Lawless Liberty Ch. 04

"No, he had help, that's for sure. Either way, he would have been outnumbered, and yet he walked in here, and not our men," I say, just to get the point across. "Do not underestimate him, he's still kicking for a reason."

"Yes sir," Calvin says. I hear a challenge and the reply a moment later, and we both exit the tent to see who has arrived.

"We got her!" I hear from the other side of camp. About damned time.

"Bring her here!" I say, and I hear her kicking and mumbling from a gag. I walk into my tent, grab my good knife, and exit the tent to see a girl on her knees in front of me. "Who the fuck is this?"

The men look at each other, confused. "I am not going to ask a third time. Who the fuck is this?"

"It's the girl, boss."

"No, she is not," I say, and walk closer to remove her gag.

"Get your hands off of me!" she says and tries to bite me.

"Did you tell them you weren't who they said you were?" I ask her, and she nods. "Weren't there three of you?"

"Franklin got shot by an old man at a house we found," he says.

"Did it ever occur to you he was shot because you were trying to kidnap the wrong fucking woman!?" I shout at them. They don't say anything. "Did I say, go get a woman? Or did I say, go get, the woman? A particular woman?" I stomp back into my tent, retrieve her wanted poster, and hold it up to her face. "Step over here and have a look."

Both of them cautiously step around to compare her face with the wanted poster. "Does she look, anything like this bitch?" They both shake their heads, and I punch the one closest to me. "You incompetent fucks!"

"We're in the middle nowhere, what are the odds there were two?" the other says as his excuse. The camp gets quiet, and I glare at him. "I didn't mean..."

"...cards, now," I say, and remove the deck of playing cards from my pocket. No one in my crew is allowed to allude to chance. You need to mean what you do, mean what you say, and leave no room for chance. "What are the odds? Let's start with your odds. What's your bet?"

"We don't need to do this boss..."

"...you don't tell me what to do. Your bet? Minimum is half your life," I say, and he gulps. "I just chose for you. All in. Deal them."

Calvin shuffles the deck, as another member of the crew rolls a barrel over to act as the table. When he's ready, he deals out the cards. I have a nine showing, and he has a twelve.

"Hit or stay?" I ask.

"We've lost too many men already boss. Let's not be rash."

"That's just less money to split at this point. Hit or stay?" I repeat, and he's thinking so hard I see sweat start coming down his forehead.

"Hit," he says, and the next card comes down. Queen. Twenty-Two. Bust.

"Please sir, you don't..." is all he says before I draw my pistol and shoot him through the eye. The camp jumps back, and the girl swallows down a gasp.

"That, is exactly why you don't play the odds!" I shout at everyone. I holster my weapon and crouch next to the woman. "What's your name?"

"Jessica," she says nervously.

"Your family name," I say.

"Pinsky. Maiden name Killian," she says.

"You Damon Killian's girl?" I ask, and she looks astounded that I knew that. "That's a yes." I stand up and look at the still living idiot. "You kidnapped the Sheriff's daughter."

"The Sheriff is dead boss. The bitch killed him," he says.

"The old Sheriff. The one who moved here. The one whose home I pointed out on the map and explicitly stated for you all to stay away from. That Sheriff. Is he dead?"

"He's shot," he replies, and I move toward him, and he trips while walking backward.

"Is he dead!?"

"Might as well be. He took a bullet and his house is on fire..."

"...you set his house on fire!" I shout, as he crawls away from me.

"What do we do with her?" Calvin asks.

"Keep her until we get the money, then cut her loose. All of you, hear me, right now. If there is a hair off her head, I will end you," I say, and they all acknowledge the order. "Get her a meal."

"Yes boss," Calvin says, and helps Jessica to her feet. He undoes her binds, and she immediately kicks the dumbass in the ribs. Calvin grabs her to control her. "Easy."

"Get your fucking hands off of me!"

"Calm down," Calvin says while holding her until she stops kicking. "You calm?"

Before she can answer, I hear the running challenge approaching. In the event you're on the run and don't have time to answer the normal challenge, there is the running challenge. "Rook! Rook! Rook!"

"Castle!" Someone shouts back to let him know he's going the right way. "Slow down, slow...fuck!"

I hear the neigh of a horse and it collides with someone. I run toward the sound with two others while Calvin holds the girl. Standing at the edge of camp, using my man as a human shield is the Mexican. Deputy Jesus Dominguez. This is why you don't kidnap the Sheriff's daughter.

