Shoot Angel! (9 page)

‘
Where
to now?’ Birdy asked. ‘Angel?’

‘
You
know where I’m going,’ Angel said. ‘Use that horse, Birdy. Go where
the hell you like.’

‘
That’s about the only place you’re going, Angel!’ Capucci’s
voice rapped out the words.

Angel turned slowly. He watched Capucci step
into the open, his right hand held close to the butt of the gun now
strapped around his waist.

‘
Now
what’s eating you, Capucci?’ Angel asked.

‘
I
aim to kill you
before I ride out, Angel,’ Capucci stated.

Angel
’s face remained
impassive.

‘
Why?
Because I put you down?’

‘
Yeah!
I didn’t like that. I don’t let no man just walk into my life and
do that! So we settle, Angel! Here—now!’

Birdy threw up his hands in despair.

‘
Capucci, for God’s sake! You must be crazy! You don’t
figure to kill a man just because he punched you on the jaw and
knocked you down! Hell, Trench and his boys are swarming all over
these damn hills, liable to show up any minute and you want to play
gunfighters! What you got inside that thick head of yours?
Horseshit?’

‘
Stay
out of this, you little asshole!’ Capucci warned. ‘Put your nose in
and I’ll shoot it off!’

‘
That
before or after you’ve buried me?’ Angel asked.

‘
I
don’t like your
funny mouth, Angel.’

‘
Capucci, I don’t want to fight you. But I’m not going to
back off and give you a chance to gun me when I ain’t looking. I
reckon you’re a fool to push this just for the sake of stupid pride
but that’s your problem.’

‘
Angel, I’m going to kill you! I’m going to blow you wide
open, you smart-assed bastard!’

Capucci was grinning. A
confident expression filtered across his face. His right hand began
its swift movement towards the butt of the gun holstered on his
hip. Capucci felt the tips of his fingers stroke the smooth wood,
begin to curl around the shaped butt. He was watching Angel and
Angel hadn
’t
even moved. Capucci’s eyes narrowed. Disbelief clouded his face.
Angel hadn’t moved—yet there was a gun in his hand. He hadn’t moved
… had he? Damnit, he hadn’t! Capucci snatched at his own gun, felt
the comforting weight as it came free from its holster. His thumb
dogged back the hammer, his finger applying pressure to the
trigger. He heard the whip crack snap of a shot. A solid blow
struck his right shoulder. Capucci felt himself turned about. He
plunged forward, gasping at the white-hot pain engulfing his
shoulder. The hard earth rushed up to meet him and he struck it
with stunning force. The heavy gun slipped from dead fingers.
Capucci lay in shocked silence. He twisted his head and stared at
the glistening red mess of his shoulder.

Angel put away his gun. He glanced at Birdy,
who was staring at him in utter silence.

‘
What
was I supposed to do? Kill him?’ Angel asked.

Birdy shook himself, blinking
as if coming out of
a deep sleep. He watched Angel kneel beside Capucci and
expertly fashion a bandage from a couple of strips torn from
Capucci’s own shirt.

‘
Capucci, you get on that horse and you ride, mister. Make
sure you don’t ride in my direction. Next time I see you I’ll
finish what you started here. Find yourself a doctor when you can.
Please yourself about that. I don’t give a damn.’

Angel stood up and walked to
his horse. He swung into the saddle, turning to stare down at
Birdy.
‘I’m
heading for Liberty. Ride along if you want. But I got business
there that isn’t about to win me any popularity
contests.’

Birdy mounted his horse and fell in
alongside.

‘
I’ll
ride a ways with you, Angel. I need the time to figure you
out.’

They cut away from the place,
swinging in a wide loop that would bring them in towards Liberty
from the east. Angel was hoping to avoid further contact with
Trench and his hired guns. He wasn
’t too optimistic.

