The Widowmaker War

by Kurt Barker

  The silhouettes of the horsemen were still visible in the twilight ahead, and even if he had not been able to see them, Blackshot could have followed the string of profanities that Mariposa was screaming out over the thundering of the horses. A gunshot flashed out, illuminating the riders for an instant, and he could see three men. The one in the lead, not far behind the girl, wore the familiar wide-brimmed hat and long wig; Sheriff Preston had been taking no chances on anyone from Jubilation happening by the well and recognizing him. If everything went according to plan he would be able to bury the only remaining people who could tie him to his criminal past, and he could return to being a hero and a very rich one at that.

  Of course, Blackshot had no intention of letting things go according to plan! He lashed the reins across the horse's neck, urging it on to close the gap to the pursuit. Another shot rang out, and Blackshot drew one of the pistols from its holster. Riding at this speed would make it impossible for the men to shoot accurately at Mariposa, but he didn't want to give them too many chances to get in a lucky shot. He fired a bullet over the riders' heads, still spurring his horse on to catch up.

  The man at the back of the line glanced over his shoulder and shouted something, then turned to the pursuit again; in the darkness he couldn't tell that it was not one of his friends behind him. Blackshot fired another shot toward him, this one flying close over his head. The man shouted again and eased his pace a little to let Blackshot pull alongside. As the two horses closed in on each other the rider suddenly realized his mistake and grabbed for the pistol at his side. Blackshot put two slugs in his belly before he could even pull the gun clear of the holster, and he slued off the side of his horse with his guts spilling onto the dirt all around him.

  The other rider who followed Preston and Mariposa turned when he heard the shots and saw the man fall. He jerked on the reins, spinning his horse to face the quickly-approaching Blackshot and raising his gun. Fire blossomed from the barrel and Blackshot ducked low over the horse's neck, feeling the heat from the bullets as they sang by the brim of his hat.

  The horses passed and as they did Blackshot slung out his powerful arm and caught the man beneath the chin with a savage blow. The impact lifted him out of his saddle and threw him onto the rocky ground, and Blackshot followed him down, planting a boot into his chest. Only two bullets remained in Blackshot's gun and he fired them both into the fallen thug's skull, blasting his head apart in a shower of gore.

  Just then another shot sounded and Mariposa screamed. Blackshot looked up to see her horse stumble and fall, throwing her off into the rocks. Preston barely waited for his own horse to slow before leaping from its back and throwing himself at the girl. He snatched up the carpet bag, but even in her stunned condition Mariposa still managed to cling onto the handle.

  “Give it to me, bitch!” Preston howled. “It's mine!”

  “You'll have to kill me to get it, asshole!” the girl shrieked.

  “That's suits me fine!” They were about fifty yards away and struggling together, but when Preston drew his pistol Blackshot had no choice but to grab the other Colt from his hip and risk a shot. In the light from the muzzle flash he saw Preston wince and blood spurted from his shoulder. The sheriff looked up and when he saw Blackshot he gaped in amazement.

  “You! You- you son of a bitch!” he stammered.

  He jerked the carpet bag around his body, throwing Mariposa up against his body. With a grunt of pain he wrapped his wounded arm around her throat, putting her body between his and the quickly-closing Blackshot.

  Holding up the pistol in an unsteady hand he shouted, “You wanna have a shootout, huh?! Shoot now, you dirty bastard!”

  “Don't mind if I do,” Blackshot replied as his gun roared out.

  The bullets bored into the carpet bag which Mariposa held to her chest, throwing her and Preston both backward. Preston's feet stumbled on the loose rocks and he collapsed to the ground with Mariposa falling beside him. He clutched at the butt of his pistol, gasping for air as he tried vainly to get up, but it was kicked away from his grasp. He looked up to see Blackshot standing over him.

  “How- how the hell are you alive?” Preston wheezed.

  “It's a long story and you don't have time to hear it,” Blackshot growled. Then the only thing that spoke was the Colt in his hand.

  Chapter 26

  Blackshot walked over to where Mariposa lay. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Couldn't you think of a better plan than shooting me?” she wheezed as she sat up, rubbing her chest.

  “You don't see me complaining about the times you tried to shoot me. Come on, get up.”

  “In a minute! I gotta catch my breath! Are they safe- Ingrid and Molly? Did you get to them in time?”

  “Yeah, they're fine.”

  “Good. My horse is down; can you get one for me?”

  “Sure, you can use Preston's horse,” Blackshot replied. He strode over to the horse and took it by the reins. When he turned back to Mariposa he was not surprised at all to see that she was gone.

  The next afternoon Blackshot stood in the stable behind the Jubilation Sheriff's Office, preparing a horse for Buster Groom to ride. Groom had indeed patched things up with his girlfriend and gone into hiding again, but it had not been difficult to find him and now he sat in a cell inside the office awaiting the trip back home.

