“Those sons of bitches are going to pay for this,” Stakely growled. Looking up to the side of the Theatre Comique that faced the street, he shouted, “You all hear that? Nobody spits in my face and gets away with it! If anyone’s hiding Holliday or that accomplice of his, you’ll earn a pretty penny by handing them over right now! Otherwise, stay out of our way and watch what happens to cowardly killers like them!”
Drinking in the silence that had fallen onto the street, Stakely looked around at the men surrounding him. There were seven of them, not counting Stakely himself, and every last man was armed to the teeth. They stood in the middle of Blake Street, tightening their fists around their weapons.
“I can’t allow this,” huffed the same dapper lawman who’d disarmed Caleb earlier that night.
Stakely shot half a glance toward the lawman before shifting his eyes back toward the Theatre. “You’re paid to allow whatever I want, so that’s just what you’ll do.”
But the lawman stood his ground and rested his hand on his holstered pistol. “You and your men will have to move on.”
“Have you been to Babbitt’s?” Stakely asked.
“Yes, and the sheriff himself is doing all he can to find whoever killed those men.”
“I know damn well who killed them, but Holliday’s still roaming free.”
“There hasn’t been anyone to back that story up. A few even said they shot each other during some sort of an argument.”
Wheeling around to face the lawman, Stakely started to snarl something, but was cut short at the sound of horses thundering from a nearby alley and veering onto Blake Street. Stakely only managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of who was riding those horses, but that was all he needed. “That’s them! They’re making a run for it!”
The lawman was pushed aside as Stakely and the rest of his men dashed for the horses that they’d tied up only a few moments ago. As the group tore down the street after the two riders, the lawman fumed to himself and watched them leave. He then ran across the street and charged into the Theatre.
“Where’s Holliday?” the lawman asked the bartender.
“If he’s not dealing faro at his table during his shift, it ain’t my business.”
“What about his accomplice?”
Even though the lawman didn’t know exactly who Stakely had been referring to, throwing out that term was a gamble that paid off with a nod from the barkeep.
“If you mean the one who Doc was expecting earlier, he rented a room a while ago and took Lottie Deno up there. It’s up the stairs and all the way down the hall, but you might want to stay out of there if you know what I mean.”
“Just give me the key.”
Doing his best to ignore the lurid chuckle coming from the barkeep, the lawman took the spare key, bolted up the stairs, and headed for the room. Rapping on the door, he asked, “Miss Deno? Are you in there?”
The lawman fitted the key in the door and opened it. He found Lottie alone in the room with a Smith & Wesson in her hand.
“Put the gun down, ma’am, I just—”
Before he could finish, the lawman saw a plume of fire erupt from the barrel of Lottie’s gun. Thunder filled the room as he reflexively dropped to the floor. When he was finally able to open his eyes, he saw Lottie still in her spot with the smoking gun in her hands.
Since he wasn’t hit, the lawman went for his own pistol. That’s about the time he heard the heavy thump of something hitting the floor behind him. The lawman swiveled around and saw a large man slumped against the railing of the balcony overlooking the main floor.
The dead man was one of the hired guns who routinely made collections at the Theatre and delivered more than a few payments to sworn deputies.
“I think it’d be safer for you to hand over that gun and come with me,” the lawman said.
Lottie lowered the pistol and calmly stepped forward. “Yes,” she said while placing the gun in the lawman’s hand. “I believe you’re right.”
There were times in Caleb’s life when he felt like he was running in the dark without knowing if he was heading for a stretch of open road or the edge of a cliff. Lately, he’d felt more like he was charging through the dark on the back of a wild horse toward what might just be a rock wall.
Oddly enough, now that he actually was on the back of a horse and charging through the night, he felt more in control of things than ever.
There was always something special about being on the back of a horse running full-out with the wind in his face. It was something that normal folks simply didn’t do, which made doing it all the more satisfying. Given the fact that the men who’d put the price on his head were following him like a good bunch of doggies doubled that sense of satisfaction.
The well-kept Denver streets had disappeared from under his horse’s hooves and the lively fronts of the saloons and gambling halls were behind him. After that was a good stretch of darker stores that were closed for the night, followed by clusters of houses on the outskirts of town. Caleb’s horse was going so fast that the tents pitched around Denver’s city limits fluttered past him like dirty laundry hanging from a line.
Now that the trail was opening up in front of him, he could make out the distinct pounding of several sets of hooves riding up on his tail. Caleb took another look over his shoulder and saw the riders tearing after him like wolves chasing down fresh meat.
With more riders coming after him, that left fewer men to go after Lottie. But now wasn’t the time to worry about her. She could take care of herself, leaving Caleb to take care of his own business.
Now that his eyes had had a chance to adjust to the utter darkness outside of town, Caleb could see the looming shapes of the rock formations around him. One in particular caught his eye and when he passed it, Caleb shifted in his saddle to watch the trail behind him.
Sure enough, after the other riders passed that rock formation, another shadow swung in from the side of the trail and sent a few shots into the larger group. There was some shouting back and forth between the other men, and some of them peeled off from the main group to chase the solitary figure that now rode back into the shadows.
Caleb shook his head and grinned as he looked back toward the trail ahead. “Punctual as ever, Doc,” he said to himself. “Now let’s see if I can hold up my end.”
