Chapter 7
Ezra watched with baited breath as Chris and J.D. took guns from the gun cabinet. Something was going down, and he wanted to be there for it.
"Mr. Larabee, might I assume you've come to take me with you?" Ezra sat on the cot with his coat off and tossing cards into his hat in the corner.
"Oh, I couldn't do that."
"May I ask why?"
"You broke the law. You've been a bad boy." Chris commented as he loaded the guns with bullets.
"I know where Lucas went." Ezra stopped throwing the cards into the hat. He was desperate to get out of the cell and if he had information that Chris needed he would tell him anything he wanted in exchange for his freedom.
Chris stopped what he was doing and looked up. "You do?" Larabee asked as he started to walk towards the cell.
Ezra stood up and ran his hands across the bars that kept him from the outside world, "yes sir."
Chris waited a moment to speak, "so do we." He replied with a huge grin on his face.
Ezra frowned but did not give up. "Well great. But he likes me. I can get us in. You try walking in there, you'll just get yourself shot."
Chris looked at him, and Ezra knew that he was judging him right there on the spot. "You ran out on me once before. You wouldn't be thinking abut doing that again, would you?"
Ezra hated to remember his act of cowardice a week ago, it was not something that he was proud of. He would do whatever it took to keep that information from reaching Madie's ears. "I swear upon the grave of my sainted mother."
"Now you told me your mother was still alive." J.D. pointed out.
Ezra shrugged, "figure of speech. Besides, I've got someone to come back to."
"Figure you're dead if you're lying. Don't quite know what that little girl sees in you though. But she sure as hell is feisty. She came to me trying to get you out of here. It would pain me to have to tell her that I had to kill you." Chris claimed the keys and threw them to Ezra who without a word unlocked himself from his cage.
Madie had just exited the building where Judge Travis lay recuperating. She had brought food for both Travis' knowing that they were probably starving. Madie was just about to enter the Clarion News when she saw the men of the Magnificent Seven ride down the road along with Ezra.
Running towards them, Ezra quickly spotted her and reined his horse near her while the others continued on. "Madeline I have to go and do something but I will be right back I swear."
"Ezra you're out," Madie state with disbelief.
"Yes, I know darlin', and when I get back I am going to marry you and sweep you off your feet, carrying you to our bedroom where I will keep you all to myself for a week." Leaning down, he gently grabbed her chin in his hand and planted a kiss upon her sweet lips.
Stunned, Madie stood there as sensation upon sensation ran through her body. After he broke the kiss, he stared into her eyes and kissed her forehead tenderly. "I'll be back for you, don't you go anywhere." He straightened up in his saddle and clicked the reigns, and sped off in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the men.
Vin peered through his telescope to scan the people below them. "It looks like a few more than we planned on." Seeing men fighting in a ring, people littering the town, and a sharp shooter on the roof top.
"How many more?" J.D. asked as he crawled to lay next to the rest of the men.
"The word 'regiment' mean anything to you?" Vin asked sarcastically.
Chris looked over towards Vin, "would you like to come back when there are less of them?"
"We come this far. Seems a shame not to go," Nathan replied.
Vin nodded after one last look, "let's do this."
Ezra walked into the crowd of people looking for the outlaw with whom he neighbored. He did not want to let Chris or most importantly Madie down. He knew that if he did not come through Chris would have no qualms with putting Ezra back into jail or killing him if he was in the mood.
He finally spotted the man standing next to the ring with his arms around two women.
"Lucas, my dear friend," Ezra called out, a smile upon his face. "You so discourteously left me behind."
"Hey, how'd you get out?" Lucas asked congenially.
"I played poker with that boy pretending to be sheriff. He lost," they both chuckled in amusement. "Listen I have something of a delicate nature to discuss with you in private."
Nodding Lucas gestured to the bottle in his hand. "Let's get you a drink then."
When they started walking, Ezra noticed that the women seemed to be following them as well. Stopping, Ezra turned and addressed the two women. "Would you courtesans excuse us for just a moment, please?"
Lucas gestured for the ladies to leave. "See you girls in a little bit."
"So what's on your mind?" Lucas asked once they were alone.
"I was just wondering…" Ezra suddenly turned to face him and the small derringer popped out from underneath his sleeve and into his hand. "…how big a hole do you think a .45 caliber slug can make?"
Chris walked behind Ezra to stand next to him. Lucas looked at Chris with a shake of his head. "I remember you."
"It's nice to be remembered. Start walking and we won't kill you." They started walking towards the exit, but they did not go unseen. Lucas' uncle was watching the event unfold and he started to follow them.
"Lucas, hey Lucas, where are you going?" the uncle called out to the men.
The three men turned around and looked towards Chris. "We're just going out for a little ride. Lucas decided to go with us."
"Do I know you?" the older man asked.
"All you need to know is there's man on that balcony with a rifle pointed at your head." They both looked up to see Vin cock the rifle.
"Is this a personal matter?"
"Not yet," Chris replied with a small smile.
"I'll double what you're getting."
Ezra smiled as if the older man would think he would take the money.
"You know Mr. James, there's some things money can't buy," Chris commented as he looked around them, "enjoy yourselves." They turned back around to leave until Mr. James yelled.
"Stop them!" pointing to Chris and Ezra, all of his men pointed their guns at the two gunfighters but Vin replied with a few well placed shots of his own.
"Okay, stop! Don't anybody move," Mr. James yelled with his hands in the air.
One of the men decided not to follow directions and took out his gun to shoot Chris and Ezra but luckily Nathan witnessed this and through his knife towards the men, hitting true and causing the man to drop his weapon.
Josiah was eyeballing one of the men who was at the scene of the Potter's murder. "Nice gun, can I have it?" The man handed the gun over with nary a word.
"Let them go," Mr. James commanded. "Who are you?" he asked Chris.
"Doesn't matter." Chris nodded to Ezra and they both grabbed Lucas' arms and along with the rest of their group, left the area with Josiah and Nathan watching their backs.
"Nice party," Josiah inclined his hat towards the crowd before escaping with Nathan.
Once they were out of sight, Mr. James looked behind him to one of his men, "get him."
The men of the Magnificent Seven leapt onto their horses and made a fast getaway, content for the time being on how events had turned out.
Vin looked behind them and was unhappy to see that they were being followed by a handful of James' men.
"They're gaining!" Vin yelled to Chris.
"J.D.! I thought I told you to take care of the horses!"
"I couldn't take care of all of them!" J.D. shouted back to Chris.
The situation was not looking good. The closer the outlaw group came the more dangerous it became. Bullets were flying every which way and Ezra prayed that he would make it back in one piece so he could marry his woman. When the men thought that this was the end, and they were waiting to feel the tear of a bullet through their backs, they heard a different gun shot, one coming from the side. They stopped and turned the horses to see the outlaw group being picked off one by one. The outlaws could not see where the shots were coming from, so instead of continuing their pursuit they turned tail and ran back to where they came.
Buck came out from behind the weeds, riding in on his white horse, both figuratively and literally. "Good thing I came along."
Chris smiled and nodded his head, "good thing you did."
Sorry it has take me so long to update. I just finished my Harry Potter story "The Past and the Future" so if you are interested, check it out. Next chapter will include more Ezra and Madie, this was more of an action chapter. Keep reviewing please, I love the comments that I have received, thank you!