Deputy Dalton by Ed Law

Author:Ed Law
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Don’t kill me,” Holstein whined, hurling his hands high and falling to his knees.

Sharky ignored Holstein and gestured for Dalton to remove his gunbelt. Dalton judged that if he tried anything he’d be hit by at least a dozen bullets before his gun cleared leather, so he unhooked the belt, held it at arm’s length and let it fall from his grasp.

Sharky ordered one of his men to claim the belt and frisk him. Dalton kept his hands high and his stance as relaxed as he could make it. When the man backed away from him he forced a smile, but Sharky turned to Holstein.

“I’ve got no choice but to kill you, Holstein,” he said. “You’re acting like a real lawman and telling me what to do.”

“I’m no lawman,” Holstein babbled. With shaking fingers he unhooked his gunbelt and hurled it away from him. “That’s why I hired you. I wanted you to cause trouble, and I wouldn’t have done that if I were a real lawman.”

“You hired me to earn everyone’s respect.”

“I didn’t. I don’t care about that now. I just want to go.”

“And crawl into a whiskey bottle, I reckon.”

Holstein cracked a smile for the first time. “That sounds mighty fine to me.”

Sharky sneered and gestured with his gun toward Holstein’s horse.

“Get out of my sight. You’re not worth wasting a bullet on.”

Holstein grinned in delight. He rolled to his feet and shuffled back a pace to his horse. Dalton moved to follow him, but Sharky firmed his gun arm.

“That doesn’t go for you, Dalton, unless you want to beg for your life, too,” he said.

Dalton snorted his unwillingness to beg as Holstein scurried to his horse. With uncommon haste the sheriff mounted it and rode from the campsite. Sporadic laughter marked his hurried departure, so Dalton took advantage of the distraction to edge toward his own horse, but he’d managed only a few paces when Sharky snapped back around to confront him.

Dalton raised his hands. “I’m still not begging.”

Sharky nodded. “I’m sure you’re not. Nobody else could be as low as Holstein is.”

When Holstein’s fleeing horse crested the slope and disappeared from view, two men followed him to the edge of the slope, but as they kept their rifles held low Dalton guessed that Holstein was heading down the gulch away from them. As the men craned their necks to follow Holstein’s speedy passage he accepted that Holstein’s pleading hadn’t been a ruse, that he was just preserving his own life and hurrying back to Green Creek.

“Yeah, nobody is as low as Holstein,” Dalton said, turning back to Sharky.

“I assume you talked him into coming here?”

“It takes a lot to drag Holstein away from his whiskey.”

Sharky licked his lips. “As you aren’t pleading for mercy, I reckon you’ll try to bargain with me to keep you alive. So what have you got to offer?”

Dalton folded his arms. “I’m not offering nothing to you.”

Sharky gestured to the men on either side of Dalton and flashed a brief smile.

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