The Coming Storm by Tracie Peterson

Author:Tracie Peterson [Peterson, Tracie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-10-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Colorado Territory

March 1871

TRENTON CHADWICK SCRATCHED HIS STUBBLY CHIN. HE hadn’t had a bath in four days, nor had he been able to shave, and his face itched something awful as the start of a beard formed. Years in the company of Jerry Wilson and his little brother, Sam, had seasoned Trenton to long stretches between personal grooming.

“You gonna just sit there all day scratchin’ your face?” Sam Wilson asked, throwing a dirt clod at Trenton.

“What do you expect me to do?” Trenton asked. “Jerry said to wait here and that’s what I’m doing.”

Sam laughed. “Just like a good boy. You better do what we say. We saved your sorry neck from the hangman and you owe us your life.”

And well Trenton knew it. Sam and Jerry, along with the other members of the Wilson gang, never failed to remind Trenton of the night they broke him out of jail. Trenton had been falsely accused of being a part of the Wilson gang’s bank job where three men had died in the crossfire. Trenton had been elsewhere and certainly not a part of the gang, but because of the company he’d kept, he’d been associated with the gang. They were planning to execute Trenton, so he felt there’d been no choice but to accept Jerry’s offer to rejoin the sorry lot. Of course, Jerry didn’t exactly ask him to rejoin but rather forced the issue. Jerry was always one for forcing issues.

“Come on, Sam. We’ll take the bank,” Jerry said, finally returning from his reconnaissance ride into the small Colorado town. “Mark, you and Chadwick post a watch just to the south of the bank. I figure that’s our best route of escape.”

Of late, the Wilson gang consisted of only the four of them. Some of the others had come and gone, including the Swede, who had been a particular favorite of Jerry’s. Mainly because the Swede knew how to use explosive material and didn’t tend to blow up entire buildings like Jerry and Sam did.

Trenton went to his horse and mounted. The years of his association with the Wilsons hung on him like an old unwanted garment that had long since worn out its usefulness. Trenton had gone along with their forced companionship because at the time, sitting in that jail and knowing they were about to hang him, Trenton saw no other way to survive. God certainly hadn’t cared about his survival. But now, years later, Trenton had wearied of the game. He didn’t have the heart of a bank robber or killer, yet that was the life imposed upon him.

The gang moved out in the early morning light. Trenton felt his heart begin to pound like it had on all the other occasions they’d robbed banks. Jerry Wilson used to watch Trenton like a hawk, but over the last year or so, he’d eased up his vigil, realizing that Trenton was in too deep to merely walk away and hope for the best. His face was on a Wanted poster, same as Jerry’s.

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