"Arrange for some people to wait at the three exits where the Rocky Mountains lead to Denver. If they spot Richard or Henry's group, have someone report back while continuing to track them to see where they settle," Brendan instructed.
"Yes, sir." Butler Elliott immediately left the living room to arrange the personnel.
Even if he was just an enforcer, Brendan wouldn't let Henry off easy. He currently had a heavy burden of frustration that needed a suitable target for venting.
"Hmph, still want to catch a train? First let him pick up soap in prison, then drag him out for proper torture. Let this country bumpkin from the backwoods know what the real world is like. Of course, the tuition will be his 20-year-old body and soul. Or you can just be a fugitive..."
Brendan muttered to himself, a vague pleasure of crushing young talent rising in his heart.
'Not bad either, maybe it'll save several thousand dollars.'
'But it's still better to resolve Henry quickly. I'll torment him a little less to prevent the Sinclair family from intervening to save him in time.'
Brendan thought to himself.
Next he would have to worry about the family meeting scheduled for this afternoon.
'Sigh, if Richard could have successfully met with William this morning, I'd at least have something to say this afternoon.'
His right palm slammed the coffee table twice hard, and Brendan's nameless fury grew even more intense.
——
Henry's group traveled very slowly, because after Guillotine there were still 8 or 9 locations of various sizes suitable for ambush along the 18-mile mountain road.
Strictly speaking, almost 90% of this road section was suitable for ambush, just to different degrees.
With large numbers, like yesterday's Dodge Gang, the Hispanic gang, and Richard's group, they could naturally charge through such potential ambush points.
With Henry's team having so many women and children, they had to prioritize safety.
Henry had personally handled the ambushes at the two most dangerous sections. He left all subsequent road sections to Charles and Owen for reconnaissance.
He needed to let the team get used to what normal travel was like.
Anyway, arriving in New York a few days earlier or later made no difference to Linda's family.
Because of the stop-and-go pace with low travel intensity, none of the women or two children showed signs of fatigue.
On the road they encountered convoys coming from Denver twice - one escort team of 16 people and one fur trading convoy of 28 people.
When the convoys crossed paths, both sides were cautious and extremely vigilant.
Henry's group didn't emerge from the Rocky Mountains until after 3 PM, with 15 miles of mountain road remaining to Denver.
At the mountain exit roadside were some shops that specialized in business with mountain dwellers.
Henry's group made no stops and continued toward Denver.
After seeing Henry's group, a local merchant convoy split off two riders to gallop quickly toward the city, while the other five drove a cargo wagon and three horses following behind Henry's group, also heading toward the city.
Although the possibility of ambush on this section was much smaller, Henry still had Charles and Owen scout ahead, though they traveled slightly faster.
Today's weather was clear, with only a few pale white clouds in the azure sky characteristic of highland regions. A gentle breeze made everyone feel refreshed and cheerful.
Denver was founded in 1858 when gold was discovered at the confluence of the South Platte River (flowing southwest to northeast) and Cherry Creek (flowing southeast to northwest).
Denver's nickname was Mile High City because a certain elevation in the city center was one mile above sea level, about 1,609 meters.
Current Denver had another nickname - Queen City of the Plains, indicating Denver's importance to agriculture on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains.
After over two hours, Henry's group finally entered Denver's boundaries.
Zhang Tianyuan from before crossing had been to Denver and was deeply impressed by the state capitol building with its round dome covered in locally produced gold foil.
Now Henry was revisiting this place with a sense of temporal overlap and confusion.
However, the skyscrapers including the capitol building from his previous timeline were nowhere to be seen in this era.
Walking through, only the University of Denver, the US Mint branch, and City Park could withstand the test of time's river, allowing Henry to find some traces of the years.
There was also the east-west Colfax Avenue where Henry currently was.
In his previous timeline, this clean, 26-mile concrete avenue was currently only about 3 miles long and entirely red dirt road, with various carriages and horses kicking up rolling clouds of dust.
These horses very freely resolved their various excretory needs on the road - inevitably causing most travelers' trouser legs to be far from clean.
In this era, for single men, clean trouser cuffs were more important than anything!
In American big cities, many unmarried young women looking for partners would first examine the man's trouser cuffs.
No matter how glamorously dressed the upper body, dirty trouser legs meant someone who couldn't even afford a carriage - just a scoundrel trying to infiltrate high society without the means.
Henry's group was similarly influenced by this richly aromatic dust. The two hardtop carriages carrying Linda, Becky, André, Madeline, and Edith had long since closed their windows.
The group gradually approached what would become the famous commercial street - 16th Street.
In the future timeline, this street ran northwest-southeast through the entire CBD, connecting Denver Union Station in the north with Civic Center in the south, about one mile long.
Currently Union Station was still under construction and wouldn't open until next year at the earliest, though most railways had been completed after 1870.
16th Street was also just in its embryonic form, mostly two- or three-story wooden buildings.
The only large hotel was the Aston Hotel, occupying about 10,000 square meters with three stories and reddish-brown exterior walls, about 300 meters from the Union Station under construction.
Richard sincerely invited Henry's group to stay at the Mellon family manor. After consulting with Linda, Henry agreed.
The group crossed 16th Street and continued toward the Mellon manor one mile east of the city.
Half an hour earlier, Brendan had received a report from his scouts - Richard was actually mixed in with Henry's group, while the McKinley family's 31 guards and Richard's 6 guards were nowhere to be seen.
But Richard was riding alone on horseback, talking and laughing with Henry, not at all like someone being kidnapped.
This situation was far beyond Brendan's expectations. He decided to first invite Richard and his wife for dinner to clarify the situation before taking the next step.
However, what Brendan didn't know was that the scouts had also sold Henry's latest intelligence to the black market.
People in intelligence had sharp minds and certainly couldn't just earn dead wages.
In the black market trading center building in eastern Denver, a middle-aged man named Dressler with exquisite mustache, deep features, blonde hair and blue eyes quickly received this intelligence.
After considering for a while, he called his subordinates over.
"Immediately mobilize personnel to track where Henry's group goes, find out their whereabouts, then proactively provide his latest intelligence at $10 to every assassin or bandit who comes asking about missions."
(End of Chapter)
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