Earthbound (29 page)

The saloon was pretty empty, which I guess
made sense for mid-day. There was the barkeep and one old guy who
looked like he was already drunk, plus two girls who sure looked
like prostitutes. I felt pretty good that we’d go unnoticed in
there.

Right away Becca noticed a Wanted poster on
the wall. Our reward had gone up considerably. This poster said
“WANTED – for Bank Robbery across the Great Plains. $20,000 Alive.
$80,000 Dead.” Becca looked at that ugly portrait of me and
compared it to my real face.

“Not a bad likeness,” she giggled.

The barkeep didn’t say much. Just gave us our
bottle of whiskey and left us alone.

“So this is what outlaw life is like,” Becca
commented. “Kind of boring.” She was right. Choteau was pretty
boring. Nothing a bank robbery wouldn’t cure. “Well, I’m going to
go buy our supplies and then we’ll…”

Becca didn’t finish her sentence, cause right
then the saloon door swung open and the three armed gunmen from
outside the bank waltzed in. Each had a big ol’ shotgun. Had they
recognized us? Turned out nope. They left those shotguns leaning by
the door. Two of them sat at a table while the third stood right
next to me at the bar to order a drink. We tried to play it cool
but I gotta think Becca was scared shitless, right?

“Howdy,” the gunman said to me.

“Howdy,” I said, trying to be neighborly.

“You folks aren’t from here.” The gunman gave
the three of us a very close look.

“We’re from Conrad,” Pace responded quickly,
always thinking as usual. “We just came by to see the snow geese
migration. Figured we’d have a drink before we headed home.”

That explanation seemed pretty good to the
gunman. He looked around the room for the barkeep who seemed to
have disappeared.

“Only time of year to see it,” the gunman
said.

“That’s right,” Pace replied. “Had to take
that opportunity while we could.”

“Where is that damned barkeep?” the gunman
grumbled. I wanted that damned barkeep to come by too, just so that
gunman would move on. He eyed me and Pace a second time. “You boys
look familiar. Have I seen you in these parts before?”

“I don’t think so,” Pace answered. “First
time for us.”

“Hmm…” The gunman pondered us for a moment.
“Passing resemblance to those bank robbers. You know about them,
right?”

“Oh do we!” Pace said with a laugh. “We saw
them ourselves actually. They robbed our bank in Conrad. I don’t
think we look much like them, though. They both seemed a lot
taller.”

“I think the bigger one looked part
Cherokee,” Becca interjected. Good on her.

“Hmm…” the gunman grumbled.

“I heard they took a hostage,” Becca added.
“A girl.” Good strategy on Becca’s part I suppose. Putting it out
there to further deflect attention from us. Course I had my hand on
the trigger the whole time.

“Hadn’t heard that,” the gunman said.
“Doesn’t surprise me none.” Then the gunman got a good look at
Becca. Eyed her up and down. Didn’t like that much. “And who might
you be?”

“Me? I’m his sister,” Becca said, indicating
Pace. “And his fiancé,” she said, grabbing my arm. That made me
feel pretty good. Pace got the sibling. I got the fiancé. Pace
probably didn’t like that much. Hah.

The gunman seemed a might disappointed.
“Spoken for,” he said, “I understand.” Then he moved his attention
away. Can’t blame a guy. Based on the quality of prostitute in
their saloon, he probably had slim pickings to choose from. “Damned
barkeep. Where the eff are ‘ya!” he yelled. Then he indicated brief
apologies to Becca. “Sorry for the language, ma’am.”

“Not a problem. Both my companions have
issues with profanity as well.”

“My
sister
and would love it if we
could buy you and your friends a drink,” Pace offered.

“Thank you kindly,” the gunman replied, “but
this barkeep owes me. All hell.” The gunman reached back behind the
bar and took a bottle of whiskey. He headed back to his table,
finally. But before he sat down, he turned back to us. “Might see
you up in Conrad. Me and the boys have been hired to guard over a
transport once it gets there.”

“A transport,” Pace said with interest.

