Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN - ONE MONTH LATER
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
FORTY-FIVE
The Old One-Two
Clint was able to bend away as the man’s head jutted backward, narrowly missing Clint’s jaw. If the reverse head butt had landed, it might have knocked Clint into next week. But it didn’t, and the man’s stomach was exposed.
Clint took advantage of the opening with a powerful punch to the man’s gut. He could feel his knuckles sink in deep. Clint felt the man’s entire body fold. Just to be safe, Clint snapped his elbow down onto the back of the man’s neck.
The elbow sent the man face-first to the ground. He didn’t budge after that.
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ONE MAN’S LAW
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
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Jove edition / June 2007
Copyright © 2007 by Robert J. Randisi.
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ONE
It had been so hot for so long that most folks had resigned themselves to sweating as their second profession. The heat had finally broken, which made this one of the finest days Clint had had for some time. Because he wasn’t squinting beneath the relentless sunlight and scorching heat, he was able to enjoy the wide open spaces that defined the northwestern section of Texas.
There was a cool breeze every now and then, which felt better than a woman’s touch on bare skin. Clint rode with that wind in his face, snapping the reins every now and then to get his Darley Arabian stallion to go even faster. Eclipse galloped in powerful strides, putting all the other horses around him to shame.
It was a fine day.
It would have been a perfect one if there weren’t so many bullets whipping through the air past Clint’s head.
“They’re splitting up!” Marshal Graham shouted.
Graham had come over from England specifically to enforce the law in what he called “the colonies.” He was a tall fellow with a naturally pale complexion and a head of thinning brown hair. Despite the proper way he carried himself, Graham had no trouble holding his own when it came to his job. In fact, he hadn’t had any trouble whatsoever in forming a posse in less than half a day.
Rounding up men to ride out in a posse was usually hard enough. When they were after a man like Chuck Brewer, that task was even harder. Brewer was a known killer, thief and cattle rustler who’d been caught red-handed trying to skim from several herds in the area. He was too quick to be caught picking the cows off, but he was slowed down enough by those same animals to be found by Graham.
“I see them,” Clint said. “Looks like they’re trying to thin us out.”
“Any suggestions?” Graham asked.
“I’ve still got my eye on Brewer, so I’ll stay after him. I’ll only need one or two others to come with me, so you
take the rest and get those others.”
Graham nodded and pointed at two of the six men who’d signed onto the posse once they knew Clint was coming along. “You two are with Mr. Adams. The rest come along with me.” Graham didn’t waste any time to see if his orders were followed. Instead, he snapped his reins and took off after the largest group of rustlers.
Clint had had his doubts where Graham was concerned, but that was mostly due to the fact that the lawman was as English as they come. Graham may have worked only a few small towns since arriving on these shores, but he was doing a hell of a job. The moment he got word of Brewer
taking off with his men and stolen cows, the Englishman was ready to go after him. Even though Clint was bound for Labyrinth, he signed on after hearing Graham’s earnest request.
It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time. Now Clint couldn’t stop thinking about sipping a beer at Rick Hartman’s place and wandering into a poker game or two.
“Jesus!” one of the men behind Clint shouted.
Clint turned in his saddle after hearing the distinct sound of lead slapping into flesh. One quick look was all he needed to see that the man from the posse hadn’t been hit. Instead, the man’s horse was buckling and stumbling as blood poured from a fresh wound in its side.
“Jump!” Clint shouted.
Fortunately, the man was experienced enough to follow the advice. He pulled his foot from one set of stirrups and launched himself from the other set. It wasn’t the best form, but he managed to get clear of the horse before the animal flopped over and slammed against the packed dirt beneath it.
The posse member landed awkwardly on one leg, causing his knee to twist in the wrong direction. He was in a world of pain, but very much alive as he hit the ground and rolled off the trail.
Once Clint saw that the man would survive, he glanced toward the other group of lawmen. Graham was looking as though he meant to come back, but Clint pointed to the spot where the other man had fallen. After that, Clint snapped his reins and got Eclipse moving even faster after Brewer.
The remaining posse member stayed at Clint’s side. In fact, he had his rifle in hand as he looked over and asked, “We going straight at them?”
“No. I’ve got a better idea. Just follow me.” After saying that, Clint pulled on his reins and steered Eclipse to a spot off the trail that he’d only spotted moments ago.
There wasn’t much on either side of the trail apart from some rocks and several clusters of thorny bushes. Eclipse jumped over those bushes with ease and hit the ground running. Clint looked to one side and saw where he figured Brewer intended on going. Less than half a mile away, there was a rocky slope that appeared to be studded with caves and a lot of places to hide. Once he got to those rocks, Brewer would have plenty of choices when it came to doing some damage to the lawmen on his tail.
“We can’t let them dig in to those rocks,” Clint shouted. “How fast can that horse of yours go?”
“She took second in the mile race at the last fair.”
“All right, then. Keep up with me, and don’t shoot until I give the word. Hopefully, those men are keeping their eyes on the rocks instead of us.”
The other man didn’t look excited about holding his fire, but he nodded and lowered his rifle.
Clint hunkered down and touched his heels to Eclipse’s sides. The Darley Arabian thundered over the rough terrain with longer and longer strides. Eclipse’s legs worked like the pistons of a train engine, causing those rocks to rush up even quicker than Clint expected.
He could hear gunshots coming from the other direction, lending credence to his notion that Brewer intended on sneaking away while the rest of his men made a lot of noise and shot their way to freedom. It was difficult keeping track of one man amid all those others, but Clint had picked up on the fact that Brewer wore a double-rig holster and a red bandanna. Those two things were just enough for him to stand out in Clint’s eyes.
