The Escort

chapter 15

Tonio arrived just before the train to find the mine depot deserted. The Bunker had evidently been warned and the staff had retreated without a fight. Wise men. To try to fight the mob would have been futile.

Tonio scanned the train, hoping Angelina had gotten off before the men boarded in Burke. Then he saw her. The green of her dress stood out like a bright spring bud against the drab colors of the men. Clell held her captive in the engine along with Al. Before the train had slowed to a stop, a contingency of men streamed off and up the hill.

One of them grabbed Tonio's arm and pulled him along. "Tonio! You're here! Good news. The explosion's sure to be a success now."

Tonio nodded. "Where are you headed?"

The man looked confused. Probably wondering why Tonio didn't know the plan.

"We're being sent ahead as pickets to see if the mine is abandoned." He tossed Tonio a white piece of cloth. "You forgot your arm band, and shouldn't you of all people be masked?"

"What difference would a mask make?" Tonio coolly played along as he tied his armband on. "My reputation is well spread."

The man laughed. "I bet you can hardly wait for the excitement to begin."

"Hardly," Tonio repeated.

"Join us and have the further honor of securing the mine."

The tide of pickets being sent ahead swept Tonio along. For one brief moment as the tide pushed him off the depot platform, he was able to turn back and look into the engine in time to see Angelina. She turned away before seeing him. He had no choice but to play along and head up the hill with the scouts. Her safety depended on it.

Tonio knew the sequence of events to follow. They were going to blow up the pride of the Bunker Hill Company, its $250,000 concentrator. Without his expertise, they were forced to do it in broad daylight and with brute force. There would be no finesse today. Baker was right. It was war. A war with nearly a thousand angry, riled men. There was no stopping them from their course of action.

He climbed the hill with the pickets with an exuberance he did not feel. When they reached the mine, his suspicions were confirmed. The Bunker people had indeed been warned and had retreated. The mine was a ghost town. He scanned the surrounding hills, wondering whether the roughly two hundred remaining faithful workers were hiding there, armed and ready to defend the mine, their livelihood.

"The place's deserted! Them cussed scabs deserted!" The man next to him yelled. Without warning he drew his gun and raised it into the air, firing a shot to signal all clear before Tonio could stop him.

"Fool!" Tonio reached for the man's gun arm. "The mob doesn't know—"

Before Tonio could finish his sentence, a volley of gunfire erupted. As Tonio had feared, the mob below wrongly interpreted the shot, thinking that the pickets were under attack. In their frenzy, they fired ahead into the mine area at their own men. The panicked pickets shot back, fueling the battle. Tonio was completely without cover.

As he ducked for the meager cover of a stack of wooden crates, a bullet struck him. His left shoulder seared with burning pain. He fell to the hard packed dirt, cupping his shoulder and suppressing a groan. The first few drops of blood soaked his shirt and wicked out. He cursed beneath his breath. The bleeding wasn't overly heavily. He flexed his arm and wiggled his fingers. Flesh wound.

The volley continued. A man Tonio recognized fell to the ground dead. Stupid devil! Tonio couldn't chance running out into the line of fire to recover the body.

The mob streamed up the hill. As suddenly as it had begun, the volley halted. It were as if the mob had recognized its mistake all at once, and acted with one mind. Tonio watched as a group of men carted the dead man down the hill. Tonio struggled to his feet and made it to the shade of a nearby building. He collapsed on the ground and leaned back against the building, clutching his shoulder to stem the bleeding. He didn't want to be discovered and packed off to the hospital. Somehow he had to get back to the depot and help Angelina.



The blood pounded in Angelina's head as she watched a select group of the mob detrain and race up the hill. They whooped and hollered what could only be described as a war cry. The look in the eyes of the men all around her and those that streamed by frightened her beyond measure. Brown, blue, green, or hazel, each eye blazed with the same insanity. They were part of an uncontrollable, unstoppable presence, a force of a magnitude not often seen. The power of their unity was an opiate in which the sanity and reason of the individual was lost.

