The Loner: Seven Days to Die

by J. A. Johnstone

  The Kid shook his head. “No. A man who wants to clear his name.”

  He didn’t say “an innocent man.” That term would never really apply to him again. Not after some of the things he had seen…and done.

  Bledsoe nodded and said, “Yes, Drake and Miss Fletcher told us about how some bounty hunter caught you and dragged you to Hell Gate, thinking that you were me. To tell you the truth, I don’t see that much resemblance, myself, but obviously other people do. You fooled that bastard warden.” Bledsoe looked over at Drake. “But you knew right away that he wasn’t me, didn’t you, Carl?”

  “Yeah,” Drake husked. “I did.”

  “But you figured he could help you find me and even the score for me double-crossing you, right?”

  “Yeah.” Drake looked at Bledsoe with hate burning in his eyes. “It occurred to me. And that’s the way it worked out.”

  “Until you reached the end game. That’s a chess term, although you probably don’t know that. I outmaneuvered you, Carl, and you’ve lost. You won’t be getting what you came after.” Bledsoe turned to look toward the door. “Dakota, take Morgan’s gun.”

  Pete hesitated. “Boss, I’m still all mixed up. But The Kid and me, we’ve sorta become friends. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to him.”

  Bledsoe sat forward and frowned. “You’ve only known him for a day, you big lummox! Now do what you’re told.”

  Pete sighed and reached for The Kid. “Sorry,” he muttered.

  The Kid knew if he lost his gun, he and Drake and Jillian were all done for. He had to act, no matter how risky it was.

  He twisted and grabbed Pete’s arm as the big man reached for him. With a grunt of effort, he heaved Pete around so that the thick body partially shielded him from Malone and Woods. His hand flashed to his gun. The Colt leaped up and flamed as he fired under Pete’s arm.

  The bullet grazed Malone, sending him backwards. At the same time, The Kid gave Pete a hard shove that sent him stumbling toward Woods. The gambler held his fire and darted to the side, trying to get an angle on The Kid.

  He was already moving, throwing himself backward through the batwings. He didn’t want to leave Drake and Jillian behind, but he had no choice. He stood a lot better chance of helping them if he was free than if he was Bledsoe’s prisoner.

  Guns roared. Bullets punched holes through the batwings and chewed splinters from the swinging doors.

  But The Kid was already gone, racing down the boardwalk, then leaping around the corner of the building. He had to stay on the move. Bledsoe had a lot more men besides Malone and Woods working for him. Within minutes, they would be searching the town for him, no doubt with orders to kill him on sight.

  The odds were overwhelming against him…but he might have an ally that Bledsoe didn’t know about. It was a long shot, but he had to try.

  He headed for Rosarita’s.

  The back door was still unlocked. Gun drawn, he went up the stairs and looked around the corner from the alcove at the top. Brady sat dozing in a chair leaned against the wall, a shotgun across his lap.

  “Brady!” The Kid called softly as he approached.

  The chair’s front legs thumped against the floor as the bouncer opened his eyes and sat up. He started to lift the scattergun in alarm, but The Kid already had hold of the barrels and held it down.

  “Take it easy, Brady, it’s just me, Morgan.”

  Brady blinked bleary eyes at him. “Oh. Yeah. I see that now. You come back for that fella we got locked up inside?”

  “I have to talk to him, yes,” The Kid said with a nod.

  Brady stood up and took a key from his pocket. “Lemme get the door.”

  As Brady was unlocking the door, the door of Rosarita’s room opened and she peered out into the hall. “What’s going on here?” she asked as she clutched a dressing gown at her throat. “Kid, is that you back here already?”

  “Yeah.”

  A worried frown appeared on Rosarita’s face. “I heard a shot a little while ago. You had something to do with that, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, I’m afraid so. I have to talk to Haggarty.”

  “The bounty hunter? Why?”

  A humorless grin pulled at The Kid’s mouth. “I’m going to give him a chance to get his hands on the man he’s really been after all along.” The Kid stepped past the fat bouncer and saw the trussed-up Haggarty lying on the floor of the room. Haggarty made angry noises through the gag and thumped his bound feet against the floor.

