The manager´s office was located on the upper floor of the two-stored building at the edge of the sandstone quarry, which was quite lively despite the very late hour. Almost all present workers were up, discussing the reason of unusual fuss and recent shooting and there were more guards around than usually.
Math was tempted with an urge to make the atmosphere even livelier, so that those idiots would have remembered to do what they were paid for. But in the end, he had decided it would have been just a waste of time.
He squeezed the rest of his cigarette over the window sill and turned back inside the poorly lit room, which belonged to Cameron, who was appointed to the position of the quarry´s main manager a month ago. For being the former ass-licker of Karnaka, he was surprisingly capable and soon managed to gain the respect of all other workers in the quarry.
They are still afraid of me more, though, Math smirked in his thoughts.
But the truth was that if those lazy bastards knew what their superior was really like, some might have run off praying to the Indian gods for mercy. Sometimes, Math doubted that even he himself knew the true nature of his companion, as Cameron had never revealed it to anyone.
When the gray-haired man with creepy eyes appeared in Fort Collins in the middle of a furious snowstorm, the news about Karnaka´s death hadn´t reached them yet. Back then, Grenet felt nothing but a damn satisfaction. He offered to deal with both annoying troublemakers, but awesome Mr. Karnaka despised his abilities and sent him off instead. Well, it bit that old man right back in the ass. On the other hand, it was quite inconvenient not to have the man´s power as a backup.
Anyway, Cameron didn´t seem to care what Grenet thought about the whole disaster. He was focused only on one thing – revenge on both Kamenashi and Akanishi. According to the former Karnaka´s servant, those two – despite it not being proven – were responsible for the ambush on the farm, for burning it down and for his beloved master´s death. The man was more certain about it than about anything else and Math thought the same himself.
It was perfect that they had a common goal now; Math was sure that those two brats would not stand a chance against them. Unfortunately, to Math´s dissatisfaction, it seemed that Cameron was prepared to take more than enough time to achieve his goal. That man was cold and hard as a stone and damn patient, not like Grenet himself. He was eager to go after those two right away, but he had to admit unwillingly, that it was not possible under the weather conditions of this cruel winter.
Therefore, they stayed in Laporte, building up their position even without Karnaka´s support. They had enough money to buy the people they needed, and enough guns and guts to threaten the rest.
After all that damn long waiting, Math was furious that brat made a fool of him so easily. He should have expected that Kamenashi was not necessarily as stupid as some of his own subordinates. To Math´s surprise and dismay, the former bartender predicted his move and acted faster. Moreover, exposing himself as a good fucking Samaritan again and taking their noisy captive along.
Math couldn´t wait to fuck those pretty ideals out of Kamenashi´s brain; that would teach him for sure. Yet now, he was eager to get some drink, but he decided to wait with it until the discussion with Cameron would be over; any drink lost some of its good fragrance in presence of the man, who was sitting at the table silently, his slightly wrinkled face covered in shadow. Just those ice-cold eyes were shining in the darkness.
"So? Any brilliant idea?" Math hissed impatiently. He had enough of that damn thoughtful silence of his companion.
The quarry´s manager pierced him with a glare, which left Math feeling like a stupid kid. Damn this man and his effect on him!
"Why didn´t you tell me sooner?" Cameron asked in a quiet voice, placing both of his hands on the table. "How comes I hear about this only now, when Kamenashi is happily escaping to God-knows-where?"
Annoyed, Math snorted and lit up another cigarette. It seemed that he would not be able to get out for a little while longer.
"I meant to bring him," he said confidently. "There was no need to tell you."
"No need?" Cameron repeated. "I would say there is no need for you to decide anything yourself, Grenet. What you did was foolish. Kamenashi knows you already and once he assumed it was you, who had taken his animal, he went after information of your whereabouts immediately. It was quite predictable he wouldn´t wait for you coming to blackmail him."
"How could I know that little asshole would be so cold-blooded and calculating?" Math exclaimed.
