The next day, we sat to plan out how to get Jack back.
"It'll work out, John. It's gonna work out, listen to Dutch," Hosea said.
"I don't expect you to understand this, but I have never been more proud of you than I am right now, son," Dutch said, sincerity in his voice, "You're doing the right thing."
"If I don't get the boy back safe," John looked up, "I'm... she... she'll kill us all!"
"I know, but..." Dutch sighed, "Looking at this logically, that boy is fine. They took him to scare us. Nobody takes a boy to harm him!"
"He's right, John," Hosea nodded.
"What do you think, Ann?" they all glanced at me as I leaned against the back of a chair.
"That boy'll be fine, but..." I sighed, "Of course Marston's scared rotten. We killed all those people, we stirred up all that trouble, for nothing!"
"No, no, not for nothing," Dutch shook his head, "For living. Now, we get that boy back, and we go. Trust me."
"Hey, Dutch," Lenny called, "We got a problem."
"Not a problem," two men were walking into camp, I didn't have to be a genius to know they were Pinkertons, "A solution. Good day, fine people. Mr Van der Linde. Mr Matthews, I presume. And who are you?"
John stood up as the first man addressed him, "Rip Van Winkle."
"Huh..." the first man nodded, "Good day sir. Agent Milton, Pinkerton Detective Agency. Agent Ross. Ah, Mr Morgan! Nice to see you again! And you must be... Miss Wright."
I flinched slightly at the mention of my name and Arthur stepped forward, pushing me behind him and hovering his hand over his holster. I stared over his shoulder with hatred in my eyes. Yet again, we made too much noise and here were Pinkertons stood in our camp.
"And to what do we owe the pleasure, Agent Moron?" asked Dutch, he still hadn't looked around.
"I don't know if you're aware but this..." Milton signalled around him, "This is a civilised land now. We didn't kill all them savages to allow the likes of you to act like human dignity and basic decency was outmoded or not yet invented! This thing? It's done."
"This place," Dutch stood up, "ain't no such thing as civilised. It is man, so in love with greed, he has forgotten himself and found only appetites."
"And as a consequence that lets you take what you please, kill who you please and hang the rest of us?" Milton yelled and Dutch glanced at Arthur, his face unbothered, "Who made you the messiah to these lost souls you've led so horribly astray?"
"I ain't nothing but a seeker, Mr Milton," Dutch said calmly.
"You ain't much of anything more than a killer, Mr Van der Linde," Milton replied, "But I came to make a deal. It's time. You come with me, and I give the rest of ya three days to run off, disappear, and go live like human beings someplace else."
"You came for me?" Dutch asked, feigning surprise, "Risked life and limb in this den of lowlifes and murderers, so that they might live and love? Ain't that fine."
We all laughed, a low rumble surrounding the Agents.
"I don't wanna kill all these folk, Dutch," Milton said, "Just you."
"In that case," Dutch held up his hands and stepped forward, "It'd be my honour to join you. Excuse me, friends. I have an appointment to keep with..."
There was a click as everyone readied their guns, with one goal. Kill Milton and Ross. I had to wonder what these two men were expecting - to come into the camp of a gang of killers and not be shot to pieces?
YOU ARE READING
RDR2: Faithless
Fanfiction"Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens." Ann Wright was only a few months old when she was found outside Saint Denis, discarded and forgotten. The ones who found her? Dutch van der Linde and Hosea Matthews, alongside their adoptive...
