Homicidal By Design [Hector Escaton]

Chapter 15

It had been confirmed by a small trading outpost that the band of Confederados had taken up temporary residence at a solitary homestead in the valley. According to the shopkeeper, they had been conducting a business deal with El Lazo's men before meeting up with the rest of the gang in Pariah - and terrorizing the family that lived there. It had taken no time at all for Hector and Izzy to locate the quaint farm.

To the untrained eye, it was the most picturesque little ranch; lush green pasture with colorful cows grazing peacefully, a windmill creaking, and a small patch of tomatoes alongside the cabin. Two draft horses napped in a paddock. Only the sheer number of saddled horses by the hitching post gave away how many people were within. Located between two steep hills, it was in an ideal spot for someone trying to scope it out. They had set up their temporary camp on the far side of one of the hills, perfectly invisible to the derelict hicks inside.

Hector estimated there were eight to ten of them including John Singleton Moseby, and probably an equal number of El Lazo's men. The two sides would be easy to tell apart. They could create a distraction to spook the horses, that would draw one out, and a second would back him up. He would have a clear shot; even at 300 yards he was confident he would be able to fire kill shots.

Once they had picked off a few, they could move to one of the outbuildings closer to the house for cover. Being down on numbers, the gang wouldn't leave the house to return fire. It would be a slower process at that point, but once they cleared all of the Confederados, they could simply leave. There was no reason to attack the other group or jeopardize the family inside.

What had he said? Oh yeah: "And you can try to hit one too, if you are so inclined."

So, Izzy got to help as they took on the small group, as long as she "Didn't accidentally shoot him". Stupid cheeky infuriating android.

But all jokes aside, judging by Hector's rapt absorption, there was no chance this plan was going to go wrong.

Well there was almost no way this could go wrong. Until Len showed up with a white hat host in tow, looking to collect a bounty. They had no choice but to team up, Len impressed it upon Izzy that if they weren't abundantly clear about their unity, the bounty hunter, Holden, and Hector would shoot each other, as they probably had in previous narrative loops.

Within minutes the two of them had already disagreed about how many Confederados there were and how best to proceed.

Hector won through sheer force of will.

******

As they waited until dusk to launch their ambush, Izzy made Len take a walk with her. She hoped Holden and Hector could play nice without supervision and was pleased to see that they had distanced themselves.

"What are you doing here, Len?" Izzy questioned as they headed out of camp and toward the prairie. She tried to not sound annoyed, but she was. All anyone talked about was the massive scale of the park and the numerous storylines... and he was going to tell her that they accidentally ran into each other in the middle of nowhere?

"Same as you! Only we are hunting Slim Miller, apparently, he is here doing business with your man before the rest of the Confederados meet them in Pariah. I'm trying to get to the War narrative and have to pick him up to exchange him for information from El Lazo," he replied, his eyes pleading.

Was it possible that it really was a coincidence?

Len chuckled inwardly and looked over to the small camp down the hill. He spotted Hector. "You know, it's funny. Izzy, you can see through anyone's bullshit. You pick people apart systematically for a living, God help any man who tries to chat you up at a bar...and an android conned you."