Ball and Chain (19 page)

Clint rode Eclipse down to the mill, over to Hank's house, and then past Aunt Iris's cottage. None of those places were infested with gunmen, so Clint headed back to the Ranger Hotel. Acklund was waiting for him outside.

“Told you they wouldn't be here,” Acklund said. “They mean to catch you when there's more folks about.”

“Then why don't you take me to where they are,” Clint demanded. “That way we won't have to worry about Ellie or Hank getting hurt.”

“Fine with me. Just let me get to my horse.”

The Ranger Hotel had a small stable behind it at the other end of a narrow alley that led from the street. Clint watched Acklund disappear down the alley and waited to hear the loud squeak of the gate. He tightened his grip on Eclipse's reins, preparing himself to chase Acklund down if he decided to make a run for it.

Clint heard the squeak of the gate.

After that, he heard a horse fidgeting before trotting through the gate again.

Narrowing his eyes, Clint eased his hand toward his holster. The stitches in his gun arm were healing up and he'd already become accustomed to the nagging pain. He'd worked the kinks out well enough to draw without a hitch, but he kept his hand close to the Colt's grip just to be on the safe side.

There were heavy steps coming down the alley, announcing Acklund's presence as he rode back to where Clint was waiting. As soon as he got a look at Clint's face, Acklund narrowed his eyes into a mean glare.

“What's the matter, Clint? Ellie's pa tell you to bury me under this hotel?”

Keeping his hand within a few inches of the Colt, Clint replied, “Just making sure you intend on doing what we agreed on.”

“I said I'd take you to Mose's camp and that's what I'm gonna do.”

Clint had asked the favor over breakfast in the few seconds when Ellie wasn't gazing lovingly at Acklund's face. The man hadn't needed much time before accepting the proposal. After that, Ellie took Acklund for herself and didn't let him go. At the time, Clint thought that Acklund seemed earnest enough in his reply. But ever since then, Clint couldn't stop wondering if he was making a mistake.

Everything Clint heard from Acklund made it seem that he was being honest with him.

Everything Acklund did fell into line with that. If Acklund had wanted to take a shot at Clint, there had been plenty of opportunities. Clint had even made sure that Acklund kept his gun so he could make his move if that's what he'd wanted to do. But Acklund had either truly lost his need to avenge his brother or he was too smart to go up against Clint when he was looking for it.

As if reading the thoughts rushing through Clint's head, Acklund locked eyes with him and asked, “You want to even things up for what happened before? You want to hurt me since I hurt you?”

“My arm's doing just fine,” Clint replied.

“Then why are you looking at me like you mean to put a bullet in my back?”

“If I'd wanted you dead, you already would be. I'm just not sure you've only got Ellie's interests at heart.”

“This ain't just about her.”

“That's right,” Clint said. “It's about your brother. He's still dead and I'm still alive. You want me to believe you just came to peace with that?”

When Clint said those words, he kept his voice steady as a rock and cold as ice. He knew they'd cut straight through Acklund, because that was exactly what Clint intended. If Acklund was going to make a move, he would make it then.

Clint felt a bit of pain from the stitches in his elbow as he got ready to draw and fire, but Acklund didn't even twitch toward his own gun.

“What happened to Dave was his own damn fault,” Acklund said. “I'm only leading you to Mose's camp because I don't want any of those crazy friends of my brother's to hurt Ellie or Hank. I also don't want anything to happen to Mose.”

“He's out to kill me,” Clint pointed out.

“And he'll simmer down once those other two outlaws are gone.”

“What if he doesn't?”

Acklund drew a breath and steeled himself. “Then whatever happens will be his fault. You promise me that you'll give Mose a chance to change his mind. If you put a bullet in him at your first chance, I'll see to it I put one into you. I've already lost one brother. I won't lose another.”

It was a rare occasion that Clint respected a man who threatened his life, but he couldn't help doing just that. Nodding, Clint took his hand away from his holster. “Let's go.”

