“So where are they?”
“I got here first,” Clint said. “They’ll be along.”
“Wait a minute,” Joe said. “Did you say . . . Clint Adams?”
“That’s what I said.”
“The Gunsmith?”
Clint nodded.
Suddenly, Joe Pettigrew did not seem so interested in his gun.
FORTY-FOUR
“What are we supposed to do with him?” the madam asked Clint.
“Nothing,” he said. “He’s tied up, and here’s his gun.” He handed her the gun belt.
“What about the rest of them?”
“I’m taking care of that.”
“Alone?”
“There’s help on the way,” he promised. “Just stay inside and keep your girls inside as well.”
Abruptly, one of the girls threw her arms around him. It was the girl he’d rescued from Joe Pettigrew.
“Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome.”
“When you’re finished, you come back,” she said. “I’m gonna give you a free poke.”
“Thanks,” he said, extricating himself from her hold. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
As he started for the door, the madam grabbed his arm and said, “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
As Clint left the whorehouse, he saw Gloria and Deadly riding down the street. He ran at them, waving his hands.
“Get your horses off the street,” he hissed. “They’re hitting the bank.”
“All of ’em?” Deadly asked.
“Three of them,” Clint said. “I’ve got one tied up in that building.”
“Which one?” Gloria asked.
“What?”
“Which one of them do you have tied up?” She seemed very calm.
“Joe,” Clint said. “His name is Joe.”
“Where’s the bank?” Deadly said.
“This way,” Clint said. “Follow me. Don’t fire until I do. Understood?”
Deadly nodded, and Gloria said, “Yes.”
“This way,” he said again.
When Lyle, Deacon, and Nutty reached the bank, the door was locked and the window shade was down.
“Nobody’s here!” Nutty said, disappointed.
“They know what’s happening in town,” Lyle said. “They locked the door. Kick it in.”
Nutty lifted his leg and kicked the door. It not only opened, it splintered. They drew their guns and rushed in.
Clint, Deadly, and Gloria came within sight of the bank just as the three Pettigrews rushed in.
“Should we wait for them to come out?” Deadly asked.
“No,” Clint said, “somebody might get killed. We have to let them know we’re out here.”
“Won’t they take a hostage?” Deadly asked.
“Not these guys,” Clint said. “I don’t think they’re smart enough. I think they’ll come out of there and shoot it out.”
“Should we cover the back?” Deadly asked.
Clint almost said no, but then he looked at Gloria, and said, “Why don’t you cover the back, Gloria?”
“Okay,” she said. She ran across the street and down an alley that would take her to the back of the bank.
“Now what?” Deadly asked.
“Let’s go announce ourselves.”
They started and then stopped when Clint put his hand on Deadly’s arm.
“You better put your badge on, Walter,” he said. “We’re going to want them to see it.”
Inside, Nutty kept his gun on the three bank employees—the manager and two tellers—while Deacon and Lyle emptied the drawers and the safe.
“Look at all this money!” Deacon said
“Admire it later,” Lyle said. “Just load it up.”
“Pettigrew!”
They all stopped. The voice had come from outside.
“Who’s that?” Nutty asked.
“I don’t know,” Lyle said. He looked at Deacon. “Keep working.”
“Pettigrew! Inside the bank. Can you hear me?”
Lyle went to the front door and looked out. There were two men standing in the street. One of them had a badge on.
“Whataya see, Lyle?”
“Two men. One’s a lawman.”
“Is that all?” Nutty asked. “I thought there’d be a posse.”
“Come on, Pettigrew!” the man wearing the badge shouted.
“Whataya want?” Lyle called.
“We want you to come out with your hands up.”
“That ain’t gonna happen.”
“Then come out shootin’,” the man called. “It’s your choice.”
“Can I think about it?” Lyle asked.
“Why not?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Lyle backed away from the door.
“What are we gonna think about, Lyle?” Nutty asked. “We ain’t givin’ up.”
