Right now, time seemed to creep along, no faster than a desert tortoise in the evening's shade. Scratch that. In truth, it felt more like a snail with nowhere to go and all day to get there.
But then, out of nowhere, a tall man confronted them, armed with a Winchester, wearing a six-gun tied low. J.D. saw he was better dressed than anyone they'd met do far, inside the house or out, and had an almost military bearing, like someone had shoved a ramrod up his back.
"The hell are you two doing in my house?" the rifleman demanded.
"You'd be Mr. Fields," Kate said, not showing any nervousness at all.
"Which makes you Kate and J.D. Blaze, the bounty hunters. So, I'll ask again: why are you here, killing my men on private property?"
"To stop you and your men from killing innocent homesteaders," Kate replied, not backing down an inch.
"Homesteaders, my ass! I carved this spread out of a goddamn wilderness, fought redskins for the right to it, and now some fat-assed clowns in Washington are gonna tell me that I have to give bits of it up? To niggers, yet, who've never done a full day's work unless a lash was hanging over them?"
"You're bound by law," J.D. reminded him. "The same as anybody else."
"Out here, I am the law," Fields fairly sneered. "And you're about to find that out. Last lesson that you'll ever learn."
"Start teaching, then," Kate said, defiantly.
And Fields was quick, J.D. would give him that. The rancher swiveled at his hips and swung his Winchester around, already cocked, its muzzle seeking Kate. Because she'd spoken last, with a more disrespectful tone? J.D. wasn't inclined to wait. He fired without taking the time to aim precisely, blew a crimson vent in Fields's chest and saw him stagger, just as two more shots rang out.
Kate's drilled the rancher through his gullet, while Fields fired his shot into the hallway's ceiling, tumbling over backward to the floor. The rifle lay across his chest, dead hands still clutching it, but no longer a threat.
The threat, as it turned out, had crept up from behind them, while they dealt with Fields.
"I'd call that murder, more or less," said Sandy Rice.
* * *
"Looks like you've lost your badge there, Deputy," Kate said.
"Don't need it anymore. You need to lose those guns, the pair of you."
"Forgive my saying so," J.D. replied, "but that sounds like a bad idea."
"The worst," Kate seconded.
"I wasn't givin' you a choice about it!" Rice snapped, six-gun wavering between them while his nervous eyes flicked back and forth.
"He's shaky," J.D. said to Kate. "I like our odds of taking him."
"Agreed," she said.
"Shut up! Another word from either one of you, I'm lettin' daylight through you!"
"In the house, at night?" J.D. inquired, risking a bullet just to throw the maybe-lawman off his game a little more. If he could draw the first shot, Kate could finish it.
"From where I stand, you two are just plain dumb," Rice said. "Break in and kill the most respected rancher in the whole damn county, and for what? Because you'd claim he's runnin' niggers off the range? His range?"
"We had this talk with Fields, already," J.D. said.
"And now he's dead. I saw you murder him, with my own eyes. That's evidence, smart guy. Enough to hang you, sure, except you'll never make it to a court, much less the gallows."
"Reckon you can end it here?" Kate asked.
"I'd bet your lives on it. And when it's done, who knows? I just might be the new hot shit in Yankton County. Maybe claim a big piece of the Circle F, myself. How's that?"
Behind Rice, a new voice announced, "You got the shit part right, Sandy."
Rice spun around and blurted out, "Sheriff! I just caught these two killers—"
"Save it," Jordan Kersey said, and let him have both barrels of a shotgun in the chest.
Rice vaulted backward, sliding in his own blood to a point midway between J.D. and Kate, his arms outflung in death. Reloading where he stood, Kersey asked them, "Who wants to get the hell away from here?"
Chapter 15
"I heard enough to make it plain what Fields was up to," Sheriff Kersey said, next morning, in his office on Main Street.
"Against the freedmen," Kate confirmed.
"For starters. Top of that, I found a big still in one of his barns out there. Smart money says the hooch from that was going up by wagon to the Black Hills tribes, though what they paid him for it I can only guess. Something like passage through their land to have his people look for gold."
"Begging your pardon, Sheriff," J.D. said. "Is anybody honest around here?"
"A few of us would like to think so," Kersey answered. "Even if you couldn't tell it, watching us from day to day. And then, there's you two."
"Not for long," Kate told him. "We'll be moving on as soon as possible."
"Whenever you get rested up enough," the sheriff said.
"No rush to move along this time?" J.D. inquired.
"Free country," Kersey answered.
"More or less?" Kate echoed him.
"Fact is, it feels a little freer now, this morning, than it has for quite a while."
"It took nerve, coming after us alone last night," J.D. observed.
