The Queen City of the Plains seemed to be huge, rich and beautiful for all those newcomers from the east, who arrived there filled with their foolish dreams about easily reachable wealth. But those who had lived there for a longer time, those who basically made Denver what it was, they knew better than that.
The pretty houses, luxurious hotels and neat cobblestoned streets – that was not everything. It was only very good cover of the real face of the city, which was so rotten under that mask it smelled. There were crowds of unlucky seekers for silver or gold wandering in the back streets aimlessly, dirty children of poor servants, who worked like slaves for the upper class, dozens of harlots treated with such cruelty it was terrifying even only talk about it, and of course corrupted politicians and criminal bosses, who could be spotted right at the entrance of the most noble hotel in the city – ´Brown Palace´.
There were already too many citizens around to control them with simple promises. Everybody wanted their reward in cash. If you had money to pay them off, you had power. You could get enough money, only if you had access to silver or gold. And only if you were clever enough, you were able to hold on that valuable resource and use those who were paid from it in the most convenient way. If you could control your subordinates, you gained their respect. And when people respected you, you could get an attention of the whole crowds and influence the world. A position of ´Lieutenant Governor of Colorado´ required all of that, and Horace Austin Warner Tabor had it.
A long mustache was the most expressive part on the face of the man in his early fifties, who was standing at the tall, artistically decorated window on the fifth floor, watching the exciting scene in front of the hotel´s entrance. A guard in brown uniform was dragging some loudly screaming barefoot kid down the stairs, pushing him away roughly, while the newly arrived guests observed it disgustedly.
Horace soothed his sideburns down to the chin, where his fingers rested, while he was thinking about the best way how to deal with begging children on the streets, who had started to be quite a problem recently.
A short knock interrupted him, but he reacted calmly to it: "Yes?"
"Lieutenant Parker is here, Governor, at your request," his steward in always impeccably clean uniform announced.
"Great, let him in and bring us some coffee."
"Yes, sir."
Governor Tabor adjusted his perfectly fitted suit a bit and came to meet his guest, shaking with the soldier´s hand in a friendly manner.
"Come in, make yourself comfortable, Parker," he showed him to the chair. "Would you like some coffee?"
"Yes, gladly. Thank you, sir," the tall lieutenant nodded gratefully. "I had a long night…"
"What happened?" Horace asked curiously, observing a pale face of the government employee.
"Unfortunately, my men drank a little more than they should have last night, sir," the lieutenant admitted unwillingly. "I was away to report to my superiors and couldn´t watch over them. They caused some ruckus in Blake Street Saloon."
"That´s unpleasant," Horace reacted seriously, as he sat down in his armchair.
"They will be punished, Governor," the soldier stated strictly.
"I have no doubt. Were they affected by that ambush so much?"
Parker fidgeted a little nervously under the Governor´s sharp look: "Well, yes, sir, I would say so…" he stated slowly.
"I hope they´re equally sorry for the delivery," Horace noted in a cold voice.
"Certainly, sir," the soldier assured him.
The steward entered the office and served both men with coffee and water. They waited until he closed the door again.
"So? Is there anything new you can inform me about?" Governor asked, adding sugar into the hot liquid.
"I´m afraid we have taken those outlaws too lightly, sir," the lieutenant announced, staring into his mug with a deep frown.
"Or maybe," Tabor raised his voice a little. "Your men take them too seriously…"
"Governor!" the man straightened up in his chair, almost saluting. "I can assure you that…!"
"I do not blame you from this fiasco, Lieutenant," Horace interrupted him firmly. "Even though I might have," he added, sipping from the cup carefully.
The soldier´s face reddened and he kept sulkily silent for a while, before he spoke again: "I recommend strengthening of the guards on your carriages, sir."
"And they would have done the same, sending more gunmen for an ambush; there would be no point," Governor refused the proposal immediately. "It was the third carriage already. I´m pretty sure that there´s an information leak."
"So… What would you recommend, sir?" the lieutenant asked.
Horace enjoyed the rich bitter liquid wordlessly for a few moments.
"They need to be stopped, as soon as possible," he stated finally. "Anything about possible location of their hideout?"
