Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
FORTY-FIVE
Watch for ONE MAN’S LAW
One Winner
The Spaniard snapped his hand toward his holster and pulled the .44. Clint’s arm moved in a similar flicker of motion as his hand wrapped around his modified Colt.
Both weapons cleared leather at the same time, but Clint was able to aim and pull his trigger before Franco’s hammer could drop. The Colt barked once and sent a bullet through Franco’s heart. The .44 roared as well but only after a twitching reflex of Franco’s finger.
The Spaniard had a surprised look on his face as the fire in his eyes slowly dwindled away . . . and Franco’s body landed facedown in the dirt.
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THE SAPPHIRE GUN
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
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Jove edition / May 2007
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ONE
Johnny Blevin’s place wasn’t much, but it was comfortable and it was nestled on a fine piece of California property. He was a short ride from the mountains, the ocean, or even Mexico. That made it easy for him to spread word to plenty of friends about the party he meant to throw to celebrate a recent bout of good fortune.
Word of the party spread like wildfire. It spread so quickly, in fact, that the number of people to show up was actually more than double the number of people he’d invited. Johnny took the additional arrivals in stride. Of course, that was easy to do since most of the uninvited guests brought food or drink along with them.
It had been a while since the town had seen a celebration that big. If Johnny had to put up with a few strangers to be the host, then so be it. He was just happy that one guest in particular could make it.
“Someone get a beer for my friend, here!” Johnny shouted as he spotted another new arrival and rushed over to greet him. Johnny was a short man with enough extra weight around his middle to make him look almost perfectly cylindrical. His wiry dark hair and protruding front teeth made him look like an overgrown beaver. At the moment, he looked like a very happy beaver.
Clint smirked and extended a hand to the approaching man. Johnny brushed right past that arm so he could wrap both of his around Clint in a brotherly hug. Clint couldn’t help but laugh as he felt himself get nearly lifted off his feet.
“Good to see you, too, Johnny,” Clint said. Even though he didn’t know most of the people at the party, Clint quickly became uncomfortable as more and more of them stared in his direction. “All right. That’s enough.”
“Sorry about that,” Johnny said. “I’m just glad to see you made it.”
“Doesn’t look like attendance is much of a problem for this event.”
Turning to take in the scene, Johnny nodded as if he were seeing it for the first time.
The property was five acres of mostly flat grassland, bordered on three sides by steep hills. A small, three-room house was in the middle of those three acres and was surroun
ded by a crooked wooden fence. A wandering trickle of a stream snaked its way behind the house and a small barn was situated nearby.
Just looking at the land by itself, a man could imagine quiet sunrises or even the beginnings of a modest farm. Some pigs could be raised on the property. Maybe a few cows or sheep could be penned in. There was definitely room for horses. Currently, however, there was barely enough room for Johnny and Clint.
Four tables were pushed together to form a single row. On those tables, there was a collection of all the food and drink that had been brought to the party. A few men played loudly upon banjos and guitars, and one of them even beat a rhythm upon an upended bucket. Some folks were dancing. Some were playing games. Here and there, some were fighting. All of them appeared to be having the time of their lives.
“I guess things did get a bit out of hand.” Johnny sighed.
“How long has this been going on?” Clint asked. “The letter I got said this was all to start on Sunday. I thought I was going to miss it.”
“It did start on Sunday. It’s been going steady ever since.”
“For three days?” Clint let out a whistle. “You might have a hell of time getting these folks to leave.”
Although Johnny winced, he quickly waved it off and said, “To hell with it. I may just hand all of this over to ’em when I leave.”
“You’re leaving? The last time I checked, you were settling in for good after getting that shipping business up and running.”
“And I’ve still got you to thank for that, Clint,” Johnny said as he draped one arm over Clint’s shoulder and squeezed. Every breath he let out smelled as if it had been soaked in liquor. “Hey, everyone!” Johnny shouted. “This here’s the man who made me the man I am today!”
Although a few of the revelers looked over in Johnny’s direction, none of them seemed to be as happy as he was about Clint’s arrival. In fact, one of them shouted back, “Who the hell are you two?”
Clint patted Johnny’s back. “How about you just point me to something I can eat?”
“Right over this way,” Johnny replied. “I’ll show you.”
“Have you been drinking this whole time? You smell like whiskey.”
“Not really. I had a bit, but most of what you smell is what was spilled on me.”
The more times Clint was bumped and jostled by drunks, the more he regretted riding in from the coast to put in an appearance at Johnny’s shindig. Once he saw all the food on the table, however, his good spirits quickly returned. Grabbing a plate and piling some food onto it, Clint asked, “So what’s the reason behind this feast?”
“Didn’t I put it in the letter?”
“Nope. All you said was that you wanted me to get here and that you’d tell me about it when I arrived.”
Johnny squinted as he thought back to writing the letter he’d sent to Clint. Once that became too difficult, he shook his head and let out a breath. “I thought I wrote it all out.” Suddenly, Johnny snapped his fingers. “I remember now! I wrote all of it in the letter I sent to West Texas! Rick Hartman wrote back to me, and I was just barely able to scribble something out and send it to where he thought you’d be. Now that I think about it, I’m even more surprised you made it here at all.”
“Jesus, how long have you been planning this affair?”
“Ever since I heard the news.”
“What news?”
Johnny straightened up, lifted his chin, and held onto his lapel as if he was posing for a painter. “The news that I’m gonna be so rich that I won’t have to work another day in my life.”