"No choice on that one, Mr. Blaze. I'd still be asking around town for anyone with spine enough to tag along. You might say we were short on volunteers."
"Well, maybe that will change, as well," Kate said. "If there's a next time."
"God forbid!" said Kersey, smiling. "One long day like yesterday is all I need."
"Well, anyway," J.D. began, "with any luck, you won't be seeing us again."
"Feel free to stop by anytime you bag another fugitive," Kelsey replied. "We've got too many of 'em running loose around the territory as it is."
"Not sure if we could handle all the politics," Kate said. "We tend to cut red tape, instead of wasting time to look for fancy ways around it."
"So I noticed," said the lawman. "It feels good to do that, every now and then."
"Well, thanks for everything," said J.D., and they shook hands all around, left Kersey leaned back in the chair behind his cluttered desk.
Outside, Kate asked, "You want to shake the dust of Yankton off today, or what?"
"I've just been thinking back to that hotel bed," J.D. answered her. "Tomorrow's looking better for a road trip, if you wouldn't mind."
BLAZE!
The All-New Adult Western Series
BLAZE! by Stephen Mertz
J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier!
BLAZE! is the first novel in a thrill-packed, all-new Adult Western series created by bestselling action/adventure author Stephen Mertz. J.D. and Kate find themselves facing a deadly ambush by Apaches, then they're hired to track down a gang of ruthless outlaws led by the beautiful, savage bandit queen Rosa Diablo. It's gun-swift excitement all the way in this gritty tale from Stephen Mertz.
BLAZE! #2: THE DEADLY GUNS by Robert J. Randisi
Husband and wife gunfighters Kate and J.D. Blaze are hired to track down a gang of rustlers, but what they don't know is that they're going to find themselves in the middle of a three-cornered war, playing each side against the others. If they're lucky they'll collect three payoffs instead of one...but will those payoffs be in gold—or hot lead?!
Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi, creator of The Gunsmith, joins the Blaze! team with this fast-action novel of treachery, revenge, passion, and blistering gunplay. From the finest hotels in Denver to a savage showdown in a ghost town, The Deadly Guns is adventure all the way!
BLAZE! #3: BITTER VALLEY by Wayne D. Dundee
J.D. and Kate Blaze, the Old West's only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, just want to enjoy their vacation in a beautiful Colorado valley, calling it the honeymoon they
never had. But a runaway buggy draws them into a deadly vendetta that threatens the life of one of J.D.'s old friends. Belle Braeden, once a San Francisco soiled dove, is now the wife of one of Colorado's richest ranchers, a fact that the man's spoiled children don't appreciate. When murder strikes, Kate and J.D. have to track down a killer and fight for their own lives against a gang of deadly bushwhackers!
Wayne D. Dundee, one of today's bestselling and most acclaimed Western authors, spins a lightning-fast, action-packed yarn in BITTER VALLEY, the third book in the all-new BLAZE! series. Trouble always seems to follow J.D. and Kate Blaze, and they answer with hot lead!
BLAZE! #4: SIX-GUN WEDDING by Jackson Lowry
The only thing J.D. and Kate Blaze planned to do in the settlement of Wilderness, Wyoming, was attend the wedding of one of Kate's friends. Instead outlaws launch a bloody raid on the church in the middle of the ceremony and kidnap the groom. It's up to J.D. and Kate, the wild West's only husband-and-wife gunfighters, to track down the gang, rescue the groom, and find out the reason behind the shocking violence.
Acclaimed Western author Jackson Lowry (THE SONORA NOOSE and WEST OF THE BIG RIVER: THE ARTIST) spins a colorful, action-packed yarn in SIX-GUN WEDDING, the fourth book in the bestselling Adult Western series BLAZE!
BLAZE! #5: AMBUSHED by Michael Newton
It was one of the most brutal crimes Nevada had ever seen—a stagecoach and everyone in it chopped to pieces by a hail of bullets from a Gatling gun. Now husband-and-wife gunfighters J.D. and Kate Blaze are on the trail of the mass murderers, determined to bring them to justice and discover the motive for this savage slaughter. Before they find the truth, though, J.D. and Kate will have to pit six-shooter and Winchester against the terrible fury of a killing machine!
Award-winning Western writer Michael Newton joins the BLAZE! team with an action-packed novel rooted in the bloody history of the Old West. One of the most popular and acclaimed authors of Western, crime, and adventure novels for the past 30 years, Newton spins a compelling tale of violence and deadly secrets in AMBUSHED!
