Chapter 8
On Monday morning, Mark was up early. He made sure that his gun was clean and loaded and that he had extra ammunition with him. Being caught off guard wasn’t an option.
Although the bandits had been silent lately, there was no guarantee that their mercurial leader wasn’t planning something. He tended to have plans hidden inside more plans. But Mark was also a planner, and his plans came with six bullets.
He walked into the yard at Anita and Kevin’s farm and found Clary setting up the coach, stowing a shotgun under the driver’s seat.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning.” She grinned when she saw his gun strapped to his hip and the box of extra ammo that he was carrying. “You came prepared.”
“So did you,” he said.
She shrugged. “I truly hate surprises.”
“Don’t we all?” Ben asked as he walked over to them. He was carrying a flask and a couple of tin mugs. “Thought we could all do with a little coffee for the trip. Anita is going to bring us some pastries in a minute.”
Mark laughed. “How is it you’re always way more prepared than the rest of us?”
“Luck?” Ben asked with a shrug of his big shoulders.
The last to arrive was Heather. Mark did a double take at the rifle slung over her shoulder.
“It was my father’s,” she said. “Everyone thought my brother Terence would take it, but he was always a terrible shot.”
“You’ve got better aim, right?” Clary asked, suddenly looking worried.
Heather laughed. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Andrew walked over to them, coming in through the gate. He held a large brown envelope in his hands. “Okay, this is everything that Mr. Rossi has in his possession at the moment. Take care of it.”
“We will,” Mark said. He took the envelope.
They climbed into the coach and set off. Once they were outside the gate, Clary urged the horses on and they began to race across the open grassland.
A light fog lay over the ground, but it was burning up fast as the sun rose. The day was still cool and full of dew that sparkled on the ground. It was a lovely day, and it was a pity that Mark and Heather were spending it in a coach.
Heather, however, seemed quite excited about the trip.
“I’m so glad we get to spend the whole day together,” she said, beaming at him. “I think this could be fun.”
“Fun?” Mark asked. “We could be ambushed and shot at.”
She shrugged. “Then we’ll shoot back.”
Mark sighed. “Sure,” he said. “It still won’t make it fun.
I think you’re coming at this from the wrong angle.
We’re delivering important information about a man who has terrorized this whole region for ages now.
Unity isn’t El Aguila’s only target. There are a handful of towns that he has taken over, and none of them are doing well.
We have to stay vigilant and take this seriously. ”
Heather frowned. “You think I’m not?”
Mark noted her tone and wondered if he had gone too far. He probably had, but he was in it now. “I think you were leaning in the wrong direction.”
She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest. For a while she stared out of the window and didn’t speak to him at all.
“I’m sorry, Mark,” Heather said after such a long silence that Mark had drifted off into his thoughts. “You’re right. I wasn’t taking this seriously enough. I’ve never been in danger from these thugs, and you have. I promise to listen to you from now on.”
“Thanks,” he said, relieved. “I appreciate it. Tell you what, why don’t we find something to do later, when we get back? Maybe something special.”
“Like what?” Heather asked.
He shrugged. The idea had come to him spontaneously. “We could go up on the wall when the sun has set and watch the moon rise. It’s beautiful.”
“I would like that,” Heather said. She shifted, moving forward on her seat. Then she slid the rifle off her lap and moved to sit beside him on his seat. Taking his hand in hers, she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Back when we started writing to each other, I thought you had to be a bad man,” Heather said.
This threw Mark for a loop. “Why?” he asked in dismay. “Did I do something to make you think I wasn’t what I said?”
“No, oh gosh, that’s not what I meant,” Heather said.
“I meant that I thought you had to have a flaw. There was no way that you could be as kind, understanding, smart, and wonderful as you seemed in the letters. I’ve never been that lucky.
It seems that Lady Luck has changed her mind about me at long last.”
Mark chuckled and pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I’m the lucky one. I knew from the moment that you answered my letter and told me a little about yourself that I had to meet you in the flesh. I just knew it. And here you are.”
“Earlier than you wanted,” Heather said.
“Yes, but I’ve come to terms with that,” Mark said. “I think it’s good you’re here for the end of El Aguila’s reign of terror. When we get that bandit arrested, it will mean all the more because you were here with me when we took him down.”
“You’re too kind,” she said and, stretching up, kissed his cheek.
