Ben eased up to the desk and took in the sight of the pretty brunette being pulled across the top of it. Letting out a sigh, he tapped Danny's arm. That was enough to make Danny loosen his grip. “You'll have to excuse my friend,” Ben said. “He's a little worked up after that display I'm sure you saw in the street earlier.”
“Marshal Lind is sure to come by and check up on us soon,” Laura said.
“Is he really, sweetheart?” Ben asked.
Although she tried to keep a straight face, Laura was barely even able to keep her eyes on either of the two men. She didn't speak. She didn't nod. She didn't shake her head. All Laura could do was lower her head.
The more he saw her squirm, the more Ben seemed to like it. “That was just a question, honey, but you did a fine job of answering it. You've got too honest of a face to pull off a bluff.”
Someone walked through the front door and headed for the stairs. “Are there any more newspapers?” he asked.
Since Laura was still at a loss for words, Ben broke the silence with “I just took the last one. Sorry.”
The man on the stairs had a full head of silver hair and didn't seem too interested in prolonging the conversation since he was already climbing the stairs. “Have one sent up to my room when you can,” he replied.
“Will do.” Turning to Laura, Ben added, “I'd say that's about all the help you're gonna get.”
“What do you want?” Laura asked.
“An answer to my question. Is that other fella that was outside a while ago a guest here? His name's Matt Fraley.”
Laura kept her eyes lowered, but jumped as soon as she felt Danny take rough hold of her chin.
“Yes,” she blurted. “His name's right there on the register.”
Without glancing down at the large book that lay open on the desk in front of him, Ben said, “I'll take your word for it. Is he with anyone else?”
Laura shook her head. “He's in a room all by himself. I swear.”
Ben nodded and took that opportunity to look at the register. He flipped one page back, spotted Matt's name and then tapped his finger to another name written above it. “Clint Adams? Did I read that right?”
Danny glanced quickly down at the register, but regarded it the way a dog might regard the inner workings of a clock. “Is that what it says?”
“Sure enough,” Ben told him. “I thought I recognized that face. You see, Danny, Mr. Adams was on the street earlier as well. I've seen him a few times before at poker games in West Texas.” Looking to Laura, Ben asked, “Adams came here with Matt?”
She didn't say a word.
“Remember, sweetie, there's no lying to me.”
“They checked in at around the same time,” she said. “You can see that much for yourself.”
“Yeah, I suppose I can see that much for myself.” Ben brushed the back of his hand along Laura's face and then slid the hand all the way down to graze along the side of her breast.
Laura recoiled and reflexively swatted Ben's hand away.
Ben smiled and stepped back. “Can you do me a favor, honey? I'd like you to deliver a message to my friend Matt and his friend Adams.”
“I don't know if I'll be speaking to them again.”
Picking up on the tremor in her voice, Matt shook his head and tossed a grin to Danny. “Don't worry about that. You won't have to say a word to deliver this message.”
With that, Ben drew his pistol, extended his arm and pulled his trigger. His bullet exploded from the gun's barrel and tore a gaping hole between Laura's startled eyes.
THIRTY-ONE
Clint was walking out of the restaurant when he heard the shot. The instant he figured it was coming from the direction of the hotel, he broke into a run with Matt not too far behind him. Before he got close enough to get a good look at the hotel, he spotted two of the men that had been in the street with Matt.
Ben was climbing into his saddle when he spotted Clint. Tossing a quick wave over his shoulder, he settled in his saddle, snapped the reins and got moving.
“Son of a bitch,” Clint muttered. He was in mid-stride when he saw the gun in Ben's hand.
It was pure reflex that caused both Clint and Matt to draw their own pistols. They only had to wait a second before Ben took a shot at them and rode down the street. Clint returned fire, but knew the men were already out of pistol range.
Matt fired as well, but the snarl on his face made it plain to see that he was doing so more out of anger than the desire to hit anything. “That son of a bitch is just trying to get under my skin,” he said once the roar of his gun had faded a bit.