Moments later she heard what she thought was a blast of dynamite. Almost simultaneously, Al pushed her to the floor and whispered in her ear. "Gunfire. Keep low."

The volley that followed lasted only minutes, but the terror it wrought in her reverberated on and on like an unstoppable echo.

Men streamed off the train in a tide of black and flowed up the hill. Minutes later they carried a bloody corpse back down. The man's eyes were blank, the violent glint absent, and his mouth hung open, slack and limp.

She watched frantically, but no more bodies were retrieved.

The union men worked with feverish enthusiasm unloading the crates of blasting powder stolen from the Frisco. They unloaded carton after carton and shuttled them up the hill with no more concern for the contents than if the explosive powder had been powdered sugar.

Angelina shuddered, remembering the dissertation Tonio had once given her on explosives. One errant spark and they could all be blown up. She didn't know enough about the workings of a mine to know exactly what would cause the most damage to the mine's operations. The crowd she was among would know and would go after it.

What were these men thinking? Surely the law would eventually catch and punish the perpetrators.

A hard, cold gun barrel in her ribs brought her back to reality. "Time to lock you up while we finish our work here," Clell said.

"Swine!"

He dug the barrel deeper into her ribs. "Move."

He grabbed her arm and thrust her out the engine door. Al went for his gun arm but two men pinned him immediately. Angelina heard the heavy thud of a fist hitting flesh behind her, then she stumbled onto the gravel next to the tracks. Clell pulled her to her feet, then he shoved her toward an abandoned rail car.



Tonio leaned against the wall, clutching his shoulder and breathing deeply to stave off the pain. He had to act quickly to free Angelina. Soon the shock would wear off and his shoulder would stiffen. But before he could act, he needed to stop the bleeding. At dirty towel lay a few feet away next to an overturned toolbox. He winced, more from the thought of the filth next to his open wound than from physical pain, as he retrieved it and wound it around his bleeding shoulder. Then he stood slowly and made his way down the hill.



The abandoned car smelled of stale hay and livestock. Bits of straw clung to her hair as she lay on her side on the floor where the Clell had thrown her. Her ears rang and her vision blurred from the beating her head had taken when she hit the floor. She fought to stay conscious as the vile man bent over her and tore at her camisole in an effort to free her breasts. She needed to reach her knife but it was impossibly pinned underneath her. He suddenly knelt back, and confident that she was too weak to fight back, tossed his gun aside. She rolled to the other side and shoved her narrow skirt up in an effort to reach the knife holstered against her thigh.

The man looked surprised and pleased. "Never seen a woman so anxious for it! Don't worry; I'll give it to you nice and hard in a minute."

Hoping to divert his attention away from the knife, she screamed as she looked toward the door, hoping he would think someone was coming. The moment he turned she'd grab the knife. But the ugly beast only laughed as he pulled her face around to him. "Scream all you like, lady. No one's gonna hear, and if they do, they aren't going to care."

"Care to bet on it?" Tonio stood in the doorway.

Angelina tried to roll away from the Clell. He caught her and pinned her beneath him.

Silhouetted in the doorway, Tonio looked calm and in control, almost casual, as if he were addressing a man in a card game, but his eyes were deadly.

"This is none of your business."

"I think it is. It's not really the lady you want, is it Clell? You want revenge on me. Come fight me like a man and leave her alone."

"Oh, I want her badly enough." Clell reached for his discarded gun.

Anticipating his action, Angelina kicked it just out of his reach. She meant to kick it to Tonio, but it spun and slid short of him.

"How do I know it would be a fair fight? How do I know you haven't got a weapon concealed somewhere?"

Tonio held both hands out in front of him in a show of good faith. It may have been a trick of the shadows, but Angelina could've have sworn he was favoring his left shoulder. From her position, she couldn't get a good look at him except to see that his shirt was stained. Something was amiss, but her panicked mind could not process what it saw.