“Bringing gold to replenish everything that
got stolen across the Great Plains. Making stops in Great Falls and
Augusta too, I believe. Heard it might be around a hundred thousand
coins all told.”

“A hundred thousand?” Pace definitely was
interested. “When’s that coming around? I mean, when are you coming
around? We’ll look for you. Show you some good Conrad hospitality.”
The gunman didn’t seem interested so Pace upped the ante. “I know a
couple of nice girls I can introduce you boys to. Girls not spoken
for.”

That definitely piqued the gunman’s interest.
“We’ll be up there in two days’ time.”

“What route is that transport taking?” I was
concerned Pace was pushing it too much. “Straight up route 15?”

The gunman seemed okay with the question. I
was relieved. “Yup. Starting out in Helena I believe.”

“That will certainly be the most excitement
Conrad has seen since, well, the bank robbery. Looking forward to
seeing you up there. And good luck catching those bank
robbers.”

“Oh we’ll get ‘em.”

The pleasantries ended and everyone went back
to their drinking.

“Your brother?” Pace whispered. “Why couldn’t
I have been your fiancé?”

“Cause she has good taste,” I said.

“Don’t let that get to your head,” Becca
snapped, ripping her arm away from my arm. “I said you were my
fiancé because you’re bigger and if you needed to fight with that
guy over me you’d have a better chance of winning. No offense,
Pace.”

“I understand,” Pace said. “I’m more a lover
than a fighter anyway.” That cracked all of us up. And even though
there was a practical reason why Becca chose me to be her fiancé,
it sure felt good. “So how about that transport.”

“Pretty interesting,” I said. “Sounds like
they’ll have plenty to guard it when they arrive in the
settlements. But when they’re in between settlements, that’s a
different situation.”

“How many guards do you suspect they’ll have
in the transport itself?”

“Probably not that many. Not that much room
if they’re carrying a hundred thousand coins. Probably just a
couple of men. Maybe a shotgun or two if they’re taking likely
precautions.”

“Plus there can’t be any Mankins. No place to
hide, because they’d have no idea where anyone like let’s say us
decided to rob it.”

“So creating an ambush along route 15…”

“Would be the smart way to do this.”

“This is just bar talk, right?” Becca
asked.

Pace and I looked at one another over
Becca.

“It’s better than a bank,” Pace mused.

“Makes sense,” I agreed.

“Boys, I don’t like this,” Becca
interjected.

But Pace ignored her. “There’s supposedly a
location maybe thirty-five miles south of Great Falls on the road
to Helena. A rock formation, maybe four hundred feet high. I read
all about that place. It’s called Tower Rock. Lewis and Clark had
been there, climbed to the top, said it had a great view.” Those
useless Lewis and Clark guys. Always blabbering on about stuff. “I
always wanted to go there. And maybe we should. It’s the perfect
place to wait and look for the transport coming. And when we see
it, we can hustle down the mountain in time to intercept it.”

“That’s a good plan,” I agreed.

“You two aren’t serious are you?” Becca
asked. Actually she sorta pleaded.

“A haul like that,” I said, “and we can
afford to move on to wherever you want.”

“And you know what?” Pace added. “We’ll need
a transport ourselves if we’re leaving the Great Plains with all
our gold. It’s the perfect scenario.”

Becca didn’t say much after that. She seemed
upset though. She grabbed a bar napkin and started dabbing her
eyes. Then she excused herself to go to the toilet.

“She doesn’t like our plan,” I said.

“Not much,” Pace replied, “but she’ll like it
better when we’re two hundred miles from here, with a clean
start.”

I agreed and we downed a little more
whiskey.

“She seems upset,” I said.

“Only because she’s frustrated,” Pace
explained. “It’s because she wants you and doesn’t know what to do
about it.”

“Oh shut the eff up, Lewis Clark or Clark
Lewis or whatever the eff your name is!”

“I’m serious. She wants you. She did pick you
to be her fiancé.”

“She said it’s cause I can protect her
better. It’s pretty obvious she likes you.”

