Drifter 2 by Jake Henry

Author:Jake Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: us civil war, joe shelby, piccadilly publishing, western fiction ebook, brent towns, jake henry, old west adventures, the drifter series
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing

Nine

Through the small window of his cell, Shelby watched the wagon get loaded with rifles. All the while he cursed the man who’d taken over his command and was about to get most of them killed.

‘Dumb stupid son of a bitch,’ he swore out loud.

Then he watched as fifty men rode out in column-of-twos, led by the same stupid son of a bitch.

‘Private Rutledge,’ he called out to the man on guard.

‘What do you want?’

‘I want you to get Sergeant Brown for me,’ Shelby stated.

‘Can’t do that, Sir.’

‘Damn it, man. Do you know what they took out of here in that wagon?’

‘Ain’t my job to ask,’ Rutledge answered.

‘They took rifles. Rifles! And do you know where they are taking them?’

This time Rutledge didn’t speak.

‘They’re taking them to the Apaches,’ Shelby told him. ‘Perkins thinks he can get them to side with him against the Union. He thinks he can make them a part of his new army.’

Rutledge still remained silent.

‘Now you and I both know that the only thing the Apaches are going to do with them rifles is kill them all. So they have to be stopped. Now get Brown for me.’

Rutledge hesitated once more but decided that what Shelby had said made sense and went to fetch Esa Brown.

It was ten minutes before he returned with Esa who entered the cell and glared at Shelby.

‘What do you want?’ he asked in a disrespectful tone.

‘I want you to let me out of here before it is too late,’ Shelby answered.

Esa snorted. ‘That ain’t goin’ to happen.’

‘Damn it, Esa,’ Shelby barked, ‘that son of a bitch is going to get all of them killed. Perkins doesn’t have a clue what will happen once the Apaches get the rifles.’

Esa stood firm, his loyalty to his commanding officer and the cause overrode any doubts that he had.

‘Major Perkins knows what he’s doin’,’ Esa stated firmly. ‘Now shut your yowlin’. You ain’t getting’ out.’

He turned, walked out and left Shelby to fume on his own.

‘This will be on your head, Esa!’ he raged. ‘Yours and that stupid bastard you blindly follow.’

~*~

It was the middle of the afternoon when Savage drew rein and unsheathed the Yellow Boy, jacking a round into its breech. The sun burned hot against their exposed skin as it hung in the cloudless sky.

‘What’s wrong,’ Gloria Tate asked, an edge to her voice.

‘Somethin’s dead,’ Savage told her in a soft tone. ‘Up ahead. I can make out the buzzards.’

Gloria strained to see across the desert. At first, she could make out nothing, but after a couple of moments, she could just see the waddling black shapes as they gorged themselves on whatever it was.

‘Stay close,’ Savage ordered. ‘And if I tell you to ride, you ride like hell and don’t look back. If you continue east for a day or so, you should make Shelby’s valley.’

‘Can’t we go around?’ Gloria asked, her voice filled with hope.

‘Just keep quiet and follow me,’ Savage said as he eased the sorrel forward.

As he rode, his eyes never stopped scanning the surrounding terrain.

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