In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

I have never known your daughter to make a mistake judging men. I agree a few pieces of paper won't stop Johnson, but that is why you brought in Alec and Carlos as husbands for Bethany and Iris isn't it?"

At this, Iris sat up with a jerk. "What about Carlos? Where is he? What do you mean?"

"Quit fretting girl," her father said. "Carlos took a couple of men up into the hills to hunt claim jumpers. He'll be back in a few days."

"What?" his daughter cried. "That's dangerous! He could get himself killed!"

Her father spared her a glance. "No, he won't."

"He isn't a gunfighter," Iris protested.

"You got a lot to learn about your husband, girl. Get your head out of those romance books. Carlos can handle himself," her father said. His words might have been a more effective assurance if his daughter hadn't seen the fear in his eyes. She bit her lip and went to stand staring out the patio window.

Michael glanced worriedly at her but frowned over at his mother. "Mother, you're not telling me everything. What are you leaving out?"

"Well, there could be a small problem. Max Franks saw Jeanne and Samuel getting on the train in Junction City and he wanted something to keep quiet. I had Franks—ah—shanghaied and sent upriver with some boatmen, but they plan to let him go at the end of their northern run. At best, we have only a few months to remove Johnson as a threat before Franks returns and tells Johnson about the marriage. We need to take the fight to the Johnsons soon."

Michael St. Vyr stared at his mother. "What did you have in mind?"

Giselle cast a glance at her granddaughter's white face. It would be better, she decided if the girl didn't hear this. Iris had risen above several slaps of reality in Junction City. No need to put more pressure on her.

"Iris honey, Margo tells me that dratted goat of yours has been raising Cain while we've been gone. He keeps getting out into the patio. Maybe if you went out to see him, he'll settle down."

She waited until her granddaughter had left the room before she spoke again. " I've made some contingency plans, but we need some real evidence against him."

Michael, who knew his mother very well indeed, stared at her for a long minute.

"Don't do it Mom. It's getting so you can't just hire someone to remove Johnson the way you did Franks. The council is talking about a universal set of laws and coordinating action and information between District Marshalls and Town Sheriffs. You were lucky the pair of you didn't get caught."

Giselle looked amused. "You worry too much."

Ambush!

WHILE IRIS WAS DEALING with a potential enemy in Junction City, Carlos was waiting for Red and Durango to come back through the brush trail. With time to kill, he spent it exploring the camp. Inside the miner's lean-to, he found several sticks of dynamite and some fuse strings. He stared, dumbfounded at the explosive sticks. He knew there was no reason Lin and the others should have needed explosives. They were supposed to be panning the stream for gold, silver and gemstones. They wouldn't have needed to blow anything up.

True, the camp was perilously close to the trail leading into the secret canyon. Perhaps the three men had intended to use the dynamite to block the trail, but the raiders had gotten to them first, he speculated.

The sky was just showing the first streaks of sunlight and Carlos had barely set the coffeepot on the bluestone firepit when Red and Durango rode out of the hole in the brush forest.

"You're here early," he remarked. "Did you start out in the middle of the night?"

Red shrugged. "I kind of got the feeling it wouldn't be too smart to hang around, so yeah, we snuck out as soon as we were sure that farmer and his family had gone to sleep."

"I had the same feeling," Durango admitted. "What's more, I think we should block up that trail."

"Were you followed?" Carlos asked as he poured coffee grounds into the metal pot on the fire.

"Who can say? But it's better to be safe than to be sorry."

"True. Let's eat and figure out the best way to close off that trail through the brush."

As they ate a hurried breakfast of side meat and biscuits, they discussed how to block off the trail.

"I found dynamite the miners left when I got back yesterday," Carlos said. "How big a charge do you think it will take to block the trail?"

"I don't know anything about dynamite," Red protested.

"Me neither," said Durango.

Carlos sighed. "Well, I guess that makes me the nearest thing to an expert we have. I found six sticks of the stuff and some fuse line. I'll set three charges about a hundred paces apart back along the trail with a delayed fuse. You boys gather up everything and head back down the stream; you'll be safe there from the blast if I miscalculate the timing."

"All right, but we'll leave your 'corn tied up down the stream so you can get out of here in a hurry," Red said.

It took Carlos most of the morning to set the charges. Trotting back toward the furthest charge, he thought he heard voices. Smiling grimly, he lit the fuse and ran for the second charge. When he lit the third one, he barely had time to make it out of the trail before the first explosion lit up the sky.

Red Lightning was cropping grass while he waited patiently for him. At the noise, his head lifted alertly. Carlos darted over to the tricorn and leaped into the saddle without using the stirrups. Red responded to his rider's urgency by jumping into a dead run. The next explosions came at almost the same time.

Carlos pulled up beside Red and Durango, who were staring open mouthed at the chaos behind him.

"Shit, boss," Red exclaimed. "I hope you weren't planning on surprising folks; everybody