Ralph Compton the Guns of Wrath by Tony Healey & Ralph Compton

Author:Tony Healey & Ralph Compton [Healey, Tony & Compton, Ralph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Hope sat in a corner of the saloon, gathering her thoughts. She had to resist the temptation to check her pistol yet again to ensure it was fully loaded and ready to shoot. The gun was in fine condition. Cleaned and oiled. Fully loaded. Her hands did not ache as they usually did, as if they were aware that on this day, of all days, they were expected to perform for her without clumsiness or hesitation. Hope’s hands would need to be an extension of her instincts, working so fast they were literally blurs to any onlooker who happened to see her reach for her sidearm.

Red Nelson pulled out a chair. “Care if I sit?”

“Do I get much choice?”

He sat across the table from her and said, “I love this.”

“You love . . . what exactly?”

“This.” Nelson opened his arms to indicate the whole saloon, the town, all the world. “The moment before it happens. The panic and fear pulsating just beneath the surface, like feeling your heartbeat thumping in your veins. It’s in the air.”

“Is it?”

“You don’t smell it?” Nelson asked.

Hope shrugged. “Can’t say as I do. Feels the same in here as it usually does,” she said.

“No, no, it’s definitely there.”

Hope rolled her shoulders back. “I’ll take your word for it. What do you want, Mister Nelson?”

“Want?”

“Yes. What do you want?”

“To speak with you before we fire bullets at each other.”

Hope laughed.

Red Nelson peered at her quizzically, head cocked to one side. “What’s so funny?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“You’re afraid.”

“I do not fear anything.”

“You’re afraid of shooting me dead.”

“Pathetic!” Nelson scoffed. “Such rubbish coming from your mouth. Afraid of shooting you dead? Why would I be afraid of something I want?”

“Because it’ll be pretty terrible for you to step out on that street and face a woman,” Hope said. “You’re thinkin’ that if I shoot you, and kill you, then you’ve died a shameful death. Because men are superior, aren’t they? At the same time, you’re wondering how you can shoot me, and kill me, and somehow make it seem like a fair fight. Because men who kill women are beasts.”

“You have a venomous tongue,” Red Nelson said. He folded his arms. “How much do you want?”

“For what?”

His eyes shifted to take in the other patrons of the saloon. He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “How much to walk away?”

“Nothing, because it ain’t happening. I’m fighting.”

“Oh, you are? You talk big for a woman.”

Hope leaned forward. “I’m going to shoot you dead, right out there, in the cold. Trust me, if I say I’m gonna do somethin’ . . . I do it.”

Nelson slammed his fist down on the table, then pointed a finger at her face. “There’s a first time for everything. Just you remember that. See you out in the street!”

He stormed out of the saloon, furiously shoving through the swinging doors. They squealed on their hinges as they swung back and forth in his wake.

Burt McCoy set a glass down in front of her and filled it with whiskey.

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