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“That’s confidential, for the informant’s safety. But evidently there’s a shipment coming through tonight. We know which route it’s supposed to take and where it’s headed. My partners are on their way from Miles City. We’ll be waiting to apprehend the truck and anybody who’s meeting it.”
Chase choked on his water. He covered his mouth until he’d stopped coughing. “Excuse me,” he mumbled.
“You don’t have to stay, son,” Webb said. “You’re welcome to be excused.”
“Thanks,” Chase said. “I need to finish my dessert first.”
He toyed with the last few morsels of cake, his pulse racing. He needed to warn his friends of the danger and make sure they stayed clear of the illegal delivery.
Last year, Chase’s father had hired a cowboy nicknamed Smoky for extra help on the roundup. Smoky had been a good worker, but he’d kept to himself and had a nervous way about him. If anybody touched him without warning, he’d jump and curse. And sometimes, in his bedroll, he had nightmares that made him wake up screaming. Once, maybe because Chase was just a boy and didn’t scare him, Smoky confided that he’d spent three years in a state reform school for stealing a watch to sell for food. Chase could still hear his voice.
“It was pure hell, that place. If you didn’t toe the line, or just because they felt like it, they’d strip you naked and whip you till you bled. Then they’d lock you in a room with no heat and no food for a couple of days. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst was when they’d haul you out of bed at night and give you to one of the guards. Lord help me, I was raised by a God-fearin’ mother. But there weren’t no God in that place. I’d pray that what the man was doin’ would stop, but it never did. You see how I am. I wasn’t like this before. But nobody came out of that hellhole the same as they went in. Some never came out at all.”
The thought of his friends in a place like that made Chase feel sick. He had to warn them to keep away from what they were planning tonight.
Buck’s house was on the ranch, less than a mile away. If he could get to his friend before he left for town, then Buck could warn Cully and Joseph. But Chase would have to get away without arousing the suspicion of his dad or the sheriff.
“May I be excused now, Dad?” he asked, trying not to sound nervous. “I thought maybe I’d go over to Buck’s for a while. He wanted to show me his new comic book.”
“You’re going tonight? It’s getting late.”
“I won’t be long.” Before his father could question him further, Chase left the table and headed for the front door. Once it closed behind him, he broke into a dead run.
By the time he arrived at the modest Haskell house, he was out of breath. The place was as familiar to him as his own home. After his mother’s tragic death, Ruth Haskell had taken in the motherless infant and raised him with her own son. She’d cared for him until Webb had brought him home to be brought up as the Calder heir.
It was Ruth who answered his knock. A slender, blond woman, she knew Chase well enough to sense his concern.
“Is everything all right, Chase?” she asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Chase lied. “I just stopped by to see Buck.”
“I’m sorry, he went to visit a friend in town. He said he might stay there overnight. I’ll be glad to tell him you came by. Would you like an oatmeal cookie? They’re fresh out of the oven.”
“Thanks, but I just finished dinner. I’ll catch him later. Good night, Aunt Ruth.”
Now what? Chase kicked a rock out of the path as he walked back toward the Homestead. He could go home and try to sneak out later after his father was asleep. He could also go to the stable now, saddle a horse, and leave straightaway for town. If Webb were to miss him, he’d catch hell when he got home.
But what did it matter how much hell he caught if he could save his friends?
Decision made, he set out for the stable. As he passed the main house, he saw that the dining room window was dark, and the light had come on in Webb’s room upstairs. The sheriff would be on his way back to town by now. Chase hurried on. Time was passing. The sooner he could find his friends, the better.
Joseph, Buck, and Cully had talked freely about their plans for tonight. Chase knew the route the truck would take, what it was carrying, and where it would deliver the goods. What he didn’t know was the timing. All he could do was make sure he found his friends and warned them off before the truck showed up.
There was no light in the stable, but Chase knew his way around. He chose a steady horse, saddled and bridled it, and led it outside. The sky was cloudy, the moon hidden—all to the good since he didn’t want to be seen. Springing into the saddle, he dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and shot out of the yard at a gallop.
* * *
Joseph and Buck met at the ribbon, where they waited for Cully and Angus to arrive. The night was dark, the air sticky with the day’s lingering heat. Being outdoors was like wearing a too-warm black velvet overcoat. Crickets sang in the long, yellow grass at the roadside. Here and there, a star glimmered through the clouds.
Buck slapped a mosquito on his neck. “Dang, it’s getting late. Maybe we should just go on to the ranch.”
“Let’s give them a few more minutes,” Joseph said. “Then if they aren’t here, we’ll go on.”
“I say we leave now,” Buck argued. “If they get here late, Cully will know where to go. These skeeters are eating me alive. I can’t stand much more.”
“Fine, let’s go.” Joseph turned his horse and headed on down the road. Buck probably had the right idea. Mason would be cross if they showed up late. And, of course, they would need to be in place when the truck came.
Mason was waiting outside the barn. As Joseph had expected, he was in a bad mood. “You’re late,” he snapped. “And why are there only two of you? Where’s your buddy?”
