Get Out of Town

Book 3: Sheriff Aaron Mackey Western

by Terrence McCauley

Genres: Action & Adventure; Historical Fiction; Westerns

Synopsis

Dover Station, Montana, is no place for a lawman. A sheriff's badge ain't worth a nickel here—unless you've got the bullets to back it up . . .



When he signed up to be sheriff of this dirty little boomtown, Aaron Mackey knew he was asking for trouble. Once, when Mackey was the US marshal for the whole Montana Territory, he swore no job could get any harder. But that was before he took down a few of the bank-robbing Hancock gang in Dover Station—and incurred the wrath of the gang's maniacal matriarch, Mad Nellie Hancock.



And that was before every avenging outlaw and hired henchmen came crawling out of the woodwork to kill him—in the meanest, bloodiest showdown the town had ever seen . . .



Aaron Mackey knows you can't fight city hall. But you can flush out every kill-crazy outlaw, greedy grifter, and boomtown rat—then exterminate with extreme prejudice . . .

Release date: August 25, 2020

Publisher: Pinnacle Books

Print pages: 279

Sample

Montana Territory, early spring 1889

It was just after nightfall when Mackey found the Hancock camp. The sounds of their drunken laughter were carried on the night wind.

Mackey brought Adair to a halt and climbed down from the saddle. There were no trees or bushes nearby to tie the horse to, but the black Arabian had been in enough fights at her owner’s side that the sound of gunfire no longer startled her.

He crept up the edge of a box canyon where Henry Hancock and his gang had been hiding out since robbing the First National Bank in Tylerville two days before. They had done a poor job of hiding themselves and seemed to be in no hurry to run. Their camp was spread out beneath a craggy outcropping on the canyon floor about twenty feet below the spot from where Mackey watched them. They had a big fire going and from the way they were staggering, it looked like they had already killed one jug and were starting work on another.

Mackey wondered if the corn liquor helped dull their memory of the two guards they had killed in the bank back in Tylerville. There was some dispute among the locals as to whether or not Henry Hancock had killed both men himself. The dead men’s widows clung to that belief, hoping a death by a dangerous man like Henry Hancock would give some merit to their deaths.

But Aaron Mackey didn’t care.

The new U.S. Marshal of the Montana Territory already had a federal warrant from Judge Forester for Hancock’s arrest on murders that had taken place in three other bank robberies elsewhere in the territory. A couple of dead guards tacked on the list of charges would not make the drop at the end of the hangman’s rope any harder on him.

If Hancock lived long enough to hang, which was doubtful. The gang was drunk and dug in deep. The odds of them coming along peacefully were slim and the mandate from Mr. Frazer Rice had been simple: kill them all. The Hancocks were proving to be more than a nuisance to the powerful railroad magnate.

In aligning themselves with Mayor James Grant of Dover Station, they were becoming a threat to his organization. A message must be sent. A message wrapped in a federal warrant delivered by Rice’s new marshal, Aaron Mackey.

Mackey didn’t mind being caught between Mr. Rice’s wealth and James Grant’s ambitions. Mr. Rice happened to be right, and men like Henry Hancock needed killing if the Montana Territory was going to be allowed to become a state later come the winter. If hurting the Hancocks hurt James Grant and helped Mr. Rice, all the better.

Mackey stood crouched at the rim of the canyon as he watched the drunken gang stumble around the fire in some kind of dance. He could see their saddlebags swollen with the cash they had stolen from the bank were being used as pillows by the men when they rested or passed out from too much drink.

Mackey knew why they had camped here. They were less than a day’s ride back to Henry’s hometown, which was aptly named Hancock for his family that had settled the town. But he hadn’t bothered to go that far because he was not afraid of anyone coming after him.

The neighboring town of Tylerville didn’t have a sheriff of its own, and none of the men who lived there would dare ride out after a dangerous criminal like Henry Hancock and his men.

Hancock and his gang were not afraid of the men of Tylerville. They were not afraid of the law, either.

Mackey was going to show them how wrong they were.

He watched one of the men jump to his feet as he slurred through a story before gyrating like a man being hit with bullets before he dramatically fell to the ground to the laughter of his audience. Mackey figured he was reenacting the death of Ben Harper or Van Deutcher, the two bank guards who had been killed during the robbery.

