“What’s he want?” Zack asked.
“Our law dog there,” Eddie replied. “Says he wants us to hand him over.”
“Why?”
“I asked, but he wasn’t talking. When I told him he’d better talk before I knocked the words out of him, he started making threats.”
A deep rumbling laugh churned up from the depths of Robert’s gut. When Saunders twisted around to get a look at the bandits, he was just in time to see Eddie puff out his chest and lean forward in his saddle to ask, “Somethin’ funny?”
“Serves us right for picking you as a spokesman.”
“Send the sheriff to me,” Eli shouted from a distance Saunders guessed to be in the vicinity of ten to twenty yards.
“Shut up, Eddie,” Zack grunted. In a louder voice, he stood up in his stirrups and asked, “What do you want him for, Eli?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Sure it does. We got big plans for this one. You know that! If you changed your mind about riding with us into Seedley after that money, just say so. We could loot the whole town with your kind of help.”
“There ain’t any more money!” Saunders insisted. “How many times do I have to say it?”
“Someone shut him up,” Zack barked.
Before Saunders could protest or add anything else to his plea, one of the other two members of the gang that had remained nameless this far rushed over to him and shoved a dirty scarf in almost far enough for the lawman to choke on it.
“I won’t ask again,” Eli called out. “Either send the sheriff to me or send someone else to talk it over.”
“I knew you’d stick your foot in your mouth,” Zack said in a harsher, yet quieter tone.
Responding in a hissing whisper, Eddie said, “I didn’t do nothin’ apart from what you asked.”
“Just keep your mouth shut and don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone. You,” he said while pointing at Robert. “Watch that one there. In fact,” he added while glancing once more in Eddie’s direction, “better watch them both.”
Although Eddie grumbled with discontent as Zack rode away, he wasn’t about to say a cross word to Robert. The big bearded man had found his shotgun and seemed ready to use it no matter which target presented itself.
Eli sat with his back straight and his hands stacked on his saddle horn. His eyes were intense slits and his mouth an unmoving line. It wasn’t a pleasant expression, but one that wasn’t out of the ordinary for someone who’d spoken with Eddie.
Pulling back on his reins so his horse’s nose stopped within a few inches of Eli’s horse’s, Zack shifted his hat so it sat farther back on his head and exposed more of his face. “Whatever Eddie said to make you cross, it don’t go for the rest of us.”
“Send the sheriff over,” Eli said.
“Why would you want that? You ain’t fixing to go after that money yourself, now, are you?”
“There isn’t any more money.”
Zack opened his mouth, closed it before any flies came in, and then blinked before asking, “What?”
“That money in Seedley,” Eli explained. “There ain’t any.”
“That business about the bounties?”
Eli shook his head. “I was mistaken.”
“Mistaken or lying so you can ride back and claim it all for yourself? What happened? Did you catch up with Jake and Hank so you decided the three of you were enough to raid that little town?” Gasping as if he’d accidentally invoked the name of the Devil himself, Zack added, “That’s it, ain’t it? We ain’t enemies here, Eli. We could all work together. You and Jake and Hank would get the lion’s share, of course. Just let us come along for the next job you’re—”
“No,” Eli said sharply. “There’s no money in Seedley and no other jobs with me. I came to collect the sheriff and be on our way.”
“That brings me back to my first question. Why do you want that sheriff so bad?”
“I’ve stopped explaining myself to the likes of you.”
Studying the darkness etched into Eli’s face, Zack nodded. “You still want your pound of flesh after being dragged around by that law dog, huh? Tell you what, then. You can have him as soon as we’re through in Seedley.”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“And you’re not using your eyes! You’re outmanned five to one. I was trying to be hospitable before on account of our shared interests, but I won’t step aside to let one man tell me what to do with my gang. I don’t care how many friends that man’s got.”
Eli wasn’t usually the one to toss threats around, but the time had come for him to start doing things he wasn’t accustomed to. He gritted his teeth and tensed the muscles around both eyes until his face closely resembled a death mask. “Right now you don’t need to worry about anyone I might call friend. I’m the one in front of you and I’m the one you need to be concerned about.”