Eclipse had barely hit his stride when Acklund signaled for them to slow down. He pulled back on his reins and Clint did the same, while watching for any sign of an attack. All Clint could see was Acklund pointing toward a stand of trees not too far away. When he waited for a second, Clint could hear what he thought was rowdy laughing up ahead.

Normally, Clint would have liked to send his partner ahead to try to circle the camp before Clint rode straight into it. That would increase their chances thanks to a simple yet classic strategy. But Acklund wasn't Clint's typical sort of partner. In fact, Clint was just as concerned about him as he was about whoever was at that camp.

Both men rode forward, watching each other as much as they did the trees in front of them. Before he got close enough to see the camp, Clint saw a figure step away from the trees and then dart behind them again.

Clint snapped his reins and prepared himself for a fight. “That you, brother?” Mose said as he stepped out from the thick stand of trees.

Acklund pulled back on his reins a bit and shouted, “It's me, all right! Send those outlaws home and let's be done with this. We've taken this too far already.”

Mose hardly seemed to hear his brother. Instead, his eyes were fixed upon Clint and he shifted his feet to take a lower sideways stance.

Sensing the big man's intentions, Clint pulled back on his reins and positioned his hand so he could draw at a moment's notice.

“What are you talkin' about?” Mose asked.

Acklund straightened up and practically stood in his stirrups as he roared, “You know what I'm talking about! It's what I've been saying since this whole damn thing got so far out of hand. It's over, damn it!”

Raising his arm to level a finger at Clint, Mose said, “This ain't over till he's dead.”

Before Clint could say a word to that, the trees on either side of Mose exploded in a flurry of fallen leaves and thundering hooves. Two horses busted out from where they'd been hiding on the left and right side of the trees. The men riding the two horses yelled like a pack of wild Indians and immediately started firing at Clint.

Even though the shots were fast and out of control, they were all hissing in Clint's direction. Standing in the middle of a hailstorm like that was just asking to be hit. Having already been felled by his share of lucky shots, Clint snapped his reins and steered Eclipse to the left. He didn't have to think about drawing his gun. Clint's reflexes acted for him and, amid a biting pain from the stitches in his elbow, the modified Colt was in his grasp.

Leaning forward over Eclipse's neck, Clint only had to keep hold of the reins so he could snap or pull back on them. He steered by nudging in either direction with his knees and the Darley Arabian responded as if he could read Clint's thoughts.

For the moment, Clint let Eclipse run as fast as he pleased. More wild shots hissed through the air above his head and on either side, while Clint took his time to get a clearer line of fire. The man on the horse closest to him had bushy hair that waved in the breeze like the treetops behind him. His mouth was open and curled into a wide smile as he emptied one pistol and then drew another to replace it.

Firing one shot toward Rob, Clint gauged his next angle based on the speed of both horses along with the reaction of his wounded arm. Despite a throbbing pain that went all the way up to his shoulder, Clint's wound wasn't giving him any trouble. Rob's horse whinnied at the gunfire, but didn't seem spooked by it. That didn't hold true for the man in the horse's saddle.

Rob shouted something at Clint, but his words were swallowed up in all the noise. Clint's first shot was high, but the next one clipped Rob across the back of his neck. The yelp he let out after that was plenty loud enough to be heard through all the other sounds.

Clint tapped his heels against Eclipse's sides to get the stallion to move even faster. The Darley Arabian bolted forward without missing a beat, allowing Clint to ride around the backside of the trees just in time to catch the second rider attempting to flank him.

Al wasn't in as much of a hurry as his partner. Sitting tall in the saddle, Al brought a rifle to his shoulder and fired off a shot. As the round whipped past Clint's head, Al levered in another and did his best to steady his aim.

Rather than waste a shot trying to rattle the man, Clint held onto his reins and put Eclipse through a series of sharp turns before passing Al's horse altogether. Once he had a little space between them, Clint pulled hard on Eclipse's reins to turn the stallion completely around.

Any other rider would have been thrown by the maneuver. On any other horse, turning so sharply at such a fast speed was foolish at best and deadly at the worst. But Clint and Eclipse had been together long enough for one to respond to the other as if they were a single living thing.