The men whooped and cheered, and one of them fired off another pistol shot in the air.

Mackey went back to Adair and pulled his Winchester from the saddle scabbard. He dropped to the ground when he reached the canyon rim. He had an ideal angle of fire down into the camp, and none of the five men were near any cover.

All five were still wearing their pistols, but their rifles were leaning against the canyon wall. Their horses had been hobbled nearby, but there was no grass in the canyon for the animals to eat and no water for them to drink. They had that restless look that hungry, untended mounts got after a day or so. At least the drunkards had removed their saddles.

Mackey watched the Hancock gang continue to laugh and goad each other on as they passed around the jug. The campfire cast sinister shadows on their faces.

Mackey brought his Winchester to his shoulder and drew a bead on the men to gauge the distance to his targets. Given the angle, he might have to aim a bit higher than normal, but the group was well within range of the Winchester. Besides, Henry Hancock had long boasted that neither he nor any of his men would ever be taken alive by a lawman, so announcing himself ahead of time would be foolish. Mackey would give them a chance to surrender after the odds had been knocked down to four-to-one or better.

Four of the men encouraged a fifth to begin acting out another pantomime of one of their crimes. The man swayed as he got to his feet and staggered to the other side of the fire. And although the lawman couldn’t swear to it, he thought the performer might be Henry Hancock himself.

Mackey brought the rifle stock snug against his shoulder and took aim. He did not have to lever a round into the chamber. One was already there. When going alone against men like Hancock, Mackey found it best to be ready to fire at a second’s notice.

The echoes rising up from the canyon floor made it impossible for him to separate one voice from the other, much less understand what they were saying. But what they said no longer mattered.

Only their crimes mattered now.

He was about to fire without warning, but as he took aim at the man, decided that would be murder. It would make him no different than the men he was hunting.

Besides, he would probably have to kill them anyway.

Without taking his aim off the dancing man, Mackey called out, “United States Marshal!” The words echoed throughout the small canyon. “I have a warrant for your arrest. Throw up your hands!”

But most of the men were laughing too loud to hear him.

One of the men seated by the fire had heard him, and drew his pistol and shot in Mackey’s direction. The bullet glanced harmlessly off the canyon wall.

Mackey continued to track the dancing man and fired. The round struck the man in the back, spinning him completely around before he fell to a knee. The laughter from his drunken audience had drowned out the sound of the rifle shot. They thought the man’s spin was just part of his act. Mackey fired again, striking Hancock in the left side of the back. The bullet went through his chest and struck a man holding the whiskey jug in the face. Both men laid bleeding on the canyon floor.

The three remaining drunk men scrambled for their rifles as Mackey levered a fresh round into the chamber. He fired at the man who was closest to the weapons. The round caught him in the small of the back and slammed him to the ground.

The two remaining men stumbled off to the left and the right of the fire before realizing there was no cover available.

Mackey decided that now that the numbers had been thinned down, he should give the survivors a chance to surrender. “I’m Aaron Mackey, United States Marshal. Put down your weapons and throw up your hands. You boys don’t have to die.”

The men responded by firing their pistols in different directions where they thought the voice might be coming from. But given the echoes of the canyon, it was impossible for them to peg Mackey’s position. The bullets ricocheted off the canyon walls and never came near him.

At least I gave them a chance.

Mackey took aim at the man on the right, who had stopped firing his pistol to reload. The marshal put him down with one round to his chest.

The last robber on the left was in a crouch, yelling to his fallen friend. Mackey had a clear shot at him, but could not take it. It was too easy. He had to give him one final chance.

“You don’t have to die,” he called out over the neighing and ruckus of the screaming horses. “Just drop your gun and walk out of there with your hands up.”

The man yelled something as he aimed his pistol in Mackey’s general direction.

Mackey killed him before he had the chance to fire.

Mackey remained where he was for a few minutes and listened. When he was satisfied, he stood up and looked down into the canyon. A few minutes ago, they had been five drunks around a roaring fire, pulling on a jug while reliving past glory.

