Blaze! Western Series: Six Adult Western Novels

by Stephen Mertz

  He hit one man, but the others reacted immediately, and took cover.

  * * *

  As the shots came at them O’Connor ducked down and barked orders at his men.

  “Kennedy, take three men and get over to the saloon,” he said. “We’ll take care of this one.”

  “Right, boss.”

  “We’ll give you cover.”

  O’Connor and three of his men laid down covering fire while Kennedy and the other three ran toward the saloon.

  “Blaze!” O’Connor yelled when they’d stopped firing. “Is that you?”

  “It’s me,” J.D. called back. “Who are you?”

  “This is O’Connor,” the gang leader said, “Dev O’Connor. Remember me?”

  There was a moment’s hesitated, then J.D. said, “No, I don’t.”

  That didn’t sit well with O’Connor. Before you kill a man you want him to remember you.

  * * *

  When Kennedy and the four men reached the saloon there was glass on the boardwalk.

  “Easy,” he said, putting his hands out. “They gotta be inside.”

  “Whatta we do?” one of them asked.

  “You and me are gonna go through the window,” he said, “you other two through the door. Get ready. We’ll go on three.”

  They took their positions.

  “One...” Kennedy mouthed, “...two...three!”

  They all moved.

  * * *

  Falling out the window with Kate on top of him knocked Slim out. Kate quickly grabbed him by his ankles and dragged him back inside, where Duncan was holding his gun on the other two, who had their hands up.

  “What now?” Duncan asked.,

  “I’ve got to help J.D.,” she said. “You keep an eye on these three.”

  “They’re not goin’ anywhere,” Duncan assured her. “I can come with you.”

  “Yeah,” one of the two men said, “we ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

  “Who are you kidding?” she asked. “As soon as we go out the door you’d be gone.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” the man asked. “We ain’t gonna hurt nobody.”

  “He’s got a point.”

  “It’s our job to take care of this gang,” Kate told him. “All of them.”

  “We can tie them up, then.”

  She hesitated a moment, then said, “Okay, but do it quick.”

  Duncan was tightening the knot on a rope he found behind the bar when Kennedy and his four men came rushing into the saloon on “...three.”

  Chapter 36

  J.D. saw the four men running toward the saloon. He was going to have to depend on Kate and the deputy to handle them. He had his hands full with the other four, led by somebody named Dev O’Connor. Why would this man think that J.D. would—or should—remember him?

  * * *

  “Come on, Blaze,” O’Connor called out. “You must remember me. Five years ago? Abilene?”

  “Boss,” one of the men asked, “what does it matter if he remembers or not?”

  “He’s got to remember,” O’Connor said. “I can’t kill him until he does.”

  “But...what if he kills us.”

  O’Connor looked at the man. Damn him, but he had a point.

  “Okay,” he said, “we’ll kill him.” He stood, and the others followed.

  * * *

  J.D. knew he’d had some trouble in Abilene five, maybe six years ago, but he didn’t remember the men he’d killed, or the ones he’d left behind injured. All he remembered was that he got paid, and left unscathed.

  He thought about the rifles they’d left outside of town. As it turned out, he wouldn’t be needing them. The shotgun had done his work, and now it was time for his weapon of choice, the pistol. He holstered his regular gun, pulled the extra from his belt and reloaded it, then filled both fists with iron.

  Whoever Dev O’Connor was, this was going to end now.

  * * *

  The four men came charging into the saloon, guns in hand. Duncan hesitated, but Kate didn’t. She turned and fired, using both guns. Duncan recovered from his hesitation, and backed her play.

  She killed three of them, the deputy one, and the room fell silent.

  “Damn!” one of the remaining men said.

  * * *

  J.D. stood up from behind the horse trough and stepped into the street. Although there were no street lights, there was half a moon, and his eyes had adjusted themselves to the night. He could see the four men as they stood.

  * * *

  “He’s only one man,” Dev O’Connor said to his men. “Get ’im.”

