Last Train to Bannock [Clayburn 02] by Marvin H. Albert Page B

it."
        Roud stared around them dubiously. "Here? You usually know what you're doing, Clay, but take another look at that cliff rim up there. Be awful easy for anybody coming through the canyon to get up there and pick us off. And just as easy for the rest of Adler's men to come in at us. We'll be boxed in, no way out. It's a death trap."
        Clayburn smiled wolfishly. "Looks that way, doesn't it?"
        
***
        
        Wilks slipped back down the canyon to the horse he'd left hidden behind a group of boulders. He led the horse till he reached the other end of the canyon, well beyond hearing distance of Cora Sorel's outfit. Mounting up, he rode south through the deepening night. He did not push his horse too fast, but let it feel its way over the rock-strewn ground so that it wouldn't trip and break a leg. There was plenty of time. There was the whole long night ahead in which to finish the job.
        A little over an hour later he found the place where Adler was waiting with the rest of his men and their horses.
        Wilks swung down from his horse to face Adler. "Either you're a mind reader," he told his boss, "or you're mighty damn lucky."
        "Talk straight," Adler snapped.
        "You couldn't've picked a better night for it. They're camped inside a little box canyon. We won't even have to rush 'em. Just bottle 'em up in there, get our best shots on one of the rims above, and wait for dawn. Come first light, the boys on the rim can start picking them off like shooting ducks in a barrel. The walls're low enough for that, but too steep for anybody to get up at us. They'll only have one way out and the rest of us'll be waiting there for them, nice and safe behind some rocks, to cut 'em down as they come out."
        "Sounds easy," Adler said, half to himself.
        "A picnic."
        "A little too easy."
        Wilks laughed softly, his teeth showing in the starlight. "You'd like it better if it was harder?"
        Adler nodded slowly. "Maybe. Clayburn's no fool. He got Cora Sorel's wagons across the desert ahead of us. He outwitted you at that stage station…"
        "The hell he did," Wilks growled. "I did what I went there to do, didn't I? And got away clean-with all Clayburn's money in the bargain. You should have seen his face when I…"
        But Adler was busy with his own thoughts. "If he knows you've been watching them all this time…"
        "Not a chance. He didn't spot me once, didn't know I was around."
        "You're very sure of that?"
        "You just heard me say so. It's not the first time I've had to trail somebody without being seen, you know."
        Adler nodded slowly, "All right. If you're sure. Take the men in. Get it done-and done right."
        Wilks regarded him quizzically. "How about you?"
        "I'll be here. Waiting."
        It surprised Wilks. "How come? Never knew you to be scared to go into a fight before."
        "And I'm not now. But this time my only concern is with getting my wagons to Bannock; and making sure mine are the only ones that get there before the snows. If I got myself shot down there'd be no point to any of this. You're the one's so sure this is going to be easy. And you're the one getting the bonus for stopping Cora Sorel's wagons."
        "And taking all the chances," Wilks added cheerfully. "Okay. Just be ready to pay me that bonus tomorrow."
        He turned from Adler to Benjy, Dillon and the others. "From the marks I saw on some of you I'd say Clayburn and his bunch had a lot of fun with you back in Parrish. Tonight it'll be your turn to have all the fun… Let's go."
        
***
        
        Ranse Blue found Cora Sorel's wagon camp by the light of its cook fires. He rode in on a tired horse, leading another that looked equally weary, cursing at a guard who demanded that he identify himself as he emerged from the darkness. Clayburn strode to meet him, followed by Cora, Roud and