“I mean, why do you think the brothers split up?” James asked.
Shaye, who had been down on one knee, stood up.
“Aaron is going to have to blame someone for what happened,” he said, “and I think he’ll blame Ethan. They probably split the money and went their separate ways.”
“They’re brothers and they didn’t stay together?” Matthew asked, clearly puzzled.
“Maybe they get on each other’s nerves a little more than you and your brothers do, Matthew,” Shaye said.
He walked back to his horse and mounted up.
“So who do we follow, Pa?” Thomas asked.
Shaye hated to split up from his sons. Sure, they had survived their baptism of fire in Salina, but he had to decide who to send after Aaron and who to send after Ethan. He wanted Ethan because that’s who had come to Epitaph, but Aaron was the more dangerous, the more ruthless, of the two. How could he send two of his sons after him just so he could have the satisfaction of killing Ethan himself?
Also, he had to split himself and Thomas up, since they were the most proficient with a gun.
“Pa?” Thomas said. “I can go north.” He knew his father wanted Ethan badly. “I’ll take James.”
“Thomas, you take Matthew and go south,” Shaye finally said. “I’ll take James and go north.”
“South is Ethan, Pa,” Thomas said. “You said so yourself.”
“I know.”
Thomas looked at his father, saw a muscle pulsing in the older man’s jaw.
“Aaron’s more dangerous, Thomas,” Shaye said. “I can’t send you after him.”
“Pa,” Thomas said, “the three of us can go after Aaron while you go for Ethan.”
That was something Shaye hadn’t figured.
“Yeah, Pa,” James said. “We can do it.”
“Aaron and Morales are too dangerous,” Shaye said after a moment. “I just can’t. Thomas, take Matthew and go after Ethan. Watch for that marked hoof, it’ll be easy to track.”
“Yes, Pa.”
“And when you catch him…”
“Yes, Pa,” Thomas said, “I’ll kill him.” He looked at his brother and said, “Come on, Matthew.”
“James,” Shaye said, “let’s go north.”
60
“Thomas?”
They’d ridden in silence for a while, and Thomas knew that something was going on in his brother’s head. The question would have come sooner or later.
“Yes, Matthew?”
“Are you really gonna kill Ethan Langer when we catch up to him?” Matthew asked.
“Yes, I am, Matthew.”
“What if he surrenders?”
“I’ll still kill him.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Thomas said. “He killed Ma, Matthew.”
“I know, but…it don’t seem right.”
“Don’t worry,” Thomas said, “you won’t have to do it. I can do it myself.”
They rode a few more miles in silence, but Thomas knew his brother wasn’t finished.
“Thomas?”
“Yes?”
“How did you feel the other night?”
“When, Matthew?”
“When we were…killin’ all those men.”
“Matthew,” Thomas said, “all those men were also tryin’ to kill us, remember?”
“I know that.”
“I felt good,” Thomas said. “I felt relaxed, in control…you really want to know the truth?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“For a while I felt like nothin’ could hurt me that night. It was weird. And when it was all over, I felt more alive than ever.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I just felt scared the whole time,” Matthew said. “Before, during, and after. I didn’t like it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with bein’ scared, Matthew,” Thomas said. “You did just fine in that saloon, just fine.”
“I don’t feel like I did fine,” Matthew said.
“Matthew,” Thomas said, “we’ll be okay if you just do everythin’ I tell you, understand? Just what I tell you. Can you do that?”
“Sure I can do that.”
“Good,” Thomas said. He reached over and slapped his brother on the back. “Good.”
“How’s your side, Pa?” James asked.
“It’s fine.”
“You’re bleedin’.”
Shaye looked down at his injured side. He was still wearing the same bandage the doctor had patched him up with. He saw that some blood had seeped through his shirt.
“It’s just leakin’ a little,” Shaye said. “It’s nothin’ to worry about.”
“You ever been shot before, Pa?”
“Twice,” Shaye said. “You remember that time the Jelcoe boys came to town?”
“Oh yeah,” James said. “I was little, but I remember Ma patchin’ you up.”
“We didn’t have a doctor in town back then.”
“When was the other time?”
“Years ago,” Shaye said, “a lot of years ago.”
James decided to let it drop. He figured they’d made his pa talk about his past enough, as it was.
“How far behind are we, Pa?” he asked.
“Not far, James,” Shaye said. “We’ll catch up.”
“Think they know we’re after them?”
Shaye looked at James. “They’ve got to figure someone’s after them,” he said. “Don’t know if they know it’s us.”
“What would Aaron Langer think if he knew it was you?”
Shaye hesitated a moment, then said, “James, I think he’d think it was real interesting.”
61
Aaron Langer stopped to take a drink from his canteen and pull out a piece of beef jerky. Morales stopped alongside him and did the same.
“I’m thinkin’ there’s somebody comin’ behind us,” Aaron said, looking off into the distance.
“Do you believe it is our old friend, Señor Shaye?” the Mexican asked.
Morales turned to look, then froze when he heard the hammer of Aaron’s pistol being cocked behind him.
“Just sit still, Morales,” Aaron said. He reached out and removed the man’s saddlebags, containing the money.
“You are robbing me, Jefe?” the Mexican asked. “I have been your most loyal servant for many years.”
“Yeah,” Aaron said. “If you weren’t makin’ so much money with me, I’d like to see how loyal you would have been. Put your hands way out from your sides, Esteban.”
Morales obeyed, spreading his arms like wings.
“Now turn around.”
Morales swiveled back around in his saddle, stared down the black barrel of Aaron’s gun.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No,” Aaron said, “you’re gonna take care of whoever’s followin’ us. After you’ve done that, I’ll be waitin’ for you in Red Cloud, just over the border in Nebraska. There, I’ll give you your money back.”
“Why do you feel the need to hold my money?”
“Because if I send you off with your money, you just might keep on goin’.”
“And if I say that I will not?”
Aaron touched Morales’s saddlebags, which were laying across his saddle, and said, “Safer this way, Esteban. This way I know you’ll do what you’re told, because you want your money.”
Morales stared at Aaron Langer for a few moments, then shook his head. “I thought we were amigos.”
“When, in the past twenty years,” Aaron asked, “did I ever say we was friends?”
“Never.”
“Exactly. We’ve been a good team, Esteban, but it’s only because you always did what you were told.”
“Sí, Jefe.”
“Now, do you want your money back?”
“Sí, Jefe.”
“Then take care of whoever is trailing us and meet me in Red Cloud,” Aaron said.