Chapter 21

"We'll meet Lloyd and Deacon by the train station. It's near the dock, right where you found me that first morning."

Seb had sent the message with a boy who hung around the telegraph office and ran such errands as this. There were several youngsters who earned coins dashing around with telegraphs and other notes.

Seb gave him a penny and knew Lloyd would give the boy a second penny when he left the note. Then Seb and Kat hurried to the train station.

Huey checked the area, then advised them where to stand so no one could get them from behind. He then faded back to watch over them. He hid where he could keep an eye on the whole situation, including if anyone else was sneaking up on either Seb or Kat.

They were barely in place when Lloyd came rushing up the sidewalk and shouted, "Sebastian! You're here!"

Seb wore his six-gun, fully loaded, in a holster. Kat had hers, too. They turned to face both men. Deacon was a few paces behind and losing ground, but he moved with a stately grace that was more proper for a lawyer, at least in his opinion.

They were in their usual dark suits. Lloyd, youthful and buzzing with energy, and Deacon, stout and calm. Both were on foot.

Seb took a few steps out from the side of the building but kept the wall at his back and waited for his lawyers to approach.

Lloyd came right up. He didn't act afraid or threatening, just his usual overactive self. "Seb, I'm so glad you sent that message. Deacon and I came up with a list for you, but it's mighty short. In fact, I think we know—"

A bullet whizzed between Seb and Lloyd. Both men froze, then wheeled to face—

"Marcus?" Seb's mouth gaped open until he had to force himself to talk. "Marcus Coleman? What are you doing here?"

"This is the man, Sebastian." Lloyd turned to stand shoulder to shoulder with Seb. Seb reached for Kat and tucked her behind him.

Deacon added, "He's been acting like he's an old and dear friend since you disappeared. We trusted him. We thought of him right away when we began a list. He was the first name we were going to tell you."

"He is an old and dear friend." Seb saw the still smoking muzzle of Marcus's gun. "What are you doing here?" And where was Huey?

"That was just a warning shot." Marcus was his usual polished self. He had muttonchop sideburns and a mustache that was no doubt the latest fashion. He had shining blue eyes and wore the finest clothes. He was so tidy this morning, despite the gun, it seemed clear that he still traveled with a valet, so his boots never lost their shine. His hair was neatly trimmed and combed and held in place with a pomade.

The very picture of a polished, wealthy, young American gentleman.

But his eyes blazed with hate and with death.

"You're a thief and a liar, Sebastian." Marcus raised his gun. "You made money on my work. Now I want those invention notes."

Seb reached back to keep Kat out of the line of fire. "But, Mark, we're friends. So it was you who shot me last spring? You sent that man after me in Cheyenne?"

Marcus smirked. "Don't act so surprised."

"But I am surprised. Why would you want to kill me?"

"Because you stole everything from me. My chance at fame. We created those inventions together. My name should've been on the patents."

Seb's brain usually buzzed with ideas. He was inventive in all his ways. But right now his brain felt drenched in cold molasses. He remembered when he'd thought of making himself famous. It was Marcus who'd talked of fame, and it had awakened a desire for that in Seb.

Looking at Marcus now, he saw his old friend had wanted fame in a desperate way. "We exchanged letters. You were one of the first people I wrote to from Cheyenne. I trusted you just as Lloyd did. Why would you care about patents? You're rich, Mark. You don't need more money."

"I'm brilliant. I need to show my brothers who have taken over the family business that I'm just as good as they are."

Seb looked at his old friend and thought of his own choices—to work instead of spending time with his wife on the farm, and most important, nurturing his faith. He thought of himself and was ashamed. The gleam in Marcus's eyes made him cautious. "Yes, we worked side by side, but we worked on our own projects. I didn't expect to see my name on your patents, and you didn't ever so much as hint you'd like to see your name on mine."

"That's not true. Our work was always a partnership."

In Marcus's fevered mind, he believed that.

