Chapter 6 – Bart's Story: Things that go Bump in the Night

Once Bret asked where Daggett was being held and found that he and the payrolls were in the same place, I knew just what Bret was thinkin' – 'Where would I blow the train up if I was Mitchell Threadway?' I think we both came to the same conclusion pretty quick – the second car of the train – first car behind the engine. That's the best thing about workin' on somethin' with your brother – we tend to think alike and understand where the other one's comin' from.

After Threadway left to presumably blow up a car and it didn't happen, the train stopped anyway. That's when I scooted across the aisle and up front, to see what kind of a reaction was forthcomin' from the rest of the Daggett gang. Surprisingly, there was none at all, so I played the nosy gambler – not a far stretch, I might add. I started speculation about why the train ground to a halt and Victor and I tossed some nonsense back an forth about Mitch havin' a lady friend in the car in front of us – until another one a the brothers opened the car door and gave us a glimpse outside – and there were some pretty nervous responses when the Lakota Blood Moon showed up in the night sky.

Cafferty wasn't waitin' around – he sent Victor out to find Mitchell. I started back towards Bret and Agent Malone and it was only a minute or two before the dynamite blast finally struck - and it threw most of us to the ground. I hit the floor and twisted around just in time to see Malone go down on top of Bret. I can just imagine the grin on my brother's face as he broke her fall and then got to help her up. Damn, sometimes that boy has all the luck. I grabbed hold of the seat I'd fallen in and pulled myself to my feet, then scrambled on back to them before Bret had a chance to get too grabby.

Victor came back empty handed and Cafferty sent two more out to find Mitch. I had an uneasy feelin' about Daggett and the Marshals and told my two companions that I was goin' back to check on 'em. Malone gave me her badge and I headed out the way she'd originally come in.

Walking outside a train ain't easy even in the daytime, and I had nighttime and the Blood Moon to contend with, so it took a few minutes just to get two cars back. While I was making my way back there I heard a gunshot but had other things on my mind right now to worry about. For example, there was some kind of yelling going on from inside the car, but it got real quiet when I knocked on the door. "Yeah?" came a male voice from inside.

"Pinkerton," I answered, and I could hear a chain moving and the sound of a lock being unlocked, then the side door slid open and I was looking down the barrel of what I recognized as a Winchester.

"Badge and hands in the air," the holder of the rifle ordered, pointing the barrel right at my chest.

"Can't do both at the same time," I replied. "Make your decision."

"Badge," he barked back.

Left hand in the air, I reached inside my coat for the Pinkerton badge Malone had given me.

"Hand it over," Winchester demanded.

"Uh-uh," I told him. "What if you decide to keep it?" Then I gave him my best smile. He wasn't impressed. I set it down on the floor of the car. "Look but don't touch," I instructed.

"Keep it," he answered. "You're Pinkerton. Nobody else is that arrogant."

It comes in handy when you know how to bluff. He gave me a hand and pulled me up the hard way into the car. "Names Bane. You?"

"Maverick," I replied. "You got a partner back here? Besides Daggett, I mean."

From the darkened corner of the car came another voice. "Francis. Jim Francis. You got a first name, Maverick?"

"Bart. Daggett still alive?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bane asked.

"I heard the arguin'."

A short, staccato laugh from Francis. "That was us arguin' about dinner."

"Get it settled?"

"Nope," Bane answered.

"Where is Daggett?" I finally asked.

"Right here," Francis replied, as he walked out into the light. Francis had a man in handcuffs and leg irons in front of him, with a Colt trained right on the prisoner. "May I present Charlie Daggett?"

"Shut up, Francis," Daggett snarled.

"You got a place to put him? We need to talk private."

Francis nodded. "Come on, Daggett, back into the corner with ya."

Bane explained. "Got a ring contraption in the floor. Just have to chain him up to it." A string of expletives filled the air, and Bane shook his head. "He don't like it. Says we're treatin' him like an animal."

