Episode 3: Dixon Springs

I awaken at first light to the sharp end of a boot in my ribs.

"Get up, we're headin' out soon."

"I see you helped yourself to my bacon and coffee," I sneer, rubbing my eyes.

"Don't worry, I made some for you."  Ray hands me a cup and a few sad strips of meat.  "Charlie and gang have a safe house east of the Cumberland River.  We're heading into Dixon Springs.  With the bounty on my head, we can get the sheriff's attention."

"But won't you be hanged you on the spot?"

Ray mounts his horse.  "Not if I can bring them Charlie.  Pack up, time to go."

Dixon Springs was a four day ride from our campfire with a population of no more than twenty.  It had a saloon, a general store, and a sorry excuse of a post office.  The sleepy town's only excitement was some drunks fighting at the poker table, evidenced by the jail being located right next to the saloon.  All the buildings were lined up in a row, if you blinked you were on the other side.  Our presence was immediately known.  People ducked, scared, into doorways and stared from behind second floor windows.

The sheriff comes through the door of the jail, pointing his Remington lever action rifle directly at Ray's head.

"By the power invested in me by the town of Dixon Springs, I order you to dismount your horse and put your hands up, and turn around or you will be shot until you are dead!"

Ray nods at me.  We dismount and put our hands in the air.  A crowd begins to gather outside. 

"Ray Black, you are under arrest for the robbery of the 8:30 train to Chattanooga.  Tomorrow you will hang."

"I can bring you Charlie Steward!" Ray's voice booms back.  Whispers began coming from the crowd.

"That I cannot allow you to do!  You see, goin' through our little ol' town here is the only way to get to Charlie's safe house in Evitts Hollow.  He knew you'd come by here to barter for his life.  He told me that if I killed you, I'd get your share of the train score.  Fifty thousand is a pretty big number, so I obliged.  No hard feelings Ray, just business."

Ray's expression goes cold.  His eyes darken.  He turns to look at a young woman, holding her child's eyes, shielding the poor boy from what is about to happen.  Tears streaming down her face, her mouth trembles.  It looks like she mouths something toward Ray.  Ray tautly shakes his head.

I can hear the sheriff walking toward us, the dirt crunching under his boots.  He's coming to disarm us.  The footsteps get closer.  They stop just behind Ray.  I turn my head to the side.  The sheriff has his rifle up to the back of Ray's head.  I hear the hammer locks.

I whip around and pull my knife from my belt in one motion, driving the blade into the sheriff's side.  The sheriff cries out in pain, blood spurting from his mouth.  Ray turns around, pulls his revolver, and shoots the sheriff point blank in the chest.  The sheriff collapses to the ground.  Shot in the chest and a mortal wound to his side, the sheriff drags his body across the dust reaching toward his rifle.  Ray puts another round into the sheriff's back.  The sheriff, grasping on to life, tries to pull himself closer to the rifle.  Ray puts three more into the sheriff's back.  Gurgling and drowning in his own blood, the sheriff's eyes meet mine before they go lifeless.

I drop to my knees and stare at the body.  The silence feels like an eternity.  Ray pulls my blade from the sheriff and kneeling next to me, puts it back in my hand.  He slowly turns to the crowd.  It took a moment for the townspeople to understand that Ray was not there to hurt them.

"Charlie and his boys came on through here about three days ago," the old postman said, voice shaking.  "They came into the saloon, held some of our women at gunpoint, robbed us, and made us feed his whole gang of ruffians.  Once they had their fill of food and drink, they took what they wanted from the women."

My stomach wrenches.  I just think of Mary and Sam and how this could have been them.

"We...we went to the sheriff," the wife of the general store owner sobs.  "He just told us to give them what they wanted and they would leave us alone.  But they didn't leave us alone.  They kept coming back for more.  The sheriff didn't even lift a finger."

The general store owner goes to comfort his wife.  "They're coming back tomorrow to stock up on more supplies, I reckon they're planning on something.  There's a bank just built north of us, in Lafayette.  That's where I think they'll go next."

"We're a small town, but we won't let that murderer steal from us and hurt the ones we love," the bartender spoke up, finding his strength.  "How can we help?"

TO BE CONTINUED...