Outlaw Pass (9781101544785) by West Charles G

Author:West, Charles G.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA
Published: 2011-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

Sykes froze in his tracks, stopped by the sudden report of two quick shots only a few dozen yards ahead of him. Kneeling beside a serviceberry bush, he paused to listen for sounds that might indicate what had happened. The shots he heard didn’t sound like Jesse’s rifle, more like a carbine, like some of those the cavalry soldiers used. After a few moments, he heard voices—excited women’s voices—and it occurred to him that they might have gotten Jesse. There was only one way to know for sure, but he was not eager to meet with the same fate. There was another way to look at it, he realized. If they got Jesse, and it was very likely that they had, the fortune packed on those mules was all his. He faced a huge chance of ending up like his partner, but the risk was worth it. He imagined there was more gold on those mules than a man could ever amass in a lifetime. Resolved to claim what he fancied to be rightfully his, he started moving forward again, inching his way slowly to a point where he might get a look at what he faced.

Pausing every few yards to listen, he eventually made his way to a lone cottonwood that had been blown over by a storm, leaving a large root ball exposed aboveground. This provided excellent cover for him while he listened. In a few minutes, he heard a woman’s voice that he guessed might be Bonnie’s. She was telling someone to stay where they were while she climbed down to help Finn. In a flash, he got the picture in his mind. Finn was shot! And the old whore was down in the bottom of the gully, leaving no one but Lacey to keep watch. He knew he had to act quickly.

He eased his head up above the top of the root ball. When there were no shots fired his way as a result, he rose a little higher and spotted the young woman lying just beneath the rim of the gully. She held a pistol pointed in his general direction, but at the moment, she was looking back toward the bottom of the gully. Now! he told himself, and charged toward the distracted girl. Lacey turned her head back, but not soon enough to prevent Sykes from stomping her hand with his boot. Her scream alerted Bonnie and Finn, but not in time for them to react.

With his boot still pinning Lacey’s hand to the ground, and his rifle aimed at Bonnie, he paused to take in the situation. “Go ahead,” he goaded Bonnie when she started to grab her carbine. She froze when she realized she had no chance, for she had neglected to reload the single-shot weapon after shooting Jesse. Sykes laughed. “I’ll give you folks this much. You sure as hell made us work for it.” He glanced at Jesse’s body crumpled near the wounded man. “’Preciate all the work you did to dig up all that gold for me.

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