from here when the horses just went crazy. Go figure. We’ve both been riding since before we could walk, and first we lose Dave’s horse, and he’s running around like a headless chicken till I can catch him and start to get him settled. Next thing you know, my Titan is rearing and snorting, and starting Dave’s horse going again. There was something out there, but damned if I know what. Wolves, coyotes, something. All I know is, I’ve never seen horses acting up so badly.” Cole stopped speaking and looked Cody in the eye again. “Everyone is saying the devil is loose in these parts. I don’t know what the devil is, but there’s sure as hell something going on. Something that lets Milo and his crew annihilate whole towns. I figured they’d be coming for us sooner or later. It’s just sooner than I expected.” He looked from Cody to Brendan, and back to Cody. “How the hell did you stop him?”
“I know Milo’s type,” Cody said. “I know how to make him believe that he’ll lose his own life if he doesn’t listen to me. I know this kind of enemy.”
“We finished decapitating the dead man,” Jim Green put in nervously.
Cole set a hand on Jim Green’s shoulder. “If you feel it was necessary, Jim, then that’s fine.”
“Absolutely right,” Dave agreed, shaking his head strenuously. Cody and Brendan exchanged a look. It was obvious that Dave thought the very devil was walking the streets.
Cole Granger was a harder man altogether, and his attitudesaid he’d seen his share of vicious men. He clearly still believed that he was dealing with something real and tangible.
“With everything going on out here,” Cody said, “haven’t you gotten any help from the army or the U.S. Marshals?”
Cole Granger shook his head. “If we’d ever suspected we could all be wiped out this way, we might have gotten together and mustered up a militia. As to government help…Texas is part of the Confederacy, and the Confederacy has lost too many men to have any left to send out here. Our only help might come from Chief Tall Feather and the Apaches, and maybe some of his Comanche friends. At least we don’t have problems with the Indians out here. They live their lives, we live ours, and we trade. They say an evil spirit has come to earth and possessed the souls of men. I don’t know what it is, only that I’m not running and I will see these killers stopped.”
“How’d you know about the trouble out here?” Dave asked suddenly.
“I have family out here—or I did,” Brendan said, correcting himself. “And Cody’s folks lived in these parts. His father died out here.”
Cody shrugged.
“My mother went home—back to New Orleans—before I was born. But the important thing is that we’re here to help you fight. Tomorrow, as a matter of fact, if it sits well with you, Sheriff, I’m going to go out and meet that Indian chief. You say his name is Tall Feather?”
“That’s right. He’s a good man, even though the Apache are a warrior clan. Tall Feather sees the way the world is going. He says the Spirit Fathers have told him that thewhite man will not go away, that he will come in greater numbers. If you can’t fight them, in his opinion, you should study them and figure out how to use them. Go ahead and talk to him—he’ll tell you what’s been going on.”
“What did you find out at the trading post?” Cody asked Cole, changing the subject.
Cole shook his head. “Two of John Snow’s children have gone missing, both of them beautiful young girls. But I couldn’t find a trail, not a drop of blood, not a broken branch. It’s as if the girls wandered into another dimension.”
“I’ll try to get out that way, too,” Cody said. “So where do Milo and his band hole up during the daylight hours?”
“No one knows,” Dave said.
“Brigsby, I’m thinking,” Cole said. “But I haven’t had a chance to get back out there to check. We had a gunslinger go through here a few weeks
“I know Milo’s type,” Cody said. “I know how to make him believe that he’ll lose his own life if he doesn’t listen to me. I know this kind of enemy.”
“We finished decapitating the dead man,” Jim Green put in nervously.
Cole set a hand on Jim Green’s shoulder. “If you feel it was necessary, Jim, then that’s fine.”
“Absolutely right,” Dave agreed, shaking his head strenuously. Cody and Brendan exchanged a look. It was obvious that Dave thought the very devil was walking the streets.
Cole Granger was a harder man altogether, and his attitudesaid he’d seen his share of vicious men. He clearly still believed that he was dealing with something real and tangible.
“With everything going on out here,” Cody said, “haven’t you gotten any help from the army or the U.S. Marshals?”
Cole Granger shook his head. “If we’d ever suspected we could all be wiped out this way, we might have gotten together and mustered up a militia. As to government help…Texas is part of the Confederacy, and the Confederacy has lost too many men to have any left to send out here. Our only help might come from Chief Tall Feather and the Apaches, and maybe some of his Comanche friends. At least we don’t have problems with the Indians out here. They live their lives, we live ours, and we trade. They say an evil spirit has come to earth and possessed the souls of men. I don’t know what it is, only that I’m not running and I will see these killers stopped.”
“How’d you know about the trouble out here?” Dave asked suddenly.
“I have family out here—or I did,” Brendan said, correcting himself. “And Cody’s folks lived in these parts. His father died out here.”
Cody shrugged.
“My mother went home—back to New Orleans—before I was born. But the important thing is that we’re here to help you fight. Tomorrow, as a matter of fact, if it sits well with you, Sheriff, I’m going to go out and meet that Indian chief. You say his name is Tall Feather?”
“That’s right. He’s a good man, even though the Apache are a warrior clan. Tall Feather sees the way the world is going. He says the Spirit Fathers have told him that thewhite man will not go away, that he will come in greater numbers. If you can’t fight them, in his opinion, you should study them and figure out how to use them. Go ahead and talk to him—he’ll tell you what’s been going on.”
“What did you find out at the trading post?” Cody asked Cole, changing the subject.
Cole shook his head. “Two of John Snow’s children have gone missing, both of them beautiful young girls. But I couldn’t find a trail, not a drop of blood, not a broken branch. It’s as if the girls wandered into another dimension.”
“I’ll try to get out that way, too,” Cody said. “So where do Milo and his band hole up during the daylight hours?”
“No one knows,” Dave said.
“Brigsby, I’m thinking,” Cole said. “But I haven’t had a chance to get back out there to check. We had a gunslinger go through here a few weeks
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