Robert Randisi - Bullets & Lies

“How many men did you bring with you?”

“I brought five reliable gunhands,” Kilkenny said. “And when we got here, I hired some locals—not so reliable, but they know the lay of the land.”

“When are you going to do it?”

“As soon as they get off the train,” Kilkenny said. “You don’t want Roper getting to the Westover house, and you sure as hell don’t want him to get back to Washington, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Why didn’t you just have him killed when he was here?”

“That wasn’t the plan,” Harwick said. “Sending him after those men, and having them turn up dead one at a time, would point to him as the killer. It would look like he was a hired killer…like you.”

“A man with Roper’s rep?” Kilkenny said. “Why would you even take that chance? Why didn’t you hire me in the first place—or somebody like me? Or when you did hire me, just let me kill him in Washington?”

“Look,” Harwick said, “it’s your job to do what you’re paid to do, not to question the decisions.”

Kilkenny stared across the table at the lawyer, who shifted uncomfortably beneath the killer’s gaze, and finally looked away.

“The decisions?” he repeated. Then he smiled. “Oh, I get it. You’re a hired hand, like me. You’re not makin’ the decisions.”

“But I am paying for your dinner,” Harwick pointed out.

“Yeah, that you are,” Kilkenny said. He waved at a waiter. “I’m gonna have another steak.”

56

“So this is what you were talking about when we were riding around the countryside on horseback?” Templeton asked Tommy Dexter.

Dexter was staring out the window at the scenery going by. He turned his head to look at Templeton and said, “Yeah, I like this a lot better than being on a horse.”

“Not me. I like horses.”

“Well,” Templeton said, “I guess we’re both gonna get our way, then.”

Roper was in the stock car, checking on the horses. They had seven of them—one for him, Prince, Sally Bando, Tommy Dexter, and then Wilkins, Hampstead, and Templeton.

They all looked solid and fit. He dropped the sorrel’s front foot and straightened up, thinking back to that night in camp when he’d demanded answers.

“I ain’t ready to talk,” Templeton had said.

“Me neither,” Hampstead had agreed. “We don’t know you from Adam, Roper.”

Roper had looked at Wilkins. “You know me better than they do.”

“But not that well,” Wilkins had said. “I think what we oughta do is head to Hurricane and have this out with Westover.”

“I don’t know if he’s in any shape to have anything out.”

“His wife, then. She’s the one who gave you our names, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then we should talk to her,” Templeton had said. “All of us. You’ll get your answers then, Roper.”

The men had been stubborn after that, and even as they’d traveled together over the next few days, they wouldn’t talk. Oh, they’d sit together some nights when they camped, eat together, and talk among themselves, but around Roper and his men, not a word…

He came back to the present as Dave Hampstead entered the car.

“Dave.”

“I have to talk to you, Roper.”

“Sure. What’s it about?”

“I think you know,” Hampstead said. “I’ve been a businessman for fifteen years now. Before this I hadn’t been on a horse in a long time, and I haven’t fired a gun for even longer.”

Roper turned so he was facing the man squarely.

“You were a soldier.”

“Yeah, twenty years ago,” Hampstead said. “I won’t do you any good when we get there, not with a gun.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“I think I’d like to stay on the train.”

“Okay,” Roper said, “why don’t you do that?”

“The other guys won’t mind?”

“You know Wilkins and Templeton better than I do,” Roper said.

“I haven’t seen them for years,” Hampstead said. “I don’t know.”

“All right, well, I’ll square it with the rest of them.”

“Will you? Thanks, Roper.”

“Yeah.”

Hampstead turned to leave, almost running into Sally Bando.

“What’s wrong with him?” Bando asked.

“He’s scared,” Roper said. “Hasn’t handled a gun since the war apparently.”

“So what’s he gonna do?”

“Stay on the train.”

“Might as well,” Bando said. “Wouldn’t do us much good anyway, would he?”

“No, he wouldn’t.”

Roper patted the sorrel’s neck.

“The horses are okay,” he said. “You ready?”

“Me? I’m always ready. So’s Tommy. What about that kid?”

“The lieutenant? He was okay in Washington. He’ll be okay in Hurricane.”

“And the other two?”

“They’re not scared,” Roper said. “They’re okay. Hampstead’s the only one, but like he says, he’s been a businessman for the past fifteen years.”

“Okay. The conductor says we should be pullin’ into the station in about twenty minutes.”

“All right,” Roper said. “You help me bring the horses out.”

Bando nodded.

“We got any idea who we’re up against?” he asked.

“Killer for hire. That’s all I know.”

“Wish I knew who it was.”

“Well,” Roper said. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

57

The train pulled into the Hurricane, West Virginia, station. It was not a large station, and as people disembarked, the station started to get crowded with not only passengers, but the people who were greeting them.

“Here we go again,” Lenny Sparr said to his partner, Mike Baker. This was the second train to arrive that day while they were waiting.

“What are we supposed to do?” Baker asked. “Stop everybody and ask ’em if their names is Talbot Roper? And what kinda name is that? Talbot?”

“We’re lookin’ for a bunch of men gettin’ off the train together,” his partner said. “Maybe gatherin’ around the stock car to take some horses off. We’ll know ’em when we see ’em.”

“And where are the rest of the guys?” Baker asked. “Why’s this all up to us?”

“They’re across the street in the hotel,” Sparr told him. “Kilkenny’s there, too, unless he’s havin’ another steak.”

“I ain’t never seen anybody eat steak the way he does,” Sparr said. “Why don’t he weigh three hundred pounds?”

“He’s a big man,” Baker said with a shrug. “Maybe he does.”

Sparr shook his head, watched as people got off the train.

“I don’t like this,” Baker said. “We don’t know what we’re doin’.”

His friend laughed and asked, “Do we ever?”

They started to laugh and then Baker nudged Sparr and jerked his head. Sparr turned and saw Kilkenny entering the station, with the lawyer.

“Guess Kilkenny decided to greet Roper himself,” Baker said.

“Come on,” Sparr said. “We better look alive.”

“This isn’t right,” Harwick said.

“You’re the one who knows what Roper looks like,” Kilkenny pointed out.

“But if he sees me with you—”

“He doesn’t know who I am.”

“What are we going to do?” Harwick asked. “Meet every train?”

“Starting today, yes,” Kilkenny said. “Every train. They should be here today or tomorrow.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Roper is a pro,” Kilkenny said. “He’ll be comin’ here, and it shouldn’t take him longer than today or tomorrow.”

“How can you depend on that?”

“You can depend on a pro, my friend,” Kilkenny said. “If he’s as good as his rep, and I think he is.”

Passengers started to get off the train. Kilkenny forgot about the lawyer.