  The three men stepped into the street with their guns as O’Connor backed up and faded into the shadows.

  * * *

  J.D. Blaze fired four times, twice with each hand. The extra shot was because the man on the right was big. The extra lead was for good measure. All three men ended up on the ground before they could fire a shot.

  J.D. had a feeling that none of them was Dev O’Connor.

  * * *

  When J.D. walked into the saloon he could hear the sound of a horse in the distance. Kate and Duncan were standing at the bar with three beers and the bartender. Four men were dead on the floor, and three were tied up. One of them was Slim, looking unhappy.

  “Did you get them?” Kate asked.

  J.D. joined them at the bar and picked up the beer.

  “All but one,” he said. “The leader. His name’s Dev O’Connor and he seemed to think I should remember him from Abilene five years ago.”

  “So what happened in Abilene five years ago?” Kate asked her husband.

  He shrugged. “I killed some people, left some alive, got paid and moved on.”

  “So you don’t remember him?”

  “No.”

  “He probably didn’t like that one bit,” Slim said. “Where is he?”

  They both looked at him.

  “Where’s Dev?” Slim asked, again.

  “He ran,” J.D. said. “I heard his horse as I came in.”

  “That sonofabitch!” Slim said. “He ran out on us? Ain’t you gonna chase him?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  J.D. drank down some of the beer, then said, “Because you’re going to tell us where he’s going.”

  Chapter 37

  J.D., Kate and the deputy rode into town with the three remaining rustlers. They brought them in alive so they could testify to the fact that the others were dead. That is, except for the two that were guarding the stolen cattle. But they’d be taken into custody once the law was advised as to where they were. Once O’Connor ran off, Slim was only too happy to cooperate, and tell the Blazes and the deputy everything he knew.

  All that remained was for J.D. and Kate to catch O’Connor, and then get paid...three times.

  It was getting light as they rode into town.

  “What if O’Connor’s not here?” Duncan asked.

  “He will be,” J.D. said. “He wants to get paid.”

  “I can’t believe this was all a plan to drive down sale prices on ranches,” the deputy said.

  “It’s just business,” Kate said.

  “Yeah, but...they killed people while they were rustling cattle.”

  “To make it look good,” J.D. said.

  They reined in their horses in front of the jail. Duncan dismounted.

  “Do you think the sheriff knew?”

  “Maybe,” J.D. said. “What’s the difference. Now that it’s over he’ll do his job. You better put these three in their cells, and then let him know.”

  “And what are you two gonna do?”

  “Finish this,” J.D. said.

  “You gonna wait until City Hall opens?”

  “No,” J.D. said, “if we did that then O’Connor might actually be gone. No, we’re going to make a home visit...as soon as you tell us where he lives.”

  * * *

  They dismounted in front of the two story-house and walked
up to the door. J.D. pounded on it until the man answered.

  “What the hell—” Zackary Wheeler said, wiping at his eyes, contriving to look sleepy. He pulled his expensive looking robe close to him. They could see he wasn’t armed.

  “Don’t bother, Mister District Attorney,” J.D. said. “We know you were awake. O’Connor wasn’t that far ahead of us.”

  “What are you—“

  Kate pushed him aside and entered the house.

  “Is there a Mrs. Wheeler?” she asked.

  “What? No,” Wheeler said, as J.D. moved past him. “There’s no wife.”

  “So just O’Connor?” J.D. asked. “Where is he? Is he upstairs?”

  Wheeler’s eyes nervously went to the ceiling.

  “He’s upstairs,” J.D. said to Kate.

  “Look,” Wheeler said, “I can pay you—“

  “We’re already getting paid,” J.D. said. “The mayor, Evans...our original employer...that’s three times. That’s plenty.”

  “So now you just want O’Connor?” Wheeler asked.

  “And you,” Kate said.

  “But...why me?” Wheeler asked. “I was just—“

  “You’re going to say you were just doing business,” J.D. said.

