Reaper's Fee (12 page)

“I’ve been on the run myself,” Lester whined. “Sometimes my cousins would get some work from Cobb since he was always lookin’ for steady gun hands. They would send me some money, since I couldn’t risk getting honest work from someone who would pay me real wages. They would always send word about the hell they had to raise to earn it. They also said Cobb was a good man.”

“He’s been dead for years,” Nick pointed out.

“He was still a good man. My cousins told me so. They told me all about how he would—”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, shut up,” Nick said. “Just tell me what you know about where Barrett is buried.”

Lester blinked a few times as hope began to show within his watering eyes. “My cousins found the spot.”

“How?”

When Lester spoke, his words spilled out of him like water from a broken dam. “Two of them were supposed to meet up with Cobb after that last robbery with them jewels. They heard the shooting and went to see if they could help. One of them saw you two riding off, but couldn’t keep up. They caught up with you a while later, but you were carrying a body across the back of your horse. They followed you until they figured you were probably about to bury the body and then waited for you to leave the area.”

As he listened to Lester’s account, Nick thought back to the way things had actually happened. Barrett had always been a fast talker and had almost convinced Nick to join him on that one final job. But Nick had known there would never be a final job where Barrett was concerned. Barrett wouldn’t stop robbing, just as surely as a fish wouldn’t stop swimming. When Nick had gone along with him, he’d done so just to make certain his friend didn’t get himself killed.

Perhaps there had been other reasons at the time, but that was the only one that stuck out in Nick’s mind anymore. When the job was done, Barrett’s plan had proven to be as good as any of his others. They’d gotten the jewels and Barrett was ready for the next job. The only difference was that this time, Nick wasn’t.

It wasn’t the first time the friends had fought, but this would turn out to be the last. Nick’s hand was forced and he fired a shot that still echoed within his nightmares to this very day. To make amends, Nick had buried his friend with his precious jewels. He’d gone over the incident a thousand times since he’d first set out from Ocean, and the absurdity of it was still enough to strike him squarely in the face.

Nick shook the ghosts from his head and realized that Lester was still talking.

“There wasn’t anyone around when I buried him,” Nick said. “I made sure of it.”

“They never knew exactly where the spot was,”
Lester replied. “But they had a pretty good idea.”

“So you or your cousins are some of the assholes looking to dig him up.”

Lester thought long and hard about how he should answer that. Even though he knew his life could very well depend on what he said next, he couldn’t come up with anything more profound than, “Not me. It was my cousins.”

“You’re here to meet up with them?”

Lester nodded.

Nick nodded as well. With a grin that sent a chill down Lester’s spine, Nick said, “Then we’d best not disappoint them.”

As Nick rode from one trail to another, he kept a close eye on his newfound partner. He didn’t trust Lester any farther than he could throw him. Then again, Nick figured he might be able to throw Lester quite a distance. He might even be able to test that theory if the little rat proved to be even slimier than he seemed.

Lester didn’t sit still for one second. During the entire ride, he was constantly squirming in the saddle, shifting from one side to another, nervously glancing at various points on the horizon. His jumpy reflexes were getting quite a test, since there was no shortage of things scurrying about on the edges of his field of sight. Critters scampered across the trail, going about their lives as the two horses ambled by.

The last time Nick had been to the Badlands was when Barrett was with him. He didn’t remember things quite the way that Lester had described, but the two accounts were close enough to make Nick glad he’d jumped off that train when he did.
Otherwise, he might not have been able to cross paths with one of the grave robbers he’d been hoping to catch.

As Nick led the way deeper into the Badlands, each ridge and every rock seemed familiar. While all of these lands had already been claimed by one tribe or another, the rocky patch that Nick now rode through was too rough for any Indian in his right mind to live on.

For every flat stretch of trail, there were twice as many spots where a horse or man could slip and crack their skull against a rock.

