him from following him.

"Let me go!" he shouts, but I hold on.

"It's no use if you're dead too," I say, and moment later Jesus runs out of the house carrying Damon on his shoulder.

"Damon, Damon!" Jesus says, placing him on the ground, looking for wounds. "Where's Jessica."

"They took her," he says, then looks at me. "They thought she was you."

We don't look anything alike. Then again, they were told to look for a woman, and only a few of them know what I look like.

"Those riders," Justin says to Jesus, and Jesus nods, knowing it was likely them.

"How many?" Jesus asks, and Damon gasps on his blood. "Damon, how many?"

"Three," he struggles to say, then swallows. "Three of them. He then points to a dead body near the front of the house. "Got one of them though."

"Stay with him," Jesus says, handing off care to Justin who holds what looks like a gunshot wound on his chest.

"Jesus, you can't go alone!" Justin shouts, but Jesus is mounting his horse. He then takes off after the two men. "Shit."

A portion of the roof collapses in the fire, sending a spray of embers into the sky. It's time to get out while I can. Everyone else can die, but I'm not going to.

"Liberty help me move him to the barn," Justin says, but I start walking toward the horse. "Liberty!"

"Get out while you can Justin," I say, and mount the horse.

"You're just going to leave!" Justin shouts at me as I grab the reins.

"I survive, that's what I do," I say, and Justin pulls a gun on me, aiming it straight up. "You won't shoot me."

"I could have turned you over," he says, cocking the hammer back.

"That's the difference between you and me," I say, pulling mine out and aiming it. "I will actually shoot." Justin and I remain in the standoff for nearly ten seconds before he lowers the gun, and I lower mine. "This is what being the good guy leads to Justin. You get other people killed."

"You're just a fucking coward," he says, and I holster the weapon. "Go ahead and run. It's all you're good for."

I say nothing and take off riding away from the house. I look over my shoulder for just a moment, to see the fire reflecting off Justin's skin. After that, I don't look back. I'm going to survive, no matter what that takes.