Eight Hours to Die

Book 3: Sixkiller, U.S. Marshal

by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone

Genres: Westerns

Synopsis

THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY William W. Johnstone, the beloved, bestselling frontier chronicler, brings to life the story based on the historical lawman born and bred in Cherokee Nation: Sixkiller. In the wild, wild west there is no man more dangerous—on either side of the law. THREE MEN DEAD. AND SIXKILLER MIGHT BE NEXT The territorial governor has sent three lawmen to clean up the mess that is Chico, New Mexico—and not one of those lawmen has made it out alive. A crooked sheriff has the terrified denizens of Chico under his boot heel, so the governor turns to John Henry Sixkiller, sending him undercover as a gunman for hire. So far, Sixkiller has bloodied his opponents in every battle he’s fought in the Southwest. But this one could affect the entire country: A group of merciless land pirates have been hiding behind Chico’s brutal sheriff. Their goal: to take the entire territory hostage and sell it lock, stock and barrel to Mexico—gleefully slaughtering anyone who gets in the way...

Release date: September 27, 2016

Publisher: Pinnacle Books

Print pages: 251

Sample

A telegram was waiting for Deputy United States Marshal John Henry Sixkiller when he got to El Paso. It was from his boss, Judge Isaac Parker in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

John Henry was on his way back to Arkansas from an assignment in the western part of New Mexico Territory. Before leading his horse, Iron Heart, into a stable car and boarding the Southern Pacific train in Lordsburg, he had wired Judge Parker to let the judge know that he was on his way home.

Parker must have immediately sent his telegram to the railroad station in El Paso, along with a request that when the train John Henry was on arrived, someone there should find the deputy marshal and pass along the message.

The porter who brought the telegram came along the aisle of the passenger car where John Henry sat, calling, “Lookin’ for John Henry Sixkiller! John Henry Sixkiller!”

“I’m Sixkiller,” John Henry said as he stood up from the bench seat. He was in the first of the passenger cars, which had saved the red-jacketed porter from having to search all of them. “Is something wrong?”

“No, sir, just got a wire for you.”

The uniformed man held out a yellow telegraph flimsy. John Henry took it and gave the porter a half dollar. Then he sat down, thumbed back his hat, and unfolded the message to read it.

You couldn’t get much plainer than that, John Henry thought.

The porter was still standing there, probably in the hope of getting another half dollar if John Henry wanted to send a reply, which was indeed the case.

First, though, John Henry asked, “When’s the next train leaving for Santa Fe?”

The porter took out his watch and checked it.

“’Bout an hour and a half from now,” he replied as he snapped the timepiece closed. “You need a ticket on it, sir?”

“I do. And I need to send a reply to this wire, as well.”

“The Western Union office is on the other side of the depot lobby. If you’d like, I can get the ticket while you send your telegram, Mr. Sixkiller.”

John Henry nodded and gave the man money for the ticket. He reached down to pick up his carpetbag.

“I’ve got a horse in the stable car, too, along with my saddle and rifle. They’ll need to go on the train bound for Santa Fe.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

John Henry gave the porter an extra dollar this time. He left the train and headed through the lobby toward the Western Union window.

When he got there he picked up a telegraph form and a stub of pencil and printed his reply to Parker, which was a simple one:

By the time he’d sent the message, the porter was there with his ticket for the train to Santa Fe, which appropriately enough would be an Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe train.

“I’ll have your things brought to you here,” the porter said. “You can wait in the lobby. Your horse will be tied up just outside.”

“I’m obliged,” John Henry told him.

He sat down on one of the hard benches to wait. It was a shame he hadn’t gotten that telegram a few minutes earlier, he thought. His traveling companion from Lordsburg, Miss Sophie Clear water, had already left the train, saying that she planned to stay here in El Paso for a few days on business.

If John Henry had known he was going to have more than an hour to kill, he might have tried to prevail on Sophie to linger and keep him company until he left for Santa Fe. The time would have passed more pleasantly with her around, that was for sure, he told himself with a sigh.

But there was nothing that could be done about it now. He had said his good-byes to Sophie, and that was that. Someone had left a newspaper on the bench, so John Henry picked it up and began leafing through it instead.

He hadn’t been looking at the paper for long when three young men came into the depot from the street entrance. They were dressed like cowboys, and the well-worn saddles they carried on their shoulders were further evidence that was their profession.

John Henry barely glanced at them when they came in, and that was only because they were talking loudly among themselves and laughing. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, they seemed to have been drinking.