"Nothing much of any help, sir," the soldier shook his head gloomily. "If anyone knows something, they keep it for themselves either because they´re scared of them or because they want to catch Akanishi and grab the reward themselves."
"So… You say we might have more information about them if there was a sufficient motivation?"
"Something like that," Parker nodded hesitantly. "It depends, sir…"
"Well… Seems I must get involved in this personally in the end. It´s necessary for everybody, even for the poorest scum in Denver, to understand that it´s not wise to help those criminals…"
***
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the path was comfortable to ride on so far, and despite all of that the company of twelve riders was anything but cheerful.
Everybody seemed to be mad at Jin, except Kuro. Nobody talked to him, not even Ryo. At least, he had enough time to concentrate and remember the way they went. For which he could consider himself to be lucky, as Esler wanted to blindfold him at the moment they left Leadville, but Leo didn´t allow that.
Jin assumed they were heading to the Riders´ hideout. They would not have been so careless as to have it in the middle of civilization, so they were ascending up the hills for a few hours already, from time to time having a nice view at the city down there.
He was riding in the back of their small company, while Leo with Esler were in the front and they seemed to be discussing something important. Jin was a little concerned about that. He still didn't know what that gang was up to, but whatever it was he intended to keep Leo out of more troubles than the younger one had already had. But how was he supposed to do that when he knew nothing about the situation?
Jin continued riding, sinking in many gloomy thoughts: I must talk with Leo and persuade him at all costs to tell me something more…
A loud bang somewhere in the distance made Jin pull on his reins and look around curiously.
"That was from the mines," Ryo riding behind informed him. "They use dynamite to get further to the vein from time to time."
"That´s dangerous, isn´t it?" Jin murmured.
"Yeah… Quite a lot of men had already died in those dark holes," Ryo admitted sadly. "But they keep coming there; the shine of silver blinding them, or the salary, it doesn´t really matter."
Jin glanced at the young Rider and Ryo´s lips curved in a cynical grin noticing that: "You think we´re the same?"
The not-to-be-trusted gunslinger shrugged: "Frankly, I don´t know what to think about you all…"
Ryo repaid his look for a while, before he spurred his stallion to move again.
"Let´s move, we should catch up," he said.
Jin followed his example, remaining at the other´s side.
"I cannot tell you much. You should talk to Leo," Ryo stated suddenly.
"Not that I didn´t try," the older Akanishi reacted annoyed.
"Try harder," Ryo snapped a little. It was the first time Jin ever saw the black-haired one angry. "He already takes all of that too personally and Cullen doesn´t exactly make it better with his attitude…"
"Ryo, I´m sorry, but I have no idea what you´re talking about," Jin reminded him to stop the flow of complaints. "Can´t you tell me at least something?"
"No… Sorry, Jin, that was our agreement. Not to talk about it to anyone. I believe Leo will explain it to you. He should have…"
"I get it," Jin nodded seriously. "I´m his older brother, right? I´ll remind him about that…"
*
Jin didn´t know what he had expected, but a huge and obviously very well-taken-care-of cottage, hidden deep in the woods was definitely not that. An old chalet, abandoned house, some cave; it could be any of it, but not that mansion. He was quite sure he wouldn´t be able to find it alone, so well it was covered by the forest, but still it was close to the water source and the road, which led to an old closed mine, as Ryo told him. And moreover, this cottage was not empty…
There was a muscular man working in front of the house, creating long stakes from the rough logs. As Jin found out later, his name was Oswald, who formerly worked in the mine, before one detonation killed both of his sons. Shortly after that his wife died on tuberculosis, but he stayed in the house he built with his own hands and skills, and lived there as a hermit. What was a mystery to Jin, was why he helped the Riders and let them have shelter in his home, despite that he obviously didn´t belong to the group. A mystery nobody bothered to explain to him, as well as tons of other things…
A few minutes later, Jin walked around the unexpectedly big house, smoking a cigarette and trying to keep himself calm. They called in a meeting inside, but of course, he was not invited. He glanced toward the window, behind which the gang gathered and sighed a little desperately. Everything was much more complicated than he had thought it could be.
