“No. let’s wait until after the stage job.” said O’Fallon. “For now, the word to all the cowboys is to keep away from the Montana Kid. I don’t want to do anything about the Kid until we know more about him Meanwhile, get word to Bailey that-”
There was a loud knocking at the door.
“Paul, go see who it is,” O’Fallon said.
A moment later. Paul came back in. “It’s Bailey.” he said. He just drove up in his rig. He insists on seeing you. Curly Bill’s outside with him.”
“Damn it.” said O’Fallon. “I told him never to come here. All right, bring him in.”
Paul went back out and returned with a very worried-looking Zeke Bailey.
“What the hell’s the matter with you. Bailey?” said O’Fallon. “I told you I didn’t want you coming here.”
“I’m blown.” said Bailey.
O’Fallon frowned. “ What?”
“It’s the Kid,” said Bailey. “He knows. Christ, I need a drink.
“Paul, get Zeke a whiskey.” said O’Fallon. “Okay, now slow down and let’s have it.”
“He came in today and bought some guns,” said Bailey. ‘I sold him a shoulder rig. And then I showed him the knives, like you said. He wanted to know about the Fairburn-Sykes right away, but I wasn’t sure about him he just seemed curious. I didn’t see any recognition there and I was watching him carefully.”
Paul handed him a drink and he gulped it down.
“Thanks. I needed that.”
— Go on.” said O’Fallon
“I told him to go ahead and try it out. He threw the thing and hit the target dead center. He decided to take the knife, even though it was the most expensive one in the case. But I just couldn’t be sure about him. He asked some questions, like how long I’d been in Tombstone, where I came from, that sort of thing. And then he tricked me up.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was just sort of talking, and he was looking at some of the guns in the display cases. He stopped at this one case and seemed to be looking at one of the guns. Asked if it was one of the new Colt Bisley target models. It took me off guard and I just blurted out that it couldn’t be, because Colt didn’t make the Bisleys until… and then I caught myself and he was standing there, staring at me, and he said… until 1894. That’s thirteen years from now.’ And just then Spangenberg came back in and the Kid left. But he said we’d have to talk again real soon. I told Spangenberg I was feeling sick and came right over to tell you.-
“You idiot,” said O’Fallon. “He probably followed you right here.”
“No, I was real careful. I made sure…
“You made sure,” O’Fallon said, with disgust. “You never would have spotted him. He’s probably sitting out there somewhere right now.”
“I had to come,” protested Bailey. “Look, you told me that if something like this ever happened, you’d get me out. I’ve done everything you said. O’Fallon. I’ve exposed this guy for you. “
“Exposed him?” said O’Fallon, wryly. “What you’ve done was to expose us, you fool. You probably led him straight to us. Paul, I want security doubled right away.”
“Got it,” Paul said, as he turned to leave the room.
“No, wait… O’Fallon said. “All he knows is that Bailey came straight here. He still doesn’t know who he came to see. If he’s out there watching and he sees increased security, that will only give away the operation. Let’s keep him guessing. At this point, all he knows about for sure is Bailey.”
“You said you’d help me, O’Fallon.” Bailey said. “You promised!”
“You’ve put me in an awkward situation, Zeke.”
“All right, at least give me back my warp disc!” Bailey pleaded. “I can’t take the chance of staying around. He knows about me now I’ve got to get out of here!”
“Yes.” said O’Fallon. “I can’t afford allowing you to be interrogated. You simply know too much.”
Bailey paled “Oh, Jesus Christ… you… you’re not going to kill me?”
“You haven’t given me a great deal of choice. Zeke,” O’Fallon replied.
Bailey swallowed hard. “O’Fallon, please… you don’t have to do this. You don’t know for sure that I was followed. But if I was, and he doesn’t see me leaving here, he’ll know. He’ll know for sure!”
“Yes, I’m afraid you have a point.” O’Fallon said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “So what do you suggest I do, Zeke?”
“Give me back my warp disc,” Bailey said. “I’ve got Underground contacts in other time periods who can help me. I’ll never say anything about you or your operation. I swear to God. If I did, they’d cut me off, you know that. They wouldn’t want to risk exposure.”
“Yes, that’s true enough.” O’Fallon said.
“I’ll leave here and start driving back toward town.” said Bailey. “There’s still plenty of daylight, I’ll see the Kid coming if he’s out there. If he gets anywhere near me, I’ll just clock out. He’ll never know where I went. Otherwise, I’ll wait till I get back to my place and clock out from there.”
O’Fallon thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know.” he said. “It’s risky.”
“I won’t let him take me, I swear to God I won’t.”
For a long moment, O’Fallon didn’t speak.
“O’Fallon… “ Bailey said, his voice barely above a whisper. “ Please…”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Zeke,” said O’Fallon. “I’11 send Paul with you. I’ll give him the warp disc I took from you. Perhaps we can turn this situation to our advantage.”
“I’ll do anything you say,” said Bailey.
“Go back to your place, Zeke.” O’Fallon said. “Paul will ride along. I don’t think the Kid will try anything if you’re not alone. He won’t be certain of the situation. If he’s out there somewhere, and I’m betting that he is, he’ll follow you to your place, hoping to catch you alone. Paul will escort you that far, then he’ll continue on to town. In the meantime, we’ll clock some of the boys ahead to your place and see if we can’t arrange a nice reception for the Montana Kid, whoever the hell he is. If we’re lucky, we might even take him alive.”
“What about me?” asked Bailey.
“After you’ve done your part, you’ll be free to go.” O’Fallon said. “Frankly. I couldn’t care less what happens to you.”
Bailey looked enormously relieved, do whatever you say, O’Fallon.”
O’Fallon nodded. “All right,” he said. “Paul, you go with Zeke. Steve, Randy, Allan, you’ll pick up your ordnance and clock over to Bailey’s place. At least now we know for sure the Kid is from the future. Let’s see if we can find out which future.”
As the men started to leave, O’Fallon said, “Steve…”
The man named Steve hesitated, waiting till the others had left.
“When Bailey gets back to his place,” said O’Fallon softly. “kill him.”
Scott watched from the ridge as Bailey’s rig drove out through the gateposts of the ranch. He saw that Bailey was not alone. There was another man with him in the rig, his saddled horse tied to the back and following along. They took the road heading back toward town.
This wasn’t what he’d hoped. He had hoped to catch Bailey coming out alone. The fact that he was not alone alerted him. Bailey had gone straight from Tombstone to the Clanton ranch. Interesting, thought Scott. Very, very interesting. It looked as if someone among the rustlers was not who he appeared to be. Maybe them were several of them. Only who? The Clantons themselves? The McLaurys? Ringo’? Brocius? One or more of their hired hands’? It could be any of them. He had no way of knowing. Not unless he could get Bailey alone to question him.
He had read Bailey exactly right. He had gone straight to whomever he was working with. Only who were they? The Special Operations Group? The Underground?
The Network’? The smart thing to do, he thought, would be to wait until Priest.
Cross and Delaney showed up. Only he wasn’t sure when they would be clocking in.
Perhaps they were already in Tombstone. But meanwhile, he was alone out here and he hated to take a chance on Bailey running, perhaps clocking out to some other time period. He had blown his cover purposely, setting himself out as bait, but if he could question Bailey, he could improve his chances of survival by learning where the attack might come from. The man with Bailey could be one of them. Or he might simply be one of the cowboys. There was no way of knowing. And when you don’t have enough information. Scott told himself, the best thing to do is to do nothing.