BLAZE #6: ZOMBIES OVER YONDER by Stephen Mertz
It's the wildest BLAZE! adventure yet, as J.D. and Kate investigate the mysterious death of a mine owner and find themselves facing a danger unlike any they've ever encountered. From bloodthirsty outlaws to cold-blooded killers to marauding Indians, they thought they had seen it all—but the looming castle atop a ridge near the settlement of Yonder, Arizona, holds something new and deadly. It's the Old West's only team of husband-and-wife gunfighters versus a sinister count and his walking dead minions—and hot lead may not be enough to stop them!
Legendary action writer Stephen Mertz spins a fast-paced yarn filled with suspense, horror, and non-stop action in ZOMBIES OVER YONDER!
BLAZE #7 HATCHET MEN by Michael Newton
War erupts in San Francisco, and Kate and J.D. Blaze are caught in the middle! With the hatchet men of the Chinese tongs on one side and the gamblers and outlaws of the Barbary Coast on the other, the streets of the city by the bay will run red with blood if Kate and J.D. can't uncover the sinister truth behind a wave of kidnapping and killing. It'll take all their cunning—and their deadly skill with their six-guns—to put a stop to an unholy scheme!
Award-winning author Michael Newton returns to the Blaze! series with another action-packed, fast-paced adventure featuring the Old West's only husband-and-wife team of gunfighters.
BLAZE! #8: RIDE HARD, SHOOT FAST by Wayne D. Dundee
It was the biggest endurance race the West had ever seen—hundreds of miles across grueling territory, with a fortune riding on the outcome. Kate and J.D. Blaze, the West's only team of husband-and-wife gunfighters, are hired to make sure no one cheats and that riders and horses are safe, but before the race even begins, trouble crops up. Greed, old hatreds, and sudden death are riding in this race, and Kate and J.D. will need all their cunning and gun skill to keep murder from winning!
Best-selling, award-winning Western author Wayne D. Dundee returns to the BLAZE! series with another fast-paced entry full of hardboiled action, compelling characters, and plot twists. Read RIDE HARD, SHOOT FAST and find out why BLAZE! is today's top Adult Western series!
BLAZE #9: A SON OF THE GUN by Stephen Mertz
When Kate and J.D. Blaze set off in pursuit of the Ludlow brothers, as crazed and vicious a trio of owlhoots as they've ever encountered, J.D. never expected to run into the biggest surprise of his adventurous career: a fast-on-the-draw young man who claims to be his son! Not only that, but young Joe Bridge has trouble of his own dogging his trail—a ruthless cattle baron and a gang of bloodthirsty nightriders! Joe just wants to settle down with the beautiful girl he's fallen in love with, but he'll have to fight his way through hell to do it...and who better to help him than the man who just may be his father, gunfighter J.D. Blaze?
Legendary author Stephen Mertz, creator of the BLAZE! series, returns with another fast-action novel filled with all the thrills and passion of the Old West. Read A SON OF THE GUN and see why BLAZE! is the bestselling all-new Adult Western series.
BLAZE #10: HELL’S HALF ACRE by Jackson Lowry
Kate and J.D. Blaze, the Old West's only husband-and-wife team of bounty hunters, head for Fort Worth on the trail of a pair of bank robbers and a fortune in stolen loot. Hell's Half Acre is the roughest part of that wild and woolly cowtown, filled with dangerous men and women no better than they have to be. Kate and J.D. plan to root out their quarry anyway, but what they don't know is that they have a deadly enemy following them!
Acclaimed Western author Jackson Lowry returns to the Blaze! series with HELL'S HALF ACRE, another colorful, passionate, fast-action novel in today's leading Adult Western series.
BLAZE! #11: BADLANDS by Michael Newton
Husband-and-wife gunfighters J.D. and Kate Blaze never cared that much about politics, but after a shootout in Denver they find themselves riding the campaign train with President Ulysses S. Grant, protecting the nation’s leader and legendary general as he seeks re-election with a swing through the West. But danger is lurking in the mountains of Utah, and it’ll take a pair of fast guns to save the President from a deadly conspiracy!
Award-winning Western author Michael Newton spins another action-packed yarn in BLAZE!: BADLANDS, the latest installment in today’s bestselling, all new Adult Western series!
BLAZE! #12 BLOODY WYOMING by John Hegenberger
All J.D. Blaze wanted to do was celebrate his wife Kate’s birthday, but when you’re the Old West’s only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, trouble is never far away. A savage attack and a dangerous injury not only threaten Kate Blaze’s life, she also finds herself a captive of twisted killers and unsure of her own identity. But J.D. will battle with his wits, a pair of rock-hard fists, and a blazing .45 to find Kate and free her before it’s too late!
Acclaimed author John Hegenberger joins the BLAZE! team with a scorching tale of hate and revenge that leads to an apocalyptic showdown. Read BLOODY WYOMING and see why BLAZE! is today’s bestselling Adult Western series.
And more to come...
Blaze! Night Riders Page 10
