Miserably, Coleman asked, “What do we do?”
“Play along with him,” Sam said. Something had occurred to him. Porter hadn’t said anything about Matt, and when Sam glanced over his shoulder, he didn’t see any sign of his blood brother. Sam hoped that meant Matt was still on the loose somewhere nearby.
Because Matt Bodine was a hell of a secret weapon!
Chapter 29
Matt had been turning away from the rain barrel and Red Mike Loomis when he saw something suspicious going on down at the marshal’s office. Instantly, he dropped into a crouch behind the barrel, next to Mike, so that he couldn’t be seen as easily.
“What…the hell…” the wounded man began.
“Shhh,” Matt hissed. “Let me listen.”
His keen ears picked up enough of the tense, low-voiced exchange for him to understand what was going on. He knew that his blood brother would go along with Porter’s orders, at least for the moment. As long as Hannah’s life was in danger, Sam didn’t really have any choice.
But of course, they couldn’t trust Porter, either. The crooked lawman’s continued survival depended on not leaving any living witnesses to testify against him.
As Sam and Coleman dropped their guns, Matt turned to Mike Loomis and whispered, “You’re gonna have to wait here for a while. Hell’s about to pop again, and I can’t fetch the doc right now.”
“Don’t worry…about me,” Mike said. “I don’t know what’s…goin’ on…but you go take care of…whatever you got to do.”
Matt squeezed the young man’s shoulder. “Hang on, Mike. I’ll see to it that bullet wound’s tended to as soon as I can.”
With that, he dropped to his belly and crawled over into the shadows at the edge of the boardwalk. He didn’t know where the rest of the crooked deputies were and didn’t know if any of them had spotted him. A cold prickle swept over his skin as he started making his way toward the marshal’s office. For all he knew, bullets were about to smash into him at any second.
No hot lead came his way, though. When he reached the corner, he wriggled around it and risked coming to his feet long enough to dart into an even deeper patch of shadows. He pressed his back against the wall of a building and waited there for a moment, listening to the heavy thump of his heart beating in his chest.
There was a back door to the marshal’s office, but he was sure it would be closed and barred. He couldn’t get in that way, and it would be suicide to try to come in through the front door. What he needed to do was draw Porter back out somehow and hope that the corrupt lawman wouldn’t kill the prisoners before he could do that.
But first, Matt thought, he had to even the odds a little. In order to accomplish that, he had to find Porter’s deputies. Porter had probably told them to spread out during the battle against Cimarron Kane, so that they could make their move after Kane fled. Matt would need all the stealth he had learned from Sam Two Wolves and Sam’s father, old Medicine Horse, if he was going to find them.
Staying in the shadows, Matt melted into the night.
Porter didn’t let go of Hannah until they were all inside the marshal’s office. He told Sam, “Close that door,” then took his arm away from her throat as Sam followed the order.
Hannah ran into her father’s arms. Coleman gathered her to him and hugged her tightly. “Are you all right?” he asked in a voice hoarse with emotion.
She nodded and said, “Yes, Dad, I’m fine.” Her voice was a little hoarse, too, and Sam knew that was from the pressure Porter’s arm had put on her throat. Anger welled up inside him. The idea that Porter had hurt her made him want to smash his fist in the middle of the crooked lawman’s face, then hit him again and again…
For the moment, though, Sam had to keep that urge under control, and he knew it. Porter was calling the shots right now.
But maybe not for long.
Coleman glared over his daughter’s shoulder at Porter and said, “So, is what Sam tells me about you true, Marshal? Or should I even call you that?”
“I still hold a special commission from the governor,” Porter replied with a smirk. “I don’t see why I won’t continue to do so.”
“Then it
Porter’s smirk disappeared with an exasperated sigh. “Yes, all right, it’s true. Marshal Bickford and I have been…supplementing our salaries, I suppose you could say. But it’s only right, considering that we’ve had to risk our lives trying to apprehend all the moonshiners around here.”
“Lawmen get paid to risk their lives,” Coleman said. “I don’t reckon a polecat like you would understand that, though.”
Porter gestured with the gun in his hand. “Keep talking if you want, Marshal. It’s really all you can do.”
Coleman didn’t say anything, but Hannah asked, “You’re not really going to lock us up and then leave, are you?”
“I can’t afford to do that.” Porter jerked the gun again, this time toward the cell block door. “Get in there, all three of you.”
Sam exchanged a glance with Coleman. He knew that if one of the cell doors ever swung closed behind them, they were doomed. Porter would gun them down without mercy. He could tell from the look in Coleman’s eyes that the marshal understood that, too. If it came down to it, he would risk jumping Porter, even though he would probably get shot in the process. But if he could get the gun away from Porter, Coleman might be able to handle him.
