and now we get to the Wild West Cliché. Yes, it's a shoot out in the street.
PART 5:
Chris met up with Buck and JD at the bottom of the stairs. "Everyone ready?" he asked.
The kid gave a curt nod. "We got the streets cleared right quick." He nodded to where Josiah and Nathan were still herding the last townspeople out of the street.
"Which direction?" Chris asked.
"Coming in straight from Ridge City," Buck said. "Should be here shortly. We'll be gettin' into position."
Chris smirked. "Let's show these city boys how we get things done out here."
.7.7.7.
"Vin," the voice said softly from behind him.
Tanner turned from his position at the window.
Ezra was sitting up, one-handledly picking up the cards that blanketed him. "What were you doing?" He sounded flustered.
"Just tryin' to keep busy while I was sitting here."
"You ruined a perfectly good deck."
"They're all here… somewhere. Some are on the floor. I think Larabee stepped on one of 'em. Might be salvageable. I might have bent a couple so that they'd fly better. You like 'em marked in any case."
"Ruined…" Ezra muttered, then stopped trying to gather the cards. With an annoyed gesture, he swept the rest of them to the floor and started fretting at the rope around his wrist. He looked bedraggled and hardly able to sit up.
"Best leave that alone, Ez."
"Vin, untie me."
"Not sure if that's a good idea, Ez."
Ezra sighed, looking embarrassed. "I assure you, the madness has passed along with my fever. I apologize for being so unreasonable, but my mind is clear now." He held up the tethered wrist. "If you would untie me, I assure you I will not leave. I heard everything that Mr. Larabee had to say on the matter. I will behave myself. You have my word on it."
Vin nodded, accepting that. "If you get hit by a stray bullet…"
"I will stay out of the way. And if I'm free, I'm better able to dodge if things get… dodgy. It would be best if I could help out."
"You ain't gettin' near this window. Doubt if you can see straight right in any case. Fever might be broke, but you're still sick as hell." Vin moved from the window to sit on the bed beside Ezra.
Ezra, looking like death warmed over, smiled and said, "I don't need to see clearly to reload the weapons. I could do that in my sleep." And he lifted the arm with the rope tied to it. "If you would be so kind? If not, I'll manage it myself."
Vin started work on the knot. "You're gonna have to untie your foot on your own. It should keep you busy for a while. Nate made it good and tight."
"I'll manage," Ezra responded. "I need to have some part in this fight."
"I know," Tanner responded, letting the untied rope drop, as he went back to the window. "Just keep your head down, and if I say 'duck', you better duck. If I say 'dive', you dive."
Ezra smiled at that as he leaned forward to work on the other rope.
.7.7.7
"Seven of 'em," Buck said quietly, watching the riders come toward the town. "Thought there was going to be five."
"They brought a couple extras with them," Chris said, watching the group approach. It was obvious that they weren't locals. They rode stiffly, obviously sore from the long ride from Ridge City. They wore street shoes instead of boots. Even Ezra in his finery had more sense than that. Ezra might dress up a tad too much for the trail, but he wore what would work for a long ride. The seven men who came toward them looked rather chaffed in their city suits.
Stupid sons of bitches.
Chris moved down the boardwalk in the heat, with slow measured steps until he reached the jailhouse. He glanced about, seeing his men in place. Vin signaled his readiness from the clinic window. JD stood in front of the Clarion office, seeming to read notices posted there. Nathan was across the street from him at the cigar shop, glancing at their wares. Josiah sat in one of the chairs outside of the saloon. Buck was at the Gem Hotel, casually buffing at his boots.
The street was otherwise empty. The townspeople had gone to ground to await the results of the latest battle in Four Corners.
Chris glanced at his watch as the seven men entered the town on their rented mounts. It was high noon.
He didn't know their names. He would only learn them when everything was over. Stanley Carr led them into the town. Carr brought the group past Nathan and JD, past Chris at the jailhouse, to a stop outside of the undertaker's office.
Chris allowed himself a small smile at the irony.
The wind blew up a dust devil in the street. It danced in the open space, kicking up dirt and causing the signs hanging above their heads to sway. The Cincinnati boys all stared in awe at the harmless little twister and looked like they wanted to dive for cover. It died down after a moment, and the falling dust made an audible sound as it pattered to the ground.
It took a moment longer for the spell to break, and Carr stepped down from his mount. He moved slowly as he tied his horse and then looked up and down the street, taking note of who was there as the others dismounted. He looked damn smug and downright condescending as he gazed about at the buildings.
