Part 9 (1/2)

Luke knew that if he wanted, his brother would be happy to let him live out the rest of his days on the big Sugarloaf Ranch down in Colorado. As much as he liked Smoke, that idea didn't appeal to him. ”What makes you think I even want a ranch?”

The outlaw grinned at him again. ”You mean to tell me you really enjoy gettin' shot at and dealing with lowlifes like me all the time?”

”The part about dealing with men like you does get tiresome,” Luke admitted. ”But I've been doing it so long I'm afraid I'm too old to change.”

”This life will be the death of you.”

”Sooner or later, everybody can say the same thing, no matter what they do,” Luke said.

A short time later, Chadwick and another heavily armed guard came in, followed by several burly, unarmed men in work s.h.i.+rts and overalls carrying a pair of wooden strongboxes strapped by iron bands. From the way the men handled them, it appeared the boxes were heavy.

Bertram and four more guards brought up the rear. ”Put them in the corner,” he ordered, pointing.

From his seat, Luke watched the men toting the boxes-probably railroad employees, he thought-place them on the floor in the front left corner of the caboose, next to the conductor's desk.

As they straightened up and brushed their hands off, Bertram went on. ”Remember, you men are sworn to secrecy. You can't ever tell anyone about this, in case the mine owners want to use this method again.”

That warning was a waste of time, Luke thought. Sooner or later, someone would let it slip what they had done. Probably as soon as he found himself in a saloon with a few drinks inside him. He would want to brag about how he had handled such a valuable load of gold ingots.

And there wasn't anything a stuffed s.h.i.+rt like Bertram could do to stop it.

The men had nodded their agreement and left the caboose.

Bertram continued. ”Chadwick, you and three of your men will stay in here with the gold. I want two men in the next pa.s.senger car to keep anyone who doesn't belong from coming back here. Try not to let it be too obvious that you're guarding something, though. We don't want to make the pa.s.sengers curious.”

Chadwick nodded and picked two of the men to go up into the pa.s.senger car. He and the remaining three men made themselves comfortable, two of them sitting down on a sofa, another reversing a ladderback chair like the one on which McCluskey sat, and Chadwick himself pouring coffee for all four of them. None seemed curious about the presence of Luke and McCluskey, so Luke a.s.sumed their presence had been explained.

Not long after that, the conductor came in and asked, ”Are we ready to roll?”

”As far as I'm concerned, we are,” Bertram told him.

The conductor glanced uneasily at the strongboxes, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, mopped sweat from his face with it, and muttered, ”We can't get to Cheyenne soon enough to suit me.”

Delia was sitting with her head slumped forward a little, brooding as she tried to think of a way to get to Frank McCluskey. As she felt the train's speed slackening, she sat up straighter and looked out the window.

They were still pa.s.sing through the same sort of terrain that had surrounded them ever since the train rolled out of Rattlesnake Wells. As far as she could see, there was no reason why the train should be stopping.

As it lurched to a halt, a buzz of mystified conversation went through the car as people asked each other what was going on. No one sat next to Delia, so she didn't get that question, but she wondered about it.

A few minutes later, the conductor entered the car at the rear and started up the aisle, saying in a loud voice, ”Nothing to worry about folks, just keep your seats. We'll only be stopped here for a short time while the engineer and the fireman do a little work up in the cab.”

”The train hasn't broken down, has it?” a middle-aged woman asked. ”I have to get to Cheyenne. My daughter is having a baby any day now!”

”No, ma'am, nothing like that,” the conductor a.s.sured her. ”It's just a minor matter and won't take long to fix, and then we'll be on our way again. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if the engineer will be able to pour on enough steam that we'll still make it to the junction right on schedule.”

That explanation seemed to satisfy the pa.s.sengers, and the conductor moved on to the other car.

Delia wasn't satisfied, though. Surprised, but not satisfied. Maybe she was just naturally suspicious, but she had a hunch something else was going on, although she had no idea what it could be.

Looking through the window, she saw a group of men move past the car, heading toward the rear of the train. Four of them were moving a cart of some sort, two pus.h.i.+ng and two pulling. Although she couldn't see what was on the cart-it was covered by a blanket-she could tell it was heavy. She frowned. Men walking along with them all carried rifles.

No one else in the car seemed to pay any attention to the odd procession, but when the conductor came back through, she held up a hand to stop him. ”What were those men doing outside the train a little while ago?”

”Men? What men?” the conductor asked.

Delia saw right through that. No man could lie to her and get away with it. She knew good and well he knew what she was talking about. ”Close to a dozen men,” she said with a frown. ”They were moving something on a cart.”

”Oh, that.”

Delia didn't believe his nonchalance for a second.

”That was just some, uh, railroad equipment. Something to do with that mechanical problem.” He sounded like he was getting a little impatient. ”I really don't know all the details, miss. I'm the conductor, not the engineer.”

Delia put a simpering smile on her face. ”Well, I don't really understand all that sort of thing, either, Mr. Conductor. But I appreciate you trying to explain it to me. I'm sorry if I bothered you.”

The act mollified him. He shook his head. ”It's no bother, ma'am. I'm here to a.s.sist the pa.s.sengers in any way I can, after all. It's part of my job.”

He moved on, and the smile disappeared from Delia's face. She was more convinced than ever that something strange was going on, and it had to do with the caboose. She felt sure Frank was back there, so she was doubly determined to get into the caboose herself.

Not only did she have to rescue Frank, but whatever those men had taken back there might be something well worth the two of them getting their hands on.

The train started moving again a short time later, and just as the conductor had predicted, the engineer poured on the steam. They barreled along the tracks at breathtaking speed.

Delia felt her pulse pounding as she looked out the window at the landscape whipping past. She had been on a train only a few times in her life and never one going so fast.

She told herself sternly not to be distracted by such things. She had work to do, serious work. Anyway, the mad dash across the plains didn't last long. The train slowed as the tracks began to climb into the foothills at the base of a small mountain range.

Mountains were good, Delia thought. Mountains provided a lot more places to hide than open plains did.

She stopped the conductor as he came through the car again.

With a slight show of annoyance, he asked, ”What is it this time, ma'am?”

”I've never made this trip before. What's it like on the other side of these mountains?”

”We'll be back down on the flats until we get to the junction.”

”It shouldn't take long, then.”

”No, ma'am. Another hour, maybe.”

”Thank you.” Once again, her smile made the conductor's irritation vanish.

She was running out of time, she thought as she sat back against the hard bench seat. Surely, someone had already found the slain deputy's body back in Rattlesnake Wells and knew she was missing. The marshal would send a wire to the station at the Union Pacific junction asking that the train be searched and that she be taken into custody. She had to free McCluskey and escape before that happened.

She had to act while the train was still in the mountains.