As soon as he picked out a safe spot to break away from the trail, Caleb steered his horse into a thick group of shadows being cast by a tall bunch of rocks. Stopping just short of those rocks, he pulled back on his reins and swung down from the saddle. Caleb’s boots hit the dirt before his horse had even come to a stop. While drawing a rifle from the scabbard on the side of the saddle, he smacked the horse’s rump and stepped back.
The smack, combined with the thunder of approaching riders, was all Caleb’s horse needed to send him galloping around the rocks.
Caleb dropped to one knee, pressed the rifle to his shoulder, and sighted along the top of the barrel. He was able to take two full breaths before the riders stampeded into his sights and veered to avoid the rocks while chasing the fleeing horse. His first shot blazed through the air in front of one of the riders. Although that bullet didn’t draw any blood, it came close enough to one horse’s ear to stop it dead in its tracks and make it rear up nervously. With that rider perched up high, Caleb sent a round into the man’s skull.
One of the three riders was too far ahead and kept charging after Caleb’s horse. The other two brought their horses around and started firing the instant they were facing in the direction from which those rifle shots had come.
Caleb pulled his rifle in close to his body and backed into the shadows until his shoulder bumped against the rock. Sparks flew over his head and bullets ricocheted noisily all around him. Forcing himself to ignore all the noise and chaos drawing closer to him, Caleb aimed and fired at the nearest rider.
That man hollered in pain and fell awkwardly from his saddle. He hit the ground hard enough for Caleb to hear the wet snap of a breaking bone.
“Goddammit!” the rider howled. “My leg’s busted!”
“I see him,” the other rider said as he aimed his pistol in Caleb’s general direction. “He’s right there!”
Since both men were now looking directly at him, Caleb got both feet dug into the dirt and lunged straight for them. His first shot was rushed and thrown off by his sudden movement, so the bullet hissed through empty air.
Quickly levering in a fresh round, Caleb fired again and got close enough to force the rider to hunker down over his horse’s back. With the scent of fresh blood in his nostrils, Caleb reloaded and fired as quickly as he could while rushing toward the riders.
The echo of gunfire was still rattling in his brain as Caleb pulled his trigger a few times without any more fire coming from his barrel. Fortunately, the riders were so thrown off by Caleb’s suicidal move that they noticed his current predicament a heartbeat after he did. By that time, Caleb had wrapped his fist around the rifle’s barrel and swung its stock toward the closest rider’s chin.
Heat from the barrel seared into Caleb’s flesh. Since he wasn’t about to let go of the weapon, he gritted his teeth and followed through until he felt the satisfying crack of the rifle’s stock against flesh and bone.
The rider’s head snapped back, throwing a streak of bloody spit into the air. He kept right on going until he dropped off the other side of his horse to land with a thump.
Suddenly, another shot blasted through the air. Caleb instinctively dropped to the ground as the incoming bullet whipped past the side of his neck and slapped into the horse directly in front of him. The animal let out a pained groan and started bucking and kicking wildly.
Although Caleb meant to draw his pistol, he found it difficult to drop the rifle since his fingers were partially stuck to the hot barrel. The iron wasn’t exactly seared onto him, but it stuck just long enough to throw off his draw. The rifle finally dropped away and knocked against his legs before hitting the dirt.
By that time, the man with the broken leg had sucked in a breath to steady his hand and take aim. Before he could pull his trigger, he let out a surprised scream and rolled to one side as the wounded horse thrashed straight toward him and slammed both hooves into the dirt less than a foot away from him.
Caleb was still taking in that sight when he felt an iron grip clamp around his shoulder. The next thing he felt was a fist slam into his freshly stitched back, followed by a wave of pain that brought the bile up from the pit of his stomach.
“You like that?” the man behind him snarled.
As much as Caleb wanted to answer that punch with something of his own, his body wasn’t obeying a single one of his commands. Instead, his knees were becoming wobbly under him and a wave of dizziness rolled through the inside of his head.
Laughter drifted through the air as the man tightened his grip on Caleb’s shoulder. “Let’s see if you like this any better.”
When the second punch landed in the same spot, Caleb heard it more than he felt it. The sound was a dull thump resembling the stomping of the wild horse nearby, mixed with the crunch of bones grinding together. Although there was another wave of burning pain, it was quickly followed by a numbness that engulfed most of Caleb’s body.
Without being weighed down by such things as pain or common sense for the moment, Caleb twisted out of the other man’s grasp and drove his elbow into his attacker’s gut. Caleb saw the man double over and even draw his gun, but he didn’t pay either of those things too much attention.
All Caleb wanted was to get his hands around the man’s throat, which was exactly what he did. As the numbness subsided and the pain came back, Caleb locked his left hand around the other man’s neck and squeezed with everything he had.
The man tried to peel away Caleb’s fingers, but they wouldn’t come loose from his throat. He then started to bring up his gun, which was about the time he heard a loud thump and felt a quick, intense pain in his chest. Soon, smoke drifted up from the pistol in Caleb’s hand.
Caleb held on to the man’s throat for a few seconds, until he was certain the man was finished. After the life drained from the man’s eyes, Caleb let go of him and turned to check on the one with the broken leg. All he found was a bloody mess that had been stomped into pulp by the wounded horse.
Caleb put the animal out of its misery and chased down his own horse for the ride back.