help.”
As if to drive that point home, more gunshots crackled around the house.
“You go on ahead, Stan,” Jim said. “I’ll stay here with these two.”
Stan nodded and steered his horse toward the house. He moved slowly at first, but snapped the reins once he’d made it a few steps without Nick or Lester trying to take a shot at him.
The deputy who was left behind had a strong build and a very youthful face. His chin looked as if it couldn’t sprout whiskers if his life depended on it and his eyes flashed with the intensity and uncertainty that came with inexperience. His gun was in a steady hand, but the way he held it didn’t inspire confidence.
Nick kept his movements slight and his voice calm so as not to elicit any hair-trigger responses from the young lawman. “No need to get jumpy. We can straighten this out easily enough.”
“I ain’t jumpy,” Jim said.
“There’s nothing to straighten out,” Lester snapped. “Why the hell would I have brought the law here if I was the one doing anything wrong?”
“I think I know the answer to that,” Nick replied. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with fulfilling your civic duties.”
Lester looked at Nick with more ferocity than he’d ever shown. “You’re an outlaw,” he said. “A killer. You don’t know a damn thing.”
“Seems to me like this whole fight is a great way to cover your escape,” Nick pointed out. “You might be on your way across the state line by now if you didn’t have me to worry about. Did you pick one of your cousins to help you inform the law or was it one of the wives?”
Jim straightened his arm and pointed his gun at Nick. “Shut up, both of you!”
Lester didn’t even take notice of the deputy’s gun. His eyes were locked upon Nick until the gunfire at the house flared up again. The moment he saw Jim look toward the house, Lester swore under his breath and brought up his gun to take a shot at the only one of the two men who wasn’t ready to shoot back.
The bullet didn’t draw blood, but whipped a few inches from Jim’s stomach and through the coarse hair along the back of the neck of the lawman’s horse. Feeling the lead nip its neck like that brought the horse up onto its rear legs as it let out a loud, surprised whinny.
Lester’s shot surprised Nick almost as much as it did the horse. Nick regained his composure quickly, however, and returned fire as Lester took his second shot.
Nick’s bullet caught Lester in the ribs, but didn’t do much more than scratch him. Lester’s next bullet raked along the deputy’s back, burrowing deeply enough to twist the lawman in his saddle. With his horse still kicking and fretting, Jim toppled from the saddle, just managing to swing his legs down before risking a broken neck.
As soon as Lester saw the deputy disappear over the side of his horse, he pulled his reins and started to ride away. He fired a shot or two behind him, but that wasn’t nearly enough to buy him a ticket away from there. Before his horse could build up a head of steam, a shot ripped through the air and slapped solidly into flesh and bone. Lester didn’t feel any pain, so he snapped his reins again. His horse’s only response was a pained groan as it dropped to its front knees and started to fall onto its side. Lester was just quick enough to hop from the saddle before the horse flopped over.
“You shot my horse!” Lester said as he wheeled around.
Nick rode up to him and swung down from his own saddle. “If you’d rather I shoot you, I’d be happy to oblige.”
Lester reflexively grabbed for the fresh wound across his ribs. It was barely even bleeding, but he kept his hand there as if to keep his innards from spilling out. “A man doesn’t just shoot another man’s horse.”
“He’s not supposed to steal another man’s horse, either. Sometimes bad things happen don’t they, Lester? Like the law stumbling upon this place at just the right time. How’d they manage that?”
“He wrote them a letter,” Kinman said as he rode up to them on the horse that Nick had passed up back at the barn.
Both Lester and Nick turned toward the bounty hunter. Kinman nodded to Nick and then shifted his eyes toward Lester as he lifted his arm and sent a bullet through Lester’s eye.
The shot snapped Lester’s head back and spun him around on one foot. The bundle he’d been clutching flew from his grasp and his pistol dangled from his other hand by one finger through the trigger guard.
“That prick’s more trouble than he’s worth,” Kinman said, climbing down from his saddle. “He ain’t worth as much dead, but that Reaper’s Fee will more than make up for it.”
Nick wasn’t surprised by much anymore, but seeing Lester’s head explode in such a cold-blooded manner was enough to send a chill through anyone. Keeping his thoughts to himself, Nick said, “I suppose all the shooting from a little while ago was you dealing with those lawmen the same way you just dealt with Lester.”
Kinman actually managed to look surprised by that. “What? You think I’d shoot those fine lawmen? Me and Marshal Eaves are on friendly terms. He’s even got enough to pay up on the bounty being offered for those two shit stains Lester called his cousins. I did take care of the others in that house, though.”
“And the women?”
Kinman nodded slowly. “Can’t be too careful. Them bitches had guns.”
“So where are those lawmen now?”
“I sent them off in the other direction, but I suppose they’ll be back before too long.” Kinman kept his gun aimed at Nick as he walked to Lester’s body. “At least I hope they will,” he added. “I could sure use the backup.”
Nick had no trouble picking up on the shift in Kinman’s voice. He didn’t have an explanation for it, however, until he saw Jim moving his horse up alongside Kinman’s.
“Marshal Eaves sends his regards,” Kinman said to the young lawman.
“Who are you?” the deputy asked.
“Ask Eaves. He’ll vouch for me. The name’s Alan Kinman.”
The deputy nodded and relaxed a bit. “I heard of you.”
Feeling what little advantage he’d gained slipping away, Nick stepped between Kinman and the bundle Lester had dropped. The moment he took that step, Nick saw the deputy snap his gun up and aim it at him in a shaky grip.
“You don’t want to do that, boy,” Nick said. Before he could say anything else, Kinman interrupted.
“You hear that?” the bounty hunter asked. “Sounds to me like this outlaw’s threatening you.”
“That dead man there said he was Nick Graves,” the deputy replied. “Is that true?”
Kinman holstered his gun as he walked over and scooped up the leather bundle. He opened it, took a look inside and smiled. “It’s true, all right. Don’t you know a wanted man when you see one?”
Wincing and pressing his free hand against the deep scratch along his back, the deputy said, “No.”
“Well, why don’t we go and fetch the marshal? It’d be wise to have all the help we can get in bringing this animal to justice. They should be just east of that house back there.”
The deputy was hesitant to take his eyes off of Nick. “What do we do with him? I heard tell that he rode with Barrett Cobb.”
“That was a while ago,” Kinman said. “He don’t have as much fight in him these days. Ain’t that right, Nick?”
Nick let out a slow breath as he weighed his options. For all he knew, the kid might have his price, like most other lawmen, or he could be a straight shooter just trying to do his job and earn his wages.
“You’re finished, Graves,” Kinman said. “You can talk as tough as you want right now, but we both know you ain’t fast enough to shoot us both before we put you down. Lord knows you’re too old to run.”
Nick’s gun weighed heavily in his hand as he looked at the other two men. The longer he waited, the smaller his window of opportunity became. He was down to two choices. One of those choices simply couldn’t be allowed to pass.
Kinman nodded with a confident smile still embedded in his face. “You got a rope, Deputy?”
“Yeah.”
“Bring it over here and let’s get this mad-dog killer ready to be delivered to a cage, where he belongs.”
Jim took the coiled rope hanging from his saddle and climbed down from his horse.
Lowering his head, Nick allowed his gun arm to drop. “Maybe you’re right, Kinman. I’ve done some things that no man should be proud of. I’ve robbed more money than I can count and I’ve killed more men than I care to think