“We ain’t gonna wait fifteen minutes either. Deke! Get out here!”
Deacon came out from behind a teller’s cage, carrying two sacks of money.
“Put those down. We’ll come back in for ’em. Nutty, you go through the window, Deke and me are going out the doors. And we go with guns a-blazin’, understand?”
“Oh yeah,” Nutty said. “Should I kill them?” He indicated the bank employees.
“No, they ain’t gonna do nothin’,” Lyle said. “Forget ’em. Get ready.”
Nutty moved over to the window. Lyle and Deacon positioned themselves in front of the doors.
“Watch the windows,” Clint told Deadly.
“Why? They got fifteen minutes.”
“They’re not going to take fifteen minutes. They’ll either come through the window or throw something through. And they’ll come now. You watch the windows.”
Deadly drew his gun as Nutty Pettigrew came flying out the window, just like Clint had predicted.
As Nutty Pettigrew landed on his feet, roaring as loud as he could, Deadly shot him. The impact of the bullet did nothing to slow the huge man down.
Clint drew as two of the Pettigrews came through the door, guns loud. He took his time, shot one of them and put him down, then turned to the other one. But peripherally he was watching Walter Deadly.
“Again!” Clint shouted. “Shoot him again!”
Deadly fired again just as Nutty Pettigrew fired at him. His bullet hit the big man in the chest, while something dug into his right thigh. He went down to a knee and fired at Nutty again. The third bullet did the job.
Lyle rolled to the ground as he saw his brother Deacon go down. When he came up with his gun extended, Clint was ready. He fired and hit the man in the middle of his torso. The bullet just missed his heart, but as Lyle went down onto his back, he knew that he’d been killed.
It got quiet.
Clint stepped over to Deadly, helped him to his feet.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Deadly said, his voice tight with pain, “I’ve never been shot before.”
“Just wait here. We’ll get you a doctor.”
Clint walked to the big man, Nutty, who was dead. Then he checked Deacon. Dead. When he walked over to Lyle, the older Pettigrew was trying to reach his gun. Clint kicked it away. Lyle looked up at him.
“Who’re you?”
“Clint Adams.”
“Y-you killed me.”
“I meant to,” Clint said, but the man was gone.
Townspeople came running out, and two men grabbed Deadly and carried him to the doctor’s office. Clint figured he’d be okay to ride back to Damnation. That would be where they’d split up. Deadly would head back to Minnesota and his undertaker’s job. Today was the last day he’d wear the sheriff’s badge.
Clint looked around as people came out into the street, moving toward the bank, pausing over the fallen outlaws. He didn’t see Gloria anywhere. But he had an idea where she’d gone . . .
Gloria entered the whorehouse. All the girls w
ere collected in the front hall, and the madam asked, “Is it over?”
“Almost,” Gloria said. “What room?”
“Four.”
She went up the stairs, along to room four, and opened the door. Joe Pettigrew looked up from the floor, where he was hogtied.
“Who the hell are you?”
“You remember Jasper, Kansas?”
“That ghost town?”
“I killed your brother Lemuel.”
“You? You’re that bitch—”
“And now I’m gonna kill you.” She pointed her gun at him.
Joe laughed.
“You ain’t got the guts to kill a man who’s tied up—”
She quieted him by putting a bullet in his head. She didn’t bother to untie him. She didn’t care if people knew what she’d done.
She went back downstairs, looked at the madam, and said, “Now it’s over.”
Outside, she found Clint waiting.
“That it?” he asked.
“That’s it.”
“What are you going to do now?” he asked.
“I’m goin’ back to Damnation. If Sally has no family, I might stay there awhile.”
A long while, he thought. They headed for the doctor’s office.
“I thought you were going to cover the back of the bank,” he said.
She grinned and said, “No, you didn’t.”
He smiled and said, “You’re right. I didn’t.”
Watch for
THE MAN WITH THE IRON BADGE
331st novel in the exciting GUNSMITH series
from Jove
Coming in July!
The Dead Town Page 12
