Earthbound (24 page)

“Well let’s drink to that!” Pace said,
beaming. He had brought a bottle of good whiskey, naturally, and he
cracked it open for us to share. Pace just kinda wanted to loosen
up the conversation before we talked about what we hadda talk
about.

It was also a celebration of sorts. A
reunion.

“Well I can say one thing for you boys,”
Becca mused, “you sure are committed to this life of crime, aren’t
you?”

“It suits us in a fashion,” Pace
explained.

Becca shook her head. Judgmental, sure, but
she was right. “It’s going to be the death of you both.”

Pace tried to get Becca to take another sip
of whiskey – loosen up her mood. But she was too smart for us. Of
course she was too smart for us. She knew when she was being
liquored up for a reason.

“So why are you boys here?” she asked
pointedly. “Here to sweep me off my feet?”

“Something like that,” Pace replied. And then
he got to the point. “Seen Boze much? “He’s been keeping tabs on
you?”

Becca rolled her eyes. “Won’t leave me alone.
But he’s been respectful. I don’t want you going off shooting him
or anything.”

Pace and I shot each other a look.

“Hopefully won’t come to that,” Pace
said.

I decided to just say it. “Becca, we’re a
might concerned about Boze and his Nuggets. We had a run-in up in
Conrad. We suspect they’re gonna use you to get to us.”

“If it’s Boze we’re not as concerned,” Pace
further explained, speaking for both of us. “But some of the
others. They’ll do anything to collect that bounty on our
heads.”

“Bounty…” Becca pondered.

“Birkin in particular.” I added. “He might
have a bit of a personal grudge. To me especially.”

“We need to protect you,” Pace continued,
“just for a little while until we need to go. Out of the Great
Plains. For good. We know that’s inevitable now. Someday after
we’re gone, you’ll be safe again. We’ll be out of sight, out of
mind. We’ll be forgotten. And life will move on.”

Becca started to tear up. I could tell her
emotions were right on the edge. She’d been thinking of this for
some time. “Not for me.”

Pace and I looked at each other. We’d talked
about this. How we’d handle it, what we’d say. But it’s easier when
you rehearse it. Harder in the moment, even for someone who talks
so much like Pace. But I was painfully aware of something. This was
likely our last chance with Becca. I had to make it count. As I’d
learned, you have to take your shots when you have the
opportunity.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Pick one of us
to be with. Either one. Then the three of us can run off together.
You pick Pace, I won’t like it but I’ll live with it.”

“Me too,” Pace jumped in. “Vice versa. Ash is
a great guy. You pick him, how can I argue?”

“Either way we can all be together, in some
way,” I added. “And we can leave the Great Plains together.”

Becca laughed at us both, and then she looked
at us with grave seriousness. “I can’t choose to be with just one
of you,” she said with regret. I was so sure she’d pick Pace – that
she’d picked him already – that I wasn’t sure I understood what she
said. But it sure sounded like she said she liked us both. I was in
heaven in that very moment.

“So maybe you don’t have to choose one,” Pace
said glibly, maybe covering up for his hurt feelings. “Maybe we can
work out some kind of an arrangement.”

Becca raised a hand to slap him, then busted
out laughing. Can’t hurt to ask, I suppose.

“Eff him,” I said, “come with us anyway
Becca.”

“I can’t Ash. I didn’t choose your way of
life. I don’t approve of it. I can’t be party to it, no matter how
I feel.” She looked at us all kinda sad.

“Then I don’t know how to keep you safe,” I
admitted. “I’m guessing we’ll have to just keep watch on you and
face those Nuggets dead on.”

“No!” Becca protested forcefully. “I
appreciate you boys wanting to protect me, but I can handle
myself.”

“This isn’t kid stuff anymore Becca,” Pace
interjected. “The Nuggets mean business.”

“I don’t care! I just can’t keep living in
fear of what’s going to happen to you. I’ve got enough fear in my
life! Do you want to make me happy? Find a way to be safe. However
you need to do that, you just need to do it.”

Becca got choked up. Wasn’t sure what to say
next. I had no idea what to say. She wasn’t gonna let us protect
her. She wanted us to not even try. I couldn’t think of any way to
change her mind.

Eventually Becca spoke again. “I should
go.”

We all kinda looked at each other for a
minute.

“So this is it?” I asked.