He found a quiet sunny place not far from the little garden, which the resident of the beautiful cottage had already started to prepare for the spring and sat down at the bole of one fallen tree. Not even the cigarette was as good as he had hoped…
Jin looked up to the tree tops above the small glade, feeling lonelier than ever in the previous months. He should have taken some god damned pigeons with him to send a message or something…
***
It was not an easy decision for Kame to leave the Blake Street Saloon. For the moment, it was the most probable place where he could meet up with Jin. On the other hand, he could also wait there for weeks without the older one coming. Not to mention that he was not able to sit there doing nothing at all.
"How well do you know them?" a voice interrupted his thinking.
Kame had to suppress an annoyed expression over just another question. Harvey started asking them as soon as they left the busy streets and headed south from Denver.
"I don´t know the younger one at all; the older one for just a few months," he replied calmly, constantly aware that he had to be very careful.
"And about the Riders in general?"
"Just what was published at the posters."
"Let me enlighten you then… The Riders have quite a significant enemy – Horace Tabor. Have you heard of him?"
"I read his name in newspapers… They call him Silver King, right?" Kame remembered.
"Yes, that´s him," the bounty hunter nodded. "From some reason it seems that the gang is focused at his deliveries of silver and they´re surprisingly well-informed about them."
"You think they have a spy, who lets them know?"
"Probably. And I think they will attack the next one as well."
"So if we manage to get the specific details about this delivery…"
"We may know the spot where to find the Riders as well," Harvey finished Kame´s assumption. "We don´t have to care about the robbery though…"
Kame expected nothing else from the man; Ralph Harvey cared only about his own profit.
"The point is to follow them to their hideout, right?"
"Exactly," the hunter nodded satisfied.
Short silence followed, with the two men eyeing each other, as they kept riding on the wide road.
"And you have that information about the next delivery…" Kame spoke again in the end.
"Yes," Harvey confirmed without any prevarications.
"Would you mind to reveal how did you get it?"
"That´s a secret," Harvey grinned.
"So… After we check that place of the latest ambush, our next destination will be…?" the younger one asked defiantly.
"Leadville," the man replied him willingly this time.
***
Before Jin got back to the cottage, the meeting was already over. The gunmen set up a big fire and were obviously enjoying their deserved rest. He searched among them for his brother, but didn´t find him at the campfire.
Ryo noticed his look and moved with his head a little to direct Jin toward the house. Jin nodded gratefully, heading his steps that way. He found Leo talking with Oswald on the spacious veranda. Leo was just sending the older man to go and enjoy some of their beer with the others. Oswald left then; giving Jin just one mysterious glance, but Leo remained there.
His younger brother repaid Jin´s look for a while, before he headed to the side of veranda, where a few chairs and bench were standing around the table with prepared tankards. Jin followed him. Without a word, both brothers sat down and their eyes focused at the loud group around the fire not far away from the house.
"What do you think about us, Jin?" Leo asked suddenly.
"It´s difficult to think something, when I don´t know anything about you."
"But still – you must have some ideas," the younger one insisted.
Jin didn´t reply, just kept observing those men of various ages, all armed despite being at safe place. They were dangerous, that was for sure, but they were not necessarily evil, as he had already found out…
"You think they´re all criminals and thieves who are basically asking for a noose, right?" Leo continued quietly.
Jin just looked at his brother, keeping his silence. If Leo wanted to talk finally, he would let him have the space for it.
"Well, you´re correct in that," Leo admitted heavily.
"But?" Jin reacted.
"Huh?"
"I hear a serious ´but´ in what you said," the older brother explained not so patiently.
"I don´t know where to start…" Leo sighed.
"Then how about explaining to me how the hell you managed to became their leader first?"
"I´m not exactly…"
"You are," Jin interrupted Leo´s objection. "They listen to your orders, even Esler does."
"It´s more like he respects me," Leo objected anyway and poured beer into two glasses from a huge kettle. "I´m not sure if I´m even able to explain…"
"Just try," Jin encouraged him.
"All right… A short version of the long story?"
"If that includes everything important, I´ll be more than satisfied," Jin reacted.
Leo made himself more comfortable in the old chair and once again focused his stare on the gang members enjoying their free time.
