"Why didn't you let me take care of him, Jason." Butch hollered as they sat in the kitchen of their home place, drinking coffee. Butch didn't want coffee, he wanted whiskey, but Jason wouldn't let him have it. Jason was trying to sober him up. Butch was still spitting fire, wanting to gun Cord down in the street. Butch sometimes wished he could gun down Jason, his brother was too pushy.
Jason on the other hand, knew Butch couldn't take Cord in a fair fight. None of them could. It was foolish to even consider it. But convincing his dumb brothers of that was a hard job.
Since his father died he'd been the oldest and most responsible. He'd taken the task seriously. But as they got older he found it harder to control them.
His brothers lacked a lot in brains and Jason sometimes became impatient with them because they never used their heads for anything. Their parents were dead and his brothers needed direction. No that there was much brotherly love involved. He'd kill them himself but he needed them to get this done. He wanted to even the score as badly as Butch, but he wanted to cause Cord some discomfort in doing so. Butch just didn't have enough brains to think things out. He knew he'd have to plan this, himself. Dan was young and impulsive and usually eager to go along with whatever Butch wanted, but Jason had a better idea, and they'd soon see it his way.
"You should have stayed out of it, Jason." Dan came up behind him and said. "Butch could've took him."
"In a pig's eye he could take him." Jason thumped Dan on the head. "If he'd have tried, he'd be dead by now. Butch can't take him in a fair fight, and if you want it in the street, for all to see, it's gotta be fair. Otherwise someone might come after us. This town still ain't too friendly with Cord. So we got an advantage. If we use our heads, we can get this done. The only thing a gunfight would do would be to kill you or put you in jail. I don't think that's what you want."
Dan made a face but kept his mouth shut.
Jason whirled on his boot heels, and slapped his young brother, nearly knocking him down, blood oozed from the corner of Dan's mouth. "You boys gotta start using your brains." He grit his teeth to remember his patience. "A showdown is no way to take Cord out. That's exactly what the man wants a…a showdown. He'd beat us and you both know it. We'd be dead and nothing would be accomplished. That is not how we take him down." Jason insisted, his mouth snarling. "You two better listen to me, unless you are ready to die."
Dan's face turned bright red from the hard slap and his anger was about to explode on Jason. He jumped up out of the chair and glared at his older brother.
"You know so much…how do we take him down?" Dan faced him, but only for a minute before he crawled to the other side of the table and took a chair, the legs screeching on the floor.
Butch hollered again, "I don't need this crud, Jason." The way Jason kept piling the coffee on him, he was getting the jitters. Sometimes Butch hated Jason almost as much as he hated Cord. He determined that one of these days he was gonna whip the hell out of Jason, put him in his place once and for all.
"Drink your coffee and shut up." Jason growled effectively. Jason sought control of his dim-witted brothers. "We have to use our heads. And you being drunk sure won't work. You don't know how fast Cord is." Jason shook his head with disgust as he looked at them both. "I do. He's been a hired his gun before, that's how good he is. People paid him. You know he's good."
"I don't know it. How do you know he's any good, just because he's hired his gun out, don't mean he's good, does it?" Butch straightened his shoulders and sent a steel edged gaze to his older brother.
"He's still alive, isn't he?" Jason taunted. "You think people pay for a sorry gun?" Jason firmed his lips and glared at Butch.
"All right, so you seen him draw, so what?" Agitation lines his words as Butch shoved the coffee cup away from him.
"So you want to end up dead?" Jason shouted. His inability to comprehend his brothers lack of good sense. Why did they have to be so damned stupid? Why couldn't they learn to use their heads.
He took another approach. "Look, you are my brothers. I don't want to see you killed by the likes of him. So you gotta use your head a bit."
"I just don't believe he's that good is all." Butch injected. Hate bulged from his eyes. Hate for Cord, hate for Jason, it didn't much matter. He put them in the same category.