He would have ignored them as they walked on past the bench where he sat, if not for the fact that one of the men stopped short and the other two then followed suit. All three of them set their saddles on the floor at their feet.

The one who had stopped first stared at John Henry for a moment and then said, “Look at that, boys. Unless I miss my guess, that there’s an Injun in white man’s duds.”

John Henry heard the words but pretended to ignore them. He didn’t want any trouble. These cowhands could say whatever they wanted to as long as they moved on.

“You sure about that, Wiley?” one of the other young men asked. “He don’t really look like an Injun to me.”

“You ever see anybody with red skin like that who wasn’t?”

The third man laughed and said, “Yeah, me when I was blistered by the sun.”

“And I think his eyes are blue, too,” the second cowboy put in.

“That don’t mean nothin’ except that he’s a stinkin’ breed,” Wiley insisted. He moved a step closer to John Henry and went on, “Hey, mister. You a stinkin’ breed? Your mama get carried off by some Comanche or Apache buck?”

John Henry sighed. The young cowboy called Wiley was drunk, stubborn, and obnoxious . . . a bad combination. John Henry folded the newspaper in fourths longwise, set it in his lap, and said, “I’m half Cherokee, and I don’t appreciate your comments. I’d take it kindly if you wouldn’t say anything else about my mother.”

“Cherokee, eh?” Wiley said. “Hell, from what I’ve heard they ain’t even real Injuns. Of course, they ain’t white, neither. I don’t know what that makes you, mister. Some sort of mongrel dog, I reckon.”

Wiley’s companions must have gotten the idea that harassing this calm, powerfully built, gun-toting stranger probably wasn’t a very smart thing to do. One of them tugged at his friend’s arm and said, “Come on, Wiley, we got a train to catch.”

Wiley pulled free with a violent shrug.

“Hell with that,” he snapped. “Did you hear the way this redskin talked to me? Like he thought he was better than me? I ain’t gonna stand for that!”

John Henry thought about pushing back the lapel of his coat to reveal the badge pinned to his shirt. He had concealed his true identity as a federal lawman for much of his just-concluded assignment, but there was no reason for him to do so here in El Paso. Usually the sight of a tin star would make even a drunk think twice about raising a ruckus.

Before he could do that, however, Wiley kicked at the sole of John Henry’s boot and said, “Get up on your feet, you son of a bitch. You’re wearin’ a gun like a white man, so we’ll settle this like white men! I’m callin’ you out!”

“Wiley, you damned fool—” one of his companions began.

John Henry stood up, still holding the folded newspaper in his left hand.

“Mister, please don’t kill him,” the other young cowhand pleaded. “He’s just drunker’n a skunk.”

“I know that,” John Henry said. “You should take him somewhere and let him sober up.”

“Damn your red hide!” Wiley howled, drawing the attention of everybody in the lobby now. “Stop talkin’ about me like I ain’t here!”

He clawed at the butt of the revolver holstered at his hip.

John Henry took a quick step forward and whipped the newspaper across Wiley’s face. The blow didn’t do any real damage, but it stung and took the young cowboy by surprise. Blinking, he stepped back.

That gave John Henry room to swing a hard punch with his right hand. His fist connected solidly with Wiley’s jaw and jerked his head to the side. Wiley staggered back a step.

John Henry tossed the paper onto the bench behind him and bored in, hooking a left to Wiley’s stomach, then hitting him with another right to the jaw.

That was enough to make Wiley’s knees unhinge. He fell on them, then pitched forward to land facedown on the depot floor.

Instinct made John Henry glance toward the other two young men. They might have tried to steer their friend away from the fight, but now that the ruckus had started, their rough code of honor forced them to back Wiley’s play. They came at John Henry from both sides, their fists swinging.

He ducked a punch from the closest of the young cowboys, grabbed the front of the man’s shirt, and swung him around so that he crashed into the third puncher. Their feet got tangled up with each other and they went down, sprawling on the floor close to their unconscious pard.

As the two men struggled to get up, John Henry stepped back and rested his right hand on the butt of his Colt. He used his left to pull back his coat as he said, “Better just let it go, fellas. There’s been no real harm done so far, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Their eyes got wide when they saw the badge. One of them said, “Good Lord, Phil, he’s a lawman!”

The other puncher groaned.

“You ain’t gonna arrest us and throw us in jail, are you, Sheriff?” he asked. “We got ridin’ jobs waitin’ for us at Sierra Blanca, and we sure do need ’em.”