"After the two of us separated, I rode after the rest of the group," he started finally, wisely skipping their furious goodbye from back then. "I caught up with them soon and we continued riding east, as we had planned to get one of our members out of jail in Fort Pierre. Greg was our leader at that time, do you remember him?"
"I think I hardly met him," Jin murmured. "Very tall, gray hair even though he was not in the age for it, was that him?"
"Yeah, that fits…"
"I spotted him once, maybe twice. It was not known he led the Riders back then."
"That´s right, it was safer that way," Leo nodded. "The Marshals arrested his brother and we wanted to save him. But it would have been stupid from us to try and shoot the prison into pieces. Greg intended to bribe the guards first, for that we had the money from the bank robbery."
"It didn´t work out, I guess…"
"Almost did," Leo frowned. "One of the guards agreed, but the other made troubles. We managed to get Greg´s brother out, but we lost other three. We headed to Wyoming to escape the pursuit. We settled down close to two farms and we were doing fine for some time, keeping a low profile. I do not say that we were saints, the Riders are consisted of thieves after all, but most of them feel like they should get back what was stolen away from them before…"
"You too?" Jin asked in the short pause.
"What?"
"Do you feel that as well? That you need to take something back?"
Leo was repaying his brother´s look for a while.
"Yes… Actually, I do."
"And does it matter from whom you take it?"
"It does…"
"And what about the others then? Does it matter to them as well?"
"Jin…"
"I do not try to judge you, it´s just a question."
"Most of the time," Leo admitted slowly. "It depends on the situation."
"Such as?"
"We do not steal from those who help us."
"Do they have a gun aiming at their head while helping you?"
Leo snorted something angrily, before he leant closer: "I will continue talking only if you really want to hear it, Brother."
"I do," Jin nodded seriously. "Go on."
"Something happened then… They accused one of us from theft of cattle, even though it was not true. The ranchers didn´t want to cooperate with us anymore, so we left and Ryo joined us back then. He was the only one who believed we were innocent. Shortly after that we crossed Colorado borders. It was then, when all that mess started… Do you know that saying?" Leo asked suddenly "Where the Devil can´t go, he´ll send a woman?"
Or a handsome bartender, Jin thought gloomily and gulped the rest of his beer down slowly.
"Yeah…"
"He sent two of them in our case…" Leo murmured. "There was another ranch. Not everybody was thrilled to stay there at first, but we all needed some rest after all that running and moving from one place to another. Eventually, most of us didn´t want to leave at all. They gave us food, a place to sleep and good money for just working with the horses, or on the fields. That farm was huge and the owner was desperate for some helpers."
Leo refilled both glasses, before he continued.
"I won´t bother you with details. Greg fell in love with the daughter of that rancher. If it would have been just a flirt, all of us would be sleeping better now… But it was serious; he wanted to marry her and the worst of all, she felt the same way. Greg was a hard-working man and her parents didn´t mind it much, but the problem was somebody else. There was a rich man, who came to visit the ranch, Horace Tabor. None of us knew who he really was, until he found out about the relationship of that girl with some dago. Suddenly, the approach of her parents changed and they forbid their daughter to keep in touch with Greg. It took some time before we found out that it was Tabor, who was behind it."
Jin felt a little confused with the story flow: "What did he have to do with it?" he asked, while Leo sipped from his beer.
"He was the girl´s real father," Leo explained.
"What?" Jin huffed. "What is this story? A fairy tale?"
"It was exactly as I say," the younger one insisted. "Everything was revealed during one very emotional discussion. Both Tabor and the rancher´s wife cheated on their husbands once and the girl was the result. The rancher knew, but kept quiet, with his pockets full of cash. Tabor was against the relationship of his blood with a wandering gunman, but Greg refused to give up. He planned to kidnap the girl and leave. Everybody from the group was against this plan; nobody wanted to chase more troubles. It was only me who was foolish enough to be willing to help him… Unfortunately, shortly after that Greg´s chosen one fell sick. That bastard Tabor refused to let doctor see her, claiming that she faked it to force him to change his decision. Well, in the end… She died."
Jin stared at his brother shocked: "Who the fuck is that man?"
