Untamed Journey Read Online Free PDF

long-time
partner as he gestured in the direction of the five U.S. Marshals
packed in tight around the cold fire pit.
    A nod was Jackson’s only response, as he
scanned the open desert in full moonlight. He had scouted their
campsite himself, then briskly ordered a cold camp as they settled
in for the night. The map he’d retrieved from the dead scout had
been short on details.
    Jackson couldn’t be certain he had identified
the correct location for the next ambush of the Union Pacific. So
they’d arrived early and settled on the highest ground they could
find – the crest of a hill about half a mile from the train tracks.
He now had a clear view of the tracks for a mile in either
direction, and could already hear the engine of an oncoming
train.
    “That’s a relief,” Mike sighed, taking a seat
on the cold ground. “Can’t say I trust them much to watch our backs
when every word out of their mouths seems to have the sole purpose
of reminding us we fought on the losing side.”
    “As if we’d ever forget,” Jackson replied,
crushing his third cigarette into the damp earth.
    “‘Bout time we all did, I suppose,” Mike
muttered.
    “I’m trying,” Jackson replied after a long
silence. “I’m trying real hard for my brother. If I can just make
my retirement stick and make a go of the ranch, Emmett can marry
and re-build the family.”
    “You’re young yet,” Mike added cautiously.
“There’s plenty of time to have a family. You and Emmett can raise
your kids together.”
    “You’re my family - you and Sue and my
brother.”
    “I’m honored you’d say such a thing,” Mike
replied. “And I look on you the same way, God rest your mother’s
soul. But a worn out trapper and a retired saloon girl ain’t no
family. You’re young yet – seen too much and done too much, but
you’ve still got time to build something real.”
    “Are you trying to fix me up, Old Man?”
Jackson grinned in genuine affection. “Sue’s been trying for
years.”
    “She’s right, you know. Pain’s me to say it,
seeing as its Sue, but she’s right for once. I’m sure what you seen
in the War must have turned your stomach something fierce. Maybe
soured you on folks. But don’t forget how sweet a thing your mama
was and how good a life she had before your daddy died, loving him
the way she did. Don’t make that count for less than the killing
you seen or done.”
    Mike never heard Jackson’s response as a
volley of shots pierced the night quiet, followed by the screech of
brakes on metal.
    Jackson scrambled to the very top of the hill
while Mike turned to calm down the others. The five men had jumped
to their feet the minute gunshots disturbed their sound sleep.
    “Be still,” Mike ordered. “They aren’t
shooting at us.”
    The men hunkered down next to Jackson,
following the direction of his rifle barrel.
    “What’s happening?” Abel Wyman demanded
curtly.
    “The train’s stopping,” Jackson replied
softly to the older man. “It looks like something’s blocking the
tracks up ahead. Six shots fired from the front of the train.”
    “How many men are down there?” Wyman
asked.
    “I can’t tell for sure,” Jackson replied. “I
count four just this side of the engine.”
    “There are two more riders at the rear of the
train,” Emmett chimed in softly.
    “We can take them easily,” Wyman insisted.
“Let’s head out.”
    “Wait,” Jackson cautioned. “There may be more
on the other side. And at least one of the shots I heard came from
the last sleeping car toward the middle of the train. That’s seven
or more men altogether. We might be outnumbered and we’d be riding
with no cover in this moonlight.”
    “Well, damn it, you picked our lookout,”
Wyman said. “What good is it if you can’t give me an accurate
count?”
    “It’s the best choice we had,” Jackson
replied calmly at the insult.
    As another two shots rang out, the Marshals
grew restless, and Jackson heard several muttered