Denver was a boom town. Lured by the promise of gold people had come from places far and strange to chase the glint of fortune, many men had built up the large town. After the initial tents and temporary saloons, it now sported quality establishments and décor only the Nuevo rich could appreciate. Horatio Coldstone sat back in the tufted leather wingback chair of his hotel room. The leather was a dark wine color and supple to the touch. He liked the finer things in life. In his right hand he held a snifter of brandy and a fine cigar in his left. He had spent the last two years planning this night and now he just needed to sit back and wait for it to play out. It was a simple plan really. The difficulty was finding the right window, the right people and of course the right quarry.
Horatio took a long draw on his cigar and blew the smoke gently into the air. The smoke twisted and curled toward the ceiling. This was to be his most intricate planned heist to date. His men had tunneled into the bank from a store front next door. He had spent months hiding the paper trail that he owned that building. There they would sneak in, in the middle of the night and take bearer bonds. Pieces of paper that meant little to the unlettered, but to him they were better than gold. He had it on good authority that bearer bonds to claims in the Comstock would be held in the Bank of Denver this night. His men should be in the bank now placing them in a set of worn, but non-descript saddlebags. He smiled at his genius. One would expect finer accommodations for a treasure so valuable, and so he would do just the opposite. Those saddlebags would ride out of town to the rendezvous tomorrow morning without being questioned or searched. The bearer bonds would hide in plain sight right under the nose of the constabulary. He liked how foolish it made the opposition look.
He rose from his chair and set the snifter on a small table beside the chair. He stretched his back and went to the French doors leading to a balcony overlooking the main thoroughfare. The bank could be seen from here. Nothing looked disturbed. His people should be just about finished by now. He planned it perfectly. All he needed now was a good night's sleep. The bagman would meet him at noon tomorrow at the rendezvous point several miles from town. He would pay the man and take the bonds and then he would slip into the night. He would emerge from the darkness a ruthless and shrewd corporation and take over the Comstock. He would be very rich and never need worry about a thing again. He would surround himself with protection and enforcers. He would be a force to reckon with. He would be a god.
Becoming fatigued by the evenings events, Horatio decided to turn in for the night. He extinguished his cigar on the rail of the balcony and silently bid the town of Denver a pleasant evening. The maid had turned down the bed –a nice consideration. He would sleep well tonight and tomorrow he would be the first day of his life as a titan.
He was a man in his mid-thirties he had never married by choice. Women were a complication and he hated complications. His parents had taught him to go after the finer things in life and he did. He removed his smoking jacket and crisp white cotton shirt. He looked imposingly into his mirror. Yes keeping himself in good physical shape was one of the finer things in life. He would always have pride in his appearance. It also intimidated everyone he met to know that he could kill them with just one of his bare hands and that he would smile when he did it. He dropped his trousers and folded them neatly on the valet -another nice consideration for the room. He slid into a pair of silk pajamas. Sleeping in silk was absolute decadence and an indulgence he didn't mind succumbing to.
Dan Archer was the bagman. He had in his possession two three inch stacks of paper that made the bearer the controlling interest in the claims of the Comstock. He could ride out, never to be seen again, but he didn't really know what to do with the paper he possessed. He liked his gold in coin form and that's what he had arranged. He just needed to get to the rendezvous at noon and he would collect and be a very rich man. He could buy and lot of women and a lot of drink with the money he was to be paid and still have enough to retire -for a while at least. The time was a quarter past eleven. He would need to leave soon. Just enough time to get a drink at his favorite saloon and head out.
"Come on, Jimmy, can't we stop for a little recreation?" Cody pleaded. "We don't have to get back to the station for a couple of days."
"No, Cody, we can't," Jimmy explained, "We still have to protect Buck. The Army wants people to think Buck's carrying important documents. That's what being a decoy is all about. You should know that better than anyone."
"But Jimmy, Buck is still in the courier's office picking up the package. I'm getting tired of waiting."
"Well lucky for you, you don't have to wait any longer. Here he comes. Now let's get out of here."
Buck walked up to his companions and was visibly unnerved. He was carrying his usual non-descript set of saddlebags but this time filled with blank paper and some extra clothing. He knew what the real courier was carrying and he was glad he wasn't actually carrying it, but pretending to have it was going to be nearly as bad.
"The sooner we get out of Denver the happier I'll be," Buck said. "This is going to be dangerous. I can't believe Teaspoon would loan us out like this."
"That bad?" Cody asked.
