While Nick might have thought his luck was running dry, he quickly changed his reasoning when he saw two more horses already saddled and ready to go in the stalls to his left. Seeing that one of those horses was the run-down old-timer Lester had ridden before, Nick kicked open the gate of the other one’s stall. Moments later, he was racing out of the barn and thundering after Lester.
It seemed that Lester knew his horseflesh, since he’d already pulled into a bigger lead than Nick had expected. Digging his heels into his own horse’s sides, Nick snapped his reins against the animal’s flanks and hoped for the best. Sure enough, the horse bolted forward. The speck that had been Lester’s silhouette grew larger by the second as Nick chewed up the ground between them.
As he rode, Lester swung his arm behind him and fired off a few quick shots from a pistol his cousins had given to him. The bullets sailed away without getting close enough for Nick to even hear their passing. Even while squeezing off another shot, Lester wasn’t looking behind him. Instead, his eyes were facing front and searching the horizon.
“Come on,” Lester grumbled as he focused on the trail that led into Hackett. “It’s almost six-thirty. Where the hell are you?”
When Lester crested a gentle rise, he spotted a group of four horses galloping toward Wesley’s house. Lester smirked and snapped his reins again. “There you are!”
Closing the gap between himself and Lester, Nick spotted the approaching riders as well. The way they were moving toward that house, Nick had to assume they were racing to back up Lester and his cousins. Nick turned around to see if he could spot any trace of Kinman.
From this distance, the house actually looked peaceful.
Nick figured the bounty hunter could handle himself, so he turned back around to set his sights on Lester. When he did, Nick saw that the group of riders had split up so two of them could intercept Lester and the other two could move along to the house. Considering how fast they were all going, Nick guessed it would be only a minute or so before everyone got to meet on a more personal level.
The uneasy feeling in Nick’s gut didn’t get any better when he saw Lester turn to meet the other two riders head-on. It got even worse when he saw Lester wave his arms wildly over his head like some kind of crazed bird.
The two riders slowed down to meet up with Lester and started looking in Nick’s direction as Lester flapped and waved back at him.
Nick pulled back on his reins and held his gun at the ready. It was too late to try and approach from another angle and it sure as hell was too late to turn back.
Pulling his horse to a stop, Nick swung down from the saddle so all that flesh and bone was between him and the other men.
“Toss that weapon and be quick about it, mister,” one of the other two riders shouted. “Don’t force us to kill you.”
There was something odd about the way that rider tossed his threat at Nick. He didn’t talk like someone out to get their hands on a load of stolen jewels. When Nick glanced around his horse to get a better look, he found Lester and both other riders pointing their guns at him.
Sure enough, those two were wearing badges.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Only lawmen made threats as if their words alone were enough to make another man quake in his boots. Nick was fairly certain that neither of them would pull their triggers right away. The two lawmen were younger and didn’t carry themselves as if they had any business holding a gun.
Typical deputies.
“Where’s the marshal?” Lester asked, as if purposely verifying Nick’s assessment of the other two.
“Never mind about the marshal,” the first deputy said. “Is this the man who came to raid this place?”
Lester looked at Nick, smirked and then nodded. “It sure is.”
Since he now knew who he was dealing with, Nick changed his entire demeanor. Wearing a shocked and somewhat fearful expression, he asked, “What’s the meaning of this? That man stole my property!”
As Nick had expected, those words put both deputies’ heads into a spin.
Seeing the confusion growing upon the lawmen’s faces, Lester climbed down from his horse and shook his head wildly. “No, no! Don’t listen to him! He was the one shooting at me! He’s Nick Graves!”
“Did anyone see me fire a shot?” Nick asked innocently. As he spoke, Nick held up his hands to sheepishly display his gnarled fingers.
“I’m the one who told you about the raid!” Lester said. “I’m the one who wrote that letter. I paid to have it delivered to you.” Hearing the crackle of gunshots coming from the house, Lester jabbed his finger in that direction and said, “See? There’s the raid I warned you about. The marshal’s in the thick of it right now!”
Both deputies looked back and forth between Nick and Lester. Then they looked at each other. The confusion was still on their faces. In fact, it had even gotten a little worse.
Suddenly, a voice drifted through the air from the direction of the house. It was a man’s voice, but was a bit too far away for specific words to be heard. Just because they couldn’t understand what was being said, both deputies were still instantly put onto the edges of their saddles.
“Did you hear that, Jim? I think that was the marshal,” the older of the two deputies said. “He may need help.”
As if to drive that point home, more gunshots crackled around the house.
“You go on ahead, Stan,” Jim said. “I’ll stay here with these two.”
Stan nodded and steered his horse toward the house. He moved slowly at first, but snapped the reins once he’d made it a few steps without Nick or Lester trying to take a shot at him.
The deputy who was left behind had a strong build and a very youthful face. His chin looked as if it couldn’t sprout whiskers if his life depended on it and his eyes flashed with the intensity and uncertainty that came with inexperience. His gun was in a steady hand, but the way he held it didn’t inspire confidence.
Nick kept his movements slight and his voice calm so as not to elicit any hair-trigger responses from the young lawman. “No need to get jumpy. We can straighten this out easily enough.”
“I ain’t jumpy,” Jim said.
“There’s nothing to straighten out,” Lester snapped. “Why the hell would I have brought the law here if I was the one doing anything wrong?”
“I think I know the answer to that,” Nick replied. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with fulfilling your civic duties.”
Lester looked at Nick with more ferocity than he’d ever shown. “You’re an outlaw,” he said. “A killer. You don’t know a damn thing.”
“Seems to me like this whole fight is a great way to cover your escape,” Nick pointed out. “You might be on your way across the state line by now if you didn’t have me to worry about. Did you pick one of your cousins to help you inform the law or was it one of the wives?”
Jim straightened his arm and pointed his gun at Nick. “Shut up, both of you!”
Lester didn’t even take notice of the deputy’s gun. His eyes were locked upon Nick until the gunfire at the house flared up again. The moment he saw Jim look toward the house, Lester swore under his breath and brought up his gun to take a shot at the only one of the two men who wasn’t ready to shoot back.
The bullet didn’t draw blood, but whipped a few inches from Jim’s stomach and through the coarse hair along the back of the neck of the lawman’s horse. Feeling the lead nip its neck like that brought the horse up onto its rear legs as it let out a loud, surprised whinny.
Lester’s shot surprised Nick almost as much as it did the horse. Nick regained his composure quickly, however, and returned fire as Lester took his second shot.