by Ben Boulden
Allred shoved Adalina away. She stumbled, fell to the ground. Clawed at the dirt trying to get away.
The lawman stepped to his left, leveled the shotgun at J.D., pulled both triggers. The gun’s roar thundered across the valley. Its muzzle flashed. The shot whistled past J.D. Crashed into the house, stairs, ground. A rush of pain exploded in J.D.’s right arm. The revolver slammed against the wooden porch. J.D. dove to the ground.
Allred bloodlessly reloaded the scatter gun. He took three long steps towards J.D. His finger tightened on the trigger; white at the knuckle.
A gunshot. Then another. J.D. rolled to his right. The pain in his arm flared. He waited for the sting of buckshot, but felt nothing. He looked up. Allred face down in the dirt; Father Pacheco behind him, the Winchester held at his shoulder. Kate stood to the side, scanned the landscape for threats.
“It’s over! You can leave with your lives. But you’ll die if you choose to fight,” Kate shouted.
The valley fell into silence. A cloud ranged across the moon, covered its illumination. J.D. recovered the revolver, quickly emptied and replaced the two spent cartridges. In the distance a man shouted, “Don’t shoot! We’re no threat to you!”
J.D. glanced at Kate. A smile on his face. “Romms?”
Kate nodded.
“That guy’s going to live a long life,” J.D. said.
Kate shouted, “You walk out unarmed. Drop your guns where you stand.”
Then the sound of steel slapping dirt. The moon’s light inched back to reveal eight men, their backs to the house, walking away.
Father Pacheco shouted obscenities in Spanish.
J.D. laughed.
Kate silently watched the men disappear across the horizon.
“You saved both our lives today, Father,” Kate said.
The priest smiled, then laughed. “Beginner’s luck.”
“Sure.” Kate looked at the priest. “One of these days you’re going to tell me that story.”
Father Pacheco only grinned.
“How is Jed?” Kate asked.
“He will live,” Father Pacheco said.
“That kid in the barn is our outlaw?”
Kate nodded. “He sure is.”
“That’s kind of disappointing.”
“Why?”
“He put a pretty good knot on my head and I’m kind of embarrassed by it.” J.D. walked over to Allred’s prostrate form, removed his Colt .44-40 from the dead man’s holster. He looked at it for a moment, hefted it in his hand. “I sure missed this thing.” Then he turned back to Kate, “At least Jed’s bounty will take some of the sting out of being pistol-whipped.”
Kate closed the distance between her and J.D., put a hand on his shoulder. “About that—”
“What about it?” Suspicion in J.D.’s voice.
“We’ll talk about it after we get you back in the house and have a look at your arm.”
“What about the bounty, Kate?” J.D.’s voice resigned to whatever Kate had to tell him.
“Well, I was thinking maybe we could get along without giving Jed to the railroad.”
J.D. scowled. Kate explained.
After the discussion, J.D. pulled Kate close, wrapped his arms around her slender body, felt her breasts against his chest. “Whatever you think is best. Anyway, I can think of better things to do with my time than hauling a snot-nosed kid across the desert.”
Kate said, “Think we can finally get that room in Small Basin?”
“You’ve got the book?”
“I always have The Kama Sutra.”
“Then I can get that room.”
BLAZE!
The All-New Adult Western Series
J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier!
BLAZE! by Stephen Mertz
BLAZE! #2: THE DEADLY GUNS by Robert J. Randisi
BLAZE! #3: BITTER VALLEY by Wayne D. Dundee
BLAZE! #4: SIX-GUN WEDDING by Jackson Lowry
BLAZE! #5: AMBUSHED by Michael Newton
BLAZE #6: ZOMBIES OVER YONDER by Stephen Mertz
BLAZE #7 HATCHET MEN by Michael Newton
BLAZE! #8: RIDE HARD, SHOOT FAST by Wayne D. Dundee
BLAZE #9: A SON OF THE GUN by Stephen Mertz
BLAZE #10: HELL'S HALF ACRE by Jackson Lowry
BLAZE! #11: BADLANDS by Michael Newton
BLAZE! #12 BLOODY WYOMING by John Hegenberger
BLAZE! #13 NIGHT RIDERS by Michael Newton
BLAZE! SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION: THE CHRISTMAS JOURNEY by Stephen Mertz
And more to come...