Tonio clenched his teeth and spoke through them, adding to the menace in his voice. "I'm not wearing a holster."

Clell grabbed Angelina's neck in a choke hold. "Too bad. Take a step closer and I strangle her." He spoke to Angelina, "You're going to get me my gun."

Angelina could barely breathe as he tightened his grip. Surely he didn't expect her to move when she felt about to pass out.

Tonio sprung on Clell from the door in a single bound. Startled, Clell momentarily released his grip on her neck. Gagging and gasping for air, Angelina tried to roll away, but she was pinned beneath the wiry little man and now Tonio as well. As she struggled to get free, she brushed up against Tonio and realized that his shirt was crusted with blood.

Clell saw the wound in nearly the same instant and rammed Tonio's wounded shoulder. Angelina rolled up on her left side, exposing her right side from her hip down. Tonio reached to hold his wounded shoulder, but caught a glint of silver from Angelina's movement. A thin shaft of light illuminated the holstered stiletto. He pulled it from the sheath on her thigh.

As Angelina watched, Tonio stabbed Clell in the shoulder with a single, fluid motion. Clell screamed and rolled off Angelina. She scrambled to her feet.

Clell cursed and swore as he clutched his shoulder. As Angelina watched, his blood spurted up through his shirt.

Tonio stood over Clell, his knife poised for another attack. "Angelina, hand me the bastard's revolver!"

She couldn't keep her hands from trembling as she handed it to him.

Tonio pulled back the trigger and took aim, then eyed Angelina coolly as he spoke in soft Italian. "Shall I finish him?"

"No more violence, Tonio. Please."

He turned back to Clell. "The lady requests mercy on your behalf." He pulled Clell to his feet and shoved him toward the door. "Come near her again and I make you this promise—I will kill you. No mercy." He shoved Clell out of the door.

Angelina stood back from the doorway, pressed against the wall, listening to the heavy crunch of his footfalls as he retreated. Tonio stood guard, his revolver cocked and aimed at Clell's back until the man stumbled out of sight.

Then he slumped against the rail car wall.

"Tonio, are you all right?" Fresh blood soaked his shirt. "How did Clell manage to wound you?" Angelina couldn't think. Her head pounded from the impact with the floor, but no louder than her terrified pulse.

"He didn't."

She paid no attention to his answer. "We must get you to the doctor." She bent over him unsteadily in an effort to examine his wound. His eyes were riveted on her, but not on her face. She traced his gaze to her exposed bosom. The heat of her blush surpassed the warmth of the late April day. She was exposed from her neck to her waist, her beautiful dress torn beyond repair, her camisole ripped, holding together any modesty by mere threads. Below her waist, her smart green skirt hung chastely, as if it hadn't been part of the earlier violence.

"Nice to see that your senses aren't all dulled," she said.

He stood unsteadily, his breathing heavy and pained. "Don't fall apart now, Angel."

He stripped off his shirt. "Put this on. I wouldn't ordinarily offer a lady a shirt in such condition, but the situation being what it is…"

She took it and slid her arms into it. As she had finished buttoning it, she saw the small round hole in the center of the reddish brown stain of his undershirt and comprehension dawned on her. "Tonio, you've been shot!"

"Yes." He stood and hefted his stiletto reverently. "Good woman, carrying my knife with you." There was no mockery or anger in his words.

He pressed the knife back into her hand. "We have to get out of here. I'll carry the gun. You take the knife for defense."

She stared at the blood-covered stiletto in her trembling hand. She couldn't draw her eyes away from the darkening blood. Her hand shook so violently she barely maintained her hold. Another human's blood—

Tonio's hand covered her in a tight grip. "Don't look at it. Don't think about it. I've nothing to clean it with now," he said. "If we hurry, we can escape before the grand finale the union has planned. My horse is tethered just the other side of the depot. The problem is you; you're out of place here."