Once everyone was down, Carr moved to where Chris seemed to relax outside of the jailhouse.
Larabee leaned against the roof support, his hat pulled down over his eyes. The high sun came down on him, keeping his face in shadow.
"Mister," Carr said as he strode up. "I'm hoping you can help me locate a fugitive from the law."
Larabee tipped back his head to see Carr from under the rim of his hat. Carr had slick black hair and a thin mustache. He wore a derby, as did the rest of his crew, and his face was wet with sweat, coated with dust from the ride. He looked hot and damn uncomfortable.
"You hear me?" Carr insisted, obviously unused to a moment's quiet.
"You got a badge?" Chris asked.
Carr stopped short. Two of his men joined him, standing menacingly to either side. Two stayed with the horses and the last two men continued down the street.
Buck and Josiah moved, getting into position near Chris. JD walked slowly, casually, walking closer to the men with the horses, with Nathan positioning himself between them and the last two men in sight.
The last two continued to walk slowly down the street, their eyes searching the upper floor windows of the saloons. They came to a stop outside of the former Standish Tavern. The space had changed hands several times since it had been Ezra's, and then Maude's. It was currently called "The Comet" and was known for offering watered drinks.
Carr stared at Larabee, and then said, "We're looking for a criminal that goes by the name Ezra Standish, but he's been known to use aliases. I know he's here. I saw it news." He said the word with a smug look. Larabee wanted to rub that expression right off his face. "Seems he's hoodwinked quite a few people in this town with his lies."
"Are you the law?" Larabee asked laconically.
Carr looked annoyed at the question. "We're here from Cincinnati to take this Standish into custody. You've heard of Cincinnati before, haven't you, cowboy?"
A small smirk appeared beneath the brim of Larabee's hat. "Oh, I've heard of it."
"You know where I could find him?" Carr continued.
Chris let a moment hang, before asking, "What do you want him for?"
Bill Swan, mustached and flighty-looking, stepped forward, saying, "He was involved with a dangerous criminal and stole a large amount of money."
"He endangered lives of lawmen," Teddy Myers said. He was built like an ox. "Put decent people at risk."
Bill and Teddy looked about, noticing the movement of the Buck and Josiah. They kept their hands near their weapons.
Chris hadn't changed his casual position. He waited another moment before he asked another question, "What do you aim to do, once you find this desperado?"
"We're going to bring him in," Carr said.
Chris kept watching Carr, not moving. Buck stepped onto the boardwalk to the right side of the jail. Josiah had moved to the left.
JD and Nathan were now on the boardwalk as well, on either side of the men with the horses.
From above, Vin kept low, hidden in the clinic's curtains. He held a bead on the light-haired man who stood outside of the Comet, next to the livery. Kirk Schmidt was well-armed. His displayed weapons were formidable. Carl Stevenson was the best dressed of the group, armed to the teeth as well, but Vin kept his aim on Schmidt.
"Where you aim to bring Standish?" Chris kept his voice low as he continued his slow questioning.
"To justice," Carr responded.
"Justice…" Chris repeated. "Do you understand the meaning?"
Carr looked incredulous as he exchanged a glance with his men. "What did you say?"
Chris hadn't moved. "Do you know what you've gotten yourself into?"
Carr's brow furrowed as he looked around, noticing the proximity of Buck and Josiah. He turned and noted JD and Nathan. He faced Chris again. "These men belong to you?"
Chris said, "What about yours? Do you command them? Were you plannin' on giving them a cut of that bank money? Too bad you lost it all."
Carr's face went red as he shouted, "You don't know who you're messing with, cowboy!"
Chris brushed aside his duster, and let his hand rest on the butt of his gun. He still didn't lift his head, or change his relaxed position against the post. "I know exactly who I'm dealin' with," Larabee said, his voice low as death. "I know you have no sense of justice. You're a worthless sack of shit, and you'd best go now if you want to leave here alive. I'm giving you one chance."
Carr paused, and then he sneered. "All this over that worthless conman?"
"He's our conman," Larabee replied. "He's worth more than you'll ever amount to."
Carr went for his gun, but never stood a chance. Larabee fired before Carr could fully lift the weapon. The former police captain went down like a sack of potatoes, and all hell broke loose.
Larabee's men ducked into cover as the street erupted in gunfire. Carr's men were caught in the open. Bill and Teddy twisted about, trying to find a place to hide as the bullets came flying, as they attempted to return fire.
