Early in the morning, as Mike Walker stepped out of his tent after washing up, he immediately heard shouting or more accurately, bullying.
"Hey, O'Driscoll brat! You'd better not be lying! If what you said isn't true, I'll cut off your damn balls myself!"
Mike turned toward the noise and saw Bill holding a pair of iron tongs used for picking up horse manure, waving them threateningly at Kieran.
Even though Mike had helped Kieran's situation improve a lot, most members of the Van der Linde gang still didn't accept him.
To them, he was the easiest kind of target:
Weak.
Nervous.
And formerly an O'Driscoll at least in their eyes.
"I I told you… I'm not an O'Dris "
Kieran's voice trembled as he tried to defend himself, but when Bill snapped the tongs in the air, the rest of the sentence died in his throat.
"That's enough, Bill. Don't scare him to death. If you really need to burn off some energy, how about we spar a bit?"
Mike stepped forward, stopping Bill.
Bill instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.
"Damn it, Mike… why are you always taking his side? He is an O'Driscoll," Bill muttered.
"Then go complain to Dutch," Mike replied casually. "Now get your gear together. We've got a long ride ahead."
"…I just think we should be careful," Bill grumbled awkwardly.
Complain to Dutch?
Bill wasn't that stupid.
Even if Mike and Dutch had been butting heads recently, Mike still outranked Bill by a wide margin.
Arthur and Bill both returned to packing their gear, double-checking every round of ammunition and every holster.
After all, mistakes out there could get them killed.
Nearby, John Marston, now mostly healed, sent Kieran to the temporary stable, then walked over to Mike.
"Mike… what exactly is your plan?" John lowered his voice.
He wasn't bothered by the idea of killing O'Driscolls, but these past weeks had raised questions.
Since Aden Ranch and Horseshoe Overlook,
Mike had been speaking with John, Abigail, Charles, and the newly widowed Sadie quietly shaping their thoughts about the future.
John wasn't educated, and he lived by old outlaw instincts.
But he wasn't dumb.
He knew Mike had no intention of living the Van der Linde outlaw life forever.
Yet here Mike was eager to go after Colm O'Driscoll's men.
"Leaving the O'Driscolls unchecked is dangerous for us," Mike explained while inspecting his Colt revolver.
"And putting down those scum isn't the same as shooting guards during a train robbery."
The United States wasn't an old empire.
It rose fast because it was built by immigrants.
Many came legally, contributing to the country's growth.
But just as many came illegally.
Those immigrants had:
• No legal identity
• No access to skilled work
• No union protection
• No fair wages
So many were forced into crime simply to survive.
"And most outlaw gangs O'Driscolls included are made of those people," Mike continued.
"To the government and the rich, they're worth less than the guards they put on trains."
John chuckled bitterly.
"Yeah… we've felt that difference ourselves."
If a man could make an honest living, who would choose to live with a bounty on their head?
"It won't be like this forever," Mike said.
"But the O'Driscolls are a real danger to us."
Whether for survival, for the future he was planning, or to prevent retaliation,
Mike couldn't afford to leave Colm O'Driscoll's gang alive.
After all, placing your fate in someone else's hands?
Not a smart move on the frontier.
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