"Kamenashi is not only pretty like a girl; he´s smart. You should already know that by now," Cameron enlightened him contemptuously. "We have to be smarter. And definitely not such shining examples of idiots, as you had just shown us to be."
"I won´t let myself be insulted like this! Don´t think you´re better than me! That incapable idiot, who was supposed to be guarding…"
"At least admit your mistake," Cameron interrupted the younger man´s complaints coldly.
"He was faster only this time," Grenet gritted through his teeth. "I won´t allow him that the next time."
"No, I will not let another chance to slip from our fingers like this."
"I´m quite curious about how are you going to do that?" Math mocked the older man. "It´s like chasing the wind, trying to figure out where he went in this area!"
"Really?" the gray-haired man raised his eyebrows. "Well, dear Math… Since we can assume Kamenashi came down here from the north, where could he be heading to after such a long way?"
Grenet frowned, inhaling from his cigarette deeply: "You think he continued to Denver?"
"Excellent," Cameron praised him in a mocking tone. "I was almost worried you have no brain left."
Math had to try hard not to draw one of his revolvers; Cameron became quite lofty recently.
"That´s far from his precious home… What business might he have there?" he wondered instead.
"Do I look like a prophet?" the older man reacted standing up. "Send a few reliable men on the fast horses there, let them check the saloons, and keep someone on the watch over the main crossroads nearby. He might avoid them for now, but who knows…"
"I think it´s a waste of time," Grenet snorted, still pissed about Cameron´s cocky attitude.
"You should rather not think at all. It´s not good for you."
***
It was in the early afternoon of the second day which Jin spent in the company of five riders with black scarves around their necks, when it became rather hard for him to suppress his uneasiness. They were getting further and further from Denver with each mile they rode and their destination was nowhere in sight yet.
Nobody from the small group bothered to tell him where they were heading to in the first place, so he had no idea how long it would take to get there. It made Jin somewhat nervous, as he would have liked to remain close to his temporary accommodation, where – in the case that everything went as they had planned – he was supposed to meet with Kame. He didn´t know where the younger one was at the very moment; there was almost no chance for any message from Kame to catch up with him, as Jin was moving from one place to another constantly. But still, it was already more than two months since they had parted in Bozeman and if Kame intended to keep his promise, he had to be close…
Jin frowned, discarding own stupid ideas. Why wouldn´t Kazuya keep his word? Of course, he did! He was already on his way to Denver for sure. Well, only if his boyfriend received that telegram which he had sent him to Cheyenne…
The young gunslinger almost slapped himself at the realization that he had relented in his focus again. He couldn´t afford that now, not when he was under constant supervision and certainly suspicion of those guys around him and moreover without his guns. Naturally, Jin didn´t expect anything else from the wanted criminals, he had counted with a rather worse attitude than which they had showed him so far.
The members of the Black Riders didn´t talk in Jin´s presence much, and they kept an eye on him all the time, but otherwise, they let Jin move freely, they were not hostile and especially Ryo was quite a friendly fellow. He noticed that the oldest man, whom they called Cullen, scolded the youngster a few times to be more careful, but the black-eyed one didn´t seem to be bothered with it.
But Jin didn´t trust any of them. He didn´t know what they were thinking about him or what they might have been planning and he had to stay on alert.
Their little group traveled a long way since the moment Jin approached them above the road where they had arranged their ambush of the government coach. They kept going to the west, up to the hills of the Front Range. At the beginning, the slopes were small and easy to overcome, but soon the terrain got more difficult and they continued more slowly. The peaks of the nearby mountains still powdered with snow were looking down at the riders, as they proceeded higher, leading their horses on the barely visible paths among the small bushes. It was a boring trip through the wild.
Then finally, with a few more hours left before the sunset, it seemed that they had made some significant progress.
That city appeared out of nothing, which totally confused Jin. Only when he noticed that their group came from the east, while the main road was reaching it from the north, he realized that they had avoided the main connection to the place.
