Chapter 32
Sometimes it took months to find an outlaw.
Other times it took days. Deadshot knew that finding Quincy wasn’t going to be easy, but he was getting impatient.
For the first time in his life, he wasn’t chasing somebody alone.
He had never worked with anybody before, and having company was proving to be better than he had expected.
The kid was actually pretty great and helpful.
Although they had not come across any concrete information, they hadn’t given up.
Deadshot had made the kid a promise, and he had every intention of keeping it.
Most days they spent traveling, but they had taken a few days for themselves to focus on the kid’s training.
Deadshot had never before trained anybody and didn’t think he had the patience for it, but he was actually enjoying it.
The kid was a great student and was learning fast. They had wasted quite a few boxes of ammunition on target practice.
Deadshot didn’t need the practice, but the kid did, and to be honest, it was fun.
Atlas, the horse that the kid had stolen from Quincy, was proving to be extremely clever and was also learning all of the tricks really fast. Another thing that Deadshot was teaching the kid was how to simply survive in the world.
When traveling long distances, there weren’t always towns and shops to stop at, and sometimes it was necessary to hunt and forage.
The kid was a natural when it came to shooting, and hunting had proven to be easy for him.
Foraging did not come naturally to him. If it wasn’t for Deadshot, the kid would have eaten fruits and plants that weren’t edible.
Learning the difference between some plants wasn’t easy.
Many of the fruits looked similar, and a person had to really look closely to tell the difference.
Knowing these things could ensure a person’s survival, though, so it was necessary that the kid learned. While Deadshot taught the kid, they collected berries and fruits that were edible and added them to their diet. It was actually nice to eat something that wasn’t meat, bread, rice, or beans.
While this was all fun and necessary, Deadshot still desperately wanted some concrete information about Quincy and his gang.
So far, all they had gotten was the same old rumors about Quincy having a secluded hideout somewhere.
Nobody knew where this hideout was, and nobody had ever been able to find it.
There were also the rumors about the desert.
Apparently, Quincy had grown up living somewhere near or in the desert.
It didn’t seem logical, but those rumors had been going on for as long as Deadshot could remember.
They had spent the previous day training, but now it was time to visit the next town. The kid was looking at the map. “So, we go to this one?” he asked, pointing to a town that Deadshot had circled.
Deadshot nodded. “Yes, and then we go here.” Deadshot drew a line to a seemingly open area.
The kid looked at him like he was insane. “There’s nothing there.”
Deadshot laughed at this. “Or that’s what they want you to believe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s never been added on the map, but there’s always been a settlement there.” Deadshot knew this because he had stopped there multiple times before. “They survive by trading with each other. There are no shops and no sheriff, just a couple of families doing their best to survive.”
“Then why are we even going there?” There was no judgment in the kid’s voice, only curiosity.
“Mostly because I want to see if it is actually still there,” Deadshot admitted. “But who knows? They might have some information for us. It’s not like the bigger towns have proved fruitful.”
The kid folded the map, handed it to Deadshot, and then stood. “I think today is our day,” he said as he walked over to Atlas.
Deadshot placed the map in his bag and followed the kid. It was time to get going. “You have a feeling, or you’re just trying to be positive?”
“I had a dream,” the kid replied. “Can’t remember much, but I know that we learned something valuable about Quincy in it.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.” Deadshot mounted Bullseye. “Because we could really use a clue.”
Deadshot and Rider arrived in the town a few hours later.
As usual, they decided to go to the sheriff’s office first. Deadshot had been there before, but he couldn’t remember the sheriff’s name.
That didn’t matter because it had been years, and it was possible that there was a new sheriff in town.
As luck would have it, it was the same sheriff that Deadshot had met years ago.
He recognized the man’s face immediately and was happy that the sheriff remembered him, too.
“Deadshot!” the short and stocky man roared. His hair had turned white, but he was still as excitable as Deadshot remembered.
Deadshot shook his hand. “Forgive me, I remember your face but not your name.”
“Sheriff Cooper,” the man replied with a smile. “No worries, my wife is like that. Can never remember anybody’s name.”
“Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Deadshot laughed.
“I haven’t seen you in ages. It must be what? Ten years?” Sheriff Cooper asked. “What brings you to my town?”
Deadshot waved his hand, indicating for the kid to join them. “This is Rider,” he told Sheriff Cooper, causing the kid’s eyes to grow big with surprise. He had probably thought that Deadshot had forgotten his name since he never called him by it. For some reason, it had stuck.
Sheriff Cooper shook the kid’s hand, being respectful as always. That was one thing that Deadshot remembered about him. The man treated everybody fairly.
“Nice to meet you, son,” Sheriff Cooper said.
“You as well,” the kid greeted in return.
That was enough pleasantries. Deadshot liked the sheriff, but they were not there to visit. They were there on business. “We are looking for Quincy Callaway,” Deadshot informed Sheriff Cooper.
The sheriff’s eyes grew big with surprise, and he sucked in his breath. “Never expected to hear somebody say that in my lifetime,” he replied.
“The best that killed the kid’s father and abducted his mother and sister.” Deadshot squeezed the kid’s shoulder. “I promise to help him get justice.”
“You always were a good man.” Sheriff Cooper glanced between the two of them. “How do you know each other?” he asked.
Deadshot smiled. “The kid showed up at my door a couple of months ago, asking for help, and here we are.”
“Do you have any leads?” Sheriff Cooper asked.
Deadshot shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. We’ve been searching far and wide but haven’t come across anybody who’s seen Quincy or his gang.”
“Well, I might just be able to help you.” The sheriff hadn’t stopped smiling since Deadshot and the kid arrived.
“One of our ranchers claimed to have seen Quincy and his gang a few months ago. He said that they rode past his ranch, and it looked like they had two women with them. By the time he came to me and we arrived back at his ranch, there was nobody there. We followed the tracks for a little while, but we couldn’t follow them too far.
We did send a warning to our neighboring towns, though, but none of them ever saw him. ”
“Somebody actually saw him . . .” The kid sounded amazed, as if he couldn’t actually believe it.
Deadshot simply felt relieved. He knew that eventually, they would come across some helpful information. Finding somebody like Quincy was never easy, but it was possible.
“You think you can show us the way they went?” Deadshot asked.
“Of course,” Sheriff Cooper agreed immediately. “Let me just grab my hat.”
Sheriff Cooper took them to the ranch and even introduced them to the rancher.
The man was helpful enough and explained to them what he had seen that day.
It sure did sound like Quincy and his gang, and the kid’s face lit up when the man described the two women that he had seen with them.
The kid was convinced that it was his mother and sister, and that was good enough for Deadshot.
When they were done talking to the rancher, Sheriff Cooper took them all the way to where they had stopped following the horse tracks.
It was a couple of miles out of town and heading in the direction of the desert.
Suddenly, everything made sense to Deadshot.
Maybe nobody could find Quincy because he was hiding in the desert.
Maybe the rumors about him having lived in the desert as a child weren’t false at all.
The kid turned to Deadshot, his face as white as a ghost. He had had the same realization, and without having to say a word, they both knew where they had to go look.