For every spot that could make a nice little campsite, there were three patches of sand that were being watched by anything from a nest of poisonous spiders to wild coyotes. Like any other sort of prey, Lester could sense that he was in over his head. And, like any self-respecting predator, Nick strode confidently into the heart of the Badlands.

As he drew closer to the spot where he knew he would find Barrett’s final resting place, Nick felt a calm settle over him. Even Lester felt it and he allowed the breath he’d been holding to finally seep out of his mouth.

“This is as far as you go,” Nick said as he drew Kazys to a stop.

Snapping his eyes wide open, Lester asked, “We’re not there yet?”

“We’re close, but not quite there. What did you think? Just because you got as close as you did, I’d just lead you in the rest of the way?”

Judging by the expression on Lester’s face, that was almost exactly what he’d thought. Now that he realized the error of his assumption, Lester suddenly felt more isolated than if he’d been stranded in the middle of a desert. Even the small animals that had been scurrying about seemed to have chosen this moment to run back into their holes.

“Just so you know,” Nick announced, “the moment I see anyone riding toward me who I don’t recognize, I’m shooting them first and you second.” After letting that sink in for a second or two, he added, “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

At first, Lester kept perfectly still.

Then, as the thoughts churned through his mind and his imagination wreaked its havoc, Lester started to twitch. Just the corners of his eyes twitched at the start, but then the tremors worked through his face until he was almost shaking.

“There’s someone else coming,” Lester spat out. “He made me swear not to tell you.”

“Then why are you telling me?”

“Because I don’t think he’s gonna hold up his end of our deal. He was supposed to cut me in on a percentage of whatever we found in that grave, but then he saw you and wanted to cash you in for the price that’s on your head.”

Nick nodded and looked around as he said, “A bounty hunter.”

“That’s right.” Dropping his voice to a harsh whisper, Lester added, “And he could be anywhere. He could be watching us right now.”

“What was your plan?”

“I was supposed to get in close and keep you occupied until he could get a shot. For all I know, he’s got us both in his sights right now.”

“He doesn’t,” Nick said confidently.

“How the hell can you be so sure?”

“Because he would have killed you before you spilled so much about what was really going on. That either means he’s not close enough to hear us, or you’re making this up to save your skin.”

Lester’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he shook his head violently. “I didn’t make it up! I swear to God!”

Oddly enough, Nick believed him. He had taken enough twists and turns while riding to this spot that he would have noticed if anyone else had been following him. For all the ridges, gullies and trenches in the area, there were plenty of spots to hide in, but not a lot of ways to move silently from one spot to another. There were too many loose rocks and nervous critters around for a man to go unnoticed for long. Nick knew that much from firsthand experience.

Also, Lester was too scared to be lying well enough to pull the wool over Nick’s eyes. Nick had lost count of how many chances he’d given Lester to trip up on his stories. So far, Lester hadn’t tripped over much of anything other than his own tongue. Lester could be an exceptional liar, but Nick’s eyes were telling him to go along with his gut reaction.

The surrounding landscape was jagged and made up of sharp lines. Even a man lying on his belly could be spotted if he was trying to spy on Nick and Lester from afar. If such a man was closer, he would have made noise, disturbed a rabbit, or done something else to tip his hand. If he was good enough to avoid doing all of those things, then there wasn’t much Nick could do about him.

“Come on,” Nick said as he turned Kazys toward a wide, rocky slope that led to the east.

Lester leaned back in his saddle as if that would put him out of harm’s way. “Where are you taking me?”

“You came along this far, you might as well come along for the rest.”

“Y…you’re gonna shoot me and bury me with Cobb.”

“I dragged Barrett a hell of a lot farther than this. If I’d wanted you dead, I would’ve done it a long time ago, just to keep from hearing you whine so much.”

Lester glanced around, but found nothing to give him any solace. Reluctantly, he nodded and gave his reins a limp-wristed flick.

