The Daughter - C.B. Cooper (red novels txt) 📗

and killing whatever and whoever they wanted. They were untouchable. So how the fuck did they manage to get themselves killed by a woman?"
Adams sighed. Jarvis had always been a bit on the theatrical side. The smallest thing could send him into a tizzy. He could rant and rave for days over the stupidest thing. But not Adams. He prided himself on being able to stay calm, cool and collected, even in the harriest situations.
Maybe that’s why they made such good partners. They balanced each other out.
Adams watched his partner with calm eyes, "Lets start at the beginning, shall we? Do you have an idea who this woman might be?"
"I don’t know. How in the hell would I know who she is?"
"Why don’t you sit down. Lets have another drink and try to figure this out."
Jarvis paced a few more times, then finally sat, grabbing the bourbon and pouring then each a healthy sized glass full.
"Okay," Adams began, "the last time we seen the men, they had just finished the Ben Walker job. Now, according to them, it was only Ben and his daughter at the farm, remember."
Jarvis nodded in agreement.
"And, according to them, they killed them both, right?"
"Yes."
"But, what I was thinking was, maybe he had a wife somewhere, or perhaps another daughter that wasn’t home at the time. Maybe they were staying in town or at a friends house."
Jarvis nodded, starting to calm down. "That makes sense."
"Okay. Now, what we don’t know is, how she killed those men. I'm thinking that she probably didn’t go at them head on. She wouldn’t have stood a chance."
George nodded his head thoughtfully, again. "What are you thinking then? Some sort of ambush?"
"Maybe. But it would have to be something that would kill the whole lot of them at the same time. I was thinking dynamite. Some sort of explosion, or an avalanche."
Jarvis leaned back in his chair, smiling. "Your right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course she didn’t just ride in and kill all of those men at one time. That would be impossible. But I'm sure they weren't expecting an ambush. And why would they? They didn’t know anyone was after them."
"Exactly. And you know what else? We got this telegram from Texas. And there's a whole lot of fucking territory between here and Texas. A whole lot a rough terrain, and a whole lot a Indians. I'd bet you ten thousand dollars, that the bitch doesn’t even make it this far."
Jarvis visably relaxed, sinking into his over stuffed chair. "I never thought of that." He studied his partner across the desk, and when the thought came to him, he had to ask, "Then why did you come? If you don’t think she's a threat, why would you travel all the way here? Why wouldn’t you just send a telegram? And why do you have all of those hard cases riding with you?"
Adams smiled, "The truth is, I was bored. I hate Oregon. There aint nothing there but trees and farmers. I was thinking… that after this little gold rush of yours, that maybe we should take our fortune down to California. Open us a fancy gambling house in San Fransisco. There's big money to be made down there."
Jarvis frowned, "I thought that the whole point of this, was to stay away from those places. Hide up here in the country where there ain't no law, and no one knows us."
Adams smiled, "I think we're in the clear, my friend. Look at how many months its been, and we havent heard anything. We havent seen any wanted posters. Nothing. Besides, there's literally tens of thousands of people in San Francisco, we'd blend right in"
"I don’t know…"
"How much longer is your gold rush going to go on?"
"Hell, it just got started," he smiled. "I'm making money by the barrel. This was the best plan you ever had."
"Exactly. It was my plan. I figured I'd stay around and see how this thing pans out."
Jarvis frowned, "You want in on it."
"I think its only fair. I had to leave Oregon before I even got started, so I could come here to be with you."
Jarvis thought it over for a second, then smiled, "It'll be fun having you here, and there's more than enough to go around. We'll run the town together." Until I kill you, that is.

Sam stood at the egde of the boardwalk in front of the Gold Rush saloon studying the sky.
The clouds above, churned and boiled over the town. They ranged in color, from pitch black, to a light steel gray. The warm wind had picked up and it pulled at his clothes, the light gusts lifting the hair at his collar.
Zeb came out and joined him. "That’s some storm heading this way."
"That aint no storm, Zeb. It's her."