“Is this the same threat you told to Eddie?”
“No,” Eli replied. “I told Eddie that I’d knock him off his horse if he didn’t remove the smart tone from his voice. I’m telling you if you don’t bring me that sheriff, you’re going to have a fight on your hands that you most likely won’t live long enough to see through to the end.”
It had been less than a minute since Zack had gone to speak with Eli, but the remaining four bandits were about to crawl out of their skins. Only Robert remained in his saddle without straining to get a better look at what was going on between the two men holding court nearby.
“Looks like they’re reaching some sort of agreement,” Eddie said. “I think Zack is headed back this way.”
“Just wait and see what happens,” Robert grumbled.
Looking over to the other two men who’d taken positions on either side of Saunders’s horse, Eddie snapped, “What’s the matter with you two? Don’t any of this concern you enough to say anything?”
“They know when to keep their mouths shut,” Robert told him. “You should too.”
The other two gunmen exercised that prerogative now.
Eddie might have continued his argument just to keep up appearances, but Zack was on his way back. All four of the bandits stopped what they were doing so they could watch for their leader’s next signal and became utterly quiet to hear his next words. Eli sat in his saddle as if he’d been constructed from brick and bolted to his horse’s back. His eyes were all but hidden in the shadow cast by the brim of his hat, but the intensity within them burned like two smoldering coals at the bottom of a furnace.
Stopping at a point about halfway between Eli and the rest of his men, Zack turned his horse around so its body formed a ninety-degree angle to both other groups. His hand drifted toward the gun at his hip as he shouted, “You should’a kept running after I cut you loose!” With that, he drew his pistol and brought it around.
Eli remained tall in his saddle as he drew the Army Colt that had been given to him. His hand wasn’t quicker than Zack’s. In fact, Zack pulled his trigger first and sent a round hissing through the air that sailed wide and to the right of its target. Eli didn’t flinch as the bullet whipped past him. Instead, he sighted along the top of his barrel and squeezed his trigger in a smooth, deliberate motion that drilled a piece of hot lead through Zack’s upper body.
It was a grazing blow, which still nearly knocked the bandit from his saddle. Only a tight grip and powerful reflexes kept him from hitting the ground. Zack fired again and flicked his reins to ride back toward his men. As soon as he cleared a path, gunfire erupted from the other men’s barrels.
Saunders couldn’t help watching. The sight of Eli sitting in the middle of that hailstorm of lead without making the first move to defend himself was as inspiring as it was terrifying.
One of the silent robbers made the mistake of moving forward to get a cleaner shot and caught one of Eli’s rounds square in the chest. He toppled from his saddle as if he’d been kicked by a mule and when he hit the ground, it was clear he would never stand up again.
Since a few of the guns among the robbers were .38s, Eli had been given enough ammunition to reload his own pistols before parting ways with them the first time. Because of that, he reached across his belly to pull one of those guns from its holster and hold it at the ready. The moment the Colt’s hammer slapped against the back of an empty casing, he swung a leg over his horse’s neck and dropped down. Once both boots hit the dirt, he continued his downward journey until he was in a one-kneed firing stance. The Colt slid from his fingers and he made the border shift to deliver the .38 into his right hand in a seamless transition that allowed him to continue firing seconds after he’d stopped.
“What brought this on?” Robert asked as he and the others climbed from their saddles to take refuge wherever they could.
Zack clamped one hand over the messy wound in his shoulder and snarled through gritted teeth. “He wants the sheriff back. Just kill him!”
“And be quick about it,” Eddie said as he took a rifle from his saddle. “He gets loose after this and we’ll have Jake Welles’s bunch after us.”
“I don’t care about Jake Welles!” Zack shouted. “Just kill this—” He was cut short by another round that clipped the side of his head. Although it was still not a fatal wound, the impact of a flying bullet against any man’s skull was enough to put his lights out for a good, long while. Zack reeled as if from a powerful uppercut and hit the ground on his back.
