34
Matt rode into Dodge a little over week after leaving Abilene. He was exhausted, wounded and thoroughly disgusted with himself and his job.
After leaving Abilene, he had remembered a place south of there, a sort of robber's roost, where men on the run could go and find a welcome. The men he sought were there, along with four others. He had been right, they were planning on something.
Sneaking around to an open side window, he had crouched just below it and listened as they discussed plans for swooping into Dodge and taking it over. Though there was only six there, he heard them talk of many more to come. He had to stop them, he realized. He couldn't let these six join with others and carry out their dastardly plans. But how did he stop them?
His answer came in the form of a petite brunette who came out of a back door and discovered him kneeling beneath the window. "Mist…"
Matt didn't let her finish the word. With a quick dive, Matt sprung sideways and grabbed the brown haired girl and wrapped a hand across her mouth.
Though she struggled for a second, it took her only a moment, once she saw him, to relax in his arms. She never felt Matt practically picking her up and carrying her back and away from the window and the men just on the other side of it.
When he was positive he'd gotten her far enough from the window, he released her and pulled away. "I'm sorry, Miss." He ducked his head. "I… I… well, I didn't want those men inside to know I'm here."
The young woman gave him an appraising look, the smile on her face betraying her obvious delight in his handsome form. "You a lawman?" She asked as his vest hid his badge and she didn't immediately see it.
Matt weighed his options. This girl lived and worked at a place where outlaws not only frequented but were welcomed and wanted. She could very easily open her mouth and give him away. But he figured, by the look on her face, she already knew. "Yes, Ma'am." He finally nodded. "You gonna give me up to them in there?"
A small smile formed on her very pretty face and she moved a little closer to him. "Depends." She smirked.
"On what?" Matt frowned.
"On whether you're gonna kiss me." She grinned. "Cause I just might holler my head off if ya don't."
Matt took a step back. This wasn't quite how he wanted things to go. He wanted this girl's help but he didn't want her. However, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he saw her open her mouth and prepare to scream. He did the only thing he could, he instantly pulled her to him and pressed his lips against hers.
She melted into his arms and pulled his head tightly against hers, refusing to let him go as her tongue pressed against his lips begging entrance.
Conflicting emotions coursed through Matt. Guilt and desire both fought for prominence but a flash of red settled it in his mind and guilt won. He pulled away from her again. "Ma'am, I…"
The girl reached up and placed her hand across his mouth, silencing his apology. "Don't say nothing." She whispered. "I don't want no sorries, cause I ain't sorry one bit. Now, they's a shed in back of the house. You go on back there and hide. These here fellas'll be riding out in a little while, I'll come git ya when they do."
Matt didn't want those fellas to ride out. He wanted to stop them. But he knew without this girl's compliance, he wouldn't be able to do much to stop them. "Miss, I appreciate this. But I can't let those men leave here. From what I heard, they're planning on raiding my town. Now, I've got to stop them, if I can. But I'm gonna need your help."
The girl looked up into beautiful blue eyes and found herself willing to do just about anything he asked, just for the chance to look again and perhaps feel his mouth on hers again and his hands around her waist. "My names Darla." She smiled up at him. "What you want me to do?"
Matt took a relieved breath and nodded. "Let's go back to that shed." He told her. "I'll tell ya what I have in mind."
An hour or so later, Darla had filled the men inside, with enough whiskey and promises that they were content to settle down around the fireplace and talk rather than ride, taking bets amongst each other as to who would be the first to take the girl to the bedroom in the back of the house.
While the bandits argued and drank, Darla slipped out to the shed and stepped inside. "Marshal." She whispered, watching him come out of the shadows. "All but one of em is sittin' around the fireplace, drinking. They ain't going no place for a while."
"Good." Matt took a deep breath. "Now, I'm gonna slip around to the front and bust into that front door and then…"
"No, Marshal." Darla interrupted him. "One of them men ain't drinking and he's watching that front way awful close. You couldn't get near that front door without him seein' ya."
Matt stopped. "Alright," he shook his head. "Then I'll come in the back way and…"
"That won't work neither. Where that fella is sitting, he can see front and back both. Ya cain't jes bust in like that."
Closing his eyes in frustration, he sighed. "You got any ideas, then?"
The girl thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I got one thing I think'll work. But ya gotta do something for me first. Ya don't do it, I ain't gonna help ya no more."
Matt frowned a little at her. "What?"
"Kiss me again." Darla answered simply. "Only this time, like ya mean it."
Matt shook his head. "Darla, I…"
But Darla rejected his protest and reached up on planting her lips on his, putting everything she had into her kiss. For just a moment, Matt relaxed into the kiss before once again, a beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes flashed before his eyes and he pulled back. "Darla…"
"Ya ain't gotta say nothing." She whispered. "I see her, there in your eyes. Ya might like kissing me but it's her you're thinking of. I understand and I'm still gonna help ya."
Matt didn't say anything, there was nothing he could say that would make her or him either one feel better about the situation.
Darla looked back towards the house and then back at Matt. "You sneak around the side of the house." She told him. "You can look in the front room through that there winda you was under earlier. When you see me and that man go into the back of the house, you can come round front and bust in."
Matt paled at the idea. He felt guilty enough for what he'd already done. "NO." He protested. "Uh, huh. I won't let you do that. I'll think of something else.
"There ain't nothing else to do." Darla shook her head. "Now, do as I say." Before Matt could offer further protest, Darla turned and ran back inside.
A few moments later, Matt did as she suggested and ran around to the window, crouching just out of sight and looking in. Darla appeared in the room a moment later and made her way straight to a tall, rangy looking man seated near the door.
The window was closed now and he couldn't hear what was said, but he understood the actions. Darla stepped over to the fierce looking stranger and draped an arm around his neck, bending down close, whispering urgently into his ear.
The man looked up at her for several seconds, than back out the front window and then the back. Finally he rose, wrapped an arm around her waist and headed for the rear of the house.
Matt gave them a few minutes and then ran quickly to the front, pausing only a moment to prepare himself before raising a leg and kicking the door down, firing as he entered. The men inside, though drinking weren't exactly drunk and they instantly drew their guns, returning fire.
The man in the back, realizing what that Darla had distracted him, pulled back his fist and punched her, pushing her violently from him as he drew his gun and headed for the front. Darla got quickly to her feet and lunged for him, trying to keep him from the front. Her efforts proved fatal. The man turned his gun on her and fired then, without pausing, turned once again for the front.
Matt, who's vanquished all but two of the men, was crouching behind an overturned table, a bullet in his arm, wondering about the shot he'd heard coming from the back. It didn't take long to find out what happened.
Firing as he came, the man that Darla had enticed to the back, came barreling into the front, gun raised and firing. Matt took a deep breath and rose, returning fire. That man went down in an instant and the two men who'd escaped the first torrent of gunfire, soon followed. When it was all over, six men and one girl were dead. And Matt Dillon was sick to his stomach over the whole affair.
Sick, hurt and thoroughly disgusted with himself and the way everything had gone down, Matt buried the men and the girl, then climbed on his horse and rode out.
TBC