"That´s Leadville," Ryo informed him, when Jin stopped in the middle of their path, to observe the town down under them. "I´m sure you´ve already heard about it."
Jin nodded slowly, as that was the truth.
City of Leadville – it was a cradle of the Colorado Silver-rush and one of the main topics in all Denver newspapers. One would have to be deaf not to hear about it, as it was already known all around the state. Just a few years ago founded town was located at a quite high elevation, in the wide valley that was bordered with the mountains from almost all the sides. The peaks of them were almost invisible at the time they reached the first houses.
Leadville was not as big as Denver, but from what Jin had heard it was somewhat livelier. It was still spreading and growing fast, as he could see many new buildings and roads and saloons and banks. There were many people outside, despite the quite uncomfortable cold. There were workers, builders, women in nice dresses, cowboys, civilized Indians, even a few black people, gentlemen in suits as well as gunmen with hard looks. With the upcoming evening, the pubs got lit up fully and the atmosphere became very cheerful, with the harlots luring their customers inside the brothels and being judged scornfully by the pretty ladies. This mountain city was very alive and much less clean, Jin assumed.
"They say there´s already over eleven thousand citizens around, would you believe it?" Ryo noted, riding his stallion right next to Jin´s Kuro.
Jin was quite impressed with the number, but more interested in the fact that the whole group entered the city so… calmly. They changed their clothing partially on the way, so they were not completely in black as the first time Jin had met them, but in any case, it was expected that they would attract some attention. But nobody gave the riders the second glance.
They rode right through the main street fearlessly, as if they were any other common inhabitants of Leadville. Jin was aware of that the faces of Black Riders were not known in general, they were too careful about exposing themselves, but still, it amazed him that they behaved so carelessly, especially when they carried quite a few sacs with the stolen silver in their pockets. Even passing around the two-stored office of the local sheriff, their faces didn´t show any sign of concern. Maybe exactly this calm attitude was the point…
It was something what Jin noted to ponder later. His mind was flooded with various worries and feelings instead. If he was right in his assumptions, he was about to meet with his younger brother. After the two years when they had gone their separate ways and it was not in a friendly manner. He remembered their last furious argument more than well. And somehow, he didn´t know what to expect from his sibling now.
Many times he wondered about just how Leo could become the leader of the group itself. He was so young… He was only twenty now. How came that men like the ones who were accompanying him, were willing to be under the command of such a boy?
There were many questions on which Jin would like to know the true answers, including the very reason, why he was on the trail of his brother now – his crime announced on the wanted posters. It was said that Leo murdered six people. Six. Jin knew that his relationship with Leo was never perfect. But they went through very difficult childhood together and they were very close. He knew his younger brother. Jin couldn´t just believe that he would have been able of something like that.
Leo had done many foolish things, he risked a lot and he joined the Riders without thinking about the consequences, but a murder? He could have killed someone in self-defense, of course, but six human beings?
Jin´s anxiety only increased when they finally stopped their horses in front of a neat building, which carried the sign ´Slabtown´s Tavern´. Those who knew nothing about the city´s history might have been confused about it. But it happened that Jin read some article in the Denver´s newspapers, concerning the rapid growth of the city, so he knew that quite ugly ´Slabtown´ title was the previous name of the place, before it was renamed to ´Leadville´.
The pub was not located on the main street, the building was almost the last one in a dark alley; there was only darkness of the wild behind it. It seemed to be one of the older buildings in the city, but well kept.
Jin followed the example of his companions and dismounted, tying the reins to the long wooden rail in front of the spacious veranda. Two Riders disappeared somewhere behind the tavern, along with the heavy bags, which they didn´t let out of their sight even for a minute for the whole time they had travelled. Ryo gestured Jin to go inside, to follow Cullen who went there first, while the other one remained behind Jin´s back.
As they entered, Jin was flooded with heavy odor of tobacco smoke. The air was resonating with loud conversations and bright light of the kerosene lamps hanging on the long ropes from the ceiling was flooding each table. The taproom was full and the atmosphere cheerful.