Waiting until Lester caught up with him, Nick got Kazys moving just fast enough to keep pace with the other man. “What did you say your name was?”

“Lester.”

“I’d rather not kill you, Lester. In fact, I’d like you to get a good look at what I’m about to do and
then go tell all your friends or cousins about it. In fact, tell everyone you know. I’ll even give you some money so you can buy drinks at all the saloons from here to Texas, have a few beers, and tell the story some more.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I couldn’t care less,” Nick replied. “I’m not the sort who enjoys swapping stories with a bunch of drunks. In my youth, perhaps, but I did plenty of other stupid things back then that I’ve also given up.”

“But…why would you want me telling folks about you? Don’t you know there’s a price on your head?”

“I know,” Nick said.

Lester blinked and waited. When a hammer didn’t fall for what he’d already said, he decided to keep going. “I heard you were a killer. I heard about some of the things you’ve done and if even half of them stories are true…” He couldn’t even finish that sentiment as the conclusions ran through his mind.

Holding up his gun hand, Nick said, “Take a look at that.”

When he caught a full look at the gnarled remains of Nick’s fingers and the scars that were smeared across his flesh like so much tar, Lester winced.

Nick recognized that look, having seen it on plenty of other faces. “That’s just a taste of what I’ve been through.” He lowered his hand and let
his eyes settle upon the trail that wound in front of him. “Whatever’s out there…whoever’s out there…it all gonna come to me whether I run from it or not. After a while, a man just gets sick of running.”

“So why bother to come here?” Lester asked. “You need your money back?”

Nick shook his head. “You ever see one of your friends get killed?”

“No, but my brother was stabbed in Dodge City when I was nine.”

“All right, then. How’d you like it if a bunch of assholes decided to dig up your brother, pull the rings off his fingers, rip the pins off his suit, or take whatever else you might have buried him with?”

“I don’t suppose I’d like that too much.”

“There you go.”

Something caught Nick’s eye. It wasn’t much more than a small movement to his left, but it didn’t blend in with the rest of the movement around him.

Nick had come too far to divert his path now. The grave was somewhere just ahead, and it was in a spot that would allow him to get a good look in all directions. His memories were of a pristine spot with nothing but open land for miles around. The land around him now seemed to rise up and close in on him like a set of giant hands getting ready to slowly crush him between them.

Kazys let out a few strained breaths as he negotiated a steep incline. Some loose rocks slipped from beneath his hooves, but the horse never lost his balance. Lester’s mount was having a bit more trouble, but still managed to climb the incline and get to the level ground on top.

The first thing to hit Nick’s senses was how perfectly the spot matched the memories he’d been sifting through moments ago. At the top of the incline, the land flattened out into a wide stretch covered by rust-colored soil. The dirt was hard and full of rocks, which made it heavy and reluctant to blow too far no matter how much the wind howled. A few trees sprouted here and there, but were outnumbered by tough, thorny bushes.

The spot was somewhat larger than Nick had recalled and since he hadn’t marked the grave with so much as a simple cross, he’d wondered if he’d be able to find it.

As it turned out, Nick didn’t have any trouble at all finding Barrett’s grave. All he needed to do was look for the hole that had been torn into the ground and the broken wooden planks sticking up like crooked, petrified fingers.

Nick dropped from Kazys’s back and ran to the desecrated grave. Stopping at the edge of the hole, he looked straight down at the mess of broken wood, which led down to a skeleton lying on its side. Nick dropped to his knees and began pulling the splintered boards up one at a time.

He cleared a spot toward one end of the hole, climbed down into it and reached toward the remains with both hands. Everything was there, right down to the bandanna Nick had tied around Barrett’s head. Everything, that is, except for the jewels that Nick had given to his friend for safekeeping.

Nick didn’t even realize he’d climbed back out of the hole. One moment he was standing more than waist-deep in dirt. The next moment, he was rushing over to grab Lester by his arm.

