April 27, 1870

Oregon. 

I walked over towards Adder’s and Kilyko’s place this morning and heard Kilyko telling Adder, “Howdy...so I have new’s on Jabuu…” 

“Is he dead?” Adder asked. 

I walked into the house as I heard the talking and saw Teru in the living room with them. “Teru, I’ve been looking all over for you!” I exclaimed. 

Kilyko pulled out a bloodied feather and handed it to Adder. “He got what he deserved…” 

“Good,” Adder took it and chuckled. 

“They burnt down his village twice between yesterday and this morning…” Kilyko laughed. 

“Sounds like you hired the right people,” I nodded to her. 

“I sure did..they even gave me some cigar’s from Mexico…” she laughed. 

“I was visiting with Naca last night and Teru came up and barked, running around like something was wrong…” I told them. “I followed her here and Kilyko said everything was fine. Took her back up to the village but then she ran off.” 

“Aye, she can be a handful,” Adder nodded. 

“I’ve been searching for her ever since. Just relieved she’s okay.” 

“She need to be put to some training then I think she will spend her energy at doing that?” Kilyko nodded to me. “How was your ride with Mitena?” she referred to the horse I rode. 

“Uneventful and uninformative, but the ride itself was good. Nobody seems to know anything. Had a good talk with Naca too until Teru ran off.” 

I decided to go out for another ride and headed out of the house. 

Colorado. 

I waved to a man by the river and greeted him. We talked about the weather and he said he was a deputy named Scotty. I told him I was a Pinkerton agent and asked if we could talk. 

We sat down at a table and got down to business. “I was wondering if you could give me some intel,” I smiled. 

“It depends on what you want,” he smiled. 

“I’m law just like you, darlin’. Just under a different name,” I chuckled. “Just might not have as much... power as you.” 

“I know, miss Trin. So what you need to know?” 

“I’m looking for information on a gang... one that decided to robbed me this week.” 

“What gang is that?” 

“The Black Bandits.” 

“I see.” 

“You know about them?” 

“Yes.”

“I know a few names but not all of them. Pretty sure the ones who robbed me were Billy and Sky Talon.” 

“Let me guess… I know who they are. Let me say this… Black Hills Gang is only a bunch of cowards. They run around and set things on fire and think they are real tough.” 

“I’m listening.” 

“But when things happen it show that they are only crybabies. So what did Billy and Sky do?” 

“I was riding through Idaho and they stopped me. Billy said I could do this the easy or the hard way. I decided to do it the easy way and just gave the one hundred coins. So then I asked him who he was and they handed me the flag.” 

“Well, that seen before,” he laughed. 

“I’ve been poking around to find out information. I know they have a fort in Nebraska.” 

“They come here pretty often.” 

“I heard they had a fort down here too... Haven’t located it yet.” 

“Well..they hangout at a house here.” 

“A house eh? Let me guess... Twist and TJ’s?” I guessed. 

“It’s on righthand side when you walk to Amiville.” 

“I have more questions…” I said, growing more hesitant. 

“Tj, Billy, Sky and Hakuna and Twist too,” he said and I nodded. “What more you need to know?” 

“Is there a soldier’s outpost still here? Or in the area?” 

“Well…” he scratched his head. “Not here. But there are one in the desert to the south.” 

“In Texas?” I asked and he nodded. “Do you trust them?” 

“I find it hard to trust any of them over there.” 

“That’s what I thought,” I nodded. 

“Think they are corrupt,” he looked at me. 

I shifted closer, getting to the heart of what I really needed to know. “Do you know names?” I set my hand on the table, just close to his hand. 

“Don’t know any names…” he smiled. “Sorry Miss Trin. Not had anything to do with them… Yet.” 

I looked in his eyes and brushed my leg over to touch his slightly and asked, “But you know they’re down in Texas…” 

He cleared his throat and said, “hey used to be there but I’m not sure, could be abandoned.” 

“I used to live here actually when the outpost was still here…” I nodded. 

“You did?” he looked at me. 

“I used to run the newspaper here.” 

