Deep Mining: Golden West Trilogy Book 2: Golden West Trilogy, #2

By J.R. Murdock

There's a new sheriff in town and her name is Abigail.

The mayor isn't happy about it.

The mystery of the mine continues to be an issue she must try and resolve. Death and misfortune continue to happen at irregular intervals. Though she tries to chase down the source, it continues to elude her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.R. Murdock
• Release date: Oct 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201627355

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

SHERIFF CHAMPSKI! COME quick. There's been an explosion! Deputy Sandy Parks, after delivering her news, ran back out just as quickly as she'd run in, her red hair flying in every direction. Abigail had heard the explosion and it didn't sound big or close so she hadn't been concerned. The woman was in her early thirties, in great shape for a woman her age, and quite pretty. When she stood still for more than a couple of minutes, she managed to turn more than a few heads in town.

Normally Abigail wouldn't pay much mind to either Sandy's frantic announcement or a random explosion around town. Ever since she and her father had arrived in town, things tended to do just that. Safety precautions were in place to ensure that when a new device had been started up, no one would be near it just in case something like this happened. Her father had been insistent that all the citizens be protected.

Sandy, on the other hand, was an excitable, fiery, red-haired woman that, despite her constant need to run all over town, brought Abigail a constant flow of information that she could use and decide I what had been said required her attention, or if it was something she just needed to know for future reference. These ranged from knock-down-drag-em-out fights at the saloon to petty thefts that happened overnight. No issue was too small for Sandy to bring to Abigail's attention.

Now was one of those times that Abigail needed to act. Sandy almost never said 'come quick' and if it hadn't been an emergency she wouldn't have looked paler than normal. Her fair skin made it difficult to tell at times, but the woman looked downright sick. Abigail didn't waste any time grabbing her badge and her gun off the desk. She ran.

Deputy Parks was already running past the edge of town. Abigail's office sat between the Sully Hotel and the Brim and Pistol general store. Her little building had only two rooms, her office that took up the front of the building, and a cell that had never been used took up the rear of the building. She was thankful her job consisted mostly of keeping order rather than catching criminals. Almost every dispute had been easy enough to resolve. They all were, after all, in town for the same reason. Despite such a wide variety of people and giants, they all got along quite well. It was nothing like her father's books.

The only thing she hadn't counted on was her father spending weeks getting his machine built and running into so much difficulty. At first, she'd assumed that it was due to his lack of experienced help, but that wasn't true. Gile Ramsey and his men had done quite well and Dathany and the other giants had done all the heavy lifting to help get cranes and structures built in short order. Her father had even had a small corner of his shop set aside for Abigail and she would spend time there when her duties didn't demand much of her time.

Even though she'd been exercising far more than she ever did in New York, she still had a hard time catching up with Sandy. The woman was long and lean and even wearing a long skirt, she would still outdistance Abigail. Abigail probably wouldn't be able to catch her even if she wasn't running across town all the time.

Black smoke rose from a barn near her father's workshop. The barn sat on a farm owned by an older couple, the Slaters, that stayed on their property unless there was something big going on in town. They didn't care for her father or his contraptions and they certainly didn't like that he'd set up shop so close to their farm. They'd tried on more than one occasion to petition Mayor Benny Chuffney to get the workshop moved, but had not succeeded. The location of the workshop was positioned far enough away from town to make an explosion have little effect on the townsfolk and close enough to the mine so anything constructed could be put to work.

Sandy glanced over her shoulder and yelled. Hurry up!

Abigail was already out of breath, but she pushed herself harder. She couldn't imagine what could have happened that would require her attention so desperately. She almost wished Sandy would stop for a moment to fill her in on what had happened so she could be at least a little prepared when she got there.

The closer she got, the bigger the column of black smoke appeared and she could see flames at its base. Both came from the Slater barn. She could see three giants moving around the flames, two with shovels and one with a large bucket or horse troth.

It didn't look good. If the giants were there, her father's latest attempt might have gotten away from him. In only three months it was his fifth failure and this appeared to be the worst of the batch.

By the time she made it to the fire, she was completely out of breath. She took a moment to put her hands on her knees and try to catch her breath, but no sooner had she stopped, she was grabbed by a strong hand.

I demand justice! Justice you hear? Your father can't go around burning down man's barn and think he's just going to get away with it. I want justice! Ernest Slater shook his head so violently back and forth, his spectacles nearly flew off his bald head.

Abigail wanted to get away from the man as soon as possible or nothing more than just to catch her breath. I will get to the bottom of what happened and make sure everything is addressed fairly.