Now they were five corpses on a cold canyon floor. Five murdering thieves just as dead as all of the men they had killed over the years. It seemed a shame that, after all the blood they had spilled, he could only kill them once.

One of them was Henry Hancock. That’s what mattered most. To Mr. Rice and to Judge Forester. The judge would not be happy with so much death, but he would have to accept it.

Henry Hancock and his gang had been brought to justice, and that was all that counted.

Mackey began feeding cartridges from his belt into the Winchester as he walked back to Adair. The mare hadn’t moved an inch. He hadn’t expected her to.

He levered the last round into the chamber and tucked the rifle into the saddle scabbard. He knew he would need his weapons fully loaded for the next stop in this part of the territory.

He climbed into the saddle and patted Adair on the neck. “Come on, girl. Let’s take Hancock back home. It’ll be the first time in his miserable life he was ever worth anything.”

Adair moved forward, guiding herself and her rider through the darkness toward the fire in the canyon below.

It was just past dawn when Mackey rode into the town of Hancock with five horses in tow.

The lead horse Mackey was trailing had Henry Hancock’s body draped over the saddle. The lawman had bound the corpse’s feet and hands with a rope under the horse’s belly to make sure his body did not fall off on the way to town. Getting him on the horse had been difficult enough. He had no intention of doing it again.

Mackey was glad to see the boardwalks of Hancock were deserted so early in the morning. The fewer people who saw him ride into town, the better. Word of his bringing their dead relative back home would spread soon enough. They would not be hanging bunting and striking up a brass band in his honor.

Mackey steered Adair to the right and rode down a side street, pulling the five horses along with him. He found an undertaker’s office around the side of a larger building. The swinging sign read:

Mackey had no idea if this was the only undertaker in town, but it would be the one getting his business that morning.

He tied Adair to one hitching rail and the string of horses to the other. It was best to keep them separate from each other, as the Arabian did not abide the presence of other animals. Or humans, now that he thought of it.

After tying off the horses, Mackey adjusted his black duster and shifted the angle of his black, flat-brimmed Plainsman on his head before knocking on the undertaker’s front door.

The door opened almost immediately. Inside stood a round, pleasant-looking man in a crisp white shirt and black tie. His gray hair was perfectly combed, and he squinted out at the world from behind a pair of round spectacles.

He looked up at Mackey, then at the silver star on his chest, then at the horses tied to his hitching rail. “Yes, Sheriff? How might I be of service?”

“It’s not Sheriff or Deputy. It’s Aaron Mackey, United States Marshal for the Montana Territory.”

“Mackey?” the undertaker repeated. “The territory? Why, I thought you were the law down in Dover Station.”

“I was and still am,” Mackey told him. “Just got named as marshal of the territory a couple of months ago. Guess word hasn’t gotten around as fast as it should have.”

“No, I suppose not.” The undertaker flattened down his hair, though it didn’t need flattening. “I’m Mort Duggan.” He extended his hand, which the lawman shook. “My real name is David, but everyone here calls me Mort, which is short for mortician.”

“What does an undertaker do that a mortician can’t?”

Duggan seemed stumped for an answer. “Provide a greater range of services, I suppose. Proper embalming of the departed. A fitting setting for mourning and of course, a fine Christian burial.”

“That’s fine by me.” Mackey dug a paper out from the inside pocket of his duster and opened it. “I’ve got a prisoner who needs a burial. The government will pay for it if need be. You’ll see to it that the family is notified, too. I’ll pay extra for that if I have to. I just need you to make out a receipt on the back here and sign it.” Mackey saw fit to add, “With your right name.”

Duggan wiped his hands on his pants. Sweat had already appeared on his forehead despite the cool air of the morning. “I must say this is most irregular, Marshal. Usually, this kind of business is done in conjunction with the town sheriff. You see—”

“That can’t happen in this case because the dead man and the sheriff are related.” Mackey unfolded the piece of paper and held it up the mortician to see. “This is a federal warrant signed by a judge in Helena for one Henry Hancock. Wanted dead or alive for murder, armed robbery, cattle rustling, horse thievery, and just about every sin mentioned in both testaments of the Bible.”

Duggan frowned. “As a resident of Hancock, sir, I’m familiar with Henry’s reputation.”

