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"Dutch.. are you sure about this.." Arthur worriedly crouches down next to the dark haired leader.
A coyote howls in the distance as the moonlight barely illuminates the trees around them.
Hosea places a hand on Arthur's shoulder reassuringly from his other side.
"Don't worry my boy," he whispers. "We wouldn't walk you into too terrible of danger being as green as you are"
"I ain't green" the twenty year old boy shrugs the older mans hand off.
Hosea just chuckles at the boys pride as they both look forward at the small farmhouse they have been staking out for the past half hour. Dutch stays silent as he watches three men, near the house, peaking slightly over top the bush through his binoculars. The rival men seem to be drinking and doing a rather amateur job at keeping watch of the place.
"There's only 5 of em I reckon," he finally breaks his silence. "Easy. I figure we take em out quick and grab the plans to that bank robbery. The papers are holed up in the cabin with the other two fools."
"But there's only three of us?" Arthur raises an eyebrow.
"We each take one, leaving only the two left inside." Dutch puts away his binoculars and turns to the other two men.
"Quietly.." he sternly looks at them waiting for a nod of understanding.
The three pull their knives and break off into the trees. Hosea and Arthur take the left flank at the two men standing side by side, smoking cigars, as Dutch takes the other side towards the man passed out by the fire.
In perfect timing, the three jab their knives into their victims at the same time, stifling their yells with their hands and letting the bodies fall to the ground.
"Damn, looks like this the poor fella who lived here," Arthur whispers as he lifts a white sheet on the ground to reveal the body of a man possibly in his late fifties to sixties.
Hosea looks at the corpse with pursed lips as he passes by it, towards the cabin window where Dutch already stands peering inside.
"Alright, I say we just go in and hit em hard" Dutch looks around making sure there is for sure only two inside.
"You know, these bastards have got to be some dumb fools to be so undermanned with all these plans laying around here.." Arthur furrows his brows.
"Yes, but there is more likely coming back soon from town." Hosea nods his head. "I say we do this quick and get the hell back to camp"
The three men all agree and pull their pistols from their holsters. Creeping toward the door Dutch stands on one side and Hosea on the other.
"Ready?" Arthur stands back in position to kick the door, waiting for approval.
"Go ahead, son" Dutch nods.
In one swift motion Arthur kicks the wooden door open, sending small shards of wood flying from the frame. The two rival men turn in shock from their spots at the kitchen table in the centre of the small cabin. Before they can even draw, Dutch and Hosea shoot them instantly sending them to the floor in two heaps.
"Alright grab the plans and loot what you can" Dutch orders as he stalks up to the to the table covered in papers.
Arthur walks over to the fireplace and picks up a picture sitting on the mantle. He cocks his head at the black and white photo of a man, the one he saw dead outside, as well as a young woman with blonde hair holding a baby. Surely the man was the woman's father as he looks far too old to be her husband. But where is the woman? Dead like the man? He wonders.