“Me? Ah, no. She just likes my style. But she
doesn’t like me. Not in that way. Believe me, I know women. I know
what’s in their heads. She wants you. You should think about
it.”

What the eff did he think I was thinking
about all the time?

This was just bar talk. Pace enjoyed teasing
me. Putting ideas into my head. I just needed to ignore him.

A few minutes later I noticed Becca at the
other end of the saloon. Guess she was done peeing. Seemed like she
was talking to one of the prostitutes. That struck me as strange.
And then I could swear I saw something, a glint of metal exchanging
hands. I admit I was a little suspicious.

“What was that about?” I asked as Becca came
back to join us.

“Oh that?” she replied quickly. “I just feel
sorry for her, because she needs the lifestyle she’s chosen. So I
gave her a little money. We can afford to do things like that,
right?”

“You be as generous as you’d like,” Pace
replied.

I admit, I was a little skeptical. Becca
must’ve noticed, cause she reassured me. “Asher, you look like
there’s a thought in your head. Don’t you worry. I would never do
anything to harm you. You know that.”

And I did of course.

Becca excused herself to go buy the supplies.
She’d load up the horses and we’d meet her in about ten
minutes.

Once she was gone, I glanced over at the
gunmen. They seemed happily getting drunk, paying us no mind.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“The question is, are you thinking what I’m
thinking?”

In unison we stood up and headed for the
door. It was a stupid idea. But we couldn’t help ourselves.

We wasted no time, grabbed a few important
supplies from our horses and just waltzed right up to that bank.
With the armed guards gone and Becca preoccupied, we had a very
short window. We needed to do this fast.

“No drama, right Pace?”

“No drama,” he agreed.

He went in front and I went round the back,
so we’d meet in the middle. By the time I got through the back room
Pace already had his weapon drawn and was ordering the four bank
tellers to put their hands where he could see them. Four tellers,
more than we’d seen before. I wondered why that was.

“We’re in a hurry,” Pace said, “so we’ll need
to keep this quick.

Pace and I made eye contact when we were both
near the vault. Now with me providing cover, Pace was freed to
holster his revolver and tie three of the tellers up with some
rope. Pace purposely let the strongest looking teller stand untied
for the moment. So far so good.

“Which one of you knows the combination to
the safe?” His question was just met with a bunch of scared eyes.
“No one? What’s the matter, did the Great Plains Holding Company
threaten to terminate you if you cooperated with bank robbers?”

The strongest looking teller seemed to be the
bravest. Maybe because he was the only one untied. “Terminate is a
good word,” he said.

Pace went right up and looked that guy in the
eye. “You know the combination?” The strongest looking teller shook
his head no. The Pace looked one of the tied up tellers in the eye.
Then another. They didn’t speak. But that third teller darted his
eyes to the left toward the fourth teller. That guy was the oldest
one. Made sense that he’d be the one trusted with the combination.
Pace pulled out his revolver but kept it a safe distance from the
fourth teller. “Easy way or hard way?” The fourth teller started
breaking down. I kinda felt bad. Pace put his gun away. The easy
way. “Hey listen, I’m not going to let the bank retaliate against
you. I’ve got a hell of a good plan. But I just need that
combination. I promise it won’t get traced back to you.”

Not sure why that guy should have trusted
Pace, but I guess he had that kind of trusting way. The fourth
teller nodded. “35. 15. 17. 22. 23. 16. 0.”

Pace smiled with appreciation. “Alarm?”

“You can shut it off. There’s a switch
underneath that desk right there.” The fourth teller nodded his
head toward a desk near the vault. Pace went over and fiddled
around until he found the switch. He flipped it. Then he opened up
that safe just as the fourth teller instructed. The door popped
open and inside was, I kid you not, the biggest haul we’d ever
seen. Easily twenty times bigger ‘n any we’d seen. No wonder they
had so many tellers, they needed them to count all that money.
Adding that to what we had hidden in the Old City, we’d amassed a
pretty huge haul.