  The Kid holstered his gun and kneeled beside the man. “Listen to me, Haggarty,” he said. “If you won’t yell, I’ll take that gag out of your mouth. We need to talk.”

  Haggarty glared at him but fell silent.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” The Kid said. He started untying the rag that held the gag in the bounty hunter’s mouth.

  When it was loose, Haggarty spat out the gag. He worked his jaw around for a minute before saying hoarsely, “You son of a bitch, Bledsoe.”

  The situation was too dire for The Kid to feel exasperated at being called Bledsoe again. He said, “Shut up and listen. For the last time, I’m not Ben Bledsoe. But the real Bledsoe is right here in Gehenna, so if you want him, you’ve got a chance to get him.”

  “You don’t expect me to believe—”

  “I expect you to believe your own eyes. And besides that, Jillian Fletcher is here, and so is Carl Drake. They both know the truth.”

  “Miss Fletcher’s still alive?”

  “Of course she is.”

  “Well, that’s one mark in your favor, I guess,” Haggarty said. “When I heard that you’d taken her hostage when you and Drake broke out, I figured you’d kill her somewhere along the way. I started to hope she was still alive when I didn’t find her body anywhere along the trail.”

  “You followed us all the way from Hell Gate?” The Kid asked.

  Haggarty nodded. “Yeah. I was in the area when I heard about you escaping with Drake. I was able to pick up your trail. I’ve been dogging it ever since. When I came to this whorehouse tonight, I figured on asking some questions, finding out if anybody had seen you.” He grunted. “I never expected to run right into you while I was going up the stairs.”

  “Well, here’s the deal, Haggarty. You and I are going to have to work together.”

  “Work together? To do what?”

  “Like I told you, the real Bledsoe is here in Gehenna. He’s holding Drake and Miss Fletcher prisoner.”

  Quickly, The Kid explained how Bledsoe had come there and taken over his old hometown after escaping from Hell Gate and picking up the loot he had hidden before his capture.

  “Even having to pay those gunmen, he’s probably got a bigger stash now,” The Kid went on. “He’s been bleeding this town dry.”

  “If he’s surrounded by hired killers, he won’t be easy to take,” Haggarty commented.

  The Kid chuckled. “You believe me now, do you?”

  “It’s too loco a story to make up.” Haggarty’s eyes cut over toward the door. “Anyway, they seem to believe you. Maybe you’re telling the truth.”

  The Kid glanced in that direction and saw Rosarita and Brady standing there. They had been listening to his story.

  Brady said, “I’ve been around these parts for a long time. I remember that old drunk, Silas Bledsoe. Seems like he had some shiftless kid, but I’m not real clear on that.”

  “That boy grew up to be Matthew Harrison?” Rosarita asked.

  “Before that, he was Bloody Ben Bledsoe, and before that, he was Professor Bledsoe,” The Kid said.

  “Quite a life,” Haggarty muttered. “It doesn’t change anything, though. He’s still a no-good outlaw with a price on his head.”

  “Yeah. If I cut you loose, you’ll help me take him and free Drake and Miss Fletcher?”

  “Drake’s going back to prison, too,” Haggarty snapped. “He’s a murderer and a thief.”

  The Kid shrugged. “He probably belongs behind bars, all
right. I won’t stop you from taking him. So what do you say, Haggarty? I have your word that we’ll work together?”

  Haggarty drew in a deep breath and nodded. “My word,” he said. “I’m going to give you a chance to prove that you’re telling the truth. But if you’re not, if this is some sort of trick, then God help you. And even if it’s not…the odds are mighty high against us. We may wind up getting killed.”

  “I know,” The Kid said. “Brady, fetch a knife so we can cut these ropes. Haggarty and I have work to do.”

  “Not by yourself,” Brady said. “I’ll back your play, too, Morgan.”

  The Kid looked at him in surprise. “You will?”

  “Damn right. I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I’m sick and tired of Harrison or Bledsoe or whatever the hell his name is lordin’ over the whole town.”

