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Agents of the Vault – Part 14

Part 14 of The Agents of the Vault is here!  Jane and the Pinkertons are hot on the trail of our heroes when they encounter the Pawnee indians themselves.

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Agents of the Vault
Part 14
By Grant Baciocco

Jane and her men had trailed the cart tracks to the spot where Grisom, Charlie and Leland had camped out before.  It didn’t take long after that to discover the field full of fired arrows and the buffalo hides.  Most important of her discoveries was the pool of blood back where they had camped and the tracks that indicated they’d left in a hurry.  Someone had been injured in the confrontation with the indians.  That meant they would be more desperate to find medical attention.  Being more desperate meant more apt to become careless.  That meant it’d be easier to find them.  Find them and get the trunk.

After discovering all this, Jane pushed her men hard.  They rode south at a blistering pace.  They were headed towards the Platte river.  But why?  What was at that river?  What took Grisom and Charlie half a day took Jane and her men half of that time.  Of course, they weren’t pulling a cart loaded down with stolen gold so their horses could move faster

They were a mile off from the Pawnee camp when there was a loud war cry from directly in front of them.  Jane pulled hard on the reigns of her horse, causing her to rear up.  Her men did the same.  Once their forward progress had stopped, Jane scanned the horizon in front of them.  Her horse panting hard under her.  Suddenly one single figure stood in the tall grass before them.  A Pawnee brave.  He held his bow, loaded with an arrow at his waist in front of him.

Jane held up a hand to her men, who she knew were already reaching for their pistols.  Jane calmly hopped off her horse and began walking towards the brave.  When she was now only 3 yards from him, he raised his arrow as if to fire.  Jane continued walking but raised her hands.

“We are looking for two men who came this way in a cart.” She said in perfect Pawnee.

The Pawnee, stone faced said nothing.  He held his bow aimed directly at her heart.

“They are bandits.  Thieves.  We have come to take them back with us.”

Still the Pawnee brave said nothing.  Only stared deep into Jane’s eyes.  She continued to walk directly towards him.  “We mean you no malice, but if you are hiding the thieves, it will mean severe punishment for you and your tribe.  So I ask you, have you seen the men we are looking for?”

The Pawnee brave said nothing, but suddenly, from out of the tall grass, a group of twenty braves stood, bows ready to be fired.  Jane and her men were completely surrounded.  This made Jane stop.

She looked around.  Her men, nervous, fidgeted anxiously on their horses.  Jane never broke eye contact with the brave once she’d taken in her predicament.  She nodded and slowly turned to go back towards her horse.  As she did she gave a shrill whistle and in a flash turned, gun drawn and shot the brave dead.  Before the rest of the braves knew what had happened, Jane had killed 5 more and was reloading.  Her men took the cue and began firing as well and soon Jane and her men stood in a bloody ring of dead indians and not a single arrow had been shot in return.

Jane holstered her gun as she strode back to her horse.  She climbed up into the saddle and looked at her men.  “We take the whole village.” She said, adjusting her hat.

Brenner turned to her, “The whole village?”

Jane ignored the skepticism in his voice.

“Yes.”  Jane shouted, turning her horse to face her men.  “Is General MacCallister’s calvary unit still stationed in Independence?

“I believe so.” Brenner replied.

Jane looked at Conners, “That’s about an hour’s ride east from here yes?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Conners, Ride there now and get him.  Tell him to bring the whole calvary.  Executive order.”

Conners was headed east before Jane said the word order.  Brenner and the other Pinkerton watched him ride off, hell bent.

Brenner cleared his throat, “That’s a least two hours before they return.”

Jane nodded.  “It is.”

“What do we do if the Pawnee come out looking for their braves?”

“We give them more of the same.” Said Jane as she climbed back up on her horse.  “I want that trunk.  If the Pawnee know where it is or have even seen it recently, I will know or I will burn their village to the ground and spill every last drop of blood under their red skin.”

©2015 Grant Baciocco/Saturday Morning Media – www.SaturdayMorningMedia.com