Reiner sat before Sadie, as he poured her a glass of his shine. ''To Jake Adler.'' She looked at him in surprise that he knew her husband's name, until he pulled his collar down slightly, showing her his brand.
''Reiner.'' Sadie recognized.
''If I'd known things were this bad, I would have gone with Dutch and Arthur. What's happened, Sadie? Why is Colter abandoned? Why weren't my men found dead in the snow around your ranch?'' He was having this conversation around the others for a reason.
''L-last couple of months, your g-group got distant. Started t-taking longer on deliveries, fewer people showed u-up. Eventually stopped entirely.'' Reiner wet his lips at that, it tracked with what his men told him. Everything was going according to plan thus far. It was a shame sacrificing Jake, but he wasn't the first nor would he be the last.
The old Empire had outlived its usefulness, of the old guard, few would be retained, one would be blamed, and the rest targeted.
''Does that make sense Reiner?'' Hosea asked.
''No, it doesn't. Colter - hell Ambarino in general - it's part of our main source of business in the winter. Hides, Meats, antlers, bones we use everything and we make a profit, we don't overhunt, we're particular about what do hunt, and for them to just abandon Colter? Doesn't make sense. I need to get a message to Belle, see if she knows what's going on, and I need to check our supply caches. Hopefully they haven't been emptied.'' Said Rainer.
''What if they are?'' Tilly asks.
''Then I'll need to arrange a more direct bit of contact. Try and see if I can find out what's going on.'' Says Reiner, as he stands up. ''Now lets see about that train shall we?'' He said, as he kissed Tilly goodbye before leaving to saddle his horse and prepare his weapons.
Unlike the rest of the gang, he didn't skimp on his weapons, he duel wielded either two Navy Revolvers or two M1899 Pistols, as for rifles, he always carried an Evans Repeater and a Repeating Shotgun was always on his horse alongside a Carcano Rifle. The weapons he'd modified himself. He was the best craftsman period, and he could work genuine magic with next to nothing. The rifling, scopes, and ammo were all custom jobs he did. Armor-piercing bullets that were crafted from a special alloy. He'd modified the weapons to use a special alloy barrel too. He also dual wielded civil war knives from his time in the army. He still remembered his martial arts training from his last life too so that would come in handy.
Very few people would be able to deal with the weapons he'd make and very quickly people in the government would try and fail to strong arm him because by the time it did occur he'd be too rich to force. Right now, his focus was burning his old Empire down to make way for the next one.
''...They were talking about trains and detonators. Colm always had good information. Come on.'' Drawn out of his musings by Dutch and Arthur, Reiner checked his ammo, right now it consisted of Tungsten rounds. The special stuff remained secret for now.
He would eventually need to set up a primary point of production, but not now.
''... Mr Matthews, Mr Smith, Mr Pearson… would you please look after the Place, there are O'Driscolls about. Hyah!'' They followed after Dutch.
--------------------------------
''Southwest, right Arthur?'' Dutch asked.
''Yeah, he said follow the main trail southwest. They're camped near some lake.'' Says Arthur.
''Sounds like it's at Ewing Basin southwest of Lake Isabella. It's an old derelict mining facility. It's moderately defensible, and is located at the base of Mount Hagen in the Grizzlies West, the camp is naturally isolated, forcing any would-be attackers to approach through rugged, snowy terrain which slows movement, and it has several structures, including a water tower and storage shelters, that offer elevated positions for snipers or lookouts. The area is littered with mine carts, wagons, crates, and rubble that can serve as improvised cover during a firefight.'' Reiner spoke up.
''That sounds bad, what do we have going for us?'' Lenny asked.
''Well assuming they aren't actively living there, as I said the camp is largely derelict and in ruins, possibly due to a previous avalanche. Many buildings have large gaps between the wooden planks, offering limited protection from incoming fire. The extreme cold and deep snow of Ambarino can be as dangerous as an enemy force attacking, impacting both visibility and the physical condition of anyone holding the position, and while its remote location makes it a "perfect hideout," it also means any defenders are cut off from reinforcement or supplies. The best part is that if Javier and I can get some altitude and a good angle we can take out the men in the high ground pretty easily. You'll see soon enough.'' Reiner said.
''Okay, Reiner, you lead since you're familiar with the area, let's go find these bastards before they find us and rob the train score their planning.'' Says Dutch as Reiner spurs Bucephalus forward to the Front, the gang falling into a Staggered Column with Dutch riding to his left, Arthur and Micah behind them, and Bill and Jwvier behind them with Lenny bringing up the rear.
--------------------------------
As they arrived at Ewing Basin, Reiner pulled some ammo free, passing it around to the gang members. Micah's rounds would give him a severe health defect soon enough, but everyone else received special Tungsten rounds.
''Alright, gentlemen, this is it. Mr Stark has kindly provided us with his special ammunition so make it count. It's not an infinite supply. Are we goddamn ready?'' Dutch asked, getting a resounding five readies in response.
''Good, now then, Mr Morgan, Mr Stark and I are gonna head up here a little, see if we can't get a sense of the layout of the camp. Mr Williamson, Mr Bell, you two take up a hidden position just outside the camp. Mr Escuella and Mr Summers, you two hold positions here. Let's go.'' Reiner pulled his Carcano Rifle and three clusters of dynamite free. Following Dutch and Arthur up the Northern Ridge, Reiner sharpened his scope's focus as he surveyed the area.
''There they are, that's definitely them.'' Dutch said.
''Colm?'' Arthur asked.
''I think so.'' Dutch said uncertainly.
''Yeah, that's him.''
''Who's he talking to? He doesn't seem very happy.'' Dutch asked.