The two men with the horses, Tom Thompson and Lester McConnell, got of a couple shots and then hunched behind the animals as JD and Nathan fired back and dodged into doorways. The horses screamed in fear. Half of them broke loose, tearing away from the ruckus. Those that had been tightly tied, bucked and reared in the gunfire. Tom and Lester were forced backward. They fell and floundered to get clear.
And further down the street, Kirk and Carl opened fire into the currently unoccupied room above the Comet. Kirk fell with a yelp, his leg collapsing from under him as Vin took him down. Carl changed his aim, and started unloading into the clinic. Vin ducked back inside, as Kirk twisted upright and took aim at the clinic.
Near Chris, Bill hit the ground with a gurgled gasp. Teddy found safety, ducking inside Potter's store. He kept up a constant barrage of shots, forcing the others back.
Tom and Lester huddled behind the water trough as Nathan and JD kept them pinned.
Kirk was half-upright and firing at the clinic window. He and Carl were switching from one gun to another as one weapon ran out of bullets, barely allowing Vin a moment to get off a shot.
Nathan left JD in charge of the two at the trough, as he changed his position to go after Carl and Kirk. He only managed one shot before Carl went after him, driving him into the doorway of a saloon.
Vin could only fire blindly back at the men, but he kept at them, quickly switching guns and taking fairly accurate aim without exposing himself. Chris looked up sharply when the deep throaty bark of Vin's mare's leg changed the sharp bang of Ezra's Remington, and he searched for a moment for the gambler, and ended up smiling when he realized that Vin was firing with Ezra's gun, then switching back in an instant to his regular weapon of choice.
The wall around the clinic window was shredded with bullet holes.
Teddy was relentless in his attempt to put a bullet into Chris.
Kirk kept up his barrage of the clinic. Carl fired at Nathan or the clinic with a gun in both hands, until one weapon clicked empty, and then the other. In that moment, Nathan stepped clear of his cover and a knife sailed, plunging into Carl's chest. He collapsed without drawing another breath.
Kirk's gaze didn't leave the clinic window. His last gun clicked and Vin popped up one more time and took his shot.
And Kirk went down.
Suddenly, the street went quiet.
Larabee took one breath, then shouted, "Throw down your weapons! I've had enough"
Lester and Tom were smart enough to toss their weapons aside. Teddy didn't have a lick of sense and charged Larabee. The big man fired into the jailhouse, and took three bullets from the men who surrounded him. He staggered and went down, falling not far from Carr.
It was over. It had taken only a few minutes to bring down the city slickers.
Larabee moved out of the jail to check his men. Josiah and Buck stepped free of their cover as JD and Nathan moved to take control of Lester and Tom. Josiah's shoulder bled where a bullet had creased him, and JD limped from going down hard to avoid a shot, but everyone was otherwise okay.
Five men were unmoving in the street and Buck hurried to make sure they stayed that way.
From the busted-up clinic window, Vin waved, and Ezra appeared beside him, looking rather pleased.
Chris let out a low breath, grateful as hell that his men were okay. He gazed out over the dead men in the street, crumbled in the dirt that they deserved.
Stupid sons of bitches.
And above them, Ezra started laughing uproariously. "Nathan!" he shouted, and he glanced over his shoulder and into the clinic. The front wall was all shot to shit. "Nathan, the clinic is gonna have to move!"
And Chris laughed as well, relieved as the others joined in and Nathan jogged to the stairway to check the damage.
.7.7.7
Five of the Cincinnati men were dead. Tom Thompson and Lester McConnell made it out alive. They weren't on Ezra's list, not the ones involved in the shooting at the warehouse. New officers, Lester and Tom accompanied Carr and his crew out of loyalty, but after what had happened in Four Corners, they seemed more than happy to tell the authorities everything they knew.
They weren't going back to Cincinnati in any case.
The dead men were criminals, with further proof of their activities added by Lester and Tom. The town of Four Corners sent their bodies home and waited, but a calm seemed to settle, and there was no sign of further retribution coming their way.
Apparently, Cincinnati had washed its hands of the dirty officers and had decided it was best to leave the Wild West alone.
It was a wise choice.
.7.7
Chris walked into the saloon, finding Ezra at their usual table. In the week following the Cincinnati shootout, Ezra had mostly recovered from the fever, taking longer than he should, but that was to be expected. The good food served up at the local restaurant helped to fill him out, and today he was looking darn healthy. Now that the dye was mostly washed from his hair, he looked like their Ezra again.