  “So am I,” Rosarita said. “Everyone in Gehenna is. My girls and I can’t really help you fight him, Kid, but there are men in town who would.”

  “Like the blacksmith,” Brady suggested. “And the fella who owns the livery stable.”

  “And a dozen more,” Rosarita said. “I could send my girls out to find them and talk to them, tell them to meet here with their guns.”

  “They’d be risking their lives,” The Kid warned.

  “Letting Harrison run things is just a slower way of dying.”

  The Kid thought it over quickly. Raising a force of townspeople to storm the saloon would go a long way toward evening the odds. There was a good chance some of them would die.

  But people had been fighting for their freedom and dying even before the country was born, he reminded himself.

  “All right,” he said. “But Bledsoe will have men out looking for me. Your girls will have to be careful not to be seen, and so will the men who gather here, or Bledsoe will know that something’s up.”

  Rosarita nodded. “I understand. Brady, cut Mr. Haggarty loose. I’ll wake the girls and tell them they have some work to do.” She smiled. “Different work.”

  Brady took a clasp knife from his pocket and began sawing through the bonds around Haggarty’s wrists. “Gonna be a lot of changes in Gehenna tonight,” he said.

  “Because of fighting Bledsoe, you mean?” The Kid asked.

  “Yeah, that…and the way a bunch of soiled doves are gonna be showin’ up at the houses of some of the town’s leadin’ citizens asking them for help. Some fellas are gonna be doin’ a lot of explainin’ to their wives in the mornin’…if they live through the night!”

  Chapter 35

  The Kid was a little wary when he gave Haggarty his gun back, but the bounty hunter appeared to be keeping his word. He holstered the weapon and asked, “What’s the plan?”

  “Once the rest of the men get here, they’re going down to the saloon to confront Bledsoe,” The Kid explained. He looked at the bouncer. “You’ll be in charge of them, Brady.”

  “Me?” the fat man asked in surprise. “I’m no gunfighter.”

  “No, but you’re a citizen of this town, and you’ll present it like you’re taking the town back from Bledsoe.”

  “A challenge like that will just get us all killed!”

  The Kid shook his head. “No, you’ll all find some good cover before you ever call out to Bledsoe. Some of you need to aim at the saloon, while the rest of the bunch gets ready for Bledsoe’s men who are scattered through the town to come running when the shooting starts.”

  Brady rubbed his heavy jaw as he frowned in thought. “You mean they’ll come runnin’ right into an ambush.”

  “That’s right,” The Kid said with a nod. “They’ll be out in the open and ought to be easy pickings while the rest of you keep Bledsoe and his men who are in the saloon pinned down there.”

  “Well…it might work,” Brady admitted. “Those sons o’ bitches will put up a fight, though.”

  The Kid nodded again. “Of course they will. That’s why I said this would be dangerous. But if you want your town back, you’ll have to fight for it.”

  “I reckon that’s true.” Brady’s voice strengthened as he went on, “We’ll do it. But what are you gonna be doin’, Kid?”

  The Kid inclined his head toward the bounty hunter. “Haggarty and I are going to get into the saloon and take Bledsoe by surprise.”

  “We are?” Haggarty said.

  “That’s right. I expect you’re anxious to see him with your own eyes, so you’ll know that I’m telling the truth.”

  Haggarty’s burly shoulders rose and fell. “I wouldn’t mind.”

  “He has Miss Fletcher and Drake in there. I figure when all hell breaks loose outside would be a good time to go in and get them.”

  Haggarty thought it over and then nodded. “All right. Sounds like a good idea. I want Bledsoe alive, though.”

  “We’ll try. I can’t make any promises.”

  A savage grin tugged at Haggarty’s mouth. “I could always take you back again, you know. Fletcher believed it once.”

  “He won’t again. Not after talking to his daughter.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. All right, we’ll do the best we can to take him alive and leave it at that.”

  The Kid nodded in agreement. He turned back to Brady.

  “Haggarty and I are going to slip out the back and get in position. We’ll wait until we hear the shooting start to make our move.”

  “You don’t reckon there’s any chance Harrison—Bledsoe, whatever the hell his name is—will give up when I yell out and tell him to get out of town, do you?” Brady asked.

