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–”
    Before Bear could lunge in Halper’s
direction, he had the shiniest pistol in the West pointed directly
between his eyes. Bear didn’t have to look up into Halper’s eyes to
know the man was willing. If Frank Masterson had hired him, then he
was willing and more than able.
    “Calma-te, my friends. We have work tomorrow
and you will wake the others,” the Mexican nodded absently in the
direction of the other gunmen sleeping haphazardly around their
small fire.
    “Shut your ugly trap,” Bear ordered. “It
ain’t your mama he’s insulting.”
    “Señor Bear, my own madre is a whore - the
best and richest one in the Puebla. So she would be happy to take
care of Señor Halper, if his gold was as shiny as his pistol.”
    Bear’s posture visibly relaxed, as his energy
transferred into confusion over whether or not his beloved mother
had been insulted once again - or redeemed.
    Halper silently un-cocked his pistol and
resumed his nightly cleaning ritual.
    Since both men had relaxed, Bear naturally
followed suit. He was hungry again and wanted that last bit of
rabbit before turning in for the night. As he chewed the tough and
slightly charred foot, Bear tried to unravel Boss Masterson’s
instructions.
    He still didn’t understand why the Boss Man
wanted them to kill some of the passengers on purpose, when they
could likely as not scare them into handing over their money,
without so much as a foul word thrown in their direction. The train
passengers would be mostly from back east, and scared stiff of
Indians and outlaws. They all had big dreams of striking it rich or
owning their own land, and no one wanted to get killed before they
even stepped one foot off the train.
    Bear scratched his scraggly hair and decided
he’d better ask again, just to make sure. He knew he got confused
sometimes, and didn’t want to be the only one they hanged for
murder, if he could get the same money just from knocking a few
heads together. “So how come the Boss Man wants dead passengers
anyway? I don’t understand why we need to kill anyone if they hand
over their money quiet like. I got enough posters on me already in
Texas. Don’t need one for murder here too.”
    Halper tipped his hat back so the big ox
could get a proper look into his eyes. “Just do as you’re told,
Bear. Masterson didn’t hire you to think.”
    Truth was, Halper hadn’t quite figured out
Masterson’s scheme yet either. He didn’t mind the killing – he was
already wanted for several hanging offenses. They could only hang
him once, and the money was good. Better than good.
    And that was even more puzzling. Halper
wasn’t one to question good fortune, as sometimes folks just got
lucky. But he did question why all of a sudden he was getting lucky
after the crap of a life he’d been handed. He didn’t trust it.
    Masterson was hiding something for sure, he
thought, as he pushed a cleaning rag into the barrel of his
favorite Colt. Halper knew to the dollar what a robbery like this
could bring just counting the passenger’s carrying money and
jewelry. And according to his numbers, Masterson was splitting it
all evenly. A snake like Masterson would sell his own mother and
Halper’s too to earn a lazy dollar. So why was he offering them all
a fair share upfront? Halper figured there was something extra on
this train. But if this bunch didn’t know to look for it, and
Masterson wasn’t here to get it himself, how was the boss going to
profit?
    Halper gave his revolver one last swipe with
a polishing cloth before holstering it. He wasn’t likely to figure
it out before sunrise, so he might as well get some sleep and hope
he spotted a clue tomorrow.
    “Bear, since you’re still eating, you can
take first watch. Wake me up in three hours and I’ll spell you.”
Halper didn’t wait for a response, knowing he’d be obeyed by the
lumbering ox.
     
     

Chapter 11
    “A re they asleep?”
Mike mouthed the words in the barest of whispers to his