“Good.” Mackey refolded the paper and inclined his head back toward the five horses at the hitching post. “Because Henry Hancock’s remains are draped over the saddle of the Appaloosa back there. I need you to take possession of the body and notify the family, and I need you to do it right now.”

Duggan’s small eyes grew wider before he rushed past Mackey to examine the body for himself. His hands passed over the two bullet wounds in Hancock’s back before he bent to take a better look at the dead man’s face.

Duggan stood up and leaned against the horse for support. “Good God, sir. That really is Henry Hancock.”

“That’s what I said.” He held out the back of the warrant to him. “Now, if you could write up that receipt, I’ll be on my way.”

“But how could this happen?” Duggan asked. “He and his gang were the terror of the territory. None of them had received so much as a scratch in all these years.”

“They received a hell of a lot more than that last night,” Mackey said. “I only had paper on Hancock, so I left the others where they died. I won’t need receipts on them, but I will for Hancock, so let’s get moving.”

Duggan squinted at him. “You mean you killed all of them?”

Mackey didn’t like the undertaker’s tone. “Did I stutter?”

“And you left them out there? For the birds and critters to gnaw on their mortal remains?”

“You can hitch up a wagon and go out and get them if you want,” Mackey said, “but on your own time and only after I get my receipt.”

Duggan took another look at the face of the dead man slung over the saddle. “Henry. It’s really you, isn’t it? I never would’ve imagined.” He looked up at Mackey. “Good God, Marshal. Do you have any idea what you’ve done by bringing him here? You’ve brought a dead Hancock boy to the town of Hancock. His family owns this town and everyone in it.”

Mackey knew exactly why he had brought him back to his hometown, but that was none of the ditch-digger’s business. “I’m the one who shot him, so I know what I did.” He beckoned to the doorway of the undertaker’s office. “Now, I’ve asked nicely for that receipt a couple of times now, but I’m beginning to lose patience. I haven’t had my supper, and I’m anxious to get something to eat before news of this spreads. I’ll probably be dropping off a few more of his relatives before the day is done, and I’d like to do it on a full stomach.”

Duggan trudged back up the stairs to his shop like a man in a trance. “A black day. The blackest, indeed. Hell has broken loose in Hancock now.”

Mackey followed the undertaker inside. “It was like that long before I showed up. All I did was poke the devil in the eye.”

Duggan looked up at him as he lowered himself into the chair behind his desk. “I’ll probably be working on you before sundown.”

Mackey set the warrant on the desk so Duggan could write the receipt. “Not likely.”

Mackey rode Adair over to the livery, trailing the five horses behind him on a line.

The liveryman was a black man named Arthur, who was enthusiastic at the prospect of acquiring five quality mounts he could resell at great profit. But he quickly soured on the idea when he recognized the saddles and the horses as belonging to Harry Hancock and his gang.

“Well, I’ll be,” Arthur said as he took a closer look at the horse that had carried Hancock’s corpse to town. “This animal’s still got blood on her.”

“Hancock’s blood,” Mackey said as he leaned against the livery entrance, keeping an eye on the street. “No extra charge for it, either. You could probably charge people a nickel apiece just to look at it. What do you say?”

“I don’t know, mister. The Hancock family won’t look too kindly on me purchasing a death horse, especially when that horse belonged to their kin and his friends. They’re likely to take these animals off me after I pay you good money for them.”

Mackey noticed the boardwalks of Hancock were starting to fill up with people. They were mostly shopkeepers opening for business. He could tell they were too calm for the news about Henry Hancock to have reached them yet. Once it did, they would be abuzz with activity, flitting around from one store to another like bees in a flower garden.

That’s when the trouble would start.

Trouble he knew he would not avoid. Trouble he had wanted to start by bringing Henry Hancock’s body to town.

“You hear what I said, mister,” Arthur repeated. “The Hancock family will just take these animals away from me if I buy them from you.”

Mackey had heard him. “I’ll arrest them if they do.”

“You wouldn’t even know about it,” Arthur said. “Hell, I’ll likely be dead and strung up from that rafter up there before I had a chance to yelp, much less get word to you about it.”

“They won’t hurt you.” Mackey kept watching the street. “They come for anyone, it’ll be for me.”