Some customers raised their heads and greeted the passing group or just waved at them, before they went back to their beers, whiskey and cards.
"Welcome back, boys," an old barkeep leaning over the counter greeted them. "I suppose you´re thirsty…"
Ryo had almost hugged the counter nodding excited, before a firm voice of his superior brushed his intentions off right away.
"Later, old man. Is he there?" Cullen asked.
"Yes," the man, whose hair turned completely white already, nodded, not paying attention to the cold tone, probably more than used to it. "He had arrived about an hour ago."
"Good, let´s deal with this right away then," Esler decided and mercilessly dragged Ryo away from the full tankard. "He is your responsibility, so you´re coming along."
Jin decided not to comment on it. He didn´t want to reveal how much he was already annoyed with Cullen Esler´s attitude, as he behaved like that all the way, speaking about him as of a burden, or in the best case ignoring Jin as if he was never there. It was clear that the older man was more careful and suspicious than the others.
Esler led their way through the rest of the taproom to the back, where Jin spotted some door in the shadow only when they were almost in front of them. A muscular and formidable man standing next to them nodded his head seeing them coming, but stepped into Jin´s path as soon as he noticed the stranger, staring at him in a not very friendly way.
Jin backed off carefully, more than aware that with muscles like those, which could be seen under the man´s shirt, he would have lost at least a few teeth if anything would go wrong. It was Ryo who prevented that from happening, as he approached the mountain of muscles hastily.
"Slow down, man," he forced himself between Jin and the guard.
"It´s all right, Benny," Cullen cut in as well. "He´s our guest. For now."
The mentioned guard was still frowning, but he stepped aside to let them go through. With chills on his back Jin followed Esler inside the narrow room, which was very poorly lit in comparison with the taproom. Two men, and to Jin´s surprise even one woman, were sitting at the table in the middle, talking above the pile of newspapers, when they came in.
"Cullen!" one of the men welcomed them. "You´re back!"
"Yeah," the man murmured stopping his steps close to the table.
The woman was the first one to notice a stranger and she pierced Jin with almond shaped eyes, which went a little wider. Jin´s view was partially covered by Esler, so he didn´t notice the fourth person in the room, until the last one spoke.
"Any troubles?"
That voice was so familiar to Jin, that despite it being deeper, he recognized it.
"No, all the bags were there. The boys already took them to the back," Cullen answered the question.
"Great…"
"Though, we came across this one fellow," Cullen continued. "You have a guest, Leo."
"Huh? Whom?"
"Well… He claims to be your brother," the man snorted and stepped aside, pulling Jin closer to the light.
Only then Jin could finally see the youngster sitting in the front of the table. When the dark eyes focused on his face, he held his breath without knowing it. There was a surprise and then a shine of something what Jin didn´t recognize. He wanted to say something, but he couldn´t force his mouth to open.
The young man´s hair was scruffy, and loosely cut, his deep eyes serious. There was a hint of dark stubble under his nose and his pose was firm, the body well-built and seemed strong. Two years older, and changed, but he was still Jin´s younger brother. Something eased up inside him when he saw him well and alive, but he was still somewhat anxious about what to say or do.
The deep silence fell onto the room; the others at the table looking at both their faces and at each other, surprised about the unexpected visitor. Esler remained at Jin´s side, with his hand placed at the gun belt, while Ryo was waiting behind, curiously comparing the faces of the two.
Finally, Jin gulped down and took a breath to break the silence, but the younger one did it first.
"I´ve never seen him before."
That thunderstruck Jin and left him staring at his brother in disbelief. Ryo stepped closer, obviously confused, while Esler drew his gun swiftly.
"I knew it," he snorted, aiming it at Jin. "A little swindler, huh?"
"Hey, wait a sec!" Jin overcame his numbness and leant over the table, so hard it creaked as it moved closer to the young leader, whose facial features didn´t move even an inch.
