Slaughter of Eagles. William W. Johnstone
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to be to their advantage.
Their supposition was wrong, and in the resultant gunplay, described by witnesses to the event as “quicker than thought,” all four desperados were killed. Luke Mueller, the fifth member of the gang, was not present at the time of the aforementioned confrontation and, as of this writing, is still at large.
New York, New York
A young woman sat in the front of the hansom cab holding her baby under the blankets and against her body to protect it from the cold night air of early spring. Though her part of the cab was partially enclosed, the driver sat outside the enclosure, on a high seat above and behind her. Janelle Wellington was a strikingly pretty woman with dark hair, deep blue eyes, high cheekbones, and a smooth, olive complexion.
When the cab stopped, Janelle spoke to the driver through the hole in the roof.
“Please wait for me,” she said. “I’ll only be here for a few minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the driver answered, calling back down to her. Tying the reins off, he pulled his scarf up around his neck all the way to his ears, stuck his hands into his pockets, then hunkered down into his heavy coat to wait for his fare.
The young woman carried the baby to the front door of the brownstone, then up one flight of stairs. She knocked on the door and when it was answered, stepped inside.
“Janelle? What are you doing here? And out on a cold night like this with that baby?”
“Sue, I need to leave the baby with you for a while.”
“Over night?”
“For a while longer.”
“What is this about? What is going on?”
“You know what is going on. You know the disgrace I have brought to the family. I can’t stay here anymore, and I can’t take the baby where I’m going.”
“Janelle, what do you mean? What are you talking about? Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I’m not quite sure yet where I’m going. I guess I’ll know when I get there.”
“No, don’t do this. Don’t do this to yourself, don’t do it to the family.”
“The family,” the young woman said with a derisive laugh. “After all that I have done, do you really think I could do anything more to this family? I have disgraced myself, I have disgraced Mother and Father, and I have disgraced you.”
“Don’t be silly. You haven’t disgraced me.”
Janelle’s smile became more sardonic.
“I haven’t disgraced you,” she said. “See, even you realize that I have disgraced our parents.”
“I didn’t mean that and you know it. They were upset and disappointed, yes,” her older sister agreed. “But I think it was more over what happened to you, than they were with you. They love you. We all love you, and I don’t want to see you throw your life away like this.”
Janelle sighed. “Please, just tell me you will take care of the baby. At least for a while. I need some more time, is all.”
“Of course, you know I will take care of the baby. But what about Mother and Father? Do they know you are leaving?”
“No. And please, say nothing to them until after I have left.”
“You don’t know what you are asking of me.”
“I do know. Believe me, I do know. And I know I couldn’t ask this of any other person in the world.”
“I will say nothing until after you have gone, on one condition.”
“What condition is that?”
“You must let us know where you are, and that you are safe.”
“I promise I will let you know.”
“No, not just me. You must let Mother and Father know as well. We must be assured that you are all right.”
“I will, I promise. Thank you for loving me, even after all this.”
The two embraced, then the younger woman, kissing her baby on the forehead, handed him over to her older sister. Her eyes bedimmed by tears, Janelle didn’t look back, She hurried down the stairs, then outside where she climbed into the cab.
“Where to now, miss?” the driver asked.
“Grand Central Station,” she said, barely able to get the words out.
The driver nodded, then slapped the reins against the backs of the horses. The team plodded on, the clip-clop of the hoofbeats echoing off the three-and four-story brownstone houses that fronted the street from each side.
Janelle wept silently.
Chapter Five
Idaho Springs, Colorado
“Mister, if you think you’re goin’ to get someone to go up agin’ Falcon MacCallister for a thousand dollars, you’re crazy,” Jerry Kelly said. “I heerd what he done agin’ your brother and three other men.”
“Clete and the others tried to take him face on,” Luke Mueller said. “I ain’t askin’ you to do nothin’ like that. I got it all planned out.”
“You got it all planned out, do you?” Toby Collins asked.
“Yes, absolutely.”
“All right, let me hear your plan,” Kelly said.
“We’re goin’ to ambush him. He’ll be ridin’ right down through the middle of the street without no idea of anything about to happen. We’ll all be hid out and we’ll shoot him down before he even knows we are there. How hard can that be?”
“You’re talkin’ about Falcon MacCallister,” Kelly said. “It can be damn hard.”
“Too hard for you to do it for your share of a thousand dollars?”
“There’s three of us here,” Kelly said. “Me, Collins, and Tucker. Four, countin’ you. So how many will there be to divide this money?”
“Just what you see here,” Mueller answered.
“So you’re talkin’ two hundred fifty dollars?”
Mueller shook his head. “No, you misunderstand. It will only be the three of you sharing the money. So you’ll each get three hunnert thirty-three dollars,” he said. “I’m the one goin’ to give the money, remember? I won’t be takin’ none of it for myself. All I want is for the son of a bitch to be kilt.”
“But there’s goin’ to be four of us doin’ the shootin?” Collins asked.
“Four of us, yes.”
“That’s kind of funny when you think about it, ain’t it?” Kelly said.
“Funny? How?”
“When your brother went up agin’ MacCallister, they was four of ’em tryin’ to kill him. But MacCallister not only kilt your brother, he kilt all four of ’em. Four, just like we are four.”
“I done told you, this ain’t goin’ to be like that. It ain’t goin’ to be nothin’ at all like that. Clete and the others tried to face him head-on, and all four of ’em got themselves kilt. We ain’t goin’ to give him no chance a’tall. We’ll have him kilt afore he even knows we’re anywhere around.”
“I got a question,” Tucker said.
“What’s that?”
“How are we goin’ to get him into a spot where we’ll all be a’ hidin’ out and he’ll be in the open?”
Mueller smiled. “You don’t need to be worryin’ nothin’