RDR: NO REGRETS - Chapter 321: Gunfight (Patreon)

At the back of the church, Stephen had already led Chen Mo and the others out of the secret passage.

Despite the wind, rain, and darkness, they immediately heard gunfire in the distance.

"Damn it. They've already started!"

Seth quickly recognized that the shots were coming from the warehouse at MacFarlane's Ranch.

"What do we do? Are we going to save them?"

Seth looked hesitantly at Chen Mo, but Chen Mo remained silent, his head lowered.

By all rights, the warehouse must have everyone's attention now. This was the perfect opportunity for them to slip away in the confusion.

But abandoning those people like this...

"I don't care what the rest of you decide. I'm going to save them."

Stephen spoke calmly. "My brother is still with the convoy."

He might not care about the others, but Juan was one of his men. Stephen wasn't the kind of man who abandoned his own brother.

With a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, Stephen turned to Chen Mo.

The choice was his now.

Chen Mo was their leader, and in a sense, the people in the convoy were his people as well.

Still, if he chose to take these gunmen and run, Stephen wouldn't hold it against him.

Fear of death was only natural, especially for a young master who had grown up in comfort.

If that happened, Stephen would simply go in alone and rescue Juan.

Fortunately, the wind and rain were heavy. He could use the chaos to slip inside, find Juan, get on a horse, and ride straight into the wilderness.

It sounded difficult, but Stephen didn't consider it impossible.

"I'm going with you!"

Chen Mo hesitated for less than five seconds before making his decision.

He looked up at Stephen. "Do you have a plan?"

Stephen shook his head. "No. We'll deal with things as they come."

"But you've been here for a while. Do you know any way to get close without being noticed?"

There was no reason not to use a surprise attack if they could.

They could fight their way in from the front, but why make things harder than necessary?

"There is."

Seth lowered his voice. "If we head west from here, there's a small path we can use to circle around."

He pointed west.

"But there are guards along that route. We'll have to be careful. If they spot us..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood.

If their group was discovered, they'd immediately draw everyone's attention.

Then instead of rescuing anyone, they'd be the ones who needed saving.

"Then I'll go first."

Stephen thought for a moment before deciding.

"I'll deal with the guards. You follow after me."

Without waiting for Chen Mo or the others to answer, Stephen crouched low and slipped away alone.

Watching Stephen disappear into the darkness, Chen Mo gritted his teeth and waved to Seth and the other gunmen behind him.

The group formed a single-file line and carefully followed Stephen.

"Bishop, do we really need to take this risk?"

Seth moved closer to Chen Mo and whispered cautiously, "If we just leave now..."

"And then what?"

Chen Mo gritted his teeth. "What are we supposed to do after that? Wander around New Austin?"

The question caught Seth off guard.

"We could go straight to the ranch. Mr. MacFarlane still has..."

Chen Mo gave a quiet laugh.

"You still don't understand? If those people are attacking the ranch's warehouse and coming after me, do you really think they'll leave the ranch alone?"

Seth fell silent.

He was right.

How could those people possibly spare the ranch?

The Del Lobo Gang had been eyeing MacFarlane's Ranch for a long time, always waiting for an opportunity to tear off a piece for themselves. There was no way they'd pass up a chance like this.

"So even if we escape now, we'll only end up like the Del Lobo Gang. We'll become outlaws robbing people just to survive, until the lawmen and Pinkertons wipe us out, or the Del Lobo Gang and my uncles find us and kill us."

Chen Mo sneered.

"If that's where we're headed, then what was the point of everything we've done?"

With that, he quickened his pace and caught up with Stephen.

What other choice did they have besides taking the gamble?

What could a handful of men with a few guns really accomplish on their own?

Worse still, everyone except Chen Mo was Black. They were the kind of people who weren't welcome almost anywhere. Even finding some remote place to settle down would probably be difficult.

So while they still had the chance, they needed to save as many people as they could.

Every person they rescued would mean another man on Chen Mo's side later, another person who could help him.

If they could rescue Stephen's men, that would be even better.

The Van der Linde Gang was a major gang. Their fearsome reputation hadn't come from nowhere.

