Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,6

needed privacy and not everything was shared by the whole pack, however “pack” was defined.

“You look tired, son.” Jesse pressed her hand against one side of Tobias’s face.

“We’re all putting in longer hours.” Tobias leaned against the wall. “Too few men for the amount of land we’re trying to cover and the cattle we’re trying to keep track of.”

“There might be relief coming.”

“If they can sit a horse, I’ll hire them. Gods, even if they can’t sit a horse, I’ll hire them.”

“Don’t set your sights too low. I think I’ve convinced Tolya Sanguinati that we need more people if he doesn’t want Bennett to turn into a ghost town.”

“You think he’ll agree?”

“I think he will. But we’ll need to be careful, watchful.” Her right hand closed over her left wrist. “We need the people. We need to keep the town alive. But what is good for us won’t be the only thing getting off the train.”

CHAPTER 4

Thaisday, Sumor 26

Parlan Blackstone sat at one of the tables in the executive car, playing solitaire and ignoring the looks from the men who were playing poker at another table. He wasn’t sure they knew who he was when they’d invited him to join them, but he’d had a bad feeling about two of the men and had declined, claiming he didn’t have much of a head for cards.

They hadn’t believed him, but no one was drunk enough—yet—to call him a liar.

At the next stop, he’d leave the executive car and retreat to his private car. He’d hoped to play a few games during this stage of the trip to balance the rising cost of train fares, but the men in the car … They wore expensive suits, but they were still thugs.

The Blackstone Clan might be gamblers and swindlers, but they weren’t thugs. Not that he was opposed to hiring muscle who liked the sort of work that required brass knuckles—or guns—but the Blackstone name was never associated with those activities.

Parlan didn’t look over at the other men, but he sensed a change in their intentions. There was no one else in the executive car. From the perfume scents in the washroom at the back of the car, he knew there had been one or more women with the men before the last stop. Since the women weren’t in the executive car now, they’d fulfilled their purpose and were no longer wanted.

He wondered briefly if they’d been left at the last station or had been tossed off the train. He had a feeling at least one of those men would find tossing a woman off a moving train amusing. Or expedient. And he had a strong feeling that they were considering doing the same to him after relieving him of his wallet and a few of his teeth.

Not that they would have a chance to relieve him of anything.

One of the men shifted on the padded bench seat. Parlan ignored him; didn’t reach for the derringer or the knife he carried because at the same moment the man stood up, the door of the executive car opened and two men walked in from the regular passenger car.

The first man didn’t look at the four men, but Parlan knew he saw all of them. Those men might be thugs, but this man was a stone-cold killer who truly enjoyed his work.

The man nodded to Parlan before taking one of the leather seats behind Parlan’s bench seat. He chose the aisle seat, where he could see the other men, who no longer found Parlan interesting.

The second man stopped at Parlan’s table. “Not your usual game.”

Parlan looked up and smiled. “Hello, Henry. Have a seat.” After Henry Hollis settled in the bench seat opposite him, he gathered the cards and shuffled. “I wasn’t in the mood for my usual game. What about you?”

Henry took out his wallet and laid a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “A farewell game.”

That was all Hollis was going to wager? Parlan looked at the bill and wondered if Henry had fallen on hard times. “Farewell? You going somewhere?”

“I’m giving up the life.”

He looked at Henry in surprise. “What’s this?”

“It’s time to quit.”

Parlan was aware that the four men had noticed the bill Henry had put on the table and sensed they were wondering how much Henry might be carrying. Then they looked at Judd McCall sitting quietly behind Parlan.

As long as those men were the first ones off the train, Henry would be safe. No one but a fool tangled with