Chapter Seventeen

Excerpt from Chapter Sixteen:"Well, dear brothers," Eugene said as he followed Macklin's trail off the mountain road and down to a creek and began forming a backup plan…just in case he did run into Macklin, "The fact that Tyler Macklin has never met me might be a good thing." He then, after realizing Macklin had entered the creek and was taking his horse downstream, turned his horse in the same direction and continued his journey.

 ~oOo

Eugene had tracked Macklin to a lone shack out in the middle of nowhere, or at least it seemed that way to Gene. He remained on his horse on top of a hill overlooking the place Macklin was apparently using while he was in Wyoming. Gene saw a blonde haired young man step out of the front door. Eugene figured the boy was no more than sixteen or seventeen, eighteen tops. He watched as Macklin and the young man talked and then, from the looks and sounds of it, started fighting. Eugene wished he was close enough to make out what they were saying. However, he caught his breath as Macklin whipped out his gun and pointed it at the young man. For a moment, Gene was sure Macklin was going to shoot the boy. Instead the young man barked something at the corrupt federal agent and whirled around and stormed off around the back of the shack. The next second, Eugene saw the boy riding his horse back around the corner of the small building.

"Come on boy," Eugene pulled on his horse and moved farther back up the hill, remaining hidden as he did so. He had to; the young man was heading his way. Eugene hoped that, by moving farther up the hill, he could get the boy without attracting Macklin's attention.

For the young man's part, he was furious at Macklin. However, the man was friends with the lad's family...and they'd never believe the things the young man had learned about Macklin. The boy began muttering to himself, completely unaware that Eugene had dismounted horse, tethered it and climbed on a rock in record time. When Eugene jumped off the rock and hurled himself at his target, the young man never knew what hit him. Eugene had set a fist across his face and knocked him out cold, something he was sure would have surprised his brothers had they been watching.

Gene cursed as he quickly pulled the young man farther into the group of trees that surrounded him; he really hadn't meant to actually render the boy unconscious. Then again; maybe, it was a good thing. At least his prisoner couldn't start yelling. Eugene watched as the boy's horse galloped away from the scene. He would have preferred to use the boy's horse to haul the young man somewhere else…without burdening his own horse. As it was, he had two separate ropes on the side of his saddle; he'd brought them along just in case he needed them. Now, he took them off and secured the young man's arms behind him and tied his legs together. He then wrapped his own bandana around the young man's mouth and tied it behind his head. The last thing Eugene wanted was for his prisoner to alert Macklin to his presence. He then quickly threw the unconscious young man over his horse before mounting himself. He prayed he would be able to put a decent amount of space between himself and Macklin before the boy started regaining consciousness. When he did, Eugene was going to make sure he talked…and talked a lot.

~oOo~

"He did what!" Nick stood in the room he, Heath and Jarrod were renting from the couple who owned the boarding house. Jarrod had just come from the telegraph office, his intention had been to wire the family and let them know they had arrived in Lovell, only to find a coded message from their baby brother waiting for him. The clerk of the boarding house had handed Jarrod the same message, after apologizing for forgetting to hand it to Heath and Nick when they checked in.

"Lower your voice." Jarrod spoke firmly as he gave his hot tempered brother an irritated glare. "You heard me. Gene's tracking Macklin. At least, I'm ninety-five percent sure that's what these," he said as he held up the messages in his hand, "mean. We need to start asking questions. However," Jarrod shook his head, "I have the funniest feeling Gene hasn't handed out his real name. We'll have to come up with a story as to why we're looking for him, only we'll have to use his description when making inquiries."

Heath, who looked deep in thought, asked slowly, "If you're right, and he's changed his name, what's stopping him from changing his appearance?"

"Nothing, I suppose." Jarrod face showed his frustration. "We'll just have to ask about Macklin too….and hope for the best." He headed for the door. Neither one of his brothers said a thing as they followed Jarrod out of the room, though once they were outside and standing on the boardwalk, they started to discuss who would go where. They also discussed how much time they would allow to go by before they met to compare notes.

"I'll go talk to the sheriff. He needs to know what's going on. After that, I think I'll head to the livery stable. How about you two?" Jarrod looked at his brothers.

Nick and Heath split the other businesses between them.

"See you at the saloon in an hour." Nick said as he turned around and headed towards the nearest store.

"Keep your eyes open, and please watch your temper." Jarrod said, even if he didn't know why Nick would have cause to lose it at the moment.

"Don't worry about me. Just go talk to the sheriff." Nick batted his hand through the air and continued walking.

Jarrod would have said something to Heath but he couldn't; the blonde haired cowboy was already half way down the street. Jarrod headed for the sheriff's office; he just hoped the three of them would cross paths with Gene before Macklin realized they knew which side of the fence he had fallen off .