Halliday 3

by Adam Brady

  “Mr. Dean,” Barrett said, and it was clear from the tightness in his voice that he was struggling to control his emotions. “Halliday’s on their side. He’s down there in that house, protectin’ that crazy Heller and his whore of a sister.”

  “Donna might be a difficult woman,” Dean snapped, “but you have no right to call her a whore.”

  “Well, put it this way, Mr. Dean,” Barrett grinned. “She ain’t all that particular about the company she keeps. If you could say she’s been true to any man, it’d be Sam Rushton. That ole outlaw’s been comin’ and goin’ from that little house down there for years, whenever he figured the law wasn’t watchin’ too close. I figured everybody knew that ...”

  Dean gaped at him.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yeah. I seen him myself, plenty of times, just settin’ on the porch with a gun in his lap.”

  “Then why the hell didn’t you say so?” Dean rasped. “That man’s been on the Wanted list for years—he’s wanted for murder.”

  Barrett shrugged and said, “I figured it weren’t none of my business. Rushton never did me any harm.”

  “Dammit, Red ...” Dean said, but then his voice trailed off into silence.

  Although it was still as dark as ever, his men were assembling after the long night and beginning to saddle their horses. Suddenly, he felt disappointed and dog-tired himself.

  He had expected trouble to come his way when the government opened the country south of Millerston to settlement. That was why he hired Ben Wright and Red Barrett. They had seemed to do everything Dean expected of them, but now he had to admit that they had failed to sort out the Heller problem and had also taken care to keep a safe distance from Sam Rushton.

  Dean walked slowly into the trees.

  He owned all the country he could see, including the section where he had allowed the Heller family to remain. For the first time, the land gave him little pleasure.

  Dean went slowly to the top of the ridge and gazed unhappily in every direction.

  He had liked the look of Halliday from the beginning. There was a man who walked straight and never took a backward step, the kind of man Dean wished he had on his side.

  The rancher felt a little sorry about what was to come. When he rode on the Heller place, he would be riding against Halliday. People would be killed, and Halliday almost certainly would be one of them. And all because a young brat who could not accept the fact that his father had been a rustler, thief and back shooter.

  Dean sighed unhappily. When this was over, he would be making some changes, starting with Red Barrett.

  Buck Halliday came slowly to his feet when he saw the little man break away from the cluster of hired hands in the tree-lined clearing.

  He moved along the lower portion of the slope until he came to a point about a hundred yards below Nathan Dean. Between them was a stretch of bare ground which he could not hope to cross without being seen. Scattered trees grew further along, though, and a careful man might just make it to Dean that way without being seen.

  Dean was looking down at the ground between his feet and appeared to be deep in thought. His head jerked up in shocked surprise when Halliday said quietly;

  “Don’t move and don’t try anything foolish!”

  “You got more’n your share of sand, I’ll say that for you,” Dean quipped. “But I have to wonder about your brains.”

  “I figured there might not be another chance,” Halliday said, “and I want to get a few things straight.”

  “What things?” Dean said wearily.

  “Things like how come you lied to me.”

  “What about?”

  “Old man Heller. Donna told me that you shot him down after you cheated him out of his land.”

  Dean laughed scornfully.

  “She said that, did she? Well, the truth is that Bull Heller was robbin’ me blind, stealin’ my cattle and brandin’ them as his own. My boys caught him in the act, and that no-good son of his was helpin’ him. When I asked him to explain himself, he drew his gun on me. So I shot him.”

  “That sure is different from the way Donna tells it,” Halliday said with a shake of his head.

  “I expect it is,” Dean said as he came to his feet, “but it’s no skin off my nose if you don’t believe me. I have witnesses and plenty of them—neighbors, trusted hands. About twenty people saw Bull draw on me. Kip was there, too, but I guess he hasn’t got the guts to admit to what he saw.”

  “What about the deed?” Halliday asked.

