The Gallows Gang by I. J. Parnham

Author:I. J. Parnham [I.J. Parnham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780709096160
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 2011-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

‘And the worst thing about this is,’ Mayor Maxwell said, as he thought of yet another angle with which to berate Kurt and Shackleton. ‘I have invited the state governor to come to our very town next week to see me deal with Javier Rodriguez. He said that we were a shining beacon of hope for small towns everywhere. What can I tell him now? That he can’t come because our beacon has been ground into the dirt by the two men I trusted the most?’

‘We—’ Kurt began, but Maxwell hadn’t finished.

‘And don’t tell me that I should stop our town’s proud day just because you two are so incompetent as to let ten of the worst outlaws this county’s ever known escape.’

Neither Shackleton nor Kurt would have presumed to tell Maxwell anything, as they appeared to stand no hope of getting a word in to explain themselves.

Previously Shackleton had been in a quandary as to what he should say. If they’d met Maxwell and the governor of Beaver Ridge jail immediately after Kurt had shot Barney in the back, he’d have had no problem telling them what he thought about him.

But faced with such a tirade he reckoned presenting a united, albeit silent, front was his best and probably only option.

‘For me,’ Governor Bradbury said, when Mayor Maxwell paused to take a drink of water, ‘the worst thing is I recommended you two and then defended you when the mayor questioned whether we had enough men for the job. He’d have given me fifty but I said a small team of the lawman who brought in Javier Rodriguez and the man who’s never lost a prisoner would get the job done. How do you think that makes me look?’

Governor Bradbury waited, but neither man replied, judging that, like Mayor Maxwell, he didn’t want an answer, and that he was saying whatever he had to say to direct the mayor’s anger away from himself.

‘It makes you look,’ Mayor Maxwell said, ‘as bad as I do. So I sure as hell ain’t cancelling the governor’s visit and I sure as hell will send Javier Rodriguez to the gallows before his very eyes next week.’

Silence reigned for several seconds and taking it that this time they did want an answer, Kurt spoke up.

‘After we eliminated Pablo Rodriguez with our small force, taking serious losses in the process, we picked up on Javier’s trail. Your dragging us away from that pursuit means it’ll have gone cold, but we will recapture him and the rest of the escaped prisoners long before the governor’s visit.’

‘See that you do,’ Governor Bradbury snapped, his eyes flaring after Kurt had offered a veiled criticism of his own actions. ‘You have seven days or neither of you will ever work for me again.’

‘And I have enough connections,’ Maxwell said, ‘to ensure neither of you will ever work for anybody ever again.’

He glared at each man in turn to check that they understood he had the political power to carry through with his threat, leaving Governor Bradbury to point at the door.

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