"They call him Silver King; one of the richest man in Colorado," Leo explained. "He owns two huge houses, one in Leadville, one in Denver and he is the owner of silver mines´."
"You know a lot about him…"
"And soon you´ll know the reason why… Greg was furious with grief and he attempted to kill Tabor. I got there too late… Our leader was wounded and he died before we got him to the doctor. Tabor came out of that incident unharmed. Naturally, the others wanted to avenge Greg, and it went awfully wrong. Some other workers on the farm got in the middle of their attack on Tabor and unfortunately also the rancher´s wife. They were killed by the blast, all six of them…"
"Those six murders, which were blamed on you?" Jin asked.
"Yes… You know, the thing was that the people at the ranch, they knew my face, I was coming there with Greg, but the others were safe; they were just nameless employees. So I took the blame on myself and told them to run."
Jin was quite surprised about the information, but Leo continued talking as it was nothing unusual.
"But as the local sheriff was leading me off to the closest city with prison, the others freed me and we ran off once again."
"What about that second woman?" Jin asked curiously.
"Huh?" Leo glanced at him surprised.
"You said there were two of them."
"Yeah… Right… The other one was that girl´s cousin – Jane," the younger one explained slowly. "They were like sisters. She hates Tabor for what he had caused. She joined us once she found out about Greg´s death."
"And the other guys just agreed with it?" Jin raised his eyebrows.
"Well, she was very stubborn," Leo replied with a small smile.
"And what about the leader-thing?"
"At first, I said it just to attract the attention and it worked out. Nobody cared for the rest of the group when they arrested the leader. But the real thing… It was not my idea," Leo sighed heavily. "They decided it themselves. Ryo said it should be me as the one who took the responsibility and once Cullen agreed, it was a done deal."
"Why specifically Esler?"
"He´s Greg´s brother."
"The one you rescued from that fort?"
"Yeah… It was supposed to be him in the first place."
"Esler let the position of the leader pass onto you just like that?" Jin couldn´t accept that so easily. "Why?"
Leo shrugged and took a long gulp from his beer.
"Try asking him... They need somebody to lead them, the gang," Leo said glancing at the group near the fire. "Honestly, I´m still quite impressed they listen to me."
"Well… You did something what gained you their respect, there´s nothing complicated about it," Jin assumed.
Leo smiled more honestly this time: "You´re probably right."
"Most of all, I´m quite relieved you didn´t murder six people."
The younger´s cheerful expression disappeared right away: "I did some killings though, Brother…"
"Me too," Jin reacted in a quiet voice. "It´s not something what I´d have judged you for."
Short, sympathetic silence was interrupted by the clinging, as the brothers raised their glasses for a toast.
"So, what about now?" Jin asked then. "What is it with all those ambushes? Stealing for the stockpile?"
Leo´s face turned serious.
"Once we moved here, we came across Tabor again. He´s one of the biggest sponsors of everything in Colorado, and moreover – Lieutenant Governor of the state. The soldiers and Marshals are his puppets. He´s trying to act as some Savior, but according to my opinion he´s just a rich bastard hiding behind a slimy smile. Unfortunately, he´s perfectly guarded and there´s no way we could attack him directly even if we wanted to."
"If you wanted to?" Jin repeated questioningly.
"I persuaded the others there are other ways to get our revenge for Greg… There´re many people who suffer because of that man. He makes his money by flaying others out of their skins, especially the mine workers and their families. A lot of them died in the holes because Tabor didn´t want to wait longer to get the silver and ordered to use dynamite. Nobody dared to do something about it, until we did."
Leo´s explanation reminded Jin his own situation from not so long ago… It seemed they were brothers in more ways than he would like to know.
"Are you planning to use that silver for something or you just stock it under the pillow?" he asked.
"Part of it is for us, of course," Leo admitted. "But we also divide a lot of money among those who need it."
"Wow, you´ve become the Samaritans now?" Jin teased the younger one.
"More like it´s not so bad to do some good deeds from time to time," Leo grunted in response. "It returns back to us, as you noticed. We have many friends in Leadville and we could use even more of them. We need support to stand against Tabor. I´ve got a feeling that his ignorant attitude towards us is over and he will use all means to come after us."
