RDR: No Regrets - Chapter 285: Splitting Up (Patreon)

BOOM!

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new mayor of Rhodes, Mr. Dutch Van der Linde, to the stage!”

With the roar of the ceremonial cannon, Dutch Van der Linde made his grand entrance.

The moment he saw the cheering crowd below, Dutch felt as though he were walking on air.

He had never cared for using an alias.

His name was his pride.

He wanted Dutch Van der Linde to become a name people would remember.

Either admired by thousands or cursed by everyone.

There was no third option.

And looking at things now, he had somehow managed both.

He had spent several days preparing a speech for today.

But as he listened to the crowd cheering below, he suddenly felt he might not need it.

He had plenty he wanted to say.

And at that very moment, Hosea had plenty he wanted to say as well.

Hosea and Stephen were hiding on a small rise outside town.

“See that, Hosea? We were right.”

Stephen held up his binoculars and pointed toward the far side of another hill ahead.

At least twenty Pinkertons were stationed there.

They weren’t particularly well hidden. Stephen had spotted them almost as soon as he approached Rhodes.

Their positions, however, had been chosen carefully. They had every entrance and exit from town covered.

That meant Stephen and the others couldn’t simply ride through either.

With no other choice, Stephen had robbed two civilians on their way to Rhodes to watch the festivities.

They took the men’s clothes, stole their wagon, and then rode openly past the Pinkertons and into town.

“Do you have a plan?”

Hosea lowered his voice. “We have to warn Dutch and the others as soon as possible!”

Dutch had to know.

Only if they got this vital information to him quickly would he have a chance to lead the others out.

And considering how much influence Dutch currently had in Rhodes, he might even be able to persuade some of the townspeople to fight alongside them.

Under circumstances like these, that possibility couldn’t simply be ignored.

“We’re splitting up.”

Stephen turned toward the three men in front of him.

“You’ve all seen the situation. If we want to get everyone out of town, there’s only one way.”

“What way?”

“The boat.”

That was right.

The boat.

Every road leading in and out of Rhodes had been sealed off. The only thing capable of carrying that many people to safety was the boat docked at the southernmost port.

The Van der Linde Gang wasn’t made up entirely of gunmen.

There were women, elderly people, and even two children.

There was no chance those people could fight their way through an encirclement. Trying to bring them through a gunfight would be the same as sending them to their deaths.

So the boat was their only option.

Only that boat could protect them and carry them safely out of Rhodes.

And it wasn’t just any boat.

It was an ironclad with an engine and plenty of power behind it.

Surely, no matter how influential whoever was backing the Pinkertons might be, they couldn’t have brought in a gunboat just to deal with them.

If they had that kind of power, why bother setting up such an elaborate trap in the first place? They could have simply rolled in a cannon and blown them apart.

As long as there was no gunboat waiting for them, ordinary boats wouldn’t stand much of a chance against an ironclad like that.

They had to seize control of it immediately.

It was their only chance.

“Juan, you’re coming with me. We’re taking the boat.”

Stephen picked Juan first.

Of the three men in front of him, Juan was the only one besides Stephen who could really handle himself in a fight.

Stephen was still badly injured, and if they wanted to secure the boat without anything going wrong, he needed someone backing him up.

After all, there was no chance the Pinkertons had blocked every other escape route while conveniently forgetting about the docks.

Juan nodded firmly, then turned and pulled their weapons from the wagon.

Stephen had lost almost everything except his knife.

His pistol had disappeared somewhere in the explosion, and he had abandoned his shotgun during the escape.

His rifle was still with Arthur.

Fortunately, his older weapons had remained at camp, and Juan had kept them in excellent condition.

Stephen looked down at the Schofield Revolver in his hand and felt a trace of nostalgia.

It was the gun Jake Adler, Sadie’s husband, had given him.

The first gun Stephen had ever owned.

His fingers traced the marks that years of use had left on the revolver before he looked up at Kieran.

“Kieran, I need you to find Arthur.”

Kieran visibly flinched when Stephen called his name.

“Me... by myself?”

He stared at Stephen in disbelief.

“But... I don’t even know where he is!”

“And I... I’m not even that good with a gun. What if someone catches me...?”

Kieran had never had much confidence in himself.

In truth, he was actually a decent shot.

He was just timid.

But in this case, being timid had its advantages.

Stephen gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

“Relax. Hardly anyone in Rhodes even knows who you are. The Pinkertons won’t have any reason to think you’re carrying a warning.”

That was Kieran’s greatest advantage.

Ever since they had taken control of Rhodes, he had only been into town twice.

The first time, Dutch had assigned him to work at the port, but he had only been there for two days before Stephen took him to Saint Denis.

The second time, he had gone shopping with Juan.

No matter how thorough the Pinkertons’ intelligence was, Stephen doubted they would have bothered paying much attention to someone as inconspicuous as Kieran.

Besides, just look at him.

He walked around hunched over, nervous and hesitant.

There was nothing about him that screamed outlaw.

Someone like Kieran was exactly the kind of person who could slip through a town full of enemies and find Arthur.

“I checked the area around the stage earlier. There are plenty of people there, but Arthur, Sadie, Charles, and the others are nowhere to be seen.”

Uncle, Mrs. Grimshaw, and several of the older members were missing too.

The area around the stage was packed, but those people were distinctive enough that Stephen doubted he had simply overlooked them.

After reassuring Kieran, Stephen continued.

“They’re probably either drinking at the saloon or walking around town.”

“You need to find them as quickly as you can. Tell Arthur to protect the others and get everyone to the docks. I’ll be waiting there.”

Kieran gritted his teeth and nodded firmly.

“All right, boss. I understand.”

Stephen gripped both of Kieran’s shoulders, gave them a firm pat, then squeezed them.

Hopefully it would give him a little courage.

“As for Dutch, that’s up to you.”

The last assignment was also the hardest.

Someone had to warn Dutch.

And there was only one person who could do it.

Hosea.

“If I go in there, won’t that alert them?”

Hosea wasn’t afraid for himself.

What worried him was that his appearance might spook the enemy and make them launch their attack early.

Stephen shook his head.

“No. If you don’t show up, that’s when they’ll start getting suspicious. Once you appear and walk straight over to Dutch like nothing’s wrong, they’ll finally relax.”

Hosea might not have been much of a fighter, but he was still the unquestioned second-in-command of the Van der Linde Gang.

If he never appeared at an event like this, their enemies would be far more likely to suspect something had gone wrong.

The reasoning was simple.

Hosea understood it almost immediately.

“I understand. I’ll go now.”

The plan was simple.

Rough, but practical.

The four men exchanged one last look.

Then they split up and headed in three different directions, each carrying out his part of the plan.