He quickly outlined his plan. "Don't say anything. Let me do the talking. Stay on my left and cover me. Anyone comes too close, cut him."

Outside the rail car, the sun shone bright and high in the midafternoon sky. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Tonio led the way, walking confidently toward the depot with his left arm draped loosely around Angelina's waist. He held her close and slightly in front of him, hiding his wound from those they approached. He laughed and looked lustily at her. The place was nearly deserted; the majority of the men were up on the hill at the mine works.

Only one man called out to them and that was to voice his approval. "Good idea, bringing a woman along to pass the time until the big fireworks."

Angelina turned to the voice. The man was tall, blond, and stocky, as so many of the Scandinavian miners were. His hair receded to the middle of his head and where his original hairline should have been a large, irregular scar protruded, standing out from his forehead in vivid purple. Even in her panicked state, she felt sorry for him. If only he'd kept his hair, he would have been an attractive man, but the scar was all one noticed on first impression. Tonio nudged her along.

"There's plenty more of them down at the Lux my friend," Tonio called back good naturedly.

They had nearly reached the depot when the first charge went off. It thundered down the valley like the wrath of God. The earth reverberated, the air clapped, the windows in the nearby buildings shook and shattered with the force. Angelina screamed. Tonio cursed as he pulled her under the eaves of a nearby building and crushed her against himself, shielding her with his body. She covered her ears, certain her eardrums had burst, unable to stand any further noise.

A second blast rocked the valley, followed closely by a third and fourth, possibly a fifth. Angelina lost track in her terror. Her ears rang until she could no longer distinguish individual sounds. The sky rained kindling and toothpicks, pieces of wood of various sizes, and razor sharp nails, bits of hot metal. The window above them showered the yard with shards of glass. For a moment there was stillness, nothing but Tonio's strong arms around her, the steady beating of his heart and the dull roar in her ears left by the explosion.

Tonio released her and stepped back to stare up the hill. She huddled against him like a child seeking comfort and noticed with horror that the backs of his arms were freckled with hundreds of small cuts. In his eyes was none of the excitement she expected to find there; something else was there instead, something she couldn't name.

Reflexively, she brushed at her skirt. They were both covered with soot and dust. Tonio didn't seem to notice. Her eyes followed his stare up the hill to the main body of the mine.

The mighty Bunker Hill concentrator was a pile of rubble. Tongues of orange and angry red flames leapt at the sky where the boarding house had stood only moments before. The fire so fresh that its plume had only begun to stretch to the sky and curl towards the valley.

Angelina released her grip on Tonio and stepped out from beneath the eaves into the rail yard. Odd personal belongings littered the area, blown thousands of feet away from the boarding house. Yet many were still intact and looked as if they'd been set carefully in place.

Everywhere buildings were reduced to piles of lumber, yet a single power pole stood untouched near the center of the tumult, rising ridiculously over the disaster to hold smoldering lines rendered incapable of carrying a single watt of power to the plant. For a few seconds all was quiet in awe of the show of power just demonstrated.

The distinctive blast of Al's train whistle shattered the silence. As if on cue, a current of miners left their posts and rushed down the hillside to board the train. They appeared from every direction, heading for the train in an unstoppable wave of humanity, whooping and screaming a victory cry.

"We've done it!"

"We've won!"

"The second Battle of Bunker Hill is a success!"

Their voices blended in a cacophony of human sound and victorious emotion.

Tonio was beside her again with his good arm around her. And then they were swept away toward the train with the black tide of miners.



The ride home on the train was a nightmare she couldn't forget. Through some miracle Tonio had been able to keep them from being separated. She rode home on his lap in a fetid, cramped rail car meant for hauling freight, not people, with a group of men so raunchy and drunk she feared for her safety and her immortal soul for witnessing their foul language and behavior.

