Manuel nodded slowly, then said, "My sister and Horner will send those other men outside. They will stay with Rainey and Jason."
"Then we'll deal with them last," Braddock said.
He wished there wasn't quite so much light spilling from the windows as he hurried toward the house. One of the outlaws might look out and see him coming. But he reached the corner of the porch without hearing any shouts of alarm through the open front door. Crouched there, he waved at Manuel, who was watching from just inside the barn.
Manuel pointed the Winchester at the stars and cranked off four shots as fast as he could work the rifle's lever, paused, and fired three more times.
Braddock heard angry yelling inside the house. Boots thudded on floorboards. Manuel had pulled back into the shadows where he couldn't be seen, and Braddock knew the young man would be reloading, thumbing fresh cartridges into the Winchester to replace the ones he'd fired.
Four men burst out of the house and started toward the barn. Their fists were full of guns.
Braddock straightened, lifted the rifle to his shoulder, and called, "Elevate!"
The killers stopped short and started to wheel around. Braddock opened fire, and muzzle flame spouted from the barn at the same time. Slugs ripped into the outlaws.
They weren't going down without a fight, though. Even as they staggered under the bullets' impact, they brought their guns up and triggered wildly. Braddock heard the whipcrack of a slug as it went past his ear. He levered the Winchester again and again. A couple of the outlaws collapsed into bloody heaps. Another doubled over as bullets punched into his guts.
Happy Jack Conover was still on his feet despite the bloodstains blooming on the front of his shirt. He yelled, "You damned Ranger!" as he charged at Braddock with both guns roaring and flaming.
Braddock ignored the bullets whipping around him and slammed lead into the center of Conover's forehead. The outlaw's head jerked back. His guns sagged. But his feet kept moving, so he ran two more steps before momentum pitched him forward on his face. In the light from the house, Braddock saw the huge hole in the back of Conover's head where the bullet had blown its way out.
Silence shrouded the ranch house as the echoes died away.
Braddock knelt at the corner of the porch and reloaded. He listened intently. After two minutes that seemed longer, Charles Horner called from inside the house, "Conover? Jack? Are you out there?"
"Blow out the lamps, you damned fool!"
That order came from Elena.
Moments later, the light began disappearing. Darkness closed in.
Floorboards creaked as someone moved out onto the porch. In the shadows, Braddock could make only a dim shape, a deeper patch of darkness. It didn't really look like a man, though.
That was because it was two men, he realized a second later when Horner called, "Who's out there? You'd better not shoot, because I've got Rainey in front of me with a gun at his head!"
From the end of the porch, Braddock said, "If you're as smart as you think you are, Horner, you'll drop that gun and give yourself up."
"Braddock!" Horner sounded genuinely shocked. "But that...that's not possible—"
"It's all over," Braddock cut in. "Sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be."
The shape on the porch twisted toward him. From behind Martin Rainey, Horner said, "Give up and hang? I'm not going to do that."
"As far as I know, you haven't actually killed anybody," Braddock pointed out. "You may have helped plan it, but you didn't pull any triggers. And I'm pretty sure Scanlon was dead before you shoved that rock down on him." He paused as he saw another shadow creeping closer to the porch. "You might not hang. It's worth risking a trial."
"And give up my revenge?" Horner's voice was shaky now. "No! No, I won't do it. Martin Rainey has to die for what he did—"
Manuel Santiago leaped onto the porch and crashed into both men. Horner yelled as the collision made him lose his grip on Rainey. Manuel grabbed Rainey and dragged him down to the floor. Braddock straightened, pointed the rifle at the staggering Easterner, and shouted, "Drop it, Horner!"
Horner screamed in pure rage, flung up the pistol in his hand, and jerked the trigger. Flame lanced from the barrel. The shot went wide of Braddock, who didn't give him a second chance. The Winchester cracked and Horner flew backward. He lost his balance and fell on his side as the pistol skittered away and fell off the porch.
The buggy burst out from behind the house, hoofbeats pounding from the pair of big horses pulling it. Elena slashed at their rumps with the reins. Braddock swung the rifle in that direction but held his fire as Manuel dashed after the vehicle.
"Elena!" the young man cried. "Elena!"
She ignored him and kept whipping the horses for all she was worth.
Manuel ran toward the barn. Braddock knew he was going to grab one of the saddled horses and go after his sister.
He might have done the same thing, but at that moment Charles Horner groaned and started trying to push himself up from the porch where he had fallen. A few feet away, a dazed Martin Rainey had climbed to his hands and knees.
"You...son of a bitch..." Horner rasped as he started hitching himself toward Rainey. "I'll kill you...with my bare hands..."
"Get away from me, you lunatic!" Rainey said as he fell over on his backside and cringed against the wall. "God, Charles, I always tried to help you—"
"You killed...my father..."
"The Apaches killed your father, just like they killed all those other men!"
"Because you led them...into an ambush!" Horner braced himself with his left hand against the floor and stretched out his right arm. His claw-like right hand reached for Rainey's throat. "You deserve...to die!"
Braddock went up the steps onto the porch. He was about to grab hold of Horner and drag him away from Rainey when Horner's strength finally gave out. The hatred that had kept him alive this long couldn't overcome the blood he had lost. He collapsed and lay there at Rainey's feet, gasping harshly for a second before his final breath rattled in his throat.
"Thank God!" Rainey said as his head sagged back against the wall. "The man was insane!"
