RDR: NO REGRETS - Chapter 319: Shocking News (Patreon)

A sudden bolt of lightning tore across the sky, turning the darkness bright as day.

A deafening clap of thunder followed from the horizon.

A storm was coming.

Juan watched the dark clouds rolling overhead, his stomach twisting with unease.

The boss told me to run if something seemed wrong, but how the hell am I supposed to know what counts as wrong...

Juan groaned inwardly, lowered his head, and sighed.

Sometimes having a boss who wasn't exactly reliable was a real headache for a subordinate like him.

But there was nothing he could do.

Stephen had disappeared, so Juan could only deal with things as they came.

"Juan! Give us a hand!"

A strong voice called from behind him.

Juan quickly turned around and saw Andre.

They had already reached the trading area, and Andre was directing the drivers and nearby workers as they unloaded the cargo.

But with heavy rain about to fall, they clearly didn't have enough hands.

Nobody wanted to be caught working in a downpour.

So under Andre's orders, several of the guards joined in, trying to get everything into the warehouse before the rain started.

"Coming!"

Juan desperately wanted to leave right now, but with everyone watching, he had no reasonable excuse.

He hurried over, set down his weapon, hoisted a large crate onto his shoulder, and carried it toward the warehouse.

As one of the port's long-standing customers, MacFarlane's Ranch naturally had a warehouse of its own here.

It was enormous.

Juan followed one of the drivers inside with the crate on his shoulder and found the place packed with all kinds of goods.

"What are you carrying?"

A worker holding a pen and some papers immediately approached him.

"You can't just put things anywhere. Everything has to be sorted by type."

"Uh... I don't know. It's my first time here."

Juan looked confused.

"Should I open it and check?"

"Idiot."

The worker muttered impatiently, then walked behind Juan and looked at the marking on the crate.

"That's tobacco. Put it on the shelf over there."

He waved his hand and pointed deeper into the warehouse.

"Oh, right. I'll take it over."

Juan quickly carried the crate inside and placed it where it belonged.

"Tobacco?"

Juan looked at the crate he'd just set down, then glanced at the surrounding shelves.

They were filled with crates of exactly the same size.

Unless something unusual was going on, they were probably all tobacco.

Stephen had told him before that tobacco and liquor were among the best things to sell on the black market.

This was useful information.

At a glance, Juan counted at least twenty or thirty similar crates.

- Each one had to weigh roughly fifty-five to sixty-five pounds.

If all of that could be sold, it would be worth a fortune.

Juan kept that in mind.

Instead of immediately going back to work, he quietly moved between the shelves and took a quick look at the rest of the warehouse.

Tobacco.

Moonshine.

Hides.

Coats.

He even spotted several crates of ammunition.

Looks like the boss was right.

MacFarlane's Ranch was definitely more than it seemed.

But Juan couldn't disappear for too long or the others would start getting suspicious.

He memorized everything he'd seen, then headed back outside.

As soon as he returned to the wagon, Juan noticed a well-dressed man approaching.

The man was still some distance away when he spread his arms and called toward Andre, who was supervising the unloading.

"Mr. Andre! Looks like we'll be doing business together again."

"Hahaha! Of course. Though I'll need your help with that."

Andre immediately laughed and walked over to greet him.

The two embraced like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

Juan returned to the wagon and used it as cover while curiously watching them.

He happened to see Andre smoothly slip a stack of bills into the man's pocket.

"I'll be counting on you for our future business."

Andre smiled.

The man counted the bills, then nodded with satisfaction.

"Don't worry. Whenever I find the right customer, you'll be the first person I bring them to."

Juan pretended to organize the cargo and deliberately took his time nearby.

After listening for a while, he finally understood what the man did.

Business at the docks worked differently from most places.

There were no storefronts or counters where customers could slowly browse through whatever they wanted.

Normally, if someone needed something, they first had to ask one of the brokers at the docks or one of the workers stationed there.

The buyer told them what they wanted, and the broker would lead them to the warehouse that carried those goods.

If someone wanted liquor, they'd be taken to a liquor merchant's warehouse.

If they wanted hides, they'd be taken to a fur trader.

Once there, the warehouse workers opened the crates for inspection, and only then did negotiations begin.

Naturally, tips and commissions were part of the process.

The warehouses also paid the brokers a generous cut.

These were not people you wanted to offend.

Quaker's Cove was a small port, and the brokers here were practically one big network.

Offend one, and you'd effectively offended all of them.

Then not only would they stop bringing customers your way, they'd badmouth you to every buyer who came through the port.

