By Beth Goodman
Copyright 1999
XI. Escalating Fears
Lou and Jimmy had finished getting the horses settled for the night in Fort Kearny and were on their way to the restaurant to meet up with Cody and Lieutenant Davies. They entered Carol's Restaurant and removed their soaking wet coats and hats, placing them on a hat tree just inside the doorway.
The two riders began walking into the dining room, seeing Lieutenant Davies seated in the dining room by himself. Jimmy and Lou glanced at each other, puzzled, as they headed for the table.
"Where's Cody?" Jimmy asked, his voice dripping with worry.
"Oh, he'll be back any minute now. He's escorting a lady to her hotel room. Cody's a fine young man," Davies was extremely impressed as he recalled Cody's heroic actions of helping the troubled woman.
"What'd ya mean?" Lou was beginning to wonder if maybe something was wrong, like maybe Cody was in trouble himself.
"There was a man and woman arguing at the next table over there. Got so loud I think it could've been heard all over the territory. Next thing I know, the man slaps this woman. So, Cody gets in the middle of it and offers to take the lady to her hotel room."
Now Jimmy and Lou were really concerned for Cody. Something was terribly wrong, they could both feel it. They quickly looked at each other, each knowing, without actually speaking, that the other was thinking the exact same thing.
"We gotta get over to that hotel!" Lou exclaimed in a frenzy.
And before the lieutenant had a chance to find out what was going on, Jimmy and Lou were running out of the restaurant and into the street leaving Davies alone and utterly confused.
XII. An Unexpected Welcome
"I don't know how to thank you, Mister...?" Maggie now had her tears under control and was doing her best acting job trying to sound harmless and frail.
"Cody, ma'am, William F. Cody. Glad to be of service." Cody once again tipped his hat.
Maggie reached in her handbag to retrieve the key to her hotel room when she dropped it onto the floor purposely.
"Oh, allow me." Cody bent down to pick up the key, placed it in the keyhole, and turned the lock.
"Would you mind goin' in ahead of me, Mr. Cody, and lighting a lamp? You see, after what's happened tonight, I'm afraid I'm a bit on edge." The woman's tears seemed as though they would spring forth at any moment. So, Cody complied with her wishes.
Cody turned the brass knob and pushed the door open. And everything else that took place after Cody opened the door in that brief moment seemed to happen in a flash. Seeing the two men waiting for him, their guns pointed directly at him, Cody's reflexes forced his hand toward his holster without thinking, pulling his gun out with lightning speed.
Jake took a shot at Cody, but Cody was able to completely avoid the potentially fatal bullet with his tremendous agility and speed. The other man in the room, Bobby, also fired off a shot but his gun jammed. Cody then fired his gun before Jake could get a second shot. However, Jake was not as lucky as Cody had been, and he was hit squarely in the chest. Before collapsing completely to the floor, his shirt covered in a growing pool of blood, Jake squeezed the trigger one final time, only to have it fire into Bobby's head as the gun dropped to the ground. Both men were dead.
Cody simply stood there, completely baffled by what had just happened. He had been totally shocked when he opened the door and saw two men with guns aimed at his chest. It all seemed as though he had been standing on the outside, watching as someone else did the shooting. But whatever it was that made Cody react as fast as he did, he was glad because it saved his life. The still-stunned Cody looked behind him at the wall and saw where Jake's first bullet that was meant for him was now impacted, right where he would have been standing had he not ducked and moved out of the way. He breathed a sigh of relief as he thought to himself, Phew! That was a close shave...too close if ya ask me.
Maggie, who had stood outside in the hallway during the shootout, stepped inside the doorframe and saw the bodies of her two cohorts sprawled on the floor, their crimson blood staining the Oriental rug.
Now what am I gonna do? Maggie thought to herself in horror. Jake and Bobby were supposed to kill this Cody fella, and now they're dead! She began to scream at the top of her lungs at the dreadful scene she was beholding and also at the thought of how much trouble she could be in if Grady found out the witness of the robbery was still alive.
Cody now turned to Maggie, realizing that she had set him up to be killed. His usually dazzling turquoise eyes now flamed with wrath and rage. Just as he moved his hand to grab Maggie's to prevent her from running down the corridor screaming, the hotel clerk came rushing down the hallway.
He stopped and peered into the room where the dead bodies lay. The clerk's eyes widened at the sight. "What in God's name is goin' on here!?"
Maggie's piercing shrieks came to a thankful halt as she once again whipped up some phony tears. A new plan for getting herself out of this situation was being devised in her head. "Please, you've gotta help!" She grabbed the clerk by his lapels, crying hysterically. "This man here killed my husband!"
On to Chapter Six