Ahead of then lay an undulating
fall of land.
A crisscross landscape of small canyons and ravines, jagged
fissures striking deep into the rocky terrain. And hanging over it
all the swollen orb of the sun, radiating sullen heat that flowed
into every crack, every hollow.

Angel rode with his rifle laid
across his thighs, eyes constantly searching for any sign of
pursuit, any movement, however slight, that might reveal
some
concealed marksman. Trench’s men had showed him the way
they operated, and as far as Angel was concerned he would deal them
the same hand. In a situation like this there was no time for the
niceties of life. You were either quick or very dead!

‘
Angel, behind us!’ Birdy’s tone was urgent.

Angel reined in and
swiveled round in
his saddle, shading his eyes against the savage glare of the high
sun. On a distant ridge, maybe a half-mile back, he could see five
riders outlined against the brassy sky.

‘
Damn!’ Angel watched the riders for a minute. ‘Bet you
those sons of bitches are sitting watching us right now, Birdy.’ He
gazed round, seeing nothing to offer him any kind of comfort.
‘Well, they sure got us spotted now. All they got to do is keep
coming.’

‘
Ain’t
much chance of losing ’em in this country,’ Birdy observed.
‘Between here and Liberty it’s all the same.’ The little man
screwed up his face. ‘Caught between a rock and hard place, Angel,’
he said, using a well-worn phrase.

Angel smiled. He could have
used that phrase as his personal motto. He
’d been in the position so many times
he took it for granted now as part of his life.

‘
Birdy, you picked a bad time to take a ride with
me.’

The skinny
man
’s
shoulders lifted in a quick shrug.

‘
What
the hell, Angel,’ he said, ‘where else did I have to go? Least I’m
out of that damn place. Worth it just for that.’

‘
You
could end up dead,’ Angel said as they rode on.

‘
We
all end up dead sooner or later.’ Birdy fell silent for a time.
After a bit, unable to restrain his curiosity any longer, he asked:
‘Tell me Angel, just who the hell are you? I got to know ’cause
it’s drivin’ me crazy!’

Angel didn
’t reply. Instead he reached
down to work something out of a slit pocket in his leather belt,
something that caught the sun on its silver face. Silently Angel
handed a circular badge to Birdy, watching the amazed expression
cross the man’s face. Birdy studied the badge closely, reading the
words inscribed around the edge of the disc. Department of Justice,
United States of America, it read, and embossed in the center of
the badge was the symbolic screaming eagle. Gradually a smile
etched itself across Birdy’s face. The smile widened and became a
chuckle, which in turn rose until Birdy was laughing out
loud.

‘
Jesus
Christ, Angel, you sure fooled us all! And me—breaking out of jail
alongside a goddamn lawman! Hey, if this ever gets out I’ll never
live it down!’ The thought triggered off another bout of laughter.
‘Wish I could’ve soon Capucci’s face if he’d found out! One thing
he hates is a badge-toter!’

Angel retrieved his badge and
returned it to its
resting-place. He let Birdy calm down before he asked: ‘How
do you feel about the law?’

Birdy sighed.
‘Hell, Angel, we
all got a living to earn. Me, I been riding the owlhoot trail most
of my life. Never did amount to much. Always small-time stuff. Just
enough to keep me going. That was when I weren’t in jail. I got
this thing about being caught all the time. Just keeps happening.
And I never been one for using a gun so I end up behind bars.’
Birdy’s face hardened. ‘Mind you, this Liberty deal got me mad as
hell. Wouldn’t mind if I’d done anything.’ He grinned again. ‘Hey,
Angel, truth is I was framed! No foolin’!’

‘
I
know the feeling,
Birdy.’

‘
You
mean to tell me they took you, Angel? I thought you Justice
Department boys were smart!’

‘
Yeah,
that’s what they keep telling me.’ Angel smiled.

‘
Do
they know who you are?’

Angel shook his head.

‘
Far
as they know I’m just another stranger who rode in. I said I was
looking for Harry Culp. Told them I was a friend.’

