A/N: This is a really short chapter, sorry everyone. But at least it's a chapter!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
"Ezra Standish!" Frank bellowed.
Peter and Gil both had their guns drawn and Farnk knew that Floyd and Jack were around back, watching.
"Better get down here before I kill your friend!"
He waited patiently for a reply but none came. He was an impatient man at the best of times and he wanted to speed things along.
"You don't show yourself by the count of three, Gil here is going to blow this fella's brains out. Don't think you can shoot your way out of this, either." He pulled his own gun and pointed it at Vin. "Out of three, one of us is bound to get a shot off."
Within moments Ezra appeared a few hundred yards away, hands up with no gun - there was nothing else to be done. He would have to put himself on the line and trust that even if he was shot, the others would at least be able to get Aggie out.
"There you are," Frank said with a smile. "I've been waiting a long while to see you again, fancy man."
"Let Agatha go," Ezra said stonily, once he was in earshot.
"Now why would I do that?"
"Whatever qualms you have with me they have nothing to do with Miss Campbell and I see no reason to drag her into this."
"You make an interesting point," Frank said, holstering his gun. Gil and Peter kept their pistols trained on Vin and before Ezra knew it, someone else had stepped up behind him and put the barrel of a gun in the small of his back.
Frank raised his voice so that it echoed out around them. "I'm no fool, I know there are half a dozen men with guns on me, but I've got insurance."
He pulled a box of matches from his pocket and held them aloft. He resumed speaking in a normal voice to Ezra, who looked confused.
"See, this house is soaked through with kerosene, and your girl is tied up inside of it. I figure we'll burn her up, and then kill you. End of story, clean and simple."
Ezra felt the blood drain from his face. "You'll never get out of here alive," he said.
"Maybe, maybe not. But our luck's been pretty good so far, ain't it boys?"
Peter and Gil nodded vigorously, smiling.
Ezra's voice was shaky and he had to focus to keep it steady. "Nobody move," he called. "The house is soaked in kerosene and Bartholomew has a box of matches."
Aggie could hear the exchange going on outside and she could stay silent no longer. "He's going to kill me Ezra!" she screamed, breaking down into sobs. "He's going to burn me!"
She railed against a fate that she had already escaped once, enraged and in complete disbelief that this was how her life would end after all. She knew how terribly painful it was going to be, there could be no more agonizing a death. She wished that someone would shoot her before the flames touched her flesh again, she would rather die quickly than be consumed by fire.
A movement in the bushes announced the presence of Josiah, Buck and JD and sensing that his window of opportunity was shrinking, Frank lit a match in the blink of an eye and flicked it towards the shanty wall.
"Say adios, fancy man."