Episode 7: Calum's Gold

By Leigh Barker

Bitesize Read. Clan, Episode 7 - the next 1 hour episode following our hero, Calum Maclean.

Lord Elcho has asked Calum to capture the payroll heading for Newcastle to pay the English army. If he is successful, he can keep a quarter of it, that’s a thousand guineas!

Calum fights for gold, and that’s enough to get his interest. He and John head west to rob the payroll coach. He has no plan, but that’s not new.

Colonel York knows he is on his way and intends to prepare a little surprise for him.

All Calum has to do is find a way to grab the gold from the payroll coach that is guarded by ten heavily armed English soldiers.

And get away without anyone knowing the payroll has gone. But nothing worth doing is easy...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh Barker
• Release date: Mar 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311729637

Leigh Barker

Leigh was born in Dudley in the middle of England. He has been a merchant seaman, a (useless) electronics salesman, a programmer, and a business analyst. And now he is a full-time writer, but that doesn't make him a bad person.He is presently writing 4 series:Clan, following the adventures of Calum Maclean as he tries to avoid the Bonnie Prince but still protect his beloved Highlands.The Hellfire Legacy Series follows US Marine Master Sergeant Ethan Gill and his team as they take on the jobs too hot for other special forces. They go where they're sent; South America, Middle East, Korea, but their most dangerous missions are on US soil.Volume #1: A Whisper of ArmageddonVolume #2: The Hellfire LegacyVolume #3: The Orpheus DirectiveEden, a three-volume series -Trinity is at war with Lucid, the son of Lucifer, and he will do whatever it takes to win. The Archangel Gabriel has an army but he needs more. He needs heroes, but they are few and far between. Which is why he gets Dylan and co. Not too much luck in Heaven then.Volume #1: Eden's Last HeroVolume #2: WinterwoodVolume #3: Requiem for Eden.Soldiers is set in 1914 and follows John Regret and his 12-man squad on their suicidal mission to find and destroy the German howitzer nicknamed Big Bertha. Find it before it drops it's thousand-pound shells on the allied army retreating across France. A seemingly hopeless mission that just cannot fail.Other occasional series include:Anarchy, the 'completely true' stories of men doing what men do when there's nobody to keep them in check. Create mayhem and behave like monkeys on speed.Coffee Break Reads - each issue has 5 stories short enough to read while taking a break from life. A mix of adventure, love, disaster, and fun. All with one thing in common; for a moment they transport the reader to another world.Episode 1 of each Season is free and can be picked up with other free books at:https://leighwbarker.com/my-library/Just copy the link above and paste it into your browser and you're there...

Book preview

Clan

(Season 1)

(Episode 7)

Calum's Gold

Copyright 2014 Leigh Barker

Published by Leigh Barker at Smashwords

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ISBN: 9781311729637

Calum’s Gold

When Wagon Master Colonel Bernard Frampton led his payroll coach and eight mounted guards into Newcastle, he was not a happy man. He rode well ahead of the converted stagecoach with its closed window blinds and guard detail, not caring much for the stink of the horses, or the men. He rode slowly along the cobbled streets and gagged at the stench rolling up from the rubbish discarded by Marshall Wade’s army of fifteen thousand men before it marched west out of the city.

Colonel Frampton was not built for long days in the saddle. His well-padded body filled the saddle and spilled over on all sides. He was irritable and hungry. It had been a long time since he’d had lunch at the poor tavern with its poor food and hard beds that had made it difficult to get a good post-lunch sleep.

He was growing increasingly annoyed that Wade had left the city without waiting for him, because now he would have to follow, and that meant more hours on the damned horse. He’d planned to send the coach and guards south as soon as the army payroll had been delivered, leaving him free to take a ship back to London. At least a ship would have a good bed and decent food, and if not, it could be purchased in the city and charged to the regiment. His cousin Samuel was Regimental Paymaster and well understood the need for such expenditure.

He flapped his hand limply to signal the coach and escort to halt. The two coach drivers exchanged tired looks that showed their frustration at the constant time-wasting, stopping for food every few hours and the resting afterwards. It had taken almost three weeks to travel from London to this dump, a journey they could have done in seven days. If this fool hadn’t been leading them.

You! Frampton shouted and pointed at a woman pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with twisted washing.

The woman could have been in her twenties or in her eighties, it was impossible to tell from her clothes and the slow way she moved. She pushed her tattered shawl from her face, looked up at the man and disliked what she saw. The crimson-faced fat man with food remains smeared across the front of his dirty uniform was glaring at her with piggy eyes. Something about the man scared her.

Yes, you! he barked. Is there a decent inn in this foul place?

She looked around at the littered and stinking streets and was about to tell him who was responsible for the foulness, but knew he would likely set about her with the riding crop he rapped impatiently against his scuffed boot.

There’s an inn down there, right enough. She pointed to a square just visible down the narrow street. She took up the handles of the barrow and started to move. If it’s decent? She shrugged. It’s not for me to say, since I’ve never had money to spend there."

Frampton spurred his horse and rode on without a second