He'd been able to avoid any duty, and probably wasn't well enough to do much of anything for a few more days, but it wouldn't be long and Chris would have him back on the roster. It wouldn't be right if he didn't start taking his fair share soon.
The saloon was quiet, and the others were going about their business. Ezra was playing solitaire in the dimness.
"You winning?" Chris asked as he approached the table.
Ezra grimaced. "Not this time," he stated gesturing to the miserable game laid out before him.
"Maybe it's time to give up on it."
"Not in my nature," Ezra said as he turned another card and grimaced. "It would be wrong to not see this to its end."
"You winnin' more than you're losing?" Chris asked.
"So much of this particular game is pure chance," Ezra said. "There's little that I can affect. I have to rely on how the cards fall. I win some, and I lose some. And in the end, I am entertained, so I suppose that's how I need to count my winning." He looked up at Chris and added, "Vin owes me a deck of cards. He ruined one of mine."
"After what happened to Nathan's clinic, you would have lost them in any case," Chris told him. "That place looked like a tornado hit it when you boys were done with it."
"It's not my fault that Vin decided to upend the bed. At least I was clear of it before he tipped it on its side."
"Probably saved your lives when he propped the mattress against the wall. Wasn't much left of the siding."
Ezra made a face. "I saw Josiah on a ladder this mornin', still mendin' the outside damage. I don't see why Nathan is trying to resurrect that place. Is he deranged?"
"Yes," Chris said with a smile. "Figure we're all deranged in some way or another."
"This is a perfect opportunity for Nathan to find a new location. Really, atop the livery is not the best place for a clinic."
"Yeah, but Nathan owns the space," Chris said. "He saved up the money and bought it himself. It's up to him, I reckon."
Ezra sighed. "Ah yes, I can understand the pride that comes with ownership, buying property with one's own earnings. I suppose no one would be willin' to purchase it from him, especially considerin' its current state. It would be a terrible loss of money for him."
Chris grimaced at that statement and took a seat beside Ezra. Chris said, "You know I've been tryin' to chase down that money you were promised."
Ezra looked at him with a blank expression. "No," he said, "I didn't know that."
"I've been going after Judge Travis. He wants to pay it out, but everything has to be official with him. There's some problem with paying it out twice. So, I was figuring, if the rest of us just …"
"Mr. Larabee," Ezra said quietly. "There's no need."
"Yeah, Ezra, there is, because you were supposed to get it and that bastard Carr took everything. Stupid son of a bitch didn't even have any cash on him when he came here."
"Hopefully his wife ended up with it. She deserved something in that awful bargain."
"I'll keep after Travis and I'll get him to fork it over even if it has to come out of his own pocket. I'll make him pay it."
Standish went back to solitaire and made a face when he flipped his last card. He lost the game. He sighed and muttered, "It was inevitable." He picked up the cards and shuffled them in two quick snaps. "Of course, I can always begin again." And he laid out the cards in a new game, setting the cards down in rapid order.
"Ezra," Chris tried to get the man back on track.
Ezra flipped over the first card in the stack. "You reserved my pay for me. I thank you for doin' that. It wasn't expected, so it was a windfall to me. It's amazing how much can pile up in three months, along with petty cash. I had no idea that we had so much in reserve. I must remember that." And he smiled slyly, looking toward the jail where the little safe could be easily opened under the right hands.
"I'm still working on getting you that money, Ezra. Just wanted you to know."
"Don't," Ezra said as he continued to flip cards, moving them so quickly, Larabee wondered how he was able to recognize and position them as if without thinking. "I've been able to grow what you gave me. Those travelers from early this week came well-heeled, and when they left, they were sufficiently less-heeled, I should say."
Chris nodded, remembering the folks on the stagecoach.
Ezra continued, "I had amassed a fairly decent purse for a time, but… a sudden loss and I am back to a building stage." He shrugged again as the cards kept moving. "Money comes and it goes all the time. There are days when I am a very rich man, and then I am nearly penniless. I can't seem to ever keep it." He raised a hand, palm upward. "Money is slippery to me. It is always falling through my fingers."
Ezra went on, "Don't continue your endeavor, Mr. Larabee. You might end up burnin' bridges with the judge and we need to keep him on our side. And if you were to acquire that money, I would certainly spend it. It would be gone in no time, spent on ridiculous things."
"It was promised to you," Chris said.
