TW12 The Six-Gun Solution NEW (26 page)

"You'll have to come with me. Kid," said Wyatt.

Scott stared at him. Then he looked down and saw the gun.

"I'm putting you under arrest for the murder of Ross Demming. Hand over your guns."

The two rustlers waiting in the alley never knew what hit them. One moment, they were standing near the entrance to the alley, staying out of sight and keeping a watch out for Delaney, the next, they were suddenly being grabbed from behind by black-suited commandos. They felt hands being clapped over their mouths and then an agonizing, incandescent pain as the razor sharp, nine-inch combat blades did their grisly work. Their bodies slumped to the ground. Without wasting any time, the S.O.G. commandos quickly strapped warp discs to the corpses' wrists and clocked the bodies out. One of them spoke into his wrist communicator.

"Mattick to Team Leader."

"Go ahead, Mattick

Two down."

"Roger. Stand by."

On Third Street, just around the corner of the Aztec Rooming House, two gunmen were shocked out of their wits when two black-uniformed men in commando masks suddenly appeared before them out of nowhere. That one second of shock was plenty of time for the two men who clocked in behind them to move up and slit their throats.

"Sagretti to Team Leader.

"Go ahead, Sagretti."

"Four down, two to go."

"That's a roger. Stand by and stay out of sight. Okay, Miller, Donninger, you got a clear shot at the two out front?'

“That's a roger."

"Drop ‘em."

The two commandos stationed on the roof across the street from the rooming house fired. One of the rustlers slapped his hand to his chest.

“Ow! Jeez,. damn skeeters—" then he spasmed and dropped dead as the fast-acting poison did its work. His partner collapsed a fraction of a second later.

Capiletti spoke into his radio. "Okay. Sagretti, get those bodies out of there! Now! Move it!"

The black-clad commandos blended with the shadows as they quickly ran around the corner and up to the fallen rustlers. Seconds later, the bodies were gone.

"Well done, Lieutenant." said Stone. He pulled back his sleeve and spoke into his own radio. "Listen up. This is Stone. I'm going in. Give me five seconds once I go through the front door, then move in behind me. We're taking that house. Miller, Donninger, you keep to your posts. Cover the street."

"Roger. Captain.”

“Okay, here we go," said Stone. He turned to Capiletti who, unlike the other commandos, was dressed in period clothes. He was wearing jeans, a cotton shirt, boots and a Stetson hat. Only beneath his coat, his holsters held a laser and a plasma pistol. "Let's go," said Stone.

Together the two men started across the street, heading toward the rooming house.

O’Fallon stood among the crowd, looking down at the body of Ross Demming.

There was a slight tic at the corner of his mouth. He balled his hands into fists.

Idiots, he thought. Goddamn idiots! A simple job, one shooter on the street, another on the roof to cover him. How in hell could they possibly have bungled it?

And where in hell was Brocius?

“All right, move aside," said Wyatt Earp, pushing his way through the crowd.

He looked down at the body sprawled out on the street. "Demming,” he said, with a grimace. "Had a feelin’ he'd wind up like this, sooner or later.” He bent down and picked up the Winchester that was lying next to the corpse.

He checked it. "It hasn't been fired." He glanced around at the crowd. "Anybody see what happened?"

"I saw the whole thing. Marshal," said O’Fallon. "It was the Montana Kid. He shot Ross down in cold blood. Never even gave him a chance."

"He's lying!" Jenny shouted.

Wyatt turned toward her. "What do you know about this, Jenny?"

"I was right here," she said. "I was leaving the saloon with Scott when Curly Bill came up behind us and jerked his pistol!"

"Then what's Demming doing here?" asked Wyatt.

"He was up on the roof of the saloon, with his rifle," Jenny said. "Bill wanted Scott to turn around and make his play and Demming was going to shoot him down as soon as he turned around."

"So what happened to Curly Bill?” asked Wyatt.

"He ran after Scott shot Demming," Jenny said.

"And Demming was up on the roof, you say?" asked Wyatt He turned and looked up at the roof. "How did the Kid happen to see him up there?"

"He didn't," Jenny said. "I did. I saw him and I warned Scott.”

“You saw him." Wyatt said "What made you think to look up there?"

"Scott told me to look."

"I see," said Wyatt, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Why couldn't he look himself?”

"Because he had his back turned."