“Why you leave?” he asked and I swallowed hard, looking down. I heard a dog growling and looked over to see a man with a dog as I reached over to put my hand on Scotty’s wrist, nodding for him to turn around. 

“Top o’ tha mornin’ to ye both,” the man greeted us. 

“Good morning Sir,” Scotty greeted him and looked over at me. 

“D’yas know where a fella mights find hisself a job?” 

“Well.....not sure but Bo at the saloon might need some help. Not seen him today but he might show up.” 

“Not gonna be no barkeep,” the man frowned. 

I idly traced my finger around Scotty’s wrist as the man looked across the water at some natives standing there. I recognized Chief Nah from the Apache tribe and gripped Scotty’s wrist tightly. 

“They friendly?” the man asked. 

“Natives normal be friendly here,” Scotty said. I watched the man follow the chief down the road and watched Nah ride off. I took in a deep breath and exhaled deeply. He looked over at me and smiled, “Don’t you worry.” 

I sighed, knowing that Nah knew I was armed. “I shouldn’t have been this careless,” I sighed, looking at him. “We should have talked somewhere inside.” 

“That’s okay Miss.” 

“No... You don’t understand…” I reached for his hand and looked in his eyes. “I’m in a lot of trouble right now.” 

“You are? Tell me Miss Trin...what is the trouble?” he asked and I felt myself get emotional as I leaned my head in my other hand, trying to relax. He looked at me and said, “You can talk to me. Take a deep breath and relax Miss Trin.” 

“Some apache threatened to burn down my friends’ house. I pointed a gun at them and was going to shoot them if they didn’t get off the land. They finally did and we were okay but…” I sighed. “The thing is… I’m part Apache. I almost shot down my own people to protect my friends.” 

“I can understand.” 

“I had been trying to get to know my culture,” I explained. “I would visit their village in Kansas... Then they told me I had to choose and couldn’t go back and forth.” 

“But you had to protect your friends.” 

“So I chose… and now…” 

“And now your alone? And cant go back?” 

“Well... I can... I just... I’m trying to find out information to use against them. I have places to hide, people to hide with.” I curled my fingers in his hand and said, “This place was home for so long. When I left... I left with the two people I could still trust from here. But.... this is where the information is. So I have to keep coming back.” 

“Sorry if I did not know so much. If I could I should help you more but I don’t know how.” 

“It is probably better if you don’t.. I just need to know that I will be safe…” 

“You be safe here Miss Trin,” he cleared his throat again. 

“I’m sorry… I just…” I pulled back a bit. 

“What, miss Trin?” he took out a hanky and handed it to me. “Take this,” he smiled. 

“It’s been a long week,” I apologized again. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t be sad.” 

“Thank you... for being so sweet…” I squeezed his hand. 

“I just try to help, that’s all,” he smiled. “Is there anything else I can do?” 

“I should go home... When I come back here, can I look you up?” I asked hopefully. 

“Of course you can,” he smiled as I stood somewhat shakily and looked into his eyes. “Will you be okay, Miss Trin?” 

“I wish I knew the answer to that,” I shook my head. 

“Just so you know your always welcome here. People here are friendly so don’t you worry.” 

I shook my head, knowing I’d known this town longer than he had. He reached out to take my hand and I smiled slightly when I saw Teru wandering over. “That’s Teru. The reason I got no sleep last night. She’s a little terror, is why we called her Teru,” I said as Teru ran around the dock. 

“I see.” 

“Say hi, Teru,” I said and the puppy howled. “She’s been a bit on edge... Did this last night and nothing was wrong,” I told him. “I don’t think she wants me to have any fun,” I said, looking from our hands to the dog. 

“They can be like that some times,” Scotty smiled. 

“Scotty… Thank you for the talk. I’ll come back soon to see you again,” I smiled at him. 

“It was nice talking to you Miss Trin. And please come back if you want… I don’t mind,” he smiled. 

“Stay safe,” I hugged him and whispered, “f you hear anything about what we talked about... send me a telegraph? I’m in Oregon.” 

He nodded and I stepped back, heading with Teru back towards home.