“Who did this?” Nick snarled as he pulled Lester closer to his level.

It was nothing but sheer panic that kept Lester from being pulled off of his horse altogether. His feet were wedged firmly in the stirrups and his
hands were gripping the saddle horn so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. “Did what?” Lester asked.

Shifting so he could stretch out his other arm and point toward the grave, Nick snarled, “That! Tell me who did that or you’ll be buried in there with what’s left of Barrett!”

“I don’t know!”

“All right.” With that, Nick took hold of Lester with both hands and pulled him completely from his saddle.

Lester came along kicking and squirming. Although his hands were peeled from the saddle horn, one of his feet remained ensnared within the stirrup. After a few strong pulls, Nick got Lester’s foot loose and dragged him toward the grave. Once he was certain there was no way he was about to break free of Nick’s grasp, Lester began to talk.

“I told you I’m not the only one who knows about this!” Lester squealed. “It could’ve been anyone else who heard the rumors! Anyone else would’ve come looking for all that money!”

“But you seemed to know a hell of a lot,” Nick said as he continued dragging Lester along. “You and your cousins had a good idea of where to look and what was here.”

“Yeah, but—”

“And don’t try to tell me that anyone would be stupid enough to spread around where this spot was when they were intending on getting those jewels for themselves!”

As Lester tried to come up with something to say that would get him out of this mess, he found himself being hauled up by his shirt. Nick’s hands may have been wounded, but his gnarled fingers clamped around Lester’s shirt with so much strength that they even got some skin clamped between them along with all that dirty cotton.

Lester felt his feet leave the ground. When he looked down, he could see the broken planks stretching up toward him as if they meant to grab his boots and pull him into the gaping, stinking hole.

“Jesus Christ!” Lester hollered.

“Unless that’s the name of the man who did this, I don’t wanna hear it,” Nick growled.

“I don’t know if my cousins did this or not! I been on the run for the better part of a year!”

“You stopped running long enough to check in with your cousins.”

“They sent me letters, but I barely got a chance to answer them.” The more he talked, the shakier Lester’s voice became. Soon, it was difficult to tell if the streaks down his face had been put there by sweat or tears. “When I haven’t been runnin’, I’ve been getting my ass dragged here and there by someone or other trying to cash me in for the reward money.”

“My heart’s fucking aching.”

Feeling himself slip out of Nick’s grasp, Lester sucked in a desperate breath and spat out, “I know where they’re at!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I’ll take you to them!”

“You want me to believe you’ll double-cross your own blood?” Nick said. “My guess is that you’re saying whatever you can just to keep from being buried alive in this hole.”

Lester looked down again as he thought about those words. Somehow, Nick had struck a chord that hit harder than when Lester had been worried about dying. Seeing the body curled up on its side amid all that dirt and broken wood made something crack within Lester’s brain.

“I don’t got a choice!” Lester said. “I’d rather take my chances with you than with Kinman!”

Lester felt the grip holding him over the grave tighten for a moment. Then the bottom of his boots scraped against the ground and he was set down. Nick let him go just long enough for Lester to realize he was standing on his own again. When he started to make a move, Lester nearly slipped straight into the very pit he was trying to avoid. Nick’s hand snapped out again to grab Lester by the collar. That was the only thing keeping Lester perched on the edge of the grave.

“So you’re with Alan Kinman?” Nick asked.

Lester nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he whispered. “He said he already crossed paths with you. He said he met up with you in—”

“In Rock Springs.”

“Yeah,” Nick replied in a tone that mocked Lester’s frightened whisper. “I know. A man like that’s
not too hard to miss.” After studying Lester’s face, Nick asked, “Why do you look so surprised?”

“I…uh…didn’t know you knew who he is.”

“I know. Kinman’s a well-known bounty hunter,” Nick said. “He’s tracked down a bunch of my friends and he’s been after me for a while. I’ve managed to stay ahead of him because I make it my business to know which bounty hunters need to be watched.”

