Ralph Compton Train to Durango by Ralph Compton

Author:Ralph Compton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Dodge City, Kansas, April 12, 1885

Dent Shankler and Turk Pardue spent most of an uncomfortable night on the plains, waiting until an hour before first light to ride into Dodge.

“We’ll position ourselves as near the Dodge House as we can, without being seen,” said Shankler. “You’ll be on one side of the street, and I’ll be on the other. The instant Stone or Dismukes fires, we’ll cut loose on Elfego and Silver. We got to take them by surprise. If we miss the first two or three shots, we’ll be in big trouble.”

“I just hope Dismukes ain’t figured out that he’s bein’ used as a diversion for a bushwhackin’,” Pardue said.

“He won’t live long enough to figure it out,” said Shankler. “He can’t see beyond his own ego.”

Reaching town, Shankler and Pardue concealed their horses as best they could. Before the Dodge House was a single bracket lamp. The street was dark and deserted. Shankler crossed the street, seeking a good position, leaving Pardue to do the same. Pardue slipped between two store buildings, back into the alley where they had left their horses. What he had in mind was a flat-roofed building with a false front, behind which he could conceal himself. Instead, he found something better. The two-story building was vacant, and while it had once been boarded up, the rear of it—facing the alley—was open to marauders and the elements. Slowly, careful where he stepped, Pardue made his way up the stairs to the second floor. A door hung drunkenly on one hinge, and beyond it was a balcony overlooking the street. He sighed with satisfaction, hoping Shankler had found himself as good a position on the other side of the street. Pardue had no way of knowing that just a few days before, a trio of killers had fired from this same deserted balcony.

• • •

Wes Stone sat up in bed, aware that Renita was no longer beside him. In the darkness he could see the shape of her, sitting in the room’s only chair, facing the door.

“How long have you been sitting there?”

“Since you fell asleep,” Renita said. “I can’t sleep, and my thrashing around would only have kept you awake.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” said Wes. “I don’t want you sitting there alone, brooding about me. Three more hours, and it’ll all be over.”

“This time,” Renita said. “What about the next time, and the times after that?”

“I’ve cured myself of thinkin’ that far ahead,” said Wes.

“That’s how you manage to sleep, knowing you have to face a killer at dawn?”

“That’s it,” said Wes.

She said no more. Slipping back into bed beside him, she lay there with her troubled mind in a whirl until she fell into exhausted sleep. She was still sleeping when Wes got up, for first light was only minutes away. There was a knock on the door, and Wes reached for one of his Colts. Anticipating his move, a voice spoke softly through the door.

“Twenty-one.”

Buckling on his gunbelts, Wes eased the door open enough to slip through.

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