Flasks of whiskey and rum circulated freely from man to man. Tonio drank liberally from each one that passed his way. She couldn't condemn him. He drank to deaden the increasing pain of his gunshot wound, but she worried about his ability to protect her. She clutched his stiletto with such passion that her knuckles turned white and the feeling in her fingers faded, but she would not weaken her grip. Tonio acted casual, joking and laughing with the men as he refused their lewd offers for Angelina. Still, his hand was never far from his revolver.

The train made stop after stop. At each tiny town, at every mine, men piled off, many returning to work the shifts in the mines that they had abandoned hours before, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. Wallace was nearly the last stop. Somehow they got off the train and made their way to the Hall home with Angelina supporting Tonio.

The shock had long since worn off and Angelina could only imagine the pain each step caused him. The alcohol numbed his senses some, but unfortunately it had numbed his balance as well. They wove and threaded their way across the sidewalk until they reached home. May met them at the door and the two women shuttled Tonio into the second floor bedroom that Angelina occupied. Angelina's shoulders ached from his weight as she watched May guide Tonio the last few feet to the bed.

"Drop the knife, Angelina. You're home," May commanded.

Angelina wasn't aware she still clutched it. She stood in the doorway too stunned to respond.

In the end, May pried it from her hand. "Don't fall apart now, Angelina. Tonio needs help, quickly. Let's get him to bed and see to his wound."

Angelina helped May undress him. May moved with rapid precision. Angelina fumbled in a haze. They pulled off his boots and pants. May cut off his undershirt and untied the dirty towel to inspect the bullet wound.

"Couldn't find anything cleaner," he mumbled seeing the disgust May displayed as she dropped it to the floor.

She ordered Angelina to bring a basin and fresh towels and sheets to use as bandages. She was about to help him lie down gently on his back when he cried out. "My back, May. Clean my back first. I can't lie on it."

Angelina returned with the basin of water, soap, and rags. May wet a cloth to wipe clean the blood. Tonio cried out in pain. Confused by his reaction to her gentle wipes, May took a closer look. In the light from the window hundreds of tiny slivers of glass glinted viciously, piercing the skin of his shoulders and arms.

"Angelina, get the tweezers," May said.

"A window blew out above me." Tonio spoke through his teeth in great pain. "Should've known better."

When Angelina came back into the room May was asking Tonio a question and oddly Tonio seemed to be comforting her. Angelina heard only muffled parts of their conversation.

"He's all right, May. They didn't hurt him. He was driving when we pulled into Wallace."

May mumbled something and Tonio replied. "He'll be home anytime. You should be proud."

May realized Angelina was back. "The bullet's still in. Angelina, go for the doctor. Get old Foster. He'll come. And be quiet about it."

As Angelina left, May was gently and meticulously tweezing the glass from Tonio's upper body.

Finding Dr. Foster had not proved an easy task, probably made more difficult by her tired mind and the confusion and hysteria in town. May had finished the job by the time Angelina returned. Tonio was lying on his back, nearly unconscious, his wound neatly scrubbed, but oozing a clear looking fluid. May bathed his forehead with cool water. Doc Foster sent Angelina out, though she protested. May stayed to assist him. When they were finished, the bullet was out and the wound dressed and Tonio was ordered confined to his bed for at least a week.

Al didn't return until late that night. He was exhausted and refused to say much about what had gone on during the abduction. May didn't press. She was too happy that he was home safely to care about the details. She didn't even condemn him for letting Angelina go along.

For days the story of the explosion dominated every aspect of life: the newspapers, conversation, peoples' thoughts. Everyone had an opinion, an anecdote, a fear.

For three uneasily quiet days, euphoria reigned in the Valley. Many of the mines shut down. Most notably the Bunker but other smaller ones as well, those that depended on the Bunker's power plant for energy to operate. Nearly eight hundred mining jobs were at stake, but it didn't dampen the sense of victory the men felt. They drank and partied and bragged of their victory while their leaders quietly packed and left town without anyone bothering to question their conspicuous absence.

Governor Steunenberg had been wired immediately, but no action had been taken. Many felt none would be despite the governor's promise to "punish and totally eradicate from this community a class of criminals who for years have been committing murders and other crimes in open violation of law."

