Native Outlaw

Chapter VI

The next morning

The ground crunches as the horses walk over the cracked earth. The heat boars down on our backs, but instead of making me uncomfortable, I relish in it. Feeling it through my clothes and seeping into my skin. Billy leads the pack like he should be. Doc, Chavez, and me follow behind but not too close while Charlie, Chip, and Dick follow behind us.

"So miss Jane, what all did this famous grandpa of yours teach you?" Doc asks with a genuine smile on his face. His medium length blonde hair glints off the sun and lightly blows in the subtle wind. I rearrange my dress on the horse seeing as how i'm not ridding side saddle. I give up and look back up at him.

"What category are you referring to?" I smirk at him. Chavez scoffs.

"Aw don't get cocky, Chivato." He says with a short one huffed laugh. I turn back to Doc and he seems slightly amused.

"Well I-" Doc starts to explain himself.

"Ya'll listen up." Billy cuts Doc off as he comes to a stop to stand in front of us. We slow down until we meet up to him and we all huddle around. In the distance behind Billy there is quite a large town. One that would probably have a movie theater and so called "respectable" people, also known as lawmen and their housecleaning wives.

"I didn't want to tell ya'll till we got closer, so I will go ahead and tell you now. There's a heavily guarded bank up there." Billy says nodding his head to the town below us and in the distance. "Everyone has a job, and you know your job. But just for the little lady I will go over it just to make sure she knows what's going to happen here." He makes eye contact with me and a wide grin stretches across his face. In the corner of my eye I see Chavez shift uncomfortably. I crack a small smile.

"Are you even sure the lady wants to do this?" Dick asks as he eyes me with uncertainty. Why do they keep talking about me like I'm not here?

"You'll get to know her Dick, you all will." Billy says with a gleam in his eyes. Before things can get too awkward I clear my throat.

"So the plan, Billy?" I say gesturing towards him. Everyone brings their attention back to him and he starts back up again.

"Charlie and Chip, I want you two to go to the opposite side of the town. Anyone that tries to get away that is not a woman or child should be shot if they threaten to go to the law or threatened themselves. You two will be responsible for the people that try to tell on us to sum that up." They nod their heads.

"Go on and get a head start. Don't draw attention to yourselves. " Billy nods his head In the direction of the town again and they start off. Now its just me, Billy, Doc, Chavez, and Dick.

"Dick and Doc, you two will help get witnesses from outside the bank away. Draw their attention to something and try to keep them and anyone else that walks up to the bank interested.  That will help eliminate some tattle-tells." They both nod and start off to the town. Now its just me, Chavez, and Billy. One big happy family.

"Jane, make the wild imagination of yours come to life. Think of anything you can to get those lawmen and guards away from the bank at all costs. This is one of the most important jobs you could do. You might not get their attention for forever but just enough for me and ole Chavez to sneak in there. " I nod my head and look over at Chavez. His face is hard and concentrated. Probably playing everything out in his head. He catches my gaze and his face turns soft, and he looks off into the air. I look back at Billy to see his jaw clench just in time, then its gone.

"Okay, I got this. Do y'all want me to go first?"I ask.

"Me and Billy will head down separate to get into position. Wait about five minutes from the time you see us walk in to start heading down." Chavez says as Billy nods along.

"Okay, good-luck." I say with a small half sided smile. They both chuckle.

"You're the one that'll need it little lady." Chavez smiles and start slowly trotting down the canyon and on the path to the town. Billy rides up closer to me, our horses facing in different directions but they are side by side. The wind blows my long hair off my face and behind me, it feels like a drink of fresh spring water. Billy pinches a piece of hair that is going in the opposite direction and acts like hes going to put it with the rest. Instead he lets go of it and puts his hand on my head and ruffles it around until I look like a chicken's nest. I swat at him.

"Billy! Quit right now! Stop!" I punch him in the arm and he moans in pain but its playful. I wish it wasn't.

"Alright, alright." He says with his boisterous laugh. He starts off down the path, and I can hear him laughing all the way down. I cant help but crack a smile to myself.

I wait in silence, the wind is getting heavier and faster. It whips my hair around into my face, my horse Thunder neighs and his hair flies up as well. I cant hear what is being said in the town below me, all I can hear is the wind and my heart pounding as I continue to count to five minutes in my head. The world gets calm, and the wind stops for a few seconds. 3 minutes and 28 seconds have gone by. I continue to count. Hooves start thundering against the cracked earth, coming right behind me so I move off of the pathway to make room for our eager passerby. The thundering gets closer until it slows down to a stop just to my left. A throat clears and I tear my eyes off of the town below.

"How do you do miss?" A man in a suit on horseback says. That's odd, a man with that kind of money should be in a carriage of some sort.

"I'm just fine. And you?" I ask him. A small smile tugs up at the corners of his mouth, revealing pearl white teeth. I think I stare at them too long because then he clears his throat again.

"Er, sorry. Did you say something?" Well if I could stop being dumb that would be great. He chuckles and I realize he has taken his hat off and put it against his chest.

"I better get going. Got a lot of things to do in town today." I say as I grab for the reigns.

"Oh okay, sorry I didn't quite get your name." He says with an undertone of a longing seeping through. I start slowly going down the path, and call over my shoulder. He follows as I hear the hooves of his horse again.

"Jane. Jane Greathouse." I say. The hooves stop, and I hear a sort of popping sound. The kind of sound you hear when someone's jaw pops open. That is always going to give me some kind of amusement. I like throwing people off. I know why he reacted that way, but I don't have time, I have a job to be done. So I make my horse go faster, and I look over my shoulder one last time to see him standing there in awe. I feel sorry for him, i'm not the upper-class lady he mistaken me for anymore, that fake life is behind me, I'm an outlaws descendant. I'm an outlaw myself. At that, I smile as I ride into the quiet  town that will soon be chaos.

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