Colfax nodded. "That's good. I ain't looking forward to another day's ride across this bitch of a country, but it's got to be done. Another day after that, we'll make it to the box canyon I been telling you about. Where we can bottle up these damn horses until we get the pay-off taken care of."
"I sure like the sound of that." Kanelly took a sip of coffee. "You still feelin' confident about nobody likely to be coming after us?"
"Ain't the kind of thing I can say for positive. But I still figure it as damned unlikely. In the first place, I don't see 'em getting a posse or any such gathered up and ready to ride before this morning. Especially not considering how we sent Iron Nose and the kid to do for J.D. Blaze. Not having him and his reputation to spur 'em on should be the icing on the cake for us."
"What about that wife of his?" Kanelly said. "She's a handful herself, from all reports. And if she comes lookin' for vengeance on account of her old man..."
Colfax snorted dismissively. "It'll be a cold day in Hell when I waste time worrying about some woman gun twirler who's only accomplished what she has by distracting her victims with an admittedly fine set of tits. Don't get me wrong, I admire a perky pair of mams as well as the next fellow, but hardly to the point of taking a bullet over 'em."
"How about a different woman to worry about?" asked Royce Jenner as he approached the two men. In his hands he balanced a tin plate with some strips of bacon and a couple biscuits on it. "That one back there," he jerked his head to indicate Estelle Grigg, "wouldn't eat again. Just like last night."
"To hell with her, then. She'll eat when she gets hungry enough." Colfax's hand resumed rubbing the ache in his back. "I only got about two winks of sleep last night, trying to keep an eye out so's nobody bothered that piece of fluff. I'll be damned if I'm gonna put myself out that way only to let her starve herself to death. I'll spoon feed the bitch if I have to—ram some nourishment right down her throat."
Jenner grinned slyly. "Might do you both some good if you rammed something else down her throat."
"I don't like that kind of talk!" Colfax bridled.
"Aw, calm down, Brew," Jenner came back. "Christ, you're carryin' on like she's some kinda delicate porcelain doll or something. She's a married woman, and not a particularly young one at that. If her old man ain't got her thoroughly broke in by now, then it's time somebody did. Hell, she'd probably beg for more."
"That's enough!" Colfax flung away the remains of his coffee and his hands balled into fists. "I won't hear no more of that filth, and if I have to—"
"Colfax!" Kanelly's tone was sharp and urgent.
Colfax looked around, glaring. His fists remained poised at waist level.
Kanelly tipped his head, motioning down the riverbank a ways to the east. "We got company."
* * *
J.D. and Kate approached the camp in steady, unhurried steps. Their eyes were alert and focused, raking slowly back and forth, sweeping repeatedly over the span of the camp and all within it. Their arms hung loosely at their sides, gun hands hovering near – but not threateningly so – the guns on their hips. They walked far enough apart so that Kate, who was on the inside, to J.D.'s left, had plenty of room to make a grab for her Colt; J.D. walked on the outside, along the edge of the riverbank.
Out of the corner of her mouth, Kate said, "Did you hear what he said about my tits?"
"Man of impeccable taste," J.D. muttered. "The remark about your perky mams, I mean—not your skill as a gun twirler."
"I'll twirl my gun for the sonofabitch. I'll twirl a couple lead slugs for him, too. Straight down his gullet."
"Tsk, tsk," said J.D. "Is that any way to express appreciation for an admirer?"
"I'd sooner be admired by a water moccasin out of that creek over there."
As the Blazes drew nearer, Colfax turned to face them full on and said, "That's far enough."
J.D. and Kate stopped walking. They were only a few yards from where Estelle Grigg sat. She looked haggard, but her eyes had grown bright and shiny with a guarded hopefulness.
"What kind of crazy stunt is this?" Colfax demanded.
J.D. shook his head. "No stunt. We're here to make a deal."
"You expect me to believe you have the million with you so soon?"
J.D. grinned with half his mouth. "Mister, if I had a million dollars on me, I'd be lighting a shuck through the tall and uncut so far from here you'd never see my dust."
"Then what the hell deal are you talking about?"
"The deal for the two of us to cut ourselves in on this sweet piece of business you've got underway," said Kate.
Colfax blinked. "Wait a minute. You're saying you want to throw in with us?"
