WebNovels

Chapter 83 - 83: A Great Fortune

Henry enjoyed his breakfast alone as he read the Denver Post. He wasn't surprised to see the reports on his two operations from the night before.

Good, he thought. A collapsed road will keep the McKinleys tied up for a few days.

He was satisfied with the outcome of the attack. Against a heavily fortified position with superior firepower, this was the best he could have done without revealing the full extent of his abilities. He had exposed his near-superhuman marksmanship and his night vision, but those could be explained away with custom weapons or specialized gear.

The battle had, however, highlighted a critical weakness in his own arsenal: he lacked artillery. He felt like an invincible medieval knight, unstoppable on the open field, but powerless against the high walls of a castle.

A cannon of this era required a crew of at least five or six men to operate effectively. But that, Henry knew, was not an absolute rule. He recalled stories from the Civil War, of a lone Confederate gunner who had single-handedly fired hundreds of rounds from a howitzer that normally required a ten-man crew, holding a key position against all odds. That one man had handled every step of the process—loading, aiming, firing, and clearing—by himself.

Henry's own Artillery skill was at LV 3. He could raise it to the master level with a hundred pearls. Combined with his superhuman physique, he was confident he could replicate that legendary feat. A cannon, he realized, paired with his storage space, was the ultimate solution.

As for Brendan, Henry would not let him live. But he didn't need to storm the manor to kill one man. He just needed to find him in the open. He had no desire to slaughter the ordinary people in the estate just to get to their leader. That was why he always wore a mask—to reduce the need for unnecessary killing.

With the destruction of their private army and their fortress, the McKinleys would be too busy to trouble him for the next few days.

His thoughts turned to his greatest prize from the previous night: the black market's intelligence archives. He was sure that within those files, he would find the key to acquiring a cannon, and perhaps, the key to becoming the "City Boss" of Denver.

He also changed his mind about Linda's escort. After reading through the department's archives, he had realized just how dangerous the American railroad system was in this era. There were no security checks. Anyone could buy a ticket and board with a full arsenal of weapons, a right protected by the Constitution.

Wealthy merchants and travelers often carried large amounts of cash and jewelry, as inter-bank transfers were a cumbersome, manual process. This made the trains a prime target for outlaws. The infamous James brothers, Jesse and Frank, specialized in hitting the first-class cars, and their reputation as modern-day Robin Hoods had done little to comfort their victims. The railroad companies had a massive, five-thousand-dollar bounty on each of their heads.

Henry calculated that Linda was likely carrying at least twenty thousand dollars in cash—the sum of Bryan's savings, his own gift, and the town's compensation fund. A fortune like that, carried in ten and twenty-dollar bills, would be a bulky, tempting target for any outlaw. Pete and Mary alone would not be enough to protect her.

He had to take her to New York himself.

The trip would also be an opportunity. He could personally scout New York, and also visit Pittsburgh, the home of the Mellon family. Pittsburgh was the steel capital of America. If he was serious about getting into the arms industry, steel was a resource he could not ignore.

With his new plan in place, Henry finished his breakfast. He said his goodbyes to the three women and rode out on his Appaloosa alone.

In the Denver office of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the branch chief, Bowie, knew something was wrong. The three detectives he had sent to the McKinley manor last night had vanished without a trace. He had sent another three agents at dawn. They had just returned with their report.

The black market is destroyed, and soon after, the McKinley manor is hit by a powerful, unknown enemy, Bowie thought, puffing on his pipe. It's too much of a coincidence. Are the two events connected?

He called over one of his subordinates. "I want you to investigate any and all dealings between the McKinley family and the black market," he ordered. "I want to know what they were working on together."

More Chapters