Reaper's Fee Part 22

The back of the house opened out to a wide couple of acres that were overgrown with more weeds than shrubs. The back porch wasn't much more than a platform with a few steps leading to the ground. There were no windows between him and those stairs, so Nick rushed the back door.

Slamming his heel against the door, Nick sent an explosion of splinters into the house as the door's frame gave way. Inside, he found a small kitchen and pantry leading to the sitting room at the front of the house.

"Who's there?" Pat shouted from another room. "Is that you, Wesley?"

Nick held his gun in front of him as he moved through the house. With all the noise coming from the other rooms, he didn't have any trouble keeping his steps from being heard. To his left and away from the kitchen, Nick saw a short hall leading to a closed door. He knew that had to be the room with the broken window and he prepared himself for anything to come through that door.

When the door opened, a younger woman stood there with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Are you the law?" she asked.

Nick didn't have time to say a word before a man's hand took Stephanie by the shoulder and pushed her out of Nick's sight. Pat then filled up the doorway. Firing from the hip, Pat pulled his trigger again and again as a visceral scream rolled up from the bottom of his lungs.

All Nick had to do was take a step back into the kitchen and every last one of Pat's rounds burrowed into the wall or flew into the next room. Once the firing was over, Nick took a cautious peek around the corner to find Pat closing the door again.

Gunfire came from the sitting room, announcing Kinman's entrance into the house. Within seconds, someone raced out of the front room like a quail that had been flushed from a bush. Nick pressed his back to a wall and listened for those steps to draw closer. Lester raced straight for the back door, without so much as glancing in Nick's direction as he pa.s.sed.

Nick took a few lunging steps and grabbed hold of the back of Lester's collar. Squirming reflexively, Lester pulled himself out of his loose-fitting s.h.i.+rt like a snake shedding its skin. His arms flailed in front of him and he finally managed to get hold of the door. Pulling it open, Lester used every bit of his strength to sprint outside.

As Nick ran after Lester, he could hear more yelling and shooting behind him. A woman screamed. Something heavy hit the floor. The last thing Nick heard as he followed Lester to the barn was a man's voice roaring over everything else.

"Shut your d.a.m.n mouth and put the gun down!" Kinman shouted.

There was a moment of silence followed by another pair of shots.

Nick didn't have time to figure out what had happened, since Lester had made it into the barn. He knew better than to rush in there after Lester, so he shouted, "Come on out of there or I'll drag your dead body out myself!"

Hearing the creak of hinges, Nick stepped back and got ready for whatever was about to come through that door. Hearing the rustle of hooves through loose hay, Nick swore under his breath and ran to pull open the door himself.

Nick got a real good look at the immaculate interior of the barn, mostly because of the light flooding through the wide-open rear door. Lester was in the saddle and riding through the rear door on the back of a sleek black mare. Nick was just able to see the bundle tucked under Lester's arm before the black mare broke into a run and turned sharply out of Nick's sight.

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 pa.s.sing. 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 h.e.l.l 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 a.s.sume 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 h.e.l.l 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 a.s.sessment 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 h.e.l.l 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 d.a.m.n 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 coa.r.s.e 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.

Nick's bullet caught Lester in the ribs, but didn't do much more than scratch him. Lester's next bullet raked along the deputy's back, burrowing deeply enough to twist the lawman in his saddle. With his horse still kicking and fretting, Jim toppled from the saddle, just managing to swing his legs down before risking a broken neck.

As soon as Lester saw the deputy disappear over the side of his horse, he pulled his reins and started to ride away. He fired a shot or two behind him, but that wasn't nearly enough to buy him a ticket away from there. Before his horse could build up a head of steam, a shot ripped through the air and slapped solidly into flesh and bone. Lester didn't feel any pain, so he snapped his reins again. His horse's only response was a pained groan as it dropped to its front knees and started to fall onto its side. Lester was just quick enough to hop from the saddle before the horse flopped over.

"You shot my horse!" Lester said as he wheeled around.

Nick rode up to him and swung down from his own saddle. "If you'd rather I shoot you, I'd be happy to oblige."

Lester reflexively grabbed for the fresh wound across his ribs. It was barely even bleeding, but he kept his hand there as if to keep his innards from spilling out. "A man doesn't just shoot another man's horse."

