Slocum and the Trick Shot Artist

by Jake Logan

“No sir.”

  “Bob and his boys are peacekeepers.”

  “Lawmen?” Slocum asked.

  “Closest thing we get around here,” the man replied.

  Vigilantes. Judging by the respect in the other man’s tone, he wouldn’t take kindly if the fallen peacekeepers were referred to as anything less than heroes. “Did they get the men who did this?”

  “Don’t know. Just got here myself.”

  Since Slocum was only interested in a few possible culprits, he decided to keep maneuvering through the crowds until he found a familiar face. Oddly enough, the first man he recognized wasn’t among the wounded. After circling around a narrow building, he saw Haresh come around from the opposite side to meet him in the middle.

  “I heard shooting,” Haresh said. “Did you see what happened?”

  “No, but I was told the dead men were vigilantes.”

  Haresh chuckled under his breath. “I was told they guarded this town, but I arrived at your same conclusion.”

  “And since the man I spoke to called them keepers of the peace, another conclusion we can make is that this town holds their vigilantes in high regard. That’s not uncommon.”

  “I did not hear anyone mention Abernathy.”

  “Me neither,” Slocum said. “But I wasn’t specifically asking about him. I figure if it was him, folks would have known.”

  “And they would have been talking about the show he put on,” Haresh added. “He is very peculiar for a gunman.”

  “Yes, indeed.” Slocum looked around and didn’t see anything other than the locals cleaning up the mess that had been left behind.

  “According to the old timer I saw around front, all of these peacekeepers were chasing one man.”

  Since the locals were starting to take notice of them, Haresh motioned for Slocum to follow him as he walked away from the building at the center of the slaughter. “I only spoke to a few people briefly before I found you and they were all watching from afar. I doubt anyone staring at dead bodies is the sort to be up close to the ones doing the shooting. Vultures,” he spat while glancing back at the onlookers. “Every last one of them.”

  “Even vultures have eyes. Why don’t you have a word with them?” Slocum said. “Find out what you can.”

  “And what will you be doing?” Haresh asked.

  “Pretty much the same thing but from a different angle. If Abernathy was behind this, it could be that he got what he came for and blasted his way out.”

  “Then shouldn’t we be trying to track him down again before he gets too far from town?”

  “We don’t even know for certain if he is leaving town. Let’s do a little more poking around before we charge out of here. I have a feeling there’s more to learn.”

  Haresh planted his feet and gazed back at the gruesome spectacle, which was now just far enough away to observe without it sweeping him up. “Perhaps we should start here. All of the dead men are scattered around this building.”

  “Yeah,” Slocum said while squinting in that direction. “I didn’t get a good look at what that place is. Looks like a saloon or—”

  “It’s an opium den,” Haresh said distastefully.

  “I doubt a man like Abernathy would spend much time in an opium den.”

  “Why not? He is a killer. He is a criminal. In my experience, those are the men who have many vices.”

  “But not opium.” Uncomfortable with the glances that were being pointed at them from the nearby locals, Slocum led Haresh away. “Liquor is one thing. It can wash some memories away for a time and loosen a man up, but it doesn’t stick with you for very long. Women are another vice and there’s not a damn thing wrong with them. Gambling is another one a gunman might have because he’s gambling with a hell of a lot more than money every time he lays a hand on his gun. But opium is something different. It clouds your head, sets you off balance, and sticks with you for too damn long.”

  “And liquor doesn’t do those things?”

  “Liquor does some of them things, but a man can push through being drunk. His blood gets flowing fast enough through his veins and he can see straight again. Once opium has a hold on you, it’s got you. And once it has you, it won’t let go.”

  “You sound like you have experience with that vice.”

  “Never had much of a taste for it myself, but I’ve seen it work on plenty of others. Men who live and die by their gun hand steer clear of the stuff, and the ones who indulge are more like wild animals.”

  Haresh’s eyes narrowed and he walked in methodical, plodding steps. “Abernathy is something of an animal, even if only some of the stories are to be believed. I see what you’re trying to tell me. The way he kills, it is not wild. If it was, we would have caught him already.”

  “That’s right. And if he was indulging in even a little bit of opium here today, those vigilantes would have put him down before so many of their own were shot.” Slocum stood on the front porch of a clothing store that was across the street and down a ways from the Cat’s Eye. From there, he could watch some of the commotion along with a few others who didn’t want to get any closer to it.

  “If he wasn’t smoking,” Haresh said while taking a position beside him, “then he must have been doing something else there.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. How about you wait a little while and then go back over there to ask some questions? First off, it would be good to know if the man was caught inside that place or just near it.”

  “So you think that man was Abernathy?”

  Slocum rubbed his chin. “That’s the big question, now isn’t it? Something in my gut tells me it is. After all, we tracked him this far and then more lawmen got killed just like they were getting killed in Tarnish Mills and Spencer Flats. That seems like too much of a coincidence if you ask me.”

  “I agree. So I will find out if the man who shot those vigilantes was inside the opium den. Because if he was, someone inside may know more about him.”

