Chapter 10
Kevin and Jeff rode the short distance to Andrew’s tent office and dismounted. Kevin noted that there were other horses tied to the hitching post nearby. How many people had Andrew called out at this time of night?
“Looks like a full house,” Kevin said, trying to interject some humor. Jeff had been uncharacteristically silent during the ride.
“Yes, it is,” he said.
After dismounting and tying up their horses, they entered the tent.
There were five men in the tent already and it was rather cramped.
Jeff went to stand behind Andrew’s desk, and Kevin found a spot to stand beside a filing cabinet.
He nodded to the others. Michael and Troy nodded back.
Only Ryan Stevens didn’t. He was pale and looked quite sick.
“Okay, now that we’re all here,” Andrew said. “Ryan, go ahead and tell them all what you told me. Tell them what happened when you went to deliver the latest copper shipment.”
Stevens nodded. “So, these last few months, we’ve been running a bit of a scam on El Aguila.
This is for those who don’t know.” He looked over at Kevin with a sheepish, apologetic look on his face.
“Andrew only told you part of the story earlier. We’ve been letting him think that I and a couple of other fellows have gone and double-crossed you all.
We take some of the copper from the smelter once it’s ready and give it to El Aguila.
We negotiated that he pays us rock-bottom prices and leaves us alone to work in the mine. ”
“And this subterfuge has been going pretty well,” Andrew interjected.
“Yes, we were giving him copper bars that were less copper and more impurities than ever,” Stevens said. “But I think we went a little too far in the last few shipments. He must have gone to sell them and been told that the copper was really bad.” Stevens swallowed and rubbed his face with a hand.
“So, what happened?” Michael asked, leaning forward on the stool he was perched on. The big man looked uncomfortable, and Kevin couldn’t decide if it was more likely because of the news or the seat.
“We got into trouble,” Stevens said, a haunted look in his eyes. “They threatened us. Then, of course, Adams said some things that he shouldn’t have. He’s got a big mouth on him. It made Gomez angry, and he … He beat Adams so much I thought he was going to kill him.”
“Who is Gomez?” Kevin asked.
“He’s El Aguila’s lackey who picks up the shipments,” Andrew said. “He’s the one we’ve been dealing with. He has a scar on his cheek running from his eye to the corner of his mouth. Wears only black.”
“The man I saw at the Lucky Bull,” Kevin muttered.
The scar hadn’t been especially prominent, but Kevin suspected Gomez had used a woman’s face paint to cover it up somewhat.
Whether that was to make himself more presentable or to hide his identity was up for debate.
Because if he really wanted to hide, he would’ve done a better camouflage job, Kevin thought.
No, most likely it was just vanity. All the locals would probably know who he was and would be aware he was scarred. “Where is Adams now?”
“With Julie in her apothecary store,” Andrew said. “She’s tending to him and Santiago. It seems that Santiago tried to step in and save Adams, and Gomez’s other men beat him too. Not as badly though.”
Well, at least Santiago had stepped up to help his friend. Maybe that meant he wasn’t El Aguila after all? Kevin wondered.
“It was terrible,” Stevens said. His hands were shaking. “And Gomez said that El Aguila had a message for us. He said that he would let our deception slide this time, but next time, the shipment has to be doubled, and it had better be the best quality copper we’ve ever sent him.”
“What was the threat he sent with the message?” Michael asked. “It’s clear that’s how he operates, so what are we looking at as a possible repercussion if we don’t comply?”
“He said that he held all our lives in his hand and could snuff us out with a wave of his hand,” Stevens said.
Kevin felt sick to his stomach.
“He’s posturing,” Robert said in his gruff voice.
He stood in a shadowed corner of the tent where the lamp didn’t quite reach.
Kevin jumped when he spoke. He had forgotten that the sheriff was there.
For a very big man, he could be very ghost-like, which probably boded well for his profession when it came to sneaking up on criminals.
“It has to be nothing but hot air. How could he kill off a whole town with one wave of his hand? He doesn’t have the manpower. ”
“Also, it would make no sense for him to do something like that,” Andrew said in his usual rational tone. “I don’t think his men know the first thing about mining or smelting. If he killed us, there would be no more copper—and that’s pretty much what he’s after, isn’t it?”
“You weren’t there!” Stevens cried. “You didn’t watch your friend get beaten, knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it.
I begged Gomez to stop. I said I would do anything to make it right.
So, now I have to make it right before the end of next week, or he’s going to kill a whole lot of us, apparently.
And I don’t doubt that he will, however ridiculous it sounded.
You shouldn’t doubt him either! Look what he’s done before! ”
“I understand,” Troy said. “I just don’t see how he can do what you say he’s going to do.”
“I don’t know,” Stevens said. “He didn’t exactly pull out a plan with instructions and show me. I’m telling you what he said, and if you were there, you’d be singing a different tune now!”
“All right, enough!” Andrew said, bringing his fist down on his desk as Troy opened his mouth to add more to the argument. “This is getting us nowhere.”
“Very true,” Robert said. “What we need is a plan to respond to this threat.”
“But how, when we don’t know what the threat is?” Jeff asked.
“But what options does El Aguila have at his disposal?” Robert asked. “He’s got men and guns, so he could come in here shooting. He did that before we set up the booby trap system, and I doubt it’ll deter him this time if he’s really determined. What else could he do?”
Kevin considered this. “He could cut off our water supply,” he suggested. “We only have the creek, and if it runs dry, we would be without water.”
“We could sink more wells,” Jeff said. “It wouldn’t cripple us.”
“Yes, it would,” Troy, Andrew and Kevin all said at once.