"Where is she!?" Jesus shouts, pulling back the hammer of his revolver and pressing the barrel to his shield's neck.

"Boss, he knew the code," the man says, and I look past him to see another of my men motionless on the ground from the horse collision.

"It appears he did," I say.

"Where is she!?"

"Calm down," I say, holding my hands out in front of me.

"I'm not going to be calm!"

"Look around you. Did you have a plan? Something tells me you're normally smarter than this," I say, gesturing around to the dozen or so guns he has on him. "Don't be foolish."

"Where is she?" he asks.

"Just on the other side of camp. Honest mistake," I say, and he points the gun at me. With it off his head, my man tries to fight him, but Jesus kicks his knees and drops him. He then holds his collar and presses the gun to the back of his head. "Easy now. You kill him, we kill you, and lord knows what happens to Jessica."

Jesus keeps the gun trained on the back of his head, but his eyes start dancing around, counting. He realizes he's let his emotions rule his thinking.

"We can talk this out. We're still men. I'll give you the same courtesy I gave Justin. I'll take it you know about that. Figured someone was helping him. That boy's strong, but he's soft. He's not a trigger puller. You are."

"What guarantees do I have?" Jesus asks. Now he's using his head.

"I guarantee you're dead sooner if you don't," I say, and Jesus takes a moment to think, before letting my man go. "Smart man." Jesus flips his gun to hand it over. "Keep it."

I lead Jesus to the other side of camp, and he sees Jessica and runs to her. A few guns raise, but I make them stand down.

"Did they hurt you?" Jesus asks.

"Is Daddy okay?"

"He's hurt, but he's tough," he says, and I tell him he's got a minute before we talk. I'm quiet as her holds her, counting in my head. I can hear what they're saying, so I know he isn't plotting on me. Time is up.

"Jesus, let's talk," I say, and open the flap of the tent. Jesus kisses her, and then walks under my arm and into the tent.

-

June 7, 1883

-Justin Ivey-

The sun is rising, and I've kept Damon alive all night. The bullet missed his heart, but only just, and if I can't get him to a surgeon soon, he's dead. Seeing how I can't get him to a surgeon, I'm just doing my best to keep him comfortable in the barn.

Damon has been delirious, in and out of consciousness for hours. Every time he passes out again, I'm expecting it to be the last time. He keeps exceeding my expectations.

"Justin?" I hear Damon say, and I look down at him. This is the most conscious I've seen him.

"It's me," I say, and he puts his hand on my mine. The bloody one holding his chest wound.

"Jesus back yet?" he asks.

"No, but he's coming," I say. I have an uneasy feeling I'm never seeing Jesus again. He rode off too angry to think. He's going to get himself killed.

"What about that Liberty girl?" he asks.

"She ran like a coward," I say, and he laughs until he coughs. "Don't talk."

"She'll come back," he says, and I shake my head. "She will. She's scared."

"So am I, and I'm here. It's not an excuse," I say, and he coughs again. "You need to rest."

"No, I need to talk," he says, and tell him not to. "Boy, I'm dead. I know I am. I need you to be my messenger."

"Don't talk like that..."

"...I got a bullet in my chest, I'm old, and we got nowhere to go. I'm a meat sack," he says, and I exhale, having no way to argue against him. He is on borrowed time.

"I can't quite reach around, but, my back pocket. There's a letter for Jesus. Could you get it?" he asks. I roll him a little, and see the paper sticking out of his back. I pull it out and hold it up to him.

"This one?"

"What other letter do I have in my pocket?" he asks, and I laugh. Old man to the very end. "Read it."

"It's for Jesus," I say.

"Jesus is likely in a room with Hardgrave. He'll do whatever it takes to get Jessica back. Because he loves her, and I know she loves him. They think I'm blind, but I sure as shit ain't deaf," he says, and I laugh again. I figured they were doing something like that. "Hardgrave will tempt him, give him the easy way out. Let him jump off the pinnacle with angels."

"Jesus won't take it," I say.

"Don't be a damned fool," he says. "The easiest decisions to make are the ones you think you're making for someone else. If the easy way out is Jessica alive, he'll do it."

I contemplate that a moment, before he suffers his worst coughing fit yet.

"Read the letter. Guide him back," Damon says, and closes his eyes again. This time, they stay shut, and I feel his hand on mine slip off and fall to his side.