  “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even think about it until after Bull was dead. Then my main worry was that somebody else might claim that land, and I’d end up with some stranger on land smack in the middle of what was mine. Donna and Kip could’ve stayed there as long as they wanted, for all I cared. It was just that I wanted the title to the land ... but, well, I guess you saw how things turned out.”

  “Does Donna know all this?” Halliday asked.

  “How the hell would I know?” Dean said with a sigh. “I’ve tried to talk to her, but I never got closer than the yard before she threatened to shoot me. Now it doesn’t matter. This has gone too far to stop ...”

  Halliday nodded, but after a short silence, he said;

  “I think we should go see her. Even if she doesn’t go along with what we say, she’d at least have to listen.”

  “It’s too late,” Dean said flatly.

  “Then you’ll just have to kill her,” Halliday said, “and you’ll never know if you killed an innocent woman.”

  “Innocent, huh?” Dean snorted. “Then how come she’s hooked up with an outlaw like Sam Rushton?”

  Halliday frowned. So that was the Sam who kept coming up in conversation.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time a woman let her heart rule her head, or a man, either, for that matter,” Halliday said.

  Dean looked away and did not comment.

  “Think about it,” Halliday said. “Ain’t it worth a try? I can handle Kip, and it just might mean you don’t have to spend the rest of your life with folks sayin’ you killed an innocent woman.”

  Dean grunted something under his breath and stood up stiffly. He opened his mouth to reply, but a gruff voice cut across him;

  “Step aside, Mr. Dean. The bastard’s mine!”

  It was Buck Halliday who stepped aside ... and rolled across the flinty ground, dodging the bullet that ricocheted off rock and flew harmlessly into the night. Then he gathered himself into a crouch and leaped at the big man who had fired, ramming the point of his shoulder hard against the man’s thigh.

  Halliday reached up and grabbed a hairy wrist, twisting with all his strength. The man let out a grunt and tried to pull away, but Halliday’s fist exploded against his jaw. The attacker’s gun dropped to the ground and Halliday kicked it away.

  “Buck Halliday,” Nathan Dean said. “Meet Cully Finn.”

  Six – You Can Damn Well Die!

  Cully Finn hit the ground on the flat of his back and rolled away so quickly that Buck Halliday’s reaching hand fell short of his shoulder. He looked anxiously around for his gun but settled instead for a dead branch.

  He came to his feet, testing the weight of the makeshift club and glaring at Halliday with eyes that blazed with hatred.

  Deliberately, Halliday holstered his gun and then stood straight with his arms folded on his chest.

  “Mister,” he said, “you got this all wrong, just like your brother did.”

  “I ain’t interested in anything you got to say,” the big man snarled. “You killed Joe and you put a bullet in Luden’s shoulder. Now I’m goin’ to beat your head in and—”

  “Enough, Cully, and get rid of that branch!” Nathan Dean snapped. “I’ve just made a deal with Halliday.”

  Cully Finn flicked a sullen look Dean’s way.

  “You make your deals and I’ll make mine, Mr. Dean,” he said. “Most of what you decide don’t suit anyway. Never has.”

>   “While you work for me, you’ll obey my orders,” Dean said with cold authority. “Now put that damn branch down.”

  “The hell I will,” Finn muttered, and then he grinned. “Lookee here, we got company.”

  Men came running from the camp, with Red Barrett in the lead. Barrett skidded to a halt just short of the trees and leveled his gun on Halliday.

  “Red,” Dean roared, “stay out of this. That goes for all of you!”

  When he saw them hesitating, Dean added;

  “It’s either that or find yourselves new jobs. Cully here figured he could do what he liked, and from right now, he doesn’t work for me anymore. I’m tellin’ you now, this is somethin’ between Halliday and Cully. They’ve got a right to end it any way they want.”

  Barrett let out a grunt but kept his distance, and the other men bunched up around him, all of them straining to see in the darkness.

  Passing his wooden club from hand to hand and circling, Cully Finn began to close in on Halliday.

  Without taking his eyes from his quarry, he addressed the watching crowd.