Eclipse sent a wave of dirt flying as he skidded and turned at the same time.

Clint felt his momentum carrying him off his saddle, but he held on as best he could. His legs clamped over Eclipse's sides and his wounded right arm cried for mercy, but Clint was able to stay off the ground. In fact, he found himself even higher in the air as Eclipse reared up on his hind legs and churned his forelegs in the air to complete his turn.

Now that he was facing the other rider, Clint could see Al no more than thirty yards away. Al hadn't tried to turn his whole horse around, but was obviously surprised that Clint had pulled off that feat. Al twisted his upper body around to take aim with his rifle, but fired off a shot that sliced through the air well ahead of Eclipse's nose. If Clint had kept moving in his previous direction, Al would have led his target perfectly. As it was, Al had to take a second to lever another round into his chamber and readjust his aim.

That short amount of time was all Clint needed. Before Eclipse could drop back down onto all fours, Clint extended his arm and squeezed his trigger. Al jerked in his saddle as soon as the modified Colt bucked against Clint's palm. Just to be certain, Clint fired again. That shot knocked Al to the ground and allowed his horse to take off on its own.

Letting out a breath that sounded like steam being released from a piston, Eclipse regained his balance and dropped back down to all fours. As soon as his front hooves hit the earth, he was off and running once more.

Retracing his steps, Clint rode back around the trees until he could see Acklund and Mose tearing into each other with their bare hands. He wasn't as concerned about the two brothers, however, as he was about the other gunman that had ridden away and disappeared. Clint steered clear of the brothers as he continued to circle around the trees. Since he still couldn't find a trace of Rob, Clint knew there was only one place for the man to be. He could also smell the trap the gunman was hoping to spring as though Rob had sent up smoke signals.

Obviously, Clint was supposed to charge into the trees and leave himself open to an ambush that Rob could spring from any number of hiding places. More than willing to oblige, Clint pointed Eclipse's nose toward the trees and snapped his reins.

Just before Eclipse passed into the cluster of timber, Clint swung one leg over and launched himself toward some bushes and tall grass sprouting at the base of one tree. He hit the bushes on his side, getting plenty of scratches and bruises for his trouble. Clint still recovered quickly enough to hear the shots fired from deeper within the clearing and to trace them back to their source.

Rob was firing wildly, but he was also shooting high enough to hit anyone on a horse's back. By the time Eclipse was close enough for him to see the empty saddle on his back, Rob had already reached the end of his rope. He snapped his eyes toward the spot where Eclipse had broken through the trees, only to find Clint standing there looking right back at him.

The Colt barked twice, sending the contents of Rob's skull through the air in a red mist.

Clint whistled for Eclipse and heard the Darley Arabian slow down so he could circle back around. Instead of waiting for the horse to get to him, Clint reloaded his pistol and walked to the spot where Acklund and Mose were fighting. By the looks of it, they'd both landed some healthy blows.

One punch from Acklund sent Mose staggering back half a step. Unfortunately for the younger of the two, this gave Mose some room to cock his right arm back and launch a powerful swing at Acklund's jaw. Mose's fist slammed into Acklund's face, dropping him like a sack of oats. When he hit the ground, Acklund stayed there.

Turning toward the sound of Clint's steps, Mose growled, “All right, asshole. Let's settle this.”

Clint had his gun in hand, but that didn't seem to bother Mose in the least. Walking forward, Clint nodded. “You want to settle this? Sounds good to me.” With that, Clint tossed his gun away and balled up his fists.

For a man Mose's size, he moved awfully quick. He leaned toward Clint and snapped his left hand out to connect with Clint's ribs. There was another punch hot on the heels of that one, but Clint was fast enough to step back and swat it away.

Flicking his right hand out like a whip, Clint took a swing at Mose's face. Clint's knuckles barely scraped against their target, but the punch was only meant to set the bigger man up for the second. As soon as Mose ducked away from his right hand, Clint sent his left out in a low, powerful uppercut that pounded against Mose's stomach. Clint felt as if he'd punched a wall.