"And with his back turned, he knew there was someone on the roof behind him?"

Jenny saw how it was going and it wasn't going well. "He . . he knew that Curly Bill knew he couldn't beat him and he figured out that someone else had to have a gun on him.”

Wyatt grunted. "So he shot Ross Demming."

"It was self-defense!" said Jenny.

"Head shot," Wyatt said. He turned to look at the roof again. "Clear up there, eh? In the dark, too. What was Curly Bill doing all this time?"

"I told you," Jenny said, "he ran."

"Why didn't he just shoot the Kid while the Kid was shooting Demming? He had the drop on him, didn't he?”

"He . . well, he couldn't because . .. " Jenny's voice trailed off.

"Marshal, she couldn't have seen anything," O'Fallon said. "She was inside, in the saloon. Ain't that right, boys?"

"Yeah, that's right, I saw her," Zaber replied.

"And Curly Bill left quite a while ago," O'Fallon said.

"Alter the Kid called him out back there in saloon.”

"The Kid called him out?" asked Wyatt.

“Its a lie!" Jenny said "He just offered to show Bill who was faster."

"Ain't that the same thing?" asked O'Fallon.

"They drew on each other with empty pistols!" Jenny said. "Ask anybody! They all saw!"

"And once the Kid saw he could take Curly Bill, he decided to do it for real," said O'Fallon. "Curly Bill left and the Kid went out after him, but he ran into Ross Demming first and decided to take care of some old business."

"It isn't true!" shouted Jenny. "He's making it all up!"

"What was Demming doing with a Winchester?" asked Wyatt.

"He had it on his horse," O'Fallon said. He was gettin' ready to ride out of town when the Kid came out. When the Kid saw him, he jerked his pistol. Ross went for the rifle in his scabbard, but just barely got it out when the Kid shot him. You know how fast the Kid is."

"What happened to his horse?"

"Ran off when the shots were fired," O'Fallon lied, smoothly. "I don't know where Jenny got this roof business, but you have to know, Marshal, she's in love with the Kid. Wouldn't have anything to do with anybody else ever since the Kid showed up. You can ask anyone. She's his woman. You can't blame her for tryin' to protect him. I'd like a woman of mine to do the same."

"Is that true, Jenny?" Wyatt asked.

She shook her head. "Surely, you don't
believe
him?"

"I know how you feel about the Kid, Jenny," Wyatt said. "Everyone in town knows. And if it happened like you said, I can't see how the Kid could have shot Demming down from that roof without having Curly Bill shoot him. Nobody's that fast."

"But . . but that's the way it happened! I swear!"

Sheriff Behan pushed his way through the crowd. "Heard there was a shootin'," he said.

"You don't say," said Wyatt. wryly.

Behan shot him an angry look. "Ross Demming, eh? Looks like the Kid finally got him."

"How do you know it was the Kid?" asked Wyatt.

"Heck, everybody knows there was bad blood between those two." said Behan, "ever since the Kid gunned down his brother. I understand they had a near set-to in the Grand Hotel a while hack. Fact, you were them, weren't you, Wyatt?"

"I was there," admitted Earp.

"Wyatt, you're not going to believe these men?" said Jenny.

"It appears I'll have to believe them enough to put the Kid under arrest, Jenny." Wyatt replied.

"But you know what kind of men they are?" she argued, with exasperation.

"That's right, Jenny," Wyatt said, looking at her sympathetically. "I know. And I also know what kind of man the Kid is. He's a gunfighter and there's enough information to make him a suspect. I'm going to have to take him into custody and let the court decide."

"But you don't understand," she protested. "You can't!"

"I have to, Jenny," Earp replied, misunderstanding the reason for her distress. "And for his sake, I hope the Kid comes along quietly. He'll get fair treatment, I promise. I'll continue to look into this. I have no intention of letting a man hang on the word of someone like Johnny Ringo."

He gave O'Fallon and his men a hard stare.

"Just tellin' the truth, Marshal," said O'Fallon, with a shrug. "I saw what I saw."

"That's what you say, Ringo," Wyatt Earp replied. "But I think I'll ask around just the same and find out if anybody else saw the same thing."

Jenny felt someone come up beside her and touch her elbow. She turned to see Indian Charlie standing by her side, he merely nodded at her once, then slipped away through the crowd. She felt a tightening in her stomach. Drakov wanted to see her.