"One more move and you´re dead," Esler informed him threateningly, with the heavy revolver pointed at Jin´s head.
But Jin didn´t pay attention to the man, looking directly at his brother.
"You don´t know me anymore just after two years? Can you even hit something when your eyes are so bad?" he exclaimed angrily.
Leo didn´t reply and kept staring at him blankly. Even the other men were already standing, ready with their guns, just the woman at his brother´s left studied the younger one instead of the stranger and Ryo kept his distance as well.
"What do you want me to do with him, Leo?" Cullen asked harshly, obviously ready to do anything what would have been said in a blink of an eye.
Jin was so dumbfounded about why Leo denied knowing him that he was not even a little afraid. Even though there were already three revolvers threatening his life.
Suddenly, the stiff expression on Leo´s face broke and in the next second, he was laughing so hard that he almost fell off his chair.
Everybody stared at the young leader with a clear confusion all over their faces, including Esler. Just the brunette still sitting at Leo´s side didn´t seem to be surprised about the outburst.
"You should…" Leo almost choked at the words, as he was still laughing. "You should see your face just now, Brother…"
Jin didn´t move or said anything, glaring at his so-much-fun-having little sibling.
"So… He is…" Ryo started, figuring out the real situation first.
"Damn right he is," Leo confirmed, leaning into this chair comfortably, the cheerful smile still playing at his lips. "I´d have never expected such a visitor, dear Bro…"
Jin moved and went around the table so fast, that he was at the younger one´s side sooner than anyone managed to react and stop him. In the next moment, the gunmen were helpless witnesses, as Jin captured his brother from behind, squeezing his neck angrily, while Leo started laughing again.
"You think this is so funny, little Brother?" Jin hissed, while the younger one didn´t put up any defense against his grip. "They might have killed me, damn it!"
"Come on… It was… such a fun…" Leo reacted a little breathless already. Only when he noticed that all barrels in the room were aiming at his brother´s head, he finally remembered to clear the things up for them as well. "Calm down, guys! Put those guns away!"
The member of Riders slowly lowered their weapons, the amused smiles appearing on their faces, when Jin finally let Leo go, but didn´t forget to smack him over the head.
"Idiot," he scolded the younger one, who didn´t seem to mind that though.
"He really is my dearest brother," Leo assured them, not even a little offended, as he stood up from his chair and faced Jin. He was almost as tall as his older sibling now, but still a bit shorter. "He really is," Leo repeated seriously, the amusement slowly disappearing from his face. "I´m glad to see you, Jin…"
Then Jin gave in to his relief and happiness and grabbed Leo into a bear hug, which the younger one repaid firmly.
"It´s good to see you in one piece, little one," he murmured into the younger´s ear.
"I´m not so little anymore, you know?" Leo replied, his voice suddenly hoarse.
"Yeah, I see…" Jin pulled away, observing his brother once again from close. Leo was right; an adult was standing in front of him now.
"So… This was just a joke?" it was Esler who raised the question, his face a perfect example of cold composure, but with his eyes shining in a strange way. "A joke?" he repeated.
"Sorry, Cullen," Leo shrugged not very apologetically. "I couldn´t help it…"
"I should have expected something like that," Jin murmured, while Ryo approached visibly upset Esler.
"Come on, man, you know Leo…"
"Yes. I do," Esler snorted. "I will be at the bar," he decided then and marched off.
"You´re still like a kid sometimes," the woman sitting with her long legs crossed sighed.
"And you love me for that," Leo replied with a smile, which obviously belonged only to the brunette.
Before she could have replied something, Leo turned to the others.
"Everyone, I have a request…" the men stood there silent, waiting for the order. "Bring some beers in, so we can celebrate my brother´s arrival!"
"Finally!" Ryo was the first one to react enthusiastically. "You´re the best boss, Leo!"
He was out of the door in no time, while the rest sat around the table again, one of them dragging a spare chair for the older Akanishi.