"But you won´t stop with all of this no matter what, right?"
Leo stared at his beer for a while.
"No."
"Is it because of Jane or because of Greg?" Jin kept asking.
"Both. And we all want to come out from this fight against Silver King as winners."
"You should be more careful then. Think, before you stick your neck in the noose. They are after you, Brother."
"I know. We know; the others protect me."
"Will they catch a bullet flying toward you?"
"Will you?" Leo repaid the sharp tone. "I knew the risk, when I said I was the one who killed those people, Jin. But they know nothing about the rest of us. Nothing. They´re safe the second they put those black scarves away."
"You sacrificed yourself for their safety," Jin murmured unhappily.
"They are my friends! Damn it, they´re like my second family, Jin! They saved me when there was nobody else around!"
Jin felt a hint of accusation in the brother´s voice and it made him feel guilty… It was true. Even though they were together before, he didn´t pay as much attention to the younger one as he was supposed to. It was just that they had to deal with everything themselves, there was always something else, and he didn´t even notice when Leo got so distant.
He finished his beer, and glanced at the cheerful group again: "I´m glad they were there for you…"
Leo seemed to notice something about the older one´s voice, as his angered expression disappeared: "I didn´t mean it like that, Jin. I know you were… busy. It was a tough period for both of us."
"You really grew up," Jin admitted with a nostalgic sigh to ease up the atmosphere.
"What did you expect?" Leo snorted, but with a hardly suppressed smile. "That I would get stuck as that stubborn kid?"
"You will always be my younger brother," Jin reminded him surprisingly gently.
Leo just snorted something sheepishly.
"One more thing… Why did everybody insist on keeping quiet about all of this so stubbornly?" the older one wondered. "It´s not like I didn´t hear much worse stories already."
His little brother didn´t reply for a while. First, he poured some more beer and then he spoke with a clear bitterness in his voice: "There was a traitor among us. Tabor had bribed him and we all almost died because of it… We do not trust anyone outside of our circle now. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Jin nodded seriously. "How comes they allowed it this time?"
"Well… Once again, I took the responsibility for any possible consequences," the younger one looked Jin in the eyes. "I decided to tell you about everything because I trust you."
Jin felt happy and guilty at the same time hearing that statement. Of course, that Leo could trust him; he would do anything to help him, just not in the way his brother probably thought.
"Anyway, there´s also one big deal I want to talk with you about," Leo changed the topic suddenly. "We need a lot of cash for Oswald´s sister. She lives in Ohio and she needs an operation, which could save her life, but it´s awfully expensive. It can be done only in Europe, so it´s necessary to cover the trip and medical expenses as well. Oswald doesn´t have anyone else left from his family and we owe him a lot, so... There should be a delivery for Leadville´s Bank soon, which we want to steal and pay for this operation. Will you go with us?"
Jin hardly suppressed a tired sigh. Seriously, ´complicated´ was not even a proper word for all of this. There was no way for him to back off now; he would have to go along and figure out how to persuade Leo later.
"Well, I must make up for not being there, right? I´ll go with you, Brother."
"I´m glad to hear that…"
"I will be gladder, when we finish this without any casualties," Jin murmured.
"Don´t worry; we´re quite a dangerous bunch, aren´t we?" Leo laughed shortly.
"Well, I cannot disagree with that," the older one reacted amused.
Their brotherly time was suddenly interrupted by the steps coming from the right side. It was a man patrolling the perimeter around the property and he was leading someone with him.
A voice, which Jin didn´t know, was heard in the shadows then: "Let me tell you that it´s a damn hard mission to catch up with you, guys."
Leo rose up from his chair abruptly, while Jin just eyed the newcomer, who stepped into the poor light of the lanterns, with the smiling guard at his side. He had a very short blonde hair, dirty clothes and somewhat tired, but at the same time happy expression all over his rounded face.
Jin´s brother jumped over the railing and grabbed this stranger into his arms: "Damn, Koki! We all had you for dead!" Leo was beaming with joy.
"It would take much more to get rid of me, Chief," Koki grinned. "I´m really glad I made it back…"