“No,” Becca whispered. It was hard to hear
her over the roar of the waterfall. “I know we’ll see each other
again. I have to have faith.” She took my hand. “You need anything,
Asher? Before you go?”

“Salt,” I replied.

“Salt?” She seemed surprised. “Sure, I can
get you some salt.”

“There’s no time,” Pace interrupted. “If
we’re going, we gotta go.”

All I wanted was some salt. Was that too much
to ask for? I didn’t get the girl. Couldn’t I at least get some
effing salt!

Becca turned to go.

Pace opened his mouth. “Meet us at the top of
the Empire State Building?” Her hand went up to shush him. I don’t
think she could bear to say anything more. Then she turned away
from us again.

“Not so fast,” Pace pleaded. “Are you sure
you can’t choose just
one
of us?”

Becca turned and walked back over to Pace.
She kissed him. I remember thinking she’d made her decision. Eff
both of them. But then she pulled away from Pace and turned to me.
She took my scruffy face in both of her warm hands. She looked at
me for an eternity. Then she closed her eyes and kissed me. It
wasn’t just a kiss though. I’d had those before. This was a real
kiss. A real kiss from Becca. I swear to you my whole world changed
in that moment. If I close my eyes I’m still kissing her right now.
I’m not sure she was ever gonna pull away from that kiss either.
But I’ll never know…

“Ahem.”

Next thing I knew Becca’s lips were gone. I
looked at Pace. That “ahem” hadn’t come from him in some jealous
attempt to separate us. We all turned in unison in the direction
the “ahem” had come from. There stood Boze and three of his
Nuggets. Four shotguns aimed directly at our skulls. It felt worse
than a punch to the gut.

“Damn it!” Pace exclaimed.

I raised my hands in the air. But Pace did no
such thing. Instead he stormed about, kicking the dirt up with his
boot. He seemed pretty worked up. Didn’t want him overplaying our
hand.

Boze seemed impatient. “Pace, don’t you
suspect you should be raising your hands right about now?”

Pace looked at Boze like he’d been insulted.
But then, slowly, realization set in. He raised his hands. “Right.
That’s how this goes, isn’t it?”

“We could just drop ‘em now,” Birkin said
through a mean grin.

“How’s your head feelin’ right about now?” I
said.

Course that just got Birkin’s shotgun pointed
at me. “Shut the eff up!” he hissed.

“I don’t appreciate your threatening Becca,”
I said. “You’ll get yours.”

Birkin pressed his shotgun directly against
my cheek. “Gonna shoot you in the head, Ash. Gonna make you feel
hurt first!”

“Leave him alone!” Becca shouted, coming to
my defense. More powerful than a shotgun, that woman is.

“No one’s killing no one,” Boze said. I was
surprised to see him act somewhat honorably. Or maybe he was just
showing off in front of Becca. “But tempting.”

“I appreciate your courtesy,” Pace said.

Boze calmly gave us some orders. “Let’s have
your weapon.”

I pulled my beautiful pearl-handled
ten-shooter out from my holster. I reluctantly handed it over to
one of the Nuggets, sad if I’d never see it again.

“You too Pace,” Boze instructed. But Pace
didn’t seem to want to hand over his weapon.

“There’s four of ‘em, Pace. Four. Four
shotgun blasts, and we only have one heart apiece. That’s not fair
odds. You hearin’ me? And Becca’s right here. In the
crossfire.”

Pace heard me all right, but that didn’t stop
him from laughing. I could tell, Birkin was getting nervous with
his trigger finger. But Pace paid him no mind. Instead he just
started talking. “Boze, I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. I always
figured there was a reason why you were our lawman. Now I know.
You’re a tracker.”

But Boze didn’t seem to want to take the
compliment. “Your weapon, Pace.”

“Seriously Boze, how’d you track us?
Hoofprints?”

He didn’t seem to want to, but Boze found
himself engaging in conversation with Pace. “Yeah, hoofprints. And
been keeping my eye on Becca. Figured what Birkin said would flush
you out.”

That pissed Becca off. She punched Boze hard
as she could in the chest. “Boze, I can’t believe you’d use me like
that! God, I am so glad I broke up with you!”

Boze seemed remorseful. “Apologies, Becca.
Didn’t intend for you to come to any harm in this.”

“I did,” Birkin muttered. Effing Birkin.

Pace turned to Birkin. He was still handing
out compliments. “And you, Birkin, you just threw out that path of
breadcrumbs for us to follow, didn’t you? Very clever.”