As she moved away from the crowd, she felt herself torn by indecision. If she refused to respond to Drakov's summons, he would know that something had gone wrong. If she went to him now, Scott would be placed under arrest and thrown in jail and there would be no one to warn his friends of what had happened. Perhaps if she could find them quickly and let them know that Scott was in trouble, then go back and see Drakov. . . .

She ran down the street, toward the Grand Hotel. She ran inside and up the stairs, to Lucas’ Priest's room. She pounded on the door. 'There was no answer. In desperation, she pounded again and this time, the door opened, but it wasn't Lucas Priest. It was another man, with a large, bushy moustache and red-rimmed eyes. His nightshirt bulged out over his paunch.

"What in tarnation. . . ?”

"Where's Mr. Priest?"

"There ain't no one by that name here, Missy. But say . . . will I do?"

She backed away, then turned and ran down the stairs and out into the street.

Ike Canton stood at the bar in Hafford's Saloon, hunched over a whiskey. In defiance of the town ordinance, there was a six-gun stuck in his belt, beneath his coat, and a Winchester .44-40 rifle lying on the bar before him. The bartender kept glancing at the rifle nervously. Clanton was working up a real snootful and guns and whiskey didn't mix.

"Want me to hold on to that gun for you, Ike?" the bartender asked.

Clanton slapped a beefy hand on top of it. “It's stayin' right here," he replied, in a surly voice. "There's men in this town lookin' to murder me and if they come lookin' for a fight, they'll get one!"

He glanced around at the other patrons in the bar. "You all heard that!" he said, loudly.

"I don't want any trouble in here, Ike," the bartender said.

"Ain't me that's causin' trouble," Clanton replied. “I was mindin' my own business when that Doc Holliday invited me to jerk my pistol! I couldn't defend myself because I wasn't heeled, but that Virgil Earp was right there with him and you think he arrested Holliday for makin' a play against an unarmed man? No, sir! I tell you, they're all in it together, those Earps and Holliday! They've been spreadin' lies about me, tryin' to frame me, and now they're out to murder me, as well!"

He patted the rifle once again. "That's stayin' right there! Man's got a right to protect himself! Gimme another whiskey!"

"Maybe you'd better go home and go to bed Ike," said the barman. "You've already had quite a lot to drink—"

"I said, another whiskey!"
Clanton shouted, slamming his hand down on the bar. "I ain't goin' nowhere! I ain't goin' to bed. I'm goin' to stay right here in town and as soon as the Earps or Holliday show themselves out there on that street, the ball opens! They're gonna have to fight!"

The bartender nervously poured him another shot of whiskey. Clanton tossed it back. He was tired of being caught in the middle of this whole thing. First Ringo and the others coming in and taking over, telling him and his boys what to do, then the Earps and Holliday, with their high and mighty ways, doing everything they could to run him off, acting like they were the lords of the most and trying to turn people against him. He was tired of it. Sick and tired. Things were working out just fine till those damn Earps showed up with Holliday.

He had complained bitterly to Johnny and
the others, telling them what lies Wyatt Earp was spreading. A lot of the boys were even acting as if they believed it. And Wyatt
was
a liar. He'd promised that he would keep their deal secret and he'd lied about that. He probably never intended on paying that reward money, after all. Son of a bitch would probably have kept it for himself. Now he was left was nothing. There was no reward money, because Head and Leonard had to go and get themselves killed in Hachita, and Crane was dead as well. So the whole thing fell apart, only Wyatt had broken his promise and told about the deal and now some of the boys weren't sure if Clanton wouldn't also double-cross them for some reward money if he were to get the chance.

"Those damn Earps are always gettin' in the way!" he'd said to Curly Bill, earlier that day. "And I've had about all I can take of Doc Holliday. as well!"

"Then maybe you ought to do something about it," Curly Bill had said.

“Yeah, maybe I oughtta."

"Maybe you should fight."

"What, just me? Against the four of 'em?"

"Take Frank, Tom and Billy with you." Curly Bill had said. "We'll back you up."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I've had a bellyful of the Earps myself. I'll get the boys together and we'll ride on into town tomorrow. You call the Earps out for a fight. When they come out, we'll all be waitin' for 'em."

"One more time." said Ike now, pointing at his shot glass.