"Then you are dumber than I thought. Now you listen to me, I've seen him up close. He's better than most I've ever witnessed. That's how good he is. He's lightening fast. A man like that, you don't go against his gun. Not if you want to live, that is. That would be to his advantage. No, I've been thinking this through. Since he's been back things have changed. He's settling down with that Lilly gal from the saloon. He's sweet on her." Jason stared at them. "And, he claims her kid is his. That's big news for us. That's a big advantage."
"Everybody knows that. So what?" The old fireplace hissed and sizzled, sparking every now and then catching Butch's attention. Anything to keep him from listening to his know it all brother. Jason's mouth seemed to babble like a brook.
"I don't think anything would be better than killing him right there in the street! In front of everyone." Butch said, gulping down the hot coffee and burning his tongue. Cursing he banged the cup on the table and shoved it away again. "Besides, what about Lilly? Lot's of men are sweet on her."
Jason slapped Butch now. Butch sneered and scowled, and cursed loudly. His first reaction was to draw on his brother, but he thought better of it, as Jason was the kind to get even eventually. It wasn't that he was scared of his brother, he could beat him in a draw, but it was his brother, and his Pa wouldn't have liked that. His Pa had the same overbearing control that Jason had acquired, and he put the fear of God in all the boys, except maybe Jason. Jason wasn't a fighter, physically or with a gun, but he had a way about him, like their Pa, and he instilled fear. Butch was afraid of his dead Pa though. He was superstitious. Butch didn't take to his brother's tactics though, because Jason would fight anyone that got in his way. And he fought dirty too. Right now, Jason was pushing it, and very much in the way of Butch's plans. He didn't care what his brother planned, he had a way of settling his own scores.
He cursed, and slopped the coffee all over the table when he slammed the cup down this time. He ignored the mess, as always.
The clumsy oaf. Both of them were slobs!
Jason continued to glare at his brothers.
Dan on the other hand, listened. He was more reasonable of the two. Jason knew this and counted on it. Because Dan could persuade Butch with his childlike logic.
"All right, so what do we do? Since you know everything" Dan's sarcasm irritated, seeming to side with his younger brother once more.
"We kidnap the kid…" Jason smiled and glanced from one to the other.
"What kid?" Dan looked blankly up at him.
"Lilly's kid, you dummy, that's what kid! Cord's kid." Jason shook his head once more at how dense they were. "Haven't you two been paying any attention. He wants to marry Lilly and make a family. He claims it's his kid, too. So he'd want him back. So we kidnap the kid, bring him out here and if he wants him he'll have to come get him. When he does, we'll ambush him here at the ranch. No one could disprove the fact that he drew first. Who'd know that for a fact. It'd be impossible to prove in court. That's how you take a gunfighter down."
"What the hell good would that do?" Butch looked stunned. "What's the kid got to do with anything?"
"Haven't you heard what I said?"
Butch glared at him. "I heard. But how do we know he'd care. He's been gone a long time. Maybe 'cause he hasn't wanted no kid. That's usually why Pa's ain't around, you know."
"He wants him." Jason smiled like a fatted calf. "He's told everyone the kid belongs to him. He's proud of him. You see, he didn't know she had a kid, until he came back to town. He left town right after, so he had no idea she was pregnant with his kid. So, we bring the kid, out here. Take him fishing or something, have a cook out for him and keep him overnight. Lilly will be upset, and not sure where he got off to. 'Cause he didn't tell her where exactly he was going fishing. We deliver a note to Cord that we got the kid and unless he comes, we'll kill the kid. We don't tell Lilly anything. Because she'd be upset and have all manner of law after us. We wait for Cord to come get him. And he will. When he does, we ambush him and kill him, then we'll take the kid back to Lilly the same day. We tell her we went fishing and had a fish fry, the kid will tell her that too, and all is well. And we've done Cord in, at the same time. It's brilliant." Jason strutted around the kitchen like a rooster.