  “Now you’re gonna get to see how to handle scum like this, boys,” he said with unconcealed pleasure. “First, I’m gonna break every bone in his body. Then I’m gonna beat his brains out. And then I’m gonna pee on what’s left!”

  Halliday’s expression didn’t alter. He was watching Cully Finn intently, gauging the measure of the man who meant to do him harm.

  Cully Finn was nimble for his size, and his club was solid enough to break a man’s arm.

  When Finn swung his weapon for the first time, Halliday ducked and heard it swish over his head, close enough for the bark to snag a few strands of his hair.

  He retreated quickly as Finn closed in again, swinging wildly. Closer to the ring of men now, he caught a glimpse of the sheer delight on Red Barrett’s face.

  “You’re really sweatin’, aren’t you?” Finn laughed. “Maybe you’re thinkin’ of drawin’ that hogleg of yours, ’cept you know what the boys’d do to you then ...”

  “You ever gonna do anything but talk?” Halliday goaded the big man.

  He knew that if Finn landed one good blow, the fight would be good as over. He also knew that Finn had worked himself into a rage, and that just might come in useful.

  Around and around they went, until Finn suddenly lunged. Halliday threw himself back, and the rough bark in Finn’s hands only tore his shirt.

  While Finn tried to shake the club free, Halliday waded in with a punch that broke Finn’s nose and sent him rocking back on his heels. Finn’s blood sprayed all the way to Red Barrett, who jumped back and wiped his face.

  Halliday kept hammering away, one blow after another. He knew that if he didn’t end this quickly, he never would. Finn grunted in pain, but even though his legs gave way beneath him, he swiped the club at Halliday’s legs.

  The branch connected with Halliday’s shin and sent him reeling. His back slammed against a tree in the darkness, and somebody laughed. Finn let out a triumphant shout and swung the club in a whistling circle, but at the last second, Halliday ducked.

  The branch still clipped his shoulder though, and a fiery pain shot into his neck and down his spine.

  “Here it comes, you bastard,” Finn roared. “This is when I beat you to a pulp!”

  With blood flying from his nose and mouth, the big man charged. Halliday stood still until Finn began the downward swing, and then he stepped back just far enough.

  The club came down right in front of his eyes, and before Finn could protect himself, Halliday buried one big fist in the man’s belly.

  Finn doubled over, and Halliday straightened him with a knee that cracked with stunning force under his chin. Halliday immediately brought both hands up and sledged them down hard on Finn’s hairy neck.

  Thick legs started to buckle as Halliday set himself and put all his weight behind two bone-shattering blows to the face.

  Halliday felt his knuckles jar against Finn’s cheekbone, which seemed to give under the blow. Then he jerked the big man’s head back so suddenly and so far that it brought a groan from the watching crowd.

  Finn tottered back with his arms flailing helplessly. The tip of his club struck a boulder behind him, and the club was jolted from his grasp.

  Halliday grabbed the man’s bloody shirtfront and dragged him back to his feet just long enough for a whistling uppercut that broke Cully Finn’s jaw.

  Halliday then relaxed his grip on the shirt, and Cully Finn collapsed in a heap on the ground.

  Halliday stood there panting, swinging his head to stare at the cowhands who were watching him in awed silence.

  “Okay,” Nathan Dean said finally. “You all saw it. Halliday beat him fair and square, and that’s the end of it. When Cully comes to, put him on a horse and get him outta here. I don’t want to see him on my land again.”

  Red Barrett was the only one who looked like he still wanted a fight. He had his sleeves rolled up above his elbows as though he was ready to start. He stood glaring at Halliday, with his fists clenched so tightly that the tendons in his arms stood out like rope.

  “I ain’t all that impressed, mister!” Barrett rasped when Halliday looked his way.

  “Well, I am,” Dean cut in, “and anybody that isn’t satisfied can take the same trail out as Cully.”

  Barrett dropped his eyes, and then he started giving orders to the men behind him.

  “Don’t just stand there now—c’mon, get Cully down off this ridge!”