“I’ve got a shot, Adams,” the posse member said.
When Clint looked over, he saw that the other man was sighting along his rifle while doing a fairly good job of keeping up with Eclipse. “Just a bit farther,” Clint said.
“They’re almost at the rocks.”
“I know. So are we.”
“Sounds like the marshal and the rest of the boys are getting shot to hell back there!”
“They’re doing their job and we need to do ours. Just hold off for another few seconds!”
Eclipse had it in him to go a bit faster, but Clint didn’t bother asking for that extra burst of speed. The rocks were fast approaching, and the men ahead were already slowing to pick out the best spot.
Clint could feel the other man’s trigger finger itching as if it was attached to his own hand. Just as the men at the rocks were heading for a large cave, Clint drew his own modified Colt and said, “You ready?”
“Hell yes, I’m ready!”
“Good. Cover me.” As he said that, Clint gave Eclipse the command and raced forward like he’d just caught a strong tailwind.
The other man fired and sent a few rounds over Clint’s shoulder. By the time the men at the rocks turned around, Clint was bearing down on them.
TWO
Clint didn’t expect the man from the posse to hit much of anything, since he was firing from the back of a moving horse. He was almost proven wrong, however, as a few shots sparked off the rocks surprisingly close to their targets.
Those rifle shots, combined with Eclipse’s thunderous approach, were sufficient to put the outlaws off balance long enough for Clint to get within pistol range. Brewer fired a few shots over his shoulder as he scrambled for the safety of a nearby cave. That left one other man to fire his gun as quickly as he could while trying to climb down from his horse.
Without slowing Eclipse down, Clint steered the big black around one side of a large boulder. Once he heard the outlaw’s shots ricochet off of the other side of that rock, Clint brought Eclipse to a stop and climbed down from the saddle.
The posse member’s horse was drawing closer, so Clint made things easier for him by peeking around the boulder and firing a few shots from his Colt. One of the bullets clipped the outlaw’s shoulder and the rest chipped away bits of rock, but that was enough to keep the outlaw from firing again.
By the time he got to where Clint was waiting, the posse member was sucking in deep breaths and dripping with sweat. The look in his eyes made it obvious that his sweat had nothing to do with the heat.
“You all right?” Clint asked.
The man nodded. “It was getting hairy, but I made it through.”
“What’s your name?”
That question caught the posse member off guard, but also put him a bit more at ease. “Joe.”
“Did you see any more of them around here, Joe?”
“Nah. Just them two.”
“Perfect. Let’s keep them from getting too comfortable in that cave.”
“We also can’t let ’em skin out the back.”
Clint had been taking quick looks around the boulder, but turned his attention back to Joe when he heard that. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I been to these rocks plenty of times. Those caves are more like tunnels that go straight through to the other side. There ain’t more than ten yards or so through the rock, but it’s cramped as hell.”
“Perfect. I think I just got an idea.”
Joe had reloaded his rifle before leaning around the boulder and firing a few rounds at the mouth of the cave. “I see ’em, Clint!” he shouted. “They’re sitting ducks in there!” With that, Joe let out a holler and ran from cover while firing his rifle from the hip.
Shots came from within the cave, illuminating the desperate faces of the gunmen in brief, sparking flashes. With the cramped quarters of that cave making each shot sound like an explosion, the two horses inside were fidgeting more and more.
Joe fired again as he rushed toward the mouth of the cave. Rather than storm into the dark opening, he turned at the last second and pressed his back against the face of the rock next to the cave. “Get on in there and that reward’s ours!”
As if sensing the greed triggered by the bounties that had been put on their heads, the men inside the cave opened up with another salvo of gunfire. Joe fired a few times himself, but wasn’t foolish enough to lean into the hailstorm of lead coming from within that cave. He just kept on hollering to whip the outlaws into a frenzy.
Soon, the gunfire from inside the cave tapered off. A few metallic rattles came from the shadows as the outlaws emptied their guns and reloade
d, but most of the noise was made by their boots quickly scraping against the ground.
Brewer was the first to emerge from the smaller end of the cave. His head was low and his gun was aimed directly in front of him. The moment he got a peek outside, he pulled his horse through and motioned for his partner to follow. The animals scraped their heads against the top of the cave, but they were able to get through.
Just as the second outlaw stepped into the daylight, Clint stepped out from where he’d been hiding a few paces to the side of the cave. “Toss the guns,” he said. “It’s all over.”
Brewer froze. His pistol was in his hand, but it was pointed at a downward angle instead of at Clint. At the moment, that short distance seemed like several miles.
The other outlaw stayed in the cave, crouching low in his spot as if that was going to be enough to escape Clint’s notice.
“Come on out of there, the both of you,” Clint ordered. “You sure as hell don’t want me to come in after you.”
Brewer’s lips curled into a defiant snarl as his eyes narrowed to study Clint carefully. He was breathing heavily from all the running he’d been doing, but that only seemed to slightly move his shoulders. For the most part, he looked like a cat that was getting ready to pounce.
“We still got that other one behind us?” Brewer asked, without taking his eyes from Clint.
The outlaw behind Brewer nodded. “He’s still back there.”
“Best not to worry about him,” Clint said as he took another step forward and leveled his gun at Brewer. “I’m already more than you can handle.”
To Clint’s surprise, Brewer nodded. “I know you are for now. Next time’ll be different.” With that, he shot a quick glance over his shoulder and nodded toward the man behind him.
One Man's Law Page 1