He went over to one of the thirty different beer tents. He knew it was the last place he should go.
He had a sausage sandwich and two mugs of beer. He figured that the food would help offset any damage the beer would do.
He hated it out here. It was too hot, the sunlight almost a bleached white, and too dusty. The dust smudged his clothes and got in his eyes and even down his throat.
He was eager now to get it over with.
He would go in and not even hesitate. He would shoot Guild right in the leg. When Guild was trying to recover, he would grab the money and flee. He would vanish into the crowd. That was the reason Stoddard had hired him. He was no good as a gunnie, but he was very good at vanishing.
So that not even Victor Sovich could find him.
He stood in the beer tent, hearing the first of the preliminary bouts announced.
A few more hours, he figured. A few more goddamned hours.
* * *
“I’m sorry I got so pissy.”
“It’s fine, son. We all get pissy.”
“I know you’re only trying to help.”
“It isn’t my business, and I shouldn’t put my nose in it.”
“It’s just I wish you knew him better before you passed judgment on him.”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe he’s a wonderful man.” “You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you, Leo?”
“No, son, I’m not. Maybe he’s a wonderful man and it’s just my blind spot.”
“He took right over as soon as my mother left.”
Guild smiled at him. “He couldn’t ask for a better son. You know that?”
Just then the crowd shouted and whistled and began stomping their feet.
“The prelim must have started,” Stephen Stoddard said.
Guild picked up the rifle from where it stood next to the chair he was sitting in. He laid it across his lap. “Should be some more money coming our way pretty soon.”
“I really am sorry I got so pissy, Leo. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, I understand, son. I understand fine.”
Stephen Stoddard grinned. “Maybe when this is all over, the three of us will go out and have some drinks. Would you go along if we asked you?”
“Sure.”
Stephen Stoddard sat back and shook his head. “I’ve got a feeling you’re good for him, Leo. He seems to act a little better when you’re around.”
“That’s me,” Leo Guild laughed. “A good influence on everybody I meet.”
He rolled himself a smoke and checked out the rifle again.