"Yes. We need to get this batch of papers to Fort Laramie by nightfall tomorrow. Every cutthroat and bushwhacker in the territory is going to be coming at us for this information not to mention bands of renegade Indians. It contains maps of all the strategic weapons caches in the area."
"Sounds like you need a drink, my friend," Cody said still hoping to score a little fun on this trip.
"We can't, Cody," Jimmy scolded.
"We've got to eat something before we leave anyway, why can't we go into the saloon?" Cody begged.
"Alright,Cody," Jimmy said giving in, "We'll get some sandwiches and sarsaparillas and then we're leaving."
Cody gave him a self-satisfied smile and put his hand on Buck's shoulder as they walked toward the saloon. Jimmy walked behind them watching and waiting for the first attempts at stealing their cargo.
Cody turned and was about to say something to Jimmy when he and Buck collided with a gentleman outside the saloon. The man was carrying a set of saddle bags identical to the ones Buck had and in the collision both he and Buck had fallen to the ground and dropped their bags.
"You sir, are obstructing the Pony Express on a mission of supreme importance –my lunch," Cody said and gave the man one of his trade mark winks.
The other man scrambled up and grabbed a set of saddlebags not bothering to make sure he had the right ones. Cody helped Buck up off the ground and the three riders continued on to the saloon for a quick lunch.
Dan Archer breathed a sigh of relief. He almost lost his precious cargo. He had wasted enough time in town and now needed to get to his meeting or he could count on never breathing the sweet air of this life again. Horatio Coldstone was not a man to cross or to be left waiting. He mounted his horse and galloped away to meet his employer.
The boys went into the saloon and enjoyed a mug of sarsaparilla and a cheese sandwich each. About fifteen minutes later they were headed out of town toward Fort Laramie. Buck was happy to put distance between him and the town. He had a bad feeling about this run. He was glad he had Cody and Jimmy with him. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of a long and difficult run.
Horatio stopped his horse under an old oak tree. There was a stream nearby that he let his horse drink its fill. The day was looking to be a pleasant one. The sky was clear and blue and there was only a light breezed coming from the west. He took out a gold watch from his vest pocket and opened the cover. His bagman had exactly four minutes to show up before he hunted him down like a dog.
Dan Archer arrived with a minute to spare. He was winded but at least he wasn't late. He jumped down off his horse and approached his employer with a slight bit of trepidation. He wouldn't put it past this man to kill him for sport.
"Ah, Mr. Archer so nice of you to join me," Horatio said cloyingly. "I trust you have my merchandise?"
"Yes, sir, I do. It's all right here in these saddlebags, sir."
"Excellent, well. I will take them off your hands."
"The money as we discussed?"
Horatio just nodded and Archer handed the saddlebags over for inspection. He carefully opened one side of the bags and where his face should have been lit with approval it showed only disappointment and malice.
"Mr. Archer, there seems to be some mistake here," he said casting a stack of blank paper to the breeze.
Archer swallowed hard trying to remember anything that could help him. "There was a small group of boys, three of 'em, Pony Express riders, I think," he explained hastily, "One of them was an Indian. We ran into each other and we both dropped our bags. I must have taken his and he must have mine."
"Is that all you remember, Archer?" Horatio asked coldly.
"Yes, sir, I'll find them and get the bags back."
"No, Mr. Archer, you've done enough," he said and held his gun up and shot Archer right between the eyes.
Horatio learned a long time ago that you don't give someone who makes a mistake a chance to make things worse. He had to find this Indian express rider and quickly.
He came back to his hotel and decided to ask the front desk clerk some questions.
"Pardon me. Is there a pony express office in this town?" he inquired, "I have a message I need to send."
"No sir. I'm sorry, but we're not directly on that route," the clerk explained, "I could have your message sent to a Pony Express station nearby, but that'll take some time."
"I thought I heard some boys around here this morning talking about being with the Express."
"Oh yes sir, that'd be the boys from the Sweetwater station. They're doing a special run for the Army to Fort Laramie."
"There's an Indian with them?"
"Yes, sir that's them."
"Thank you," he said absently and tipped the man a twenty dollar gold piece.
Horatio started to climb the stairs to his room and made a gesture to a well dressed man sitting near the door. He had on a pin striped suit and was pretending to read the paper. The man folded the newspaper and followed Horatio up the stairs at a discrete distance. Once he reached the door he knocked.
The door opened and Horatio opened the door. The man walked in and took a seat in the parlor of the suite. Horatio poured up a couple of snifters of brandy and handed one to the other man.