  The Kid didn’t answer that.

  Brady sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He held out his hand. “Good luck, Kid.”

  The Kid shook hands with the bouncer. Rosarita hugged him, whispering in his ear, “The invitation is still open, Kid, any time. Just come back alive.”

  He embraced her but didn’t make any promises.

  The Kid and Haggarty slipped out the back door of the whorehouse, disappearing into the thick shadows in the alley. Even though The Kid had been in Gehenna only a little more than twenty-four hours, he knew the town better than the bounty hunter did, so he took the lead.

  They had gone only a few yards when a figure suddenly loomed out of the darkness in front of them. The Kid knew instantly it had to be one of Bledsoe’s hired guns searching for him, even before the man asked in a whiskey-roughened voice, “Who—”

  He didn’t get any further than that. The Kid whipped out his gun, but not to fire. They couldn’t afford a gunshot right now.

  Instead he twirled the gun so that when he struck with the speed of an uncoiling diamondback rattler, it was the butt that crashed into the man’s head. He went down like a sack of stones. The only sound was the thud of the gun butt against his skull and the fainter thud of his body hitting the ground in the alley.

  “You get him, Kid?” Haggarty whispered.

  “Yeah.” The Kid knelt and used his fingers to explore the depression in the man’s head. Shattered bone moved under his fingers. The hired killer wouldn’t be waking up.

  The Kid straightened and breathed, “Let’s go.”

  The two men set off again for the saloon.

  They didn’t encounter any more of Bledsoe’s gun-wolves along the way. The Kid recognized the building that housed the saloon when they came to it, but he wasn’t familiar with the rear of the place. Working by feel, he found a door, but it was locked.

  “I can probably bust it down when the time comes,” Haggarty said into The Kid’s ear, so quietly that no one could have heard the words a yard away.

  “Yeah, but if you couldn’t, that might ruin everything. Anyway, it would warn them that we’re coming.”

  “You got a better idea?” Haggarty asked.

  The Kid looked up and spotted a window on the second floor that was open a few inches. “Yeah,” he said as he pointed it out to Haggarty.

  “How do we get up there?”

  That was a tougher question to ans
wer. The Kid started looking around the alley.

  He found an empty crate. He thought if Haggarty were to stand on the crate, and he climbed up onto the bounty hunter’s shoulders, he would be able to reach the windowsill and pull himself up. Then maybe he could give Haggarty a hand somehow.

  “I suppose we can give it a try,” Haggarty agreed. “Just don’t make any racket.”

  They put the crate in place. The big question now was whether it would support the weight of both of them. Haggarty was a big man, and The Kid, though slender, wasn’t exactly a lightweight.

  All they could do was try. Haggarty climbed onto the crate and flattened his hands against the wall to brace himself.

  The Kid stepped up onto the crate and started climbing the bigger man. It was awkward and uncomfortable, and he almost slipped a time or two.

  But he finally managed to get a foot on Haggarty’s shoulder and hoisted himself up. He leaned against the wall with one hand and reached up as high as he could with the other.

  His fingers closed over the sill.

  The Kid hung on tightly and got his other hand on the sill. Below him, Haggarty grabbed his ankles and lifted him even more. The Kid hooked one arm over the sill and used the other hand to push the window up more. He hoped it wouldn’t squeal too loudly as it opened.

  It made some noise, but not much. The room within was dark, but that didn’t mean it was unoccupied. Somebody might well be waiting in there right now to kill whoever was sneaking in.

  He levered the upper half of his body up and over the sill, then rolled the rest of the way into the room.

  Nothing happened. The room was quiet.

  The Kid got to his feet and stuck his head out the window to nod to Haggarty. He turned back into the room and felt around until he found an empty bed. Pulling the sheet off, he began tearing it into strips that he quickly knotted together to form a makeshift rope.

  After tying the rope to the bed, he wrapped it around his waist, then dropped the rest of it out the window. He felt Haggarty take hold of it. The Kid sat down and braced his feet against the wall under the window as Haggarty’s weight made the rope cut into him.