  Jubilation was abuzz with the news printed in the Herald, along with a thousand rumors and bits of gossip circulating through any spot in town where at least two people had gathered. There was much disputing over the late Sheriff Preston, and many demands were being made of the mayor by angry and largely-uninformed townspeople, and the town had been in a general state of minor uproar since the early morning.

  Blackshot had managed to avoid most of the commotion and went about his business quietly, but he was looking forward to leaving town as soon as possible. He finished saddling the horse and then began to dress Khamsin who stood alongside. He had not gotten too far when he became aware that he was no longer alone in the stable. Casually he glanced over his shoulder to see who the newcomer was, even though he already knew.

  “Did you miss my company so soon? That's quite flattering,” he murmured.

  Mariposa did not look amused. She still wore Sam Marvin's duster and held the carpet bag in one hand, and in the other was a pistol pointed right at Blackshot's back.

  “I'm going to kill you.” Her voice was soft, but trembling with rage. She pulled open the carpet bag and thrust it to the ground between them. From its mouth spilled a handful of bills followed by a big stack of copies of the Jubilation Herald.

  Blackshot grinned. “What's the matter?” he asked. “Don't you like to read?”

  “Where's the money?!”

  “Oh, I'd say it's almost to Santa Fe by now. As you probably guessed by this point, I made a little switch while you were getting interviewed for the Herald. When I told you I was running errands I neglected to mention that one of the errands was taking the payroll back to the railroad office. You'll be pleased to know that they were mighty happy to see it.”

  “You bastard.”

  “Don't be so grumpy. They were offering a big reward for that payroll, remember?”

  Mariposa jabbed the barrel of her gun toward Blackshot. “Hand it over or I'll take it off your body!”

  “Sorry, the reward money's on a train, too,” Blackshot replied, turning back to the horses. “That train left a few hours ago on its way to San Francisco with Ingrid and Molly on board. I thought they deserved a fresh start, don't you? It would be a shame for two young women like them to waste any more years of their lives hiding out in the middle of nowhere like they were.”

  “You think you're pretty damn clever, huh?”

  “I knew you'd appreciate that, seeing as you're a folk hero and all. But don't think I forgot about you when I was throwing money around like a drunken sailor! Oh no, I got you a reward, too!”

  Mariposa gestured to the small shea
f of money on the floor. “It had better be more than that if you don't want a bullet in your skull,” she bristled.

  “Some things are worth more than money, you know. I got you the same thing I got Ingrid and Molly; a fresh start.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You should have taken a look at the Herald; no, not those ones, but the morning edition with the story of the big shootout with Calvin Preston, as told by one Thomas Blackshot. You wouldn't find much in the story that you don't already know, of course, except for the sad bit at the end where I revealed that the last member of El Potro's gang, the lovely and mysterious Mariposa, was killed in the shootout. So there's no more Mariposa, which means no more posse or lawmen hunting her down. There's another train leaving soon and you could get on it and start over again somewhere new.”

  “Aw, that's sweet,” the girl sneered sarcastically, “but you're crazy if you think that changes one damn thing. I came here to kill you and that's what I'm going to do. Any last words, big talker?”

  Blackshot turned to face her. “Sure, I just want to ask you one last question.”

  “Go ahead.”

  He walked casually across the room toward her until the muzzle of the gun in her hand was touching his chest, and leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart. He raised one hand to the revolver and closed it over hers. “Why did you really come here?” he hissed.

  With his thumb he pressed down on her trigger finger and the hammer clicked on an empty cylinder. Mariposa pulled open the button that held the duster closed and shrugged it off, letting it fall from her naked body.

  “Stop being so damn clever and kiss me,” she whispered.

  Chapter 27

  Blackshot didn't need to be asked twice; he drew the girl into his arms and crushed his lips to hers. Mariposa's arms and legs were wrapping around him, clinging in desperate passion as their mouths met again and again. It was as if all their pent-up desire was released at once; in a dizzying blur his clothes joined hers on the stable floor and flesh was pressed to flesh as they turned about in a lustful dance.

  Blackshot's hands closed around Mariposa's soft, thick ass cheeks and lifted her up off her feet, backing her against the sturdy wooden beam that stood in the center of the stable. His lips journeyed deliberately across her jaw and down her throat and chest to the swell of her plump breast. She moaned as his tongue traveled across every inch of the quivering mound before giving the other one the same treatment. As he buried his face in the fragrant valley between her succulent tits, he could feel her fingers that ran through his hair tighten into fists.

  Blackshot brought his mouth up to the girl's lips once more, but she turned away, squirming in his hands. She slipped to the floor, taking hold of his rock-hard manhood in both hands as she fell to her knees.

  “Now I'm gonna kiss you,” she growled.

  Her tongue lashed at his pulsing girth like a darting flame, searing his flesh and sending shockwaves through his body. Mariposa's head bobbed vigorously as she licked his shaft with ferocious hunger, running its whole length before moving to his balls. Blackshot grunted deeply as her lips sucked his sack into her mouth to be probed even further by her hot tongue. When she released him from her mouth it was only to turn her attention to his rod once more.

