“Sagretti to Team Leader.
“Go ahead, Sagretti.”
“Four down, two to go.”
“That’s a roger. Stand by and stay out of sight. Okay, Miller, Donninger. you got a clear shot at the two out front?’
“That’s a roger.”
“Drop ’em.”
The two commandos stationed on the roof across the street from the rooming house fired. One of the rustlers slapped his hand to his chest.
“Ow! Jeez, damn skeeters-” then he spasmed and dropped dead as the fast-acting poison did its work. His partner collapsed a fraction of a second later. Capiletti spoke into his radio. “Okay. Sagretti, get those bodies out of there! Now! Move it!”
The black-clad commandos blended with the shadows as they quickly ran around the corner and up to the fallen rustlers. Seconds later, the bodies were gone.
“Well done. Lieutenant.” said Stone. He pulled back his sleeve and spoke into his own radio. “Listen up. This is Stone. I’m going in Give me five seconds once I go through the front door, then move in behind me. We’re taking that house. Miller, Donninger, you keep to your posts. Cover the street.”
“Roger. Captain.-
“Okay, here we go.” said Stone. He turned to Capiletti who, unlike the other commandos, was dressed in period clothes He was wearing jeans, a cotton shirt, boots and a Stetson hat. Only beneath his coat, his holsters held a laser and a plasma pistol. “Let’s go.” said Stone.
Together. the two men started across the street, heading toward the rooming house.
O’Fallon stood among the crowd, looking down at the body of Ross Demming. There was a slight tic at the corner of his mouth. He balled his hands into fists. Idiots, he thought. Goddamn idiots! A simple job, one shooter on the street, another on the roof to cover him. How in hell could they possibly have bungled it? And where in hell was Brocius?
“All right, move aside.” said Wyatt Earp, pushing his way through the crowd. He looked down at the body sprawled out on the street. “Demming.” he said, with a grimace. “Had a feelin’ he’d wind up like this, sooner or later “
He bent down and picked up the Winchester that was lying next to the corpse. He checked it. “It hasn’t been fired.” He glanced around at the crowd. “Anybody see what happened?”
“I saw the whole thing. Marshal,” said O’Fallon. “It was the Montana Kid. He shot Ross down in cold blood. Never even gave him a chance.”
“He’s lying!” Jenny shouted.
Wyatt turned toward her. “What do you know about this, Jenny?”
“I was right here.” she said. “I was leaving the saloon with Scott when Curly Bill came up behind us and jerked his pistol!”
“Then what’s Demming doing here?” asked Wyatt.
“He was up on the roof of the saloon, with his rifle,” Jenny said. “Bill wanted Scott to turn around and make his play and Demming was going to shoot him down as soon as he turned around.”
“So what happened to Curly Bill?” asked Wyatt.
“He ran after Scott shot Demming.” Jenny said.
“And Demming was up on the roof, you say?” asked Wyatt He turned and looked up at the roof. “How did the Kid happen to see him up there?”
“He didn’t,” Jenny said. “I did. I saw him and I warned Scott.”
“You saw him.” Wyatt said “What made you think to look up there?”
“Scott told me to look.”
“I see,” said Wyatt, pursing his lips thoughtfully. “Why couldn’t he look himself?”
“Because he had his back turned.”
“And with his back turned, he knew there was someone on the roof behind him?”
Jenny saw how it was going and it wasn’t going well. “He.. he knew that Curly Bill knew he couldn’t beat him and he figured out that someone else had to have a gun on him.”
Wyatt grunted. “So he shot Ross Demming.”
“It was self-defense!” said Jenny.
“Head shot.” Wyatt said. He turned to look at the roof again. “Clear up there, eh? In the dark, too. What was Curly Bill doing all this time?”
“I told you.” Jenny said, “he ran.”
“Why didn’t he just shoot the Kid while the Kid was shooting Demming? He had the drop on him, didn’t he?”
“He.. well, he couldn’t because… “ Jenny’s voice trailed off.
“Marshal, she couldn’t have seen anything,” O’Fallon said. “She was inside, in the saloon. Ain’t that right, boys?”
“Yeah, that’s right, I saw her.” Zaber replied.
“And Curly Bill left quite a while ago,” O’Fallon said.
“Alter the Kid called him out back there in saloon.”
“The Kid called him out?” asked Wyatt.
“Its a lie!” Jenny said “He just offered to show Bill who was faster.”
“Ain’t that the same thing?” asked O’Fallon.
“They drew on each other with empty pistols!” Jenny said. “Ask anybody! They all saw!”
“And once the Kid saw he could take Curly Bill, he decided to do it for real.” said O’Fallon. “Curly Bill left and the Kid went out after him, but he ran into Ross Demming first and decided to take care of some old business.”
“It isn’t true!” shouted Jenny. “He’s making it all up!”
“What was Demming doing with a Winchester?” asked Wyatt.
“He had it on his horse,” O’Fallon said. He was gettin’ ready to ride out of town when the Kid came out. When the Kid saw him, he jerked his pistol. Ross went for the rifle in his scabbard, but just barely got it out when the Kid shot him. You know how fast the Kid is.”
“What happened to his horse?”
“Ran off when the shots were fired,” O’Fallon lied, smoothly. “I don’t know where Jenny got this roof business, but you have to know. Marshal, she’s in love with the Kid. Wouldn’t have anything to do with anybody else ever since the Kid showed up. You can ask anyone. She’s his woman. You can’t blame her for tryin’ to protect him. I’d like a woman of mine to do the same.”
“Is that true, Jenny?” Wyatt asked.
She shook her head. “Surely, you don’t believe him?”
“I know how you feel about the Kid, Jenny,” Wyatt said. “Everyone in town knows. And if it happened like you said, I can’t see how the Kid could have shot Demming down from that roof without having Curly Bill shoot him. Nobody’s that fast.”
“But. but that’s the way it happened! I swear!”
Sheriff Behan pushed his way through the crowd. “Heard there was a shootin’,” he said.
“You don’t say,” said Wyatt. wryly.
Behan shot him an angry look. “Ross Demming, eh? Looks like the Kid finally got him.”
“How do you know it was the Kid?” asked Wyatt.
“Heck. everybody knows there was bad blood between those two.” said Behan, “ever since the Kid gunned down his brother. I understand they had a near set-to in the Grand Hotel a while hack. Fact, you were them, weren’t you. Wyatt?”
“I was there.” admitted Earp.
“Wyatt, you’re not going to believe these men?” said Jenny.
“It appears I’ll have to believe them enough to put the Kid under arrest. Jenny.” Wyatt replied.
“But you know what kind of men they are?” she argued, with exasperation.