Jin was already calm, but still he would have rather preferred to talk with his brother privately.
"Leo…" he started uncertain if it was really a good idea to start their reunion with drinking.
The younger one just looked at him seriously, and as if he wondered about the same, he shook his head slowly.
"I know, but… Later, Jin, all right? We will talk later…"
***
"It stiiings…" a young man´s voice interrupted the peace on the shore of a small stream, which was just one of many burbling its way down from the Horsetooth Mountain.
"Man up a bit, will you?" there was a strict response from the other youngster, who was treating the first one´s quite ugly but not live-threatening injuries. "If you want to enjoy some nice infection, I can always stop."
The noisy blonde stopped flinching under the touch of the cloth watered with the strong disinfector, with which Kame cleaned the deep cuts on his arms and legs.
"Just hurry up… I´m freezing," Koki murmured, biting into this lower lip, trying hard to stay still under the treatment.
"It´s not that cold over here," the younger one informed him, with his eyes focused on each injury, trying to figure out if any of them might be dangerous.
"It´s easy to say for you! You´re clothed!"
"You´re not naked," Kame reacted calmly.
The former captive huffed unsatisfied. Koki was in his underwear only, so that Kame could reach his injuries. He intentionally chose a sunny spot to do this, but the other one didn´t seem to appreciate it much anyway.
"You´re unexpectedly cruel, handsome," Koki complained, eyeing him indignantly.
Kame sighed. This man was much more difficult to deal with than Jin, when it came to the wounds. Jin was a whining type as well, but only in certain cases, when… He frowned and stopped his thoughts from continuing. Thinking about the young gunslinger only made Kame miss him more.
"It´s almost done," he said, scolding himself in his mind for being so distracted. "None of them is too serious. You should be fine."
"Fine?" Koki repeated. "It hurts like hell! They definitely knew what they were doing…"
Kame threw the dirty cloths aside, hiding the disinfector as well, and handing the blonde one over his shirt.
"You mean Grenet and Cameron?"
"Yeah…" the other one nodded gloomily and hastily put the clothes on. "Especially that fucker Grenet. He´s a real son of a bitch."
"I can only agree," Kame reacted quietly. "Be glad he didn´t proceed to ripping your nails off."
"Ripping off nails?" Koki exclaimed, forgetting about pulling his trousers up.
Kame kept quiet, not really willing to discuss the topic.
"Just how do you know those men?" the older one asked shocked.
"More than I would like to," Kame replied and straightened up.
He took the water bottle and descended to the stream, to get some fresh water. He felt the other´s curious look on his back, but Koki hesitated with more questions.
"Thank you, Kame," he said instead, already fully clothed. "It feels better now."
"Glad to hear that," Kame nodded and gave him the bottle to drink from. "What did you do to make them so pissed at you?" he asked, to avoid any possible questions related to torture.
"Well… I think it will be better if you don´t know," Koki answered hesitantly. "Not that I don´t trust you, just…"
"It´s all right. I don´t want to involve myself in anything unnecessary, anyway."
He went to Ukushi to check on her saddle and prepare her for the next journey. He had already managed to return the borrowed horse, and they didn´t have time to hang around.
"Well… Where are you heading, if I might ask?" Koki spoke, when he stood up slowly, trying if his legs were firm enough.
"Denver," Kame replied and turned to him. "You?"
"Well, a little further, but we have a common way," Koki reacted smiling. "So, in case you would not mind my company for a little longer…"
"Not a problem," Kame shrugged. "It´s just that we should…"
"Hurry?" Koki completed the sentence. "I´m all in," he grinned reaching for the bridle of his horse.
"If you feel you can´t manage…" Kame observed Koki´s careful movements.
"Oh, you´re worried about me, that´s cuuute," he reacted teasingly.
Kame stared at the older one, not saying another word.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn´t mean it in a bad way," Koki laughed. "You have magical hands, handsome. We can surely continue. I´m in a rush as well…"