Braddock leveled the rifle at Rainey and looked at him over the barrel. Rainey's eyes got big. When Braddock saw that, he realized that the eastern sky really was gray now. Sunrise wasn't far off.
"What...what are you doing, Ranger?" Rainey babbled.
"I've got a question for you," Braddock said. His voice was cold and hard. "Satisfy my curiosity."
Rainey tried bluster. He said, "I don't have to tell you anything! You're a lawman! You can't threaten me like this."
A thin smile stretched across Braddock's lips. He said, "You didn't look at my badge close enough yesterday, Rainey."
"What the devil are you talking about?"
"We're the only ones left alive out here. I can put a bullet in your head, and nobody will know Horner or one of his men didn't do it. So tell me...were you responsible for the rustling that ruined Felipe Santiago?"
"No!" Rainey cried raggedly. "I swear I didn't have anything to do with that. I...I took advantage of it, yes. Some might say I...cheated him. But I didn't send men after his stock. You have to believe me!"
Oddly enough, Braddock did. He thought Rainey was too scared right now to lie. Rainey was a greedy, opportunistic bastard...but there was no law against that.
Braddock lowered the rifle.
Rainey closed his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. Then his eyes snapped open again, and he exclaimed, "Jason!"
"Where is he?"
"I...I don't know. That crazy girl had him—"
Elena was gone, fled in the buggy. But she had been alone as far as Braddock could tell, which meant Jason Rainey was probably still in the house.
Braddock stepped inside and called, "Jason?"
A low groan from the parlor answered him. It was still dark inside, despite the growing light outside, so Braddock found a match in his pocket and lit a lam
p.
The yellow glow washed over a pool of blood. Braddock grimaced as he looked down at Jason Rainey spread-eagled on the floor.
Jason might live, but he wouldn't have any more use for whores at a cantina or saloon. Elena had seen to that.
Even though he barely knew her, Braddock had a hunch she had done it with a dull knife, too.
* * *
He should have gone after Elena and Manuel right away, instead of lingering at the ranch. Braddock knew that. He couldn't trust Manuel to capture Elena. Even if he caught up with her, he might let her go. Despite their clash over her lust for revenge, they were still brother and sister.
Braddock figured Elena would head for Mexico. She didn't know for sure what had happened at the mine, only that Braddock and Manuel had gotten away. She might think she could get help there, that Paco and the other men were still alive. Or she might just want to grab whatever gold she could carry and light a shuck out of there, content with what she had done to Jason even though he and his father were still alive when she took off from the ranch.
All Braddock knew for sure was that his gut was leading toward the Rio Grande—and when he found them in the canyon, he knew his instincts had been right.
It was easy enough to see what had happened. The buggy was on its side. The horses were still hitched to it, lying on the ground kicking feebly in their traces. In their wild flight toward the border, with Elena screaming and slashing at them, one of the horses had tripped and gone down, taking the other one with it and causing the buggy to pile up.
The horse Manuel had taken was there, too, standing with its reins dangling.
Manuel sat cross-legged on the ground not far away, holding Elena against him in his lap and crying as her head lolled loosely and unnaturally on her broken neck. He didn't even look up as Braddock rode past them and kept going south, back to Mexico, back to Esperanza, carrying with him the knowledge that Francisco Guzman's death had been avenged. So, in a way, had Felipe Santiago's.
Cold comfort all around. Justice usually was.
Dawn broke over Buzzard's Canyon.
About the Author
James Reasoner has been a professional writer for nearly forty years. In that time, he has authored several hundred novels and short stories in numerous genres. Writing under his own name and various pseudonyms, his novels have garnered praise from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as appearing on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. He lives in a small town in Texas with his wife, award-winning fellow author Livia J. Washburn. His blog can be found at http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com.
Outlaw Ranger by James Reasoner
G.W. Braddock was raised to be a Texas Ranger and never wanted anything else. But when he's stripped of his badge through no fault of his own and a corrupt system turns the vicious killer Tull Coleman loose on the people of the Lone Star State, Braddock has to decide if he's going to follow the law—or carry out the job he was born to do, even if it means becoming an outlaw himself!
Never before published, OUTLAW RANGER is the first book in an exciting new Western series by best-selling author and legendary storyteller James Reasoner. Based on actual incidents, this action-packed novel is the stirring tale of a little-known era in Old West history. Rough Edges Press is proud to present this compelling saga of a man haunted by the past and fighting to make a place for himself in the violent world of the Texas frontier.
Outlaw Ranger Book 2: Hangman’s Knot by James Reasoner
Hell came to Santa Angelina on a beautiful morning, as the Texas settlement was practically wiped out by vicious outlaws led by the bloodthirsty lunatic Henry Pollard. Now Pollard is in jail in Alpine, waiting on his trial and an all but certain date with the hangman. The only real question is whether an outraged lynch mob will string him up first.
Not everyone wants to see Pollard dance at the end of a rope, however. His gang of hired killers would like to set him free, and so would his older brother, a wealthy cattleman who has always protected Pollard from the consequences of his savagery.
Riding into the middle of this three-cornered war is the Outlaw Ranger, G.W. Braddock, who may not have a right anymore to wear the bullet-holed star-in-a-circle badge pinned to his shirt, but whose devotion to the law means he'll risk his life to see that justice is done!
HANGMAN'S KNOT is another fast-action Western novel from New York Times bestselling author James Reasoner. Brand-new and never before published, it continues the violent saga of the Outlaw Ranger.
www.roughedgespress.com
Blood and Gold (Outlaw Ranger Book 3) Page 8