While he might have been transfixed by the lethal display before, Saunders now pinched his eyes shut as more gunshots closed in around him. He squirmed within his ropes, kicked and thrashed as much as he could, and even shifted his weight in an attempt to get down to where he wasn’t on such prominent display. All of the shots blended into a continuous, explosive roar that made it impossible to tell who was shooting or how many shots were landing.
Only a few seconds had passed, which had almost been enough time for the fight to play itself out. Eddie had straightened up with the rifle at his shoulder and was put down by a round that had been fired so close that Saunders could see the smoke rolling from Eli’s barrel. That was followed by a second one that sent Eddie to the Promised Land and a third that happened when Eddie’s finger clenched around his trigger. By the time Eddie fell silent, Robert was stepping up to make his play.
The bigger man opened his mouth with a scream that was washed away by bellowing thunder from his shotgun. Saunders could feel the earth tremble and could barely make out an agonized cry from a nearby horse that wailed and stomped the ground. Saunders twisted to get a better look and saw Eli stand up from where he’d sought cover. The .38 in Eli’s hand went off twice in quick succession, which still wasn’t enough to drop the bearded man.
Robert staggered back and into the horse carrying Saunders like a sack of dirty clothes and roared an insult that the lawman couldn’t hear because of the ringing in his ears. Before the bearded man could stuff another pair of shells into the shotgun’s breech, Eli tossed his empty .38 and grabbed the weapon clutched in Robert’s hands. Blood seeped into the bandit’s clothes from multiple wounds, providing an explanation for why he was unable to prevent his shotgun from being taken away so easily.
“Walk away!” Eli shouted loud enough to be heard over any amount of ringing.
The foul language erupting from Robert’s mouth was loud enough to be heard in the next county.
Eli responded to it by pointing the shotgun at Robert’s chest and shouting, “Run!”
Staggering away from the horse as more blood seeped from his wounds, Robert somehow remained upright while also finding the energy to reach for a pistol at his hip. Eli allowed him to clear leather before pulling the shotgun’s trigger and knocking Robert clean off his feet.
That only left one more bandit. He was one of the men who’d kept a bandanna over his face during most of the time Saunders had been in their company. Saunders still didn’t know that one’s name, but since the robber tossed his gun and bolted as if an entire tribe of crazed Apaches were hot on his heels, the fellow’s name hardly seemed to matter.
Where he had been deliberate and plodding before, Eli now moved with lightning quickness and perfect efficiency. No motion was wasted when he took a knife from Robert’s belt and used it to slice through Saunders’s ropes. The lawman let out a long breath as the grip around him loosened and he was able to wriggle free like a bug slipping from a cocoon.
Their ears still ringing, neither man tried to talk. Although Zack was unconscious and the other surviving bandit seemed capable of running all the way to the Canadian border, Eli and Saunders quickly gathered up as much as they could from the bandits’ supplies, weapons, gear, and ammunition. The horses were accustomed to the chaos of a gunfight and hadn’t strayed very far. One of the animals lay on its side, thrashing its legs and pressing its head against a patch of dirt that had been mixed with enough blood to form thick mud. That one had absorbed a shotgun blast meant for him, so Eli was the one to kneel down beside the horse, place his hand gently upon its muzzle, and put it out of its misery.
Eli stood up without taking his eyes from that horse. While there was a hint of pity at the corner of his eye, Saunders swore he could distinguish something else written on his face.
Perhaps it was anger.
Perhaps it was envy.
Chapter 18
“What in the blazes was that?”
It had been several minutes since Eli and Saunders had taken what they needed and set out once more for Mayor’s Crossing. Although their progress had been stunted and they’d backtracked a bit, they were still within range of getting to their destination in a good enough time frame to catch one of the trains on their schedule. Hearing that question while hunkering down to fill his canteen from the same creek where the horses were drinking, Eli scowled and looked up at the sheriff. “I was expecting something more along the lines of a thank-you.”