"You heard right."
Colfax and Kanelly exchanged uncertain looks. Then Kanelly said, "And you figure you can march in, make that announcement, and we'll just accept it? Even if we accept that you're willing to turn on those you've been working for up until now, where I come from a 'deal' means both sides are putting something in. What are you offering from your end that you think is worth a cut of what we've already got going?"
"We'd chop your overhead in half, maybe more. Be bigger cuts for everybody in the end," explained J.D.
"Chop our overhead how?" Colfax wanted to know.
"This scraggly bunch of so-called hardcases you've surrounded yourself with? Bring me and Kate aboard," J.D. said smugly, "you wouldn't need any of them except for a couple to help wrangle the horses."
Down by the river's edge, one of the men filling water vessels was hot-tempered Eliot Frane, who considered himself a fast gun just needing the chance to prove it. He rose suddenly to his feet and took a step toward where Colfax and Kanelly stood by the fire. "Let me handle that big talker," he pleaded. "Hell, he's only gained a reputation by lettin' his wife do most of his shootin' for him. You know there's something fishy about them showin' up here and there ain't no damn way they've the right to any piece of our action."
"Better toss that guppy back in the water, before he gets himself hurt," J.D. advised.
Frane started to say something more but Colfax stopped him with an abrupt hand motion. Keeping his eyes locked on J.D., Colfax said, "This lad insists on thinking he's fast with a gun. Maybe now would be a good time for all of us to find out, once and for all."
J.D. shrugged. "Be a start toward choppin' down your overhead, if that's the way you want it."
"There's more than a little of what he said that's worth considering, though," Colfax responded. "First and foremost being that there truly is 'something fishy' about the two of you showing up here. And then, of course, there's the little matter of you, Mr. Blaze, supposedly already being dead."
"Not hardly," J.D. grated through clenched teeth.
Turning his chin to one side so that he was calling back over one shoulder, Colfax said, "Ed Gratt! Would you kindly explain—for all our benefit—how it is that you assured me you had killed J.D. Blaze yesterday and yet he appears quite alive before us now?"
Back by the picketed horses, Gratt's pale face was already dripping nervous sweat and he looked highly agitated. "I – I don't know what to say, Mr. Colfax...We put 'em down. You can ask Charley...We poured lead and saw both Blaze and that other—"
"Shut up!" Colfax cut him short. "If I didn't need so bad to keep every gun we've got, you lying yellow bastard, I'd turn around right now and blast you myself."
Out the side of her mouth, in a low voice that only J.D could hear, Kate said, "Not likely to be a better time."
J.D. snapped a quick nod. "Right you are, darlin'. Go ahead and open 'er up!"
"Hey, Colfax!" Kate shouted as her hand streaked to the Colt on her hip. "Me and my perky mams have decided we're gonna distract you permanent-like!"
And, with that, all hell broke loose in the narrow river cut.
At Kate's shout, Colfax's eyes jumped full-focus to her. Instinctively, his own hand made a groping motion for his holstered pistol. But he was no match for Kate Blaze. Her Colt roared an
d spat lead before Colfax's hand ever closed around the grips of his gun. The slug punched an ugly black hole in the center of his forehead. As he toppled back, his eyes rolled up as if he was trying to peer into the entry wound that marked his death.
In front of and slightly to one side of where Colfax had been standing, Royce Jenner dropped the plate of bacon and biscuits he was still holding and sank into a half-crouch as he twisted to face the Blazes and at the same time reach to pull the Schofield from the sash around his waist. He swung the long-barreled weapon free and even managed to trigger a high, inaccurate shot. But that was all he accomplished before Kate pumped two rounds of return fire into him, both slugs slamming at an angle into his chest and knocking him away like a bowling pin.
While Kate concentrated on the men around the fire, J.D. decided that the would-be gunslinger Eliot Frane rated his attention. You never knew, he just might be as much of a threat as he thought himself to be. But he wasn't. Not even close. He was fast enough to clear leather with his gun but, before he got it raised to aim, J.D. pumped a bullet straight through his boiled egg-sized Adam's apple. The would-be gunny's head flopped back like there was a hinge at the back of his neck. His whole body stiffened and extended backward, hitting the water with a flat, hard splash.