TWO
At first, Clint thought it was just the liquor in Johnny’s system talking. But after studying the other man for a few moments, he saw that Johnny wasn’t so unsteady that he should be written off just yet. In fact, Johnny looked more proud than delirious.
“Are you joshing me?” Clint asked.
Johnny shook his head. “Not in the least, my friend.”
After filling up the last bit of space on his plate with a helping of beans, Clint led the other man away from the table. “Since I made the ride all the way out here, why don’t you tell me about it?”
Johnny acquired a definite strut as he walked next to Clint. They came to a stop at a nearby fence post. The spot wasn’t completely free of staggering partygoers, but it was empty enough for Clint to lean against the post and eat his food without the plate getting knocked from his hand.
Letting out the breath that had been puffing out his chest, Johnny said, “There’s really not much to tell. You recall that shipping business I started?”
After swallowing the mouthful of food he’d been chewing, Clint said, “I remember the trouble you had in clearing that pass so you could get anything to move through your shipping business.”
“Just like I recall nearly getting killed if it wasn’t for you stepping in. Did I mention how grateful I am that you stepped up when you did? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ever—”
“You mentioned it, Johnny,” Clint interrupted gently. “Several times.”
“Well, I wanted to be sure you knew how grateful I was.”
“Being invited to this party was all I needed. I haven’t had this much food in front of me for a while.”
“And as much as I know you can put away more’n your share of food, this ain’t the only way I intend on repaying your good deed,” Johnny insisted.
Clint tilted his head to one side and squinted as if he were studying the buck-toothed man under a magnifying glass. “What else have you got in store?”
Johnny looked from side to side at the people who were milling about. Even though he was the founder of the feast, nobody else seemed to care too much that Johnny was still there. “Just between you and me, Western Union is buying me out.”
“Really?”
Johnny nodded. “Since I was one of the only shippers in these parts who wasn’t having trouble getting robbed or making their deliveries, word got around pretty damn quick. Before I knew it, I was doing better business than the post office.”
“That’s quite a claim.”
“But it’s one I can back up!” Leaning in, Johnny added, “Especially since I made it my business to be at least five cents cheaper than the post office at every turn.”
“I guess that all adds up,” Clint chuckled.
“Sure enough! The man from Western Union seemed pretty damned impressed with how I’d done. Seems they’ve got their fingers in delivering more than just telegrams and they’re looking to set up shop around here. I just put a wire in my place . . . you know, to diver . . . uhh . . . differ . . .”
“Diversify?” Clint asked.
Johnny snapped his fingers again and pointed at him. “Diversify! That’s it. But it was just talk. Well, the right person heard me talking and the next thing I knew, I was getting an offer from Western Union, themselves.”
“Are they going to expand your business or just get you out of the way?”
“To be honest,” Johnny said, “I don’t give a damn if they want to break my place apart and sell it off for fire-wood. With what they’re paying, I’ll let ’em do whatever the hell they want.”
“And you’re sure the offer is genuine?”
“They already moved in. I got half the money already,” Johnny said in a whisper that was almost too low for Clint to hear.
“Please tell me it’s not stashed around here.”
“Hell no, it isn’t. It’s safe and sound in a bank where it belongs. I’ve got some investment plans that might just keep me going for a good, long time. If not, there’ll be enough left over for me to start up another business.”
Clint used a rumpled napkin to wipe the gravy from his mouth. “That’s great news.”
“Of course,” Johnny continued, “there’s still the matter of getting the rest of the money to the bank.”
“Sounds like you’ve already done the job once.”
Wincing, Johnny said, “Yeah, but there were some
people watching me a little too close. They even followed me a part of the ways back here. I was thinking, since you were heading back soon anyways, that you might ride along with me.”
“When were you heading out?”
“I get the second half of the payment the day after tomorrow, but I could leave whenever it suited you.”
“Are you expecting this to be as treacherous as clearing out that route from New Mexico?” Clint asked sternly.
“Not hardly! As far as I know, nobody even knows about what I’m hauling or how much money will be with me.” After saying that last part, Johnny winced as if he could take it back. At the very least, he wished he would have said it a little quieter.
Clint was thinking along those same lines, but saw that most of the folks at the party still seemed oblivious as to who Johnny even was. “Where’s this bank of yours?” Clint asked.
“On the coast no more than a few days’ ride from here.”
“You’re a lucky man, Johnny.”
“Why’s that?”
“I just happened to be headed in that direction anyway.”
For a few seconds, Johnny took the stern look on Clint’s face seriously. Then, he cracked a smile and patted Clint on the shoulder. “You almost had me! I was worried you’d tell me to shove my offer where the sun don’t shine.”
“Now, why would I do that? Especially when you’re going to pay me so handsomely for the job.”
Johnny kept on laughing, but quickly stopped himself. “Oh, of course I was gonna pay you. I wouldn’t ask you to go through all this trouble for free. What sort of wage were you thinking about?”
Having spotted a blonde dancing in a group not too far away, Clint kept his eyes on her as he handed his empty plate to Johnny. “I’m sure we’ll work something out just like before.”
Johnny let out a breath and took the plate from him. “Yeah! Just like before! I’ll even double that! What would you think of that?”
But Clint wasn’t paying too much attention to what Johnny was saying. All he’d needed to do was walk halfway over to where the dancing was being done and the blonde walked the rest of the way to meet him. She smiled widely and held her arms open for Clint. When he stepped forward, Clint felt those arms wrap around him tightly and the blonde’s body writhing against him.
The Sapphire Gun Page 1
