Into the West
Not Dead Yet
Previously
Amber Falls; Oregon
Sean Donely entered the busy sounds ofthe Casa Di Tolleranza and went over to the owner of the casino/hotel; Sonny.
"Scorpio was asking around if a woman named Katherine Delafield lived in these parts," Sean said with a near whisper.
"I will not let anyone, not even Robert Scorpio, lay ruin to her life with Captain Harris!" Sonny said with resolution in his words.
Sonny rode off to confront Scorpio, and met up with his number one ranch hand, Jagger Cates, and his younger brother Stone.
"When was the last time you were at the Sinclair home," Sonny asked pointedly.
"We were there late yesterday, sir," Stone replied. "Mrs. Sinclair made us dinner and..."
At that moment, Sean Donely and Jason Morgan rounded the bend at full speed.
"Now," Sonny told them all, "we're all going up there to stop Scorpio…"
Our story continues…
It was in the late afternoon as Robert Scorpio rode his horse down a path that led to a home that resembled the home described to him by Mr. Wilcox; the older gentleman who ran the Amber Falls train depot. As for why Robert had come to the Amber Falls and the home in the first place?
It had all began two weeks earlier when he had rescued an old flame, Katherine Delafield, from three hill men; men who lived in the foot hills in the Wyoming valley, and scavenged for food almost like the wild animals they fed upon.
After killing two of them while rescuing her, Robert had towed Katherine (who had been raped and physically abuse by all three of the hill men) on a make-shift stretcher to the nearby town Colby.
Robert confronted and killed the third of her three attackers, but was surprised himself upon learning that Katherine had stolen a horse skipped town.
After conversing with the sheriff of Colby, Bo Buchanan; Robert's good name was taken into account by Buchanan and he allowed Robert to leave Colby so as to track down Katherine and to get answers; and to return the stolen horse.
Realizing Katherine was too injured to travel anywhere, Robert correctly deduced that she must have taken a train. Finding the stolen horse at the Colby train depot, he found out that a woman named Tammy West, who matched Katherine's description, had sold the stolen horse and used the money and booked passage to Amber Falls Oregon.
Robert, with no other trains heading to Amber Falls for another month, decided to ride there on horseback, and arrived a week later. But, he only found out that no one named Tammy West had checked into the train station when it had arrived from Colby.
But the depot's ticket master, Wilcox, informed Robert that many passengers never checked in upon arrival; just as long as they were paid in full and Tammy West had pain in full.
Robert gave Wilcox a description of Tammy West and Katherine Delafield, telling the ticket master that they were in fact the same woman. But according to Wilcox, who had lived in Amber Falls for many years, no one named Tammy West or Katherine Delafield matched the description; but another woman did…Angela Sinclair. Wilcox even told Robert she lived in the nearby foothills; though, he did not tell Robert who she lived with (Captain Harris Sinclair).
And now, after following Wilcox's directions, Robert had arrived at the home of Angela Sinclair. He dismounted his horse and wrapped the animal's reins around the wooden post near the small but well maintained stable.
Noticing a light breeze blowing, Robert heard the slight creaking of a branch in the thick clusters of trees that were overhanging the walkway to the front door. It reminded him of Malcolm's home in Virginia.
Robert made his way to the front door and then knocked on it. The voice of a man replied from inside; "One moment,"
In their brief time together a week or so ago, Robert had never gotten the chance to ask Katherine how it was that she was still alive after being reported dead in newspapers across the country after a Shawnee attack upon Fort Larson.
But then, the moment the door opened, Robert connected all the dots upon seeing a man wearing a US ARMY uniform standing before him. All he needed now was confirmation…and it was about to come.
"Can I help you?" the man asked Robert.
Robert noticed the vacant look in the man's eyes and recognized immediately that the man was totally blind.
"My name is Scorpio…Robert Scorpio, and…" Robert had begun to say with his Australian accent; and he was going to continue but the man in the doorway cut him off.
There was coldness to the man's words.
"At last," Captain Harris Sinclair said with a tone of disdain in his words, staring in the direction of Robert with the vacant look of a blind man, "I finally get to meet you; the legendary Robert Scorpio." Harris paused, but then he continued. "I have heard a… great…deal…about the great Robert Scorpio. I am Captain Harris Sinclair of the US ARMY. My wife is Angela Sinclair, or as you might remember her by her real name; Katherine Delafield-Sinclair."
Robert was now looking directly at a man whom the US ARMY had listed as being dead nearly 20 years ago.
Nearly two-hundred soldiers, under Sinclair's command, had been butchered by a Shawnee war-party. Captain Harris Sinclair, and his wife Katherine, had been assumed killed along with all the soldiers.
But the Shawnee had also burned all the bodies beyond recognition, so positive identifications had been never been truly proven. The attack had so stunned the nation that they were all given commendations and buried in mass with full honors.
"…and yes," Captain Sinclair added after hearing nothing but silence; "me, and my wife…are still alive."
Robert's face froze into a pencil sketch…
Continued…
This chapter featured
James Spader as Captain Harris Sinclair
and Tristan Rogers as Robert Scorpio