"Many things are promised," he said. "There was a time when I believed the only promise in life is cold hard cash. But perhaps I have a new perspective on such things."
Cards moved from one place to another as Standish went on. "You see, while I was away, I wasn't concerned about the money situation. Oh, it would have made my life easier if I'd had all I needed, but it wasn't want I truly wanted. I had this ridiculous need to put things right." He shook his head and chuckled. "My mother would be appalled if I told her what I'd been up to."
"You gonna tell her?"
Ezra pursed his lips in a smile. "Maude? Oh, no, not a word to her. She would be very upset with me."
"Doesn't surprise me."
"You were upset with me," Ezra said, raising his gaze to meet Larabee's.
"Different reasons," Chris said. He sighed and then said, "Ezra, I need you to promise me something."
"Promise?" Ezra repeated. "You know such things mean little to a man like me."
Chris shook his head. "You're full of shit, Ezra," he said with no anger in his voice. "Listen, I need you to promise me that if you ever get into a situation like this again, you tell me what's going on. I don't care if you think I don't have the time, or if you think it costs too much or anything like that. If you're hurt, if you're in trouble, if you're tryin' to take down some son of a bitch like Carr again and you're out there alone, you tell me. Let me make the decision." He waited a moment, watching as the cards moved and Ezra kept his gaze on the game. "I sure as hell don't want to go through this sort of thing again. You're one of us, and if you're in trouble, we're all in it with you."
Ezra lifted his gaze then, meeting Chris' eyes for a moment before he went back to the game and continued flipping and moving cards. "While I was out there," Ezra said, "aside from wanting to stop both sets of criminals, I had only one other goal to achieve." He cleared his throat and didn't lift his head. "I wanted to come home, and to do so in such a way that didn't endanger anyone in town."
He kept at the quick game as he spoke. "You see, I've become used to your presence, to all of you. And I felt unbalanced being alone in the world. It's a lifestyle I was well used to, but it felt strange to me. I've maneuvered alone in all manner of environments, big cities and small villages and near-ghost towns, plantations and pleasant little homes and hovels, battlefields and ship decks and jail cells of all variety."
The reserve pile of cards was almost gone, and the Aces were buried under their suits. Ezra said, "I missed you all and just wanted to be back amongst you all." He stopped talking for a moment, but the cards never stopped. Finally, he said, "I missed you all dreadfully."
Chris smiled. "Yeah, well, we all missed you. Kinda dreadfully, too. It just wasn't the same here without you."
Ezra looked up at him before returning his attention to the game. "So, as you see, there's no need to continue your pursuit of that money. It comes and it goes. I'll be flush with cash again in no time."
"You said you recently lost some of your cash?"
"Yes. A pity."
"I heard that Nathan just got a shipment. Someone replaced a lot of the things that were destroyed in his clinic. It came 'rush delivery'. You have any idea who might've done that?"
"I couldn't say," Ezra said. "Perhaps it was someone who thought they owed something to our esteemed healer. Perhaps someone had money to burn. There are people who can't seem to keep hold of their money once they have it."
"They spend it on ridiculous things," Chris concluded. "So, that promise…"
Ezra seemed to contemplate it. "I suppose it would go both ways? To accept such an offer, I would have to be willin' to reciprocate. Seems chancy."
"You do like a game of chance."
"Indeed I do, Mr. Larabee." Ezra smiled and settled the last card. He gestured to neat stacks. "I won," he said and grinned all the wider.
Chris smiled at that, watching as the gambler picked up the cards and started shuffling them again. "You gonna play again?" Larabee asked.
Ezra shrugged. "I'm always open for a game of chance." Cards snapped in a shuffle and his smile changed to that cunning look of the professional gambler. "Perhaps we might be able to bring the others in, and try a little poker for a change?"
Chris chuckled and said, "I might be able to make that happen."
"Excellent," Ezra said as he shuffled. "You bring the guests and the first round is on me."
"And that promise, Ezra."
"The drinks? Yes, they'll be covered."
"No, Ezra, the promise I just asked about."
"Oh, didn't I answer that already?"
"I want to hear you say it."
Ezra made a dismissive gesture. "Yes, of course. Why not? Now, hurry the others along. The day is wasting."
Chris supposed that was the best answer he was going to get out of the conman. He stood, and turned to gather up the others. He figured it wouldn't be too hard to get them. It always felt good to have everyone together. And, after all, Ezra had offered to buy the drinks.
THE END
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