If Chen Mo could gain their help, wiping out the Del Lobo Gang, or even coming back for revenge, wouldn't be an impossible dream.

So the choice wasn't difficult at all.

There was nothing left to think about.

They just had to do it.

...

Time slowly passed, and the rain at the port only grew heavier.

Juan didn't know exactly what Stephen had meant when he said things were looking bad, but he was damn sure things were bad now.

The Crocodile Gang's very first volley had killed half the people there.

That was how brutal it had been.

The completely unprepared workers went down in droves beneath the hail of gunfire. By the time the survivors recovered enough to return fire, the ground outside the warehouse entrance was already stained red with blood.

Rainwater mixed with blood, gathering into crimson puddles at the doorway.

The sight alone was enough to make anyone's stomach turn.

Juan had simply gotten lucky.

Just as Andre shouted for everyone to retreat, Juan had happened to turn and step inside.

The man directly behind him wasn't nearly as fortunate.

A storm of bullets tore into his body, and by sheer chance, he ended up serving as a human shield for Juan.

Having narrowly escaped death, Juan didn't even dare look back. He sprinted deep into the warehouse and hid himself completely behind the rows of shelves.

After several deep breaths, his pounding heart finally began to settle.

Gunshots and screams continued outside.

Juan cautiously poked half his head around the edge of a shelf to see what was happening.

At the warehouse entrance, Andre and several gunmen were desperately returning fire.

In a way, they'd been lucky.

Most of the dead were warehouse workers. Those men had spent too long living peaceful lives, and their reactions had been noticeably slower than the others.

Not one of the gunmen who had come with Juan had been killed.

Only one had been wounded.

Juan counted the survivors.

There were seven people left in the warehouse.

Juan, Andre, three gunmen, a stablehand, and the warehouse accountant.

As for how many enemies were outside, no one knew.

The only good news was that the Crocodile Gang had apparently expected their first volley to terrify this ragtag group. They'd probably assumed they could charge straight in afterward and finish off whoever remained.

But Andre and the gunmen weren't pushovers.

They fought back desperately, managed to stop the first assault, and forced the Crocodile Gang into a standoff.

They also had Mr. MacFarlane to thank for building such a sturdy warehouse.

The walls weren't merely made from thick wooden planks. They had also been reinforced with steel bars.

Even the main doors were made from massive solid planks nearly a handspan thick.

Bullets struck them with dull thuds, punching holes into the wood but failing to go any farther.

Still, that was all the protection they had.

There was no way they could hold the warehouse indefinitely with only a handful of guns.

Sooner or later, the men outside would kill them all.

Juan knew those people had come here to kill.

If Andre and the others couldn't hold them off, Juan was going to die too.

As for escaping, where could he possibly run now?

Anyone could guess that the entire area outside was probably crawling with enemies.

Even if Juan made it out of the warehouse, he'd most likely run straight into a bullet.

With nowhere left to go, Juan had no choice but to fight.

He quickly drew the pistol from his waistband and crawled on all fours toward the entrance to join the others.

"Damn it! Have those Crocodile Gang bastards lost their minds?"

Andre squeezed his eyes shut and emptied his gun toward the enemy. Then, with trembling hands, he began reloading while shouting angrily.

"Aren't they afraid of what'll happen afterward? Without our ranch, how the hell do they expect to keep living comfortably around here?!"

Andre had worked for the MacFarlane family for many years, so naturally he knew plenty of things outsiders didn't.

That was exactly why he was so furious.

Without the ranch, these people would practically be reduced to begging for food.

"None of that matters now! We need to figure out what we're going to do!"

One of the veteran gunmen shouted in frustration.

"There are too many of them! We can't hold out much longer!"

There were simply too many gunmen outside, and they were clearly determined to kill every last one of them.

There had been no warning.

No one had stepped forward to talk.

They hadn't even bothered demanding a surrender.

With bullets pouring into the warehouse, the defenders couldn't even raise their heads long enough to aim.

The gunmen could only keep their heads down and stick their guns around cover with trembling hands, firing blindly without looking.

Whether they hit anything was anybody's guess.

All they could do was keep shooting.

"Thank God it's raining today. Otherwise they'd only have to start a fire and we'd be finished," one of the gunmen said, sounding relieved.