George Jarvis awoke from a nightmare. The only thing he could remember was something had a hold of his ankles, dragging him towards somewhere he did not want to go. He had clawed at the ground, frantically trying to stop, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Shivering, he hunkered further down into his warm quilt.
He was almost back asleep, when he heard a voice call, "George… I'm here George."
His body froze, his heart hammering, he listened in the dark. But the only thing he could hear was the storm outside.
The wind screamed through town, tearing at signs and beating against shutters. The noise was almost deafening.
He was busy trying to convince himself that he had been dreaming, when a light breeze touched his face. It was as soft and warm as a lovers breath.
He sat up, looking around the darkened room. Then the breeze came again, only this time, it was everywhere.
Squinting against the dark, he could see that one of his windows was open.
"Shit." He muttered as his feet hit the floor. "I could of sworn I had closed those."
At the window, he grabbed the frame, getting ready to slam it back down, when a huge bolt of lightening lit the sky, followed by another, and then another.
He froze, the hair standing up on the back of his neck.
Directly across the street on the rooftop of the Gold Rush, a lone figure stood, highlighted against the glowing sky.
The lightening was coming so fast now that it was continuous, and the buildings shook with the loud claps and big booms of thunder.
He could see her perfectly. Her clothes were all black, covered by a black duster that flowed out around her in the wind. A black hat was pulled down low over her eyes, shielding her face.
Jarvis wanted to run, but he was frozen in place. He wanted to scream for his men, but his mouth wouldn’t open.
As he watched, the woman slowly lifted her head, her eyes blazing like hell-fire. Raising her arm, she pointed at him accusingly, then with the same hand, made a slashing motion across her neck, as if to say, Your dead.
Finding his feet again, Jarvis flew across the room, jerking the door open and running down the hall towards the stairs.
As he ran past his partners room he banged on the door, screaming, "Adams! Get up! She's here! She's heeeere!"
He bolted down the stairs yelling for his men. By the time he hit the bottom, they were pouring in through the front door, guns drawn.
"Boss? What is it!" Coulter asked, alarmed.
Jarvis grabbed his shoulders, "Did you see her? She was across the street on top of the Gold Rush. Did you see her?"
Coulter frowned, "She was on the roof?" looking around at his men, he asked, "Did anybody see her up there?"
His question was met with grumbles and head shaking.
Jarvis was insanely scared, so he took it out on the men, "How the fuck could you not see her!" he screamed. "She was right across the fucking street! What, do you all need glasses?"
Coulter frowned, "If she was on the roof, Boss, we probly couldn’t see her from our angle down below."
Just then, Adams joined the men, "Of course you couldn’t," he told Coulter. Taking over the situation, he told the men, "Ten of you get across the street and look for her. The rest of you get back outside to your positions. Let us know if you see or hear anything."
Once the men had left, Adams turned to his partner, "Tell me everything."
Jarvis glared at him, "Well, for starters— you owe me ten thousand dollars."


When the men finally returned two hours later, they told the pair that they had searched the whole town, and they hadn't seen hide nor hair of any woman.
Javis and Adms stared at each other, then Jarvis told the men, "Tomorrow, spread the word. I want every man in this town in front of The Royal at noon. We're having a town meeting."

Sam and Zeb were in The Royal having a breakfast, when two of Jarvis's guns walked in.
"Can I get everbody's attention!" one of them shouted.
The diners all turned to look at the men.
"There's a town meeting at noon, right outside here. Mr. Jarvis wants every man-jack in town to be there." As an afterthought, he added, "And Mr. Jarvis doesn’t like to be disobeyed, so spread the word."
After the pair walked out, Zeb asked Sharp, "What do you suppose the meetings about?"
Sam shook his head, "I'm afraid to even ask."

At noon, the street was jam packed with men. Miners and businessmen alike.
The storm hadn't let up one bit however, and the wind howled through the streets kicking up dust, making the men's eyes water with grit. And most of the people in attendance, wore handkerchiefs and scarves tied around their heads, protecting their noses and mouths from all the dirt. it looked a whole town full of train and bank robbers, which amused both Jarvis and Adams.
Jarvis attempted to start his speech again, but the noise from the storm made it impossible for anyone to hear him.
"Oh for god's sake!" he shouted at the wind. "Will you stop!"
As the words died on his lips, so did the wind. Like the storm itself wanted to hear what he had to say.
In the absolute silence that followed, the men down in the street all looked at each other, confused and bewildered.
Jarvis looked at Adams, but Adams just shrugged.
Turning back to the crowd, he began, "There's a woman in town. She dresses like a man, all in black. I want her brought to me, dead or alive."
Murmers went through the crowd.
Zeb leaned toward Sam, "Now, where have we heard this before?" he asked wryly.
Sharp frowned and shushed him.
"This woman is dangerous, and want her found immediately! I want every building checked and re-checked. I want every tree and bush for ten miles, scoured— and I want that bitch found!"
Beside him, bored, Adams took a drink of his whiskey.
"I'm paying ten thousand dollars to whoever finds her!"
Adams choked on his drink. Sputtering, he turned to his partner, "Ten thousand dollars? Are you insane?" he whispered loudly.
Jarvis shrugged, "I want her found." To the crowd, he yelled, "Now, go find me that bitch!"
A low pitched whistling noise filled the street, steadily growing louder, until it sounded almost like a deafening in-human scream. Then the wind hit with a horrific BOOM, the percussion shaking the ground and shattering store front windows. The men who weren't quick enough to stop it, had the hats ripped from their heads and watched helplessly as they