  Then Barrett turned back to Dean, and in a more respectful tone of voice, he asked;

  “What now, Mr. Dean?”

  “Soon as it’s light, me and Halliday are gonna ride down to the house and try one last time to talk sense to Donna Heller.”

  “What if he’s leadin’ you into a trap?” Barrett exploded.

  “That’ll be my problem,” Dean said reasonably. “But I want you to stay with the men. See that they don’t do anythin’ until I get back. If there’s a way around it, I want no part in killin’ that woman.”

  “She ain’t no ordinary woman, Mr. Dean,” Barrett argued. “She’s just as bad as her runt of a brother, maybe worse. Are you forgettin’ that she was the one that started the shootin’ this time? You reckon Halliday was firin’ over our heads, and maybe he was, but somebody in that house was shootin’ to kill!”

  “I’m still going down there with Halliday,” Dean said firmly. “That’s final.”

  “Then take me along, too, Mr. Dean,” Barrett insisted. “If Halliday’s pullin’ another one of his little tricks, I want to be close by.”

  Halliday reached up for a handful of leaves and used them to wipe the blood from his swollen hands, but he was watching Barrett all the while.

  “I don’t mind if he comes along,” Halliday said to Dean, “just so he stays in his place.”

  “My place, huh?” Barrett hissed. “And just where do you reckon that is?”

  “Anywhere that’s out from under my feet,” Halliday said bluntly. “The whole idea of this is to get your boss and Miss Heller together to see if they can talk this out. That means the rest of us have to keep our mouths shut ... especially you.”

  “And what if I don’t?” Barrett challenged.

  “I’ll work that out when and if the time comes,” Halliday shrugged.

  Barrett worked a hand across his wounded wrist.

  “Whenever you’re ready, mister,” he said. “Just name the time and the place.”

  Nathan Dean heaved a deep sigh of relief when Barrett turned and walked away.

  “Don’t ride him too hard, Halliday,” he said confidentially. “I need him, for a time.”

  Kip Heller sat at the battered kitchen table and watched the clearing emerging from the darkness in the first gray light of dawn. His sister had decided to return the table to its usual place, in the belief that it would do no real good to barricade the door when Nathan Dean’s men came again.

  There was a d
ull ache all along the kid’s ribs, and it felt to him like Donna had wrapped the bandage too tight.

  His sister had slept a little in the early hours of the morning. Now that she was up and about, he kept his face turned to the window to show his displeasure.

  “There’s a cup of coffee here for you, Kip,” she said quietly, and set the cup down at his elbow.

  When he still refused to acknowledge her presence, Donna sat down at the table and said;

  “They’ll be coming soon. This might be the end, Kip.”

  The youth maintained his sullen silence.

  “I just wish Sam was here,” Donna said softly. “Three of us might be enough to hold them off again ...”

  Finally, Kip turned to look at her, and she was shocked by the look on his face.

  “They ain’t gonna get me out of here,” he told her angrily. “I’ll just keep on killin’ ’em till there ain’t none left.”

  Donna pushed her long hair back from her face and shook her head.

  This was not the first time that things had gone bad for her, but Sam had always been there for her, encouraging her to keep going. Well, he would be doing the same thing now if he was here. She grilled herself to keep going ... for Sam.

  Then her brother stood up suddenly, wincing with the pain as he reached for his gun.

  “What is it, Kip?” Donna asked.

  Kip jerked his head toward the back door.

  “I heard somethin’,” he said. “Out there.”

  Donna got to her feet and picked up her rifle as Kip moved silently across the room and pressed his ear against the back door. The kid slowly edged the door open and started to step out onto the porch with the rifle held out in front of him.

  There was the sound of a sudden scuffle, and before Donna could get to the door, Buck Halliday was there on the porch, wrenching the rifle from Kip’s hands and throwing it end over end across the yard.

  “You!” Donna cried. “You miserable traitor!”

  “Put the rifle down, ma’am,” Halliday said patiently as he came into the kitchen behind Kip. “There’s been too much gunplay as it is.”