‘
But
you ain’t?’

‘
Culp
was on the run. He was carrying seventy-five thousand dollars with
him. Proceeds of the swindle he’d been involved in. I trailed him
as far as Liberty, then walked in on the neat little set-up Judge
Cranford and Sheriff Sherman have going.’

‘
So now you got to go back to Liberty and
take ’em?’

‘
Something like that,’ Angel admitted. ‘Only I don’t expect
it to be the year’s most peaceful event. Culp’s dead. Murdered.
They’ll know I’ve found that out and I don’t expect any of them to
fancy ending up at the end of a rope.’ Angel paused. ‘You still
want to ride with me, Birdy?’

‘
Could
be interesting.’

‘
Birdy, I think you could be right.’

Late afternoon. The setting sun cast long,
black shadows across the naked land. The searing heat of midday had
slowly evaporated. Now a pulsing warmth flowed out across the
earth.

Frank Angel and Birdy crouched
in the shadow of a low hill and studied the town of Liberty. There
didn
’t
appear to be anything out of place. Nothing to suggest anyone
waiting for them. But Angel knew different. There was nothing
tangible. Nothing he could put his finger on. Just a gut feeling.
An instinct. And Angel had learned to trust his
feelings.

He knew damn well that by now Cranford and
Sherman would have got the word he was free. That he had escaped.
Trench would have sent word. Acting on the information Cranford
would have arranged for a reception party.

‘
Looks
pretty peaceful,’ Birdy murmured. ‘But they wouldn’t want it to
look anything except peaceful.’

‘
They know we’re coming,’ Angel said.
‘They’ll be waiting.’

‘
Ain’t
going to make it easy, Angel.’

‘
It
never is easy,’ Angel told him.

Leading the horses, they walked the last
stretch. Angel approached the town in a wide circle, bringing them
in at the rear of the buildings along the main street.

‘
We’ll
leave the horses here,’ he said.

Birdy nodded and they tethered the animals in
the shade of thick brush.

‘
Ain’t
going to be time to change your mind once we get in there,’ Angel
reminded Birdy. ‘You still want to get yourself
involved?’

‘
Can’t
be any worse than me trying to run on my own, Angel. Hell, man, I
told you I ain’t no gunfighter. I get out there with Trench’s men
chasin’ me I’d be back in that camp ’fore you could whistle Dixie!
That was if they didn’t shoot me first. You saw the way those three
were we tangled with.’ Birdy grinned. ‘I’ll take my chance with
you, Angel.’

‘
All
right, Birdy. I’ll tell you something so listen good ’cause I ain’t
going to say it again. If we come up against any of Cranford’s boys
remember one thing. If it comes to a fight I don’t bother with
rules. Any man who tries to kill me better be damn good and do it
the first time. He won’t get a second chance.’

Moving from cover to cover,
utilizing every clump of brush, every rock, every rise and
hollow
in
the ground, Angel and Birdy closed in on Liberty. Soon they were in
a position to be able to see clearly the trash-littered back lots
of the buildings. Angel was looking for one building in particular.
Once he had it spotted he led the way along the fringe of brush
skirting the very edge of town.

‘
That
the place?’ Birdy whispered.

Angel nodded. He crouched down
and studied the rear of Jessica Blake
’s restaurant. He could see that a lamp
had been lit in the kitchen against the fast-approaching darkness
and he could make out a faint shape moving back and forth behind
the curtained window.

They stayed where they were for
a good quarter of an hour, until Angel had satisfied himself there
were no waiting gunmen in the vicinity. Convinced at last that it
was safe, Angel touched Birdy
’s shoulder and they broke out of cover, heading
directly for the rear of the restaurant. Angel tried the rear door
and found it unlocked. He eased it open and stepped silently into
the kitchen, Birdy close behind him.

‘
Hello, Jess,’ he said gently.