Opportunity

Zach is an opportunist.

"I was playin poker one night in some saloon when I picked up on the conversation of two fellers settin behind me. One feller asked, 'So what brings you to these parts, Jake?' and Jake says, 'Workin on a job.' The other feller asks, 'What's it gonna be this time?' and Jake says, 'Payroll shipment. They run a big one out of a town three days east of here every month. The next one goes out in five days. I'm going to look things over and then we're goin after one. Meet me in Sidewinder Canyon two months from today.' Before they left I got a look at Jake, mean-lookin with a long black mustache."

"I cased the town and I saw them load the payroll onto the train. Ten guards went inside, too. Experienced lookin. Saw Jake a couple times but he didn't notice me. I figgered six fellers could do the job so when I was done lookin things over I rounded me up some fellers I'd done jobs with before. I liked workin with these fellers for the most part, they had no reputations, no faces on a poster and, of course, they were close enough so I could hit the train the next shipment, a month ahead of Jake. Now, maybe it wasn't exactly ethical to take Jake's job, but I figger, if your dumb enough to talk about it in a crowded saloon, you earned the right to lose it."

"We split up and the day the payroll was to be loaded up we all got on the train at different stops, all but Laughing Wolf, he was with the horses. After the payroll was loaded into the mail car the train was to go through a long stretch with no stops, all open country."

"When the time was right I moved to the back of the train and met up with the others. There was only one car behind the mail car and that was the caboose. Little Ray and Bob Hanks stayed at the front of the mail car and me and Three Finger Pete climbed up the mail car to get at the back. John Simms went to the front of the train to stop it. We got over the mail car and I went into the caboose while Pete set up the dynamite for the mail car door. There were two fellers in the caboose and I got them shut up and tied up then waited for Pete. When he ran into the caboose the door blew and we rushed the mail car with guns blazin. About that time the other door blew and we had the guards in a crossfire. Now, I ain't one for killin people outside of wartime but when you get to tradin shots, sometimes a bit of killin happens. I figger they hired on as guards so they knew the risks, but I tried to just put em down, not kill em anyways."

"Little Ray went down in the gunplay but we got all the guards. Three Finger Pete was getting ready to dynamite the safe when shots started comin in at us. Pete and Bob went down and I took one in the shoulder before we even knew what was goin on. When the bullet ripped into me I figgered I'd better drop, so I dropped. Things got real quiet then I heard boots comin into the car, there were four sets. They moved around the car checkin to see if anyone was alive, when I got kicked I lay like I was dead. Then I heard a voice, it was Jake from the saloon, 'Looks like most of our work is done. Finish blowin the safe and let's get out of here.' Pretty soon I heard the safe rip and a chunk of metal caught me in the cheek, I took it without a flinch. When I heard them leave the car I got up and followed. The train came to a stop and I saw them get off and head for a stand of trees not far from the tracks. I figgered they had their horses there, the thing was, Laughing Wolf had our horses in some trees on the other side of the train. I got out and headed for the trees."

"They'd split up. I figgered Jake was carrying the payroll so we had to decide which trail was Jake's. Laughing Wolf thought it was a trail headin north by the gait of the horse, I figgered it was one headin for Mexico. We split up."

"Jake's trail led me to a sleepy little town. Now I knew if I came anywhere near, Jake would know about it right away and I'd be dead. Kinda money he had could buy that whole town. I knew Jake's pards would be showin up so I had to get that money pretty quick. I kept ridin past the town tryin not to draw any attention and when I was out of sight I headed back for another town I passed about a day's ride away. I had a bit of gold with me and bought a wagon, some supplies and hired an interpreter. I once worked for a feller who ran a medicine show so I fixed up a tonic, changed into medicine show clothes and headed for Jake's town."

"'Step right up folks! Been feelin low? Sickly? How bout some of Uncle Ray's Tonic? It'll fix you up in no time flat! Lost your girl? Try a bit of Uncle Ray's! Lost your job? Uncle Ray's! Caught a cough, a cold, a touch of the influenza? Aches or pains? Uncle Ray's will set you right, right away!' The nice thing about ole Uncle Ray's Tonic it was mostly alcohol with a bit of herbs and flavorin's and Uncle Ray's secret... loco weed. Got em all into this nice peaceful drunk and me into a room in the inn."

"When I left my room to go down for a drink I spotted Jake right off. I was pretty sure he wouldn't recognize me... I was wearin a white wig and mustache, after all I was Uncle Ray now. I stayed at the bar drinkin until Jake went back to his room and I watched him the whole way."

"Another thing about Uncle Ray's Tonic was that it didn't leave you a hangover, the herb's did that. Uncle Ray's was a pretty decent tonic, actually, it didn't cure nothin but it left you feelin pretty good. The next day, Uncle Ray's was the talk of the town. We were sellin it right and left and, eventually, ole Jake came out to take a look. "I hear you have the real deal, medicine man." he announced himself. I replied, "Somethin ailin ya, Pard?" "Well, my back has been." he replied, "Can that stuff help?" "You drink a bottle now and two at bedtime and you'll be right as rain after that." I expected him to be skeptical and he was. Before he could say anything, I went on. "Tell ya what, Pard, you give it a try and if it don't work, I'll give you double your money back in the morning." "Well, that had him, he bought three bottles."

"He was out cold after that third bottle, I got the payroll and was long gone before he ever woke up."

Excerpt from The Godz of Earth by S.E.Estes