“Thank you? You want me to thank you after handing me over to those trigger-happy idiots and then nearly getting me killed?”
“I came back for you, didn’t I?”
“Right! That’s the part where I was almost killed.”
Eli stood up and placed the top on his canteen. “Would you have preferred staying with them?”
“I would have preferred sticking to the original plan.”
“I’m sure you would have liked that just fine, since that was the plan where I was drug around like a dog on a leash so I could catch a bullet or two after double-crossing one of the last men in this territory anyone should double-cross. You’ll just have to pardon me if I don’t like that one.” Eli stuffed the canteen into his saddlebag and tightened the straps. The horse he’d taken after giving the sheriff’s back to its rightful owner was Robert’s, which was a fine animal indeed. Saunders was happy to get his horse back, but he was anything but happy now.
“You were getting a good deal,” Saunders said. When Eli attempted to walk past him to lead his horse back toward the trail, the lawman stopped him with a sharp shove. “I’m not through talking with you yet, boy.”
Eli dropped his reins and stepped up to the sheriff. “If this is how you want to play it, then let’s go.”
“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what’s right.”
“The only thing I wanna hear less than you telling me about how lucky I am is a speech about right and wrong.”
Without hesitation, Saunders nodded and said, “If you would’ve gotten that speech earlier, perhaps you wouldn’t have wound up another filthy thief stuck inside a cage.”
Eli’s fist snapped up and around to clip Saunders on the jaw with enough force to snap the sheriff’s head back and send a dry cracking sound through the air. The lawman reeled back half a step, braced himself, and then lunged forward with a resounding left hook. The outlaw spun around and dropped to one knee. Looming over him with both hands balled into beefy fists, Saunders growled, “Considering all the reasons I got for beating the stuffing out of you, I’d say you should stay down.�
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“You say a lot,” Eli grunted before driving a punch straight up into the sheriff’s gut. “And you never stop saying it!”
That punch took some of the wind from Saunders’s sails, but not all of it. Even though he didn’t have enough left to stand up straight, he was more than able to lift one foot and drive it straight out to thump his heel against Eli’s body to knock him back. “Enough talk, then.”
“Now, that,” Eli said as he scrambled to get his feet beneath him again, “is the best thing I’ve heard in a while.” With that, he rushed forward. His body remained hunched over and he opened his arms so he could wrap them around the sheriff’s midsection after driving one shoulder into him.
Both men staggered backward until Saunders caught a heel on a thick root emerging from the mud alongside the creek. Their momentum carried them even farther past the mud so they could land in the water with a noisy splash. The creek wasn’t more than twelve to fifteen inches deep, which meant there was precious little between their bodies and an uneven bed studded with partially buried rocks, branches, and any number of things that had been tossed into the water over the past several years.
Despite having absorbed a few solid blows, the combatants emerged from the water looking refreshed and ready for the next round. Eli, in particular, seemed raring to go as he grinned broadly and tossed his hat toward dry land. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted the chance to shut that flapping mouth of yours.”
Saunders also tossed his hat away and then ran both hands through the scraggly hair sprouting from his scalp. “I think I have an idea, since I’ve probably been waiting just as long to knock that smug grin off’a yer face.”
When Eli swung at him this time, Saunders was ready for it. He leaned back just enough to allow the fist to sail past his chin and then followed up with a short jab to Eli’s midsection. Eli twisted at the last moment to absorb most of the punch on his ribs. It hurt, but did less damage than if he’d been thumped in the stomach.
The next several punches Eli threw came in a flurry of wild lefts and rights. The sheriff dodged or blocked each one until Eli snuck in a sharp jab that caught the lawman when he twisted left instead of right. Saunders caught the jab just below his arm. Unlike the blow he’d landed with Eli, this one set up another two punches that landed in precisely the same spot. Each hurt more than the last, and the final one sent a painful jolt all the way through Saunders’s torso.
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