By Kirsten Page
Copyright 1999
Three men sat, surrounding a campfire which sparked and crackled into the chilling night air. The leader of the group stood up and moved to the other side of the fire. Somehow he thought that it might be warmer over there.
“It’s time to discuss our business.” He finally said, before lighting his cigar.
The other two men grumbled. “You sure we want to go through with this?” Cole asked his superior.
Wayne looked at him wondering how he dared to ask such a question. “Of course,” he motioned to the third man. “And I expect that you have everything all set?”
The youngest of the lot nodded. “Yeah, and I’ve even got the schedule, so we’ll know who is riding through and when. It’s going to work perfectly.” He smiled, hoping to impress his boss.
“Don’t get smart with me, and NEVER assume that anything is going to work perfectly in our line of work, just do as I say when I say it.” Wayne snapped. “Now, Cole, you will leave tomorrow. Contact us at every chance you get, and be ready for it to come through.”
Cole nodded in understanding. This sounded like it would be the easiest mission he’d had yet. Or so he thought. Little did he know that the mission from which he was about to embark on would be the most dangerous, and possibly deadly thing he had ever done. In fact, he didn’t have a clue who he was about to deal with. “I’ll be ready,” he said confidently.
“Buck!” Rachel cried out as the man walked into the bunkhouse covered in trail dust. He had a black soot covering his face, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.
He looked down at his clothes, and then at his audience in the small room. “I’m fine, really. Just ran into a little trouble with some outlaws down at the last station,” he paused to take off his coat. “I guess they were looking for gold or something.”
“Did you tell Teaspoon?” She asked taking his shirt as he handed to her. Rachel couldn’t help but worry when any of her riders were placed in harm’s way.
Buck nodded, “Yes, and apparently they’ve already caught the boys. Teaspoon thinks it’s just a bunch of kids wanting to have a little fun.”
Yes, it was a bunch of kids just out to have fun. And no, it didn’t really happen, nor will those kids won’t have anything to do with this story that you are about to read, or the price of tea in China. I had to have a prologue, and so in order for it to be interesting, I wrote some action into it. Hey, what do you expect, it’s me we’re talking about here! Pay careful attention to the top portion which discuses Cole though, that will be significant later on. :-) Okay, I'll promise to be serious from now on!
On to Chapter One
