The Rebel Killer by Paul Fraser Collard

Author:Paul Fraser Collard [Collard, Paul Fraser]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787710290
Amazon: 1472239091
Goodreads: 35276772
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2018-09-01T23:00:00+00:00

Jack relished the feeling of being outside and in the saddle. He and Martha had spent days incarcerated in railroad cars, with the two horses travelling in trucks put by for animals. The long period of enforced inactivity had stretched all their nerves, and he could sense that the horses were enjoying the freedom as much as he was. The price for securing the right passes to allow them to use the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad had been steep, not least because they had no proper documentation. That lack had cost them a pretty penny, the prices coming with a substantial surcharge that paid the railroad officials to turn a blind eye.

The first railroad had taken them from Lynchburg in Virginia as far as Chattanooga in Tennessee. More money had changed hands to secure them places on a locomotive heading north to Nashville. That journey had been shorter, but no less painful, and Jack had chafed at sitting on his backside doing nothing.

Unwilling to spend any more of his stolen dollars on a hotel, he had led them out into the countryside the moment they had arrived in Nashville. The horses, as tired of travelling as Jack was, had needed the exercise, and it would give them all a well-deserved break before they embarked on the last leg of their journey, up the Cumberland river to the town of Dover and Fort Donelson, the location, they hoped, of both Martha’s husband and Lyle and his raiders.

They had been in the saddle at dawn. Jack could not remember a time when he had enjoyed exercise so much. The morning had been beautifully clear as they rode through the gentle hills and open farmland that came right up to the fringes of the town of Nashville, which was set on a bluff near the Cumberland river.

For once, the sky was clear of heavy grey rainclouds. Jack’s body still ached from the wounds he had taken, and he often wondered if he would ever be free of pain. But it was not enough to spoil the pleasure of the early-morning ride, and he let his mind empty as he kicked back his heels and urged his horse into a canter.

A single pistol shot snapped him from his reverie.

‘What was that?’ Martha pulled her horse to a halt.

‘No idea.’ Jack kept riding. ‘But I know what it’s not.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Our concern.’

He rode on. Despite his glib answer, he still listened carefully.

‘There!’ Martha called out.

It was enough for Jack to bring his own horse to a halt. He turned in the saddle and saw Martha pointing behind them. It was immediately clear what had caught her attention.

Two riders were riding hell for leather directly towards them. Even as he spotted them, they turned off the track and tore up a slope towards a wooded ridge.

‘What they doing?’

‘How the hell should I know?’ Jack gave the waspish reply, then turned his horse around and rode back until he was next to Martha.

He squinted as he tried to make out what was happening.

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