  “Or,” Slocum added, “they might be able to tell us if he was Abernathy. Also, if he was inside here, I’m fairly certain it wasn’t to suck on an opium pipe. That means he had other business to attend to. Knowing that might just tell us where he was headed after leaving Hollister.”

  “Perhaps all of his business is here.”

  “No,” Slocum said while looking around. “Today was just more of the same. More gunfire. More lawmen dead. There’s no reason for Abernathy to keep going like this unless there was something else he was aiming for. There’s just nothing to be gained by announcing yourself as much as Abernathy does and leaving dead men in your wake. Especially dead lawmen. Even if they are just vigilantes, that’s a whole lot of hot water without much benefit.”

  “Unless you’re a bounty hunter.”

  “Abernathy is no bounty hunter. If he is, he’s the dumbest one around.”

  “No,” Haresh said. “I meant there wouldn’t be much to gain unless you were a bounty hunter. Surely, there must be a price on the head of a man who does so much killing. Now that people know Abernathy is more than some rumor, there has to be a reward for his capture.”

  “And with every lawman that winds up dead, that price will get bigger,” Slocum mused. “That’s no reason for him to keep killing them, though.” After thinking it over for another couple of seconds, Slocum had to shake his head. “Abernathy is up to something beyond what we already know. If he wanted to make a living by killing folks, there’s a lot better ways to go about it. Hell, he could have made a fine bounty hunter if that’s what he wanted. There’s something else.”

  “Perhaps he is here for a reason,” Haresh said. “Perhaps he was at all those other towns for a reason as well. That would mean there was a purpose behind him drawing so much attention to himself all those times.”

  “But I d
on’t think he drew much attention here. He just happened to get cornered. Take a look for yourself,” Slocum said while motioning toward the carnage. “What you’re seeing is what’s left after a real big rat gnaws his way out of a trap. That makes me even more sure that there was something here other than targets to be shot.”

  “Then he was found when he didn’t mean to be found. If so, he would have even more reason to run away from here.”

  Slocum swatted at the air as if he was shooing a fly. “We can go round and round about this all day or we can try to get some real answers. My vote is to get some answers, and since you’re following my lead, I say we both get to it.”

  Haresh didn’t seem very happy about following anyone’s lead, but the bigger man let the statement pass. “I will see what people in that opium den know about the man who did the shooting. And then I’ll ask—”

  “No,” Slocum cut in. “You just see what you can see about that man and then I’ll do the asking. That way, maybe we’ll both just seem like another couple of curious fellows trying to find out what all the excitement was about.”

  “It is a simple task,” Haresh snarled. “I think I can do it well enough.”

  “It’s not about trust or you doing a good job. It’s about laying as low as possible for as long as we can until it’s time to make a move. That’s the difference between doing a job like this correctly and stumbling into a trap like an idiot. And no,” Slocum quickly added. “I wasn’t calling you an idiot. Just try to think about the job first and your pride later.”

  Haresh obviously wanted to refute some of what Slocum said. When pride had been mentioned, he visibly bristled. Still, he must have found some truth in Slocum’s words because he let out a breath and reluctantly nodded. “Let’s meet here,” he said while looking up at the place where they were standing. “Or next door. That would be better.”

  The place next door was a restaurant that smelled like some of the best Chinese food Slocum had come across in a while. “All right,” he said. “Meet me back here in an hour so I can see what you found out and then we’ll set up another meeting after that.”

  “If I didn’t know any better, I might think you were trying to get rid of me,” Haresh said. “Or at least, trying to keep me occupied while you tend to matters on your own.”

  “If I wanted to ditch you so badly, all I would have had to do was tell you the wrong time I was leaving Spencer Flats. Stop being so fidgety.”

  • • •

  “My friend is getting fidgety,” Slocum said to Olivia. “Do you know why that may be?”

  “Sure I do,” she said. “His friend John has been checking in on him using a third party. Lots of men have a sixth sense about that sort of thing. They get fidgety, and when that happens, they get suspicious and eventually . . . they get angry.”

  “Only if they find out the wrong thing. Speaking of finding something out, tell me what you learned about him.”

  They were in her office at The Starlight House. With the curtains drawn and doors shut tight, it could very well have been the middle of the night. The illusion was broken by the quiet that had settled upon the brothel the way it always did at that time of day. Places like The Starlight House tended to get noisier at night. Slocum had passed a few of the working girls on his way in. They’d been lounging in flimsy wisps of clothing, doing their best to tempt customers, but the real lookers wouldn’t be on display until later.

  Olivia was dressed in dark red skirts and a black corset laced together with dark purple ribbons. Her hair was pulled neatly back and held in place by a comb decorated with a row of freshwater pearls. Rings rattled against her desk as she drummed her fingers upon its surface. “There wasn’t much to learn. Most of the people I asked had never heard of him, and the ones who did were saloon owners who’d just met him yesterday. With a name and a face as distinctive as Haresh’s, I would think people would remember him. Since they didn’t, I guess he’s nobody.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Slocum said. “He’s just nobody I want to shoot right now. And Abernathy?”