The other man who'd been filling water vessels with Frane watched all of this with bug-eyed awe. When Frane pitched dead into the water, the man swung those bugged eyes momentarily in J.D.'s direction, then twisted away frantically and plunged headlong into the river himself.
While J.D. and Kate were thus occupied, the former race riders who had accompanied them during the nightlong pursuit that had brought them here with enough time left to put the finishing touches on a plan for confronting and overcoming the outlaw gang, sprang into action with their assigned duties.
Joshua Hope, Curly Nesbitt, and Jeremiah Baker had been tasked with positioning themselves on the brushy slope above where they spotted Estelle Grigg. Once J.D. and Kate set things in motion, these three were to swarm down and do whatever what it took to keep Estelle safe. As it turned out, with all of the action shifted away from the hostage and her left sitting more or less alone, this didn't really require a lot. But the three nevertheless came crashing out of the bushes and quickly closed in a semi-circle around the woman, shielding her against any stray bullets that might come in their direction. Once the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles were cut, Nesbitt lifted her in his powerful arms and carried Estelle to an even more secure spot in some rocks and bushes, while Joshua and Jeremiah covered them.
On the slope above where the horses were picketed, Blaylock, Dykstra, and Nassir were positioned to overpower the gang members back there and also, in the event of an exchange of gunfire, to do everything they could to prevent any harm coming to the prized horses. The fierce rush of the trio pouring down out of concealment so surprised and startled the three gang members they found amidst the animals that there really wasn't much resistance. Ed Gratt, already badly rattled by the appearance of J.D. and the subsequent threat from Colfax over his failure to carry out orders, was desperate enough to go for his gun and earn himself a fatal bullet from Nassir. Earl Dykstra knocked a second man sprawling with a hard stroke to the side of his head from a rifle butt. Young Charley Tiltman simply raised his hands above his shoulders and let them disarm him.
Out by the fire, Burt Kanelly, seeing all those about him go down, also saw the wisdom of merely raising his hands and giving in to the inevitable.
The whole thing was over in less than a minute.
"That was almost too easy," said Kate, grinning, as she replaced the spent shells in her Colt and then gave it a twirl before re-holstering it.
"I got no complaints about easy. None at all," said J.D. as he gave a hard jerk to the final knot in the piece of rope with which he was tying Kanelly's hands behind his back.
"Besides, we've got some not-so-easy work still ahead of us," said Pete Blaylock as he strode up with Nassir and Dykstra. Charley Tiltman was walking with them, supporting and half-dragging the still-dazed man Dykstra had clubbed. "In case you forgot," Blaylock continued, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, "now it's up to us to wrangle all those horses back to somewhere."
"Well, at least we won't have to worry about them shooting back at us," Kate pointed out.
"True," agreed Dykstra. "But if we're gonna haul these three hombres along, you can bet they'd be happy to put some bullets in us if we give 'em a chance...You got any more rope, J.D.?"
"Yeah, there's a loop on that saddle layin' on the ground over there." J.D. pointed. "Oh, and now that you mention it, unless the dang fool drowned himself there's a fourth—"
A lone gunshot once again filled the river cut that was just returning to its normal quiet. All eyes snapped around in time to see the man who earlier had thrown himself into the water teetering unsteadily on the riverbank. His knees were sagging and, as they watched, a gun slipped from his fingers. A moment later, he tipped to one side and dropped once more into the water.
Now all eyes swung to Estelle Grigg and her group of saviors who'd been approaching from where they'd earlier taken cover. They were still grouped close around her, save for one—Jeremiah Baker, who was turned toward the river with his arm extended. In the hand of the extended arm he was holding a pistol with a faint curl of smoke wafting out of the muzzle.
He turned slowly to meet the gazes now locked on him. He looked almost as surprised as the expressions on the faces of those looking on. Haltingly, he said, "That – that man came out of the water. With a gun...He was aiming it in the direction of J.D. I had to do something...There wasn't any time except for me to...to..."
In a matter of seconds everyone was gathered around the unsettled young man. "You had no choice. You did what you had to...You probably saved my husband's life and I, for one," Kate assured him, "will be forever grateful."
Jeremiah's eyes met J.D.'s. "I told you I could pull the trigger on a man...if I had to."