“Nope,” Birkin replied coldly. “That was a
real threat. Still is.” He aimed his shotgun right at Becca. I
wasn’t gonna abide that but Boze beat me to it, moving the muzzle
away from Becca and back toward my head. Thanks Boze. I looked over
at Becca. She was getting worked up.

“Let them go Boze,” Becca pleaded, taking
hold of his arm. “What’s it to you anyway?”

“I am the only law we got in Great Falls,” he
explained.

Becca knew that didn’t matter. So she just
kept going, hoping she’d find a way to reach him. “They did you a
favor! Getting rid of those things, whatever they were! Isn’t that
worth something?”

“We did leave lots of robot damage in our
wake, didn’t we?” Pace added.

“You still haven’t handed over your weapon,
Pace,” Boze reminded him.

Pace slowly went to pull his weapon from out
of his holster. I didn’t like the way he was going for it, thought.
He wasn’t going to pull it out gingerly with two fingers. He was
going full hand for the handle. I really didn’t want him trying
anything stupid.

“Four shotguns,” I reiterated.

Pace shot me an annoyed look. He went for his
gun again, and then hesitated. “You know, we’ve got all this gold.
And if you bring us back in you’ll have to turn it all in. It’s all
accounted for, you know. Every coin. I should know. I used to
account for them myself. Bad ankle or not, Frank’ll total ‘em up.
And if you’ve let’s say misappropriated any of the funds, well,
we’ll be seeing you in prison, won’t we?”

“See?” Birkin chimed in. “That’s why we
should shoot ‘em down. Dump their bodies in the falls. It’s
perfect.”

“Perfect, sure,” Pace replied, not seeming
too concerned about getting shot down cold. “But murder is a heavy
burden to carry. What say our bodies wash up down by Colter Falls.
Like Ash’s mom did. Apologies, Ash.” I was a little offended
actually, but I wanted to hear where Pace was going with this. “I
think we’re all aware of the punishment for murder around these
parts.”

Boze eased up on his trigger, and pushed the
nose of Birkin’s shotgun to the ground.

“There’s no need for this talk,” Boze said.
“No one’s getting shot down today. Not unless you run.”

“I would never run,” he replied. “I’d walk,
though.” He stepped over to his horse and pulled down two shoulder
bags off the mount and threw them to the ground. They landed with a
thud. He reached in and pulled out a handful of gold. “That’s
everything we stole from Great Falls. Over ten thousand, give or
take. Double the bounty on our heads. That’s twenty-five hundred
apiece if my math is correct. That is, Boze, unless you take a
bigger cut. Being the leader, of course.”

Boze and his Nuggets exchanged puzzled
glances for a second.

All right, so here’s what we were up to. We’d
figured out four scenarios to take care of Becca. One was we’d
convince Becca to run away with us before Boze tracked us down. Not
likely but always the best scenario. Two was they’d arrest us, the
judge would have a quick trial, and then Pace and I would spend the
rest of our lives doing hard labor. That would be fine. It would
keep Becca safe. Keep me close to her. Visitation and all. Three
was they’d skip the trial and just shoot us dead. Not really good
for us but she would be safe after that. And four, the option we
were playing out, was a bribe – a peaceful way to hopefully settle
the matter. Pace filled two saddlebags with the same amount of gold
we robbed from the Great Falls bank. A small price to pay for
Becca’s safety.

“Go on, take it,” Pace said. “And in
exchange, you guarantee Rebecca’s safety for the rest of her
natural life.”

Becca interrupted, taking great offense. “I
don’t need anyone to buy my safety. I can take care of myself!”

“Just hear me out,” Pace urged. “Guarantee
her safety, then me and my partner just ride on out of here. We’ll
disappear, no doubt about that. You’ll never see us again. And
since our decomposing bodies won’t be washing up on any shores
anytime soon, no one will be the wiser.”

“Why don’t we just take it and shoot ‘em
anyway?” Birkin asked. Boy that guy was annoying. “Then we’ll get
the reward money too.”

“Think this through,” Pace chided. “To get
the reward you’ll need to turn in our gold. And if you don’t, if it
goes ‘missing,’ all eyes will be looking at you. Plus you’ll have a
witness to our murder.” Pace put his hands on Becca’s shoulders.
She squirmed uncomfortably. “What would you be doing about
that?”

“I got no problem with that,” Birkin replied,
spitting on the ground.