Hearing gunfire ahead, Gabriel slowed the Morgan to a walk as he entered Pioneer Avenue, a broad tree-lined street with large wood-frame houses on one side and open country on the other.
He could see Ingrid and the hostler’s daughter crouched behind an abandoned buckboard, and farther on down the street a dozen or more looters, hiding behind trees and rocks, shooting at the houses opposite. People in the homes returned their fire, keeping the looters pinned down.
Gabriel reined up as he reached the buckboard, waited for Raven to jump off then dismounted and hunkered down beside Ingrid.
‘Thank goodness you’re here,’ she said, concerned. ‘I begged them to stop shooting but the darn fools wouldn’t listen to me.’ Lowering her voice so only he could hear, she added: ‘I’ve done all I can to slow the bleeding down, but the poor child’s already lost a lot of blood—’
Gabriel looked at the young girl slumped against the rear wheel. Her eyes were closed and she looked drained. There was blood on the skirt of her dress and the sight of it, and the looters’ lack of compassion, enraged him.
‘Which house is the doc’s?’
‘The middle one,’ Ingrid pointed at a green house with white trim around the windows and front door. The glass was broken in the downstairs windows and rifles poked out of two of them. But whoever was shooting wasn’t accurate and Gabriel knew it was merely a matter of time before the looters took over.
‘Stay here,’ he told Ingrid. ‘That means you, too,’ he warned Raven.
Pulling a Winchester from its scabbard under the saddle, he ducked low and made his way toward the looters. Trees and rocks and bushes hid him from them, allowing him to work his way around behind them.
He got within spitting distance before one man paused to reload and turned in Gabriel’s direction. Alarmed, he dropped his rifle and grabbed for his pistol.
Gabriel shot him. At once the others whirled around. Gabriel shot two more then dived behind some rocks as the looters opened fire.
From behind cover Gabriel angrily pumped round after round into them. And when the rifle was empty he drew his Colt and continued firing.
Unprotected from behind, the looters had no chance. Three more were killed and several others wounded. At the same time, the people in the houses, encouraged by Gabriel’s attack, stepped up their shooting.
Caught between a withering cross-fire, the remaining looters threw down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.
Gabriel emerged from behind the rocks. Keeping the looters covered, he signaled to the people in the houses that the fight was over.
About to signal Ingrid the same message, he saw that she and Raven had already linked hands to form a sling and were carrying the hostler’s daughter to the doctor’s house. Before they reached there, Dr Guzman and his two teenage sons rushed out and helped them inside.
‘Better pray that girl don’t die,’ Gabriel grimly told the looters. ‘’Cause if she does, I’ll personally see to it you all swing.’