Tanglewood Desperadoes by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480488199
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER EIGHT

There were no lights showing in the white frame house Prince Blakely had built at the edge of town, but then it was well after midnight before they reached it. Hidden behind a stand of old black oak trees, the house was far from imposing, but it remained one of the finest structures in the Wakapee Valley where sawn lumber was still a luxury which needed to be freighted in all the way from Tucson.

Curt Wagner spoke in warning tones to Cole Lockhart as they approached the yard. ‘This is what’s going to happen, Cole. You and I are going to step up on to Blakely’s porch. I’ll have my hat tugged down; he won’t recognize me in this light. You are going to knock on the door and call out.

‘And if you don’t go along with us on this – well, you know what the alternative is,’ he said, jabbing Cole’s spine with the muzzle of his Colt.

Cole Lockhart nodded his head although his eyes were blazing with fury. He would go along with these men for the time being; his time would come to answer this humiliation.

Dan and Trace Dawson remained behind in the shadows of the big oaks while Curt marched Cole Lockhart toward the front porch of Prince Blakely’s house. The two men walked so near to each other that the gleam of the metal could not be seen as Curt kept his revolver’s muzzle tight against Cole’s back. Curt had tugged his hat low to avoid recognition in the moonlight. It was a tense few minutes. Trace and Dan were wary of any sentries that might appear, but none did for the moment.

Trace knocked loudly on the door. Cole still had his hands tied behind him. But his gag had been removed so that he could call out to Prince Blakely. He did and repeated it several times until finally they heard footsteps approaching the door. Blakely opened the door in his night shirt. He had pulled on a pair of trousers beneath it.

‘What in hell?’ he stuttered. He recognized Cole immediately. ‘Listen, what is this about? If it’s more money you want, I don’t have it. So far as I can tell there haven’t been any results from what I have already handed over. You haven’t even found the nest of the Tanglewood gang yet.’

Then his eyes widened as he peered out of the door at the second man standing there. He knew Curt Wagner on sight, of course, and he visibly flinched, backing away toward the interior of the house.

‘Cole didn’t find us,’ Curt said, ‘but we sort of found him.’

‘What is this?’ Blakely sputtered, ‘a hold up?’

‘Of a sort,’ Curt replied as Trace emerged from the shadows, gun leveled, to join them. ‘You’re going to take a little ride with us.’

Blakely glared at Wagner. ‘You were supposed to be a lawman! It’s no wonder the town let you go.’

‘The town didn’t let me go,’ Curt replied quietly. ‘You did.’

‘I suppose that Dan Sumner’s in on this, too.

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