“Well, Kinman’s got his sights set on both of us.”

“What interest does he have in you?”

Blinking at the turn in the conversation, Lester replied, “I stole a horse.”

Nick shrugged. “It must have been a real good horse or it must have belonged to a real wealthy man for Kinman to step in.”

“The horse is dead,” Lester squeaked.

“And so are we, if Kinman has a say in the matter.” With that, Nick pulled Lester forward just enough for him to be able to maintain his own footing at the edge of the grave. He didn’t, however, allow Lester enough space to feel comfortable.

“I know…” As Lester started to talk, his heel slipped backward and down a bit into the grave. After wobbling and waving his arms, he managed to catch his balance just long enough for Nick to pull him forward again. “I know what Kinman is capable of. The man’s crazy. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”

Although he didn’t say anything to that, Nick pictured the faces on those dead Chinese piled outside of Hale’s door. He also pictured the grim smile on Kinman’s face when he’d had an opportunity to put down a few more Chinese just to put a few more dollars into his pocket.

“The only reason I’m still alive,” Lester continued, “is because I told him about this place.” Seeing the scowl that came onto Nick’s face, Lester winced. “I didn’t have no other choice.”

“What do you think Kinman will do when he sees this hole instead of the treasure he was expecting?” Nick asked.

“Probably shoot me.”

“Which is a damn fine alternative to what I have in mind.”

“All I want is to get the hell away from here. All I did was steal a horse and that was over a year ago. I’d serve jail time like I was supposed to, rather than hand myself over to a monster like Kinman. Hell, that rancher down in Texas has probably got himself worked into such a lather that he’ll gut me when he gets ahold of me.”

“You stole that horse in Texas?”

Lester nodded.

Shaking his head, Nick said, “They would’ve strung you up no matter when they caught you. Even I knew better than to steal a horse from a Texan.”

“Well, if they string me up in Texas or if I get buried in that hole, I’m dead either way.”

“Now you’re using your head. You forgot one thing, though.”

Lester thought about that for a moment before asking, “What?”

“I’m the only one who has any use for you while you’re alive.” Seeing Lester’s eyes dart back in the direction from which they’d come, Nick added, “Now that we’re at this spot and there ain’t nothing but an empty hole, I doubt Kinman will be too pleased. Even if you track down those jewels for him, what do you think your chances are of getting away alive?”

“Not…too…good?”

Nick squinted and then grinned. “I see. He offered you a piece of the reward if you two managed to bring me in, didn’t he?”

Lester thought of plenty of ways to answer that question. Unfortunately, every one of them required him to appear much more collected than he could manage under current circumstances.

“It’s all right,” Nick, said. “I figured as much. Just ask yourself one thing, though. If Kinman is such a big, bad bounty hunter, why didn’t he just come after me himself? After all, he did have plenty of time riding with me back in Rock Springs.”

The dazed expression on Lester’s face made it clear that he wasn’t able to come up with very much. “I guess he wanted to be sure,” he replied in a wavering tone that wasn’t even enough to convince himself it was the truth.

“I’ll bet he’s plenty sure when he’s shoving you around,” Nick said. “He must still be sure that you’ll do what you’re told if he let you come all this way on your own.”

“He’s gotta be watching us.”

“Probably, but…” Nick motioned toward the uprooted grave and said, “…there’s not much left for him to see here. If we get moving now, though, we could get a head start. I know a few shortcuts through these parts that’ll put him so far behind us he’ll never catch up.”

Lester’s eyes widened as some of the color drained from his face. “You mean run away?”

“Why not? You’d rather take your chances with a bounty hunter? Those assholes aren’t much better than the law. The only difference between them and the jackasses who wear badges are whether they take their bribes above or below the table.”

“You really think we could make it?”