Don't think I'm going to let this go. Just because the man is your father doesn't mean I don't deserve justice on this. You said you'd be fair. Everyone, you heard her say she'll be fair!

Deputy Parks pulled her away from Mr. Slater. Don't listen to Ernie. He's always been like that. Just be glad Rosie is hiding inside. She doesn't like explosions much and I'm sure this one has her rattled more than any other. Now come over here.

She was pulled nearer the barn. The giants all had black faces from fighting the fire, but the barn looked to be a complete loss. Gile walked away from a group of men, his artificial leg popping forward as he walked. He took off his hat as he strode up to her.

Gile, where's my father? Abigail asked.

Miss Champski, there's been an accident.

She didn't like Gile's tone. She didn't like the way everyone stared at either the smoldering remains of the barn or at the ground. No one except Sandy or Gile would look at her.

Where is he? Abigail tried to push past Gile, but he held her.

Miss, you'll want to take your time getting over there. I'm not sure why, but your father climbed up on his latest machine and things went bad from there. Gile gestured to the barn with his hat.

She couldn't grasp what they were saying. She just wanted to see her father. He had to be alright. He just had to. Gile let her go and Sandy took her arm. Men and giants parted way and she made her way over to her father. He lay on the ground covered in black and blood. His clothes were torn and he was missing a shoe.

No!

CHAPTER 2

HE DIDN'T LIKE looking down at Cecil Champski flat on the ground surrounded by men, women, and giants. Reginald Sneller hadn't intended for the man to die, only get hurt a little. How was he to know that Champski would leap on the contraption and try to stop it? If the man had been smart he would have just let it go like all his failures before. Sure, they were all due to Reginald's sabotage, but any normal man would have given up by now. Cecil wasn't going to give up until he was dead.

The latest machine did look dead, though. It also looked like the best candidate for creating tunnels quickly. The front had been constructed of a massive drill with multiple rotating faces to push anything away from the front end. The entire body had been covered in toothed buckets that would widen the tunnel and scoop up anything and dump it into the middle of the eight-foot mining worm. Finally, a conveyor belt ran down the middle and would have deposited the broken-up dirt and rocks at the end that could be easily picked up and transported outside. It extended from the ends of the barn by several yards on either end and continued to smoke.

Jax, we need to get some rest. We'll have to go into town tonight to get some supplies.

Jax didn't say anything. Only sat with a frown on his face and nodded. The boy had been quiet ever since his brother's death. Regardless of his silence, Jax would still go into town to help with the gathering of supplies. Reginald felt bad not only for Jax losing his brother but for Jess losing his life. Bad feelings weren't going to stop the Champski from building a machine to dig for gold and steal that fame that rightly belonged to Reginald. That couldn't be allowed to happen. They would just have to work through the pain. Too much needed to be done to finally put an end to the Champskis' efforts.

Eventually, they got him on a gurney and hauled him away. Though he hadn't sat up, he did move his arms. He wasn't dead but hopefully defeated.

He sat and watched the smoldering remains of the barn for some time. It was only midday and they'd have to wait until well into the evening before heading into town to gather supplies. Jax sat and hugged his legs and rocked back and forth.

What do you think we should get tonight? Reginald asked.

Jax shrugged.

You have to have some sort of opinion. No one seems to lock anything up. Whatever you like, we'll get that.

Finally, the boy stopped rocking and fixed a dead stare on Reginald. "I'd like to get some flowers to put on Jess's grave.

Reginald had no idea how to respond to that. He couldn't show his face in town, but Jax had been there several times during the day to scout things out. He'd even spoken to the Champski brat a few times. How she'd ever became sheriff of the little town was a mystery. Jax had somehow managed to throw her off their trail and no one had suspected Jax and Reginald had anything to do with the thefts in town.

There was no sense in the boy just sitting and moping. Why don't you go do that? You know I can't show my face around town.

You know it ain't right. You never go out there. You just send me. He's my brother so course I go, but you're the reason he's out there.

Don't try to put this blame on me. He knew full well that the explosives were in the machine in the middle of town. I didn't intend for him to die, but it was because of his carelessness. He should have been up on the hill. You were lucky enough not to be killed as well.

Jax stood and clenched his fists, then shoved his hands in his pockets. The boy was tough and had started to grow a little in the months since his brother died in the explosion. Reginald knew that Jax would go to the grave and return several hours later. By then the sun would be going down. That would give Reginald time to take care of some business and perhaps even take a nap.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go out to Jess's grave. It was more that the cemetery didn't feel right. It was as if there were too many eyes watching all who entered even though no one would be there. The one time he'd gotten near, his skin had prickled with gooseflesh and he sent Jax in on his own. Reginald had never thought he was the superstitious type, but something about that cemetery just didn't feel right.

