“No,” she said, shaking her head, “I’m here to help you, when you need me—and my father feels the same way. All right?”
“Yes,” Evan said, “all right. Let’s get you home, now, shall we?”
They walked to the door, where she inserted her key and opened it.
“See you tomorrow,” she said, turning to him.
On impulse Evan bent and kissed her on the mouth.
She didn’t seem surprised, but she didn’t particularly participate, either.
Evan straightened and looked at her. He was about to apologize for taking the liberty when she stretched and kissed him quickly on the mouth.
“Good night,” she said, and slipped inside.
Jubal was standing at the bar holding a beer when he saw John Burkett enter with three men. The tallest of the three was Chuck Conners, Burkett’s foreman.
Jubal turned his back to the room. He was certain that Conners would know who he was. As it turned out, he hadn’t turned his back soon enough, and John Burkett had seen him.
“My friend,” Burkett called. Jubal tried to ignore him but in the mirror he could see Burkett crossing the room toward him. Conners and the other two men followed.
“Chuck, I want you to meet the hombre who helped me out at Louise’s. Hey,” John Burkett said, touching Jubal’s shoulder, “I didn’t even get your name.”
As Jubal turned Chuck Conners said, “I can tell you what his name is.”
“How would you—”
“His name is McCall,” Conners said. “Jubal McCall.”
“McCall?” John said, staring at Jubal.
“Sam McCall’s brother.”
John looked at Conners, then turned to Jubal and said, “Why, you—what were you trying to do? Get into my confidence?”
Jubal smiled and said, “No harm done, friend. I did keep you from getting your head knocked off.”
“Now let’s see if you can do the same for yourself,” John Burkett said. “Grab him!”
Jubal threw his beer into the face of one man andpushed another away. Conners, however, was bigger and stronger. He got behind Jubal and pinned his arms back.
“Hold him, Chuck,” Burkett said. He threw a punch that landed solidly in Jubal’s belly. He followed that one up with a blow to the face, bringing blood from Jubal’s lip.
“Can we get in on the fun?” one of the other men asked. His face was dripping with beer.
“Be my guest,” Burkett said.
The other two men positioned themselves in front of Jubal. Apparently they were going to work on him at the same time.
“Hey—” the bartender said.
“You stay out of it!” Burkett barked at the man, who subsided. As far as he was concerned, he had done all he could.
“You’re gonna feel this all the way down to your toes, boy,” the man with beer on his face said.
Both men drew back their fists, and at that moment the man who was slumped in Conner’s hands came to life. He backed up, pinning Conners to the bar, then lifted both feet and kicked out at the two men. He caught both of them in the chest, driving them backward.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” cried John Burkett. He went to draw his gun, but the move was arrested by a loud voice.
“I wouldn’t do that, Burkett!” It was Evan McCall.
Burkett looked over and saw Evan standing just inside the batwing doors, gun in hand. Men who were sitting in the line of fire scrambled for safety.
“Tell your friend to let my brother go.”
“There are four of us, McCall, and only two of you,” John Burkett said.
“That may be, Johnny boy, but I’ll make sure I kill you first.” Evan paused a moment to let that sink in and then said, “The next move is up to you.”
Conners was still holding on to Jubal. The other twomen had regained their balance and were watching John Burkett, waiting for him to move.
“John!” Conners said.
“What?”
“This isn’t the time or the place,” the foreman said. He released Jubal’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”
“Want a drink.”
“We’ll get one someplace else.”
John Burkett was still staring across the room at Evan, his shoulders high with tension.
“John!” Conners said, “Let’s go.” He started for the door, then turned and looked at the other two men. “Let’s go, boys!”
The two men looked at Burkett one more time, then shrugged and followed Conners.
“A wise move, Conners,” Evan said.
“Your time will come, McCall,” Conners said to Evan. “You and your brothers.”
“Better get junior out of here before he does something rash.”
“If he was going to do it, he would have done it by now,” Conners said. “Just between you and me, I don’t think he’s got the
That left John Burkett in the room alone to face Evan and Jubal, and he was starting to realize that. His eyes suddenly acquired a hunted look.
“Come on, John,” Jubal said, “Forget it. I’ll buy you a drink.”
Burkett looked at Jubal and said, “Keep your damned drink. The next time you get in my way, nobody’ll stop me. I’ll kill you.”
Jubal picked up his beer from the bar and raised the glass to Burkett, who stormed across the room past Evan, and then out.
Evan holstered his gun and joined his brother at the bar.
“Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” he said, leaning his elbows against the bar so he could continue to watch the room. Now that it was clear there would be no shooting, men were reclaiming their seats and going back to what they were doing. Evan, though, cautiously continued to survey the room.
Jubal wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and said to the bartender, “Two more beers.” He looked at his brother and said, “You got here just in time.”
Evan smiled and said, “It’s the old McCall timing. We all have it”
Chapter Seventeen
In the morning Evan and Jubal told Sam about the incident as they walked to the Miller house for breakfast.
“Well, it sounds like we won’t be gettin’ any information from Johnny Burkett in the future,” Sam observed.
“I guess not,” Jubal said.
“Evan,” Sam said, “you get the feelin’ that we might all be targets now, instead of just me?”
“From what Jubal told me, John Burkett was just upset that he’d been fooled. I don’t think he and the other men came to town looking for one of us.”
Sam nodded. He felt the same way, but wanted to see how Evan felt.
“Jube?” He spoke to Jubal as an afterthought, not wanting to offend him by not asking his opinion. He had long since stopped thinking of his younger brother as just a boy.
“I agree, Sam.”
