“I don’t care how you go about making your living, Dennard,” said Danielle, “but I saw what you were about to do.” She looked away from Dennard to Tim and Jed, getting their approval from the look in their eyes. “My brothers and I won’t be having you ride with us, will we, Tim, Jed?”
The twins only shook their heads, lowering their pistols into their holsters. Danielle stepped past Clyde Branson’s body, over to the front edge of the roof, where she looked down at the gathering crowd on the dirt street below. “Somebody go get the town sheriff,” she called down to the uplifted faces. “Tell him there’s a man shot.”
The people on the street looked back and forth at one another, then a young man turned and raced away toward the sheriff’s office, where a light now glowed through the window.
“You’re making a mistake not riding with me, Duggin,” said Dennard, as Danielle turned back around. “Ask your brothers here. Branson said the price on your head is open to all takers. Do you realize how many cold-blooded killers there are between here and the border? You’ll never make it past Dodge City.”
“I already know there’s a lot of cold-blooded killers out here,” replied Danielle. “But at least none of them will be riding beside me.” She turned to her brothers. “Come on, Tim, Jed—we’ve got to make some plans and get out of here.”
As the three turned to walk away across the tin roof, Bob Dennard called out, “All right then, play it your way, Duggin. But I’m going after the reward on Saul Delmano and anybody with him, with or without you!”
“It’s a free country,” Danielle called back over her shoulder.
“Damn right it is!” Bob Dennard called out. “We get out there in the thick of things, I’m warning all three of you . . . stay out of my way!”
At the threat in Dennard’s words, Tim Strange started to turn from the ladder and issue some warnings of his own. But Danielle grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Let it go, Tim,” she said. “Dennard just showed you what kind of man he is. Let him rave and threaten and curse all he wants to. We’ve got work to do.”
GRITTY WESTERN ACTION FROM
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
RALPH COTTON
NIGHTFALL AT LITTLE ACES
AMBUSH AT SHADOW VALLEY
RIDE TO HELL’S GATE
GUNMEN OF THE DESERT SANDS
SHOWDOWN AT HOLE-IN-THE-WALL
RIDERS FROM LONG PINES
CROSSING FIRE RIVER
ESCAPE FROM FIRE RIVER
GUN COUNTRY
FIGHTING MEN
HANGING IN WILD WIND
BLACK VALLEY RIDERS
JUSTICE
CITY OF BAD MEN
GUN LAW
SUMMERS’ HORSES
JACKPOT RIDGE
LAWMAN FROM NOGALES
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
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“A writer in the tradition of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey!”
—Huntsville Times
National Bestselling Author
RALPH COMPTON
THE DAWN OF FURY
BULLET CREEK
DEADWOOD GULCH
A WOLF IN THE FOLD
TRAIL TO COTTONWOOD FALLS
BLUFF CITY
THE BLOODY TRAIL
SHADOW OF THE GUN
DEATH OF A BAD MAN
RIDE THE HARD TRAIL
BLOOD ON THE GALLOWS
BULLET FOR A BAD MAN
THE CONVICT TRAIL
RAWHIDE FLAT
OUTLAW’S RECKONING
THE BORDER EMPIRE
THE MAN FROM NOWHERE
SIXGUNS AND DOUBLE EAGLES
BOUNTY HUNTER
FATAL JUSTICE
STRYKER’S REVENGE
DEATH OF A HANGMAN
NORTH TO THE SALT FORK
DEATH RIDES A CHESTNUT MARE
RUSTED TIN
THE BURNING RANGE
WHISKEY RIVER
THE LAST MANHUNT
THE AMARILLO TRAIL
SKELETON LODE
STRANGER FROM ABILENE
Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
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No other series packs this much heat!
THE TRAILSMAN
#340: HANNIBAL RISING
#341: SIERRA SIX-GUNS
#342: ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVENGE
#343: TEXAS HELLIONS
#344: SIX-GUN GALLOWS
#345: SOUTH PASS SNAKE PIT
#346: ARKANSAS AMBUSH
#347: DAKOTA DEATH TRAP
#348: BACKWOODS BRAWL
#349: NEW MEXICO GUN-DOWN
#350: HIGH COUNTRY HORROR
#351: TERROR TOWN
# 352: TEXAS TANGLE
#353: BITTERROOT BULLETS
#354: NEVADA NIGHT RIDERS
#355: TEXAS GUNRUNNERS
#356: GRIZZLY FURY
#357: STAGECOACH SIDEWINDERS
#358: SIX-GUN VENDETTA
#359: PLATTE RIVER GAUNTLET
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Ralph Compton the Ghost of Apache Creek (9781101545560) Page 18