Back in the little shack, sitting just far enough back in the woods not to be noticed, that he and Jax built and shared as living quarters, Reginald looked over the Champski's latest plans. The machine had looked like a worm of some kind and powered by a massive internal engine. Unlike his other designs, this one had independent moving segments that rotated in alternating opposite directions. Should he have gotten it into the mine, it would have torn tunnels far faster than any man with dynamite could have possibly done. Once started it would have probably bored a hole to the center of the Earth if it had enough fuel. It had taken Champski weeks to build and only took Reginald one night to sabotage. A series of holes drilled into the boiler and covered over with a weak patch. Once the patch started to give way, the thing had taken off like a rocket. Champski had hopped on and rode the thing nearly to the barn before falling off. Two seconds later and Champski would have gone up in the explosion that took the barn.

What are you planning next? Reginald liked to try and keep ahead of Champski if he could, but that wasn't always possible. The man was smart and as soon as he was better, he'd be back up and drawing new plans for another machine. Reginald would sneak in again and copy those plans as well. Champski kept so much material around that it was never difficult to get pencils and paper to copy the designs. Also, no one ever kept watch over the shop and it was so easy to just walk in, copy the day's design, and leave again. Even looking at all the previous plans it was impossible to tell what the man would come up with next.

A yawn overtook him and he stretched his entire body. Perhaps a nap was the best idea. He'd been up most of the night doing all the damage he could. If he didn't get some rest then he wouldn't be able to go into town that evening and gather supplies. The few jars they had on the counter would only last another couple of days. They'd need to remain hidden until the sun went down. At some point, he would also need to convince Jax to go into town and check on Champski's condition. It was sure to be all anyone would be talking about. Hopefully, the townsfolk would also be tired of Champski's failed attempts. There were times when Reginald felt that no one even understood what was happening.

Reginald yawned once more and sat on the edge of the bed. He wanted to think about every design Champski had created but was asleep before he fell over and hit the pillow.

CHAPTER 3

THE GURNEY HAD been placed in a wagon and her father was transported back into town. She wanted to go with him, but he'd told her to remain and find out what had happened. It was obvious to her what had happened. Another experiment had failed. Despite her father's preparations, precautions, and tests this one failed as well. His skills in building locomotives just weren't fit for building a gold mining machine. He also didn't have enough of his New York workshop or workers here. He had to contend with the tools available. He didn't even have a decent crane and the giants were used instead. It just wasn't the environment her father was used to working in and she was confident that's all this was.

Sheriff Champski, what should I do? Deputy Parks stood, eyes wide and wringing her hands.

Abigail didn't know what could be done. Um, why don't you talk to the crew that's on hand? I think everyone was there when the experiment started. Perhaps they have some idea what went wrong. Someone had to have seen where this latest experiment went wrong.

Is that alright? Sandy stood and waved her hand at Abigail.

I'm sorry, I was thinking. Is what alright?

Sandy pointed to the giants. Can you talk to them? You know I like them and all, but I just don't feel comfortable talking to them. You understand, right?

Sandy, like many folks, tolerated the giants' presence. She didn't outright dislike them, but she didn't go out of her way to talk to any of them either. Abigail, on the other hand, had become close with all the giants since Atham's death. Talking with them helped fill that void she felt. She'd done so much to see him back to health, that it hurt tremendously once he was gone. It felt as if she'd lost a brother she never had and hurt almost as much as losing her mother. Her father had also been affected, but with his work was quickly distracted from feeling anything. Between both of their jobs, they hadn't spent as much time together as they could have. The only time she saw him was after an accident or when she'd steal a little time to spend in the workshop he'd set up for her.

That's fine, Sandy. I'll talk with the giants. Make sure you get as much detail as you can from the other workers.

In all her father had a staff of seven men, four women, and three giants. Gile and three of his men worked there as well as Gile's wife Cindy and Abigail wished she could talk to them. Unlike her father, they worked during the day and came to see her in the evening. Usually, they would bring her something to eat and fill her in on the latest machine they were working on. They would also tell her not only how proud her father was of her, but how proud she would be of her father. They had both been working so hard there were times she forgot when they came to California at all.

Abigail longed for the house her father had promised. He'd said during their trip he would get them a house to live in where they would each have