Family Ties

Part 9:

Buck couldn't understand what had happened. He and JD had brought the two men into the jail and were locking them up. Next thing he knows his prisoner is locked up, JD's on the ground clutching his head and the damned robber had Ezra in his grasp. His eyes narrowed on the man with the ominous sound of the gun cocking. The hate boiled in him as that gun was aimed at the small boy's head. He didn't want to be in this position, with the others in different parts of the town and JD down it was up to him to fix this problem. His voice roughened when he tried to talk the man into putting the gun down. "You'll never make it out of town alive. Just put the gun down and let the boy go."

"You think I'm stupid, this boy here's my guarantee out of this here town mister"

Ezra felt himself squeezed tighter as the man backed out of the jail and couldn't help the moan that escaped his lips. There was no way for Mr. Buck to take a shot at the man and frankly that was frightening him quite a bit. He cringed as the gun pushed tighter against his temple. I should have just stayed on the roof. The sound of a woman screaming caused the curmudgeon to squeeze him even tighter releasing a cry of pain.

The scream got the attention of the fellow peacekeepers and had them moving into positions around the outlaw.

Chris felt his chest tighten as he saw the outlaw making his way out of the jail with a gun to Ezra's head. Crap, what the hell happened? "Drop the gun and put the boy down." He watched the man visibly shudder when he spoke to him. He gritted his teeth as Ezra was swung in his direction and a cry of pain was released from his lips. His glare turned deadly as he waited for an opening to shoot the man.

"Sir I would suggest you let me go before they kill you."

"Shut up kid"

"Really sir there is one of you and six of them. Two of your compatriots will be pushing flowers and the other is locked in that heinous cage."

"I said shut up boy"

He knew he was good at aggravating people, he was told it often. Mother did consider his ability to speak so well and confusing one of his God given talents. He hoped now he could irritate this man enough that he made a mistake, preferably without ending up with a hole in his body. "Really telling me to shut up is not going to get you out of your predicament. You sir are buffoon. Only an idiot of your proportion would attempt such a stupid escape. Really taking a child for hostage is a certain death sentence. Think about it sir, a barred cage or worm food."

Chris couldn't believe what he was watching. I'm going to kill him. What the hell does he think he is doing? He could only watch in dismay as Ezra continued to bait the man holding him. He couldn't take his eyes off the scene, knowing he had to be ready to kill the bastard in a split second.

Ezra couldn't help the grin that started to split his face as he felt the man holding him getting angrier and angrier, he knew any moment now the man would be unable to stop himself and seek a way to shut him up. Yes Ezra you certainly know how to piss people off. He felt himself flipped around and wasted no time engaging his derringer into the man's face. "See I told you that you were an idiot." He couldn't take the smile off his face as the man dropped his gun and was roughly pulled away and off to jail, staring at him as if he couldn't believe an eight year old would be the one to bring him down. Still smiling, he quickly reset his derringer and started to dust himself off. He rubbed his shoulder, it was a bit sore after the rough treatment but he had no new injuries, something to be thankful for. Looking up from dusting himself off he found himself enfolded against a man's chest for the second time that afternoon. How very odd.

"You okay?" Chris had noticed Ezra rubbing his shoulder.

"I assure you Mr. Larabee that I am unharmed."

"Good, I'll have Nathan check you out to make sure."

"I'm fine." He noticed Mr. Chris glaring at him and took an involuntary step backwards. He was unsure why he was looking at him like that. In fact as he caught glimpses of the other peacekeepers they all held that same look.

"Well than, since you are fine. Why don't you explain to me what the hell you think you were doing?"

"I was ending a stalemate sir"

"By pissing the man off? He could have killed you."

"Yes I suppose he could have but he didn't, it all worked out in the end." That's what mother always says, it doesn't matter how bad the situation just as long as it all works out in the end it will be fine. "Mother says I have a talent of being able to talk myself out of any situation, I was using my God given talent to extract myself from a precarious position. It was after all my fault for not being more diligent with what was going on around me before entering into the jailhouse. I assure you that I have been looking out for myself for years, the odds were in my favor to end this spectacle and I hedged my bet. So you see it really did work out in the end."