“Well, he's done a hell of a job,” Clint said. “I'm gettingmy horse and chasing him down. Are you coming with me?”
“You couldn't keep me away.”
Both men ran for the livery, but soon found themselves snarled up in a thick group of people gathered around the front of the hotel and spilling out of it. There were too many of them screaming and carrying on for them all to be reacting to the couple of shots that had gone off.
“What is it?” Clint asked as he nearly knocked one local down.
The younger man staggered, but kept trying to run away. “There's a dead woman in there,” he said while pointing toward the hotel.
Clint felt the bottom of his stomach drop as he shoved through the crowd to get to the front door of the hotel. Before he got the door open, he could smell the stink of burnt gunpowder and spilled blood in the air. When the door had only cracked an inch or so open, he could see the blood staining the wall behind the front desk.
“God damn it,” Clint snarled when he saw Laura on the floor.
He didn't need to see any more to know she was gone.
Clint didn't even realize he was moving again until he was outside.
Matt was in his saddle and holding Eclipse's reins in his hands while waiting for Clint in the street. The Darley Arabian was fussing under Matt's control, but calmed down the moment he caught sight of Clint heading his way.
In a matter of seconds, Clint was in his own saddle and snapping his reins to get Eclipse running down the street.
Matt caught up to him and kept pace so he could look over and ask, “Was someone shot in there?”
“Yes.”
“A woman?”
Clint had to pause before saying, “Yes. It was the brunette who worked at the front desk.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Would Ben go to that much trouble to get under your skin?” Clint asked.
“That's his way of telling me it was a mistake to steal from him and then run away.”
Clint pulled hard on his reins and steered Eclipse around a corner. Once he saw the edge of town drawing closer, he leaned down and tapped his heels against the Darley Arabian's sides. “Now it's Ben that's made the mistake.”
Matt nodded solemnly and did his best to keep up with Eclipse. Every so often, he would point in the direction he thought Ben had gone. There wasn't much guesswork involved, however, since the town of Lohrens wasn't big enough to have many places for escaping killers to hide. Although Clint was a little ways behind Ben and Danny, the dust the others had kicked up was still swirling in the air. Without any buildings nearby that were large enough to hold two men and two horses, Clint followed the dust trail to the open range outside of town.
“Halt!” someone shouted from behind Clint and Matt.
Clint twisted around in his saddle to see who'd shouted loudly enough to be heard over the thunder of Eclipse's hooves. He was surprised to find Marshal Lind running down the middle of the street behind him.
“Too little too late,” Clint said as he turned back around to steer Eclipse out of Lohrens.
Matt grinned and snapped his reins to keep up. “Looks like we might have a real chase on our hands,” he shouted. “It's been awhile, but I'm up for it!”
THIRTY-TWO
Matt wasn't the only one who was a bit rusty at outrunning the law. Once he heard the enthusiasm in Matt's voice, Clint took a second to think if he'd ever done what he was in the process of doing right now. He couldn't think of an instance offhand, but Clint was also a little too busy to give the matter more than a moment of consideration.
While one part of his head sifted through those thoughts, the rest of him was rattling and churning like a steam engine's piston that was about to explode from its casing. Clint did his best to keep from dwelling on the fresh memory of Laura laying on that floor. Thinking of that would make him too angry to keep his wits about him. There would be plenty of time for Clint to be angry once he got his hands on Ben Jarrett.
As Lohrens faded behind him, Clint had no trouble at all in spotting Ben and Danny. Their other riders were well ahead of him, but their horses standing in the open couldn't be missed. Clint knew better than to bite on that bait right away and pulled Eclipse sharply to the right.
Before Matt could say anything about the sudden turn, Clint looked over to him and said, “You take the left.”
Matt nodded and veered off in that direction. Once they'd split off, the other two of Ben's riders came out from where they were waiting so they could charge forward before they were flanked.