  “He’s in town, all right.” She stood up and walked around her desk to give Slocum a better look at the trim curves of her hips as her skirts brushed against them. “He’s got business in the Chinese district.”

  “I already figured as much after all the shooting earlier.”

  “Was that him?” she asked. “I hadn’t noticed. When those boys from the logging camps come in from the mountains, the whole territory tends to get noisy.”

  “What business does he have in the Chinese district?”

  Olivia’s eyes were trained on Slocum’s chest. Soon, her hands were reaching out in that same direction. Her fingers slipped between the buttoned portions of his shirt to find his skin and scratch her nails playfully against it. Despite the excited chill that went through him, Slocum grabbed her wrists to keep her from going any further. “Tell me what business he had in the Chinese district,” he said.

  Moving in a little more brought her close enough for him to smell the scent of her hair as she lowered her head as if unbuttoning his shirt required all of her concentration. “I don’t know yet,” she told him while her fingertips continued to probe beneath his shirt. All it took was a few twists to free her hands from his grip, and when she did, she looked up at him with a smile. “But I will know once my friend who operates another house in that part of town pays me a visit.”

  “When’s that?”

  “Shouldn’t be for a while. He told me Abernathy will be coming back around to collect something.”

  “Collect what?” Slocum asked, doing his best to ignore the way Olivia brushed against him. Her leg grazed along his thigh and her breasts rubbed against him just enough for him to feel their ripe softness.

  “I don’t know that yet,” she replied. “I’ll know once my friend knows and he’ll know once Abernathy comes back around to collect it. He assured me it wouldn’t be for another couple of hours.”

  “A couple of hours?”

  “At least,” she nodded.

  “That gives us some time.”

  “Yes,” she said while reaching down to cup his growing erection. “It most certainly does.”

  “How do you propose we spend that time?”

  Just because she’d already taken the lead, Slocum wasn’t about to let Olivia hold the reins every step of the way. In fact, he knew the one thing she liked most was a surprise. Actually, he could think of another thing she liked but there would be time for that in a little while. First, he grabbed her wrists properly and pulled them away from his chest with enough force to send a sharp, jarring snap through her upper body. Before she could question him, he grabbed her hips and pulled her forcefully to him. He planted a powerful kiss on her mouth, and within seconds, her arms were snaking around him.

  Slocum let her kiss him for a while before giving her another surprise. The instant she pulled back to take a breath, he grabbed her and spun her around. “Are you expecting any visitors?” he asked.

  “Would it matter?”

  He answered that by pulling up her skirts and reaching between her legs. Olivia’s undergarments were thin and flimsy silk, already moistened by the slick juices of her pussy. Placing one hand on her hip, he felt between her thighs so he could rub her pussy using the entire surface of his palm. She accommodated him by spreading her legs and gripping the edges of her desk.

  “You should have warned me,” she whispered. “If I scream, armed men will come busting in here to help me.”

  “That could be a problem,” Slocum replied. “Because I have a feeling you’ll be doing plenty of screaming.” With that, he used the tips of two fingers to rub her clit in a fast, back-and-forth motion that brought a moan up from the back of her throat.

  Olivia let her head droop so her hair swayed against the top of the desk
. When Slocum pulled the silk aside and slipped his fingers inside her, she let out a groan that filled the office. Sure enough, a hard knock rattled the door a second or two later.

  “Miss Caster,” a man on the other side said. “You all right?”

  “Leave me . . . alone,” she grunted as Slocum continued to rub and probe her. “I’m . . . I’m . . . fine.”

  There were at least two men on the other side of the door. Slocum could hear them chuckling and talking to each other as they moved away.

  Slocum unbuckled his pants and hiked her skirts up over her hips. Olivia’s legs were long and smooth. She arched her back while lowering her body until her breasts were almost pressed against the desk. As soon as he could, Slocum guided his cock between her thighs and entered her. Once he was inside, he grabbed her hips and pounded into her.

  Olivia moaned in satisfaction. She rocked back to grind against him, moaning under her breath until she couldn’t hold back any longer. When he pounded into her a few more times, she shuddered and cried out as an orgasm swept through her body. Slocum eased up and then pounded into her one more time to send her completely over the edge.

  Once her climax had faded, she lifted her head and turned around to face him. “Lay down,” she demanded.

  “Where?”

  “Just do what I told you.”

  Slocum liked that tone in her voice, but there was no bed or even a comfortable chair for him to use. So he lowered himself onto the floor so she could immediately straddle him. Looking up at her as she lifted her skirts made him even harder. She smiled knowingly and spread her legs to give him an even better view as she lowered herself down onto him. Bending at the knees, she reached down with one hand to guide his rigid pole between the lips of her dripping wet pussy. He could feel the instant he was inside her, and when she settled down even farther, her warm embrace slid all the way down the length of his shaft.

  Keeping her knees bent, Olivia balanced on the balls of her feet and supported herself by placing both hands on Slocum’s chest. She stared down at him, allowing her straight black hair to fall forward as she bobbed up and down. “You like that?” she asked.