"I don't like it." Dan shook his head. Despite backing Butch, Dan didn't like violence and especially where kids were concerned.
"You want to be rid of Cord, or not?" Jason frowned at them both.
"Sure, but…"
Jason pulled Dan up by the collar, and stuck his face in his. "Look, we gotta take Cord, that's all there is to it. But he's too fast for us and would kill us if we just challenged him to a gunfight. He'd win. So we take the kid, he gets the note, he comes after him and we kill Cord. We send the kid back unharmed. No more problems."
"You're forgetting one thing brother." Butch snarled after listening to him so long. Fed up with his arrogance, Butch stood up, trying to intimidate his older brother.
"What?"
"What if he don’t take the bait and don't come after the kid?" Butch sent him a red-eyed glare.
"If he wants to marry Lilly as bad as I think he does, he'll hightail it over here as soon as he gets the note."
"What if he's smart enough to know it's a trap and don't come?"
"He'll come. And as long as we don't let Lilly in on it, there won't be any problems. Women always cause problems in situations like this, their so emotional." Jason reasoned quickly.
It was that snide look on Jason's face that irritated the hell out of Butch. He always thought he was right. He always thought he was the brains of the family. Butch was ready to beat his brains out.
"We could take Lilly," Butch grinned. "That'd be more fun, and do just as much damage." Butch glanced at Dan who was smiling at him.
"Nah, that won't work. Even if we had some fun with her, she's a whore anyway. And he'd come after us hot and heavy for that. So we gotta take the kid, and soon. You see, when you take a woman, a man comes loaded for bear, shootin' his way in. And you rile him up enough, things could get really bad around here. You take a kid; he'd be afraid to come in shootin'. He'd be afraid we'd kill the kid in front of him." Jason told them. "Besides, you gotta quit frettin' over Lilly, she doesn't even like you."
"How the hell do you know?" Butch stood menacingly over Jason now, he was at least four inches taller than Jason. Sometimes he could intimidate his brother, sometimes Jason backed off. But this wasn't one of those times and he knew it.
"I've seen her with Cord. She's in love with Cord and I figure she has been all along. They've had a thing for each other for years. Why do you think he came back and got her pregnant? He's crazy about her."
Butch scowled at Jason for putting him down like that. Jason always put them down. Like he was so superior to them. "Who is gonna get the kid? I ain't very good with kids."
"I will, you two might hurt him." Dan offered quickly accepting that responsibility. His brothers were rough, mean sometimes. "And I ain't for killin' the kid. We ain't got nothin' against Charlie."
Jason smiled, they began to see what he was saying. That was good. "I didn't say we'd kill the kid, I said we'd bring him out here and you'll go fishing with him and we'll have a big fish fry, play checkers and let him spend the night. He won't even get hurt. Alright, Dan, you'll get the kid. Tell him some big fish story, and he'll come easy enough without a fuss."
"Hey now, that's an idea!" Dan smiled. "Sure, I can do that. Charlie loves to fish, everyone knows that."
Jason shook his head; his brothers were so stupid. Sometimes he wondered why he had all the brains in the family.
"Good, it's settled then. Tomorrow you go into town and see if you can get the kid to go fishing with you, Dan. Bring him out here, take him fishing too. We'll have the fish for supper. He don't even have to know what's goin' on. Tell him some story, like we'll have a fish fry and take him home the next mornin'. I got an idea this isn't going to take long to finish up."
Dan smiled and nodded. "I can do that."
"I'll write the note for Cord, and we'll get someone else to deliver it…"
Butch shrugged. "This better work Jason. Because if it don't, I'm going gunnin' for the man."
His threat hung in the air between them and Jason almost called his bluff, but Butch had a crazy streak in him and Jason knew not to push him too far.
"It will…but we're gonna have to be ready for him."
"Now you are talkin'." Butch smiled. "I'll be ready."
"Good, then tomorrow…" Jason sat down once more and drank his coffee, looking like the cat that stole the milk.