A voice from the safety of the back said, “You can’t kill us all.”
Wayne roared, “Come on, then!” He was in a killing frenzy, and almost charged in the voice’s direction. “I promise you, I will kill all of you who come close to the line!” The crowd grew quieter, and Wayne backed up the road, leaving the people to contemplate their mortality.
The Ram Charger was running and facing out when Wayne came around the building. Hunter sat behind the wheel, but Wayne made a motion and she climbed in the passenger’s seat. Gravel shot out behind the wheels as they sped away. Hunter looked at Rockman and felt goosebumps come up on her arms. His size filled the driver’s side of the vehicle, and he was charged with tension to the point of exploding. His face still had the killing look, and he gripped the wheel hard, staring straight ahead. Danger rolled off him like waves of heat from a massive fire. Don’t set him off, was all she could think of. Don’t set him off.
***
Elvis and the Barbosas stood by the hanging tree. They hadn’t gone with the crowd. The three men watched Rockman’s retreat and saw the Ram Charger leaving in a rooster tail of dust.
Elvis looked at Godoy’s body and said, “Man, thass my meal ticket, all shot to hell. That money was gonna get me back to Vegas.”
Jesse said, “Yeah, he owed us, too. Least the crazy bastard didn’t get us killed with him.”
Johnny nodded, then said, “What’d y
ou think about the Sheriff? What he did?”
Elvis said, “That was the Fourth Horseman. For real.”
Johnny didn’t have a clue what Elvis meant. There wasn’t a horse anywhere in sight. He said, “What the hell does that mean?”
“Behold, a pale horse. The rider who sat upon him was Death. And Hell followed with him. Don’t you boys ever read the Bible? The Book of Revelations, that ring a bell?”
“We’ve read the Bible. We just skipped over a few parts is all.”
Jesse said, “Hey, look there,” Vicente Mora walked toward them, occasionally glancing at the crowd in the distance. He stopped beside the tree and looked at the dead men.
Mora said, “I watched it from the window. I didn’t think anyone could beat him.”
“Yeah, well that pale gaucho was plenty quick,” Johnny said.
Mora looked at Johnny, “Pale what?”
Johnny said, “Read the Bible every once in a while, you’d know what I was talking about,” he winked at Elvis.
Mora scratched his chin, looked down once more and said, “Ah, well…” and walked away. Jesse frowned as he watched Mora enter his trading post. Mora had been smiling when he left Godoy’s body, smiling like someone very satisfied.
CHAPTER 17
Wayne drove as Raymond and Pepper examined Mingo’s wound. The bullet entered between the top of his shoulderblade and his spine, and glanced off bone to exit the front of the trapezius. “We need to get him to a hospital,” Raymond said. Wayne drove as if the others weren’t in the vehicle.
“No,” Mingo said. “I have friends near town. Drop me there.”
Hunter sat sideways in the seat, and she glanced between Rockman and the back seat before asking Cruz for directions. Mingo told them what roads to take. Wayne didn’t acknowledge he heard, but he turned where Mingo said and followed the route like a map. It wasn’t far, only two miles from Outlaw Road, but the directions were tricky. Five minutes after leaving town, they stopped at a small house a quarter-mile from the Rio Grande. Mingo got out, with Anda helping. “She’ll be okay with me,” Mingo said when he saw the look on Hunter’s face.
Hunter said in Spanish, “I’ll come back.”
“I know,” Anda said, and helped Mingo walk to the house. Wayne drove away as soon as they were clear of the vehicle. Hunter told him the hotel where her pickup was parked, and he drove that way, never saying a word.
Pepper still cried, off and on, and as Wayne sat in the driver’s seat in front of her she said, “I owe you my life.” Rockman didn’t acknowledge her. Hunter thought he might as well have been carved of stone. He found the hotel without any instruction. The ride was in silence. He stopped behind Hunter’s pickup and looked straight ahead as Raymond, Pepper and Hunter exited. Hunter started to say something, but Rockman looked so intense that she didn’t. She closed the door and he drove away, leaving them standing in the dust.
Raymond said, “Let’s get out of here. I’ll pay at the front desk,” he tossed his room key to Hunter. “Pack for me, and pick me up at the office.”
“But we’re safe now, why hurry?” Pepper asked.
Raymond stopped and said, “You ever hit a hornet’s nest? Those people out there are stirred up. They’re gonna get their courage back, and they’re gonna load up with guns and come looking for us, any of us. This time they’ll shoot from a distance, not leave a chance for somebody to back them down again. They’re all feeling like cowards, and they can’t stomach it, so they’re coming. Probably already on their way.”
“But they don’t know where to look.”