Free Flathead Fury by Jon Sharpe

liquor, and putting them in debt to him.” Fargo paused. “Then there is his loco notion of one day running the whole territory.”
    â€œHe has made no secret of his ambition,” Sally said. “It explains why he is always stirring everyone up against the idea of a reservation, and why he is doing all he can to cause trouble between the whites and the Flatheads and other tribes.”
    Insight hit Fargo with the force of a physical blow. “Durn wants an all-out war.”
    â€œThat would be my guess, yes. If he can incite the Indians into going on the warpath, the government might decide a reservation is a bad idea.”
    â€œThen Durn can take all the Indian land for his own.” Fargo marveled that he had not seen it sooner.
    â€œWith that much land, he will, in effect, run the territory, just as he has been claiming.”
    Fargo sat back. It all made perfect, horrifying sense. And Mike Durn did not care one whit that the loss of life on both sides would be frightfully high. “Why haven’t you reported this?”
    â€œTo who, exactly? We have no marshal. We have no sheriff. The only person in Polson with any authority is, ironically, Durn himself.”
    â€œThe army can take a hand when a civilian stirs up an uprising,” Fargo pointed out.
    â€œDo you realize how far the nearest fort is? It would take me weeks to get there. And all I have are suspicions. I have no proof. Without that, what good would the army be?”
    â€œThey would send someone to investigate,” Fargo said. Which Colonel Travis had done on the strength of a few rumors. If she had gone, Travis would have sent a whole company.
    â€œMaybe I should have,” Sally begrudged him. “But I doubt I would have made it out of Mission Valley. Durn has me watched day and night. Were I to rent a wagon, he would find out and want to know where I was going.” She shook her head. “No. I am fighting Durn as ably as I know how. Which is to do some stirring up of my own. A lot of people don’t like the way he treats the Indians. Especially how he is turning innocent maidens into doves. I fight fire with fire in the hope that if enough people see him for what he is, his scheme will fail.”
    Fargo conceded that made sense.
    â€œBut even there Durn has outfoxed me,” Sally brought up. “He has been bringing in a lot of men, vermin who do whatever he wants. By now there are almost as many of his people as there are those who were here before Durn came. And more of his kind show up every day.”
    Fargo saw where she was leading. It wouldn’t be long before Durn had enough backers to virtually do as he pleased. The realization sobered him. There was no time for him to go to Colonel Travis, not when it might take the colonel weeks to prevail on Washington to act. The army’s wheels of command turned exceedingly slowly. By the time soldiers were sent, Indians and whites could be slaughtering one another. All it would take was one massacre for the newspapers to whip their readers into a red-hating frenzy, with dire consequences for the Flatheads and others.
    Fargo had to act, and act soon. But there was not much he could do, the condition he was in. Three more days went by. Days of frustration, and growing impatience. Fargo had Sally ask around to learn if Birds Landing had been caught; apparently, she had gotten away.
    The next morning, Fargo was in the kitchen fixing coffee when the back door unexpectedly opened and in strolled Big Mike Durn. Fargo instinctively reached for his Colt and frowned when his hand brushed his empty holster. “This is a surprise.”
    â€œIt shouldn’t be,” Mike Durn said. Leaving the door open, he walked to the table and pulled out a chair. “I have a vested interest in Miss Brook.”
    â€œSally is in her store.” Through the open door Fargo glimpsed Kutler, Tork, and Grunge.
    â€œIt is not her I came to talk to,”