"Now you stop that kind of talk. You hear me? You're going to pull through this, Viv. You are. You've got to try, honey. Try!"
"I'm awfully tired, Frank. And I'm suddenly at peace. I ... really can't describe it."
"Viv!"
"Try to look after Conrad, Frank. Will you? Remember, you promised."
"I'll do my best, Viv."
Vivian closed her eyes.
"Viv! Viv!"
Conrad burst into the room, the nurse right behind him.
"Both of you get out!" the nurse commanded. "Right now! Move."
Conrad confronted Frank in the outer office. "I don't care what mother says. You're not my father!"
"But I am, boy. She spoke the truth. Let me tell you what happened."
"I don't want to hear anything you have to say. It's all a pack of lies!"
Frank checked himself before he could strike the young man. "Your mother is not a liar, boy."
"Of course she is!" Conrad came right back at him. "If what you say is true, she's lied to me for years. Now let me hear you deny that."
Before Frank could reply, Conrad said, "You can't, can you? No, because it's the truth."
"If you will just let me try to explain, Conrad -- "
"I hope to God I never see you again," Conrad blurted. "All this tragedy is your fault. It never would have happened if you hadn't showed up here."
Frank struggled to grasp the logic behind the young man's words. What did his coming to town weeks back have to do with an attempted bank robbery? He shook his head. "Conrad, you're not thinking straight I -- "
"I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I just want you to leave. I don't wish to ever see you again."
"Boy, I made a promise to your mother that I would take care of you. I -- "
"You!" Conrad hissed at him. "_You_ take care of me? Oh, I think not. Get out and leave me alone."
Frank stared at his son for a few seconds. "All right, boy. But I'll be back. You can count on that. Then we'll talk more."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
The nurse walked into the room, dabbing at her eyes. "One of you go get Dr. Bracken. Hurry."
"Mother?" Conrad blurted.
"Fading very fast. Hurry, boy."
Conrad ran out of the office. "Is she conscious?" Frank asked.
"No. My God, this has been a horrible day."
_Frank recalled Viv's words: I don't want you to see me die. I don't want that to be the last memory you have of me._
"Yes, it certainly has been that."
The nurse gripped Frank's arm. "Kill those outlaws, Marshal. Kill every one of them. Avenge this town."
"I plan on bringing them to justice, ma'am."
The nurse looked at him for a moment and then turned away, walking back into the tiny clinic of Dr. Bracken without another word.
Frank touched the butt of his pistol. "Yes, I certainly plan on delivering justice, ma'am."
Frank headed for his office. Jerry was waiting on the boardwalk. "Is Mrs. Browning -- " He could not bring himself to finish the question.
"It won't be long, Jer. You ready to go?"
"Ready. I put the sandwiches in the wagon."
"All right. You drive the team. I'll follow with our horses. What's the latest on the death count?"
"Still climbing."
"Let's go even the score."
--------
*Twenty-three*
About half a mile from the blockade, Frank left Jerry with the wagon and rode up to take a very cautious look-see, walking the last hundred yards and peeping around the sheer rock wall on the left side of the road. The Pine and Vanbergen gangs had blocked the road with a heavy chain stretched across it and then stationed two wagons, tongue to rear, in back of that. They had two red flags on poles in front of the chain, signifying danger, and four men with rifles were on guard.
"Slick," Frank muttered. "Very slick." He looked up and shook his head. No way to get above the blockade, for the sheer rock face was several hundred feet high. Any assault would have to be a frontal one. And Frank guessed that the main body of the gangs was camped not too far off, so they would come running at the first sounds of trouble.
It had been suggested to Frank that a rider from town try to make it through the outlaw pass. He had smiled at that and asked for volunteers. When no one stepped forward that suggestion was dropped.
Frank rode back to Jerry now, and swung down from the saddle. "One way through, Jer."
"Straight ahead, right?"
"That's it."
"They're going to hear the wagon when we move it into place, for a fact," Jerry said. "But what the hell? Surely they know we're here."
"Oh, they know, all right. This is how we'll play it: I'll handle the Gatling, and you get the wagon in place, as close as you can without exposing yourself. There's a place to turn the team just before the curve."
"And then what?"
"Then I start cranking and clear the roadblock."
"And the gangs come on the run."
"Probably. But they're going to run right into our fire. You have a better idea?"
Jerry smiled and shook his bandaged head. "Can't say as I do. I'll get the wagon in place."
"I'll be at the curve with a rifle. As soon as they hear you they'll get ready to open fire. Just as soon as I get a target, I'll drop him."
"Sounds good to me."
"Good luck, Jer."
Jerry nodded his head and climbed into the wagon. Frank walked back to the curve and got into position. The guards had probably been warned by a lookout high above the road, for there was no one in sight.
As he waited for Jerry to get into place, Frank wondered if the four men who had ambushed him and Viv that sunny afternoon had been part of the two gangs. He didn't think they were. Dutton's men, he was sure.
Another man he damn sure had to deal with as soon as he got the road opened. And he would get the road open. Frank didn't have any doubts about that. Doubts about his ability to deal with any given situation were not something that plagued him. He just bulled ahead and got it done.
Jerry got the wagon into position and unhitched the team, leading them to safety, then came back and removed the cases of dynamite and caps, stashing them behind some rocks, well out of the line of fire. He returned to crouch beside the wagon, rifle in his hand.
"Ready for the dance?" Frank called.
"Play the fiddle, Frank. It's your tune."
Frank started cranking, the lead flying from the hand cranked machine gun. The heavy slugs tore into the wagons, knocking great chunks from the sideboards.
"I thought you said both them Gatlin's had been ruint?" someone called from the outlaw side.
"Yeah," another man yelled. "Damn shore don't sound like it to me."
Frank gave the outlaws another half a magazine and got lucky this time: a man staggered out, both hands holding his torn up belly. He collapsed on the rocky road and died.
"Jess is dead!" a man called.
"I see him, you idgit! I ain't blind."
"No, yore just stupid! That there is Frank Morgan, and I told you he wasn't gonna take this lyin' down."
"If you want your share of that money in the bank you'll shet your mouth and hold this here road."
"I want me some of them women in the town," another man said, his voice carrying clearly in the thin mountain air. "I got me a real powerful yearnin.'"