''No…'' Arthur agreed.
''Are they leaving?'' Dutch asked.
''Seems to be. Should we go get 'em?'' Arthur questioned.
''No, Colm can wait. Best to get some of them out of there.'' Dutch said.
''Much less fun to rob him and his score, if he never finds out about it? Eh, Dutch?'' Reiner quipped.
''My thoughts exactly, Mr Stark. Alright, let's go pay our old friends a visit.'' Dutch said.
''Dutch, I'll stay here, I'll stay here initially, this elevated ridge directly overlooks the entire camp, providing a full view of the water tower, the main buildings, and patrolling guards. Just before following the trail that descends into the basin, there are several high rocky outcroppings along the path from the east. These will provide cover and a clear shot at the camp's perimeter without the need to descend into the basin floor, Javier is the next best at Long-Range outside of me and Charles, so he's the best one to place there.'' Reiner suggests.
''Anything else?'' Arthur asks.
''Hammer and Anvil tactic. Me and Javier will be the Anvil, the rest of you guys the Hammer. I'm the Eye, Javier the Gatekeeper. When you and Arthur are in position, signal me with a gesture, I'll keep my scope trained on Arthur, then I'll tap my head twice, which will let Javier know to get ready since his scope will be trained on me. That guard on the Water tower could become a serious problem real fast. So I'll hurl some dynamite and when it detonates, I'll drop that guard and you all attack in earnest. If an O'Driscoll tries to hide from me, they expose themselves to Javier, if they hide from Javier they expose themselves to me. And they have no easy path regardless. They'll be boxed in.'' Says Reiner.
''What do you think Arthur?'' Dutch asks.
''Makes sense, and Javier and Reiner will be able to tell if reinforcements are on the way, I say we do it.'' Arthur responds.
''Alright, let's go, Reiner, stay here and light the fuse when ready.'' If only Dutch knew…
--------------------------------
''I don't believe it.'' Arthur couldn't believe his eyes.
''What's the matter?'' Dutch asked.
''Reiner through the dynamite alright, but the sucker ain't even lit!'' Arthur said as he raised his pistol ready to fire.
''He did wha-'' Dutch is cut off by the sound of a loud gunshot followed by a deafening explosion.
''Did he just?''
''I think he did.'' Arthur responded as Javier took advantage and shot the Guard on the tower.
''Worry about it later, let's kill these sons of bitches first!'' Dutch said as he started firing at the O'Driscolls.
''Fair enough.'' Not much else to be said, Arthur started firing himself, after all, the only good O'Driscoll was a dying or dead O'Driscoll.
--------------------------------
(Author's Note:)
--------------------------------
Forgot to say this in the last chapter, but it will be a while before Reiner really starts to become the Artificer of the West. We can't really open the can of worms until Horseshoe Overlook. As things stand, the Gang just knows he's got an unnatural talent for modifying weapons and ammo, even smithing custom ammo and parts. Ordinarily tungsten Ammo would wreck their gangs, but Reiner's modded them to not warp and break. Eventually there will come a time when we swap just having Cheats for having the Rampage menu. Honestly I love Rampage Menu, being able to spawn any animal anywhere and get a perfect pelt provided it's a headshot is very useful on the animals I really don't want to go to Ambarino for. Downside is it's very easy to randomly spawn multiple Legendary Bullgator ''Larcatus'', upside is I can spawn endless Arabians. Anyways, see you guys next chapter!
--------------------------------
Join my Discord via this invite link but be aware for whatever reason it seems Webnovel is hiding it so go look elsewhere:
--------------------------------
Special thanks to Mitchell Howard, David Martinez, ROGUE505 Saver, Mathew T Linderman, Luck George, Kyle Diano, Julien, Morgan Sinn, Tom A, Nicholas Berenguer, Arimar26, Robin Kristiansen, Dragon emperor87, Daniel Setchell, James Fleming, Zero 12995, Spencer Davidson, Rowdy_Rich, Beastmode2003, Birhaledin, Blood For The Blood God, Dymarkus Tillman, Lorra Thorsdottir, Parker Kessinger, Ryan, Jacob Hixson, Kazim Zaidi, Cameron Krueger, and Natalie McCowen for their support on P-atreon.
And also a big thank you to Cody, Luci Alarra, TJ Cruz, Kunta, Availon90, Gavin Barclay, Dragonslayer29, Jacarya Robinson, Nathan Just, Francisco J Guzman, Axlii, Reece Hutton, Ken Harris, Zeldris Wrath, Duy, lonelynib _, Austin, D3EATH707, Cutler1812, Aleksander_402, Lewis Wilson, Profound Magician, Arzard, HxC 740 VxD, Attila Kovács, Ruby Uzumaki, Mudit Chadha, Maciek, Joao Goncalves, Dwhateverprof, Jibreel Kamal, Luis, Luis, Zeca, Bent, Jason, Solus 1994, Evil King, Manuel, Benoit Valtin, Craig Butler, Joseph Brann, Cristobal Ahumada, Nathaniel Lessord, GGbeejee, Trey-Way, FisherKing711, Calvin Ellis, adrian szydlowski, Robert Hernandez, James Lloyd, Ryan, Meet Parikh, Kyle Santora, Toros Silver, Vlone_Icy, reikon aijin, and weird song for their past support on Patreon.
The next Chapter is currently available on my relaunched and rebuilt P-atreon, to access simply search the following link, but without the dash between the P and A, Two tiers with the same benefits but different contexts. The chapters on P-atreon will be published when the chapters following them are done and dusted and ready to publish over here on this site.
p-atreon.com/TheRagFromTheCragCorner24