Chapter 10

The two young men visited a local saloon once they got their boxes onto the train and saw the train pull out of town. Their contact in San Francisco – Omer – would pick the boxes up and put money into an account at a bank there they had. This set-up had been working for weeks.

They never talked about it in public, but later that afternoon when they saw Nick and Heath Barkley come into the same saloon, they gave each other sharp looks. "They're the ones who rode out with Stone," the smaller of the two men said quietly – smaller being relative, he was a good five foot eleven and 180 pounds. His name was Jackson.

The other young man, Burns, was six foot one and weighed 195 pounds. He just grunted.

Jackson and Burns were seated at a table near the front door. Nick and Heath paid them no attention at all, but sidled up to the bar and ordered beer. Like the two young men, they were not about to talk about their plans in public. They didn't know who might be listening. They didn't know Jackson and Burns were straining to listen.

"Wish there was a poker game going on," Nick said, looking around. "It would help kill the time."

"Poker tomorrow maybe," Heath said. "I just want to put my feet up for a spell, get some dinner before it gets too late."

"That Alice can really cook, can't she?"

"I'll say. I thought I'd taken in more than my fill, but I think all I did was stretch my stomach so now it needs more."

"We're gonna need a hotel room to stay the night and tomorrow at least," Nick said. "I don't think Jarrod's gonna be cleared to travel for a couple days."

"We can get a room when we finish these beers, then get some dinner at the hotel."

Nick looked around the room again – admitting to himself but not out loud to Heath that he was looking for likely pirate suspects. It didn't matter. Heath knew what he was doing. Nick actually glanced over everyone, but Jackson and Burns did stick in his mind because they were so young and so fit. When he turned back to the bar, he said, very quietly, "Two kids by the door."

"What about 'em?" Heath asked just as quietly.

"Don't look at them now, but if they're still there when we leave, give 'em a glance," Nick said.

Heath did not look anywhere but into his beer until he finished it. Nick finished at about the same time, and Heath said, "Why don't we go get a room for the night?" He decided to say it a little louder. If anyone was listening, they would think the Barkley brothers were not involved in anything other than getting some sleep.

"And dinner," Nick said, just as loudly, and paid the bartender.

Nick and Heath walked out a little slower than they normally would, but the people in here would not know it was slower than normal. They looked all around as they left but did not meet eyes with anyone. They headed out and down the street without stopping.

The only thing that passed between them was Heath saying, "Good looking boys. Nice and strong."

Nick hmmed.

Jackson and Burns got up, following the Barkley men at a distance. They didn't need to say to each other that they were making sure the hotel was where these men were going, and when they saw Nick and Heath stop at a couple horses and lift saddlebags off, then enter the hotel, they broke away, satisfied.

Nick and Heath got a room and took their saddlebags up there. It wasn't until they closed the door behind them that Heath said, "What do you think? Could those two kids be our pirates?"

Nick was already looking out the window. "Could be. I don't see them out there, but I see a few others that could be doing the job too."

"Well, nobody said there was only two of them, or that it was those two," Heath said. "We got a big job ahead of us."

Nick came back into the room. "The first thing we gotta do is decide which of us is going out to that cove the sheriff gave us the map to and which of us is gonna go tell him that we're here to go out with his Plan B back-up if need be."

Heath took a coin out of his pocket. "The usual way?"

"Heads," Nick said.

Heath tossed it, caught it and showed it. It was tails. Heath said, "You go out to the cove. I'll stay here and the sheriff can take me to those volunteers of his."

"I'll need to see him too," Nick said. "I'll need a pass or something to show I'm the relief for the night. And you better get out of those light pants and shirt. You might need to blend into the dark tonight."

Heath was already unpacking his saddlebags. "I'm way ahead of you, Nick, but you best change too, at least get that white shirt off. Besides, if I change clothes and you don't, somebody we don't want to notice might notice. This way we'll just look nice and clean for dinner."

Nick hmmed again and started unpacking his saddlebag.

XXXXX

Jarrod lay down and fell asleep after his brothers and the sheriff left. Nearly drowning the night before had taken more out of him than he realized and frankly, when he woke up as the sun was going down, he felt pretty crappy. He got up and moved around to the scent of food coming from the Marty kitchen – again, a wonderful scent. He found Alice in there, cooking again, this time some beef and vegetables.

"You are one fine cook," Jarrod told her.

She said, "Thank you. How did you sleep?"

"Heavier than I thought I would," Jarrod said.

"Well, you had a rough night."

"And I need to be ready for tonight." Jarrod looked around. "Where's Bob?"

"Milking the cow, tending to a few other things out back."

"Why don't I go help him?"

"He'll be fine, and be in a minute," Alice said. "Besides, you can help me by setting the table." She pointed to a cabinet.

Jarrod went to the cabinet and found dinner plates and cups. "Tell me something," he said and got three of each down. "You met Bob at your father's boarding house, is that right?"

"That's right. He arrived in Vallejo and came to us," Alice said. "He worked hard. He and my father got along very well."

"Even though you knew he'd just been pardoned from prison?"

Alice looked up at him. "We read the papers. We knew exactly who he was."

"Your father was inclined to take in that sort of man, wasn't he?"

"We both were," Alice said. "Dad was a very good judge of character and we seldom went wrong. You're wondering how I came to marry Bob."

"Yes, even though it's none of my business," Jarrod admitted.

Alice laughed a little. "It was clear he was a good man. He worked hard, he didn't drink much, he didn't gamble – and he courted me, just like I was a fine lady from San Francisco instead of the boarding house daughter from Vallejo. We fell in love. Have you ever been in love, Mr. Barkley?"

A very personal question, Jarrod thought, but then his questions to her had been personal too. Jarrod remembered one time being in love, during the war. Her name was Julia Saxon. A beautiful woman he'd become very close to – until he found out she was a spy and targeted his friend Matt Parker –

Jarrod let the memory end there. He didn't like at all where it went. "Yes, but it didn't work out," was all he said. "I'm afraid my career and family business has taken up my time recently, so much so that my family insisted I get away on a holiday and that's how I ended up on Jack Stone's boat."

"I know you were surprised to find it was Bob who took you in out of the bay."

"To put it mildly," Jarrod said.

"I won't ask about your time defending him on that charge he went to prison for," Alice said. "It's confidential and none of my business." She turned to look at him. "He's been a fine husband, Jarrod. We've been very happy even if a lot of people still don't trust him."

"The price a man pays when he does something wrong and it's a big something that gets a lot of press," Jarrod said. "I'm glad he's found you, Alice. You do seem to be a very happy couple."

Alice smiled. "We are, and in about six months there will be three of us."

Jarrod smiled ear to ear. "That's wonderful. Congratulations."

"If you end up going out there on the bay to catch pirates, will you do me a favor and look out for Bob? Not that he can't take care of himself and you. He can. But I am a little worried."

"Understandably," Jarrod said. "I promise you, if we end up going out there, I will look out for both of us. In fact, we'll look out for each other. I think we're going to make a successful team this time."

Alice smiled. "It turns out you made a successful team last time. You just didn't know it until today."