“I know a little something about staying ahead of bounty hunters and I’ve slipped out of Kinman’s sights more than once.”

“He doesn’t even think you realize he’s a bounty hunter.”

Nick grinned proudly and said, “My point exactly.”

Lester started to think some more. He also started to slide backward into the open grave, which seemed to influence him a lot more. “Fine, fine. I’ll join up with you, but I want your word that I’ll go free after it’s over.”

“I’m not a bounty hunter,” Nick said, “so rewards don’t mean much to me.”

“And all I can do is take you to where my cousins might be. I don’t know for certain whether they’ve got them jewels or not.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Reluctantly, Lester lowered his head. “It’s a deal.”

Nick felt something brush against his gun belt and he reflexively backed up a step. It was Lester, offering his hand across the few inches that separated them. Nick shook Lester’s hand, thinking about how he could most effectively put the other man to work in the little time before Kinman caught up with them. As he started to weave a plot in his head, Nick couldn’t help but think that Barrett would have been proud.

Suddenly, Lester’s grip tightened around Nick’s hand like a set of iron tongs and before Nick could pull his arm away, Lester was pulling him forward. Since Nick had shifted into a sideways stance to put his gun farther away from Lester, his shoulders were in line with one another. That made it even easier for Lester to sidestep while pulling Nick forward.

Nick felt as if he was falling through molasses. He could see Lester moving aside, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Nick’s other arm flapped behind him like a donkey’s tail. His front boot skidded against the ground for an inch or two, which was just enough to carry Nick to the edge of the grave.

After another shove from Lester, Nick pitched around at an awkward angle and toppled into the hole. He landed solidly upon the lower half of Barrett’s coffin. When he looked down at the body of his friend, he swore he could hear Barrett laughing at him.

Once he’d gotten his feet beneath him, Nick climbed out of the grave. His gun was already in his hand and his finger was touching the trigger on the off chance that Lester was waiting for him up top.

He wasn’t.

Even though there wasn’t anyone in sight, Nick had a pretty good idea where to look. He turned toward the spot where they’d left the horses just in time to see Lester snap his horse’s reins and charge straight toward him. Nick took aim with his pistol, but his shoulder hit the ground, knocking his aim off center.

Lester twisted in his saddle to look back over his shoulder. Seeing the gun in Nick’s hand, he ducked down low over his horse’s neck and let out a sharp yell as he dug his heels into his horse’s sides. The animal bolted forward and dragged Kazys by the reins along with him until Kazys finally managed to pull free.

Nick got to his feet, straightened his arm and sighted along the top of his pistol. He wouldn’t have had any trouble whatsoever in dropping Lester’s horse, but the rifle shot that tore a piece out of his right ear was enough of a distraction to affect his aim.

“Son of a bitch!” Nick shouted under the blast of his own pistol.

Wheeling around to face the direction the rifle shot had come from, he dropped to one knee. He saw Kinman riding over the ridge that led back down along the path to the gravesite. The bounty hunter still held his rifle to his shoulder and was taking aim again as Nick fired.

Nick’s round was less than an inch off its mark. It would have caught Kinman in the face, if the bounty hunter hadn’t been sighting along the top of his rifle. Because of that, Nick’s bullet ricocheted off the rifle and knocked the stock against Kinman’s shoulder and head. The impact, harder than a punch, caused Kinman to wobble in his saddle. A few more shots went off, but none of them hit him. In fact, Kinman didn’t even hear any lead flying past him. He saw Nick walking in the opposite direction and firing at something in the distance. Kinman took that opportunity to get his rifle back up to his shoulder and take a shot of his own.

Nick had figured that he had a few seconds to try and drop Lester while Kinman was shaking off the knock to the face. Once those seconds were up, Nick turned and found himself looking down the wrong end of Kinman’s rifle.

Gritting his teeth, Kinman squeezed his trigger. All he got for his effort was the gut-wrenching
clack
of metal slapping down on metal.