  With a passionate groan rumbling in her throat, Mariposa opened her lips wide and pulled the thick head of his cock into her sultry mouth. If her tongue has felt like a flame before, it was like a firestorm now; stroking and teasing him as she sucked him deeper into her. He felt the wet warmth of her throat close around his shaft and her lips moving quickly and urgently toward its base.

  Blackshot thrust his hips against her as her fingers clutched at his buttocks, urging him in as deep as he could go. He held the post with both hands to steady himself as his balls pressed to the girls chin and she took his whole length into her torrid throat again and again. There was a churning energy building up in him that no locomotive could match, whipping him up to the heights of desire but also pushing him beyond his limits.

  He held out against the wave that was rushing over him, wanting the sweet torture to continue, but soon he could hold out no more; Blackshot slid his girth from Mariposa's mouth just as the dam burst, and his release shot out onto her flushed face in thick white streaks. Drops fell from her chin to her breasts, which heaved with each ragged gasp that escaped from her mouth.

  “I can see why so many men were hunting you,” Blackshot groaned.

  “If you liked that, just imagine what I would have done if you'd left me the money,” Mariposa purred.

  “Sorry, but I've got a strict code when it comes to dealing with outlaws,” Blackshot replied, taking her by the hair at the back of her neck and lifting her to her feet, “and the meaner the outlaw, the stricter I get!”

  He placed his palm against her firm belly and pushed her back against the post. As he did so, he ran his fingers down through the patch of moist brown hair between her thighs, eliciting a shiver from her body when they reached the lips of her entrance. They didn't stop there though, but plunged into her, exploring the sticky warmth of her pussy, and she cried out as her body tensed against his hand.

  Blackshot slipped his other arm around the curve of her ass again and lifted Mariposa off her feet, pinning her against the wooden beam as his chest pressed against her fleshy bosom. Her legs were spread wide and he drew his fingers out of her and guided his stiff erection to her lips. She let out a husky moan as his girth parted her and drove deep into her hot core.

  Blackshot gripped the post behind Mariposa's back and began thrusting strong and fast, punching hard into her pussy with all of his considerable strength. Her breath was hot against his face and came in panting gasps, her ample breasts bulging and jiggling against his muscular chest with each collision of their hips. The pace of his thrusts was vigorous and he increased it steadily, his balls slapping the rhythm against her ass as he plunged into her with ravenous abandon.

  Mariposa threw back her head with a plaintive wail and grasped at the wooden post above her head, her body writhing on his cock. Beads of sweat were standing out on her lips and chest now, and Blackshot could feel her slick skin sliding against his own as his rigid shaft hammered relentlessly into her belly. She came hard, shrieking with unbridled desire and digging her heels into the back of his thighs as a powerful orgasm tore through her body. The contest continued unabated, however, and it seemed that no sooner did the first one die away that another climax was shaking her.

  The whirlwind of fiery lust surging through Blackshot's body made him like a wild animal; he dug his fingers into Mariposa's wet hips and turned her, throwing one of her legs over his shoulder. He drove his whole length deep into the torrid heat of her loins again and again, her anguished moans stoking the fire. As her body tightened around him again in orgasmic ecstasy, he felt the same pangs inside himself.

  He released her and she fell to her knees with a gasp, slumping backward against the post. An instant later he exploded onto her upturned face and breasts in long, draining streams. With a low groan the girl slid down to the floor, her glistening tits rising and falling rapidly on her chest. Blackshot joined her and together they lay in silence, breathing heavily.

  After a moment Mariposa raised herself onto one elbow and smiled at him. “So I gotta start a new life,” she said. “What do you think, could I make a good whore?”

  “No, you're too grumpy,” Blackshot replied.

  She giggled and lay back on the ground. “Maybe I'll just get a rich husband then.”

  “Same problem.”

  “I'll bet if I fucked him a lot he wouldn't complain!”

  “What's your name?”

  “You know my name.”

  “No, your real name; you can't go by Mariposa anymore,” Blackshot pointed out.

  Mariposa sighed. “I hate my real name. It's awful.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  “Fabiola. Ridiculous, isn't it? I ca
n forget the rich husband with that name! No one's gonna fuck a girl with a stupid name like Fabiola!”

  “Nonsense. I think it's a sweet name and I don't think you'll have any trouble getting male attention.”

  “That's what you think!” she countered. “I'll have you know that while Mariposa has had plenty of 'male attention' in her time, before that Fabiola was a hopeless virgin!”

  “Well, we can't have that, can we?” Blackshot replied. He slipped a hand inside the girl's thigh and parted her legs.

  As he pushed his cock into her pussy she laughed, “Hey, what about that train you wanted me to catch? If you keep this up I'm miss it!”

  Fabiola missed her train.

  Thanks for reading another tale of Tom Blackshot! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I also hope you'll take a minute to click here and leave a quick review of this story on Amazon. I always appreciate hearing from you, and I'll see you in the next one!

  Kurt