J.D. grinned. "I'm glad you were right...And I'm especially glad I got convinced to let you come along."
BLAZE!
The All-New Adult Western Series
BLAZE! by Stephen Mertz
J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier!
BLAZE! is the first novel in a thrill-packed, all-new Adult Western series created by bestselling action/adventure author Stephen Mertz. J.D. and Kate find themselves facing a deadly ambush by Apaches, then they're hired to track down a gang of ruthless outlaws led by the beautiful, savage bandit queen Rosa Diablo. It's gun-swift excitement all the way in this gritty tale from Stephen Mertz.
BLAZE! #2: THE DEADLY GUNS by Robert J. Randisi
Husband and wife gunfighters Kate and J.D. Blaze are hired to track down a gang of rustlers, but what they don't know is that they're going to find themselves in the middle of a three-cornered war, playing each side against the others. If they're lucky they'll collect three payoffs instead of one...but will those payoffs be in gold—or hot lead?!
Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi, creator of The Gunsmith, joins the Blaze! team with this fast-action novel of treachery, revenge, passion, and blistering gunplay. From the finest hotels in Denver to a savage showdown in a ghost town, The Deadly Guns is adventure all the way!
BLAZE! #3: BITTER VALLEY by Wayne D. Dundee
J.D. and Kate Blaze, the Old West's only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, just want to enjoy their vacation in a beautiful Colorado valley, calling it the honeymoon they never had. But a runaway buggy draws them into a deadly vendetta that threatens the life of one of J.D.'s old friends. Belle Braeden, once a San Francisco soiled dove, is now the wife of one of Colorado's richest ranchers, a fact that the man's spoiled children don't appreciate. When murder strikes, Kate and J.D. have to track down a killer and fight for thei
r own lives against a gang of deadly bushwhackers!
Wayne D. Dundee, one of today's bestselling and most acclaimed Western authors, spins a lightning-fast, action-packed yarn in BITTER VALLEY, the third book in the all-new BLAZE! series. Trouble always seems to follow J.D. and Kate Blaze, and they answer with hot lead!
BLAZE! #4: SIX-GUN WEDDING by Jackson Lowry
The only thing J.D. and Kate Blaze planned to do in the settlement of Wilderness, Wyoming, was attend the wedding of one of Kate's friends. Instead outlaws launch a bloody raid on the church in the middle of the ceremony and kidnap the groom. It's up to J.D. and Kate, the wild West's only husband-and-wife gunfighters, to track down the gang, rescue the groom, and find out the reason behind the shocking violence.
Acclaimed Western author Jackson Lowry (THE SONORA NOOSE and WEST OF THE BIG RIVER: THE ARTIST) spins a colorful, action-packed yarn in SIX-GUN WEDDING, the fourth book in the bestselling Adult Western series BLAZE!
BLAZE! #5: AMBUSHED by Michael Newton
It was one of the most brutal crimes Nevada had ever seen—a stagecoach and everyone in it chopped to pieces by a hail of bullets from a Gatling gun. Now husband-and-wife gunfighters J.D. and Kate Blaze are on the trail of the mass murderers, determined to bring them to justice and discover the motive for this savage slaughter. Before they find the truth, though, J.D. and Kate will have to pit six-shooter and Winchester against the terrible fury of a killing machine!
Award-winning Western writer Michael Newton joins the BLAZE! team with an action-packed novel rooted in the bloody history of the Old West. One of the most popular and acclaimed authors of Western, crime, and adventure novels for the past 30 years, Newton spins a compelling tale of violence and deadly secrets in AMBUSHED!
BLAZE #6: ZOMBIES OVER YONDER by Stephen Mertz
It's the wildest BLAZE! adventure yet, as J.D. and Kate investigate the mysterious death of a mine owner and find themselves facing a danger unlike any they've ever encountered. From bloodthirsty outlaws to cold-blooded killers to marauding Indians, they thought they had seen it all—but the looming castle atop a ridge near the settlement of Yonder, Arizona, holds something new and deadly. It's the Old West's only team of husband-and-wife gunfighters versus a sinister count and his walking dead minions—and hot lead may not be enough to stop them!
Blaze! Ride Hard, Shoot Fast Page 11