“I reckon a sore jaw’s punishment enough for your pard,” John Henry said with a faint smile. “And I’m not a sheriff, I’m a deputy U.S. marshal. The last time I checked, being young and obnoxious wasn’t a federal offense, so we’ll just let it go at that.”

As a matter of fact, in terms of years he wasn’t that much older than the three cowhands. But he had seen and done a lot in his time as a lawman, first as a member of the Cherokee Lighthorse, then as chief sheriff of the Cherokee Nation, and now as a federal deputy. That sort of life sometimes made a man older than his years.

The two cowhands climbed to their feet and picked up Wiley, who was starting to come around. They held him between them as he moaned and shook his head groggily.

“We’re sure obliged to you for not arrestin’ us,” one of the men said.

“Don’t worry about it,” John Henry told them. “Just go on and catch your train. And maybe don’t drink quite so much the next time you’re in a saloon.”

“You can count on that, Marshal,” the other cowboy promised.

They helped Wiley from the lobby onto the platform. John Henry sat down and picked up the newspaper again. He was aware that a number of people in the station were looking at him and obviously trying not to stare. The fight had been a short one, but the way he’d handled the three cowboys had been impressive.

A couple of uniformed policemen wearing black-billed caps came into the train station from the street. They moved briskly, like they were there on business, and John Henry wasn’t surprised when they spoke to a ticket clerk and then came across the lobby toward him.

“Stand up, mister,” one of the policemen said when they reached John Henry.

Telling himself to be patient, he laid the newspaper aside again and stood up, making sure his coat was open enough that they could see his badge. They noticed it right away, and he saw the change that came over them when they did.

“Sorry to bother you, Marshal. We got a report that somebody was brawlin’ in here, and it’s our job to keep the peace.”

“Of course it is,” John Henry agreed. “You can see for yourself, though, the fight’s over. It never really amounted to much.”

“You were the hombre who was attacked?”

“It was just a misunderstanding,” John Henry said.

“We can arrest the fellas who jumped you,” the other policeman said.

John Henry shook his head.

“There’s no need for that. No harm was done. I’d just as soon let the matter end.”

“Well, if you’re sure . . .”

“I’m certain,” John Henry said. “I’m just waiting for a train.”

“Where are you bound for, if you don’t mind my askin’?”

“Santa Fe.” John Henry didn’t mention that he was supposed to see the governor once he got there.

“Beautiful town.”

“So I’ve heard. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

And he was mighty curious why Governor Lew Wallace wanted to see him, too.

Santa Fe was indeed pretty, nestled as it was in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Rugged, snowcapped peaks loomed in the distance, and the sky was one of the bluest blues John Henry had ever seen.

Santa Fe was also an old, old town, and that air of antiquity clung to many of the adobe buildings lining the narrow, crooked streets. John Henry had saddled Iron Heart when he left the train, and now he rode along looking for the Palace of the Governors, where the territorial government was headquartered. One of the ticket clerks at the train station had given him directions to the place.

In the meantime, he enjoyed the colorful, bustling scene. The streets were busy and crowded with people of all ages, shapes, colors, and sizes. Although New Mexico Territory was now part of the United States, it had spent a long time under Spanish rule and then had been a part of Mexico until only a few decades earlier. Most of the faces John Henry saw were brown, and most of the voices he heard spoke in rapid-fire Spanish. He understood some of it, but not much.

Mixed in with the descendants of the town’s original settlers was a sizable percentage of whites, many of them dressed like businessmen. Ever since the opening of the Santa Fe Trail while this was still part of Mexico, trade had been the most important part of life in this settlement. There was still a steady flow of goods back and forth, but most of it was shipped by rail now, rather than in long wagon trains.

John Henry found the Palace of the Governors without much trouble, although navigating the labyrinth of streets was kind of a challenge. The Palace was a long, low, sprawling adobe building with a covered gallery along its front and a number of different doors. John Henry dismounted, looped Iron Heart’s reins around one of the hitch racks, and went to the nearest door. It opened into a wide lobby.

A few minutes of being passed from functionary to functionary brought him to Governor Lew Wallace’s office. The governor had quite a reputation as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. John Henry had fought on the other side during that conflict, as many of the Cherokee had, but he bore no grudges now toward the North and the men who had served the Union.

A smoothly handsome, expensively dressed man stood up from a chair in the governor’s outer office and extended a hand to John Henry.

“Marshal Sixkiller?”

