If William developed estrangement and suspicion because of this, it would show he was someone with excessive control desires, incompatible with Henry.
Then Henry would resign early, to avoid the two families being unable to even remain friends later.
After all, the original Henry still cared deeply about William and his wife, and Alice.
After surviving the initial crossing period, this small town sheriff position wasn't that important - being sheriff wasn't the only way to release souls.
Henry was looking for cooperative partners in the future, not finding himself a boss.
At noon, Henry had tallied his assets: he now had $54,663.8 in cash, 1,200 ounces of gold worth $24,804, plus $24,000 in police bonuses and about $8,000 in various bounties.
His non-fixed assets already exceeded $110,000, though the bonuses and most bounties would take another week or so to collect.
For capital sharks, this was small money, but it was enough for Henry to become a substantial wealthy man, enough for him to accomplish many things.
After leaving William's house, Henry went to Phoenix Bar for dinner.
Meanwhile, intelligence about Henry escorting Linda's family of three to Denver tomorrow morning to catch a train was continuously circulating through the bar and black market systems.
In the hotel in eastern Denver, Carlos said indignantly: "Black market intelligence dealers are all vampires - Henry's latest intelligence costs $300!"
Pizarro said nothing, carefully studying the intelligence.
After a long while, he said gravely: "If time wasn't so urgent with few buyers, this intelligence might sell for $500."
Carlos said awkwardly: "Those wanting to buy do think it's somewhat worthwhile."
"Of course it's worth it. This Henry's marksmanship is stronger than I've ever heard of. Even the famous Billy the Kid and 'Blue Death God' Barrett fell under his gun, especially Barrett - we all know how strong he was. It's truly incredible," Pizarro sighed.
"Too amazing, actually killing Barrett while also shooting dead 20 gang members. No wonder there's a $10,000 bounty on him!" Carlos agreed.
"No matter how strong someone is, facing ambush and concentrated fire means certain death. Look how the Doolin gang initially killed all the officers except him? Even Bryan Mills died and Henry couldn't save them. Henry was probably a nobody then, not attracting the Doolin gang's attention, allowing him to luckily escape and counterattack," Pizarro analyzed.
"Right, regardless, we can't let him go. Twenty men's concentrated fire couldn't kill him, but we definitely can," Carlos said confidently.
"Exactly. Anyone still daring to target him must be powerful gangs or assassins. We can't let him fall into others' hands, especially with such a high bounty on him - absolutely can't miss this! Go call Diego and Antonio over - they've operated in Colorado's Rocky Mountains before," Pizarro instructed.
Carlos nodded and left the room.
Meanwhile, in a two-story wooden building at Denver's southern farmers market.
Four white men were playing cards when a lean man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight revealed his hole cards - three Aces and a pair of eights!
"Full house!" he chuckled smugly, his squinting eyes staring at the chips as he swept the bills and coins on the table toward himself.
The other three were deeply frustrated, cursing continuously.
"Damn it, Frank, keep this up and no one will play with you."
"Right, I propose banning Frank from card games among the brothers."
"Shit, Frank, you took my drinking money for tonight!"
At this moment, the door suddenly opened and a young white man wearing a newsboy cap entered, handing Frank a document.
Frank took the document and carefully read it.
After a while, he smiled: "Here's our chance to get rich. Henry will escort a woman and her two children, ages 3 and 6, along mountain roads to Denver tomorrow morning."
"Great, if we don't make money soon, I'll be gnawing moldy potato peels from the farmers market."
"Serves Bond right for his bad luck, trying to monopolize such a high bounty!"
"Exactly, if Boss Frank hadn't happened to come looking for him, we wouldn't have known he went off on private jobs again."
Several people chattered, denouncing the "Skull Gang" leader Bond who had been completely wiped out.
Frank said gravely: "I knew Bond occasionally took his fellow countrymen to make extra money under the 'Skull Gang' name, but this Henry is too vicious. We can't be careless - we need to plan carefully. Let me tell you about the people he's killed these past few days..."
——
Around 6:30 PM, Henry rode alone out of town, galloping across the vast western landscape.
Along the way, Henry passed red rock cliffs, hills, alkali flats, forests, and dry riverbeds. The wilderness displayed magnificent and varied beauty.
Cacti, tumbleweeds, Joshua trees, creosote bushes, firs, and spruces were everywhere, with occasional startled rattlesnakes, gray wolves, and golden eagles.
Henry felt much more comfortable than driving a Porsche convertible along California's Highway 1 in his previous timeline.
After about 70 minutes, arriving a few minutes earlier than yesterday, Henry approached yesterday's McKinley family metal smelting plant entrance.
He discovered four sentries positioned fifty to sixty meters up the opposite mountain.
"Bang bang bang bang..." After six shots, three unprepared sentries softly collapsed on the hill.
But one sentry reacted in time, quickly hiding behind rocks and shouting: "Enemy attack, only one person!"
Henry galloped forward over 200 meters to reach yesterday's smelting plant slope entrance, finding today the factory gate was completely open with guards on both watchtowers hiding behind cover.
After tightening the reins slightly, he immediately fired at five patrolling men and a dog at the factory entrance.
They also raised guns to shoot back.
"Bang bang bang"
After ten shots killing five men and one dog in about five or six seconds, Henry felt a faint stinging in his brow - danger.
He immediately wheeled his horse around to escape.
"Bang bang" - after two more shots, the last sentry on the nearby mountain who dared show his head was killed with a headshot.
Immediately behind him came the frantic "rat-a-tat-tat" of machine gun fire, plus increasingly dense cavalry charge hoofbeats that even machine gun fire couldn't mask!
Four green pearl shells dissipated, and six white pearl shells dissipated.
Damn, the enemy was obviously prepared, reacting too quickly. Those four sentries had used their lives to sound the alarm.
Henry twisted around on horseback to look - dozens of cavalry were charging out of the factory in dense formation!
Fortunately Henry had already turned onto the outer road, with the cavalry still about 350 meters away.
He immediately used his boot spurs to lightly prick the horse's belly, spurring it toward the first bend over 200 meters away in the direction he'd come.
(End of Chapter)
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