“You don’t know the Hancocks, sir,” Arthur said. “I thank you for the offer, but the answer is no. You might as well take these horses to a ranch someplace. They’d likely give you a better price for them than I ever could, anyway.”

But selling the horses to Arthur wasn’t about profit, just like bringing Henry’s body to town wasn’t about burial. It was about more than that.

It was about making sure the Hancock clan knew their place. That’s what Mr. Rice had wanted. That’s what Mackey had wanted, too.

“What if I agreed to stay in town until tomorrow? Agree to protect you until all of this blows over? You can keep the horses and pay me tomorrow if I’m still alive. That way, if they take them from you, you’re not out any money. You can even charge me for stabling Adair if you want.”

“You think this will just blow over?” Arthur looked up from one of the horses he had been examining. “Hell, mister, you just killed a Hancock. The breath of God himself couldn’t blow this over.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” He looked back at the liveryman. “Keep them overnight and see how it goes. What do you say?”

Arthur looked at the marshal and swallowed hard. “I’d say my business is horses, mister, and not men. But you look just as bad as those crazy Hancock bastards. Maybe even worse.”

Mackey turned so he could look back at the street. A bell above a storefront door tinkled as someone got their first customer of the day. The sky was high and blue. The harsh light of morning made the entire town look clean and new. It had the promise of being a nice day, but he knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

“Write up that receipt for the horses and we’ll consider it a done deal,” Mackey said. “You can give me the money tomorrow before I leave town.”

Arthur petted one of the dead men’s horses, then began writing out a receipt on the back of the warrant, next to Duggan’s list of mortuary services. “If we’re both still alive.”

“We will.” Mackey took Adair’s reins and climbed into the saddle. “Now, how about telling me where the telegraph office is?”

The telegraph office was close enough to walk to, but Mackey had been a cavalryman and never walked when he could ride. He took great pleasure in riding up the middle of the town’s Main Street to the telegraph office.

He enjoyed the looks and whispers he drew from the few people making their way along the boardwalk that chilly Montana morning.

At just a shade over six feet tall in his stocking feet and clad all in black astride a black horse, the clean-shaven Mackey knew he did not fit in easily. But the black outfit made the silver handle of the Peacemaker holstered to the left of his buckle stand out and the silver star on his chest gleam. Visibility was the point. A United States Marshal should not fit in with everyone else. Especially since he had come to town to make a point.

Adair seemed to enjoy the attention, too. He could swear the horse held her head a little higher and stepped a little livelier as she drew looks from the citizens of Hancock.

For a cattle and mining town, Mackey had expected to see more activity in Hancock, even this early in the morning. The Great Northwestern Railway had not stretched this far north yet and, according to its owner, Mr. Rice, was not likely to do so any time soon.

Not until some concessions were made by the Hancock family. Concessions Mackey had come to town to get on Mr. Rice’s behalf.

Although the railroad had not yet laid track as far north as Hancock, it had extended its telegraph lines northward as something of a concession to the town’s promise of a brighter future.

When he reached the telegraph office, Mackey climbed down from the saddle and tied Adair to the rail out front. He rubbed the horse’s muzzle as he walked inside.

The door was open and the office was empty. He rang a small bell on the counter, and a clerk scrambled out from a back room. The little man looked like he had just woken up and was still tucking his shirt into his pants. “Yes, sir. How may I help you?”

“I need a pad and paper to write out a telegram.”

“I’ll be happy to write it out for you, sir,” the clerk said. “After all, that’s what they pay me to do.”

Mackey looked at him until he got the point and handed the telegraph book and a pencil to him.

The clerk crossed his arms as he watched Mackey write out the message. “I hope you know we charge by the word. Don’t go getting too long-winded or it’ll wind up costing you a pretty penny.”

Mackey kept writing despite the clerk’s prattle. “I strike you as the long-winded type, boy?”

The clerk uncrossed his arms. “No, sir. No, you don’t.”

The marshal finished writing and shoved the book across the counter to the clerk. “You make out my handwriting?”

The clerk read the telegraph aloud to himself:

“Judge Forester, Helena—STOP—Hancock dead—STOP—Receipts to follow by post upon return to D. . .