Repeat something often enough, and people would start believing it.

One or two brokers talking badly about you might not matter.

But if every broker at the docks was doing it, business would become very difficult.

Closing a deal was hard.

Ruining one was easy.

That was why even a major customer like MacFarlane's Ranch didn't casually offend these people.

Instead, they paid them well to stay on good terms.

Once the money changed hands, it was time for small talk.

Andre eagerly pulled out his cigarettes and passed them around.

Seeing Juan still working nearby, he casually tossed one to him as well.

"Have the people from Rhodes arrived yet?"

The moment Andre lit his cigarette, his first question immediately caught Juan's attention.

"No. Something happened to the Braithwaite family."

The broker shook his head.

"And judging from what I've heard, they won't be coming anymore."

"What?"

Andre stared at him in shock.

"Didn't we just hear a few days ago that the old woman from the Braithwaite family was about to become mayor of Rhodes?"

The broker took a drag from his cigarette and sighed.

"It happened at her inauguration banquet."

"The Van der Linde Gang stormed the place and massacred the Braithwaite family."

"My God..."

Andre looked stunned.

Juan, listening nearby, was just as shocked.

What the hell?

The Van der Linde Gang massacred the Braithwaite family?

Weren't we hiding out just fine in New Austin?

A second later, Juan realized something.

Don't tell me Boss Dutch did this...

The broker quickly answered that question.

"That Dutch Van der Linde fellow slipped in during the banquet."

"He not only took Mrs. Braithwaite hostage, he even sat down and let a reporter interview him."

Even the broker seemed amused by that part.

"You know what the craziest thing is? After the interview, he let the reporter leave."

"The reporter had barely stepped outside the estate before Dutch started killing people."

"That man is completely insane."

Andre stared at him in disbelief.

"Isn't he afraid of..."

"What does he have left to be afraid of?"

The broker spread his hands.

"Even before this happened, the bounty on his head was already over five thousand dollars."

"He was already a dead man if the law ever caught him."

"And that's not even the end of it."

"The very next day after wiping out the Braithwaite family, he went to Caliga Hall and killed the remaining members of the Gray family too."

"And apparently he was afraid people wouldn't know who did it, because he wrote his own name across their front gate using the Grays' blood."

At that point, it wasn't just Andre who was horrified by Dutch's actions.

Juan was stunned too.

Now he finally understood why Stephen and Hosea had been so worried about Dutch.

At first, Juan had thought Dutch was a decent man.

He was charismatic, knew how to talk, and had even managed to become mayor.

But now Juan understood.

Once Hosea and all the elderly, women, and children were no longer there to restrain him, Dutch had completely lost control.

Massacres.

Entire families wiped out.

And not just anyone, but two major families.

It was horrifying.

Even in the West, it had been years since anyone had heard of something this serious happening.

Juan suddenly couldn't wait to find Stephen or Hosea.

He needed to tell them what had happened and let them decide what to do.

Surely they'd be just as shocked as he was.

"Those damned outlaws. Every one of them deserves to burn in hell."

Andre spoke through clenched teeth.

"People like that are a plague on American society."

The broker gave Andre a faint smile.

"Why are you so angry? Both the Gray family and the Braithwaite family were your competitors, weren't they?"

The Grays sold tobacco.

The Braithwaites sold moonshine.

Both families were major suppliers in the region.

MacFarlane's Ranch sold both products as well, making the ranch a direct competitor to each family.

Fortunately for the ranch, the Grays and Braithwaites hated each other so much that they would rather buy tobacco and liquor from MacFarlane's Ranch than buy anything from the other family.

Combined with support from the Crocodile Gang at the port, MacFarlane's Ranch had grown from a small business struggling to survive between the two families into one of the area's major suppliers.

"This isn't about business."

Andre shook his head.

"As long as outlaws like that are running around, nobody can do business in peace."

The broker nodded, then looked at Andre sympathetically.

"Come to think of it, you've got the Del Lobo Gang in New Austin."

"Things aren't exactly peaceful on your side either."

Compared with the Van der Linde Gang, the Del Lobo Gang was every bit as bad, if not worse.

With a group like that operating in New Austin, nobody could truly feel safe.

The two continued chatting, but nothing else useful came up.

Juan picked up another crate and went back to work.

The two wagonloads held plenty of cargo, but with so many people working together, unloading them didn't take long.

Just as Juan carried the final crate into the warehouse, the rain came crashing down.

It was so heavy that Juan felt like he'd never seen anything like it before.