“The mine uses a lot of water, Jeff,” Troy said.
“So does the smelter. Wells take time to dig, and they don’t always give nearly as much water as a creek, depending on the topography they’d dug on.
If they cut off our water supply—we’re done for.
No town can survive without water, much less a Texas town. ”
“He could also try turning the surrounding community against us,” Kevin suggested after some thought.
For some reason, his mind had rushed to Mrs. Lewis and her terrible attitude toward them at the market.
She wouldn’t be difficult to get on the bandits’ side.
“If he threatened them with violence, he could cut us off from all our supplies. We wouldn’t have access to food or goods unless we went all the way to San Antonio each time.
Then they could harass us on each trip. Maybe even kill us. ”
“Okay, that is a good point,” Andrew said. “I’ll send some people out to talk to the surrounding communities. Find out if El Aguila has approached them. Anything else you fellows can think of that the ruffian might try?”
“He could try taking over the town,” Jeff said. “You know, moving his men in. We don’t have the numbers or the guns to fight him off. If he sent in an occupying force, we could be overrun.”
“We need more information,” Robert said, sounding exasperated.
“Emily and I are supposed to go to San Antonio this weekend,” Michael said.
“I don’t think we can wait for the weekend,” Andrew said. “You have to go tomorrow.”
“But Emily has school to teach,” Michael said. “She won’t want to leave the students when it’s almost exam time.”
“Look, Anita and I can go,” Kevin said. Taking Anita straight into danger was the last thing he wanted, but he couldn’t just go back to the inn by himself when he was a newlywed.
That would look strange. “We can head back there and say we had such a good time that since we had more business in San Antonio, we thought we would stay there again. I’m sure the owners won’t think there’s anything odd about it. ”
All eyes were on him. Kevin waited. He didn’t know what Anita would say to another trip into town. Also, he wondered how truly dangerous this would be. Had he just volunteered his wife for something that she might not come out of alive? Forgive me, Lord, but what alternative is there?
“Lizzy and I can go too,” Troy said. “We could use a little time on our own. Timothy is a wonderful kid, but he can be a bit much.”
Kevin liked Timothy, but the teenager was definitely a handful. He could see why his surrogate parents would want a little breathing room every now and then. And he was glad he’d have two other people along with him and Anita, in case things went south.
“So … what are Anita and I supposed to do, exactly?” he asked. “Just … scout things out? If it is El Aguila, maybe try talking to him?”
“All right then,” Andrew said. “That’s a good plan. He’s not going to kill you in the middle of an inn, that’s for certain. In the meantime, we can send out some patrols. Robert, let’s see if your volunteers can find out where El Aguila’s camp is. We need to redouble our efforts on that front.”
“I’ll have everyone keep an eye peeled for any signs that there is something amiss around us,” Robert added.
“The creek is definitely a weak point for us, and I would like to make sure that there’s nothing going on there.
Even a few days without water would be dangerous for us, both in terms of the town and the mine.
We should try sinking a few test mines as backup.
Those will take time to get going anyway. ”
“And the shipment?” Stevens asked. “What about the next bribe for El Aguila?”
“Give him the good stuff,” Andrew said after a moment’s hesitation. “The best thing we can do is keep El Aguila in the dark.”
Kevin left the tent, and as he rode back to the house, he wondered just how much of all of this he should tell Anita. He had promised to be honest about all of this, but he also didn’t want her to change her mind and rush back to Wisconsin as fast as the next train would take her.
He still hadn’t decided when he rode into the yard. There was a light on in the kitchen and Kevin sighed. He had hoped to have the rest of the night to think about it. Possibly even to sleep on the question before having to make a decision.
Taking his time looking after the horse, Kevin mulled the question over again. Should he or shouldn’t he tell her?
The decision seemed to be made for him when he entered the house and Anita flew into his arms. There was evidence of company on the kitchen table, with multiple empty cups of tea sitting on it, along with scraps of cheese and crackers on a few plates.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay,” Anita said. “Lizzy was here a little while ago. She said that some of the miners were beaten up by bandits. Kevin, what is going on?”
He held her and didn’t say a word. It felt so good to have her in his arms, feel her warmth, and know how much she cared for him. It gave him the courage to be honest with her. If she ran for the hills, then he would just have to run with her.
“What Lizzy told you is true,” he said. “But there is a lot more to the story. Come, let’s sit, and we can talk about it.”
“All right,” Anita said, with worry furrowing her brow.
She took his hand, and they went to sit at the kitchen table.
Together, they cleared the empty dishes and then sat side by side, angled toward each other, holding hands as they spoke.
Anita listened to everything he told her about the agreement with El Aguila, his threats to the town and the mine, and how he had treated the miners who were delivering the bribe to him.
She listened to everything without interrupting. When he finished, Anita finally spoke.
“So, the plan is for us to go to San Antonio and engage the man?” she asked. “Isn’t that dangerous? Won’t El Aguila retaliate terribly?”
“It’s possible,” Kevin said. “But Andrew pointed out that he can’t exactly kill us in the inn.”
She nodded. “Well, I suppose if this is the best way to keep our home safe, then we have to do it. We can’t let men get away with such things. We will just have to play our part.”
Kevin saw her through new eyes in that moment. How could he ever think that she would back down and run away? Anita was made of sterner stuff than he had given her credit for, and he was both elated and a little annoyed with himself for ever thinking otherwise.
Without another word, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her long and slow before they walked together up the stairs to her bedroom.
Anita paused outside it, glanced up at Kevin, and then kept walking down the hall with him to his own room.
They closed the door then and he gathered her close, thanking God for his beautiful, brave wife.