“That’s right,” John Henry said as he gripped the man’s hand for a moment. “And you are . . . ?”

“Filipe Montoya, one of the governor’s aides. I’m told that you’re here on official business?”

“I suppose. I don’t really know much about it, Señor Montoya. I got a telegram from my boss asking me to come here and meet with the governor.”

“You would think that I’d be aware of this, as closely as I work with Governor Wallace on territorial matters.” Montoya seemed a little put out by the fact that he hadn’t been informed of John Henry’s visit until now, but he forced a smile and went on. “Ah well, I suppose I’ll find out soon enough, if this is something the governor needs my assistance on. Please, come this way.”

Montoya ushered John Henry over to a massive wooden door and knocked on it. When a voice called from the other side of the door and told them to come in, Montoya opened it and held out a hand to indicate that John Henry should go first.

“This is Marshal Sixkiller, Governor,” Montoya said as he and John Henry entered Wallace’s private office.

Wallace sat at a large desk with a window behind him that looked out across the plaza on which the Palace was located. He had a pen in his hand and was writing on a piece of paper. Without looking up from what he was doing, he said, “I’ll be with you in just a moment, Marshal.” As an afterthought, he added, “That’ll be all, Filipe.”

“Yes, sir,” Montoya said, and again he sounded slightly annoyed. John Henry figured he was one of those bureaucratic types who felt like he had to be kept up to date on everything that was going on.

Without being asked, John Henry hung his hat on a hat tree to one side of the door. Wallace finished his writing and put his pen back in its holder. He picked up the sheet of paper, blew on it to help dry the ink, and set it on a fairly thick stack of similar pages. He stood up and came around the desk.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Marshal,” he said as he shook hands with John Henry. “I’m writing a novel, you see, and I feared losing my train of thought if I failed to complete that paragraph before setting it aside.”

“Well, Governor, I never wrote anything except a few assignments for school, but I can understand how that might happen, I suppose. What’s your book about?”

John Henry knew that Judge Parker hadn’t sent him here to discuss literature with Wallace, but it never hurt to take an interest in the things that were important to other folks.

“It’s set during the early days of Christianity,” Wallace said as he waved John Henry into a comfortable-looking leather chair in front of the desk. “The leading character is a young man named Judah Ben-Hur.”

“Sounds interesting,” John Henry said as he settled down into the chair, which was as comfortable as it looked.

Wallace smiled. He was a distinguished gentleman, as befitted his military service and his current position as territorial governor. He had a shock of graying hair, a full mustache, and a pointed beard. There was an air of command about him, also appropriate given his background.

“I won’t bore you with reading any passages,” he said dryly. “Instead I’ll get down to business. I contacted Judge Parker because I need a man for a special mission, and it’s known far and wide that the deputies who serve under him are, for the most part, extraordinary lawmen.”

“We try to do our job,” John Henry said.

“It’s also important that the man selected for this task not be well-known in New Mexico Territory. Judge Parker replied to me that you were already in the vicinity, and you fit that requirement. Are you up to taking on another assignment so soon, Marshal Sixkiller?”

“Judge Parker told me to do whatever I can for you, Governor,” John Henry said. “So I reckon I’m at your service.”

Wallace grew more solemn and shook his head.

“Three men have already died trying to carry out this mission, Marshal,” he said. “I ordered many men to their deaths when I served in the army. That was a necessary evil. These days, I find that it sticks in my craw more than it used to. I won’t order you to take this job . . . but I’ll admit that I’m in need of your help.”

“Why don’t you tell me what it’s all about?” John Henry suggested.

“Have you ever heard of a town called Chico?”

John Henry thought about the question for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, sir, I don’t believe I have.”

“It’s a couple of days’ ride northwest of here, on the other side of the Rio Grande at the edge of the San Juan Mountains. It’s located in an area where there are a number of fine ranches, along with a bit of logging and mining. Because of that, Chico was quite a thriving settlement.”

John Henry had caught an important distinction in what the governor said. He leaned forward in his chair, frowned slightly, and said, “Was?”

Wallace nodded and said, “Yes. Trouble has descended on Chico and threatens its long-term existence. A man named Dav, Samuel Dav, managed to get himself elected sheriff.”

“That’s an unusual name.”

“Dav is an unusual man,” Wallace said. “He’s some sort of foreigner, from what I’m told. A Gypsy, perhaps, I’m not sure. But one thing I am certain of is that Dav is an outlaw.”

. . .