  “Well...”

  “That’s what we’re doing,” J.D. said. “Our business. We were hired to take care of the entire gang. That includes you.”

  “Look—”

  “Kate’s going to stay here with you while I go upstairs,” J.D. said. “If you try to yell to warn him, she’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

  Wheeler swallowed and nodded.

  “What room is he in?” J.D. asked.

  BLAZE!

  BITTER VALLEY

  Wayne D. Dundee

  Chapter 1

  For the first time since they had met, married, and then stayed in business together as gunfighters, Kate and J.D. Blaze were taking a brief vacation.

  "The honeymoon we never had," Kate called it.

  Sunshine filtered through a gentle breeze. Their horses were staked a short distance away in a stand of lush grass on a secluded slope that overlooked a stream. The kitchen staff at the Lodge had prepared a picnic lunch of fried chicken, boiled corn on the cob, fresh biscuits, thick wedges of apple pie, and a bottle of highly regarded house wine. Nearby, water spilled from a rocky ledge to become a glittering waterfall.

  Everything was perfect.

  That is, until J.D., distracted by something, abruptly interrupted a lingering kiss.

  Beside him on the blanket, Kate blinked.

  "What’s the matter, hon?"

  J.D. frowned. "Didn't you hear that?…Can't you feel it in the ground?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "There it is again. Can't you feel that?"

  Suddenly Kate's eyes widened as she did begin to sense it, too. The ground beneath their picnic blanket seemed to be shivering faintly.

  The shivering intensified, accompanied by a low rumble that gradually grew louder and louder. And then high-pitched yips, unmistakably of human origin, entered the mix.

  "There!" said Kate, pointing past J.D.'s shoulder, her arm slanted at an upward angle.

  J.D.'s face snapped around, following the line of her finger. At the crest of the slope, a hundred yards up from the spot they'd selected for their picnic spread, he saw the source of what was sending tremors through the ground.

  A well-appointed buggy drawn by a team of sleek black horses was racing along the crest at breakneck speed. The man and woman on the cushioned seat of the buggy were clinging partly to one another and partly to grips on either end of the seat. No sign of reins to control the team extended back to the driver's box—the conveyance was a runaway!

  Galloping only a short distance behind the buggy, three riders were spurring their horses to keep pace. Two of them had their hats off, whirling them wildly above their heads as they occasionally emitted loud whoops. A third, as Kate and J.D. watched, drew a pistol from the holster on his hip and fired two rounds into the air.

  Through clenched teeth, Kate said, "That doesn't look good."

  "Especially not for those poor damn fools in the buggy," J.D. agreed. "They've either dropped or had their reins cut. That's a runaway rig!"

  "And those riders coming up behind aren't giving chase to try and help, are they?"

  "Not by a damn sight. I'd even go so far as to guess they might somehow be responsible for the loss of those reins and for spooking that team to begin with."

  As they talked, the pair had risen to their feet and hurriedly began re-arranging themselves. They moved swiftly, with no wasted motions. Simultaneously, they leaned over to seize the gun belts they had discarded earlier to more comfortably stretch out for the meal and what had been about to follow.

  J.D. paused momentarily to drink in the sight of his stunning wife as she stood there, still with a bit of a flush coloring her high cheekbones, adjusting the holstered .44-40 Colt riding just above the luscious swell of her hips. Above the hips, a narrow waist flowed up into a set of strong, wide shoulders balancing a pair of high, firm breasts that strained the material of her blouse. Surrounding a flawlessly featured face accentuated by sparkling wide-set green eyes was a swirl of thick honey blonde hair frequently pulled back into a pony tail but today cascading free and loose.

  J.D. could never help but marvel at how lovely she looked and how damn lucky he was to have her in his life.