Andre raised his gun and fired several shots.

"Hmph. They might not want to burn this place down, but I sure as hell do!"

Juan raised his pistol and shot one of the men charging in front.

He was about to fire again when another torrent of bullets forced him back behind cover.

Panting heavily, he shouted at Andre, "Burn it down? What happens to us if we set the place on fire? Do we even have a way out?"

"The back door!"

Andre grinned.

"There's a back door at the rear of the warehouse. Not many people know about it."

"It comes out right by the stables, and there's a path leading out from there. We just grab some horses and ride!"

"Then why the hell are we still here?!"

Juan shouted immediately.

"If there's a way out, why are we still fighting?"

"I didn't think of it until now..."

The sudden attack had left Andre's mind in chaos. Only now did he remember that the warehouse had a back door.

It wasn't particularly strange for a warehouse to have one.

Business was business, after all, and sometimes there were deals best kept out of sight.

Andre scrambled to his feet and waved to everyone.

"Shut the main doors, then follow me!"

The moment they heard there was a way out, everyone suddenly found a new burst of strength.

The stablehand and accountant strained against the warehouse's heavy doors until they managed to push them completely shut.

Click.

They locked them from the inside.

There were only two large windows near the warehouse entrance, and Andre quickly had two gunmen barricade them.

Juan hurried over to a nearby crate, hoisted it up without caring what was inside, and dumped it behind the doors.

The others immediately joined him.

Within moments, the entrance had been completely barricaded.

Even if the people outside managed to force the doors open, they wouldn't be getting inside quickly.

"Come on! Follow me!"

Once everything was ready, Andre gritted his teeth and pulled a match from his pocket.

He struck it, opened a nearby crate, and tossed the burning match inside.

The crate was filled with processed wool.

The fluffy material made perfect kindling.

The moment the flame touched it, fire surged upward.

"Fuck them! I'd rather burn everything than leave a damn thing for those bastards!"

Watching the flames spread and thick smoke billow upward, Andre spat angrily onto the floor.

The goods stored here were worth a fortune.

Seeing them burn hurt Andre, and even Juan felt a pang of regret.

There was so much valuable stuff here.

If only it all belonged to them.

"Move!"

There was no time to mourn the loss.

Andre waved them forward and ran toward the back of the warehouse.

As he went, he kept striking matches.

Whenever he passed a crate containing something that looked easy to burn, he opened it and tossed a match inside.

By the time they reached the rear of the warehouse, the entire building was filled with thick black smoke.

"Quick! Kick the door open!"

The door was locked, and there was no time to search for a key.

Two gunmen stepped forward and kicked it together.

After three or four hard blows, the small door burst open.

The stables were directly outside.

Four or five gunmen were standing guard there.

It seemed the attackers really had planned everything before making their move.

They'd even stationed men at the stables.

The guards were stunned when a group of men blackened by smoke suddenly burst out of the warehouse.

They hadn't even known there was another door there.

The gunmen hurriedly raised their weapons.

Juan and the others immediately did the same.

For a moment, both sides simply froze.

Everyone had a gun aimed at someone else, but no one dared pull the trigger first.

Their numbers were roughly equal, and both sides had pistols and rifles.

Once the shooting started, nobody was likely to come out of it unharmed.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A sudden burst of gunfire shattered the standoff.

Juan nearly jumped out of his skin.

He squeezed his eyes shut, opened his mouth in alarm, and instinctively pulled the trigger.

Huh?

I didn't get hit?

Nothing hurt.

But suddenly, everything around him had gone quiet.

Juan cautiously opened his eyes.

Every one of the gunmen in front of them was lying on the ground.

"Phew..."

Juan let out a long breath of relief.

He'd almost had one foot in the grave.

This day was way too damn exciting.

His arms and legs suddenly felt weak.

If there hadn't been people all around him, he probably would've collapsed right there.

"You guys all right?"

A familiar voice suddenly called out.

Juan quickly turned his head.

It was Stephen.

"Boss! I'm here!"

Juan shouted excitedly, waving his arm toward him.

Seeing Juan alive and kicking, with all his limbs still attached, Stephen finally breathed a sigh of relief.