Read Online Frame Angel! (A Frank Angel Western) #7 by Frederick H. Christian - Free Book Online Page B

take off with the whole bundle?’
    ‘ Didn’t
act like it, I’ll tell you that. He said if we crossed him, he’d
spend the rest of his life huntin’ us down, an’ makin’ sure all of
us rotted in jail the rest of our days.’
    ‘ An’ you
believed that?’
    ‘ Sure,
we did. Why the hell not? He was the kind you believe, and you can
tie to that! Besides, we was happy enough to be gettin’ a crack at
twenty thousand each.’
    ‘ But you
don’t have it,’ Angel said.
    ‘ No, but
I ain’t afeared,’ Briggs said. ‘Pete an’ Jamesie wouldn’t
double-deal on me.’
    ‘ Beautiful,’ Angel told him. ‘All you got to do now is find
them. And the money,’
    ‘ Hell,
that’s not gonna be so hard,’ Briggs said. ‘I figger I know where
Jamesie’ll be. An’ he’ll know where Pete is.’
    ‘ Pete’s
got the money?’
    ‘ He had
it when I was took,’ Briggs answered. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll keep it
safe.’
    ‘ Briggs,’ Angel said flatly. ‘You’re a fool.’ Briggs looked
up quickly, bewildered at Angel’s harsh words. ‘What?’ he asked.
‘What?’
    ‘ Ain’t
it occurred to you that your dude is prob’ly lookin’ for that
money, too?’
    ‘ Well …
hell, Angel, what you gettin’ at?’
    ‘ Just
this,’ Angel told him. ‘If the feller that hired you to pull that
job can get to Lawrence and then to Hainin, he’s only got to kill
both o’ them, an’ he’s free as a bird with the whole bundle in his
pockets. What would you do – take him to court an’ sue him for
it?’
    Briggs just sat there and looked
at Angel, his mouth open. Angel watched the wheels turn in
Briggs ’s head
as the raider figured and added in his fuddled brain the
implications of what Angel had just said. No matter which way he
tried it, it came out looking like he might end up with a handful
of nothing for robbing the Southern Pacific, for being on the wrong
end of a territory-wide manhunt, and for the likelihood of a life
sentence in Folsom if he was taken. Hainin, Jamesie, Lawrence, they
were clean. Nobody knew about them.
    ‘ Jesus
H. Christ, Angel,’ he said, clambering to his feet in panic. ‘Do
somethin’! Contact them big mucky-muck friends o’ yours an’ get ’em
lookin’ for Pete an’ Jamesie! We got to find them quick, afore that
bastard dude does!’
    ‘ Saddle
up,’ Angel told him. ‘We ride all night, we can be in Las Vegas
before the telegraph office opens.’

Chapter Nine
     
    They ’d known right from the start that
Angel wouldn’t be able to get word direct to Washington. Not with
Briggs breathing over his shoulder while he wrote his message in a
telegraph office. So they’d decided on a very simple code which
Angel could do in his head, without appearing to work it out,
without needing a decoding log to set it up. All you had to do was
to use the letter of the alphabet next to the actual one – so
‘Angel’ would read BOHFM.
    ‘ What
the hell is all that?’ Briggs asked wonderingly, as Angel printed
slowly on the telegraph form.
    ‘ Code,’
Angel said truthfully.
    ‘ The
address, too?’
    ‘ Sure,’
Angel said. ‘My people are mighty careful about who reads their
mail.’ He tapped the side of his nose and looked
mysterious.
    ‘ Uh-huh,’ Briggs said. ‘What’s it say?’
    ‘ Says I
got something needs doin’, an’ I want some walkin’ money and good
horses waitin’ in Santa Fe. They can take it out of my account, I
say. If they know anythin’ about the present whereabouts of Pete
Hainin or Jamesie Lawrence, to leave word.’
    ‘ That’s
great, Angel,’ Briggs said. ‘Listen, we get our mitts on that
money, you’re on a bonus. Ten grand each, OK?’
    ‘ That’s
big o’ you, Dick,’ Angel said, putting a warmth into his voice that
he was far from feeling. ‘OK, Jack,’ he said to the telegrapher.
‘Can you get this off right away?’
    ‘ Sure
thing, mister,’ the clerk said. ‘What kind o’ gobbledygook is this,
anyway?’
    ‘ It’s
the kind