They rode along like that, watching the scenery go by. Mark kept a special watch in case there was some sign of the bandits, but to his relief, they made it all the way to San Antonio without seeing hide or hair of their enemies. When they pulled up to the Lucky Bull, Heather stuck her head out.
“Is this where we’re going?” she asked. “Can we have lunch here before we head back? It looks like the kind of place that makes excellent food.”
“You’re not wrong,” Mark said. “I’m sure we can convince Ben and Clary to stay.”
The Lucky Bull was a great place. Mrs. Sparks, the owner, was always pleased to see the men and women from Unity and treated them well.
Then again, she treated all of her guests with kindness and courtesy, making her inn very popular.
To top it off, her husband was a marvelous bartender and he told stories, sang songs, and was a great source of entertainment for customers.
They found Mr. Wilkinson sitting in the inn’s parlor, away from the hubbub in the dining room.
“It’s far too noisy in there for a man to think,” Mr. Wilkinson said, standing up to greet them. They took seats around the table, which had a coffee pot, mugs, sugar, and milk on it.
When they were all seated and comfortable, Mark handed Mr. Wilkinson the envelope.
The lawyer took it and opened it. Pulling out the pages, he perused them. “Is this it?”
“It’s all that Andrew gave us,” Mark said.
“Well, it’s not much, legally speaking,” he said and frowned. “I must confess that I’m quite surprised to see you here. I would have thought that your attention would be better served in getting ready.”
“We are getting ready,” Mark said. “But Mac’s last letter said that he was closing in on El Aguila in New York, so we didn’t think it was that urgent. The odds of him being able to coordinate a full-scale attack here while being in custody there seem?—”
“I’m going to stop you there,” Mr. Wilkinson interrupted.
He rummaged in a stack of papers he had on a side table that stood beside his chair.
“Honestly, working like this is terribly inconvenient. But being on retainer means that I have to put up with all kinds of difficulties.” He sighed.
“Ah, here it is. This came last week. I assumed you got one too.”
He handed a telegram to Mark.
As he read it, Mark’s blood ran cold. He looked at Mr. Wilkinson with surprise.
“What is it?” Heather asked, her face mirroring Mark’s confusion and concern.
He handed the telegram to her. “I don’t understand. The letter said?—”
“The letter was written before this development,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “That’s the only thing that makes any sense. This is the latest information that Mac was able to send. And I believe it throws things into a different light. Don’t you?”
“It certainly does,” Mark said.
“What does?” Clary demanded. “Just read the message, would you?”
“EA not in NYC. Gone to Texas for full attack. Send reinforcements. Coming out,” Heather read out loud.
“Oh wonderful. So El Aguila is here?” Ben asked, an atypical frown on his usually friendly face. “I need to warn Sarah. She’s going to be so upset.”
“Sarah?” Heather asked.
“My … well … We’re stepping out together,” Ben said a little shyly. “And she’s been through a lot.”
“We’ll have to warn everyone,” Mark said, standing. “We have to head back now. If El Aguila is planning an attack, we need to be there. I don’t think what Andrew and Michael have set up will be enough. The bandits almost got through the last time they made a full-out assault.”
“Let’s buy more ammunition before we go.” Ben also got to his feet. “We’re not running low, but that could happen quickly if they launch an unexpected attack.”
“Good idea,” Clary agreed. “It was nice seeing you, Mr. Wilkinson, but we’d better get out of here.”
He nodded. “Yes. You had better go. Please tell Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright that I have the contracts they were looking for. When this mess is all dealt with, they are welcome to come and sign them here.”
Mark ushered the others out of the room and back to the coach, which they had left in the inn’s coachyard.
“What do you think ‘send reinforcements’ means?” Heather asked. “How would the lawyer do that?”
Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. What we need to do is get back before the attack happens. If Mac knew about it last week, we might be out of time.”
Clary drove them to a store to buy more ammunition, and she and Ben loaded it into the coach.
“Will we really need all of that?” Heather asked as they deposited three large boxes on the seat beside her.
“Let’s hope not,” Ben said somberly.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Mark said as they set off again, heading back out of the town.
The road ahead looked ominous, and although the weather hadn’t changed, the day had taken on an air of dread and fear. Mark sat looking out of one of the windows while Heather looked out the other, her father’s rifle at the ready.
“It’s going to be okay,” Mark said.