Even though Clint hadn't been heading directly for those other two, he'd gotten close enough to make them nervous. Clint grinned and got Eclipse moving even faster. Nothing was more satisfying than spoiling one man's bluff with an even bigger one of his own. Now that all four of the outlaw riders had shown themselves, Clint let out a sharp whistle aimed at Matt.
The outlaw turned quickly to see what Clint wanted. The moment he saw Clint waving to him, Matt pulled his reins so he could meet up with Clint and ride once more at Eclipse's side.
By this time, Ben and his other riders had formed a single group. Those four now charged toward Clint and Matt as a few distant gunshots cracked through the air. Knowing he was well out of pistol range for the moment, Clint wasn't too concerned with the wild shots. There was, however, one other group to worry about.
The first few times Clint had checked over his shoulder, he hadn't seen one trace of Marshal Lind or any of his deputies. Now that he and Matt had been able to saddle up and race out of town, another group of riders was also charging out of Lohrens. This third group may have been only two strong, but Clint could see a few others breaking away from the town's limits so they could meet up with the original pair.
“That's either the law,” Matt shouted, “or more of Ben's boys.”
“It's the law,” Clint said.
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah. They're not shooting at us.”
Matt laughed once and added, “Not yet, anyway. It's probably a good idea to not let them catch up.”
As much as he hated to admit it, Clint agreed. And since he knew he hadn't done anything that warranted being chased by the law, he didn't have any trouble in giving Eclipse the order to bolt ahead like a bullet from the barrel of a gun.
As the Darley Arabian tore over the ground between Clint and Ben, Matt started to fall behind. No matter how much he whipped his own horse, Matt wasn't able to maintain the other stallion's pace. Rather than kill his horse in the futile hopes of winning the race, Matt took the rifle hanging from his saddle and laid it across his lap.
Clint reached down with one hand to carefully take the modified Colt from its holster. Every muscle in his body moved in time to Eclipse's steps, but he still wasn't about to risk dropping his gun before firing it. Since he knew the Darley Arabian stallion and the Colt as well as he knew his own arms and legs, Clint never had to take his eyes off of the oncoming riders to get the pistol in hand and take aim.
As the two groups closed in on each other, the wild firing from Ben's side tapered off. Clint took a quick look over his shoulder to find Matt a little ways behind him with a rifle against his shoulder. Turning even farther around, Clint could see that the group he figured to be lawmen were so far behind that they might have already given up on trying to catch him.
Clint hadn't yet turned back around when he heard a shot crack through the air. Reflexively, he ducked down and snapped his head around to get a look at Ben and the other three riders. A bullet hissed through the air close enough for Clint to hear it, but not so close that he was afraid of getting hit.
Bringing up the Colt, Clint sighted down the barrel and fired a shot at the outlaw riders. He kept his aim low enough to make his intentions clear, but not low enough to knock anyone from his saddle.
Sure enough, that one round was enough to split two of the four riders away from the rest. It also made the outlaws jumpy enough to start answering back before Clint and Matt got any closer.
Shots crackled from Ben and his men, sounding like corks popping directly in front of Clint's nose. A few rounds whipped by Clint, but most of them either fell short or were too wild to make their presence felt. Matt fired his rifle a few times, causing one of Ben's men to wobble in his saddle and fire his next shot straight out to his right.
Even though all the horses were running at a full gallop, Clint was focused so intently on Ben and the other three riders that it didn't seem as if they were getting any closer. Suddenly, it all rushed in on him as he could now make out the sneers on the men's faces.
Clint sighted along the top of his Colt to take a few shots in earnest. He'd lost count of how many shots the men had fired, but he knew they'd burned through a good amount of their ammunition before he and Matt even got within range.
The next shot Clint fired was at the rider to Ben's left. That one was taking aim at him and must have been close to pulling his trigger. Clint fired first and felt the Colt buck against his palm. As soon as he saw the rider flinch, Clint shifted his aim to one of the others.