"I knew you'd do the right thing. I even suggested if anything happened to you, I'd take care of your work."

Seb thought back on the day, while bleeding, thinking he was dying, he'd scrawled Marcus's name and address on his packet and told Beth to send them to his friend. "I was going to do that if I thought I was dying. I had plans to write a will, leaving all of my work to you. But I got shot before I could get it done." He realized that idea was planted in his head because of a letter from Marcus. He'd suggested it, and then he'd sent a killer—twice, once in Independence, another time in Cheyenne. All Seb could think of was to keep him talking. Huey should have come out by now. Where was he?

"And now you've got a wife to put her claim to our patents."

"How did you know I got married? How did you know where I was?"

"I told him." Lloyd sounded steeped in guilt. "I thought he was your friend. He traveled to Independence a few weeks after you disappeared. He acted worried, and we told him everything—about the blood at the warehouse and how we'd broken into your home. I never even suspected anything else."

"You told him I'd married a Wadsworth? Because her name was on the note that gunman carried?"

"No. I said you were married and in Cheyenne, but I called her Kat Jones. I think." Lloyd wasn't sure. But Seb could see the man was as stunned by this as any of them.

"You said Wadsworth," Marcus sneered. "And that was all I needed to know. I'd kept up with Katherine Wadsworth. I knew Jeremy well enough to hear of his marriage and his death. I knew she'd gone mad with grief and been locked away. Later, I found out she escaped with Thaddeus Rutledge's wife."

"How in the world did you find that out?"

"I told him." An older man stepped out from behind the building where Huey Jessup had been hidden.

"Uncle Patrick?" Kat squeaked.

"And I gave him information, too. I'm Thaddeus Rutledge." Behind Uncle Patrick, a tall man, limping hard and using a cane, emerged. A third man stood behind the two newcomers.

"And Dr. Horecroft?" Kat sounded flat-out terrified.

"It's time to come home, Katherine." Patrick Wadsworth sounded severely disappointed in his niece.

"I'll help you to calm down, Mrs. Wadsworth. Or is it Mrs. Jones now?"

"They'll be calm when they're dead." Marcus's gun lowered again until it aimed right at Sebastian's gut.

Seb clawed for his gun.

"No, Coleman!" Patrick shouted. "Stop right there."

Lloyd threw himself against Seb. His arm swept Kat to the ground as shot after shot rang out, bullets flying from Marcus's gun and at least one other.

Lloyd's falling body jerked with an impact that had to be from a bullet.

Seb, Lloyd, and Kat all fell as the air filled with the smell of sulfur from exploding gunpowder.

Seb, stretched out on the ground, Lloyd on top of him, looked down at his belly expecting to see a bleeding wound. He saw none and barely realized he was unhurt.

Marcus roared, "Jones, why won't you just die!"

Thaddeus swung his cane and knocked the gun from Marcus's hand. "I need her alive."

Marcus shoved Thaddeus aside and dove on Seb, unarmed.

Marcus slammed a fist into Seb's face. Seb punched back, and the two of them tumbled to the ground. Seb had to stop this man, his old friend. He had to protect Kat.

Seb was dragged to his feet. In that brief moment, he saw Kat fighting her way out from under them, and Lloyd, bleeding on the ground, and then Deacon, flat on his back, unmoving. Patrick Wadsworth staggered, his hands clutching his belly.

Rutledge stood back, eyes blazing. "Sykes! Get out here." Rutledge turned to look behind him.

A man stormed out from behind the corner where Huey had been.

Marcus swung again, and Seb went down as the newcomer grabbed Kat and dragged her, screaming, to her feet.

Seb lunged at the man who'd put his hands on Kat.

Marcus tackled Seb and took him to the ground as Kat, fighting and screaming, was shoved at Rutledge.

"Grab Wadsworth. Let's go." Rutledge dragged Kat away.

Seb twisted free of Marcus and slammed a fist into his gut, then another and another.

Marcus, driven by jealousy, rage, and hate, only fought back harder.