  Although it wasn't for him to say, of course, but the two of them made quite a striking pair. With his powerful physique, cougar-like grace, and a strong-jawed countenance highlighted by alert blue eyes that could burn hot with passion or turn dangerously ice cold, J.D. seldom failed to turn nearly as many female heads as Kate turned male ones. There was a time when his awareness of this had led him to cut quite a swath through the feminine population of the West, but since meeting Kate those days were past.

  "You know, we can't be certain the couple in the buggy are purely innocent victims," Kate pointed out, jerking J.D. from his brief reverie. "They might have done something to deserve being chased the way they are."

  J.D. shook his head. "Nobody deserves that kind of treatment, not to be trapped on a runaway rig in rugged country like this. Getting driven over a mountain cliff is a helluva nasty way to check out—to say nothing of the innocent horses who'll get dragged along in the bargain."

  Once more moving in concert, they leaned to snatch up the hats they'd also set aside earlier—a flat-crowned Stetson for Kate and also a Stetson, though one with a bit more sweep to the brim and height to the crown, for J.D.

  Be-hatted and armed, they ran to the horses.

  "How are we going to play this?" Kate asked as they sprang into their saddles then wheeled the animals and spurred toward the crest of the slope.

  Chapter 2

  The plan J.D. and Kate decided on was pretty basic. Since they were joining the party a little late, they would have to close on the hoorahing riders from behind. Hopefully, the sight of outside involvement would be enough to cause the three to veer away and give up their pursuit. But if they weren't smart enough to take a hint, then Kate would hang back and call upon her skills with a gun to provide however much added persuasion it took to get rid of them. While she was thus occupied, it fell for J.D. to focus on trying to catch up with the wildly fleeing buggy. The trick then would be for him to find some way to bring its panicked team of horses under control before it was too late.

  When first spotted, the buggy and its pursuers were moving east to west—left to right in the Blazes' initial field of vision—across a flat, open expanse atop a long, broad hogback. By the time J.D. and Kate reached the top of the slope and turned to give chase, the buggy was out of sight and the riders were only murky slivers of shapes all but lost in the dust haze they were kicking up.

  As J.D. and Kate urged their mounts to close the gap on the dust-blurred figures, the hogback began to narrow and twist downward at a moderate angle. The thi
ck stands of evergreen, along with other types of trees and underbrush that had been flashing by on either side, started to thin and be replaced by more frequent outcroppings of rock. The carpeting of grass that had at first capped the hogback now gave way to patches of bared ground and gravel. Dust boiled up thicker under the horses' pounding hooves.

  J.D. and Kate drew nearly even with the hindmost of the three horsemen, a tall, slender form astride a black and white pinto. Up to that point, they'd been running stirrup to stirrup with each other. At a faint signal from J.D., they spread wider apart and Kate took the lead, moving up alongside the unsuspecting rider on his right. When the man suddenly became aware of her presence, the grim expression on his pinched face turned into one of almost comical shock.

  At that moment, J.D. came up unnoticed on the man's left. Leaning out and down from his saddle, while still racing along at full gallop, J.D. swept his muscular arm in a choppy backhand that knocked the distracted rider's foot out of its stirrup. As the foot instinctively sought to thrust itself back into place, J.D. clamped the rider's leg just above the ankle and jerked upward.

  Caught off guard, still rattled by the appearance of Kate on the other side of him, the man was easily unbalanced. Emitting a frantic yelp, he toppled out of his saddle, hit the ground hard, and was left tumbling and rolling in the dusty wake of the still-running horses.

  J.D. and Kate exchanged quick, rake-hell grins as they continued to race on after the remaining two horsemen.

  But the element of surprise was lost now, the toppled rider's yelp having warned his comrades. When the faces of the two men up ahead turned to look back, they registered a fleeting moment of being startled. But when their eyes cut to the empty saddle of the third man, his horse only just beginning to break stride and slow down, their expressions hardened with anger and menace.

  The rider who had fired the two shots still had his gun drawn and clutched in one hand. After rein-whipping his horse to try and make it go faster, he twisted in his saddle and started to bring the gun around, clearly intending to fire back at those on his tail.