After all, what could the governor do? The Idaho State militia was away in the Philippines cleaning up the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. Angelina heard one young miner predict, "You can't steal railroad trains, dynamite mines, and burn villages without some reaction." Personally, she agreed with him.

Angelina spent the first day after the explosion never more than shouting distance from Tonio's bedside. Doc Foster claimed his injury was not life threatening, but that did not prevent nearly twenty-four hours of fever-induced delirium and pain.

Angelina sponged and sponged him again as he sweated and toiled to break the fever. Maybe she imagined it, but he seemed to desire, and even demand her presence in his room. He called her name over and over again. All the while she reassured him of her presence, his safety, her safety. On the second day, the fever broke and he sat up in bed drinking warm broth. On the third day she caught him sitting up on the edge of the bed pulling on his boots.

"Pull those things off and lie back down!" She watched him from the doorway. "What on earth are you doing trying to get up?"

He looked at her calmly. "I'm preparing to leave the state. Be a dear and pack me a bag."

She thought he was joking until she saw the serious glint in his eyes. "You're not teasing."

"Of course I'm not teasing, Angelina. This is a serious matter. Now find me a jacket, I've lost my black leather one. And find me a duffel of some sort, anything will do. I need you to run to the bank for me and make a withdrawal." He ticked off an impressive list of preparations for Angelina to make.

"Where are you planning on going? And why?" She had no intention of helping him move.

"We're going. Pack some things for yourself and grab any cash you have; we'll need it. It may be a while before we can return."

"I'm so happy you're including me in your plans, but we aren't going anywhere." She walked over and eased him back onto the bed. He didn't have the strength of a buttercup. "You're in no condition to travel if you can't defend yourself against me."

"Such a nice girl. I'd leave you behind in an instant, but you're an accessory now and I'd hate to see what they'd do to your pretty hide in jail." He leaned up on his elbow.

"What jail?"

"The jail where the officials will surely pen up as many miners as they can round up and charge with blowing up the concentrator. Haven't you read the papers lately?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Our fine governor has declared Shoshone County is in a state of insurrection and rebellion and asked for federal troops. It's only a matter of time before they arrive. When they do, it'll be '92 all over again. They'll round up every miner in sight and throw them into a makeshift bullpen, and then they'll make an example of one or two of them.

"I don't plan on being around when that happens. The Montana border is fewer than ninety miles away. With luck, we'll reach it before the troops arrive."

"That won't happen, Tonio. Men who are directly implicated are calmly awaiting their fate. So many can't be wrong."

"They're fools. Do you see Ed Baker or any of the other leaders hanging around?"

"We aren't going anywhere until you're well enough to travel. And then only when I say so. You've lost too much blood and there's still danger of an infection." She stood over him, trembling with fear and wondering whether she should heed his warning and get them out of town.

Tonio lay back in the bed looking pale and drained.

She bit her lip. Maybe Tonio was right. "I'll pack the things you asked for on the slim chance you're right and have to escape quickly. Now you need to rest. You can't possibly travel today."

"Tomorrow may be too late," he replied weakly. "You will come with me. I won't leave you behind."

She looked down so that he couldn't see her eyes and the desperate plea for his love they held. She could never veil her eyes the way he could. "Tonio, there is no need to leave, is there? Not if you're innocent?"

He didn't answer but instead closed his eyes. "I'm tired, Angelina. Please leave me alone now."

She covered him with a light blanket and walked to the door.



Tonio saw her hesitate, watching him for a moment before departing. Her doubt permeated the room. He could have reassured her, but he wanted her faith in him to be her own. What had he expected? That she would jump at the opportunity to flee with him? That she would tell him she believed in him? That she would love him at all costs?

Yes, that's exactly what he'd expected. He lay back and fell into a fitful sleep as she set about the errands he had sent her on, unaware of the damage she had caused.