"He's not supposed to steal another man's horse, either. Sometimes bad things happen don't they, Lester? Like the law stumbling upon this place at just the right time. How'd they manage that?"

"He wrote them a letter," Kinman said as he rode up to them on the horse that Nick had pa.s.sed up back at the barn.

Both Lester and Nick turned toward the bounty hunter. Kinman nodded to Nick and then s.h.i.+fted his eyes toward Lester as he lifted his arm and sent a bullet through Lester's eye.

The shot snapped Lester's head back and spun him around on one foot. The bundle he'd been clutching flew from his grasp and his pistol dangled from his other hand by one finger through the trigger guard.

"That p.r.i.c.k's more trouble than he's worth," Kinman said, climbing down from his saddle. "He ain't worth as much dead, but that Reaper's Fee will more than make up for it."

Nick wasn't surprised by much anymore, but seeing Lester's head explode in such a cold-blooded manner was enough to send a chill through anyone. Keeping his thoughts to himself, Nick said, "I suppose all the shooting from a little while ago was you dealing with those lawmen the same way you just dealt with Lester."

Kinman actually managed to look surprised by that. "What? You think I'd shoot those fine lawmen? Me and Marshal Eaves are on friendly terms. He's even got enough to pay up on the bounty being offered for those two s.h.i.+t stains Lester called his cousins. I did take care of the others in that house, though."

"And the women?"

Kinman nodded slowly. "Can't be too careful. Them b.i.t.c.hes had guns."

"So where are those lawmen now?"

"I sent them off in the other direction, but I suppose they'll be back before too long." Kinman kept his gun aimed at Nick as he walked to Lester's body. "At least I hope they will," he added. "I could sure use the backup."

Nick had no trouble picking up on the s.h.i.+ft in Kinman's voice. He didn't have an explanation for it, however, until he saw Jim moving his horse up alongside Kinman's.

"Marshal Eaves sends his regards," Kinman said to the young lawman.

"Who are you?" the deputy asked.

"Ask Eaves. He'll vouch for me. The name's Alan Kinman."

The deputy nodded and relaxed a bit. "I heard of you."

Feeling what little advantage he'd gained slipping away, Nick stepped between Kinman and the bundle Lester had dropped. The moment he took that step, Nick saw the deputy snap his gun up and aim it at him in a shaky grip.

"You don't want to do that, boy," Nick said. Before he could say anything else, Kinman interrupted.

"You hear that?" the bounty hunter asked. "Sounds to me like this outlaw's threatening you."

"That dead man there said he was Nick Graves," the deputy replied. "Is that true?"

Kinman holstered his gun as he walked over and scooped up the leather bundle. He opened it, took a look inside and smiled. "It's true, all right. Don't you know a wanted man when you see one?"

Wincing and pressing his free hand against the deep scratch along his back, the deputy said, "No."

"Well, why don't we go and fetch the marshal? It'd be wise to have all the help we can get in bringing this animal to justice. They should be just east of that house back there."

The deputy was hesitant to take his eyes off of Nick. "What do we do with him? I heard tell that he rode with Barrett Cobb."

"That was a while ago," Kinman said. "He don't have as much fight in him these days. Ain't that right, Nick?"

Nick let out a slow breath as he weighed his options. For all he knew, the kid might have his price, like most other lawmen, or he could be a straight shooter just trying to do his job and earn his wages.

"You're finished, Graves," Kinman said. "You can talk as tough as you want right now, but we both know you ain't fast enough to shoot us both before we put you down. Lord knows you're too old to run."

Nick's gun weighed heavily in his hand as he looked at the other two men. The longer he waited, the smaller his window of opportunity became. He was down to two choices. One of those choices simply couldn't be allowed to pa.s.s.

Kinman nodded with a confident smile still embedded in his face. "You got a rope, Deputy?"

"Yeah."

"Bring it over here and let's get this mad-dog killer ready to be delivered to a cage, where he belongs."

Jim took the coiled rope hanging from his saddle and climbed down from his horse.

Lowering his head, Nick allowed his gun arm to drop. "Maybe you're right, Kinman. I've done some things that no man should be proud of. I've robbed more money than I can count and I've killed more men than I care to think about. Perhaps I do belong in a cage."

"Cobb's paid his fee," Kinman said. "Time for you to pay yours."