Within moments, the sound of rain filled the entire world.

He could hear nothing else.

Raindrops the size of beans hammered against the nearby buildings, quickly throwing up a thick mist that covered the entire dock in white.

Juan stood beneath the eaves and looked toward the buildings barely visible through the haze.

Everything before him looked like an old photograph slowly fading away.

Indistinct.

Almost unreal.

The broker stared out at the torrential rain.

He slipped a hand into his pocket and felt the stack of bills inside.

Conflict appeared on his face.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath, as though he'd finally made an important decision.

"For the sake of all the years we've known each other, I'll give you one last piece of information."

He turned toward Andre, his expression suddenly serious.

"Heh. Some business secret?"

Andre smiled.

"I knew you didn't come all the way over here just to chat."

"Of course I didn't."

The broker shook his head.

"They sent me here to keep you occupied."

Andre frowned.

"Keep us occupied? What do you mean? Who sent you?"

"Don't ask."

The broker slowly leaned toward Andre's ear.

"I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Something's happened inside the Crocodile Gang."

"If I were you, I'd use this storm as cover and get out of here while you still can."

The moment he finished speaking, the broker didn't wait for Andre's response.

He lowered his head and ran straight into the rain.

Andre watched him disappear into the downpour.

A deep sense of unease immediately settled over him.

Andre had been with MacFarlane's Ranch for many years.

Naturally, he knew about some of the ranch's less obvious connections.

He also knew exactly what the Crocodile Gang really was.

Now something had happened inside the Crocodile Gang, and they'd sent a broker Andre knew personally to keep the ranch's people from leaving.

It took him only a moment to understand what that probably meant.

He didn't know why.

He didn't know what had happened inside the Crocodile Gang.

But none of that mattered.

Staying alive came first.

"Everyone, gather up!"

Andre made his decision in a matter of seconds.

He spun around and shouted at the gunmen sheltering from the rain near the warehouse entrance.

"Get everyone together! We're leaving right now!"

Everyone stared at him in confusion.

"Mr. Andre, in this rain?"

One of the gunmen looked baffled.

"We're heading straight back? Aren't we supposed to wait for the goods from over there?"

As he spoke, he pointed toward the distant church.

They had brought two full wagonloads of goods.

Naturally, they hadn't planned on returning empty-handed.

The Crocodile Gang controlled such a large port that they always had first access to plenty of cheap, highly sought-after goods.

MacFarlane's Ranch benefited greatly from that arrangement.

In fact, those deals were one of the main reasons the ranch had managed to rise so quickly and become such an important customer here.

"There's no time. Get everyone together!"

Andre had neither the time nor the patience to explain.

He waved toward the guards.

"Not just the people who came with us. Everyone working in the warehouse too!"

"Everyone?"

That only confused them more.

What was happening?

Were they really abandoning the business here?

But Andre had been with the ranch for years, and his words carried weight.

If they couldn't understand it, then there was no point asking.

Andre was the one responsible if something went wrong.

The gunman stopped questioning him.

Besides, judging from Andre's expression, pushing him any further probably wasn't a good idea.

Unfortunately, gathering everyone wasn't easy.

The rain was coming down hard.

Some of the men who hadn't made it inside quickly enough had gotten soaked and were now sitting shirtless inside while their clothes dried.

Several others had already retreated to the back of the warehouse and started playing cards.

For a moment, the entire place descended into chaos.

Andre watched everyone scrambling around, his anxiety growing worse by the second.

"Move! Hurry the hell up!"

All he could do was keep shouting at them.

He didn't believe the broker would lie to him about something like this.

It wasn't the kind of joke anyone made casually.

Especially not when the Crocodile Gang was involved.

Then, suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps reached him through the pounding rain.

At first, Andre thought he'd imagined it.

Maybe it was just the men moving around inside the warehouse.

But the footsteps grew louder.

Closer.

Only then did Andre realize that leaving might not be so easy anymore.

He slowly turned around.

Through the curtain of rain, a mass of armed men was closing in around them.

Andre recognized them immediately.

They were all members of the Crocodile Gang.

After all, every leather coat they were wearing had been made by MacFarlane's Ranch.

"Everyone inside the warehouse! Now!"

Andre saw the men raising their guns and felt his blood run cold.

He shouted the warning while ducking his head and sprinting into the warehouse.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The instant his warning left his mouth, gunfire tore through the rain.

Bullets screamed toward the confused crowd gathered in front of the warehouse.

Today, the rain ran red.