Chapter 1Deadwood, 1877
The bounty hunters rode into the camp in the dead of the night, but their arrival didn’t go unnoticed. A poker game in Bill Hadley’s place ran well into the morning, fueled by too much booze and gold and arrogance. They heard the commotion in the street, but they’d only looked up from the creased and greasy cards for a second before resuming their bets. All of Madam Dora’s girls were awake, as were their sisters in Madam Mollie’s brothel across town, but they were busy with paying customers and if they thought of the posse of riders at all, it was only in terms of silver pieces and leaking pricks. The Celestials paid little attention to the comings and goings of the white men in town, and one group of angry, hungry riders looked much like all the others before and