"Archer lost the bonds. He thinks he accidently switched bags with an Indian who rides with the Pony Express. He's headed to Fort Laramie."
The man nodded and swallowed his brandy in one long sip.
"He's riding with two others. Bring me that Indian, kill the other two. I'll meet you at the Fort," he said coldly swirling the brandy before taking a deep smell of the liquid and then a sip.
The other man nodded and left.
Cody, Jimmy, and Buck were about half way to Fort Laramie when they stopped for the day. They had found a stream to water the horses and a stand of trees to act as shelter in case they should be met with weather. It was also strategically sound if they needed to make a stand against anyone who wanted their fake precious cargo.
Buck still couldn't shake the bad feeling he was having about this trip. It made him hyper-vigilant to the point that it annoyed Cody.
"Buck, will you stop that," Cody said exasperated.
"Stop what?" he asked.
"Looking like you're expecting bandits to jump out from behind the trees any second," he answered unsettled.
"I am expecting that. Someone's been following us for a while. He hasn't made his move yet, but he's there," Buck said ominously.
"And just when were you going to tell us that?" Cody asked angrily.
"I just told you now."
Jimmy slowly stood up from where he was setting up the campfire and pulled out one of his pistols. He was not going to be caught unaware. Cody took out his Hawkins and kept it at his side.
"We'll have to keep watch tonight. Buck, why don't you take first watch? I'll take second and Cody you take the last one," Jimmy decided and the other two nodded in agreement.
They ate a light dinner of jerky, baked beans, and washed it all down with some coffee. Jimmy and Cody settled into their bed rolls while Buck kept watch. He heard a twig snap in the trees to the east. He silently rolled into the long grass and positioned himself behind a tree on the north side. He drew his knife and stalked toward the noise. He saw a figure raise a pistol at the camp. It was a man he didn't recognize but he was alone. He heard the hammer of the pistol being pulled back and knew he needed to get into a better position. He could see the man aiming at Jimmy's head. Buck let his knife sail silently into the chest of the man. The pistol went off and hit a rock by the campfire waking both Jimmy and Cody. They scrambled to their feet with guns drawn as they saw Buck walk out of the shadows and pull his knife from the chest of the dead man.
The riders all looked at the man and tried to remember if they had seen him in Denver before they left. None of them had. He looked like a trapper or a mountain man of some sort –not unusual for this part of the territory. They were near the mountains after all. His hair was long and matted and his beard was scraggily. They didn't think he wanted the army papers, just their food, fire, and money. They dug a shallow grave for the man and Jimmy took over watch for the night.
The well dressed man watched from the shadows. These boys were not easy marks. He would have to be very sneaky to outsmart them. Whatever they were carrying for the army must have made them guarded already. He could not simply sneak into their camp and take them down. He would have to deal with them a different way. He would need to get them alone one by one and take care of them that way. He would start with the blonde one. He seemed the most unaware of the three.
The boss wanted the Indian's two companions dead, but that didn't suit him. He was building his reputation as a ghostly figure and he needed witnesses. These two would be those. They would start telling the west of the man who they didn't even see coming taking them out of commission. They would talk about him as if he were a ghost.
Catching the Indian was going to require all the skill he possessed. That boy was too aware. He reacted to every sound, every smell. He would need to distract him. Perhaps he needed to distract them all. He knows just how to do it and they would never see it coming.
The riders woke in the morning and started to clear the camp. They had a rough night and were a little on edge especially since they were nearly attacked the night before. Cody had been a decoy for the army before and he knew better than the rest of them how nerve-wracking it was to be looking over your shoulder all the time for no good reason. They would make a quick pot of coffee and then get going.
Buck still felt there was someone out there that the mountain man from last night was not who he sensed watching them. He was slow and methodical in his packing watching for anything out of place. Someone was coming for them and they were not the usual type of danger. They weren't an Indian, or a bushwhacker. They were more sinister and their wants weren't as base. Something sophisticated was being planned around them and they may not recognize it when it hit. Buck knew he couldn't trust anything to be what it claimed to be. He didn't think he could trust Jimmy or Cody to be as discriminating, but he would try.
"What is it?" Jimmy asked Buck who was rattled out of his thoughts.
"I don't know," Buck said mysteriously, "We better be on our guard. Something's coming. None of us should go anywhere alone."
"I don't need an escort wherever I go. There are some places I don't want to have company," Cody countered.
"Still, I think Buck's right," Jimmy said. "If you still think somebody's following us, separating us will make it easier to pick us off one by one."
"Alright fine, we stay together," Cody resigned.