I had to laugh at that one. If he'd been tried in Kansas courts and found guilty, he'd a been hung. But because he was tried in Federal court, he'd only been sentenced to life in prison. Two of the people he'd killed in that Kansas bank were a young mother and her three-year-old son. Shot 'em in cold blood. Now who was the animal?

Francis came back out to the far side of the car when he was done with Daggett. "Whatta ya got for us?"

"There's three of us two cars up - my brother an me an another agent. There's four of his gang an two others, Victor and Mitchell Threadway. The demolitions man? Course he's the one that set off the explosion, an he ain't come back to the car yet."

"Who's here from the gang?" Bane asked.

"The Jones boys – Cafferty, Neal an Jake. And his man Sam."

"Don't let Sam fool ya," Francis told me. "He's as mean as Daggett. He don't say much, he lets his gun do the talkin'. Know what the plan is yet?"

I shook my head. "They're still playin' innocent ranchers. All I'm sure of is they want the payrolls and Daggett."

"Who do they think you are?"

"Gamblers," I told him.

Bane wanted to know, "Who's the other agent?"

"Ginny Malone."

"Holy crap," Francis exclaimed. "They sent the big guns for this one. You ever work with Malone before?"

"Nope."

"You ever have to go to war, you want her coverin' your back."

I chuckled a little bit. "I'll remember that. I think my brother'd like to have her coverin' somethin' else."

"Don't let her fool ya. She's tough as nails," Bane pronounced.

"Anything you boys need before I go back?" I asked them.

"Yeah – keep 'em away from back here, would ya?" Francis asked.

"We'll do our best. Lock 'er up, boys."

Bane slid the door closed and I heard the chain and the lock. I sure hope they had everything they needed, because I had no intention of goin' back there again. One encounter with Charlie Daggett was all I planned to have.

I walked up one car and went in the back door, through that car (which was empty of passengers) and out the front door, across the linkage to our car and inside. Cafferty was in the front of the car, where he'd been when I left. He was all alone. Bret and Malone were sitting next to each other talking about something, and he had his arm around her shoulders.

"Playin' sweethearts for Cafferty's benefit?" I asked, a little sarcastically I will admit.

Bret looked up with a grin on his face. "I always said you were a bright boy. We heard the gunshot and I was worried. What'd you find out?"

"The Marshals are fine for the moment. You know 'em, Malone? Bane and Francis."

She smiled – maybe for Cafferty's benefit, maybe for mine. "I know Bane, he's alright. Never met Francis. And Daggett?"

"Not happy about his treatment. Otherwise, fine. What's goin' on here?"

Ginny leaned forward towards me and murmured, "Not sure. Cafferty sent out Jake and Sam before you left. Jake came back without Sam. Then Neal went out by himself. When he didn't come back, Victor and Jake left. Cafferty looks like he's about to develop a nervous twitch. No idea where they all are."

Bret leaned forward. "I told her but she doesn't believe me. You try."

"Not you too?" Ginny asked.

I nodded and Agent Malone rolled her eyes. "Yep, he's right. It's the moon."

"You don't really believe that, do you?"

"Yes, ma'am, I do. So do the Lakota's. Wé Haŋwí is the bad sign to end all bad signs. When the Blood Moon shows itself, all sorts of unexplainable things begin to happen." Maybe I was thinking too much about the Devils Breath I'd encountered on Lakota Pass, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but that experience had taught me not to dismiss things just because I didn't understand them.

Ginny was still skeptical and she made a contemptuous face. We all heard something outside and without warning the door opened to admit Jake, Neal, Victor, AND Mitch. "What, no Sam?" I asked.

"Maybe that was the gunshot," Bret suggested.

They all tried to talk at the same time and Cafferty made everybody sit down. He finally spoke loud enough to be heard. "Where the hell were y'all? This ain't gettin' the job done." Then he glanced nervously in our direction and quieted the whole bunch down. Looked like they were done sharing information with us for now.