Maggie O'Bannen 1 by Joe Slade

Author:Joe Slade [Slade, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: s, piccadilly publishing, wild west fiction, western fiction ebook, western fiction 1880s, jo walpole writer, joe slade, maggie obannen western series, pulp western novels
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

It seemed as though Maggie had barely closed her eyes before Rick was whispering her name and shaking her awake. Coming out of a nightmare where Walt was holding her down, she tried to fight him off.

‘It’s me, Rick,’ he said, holding up his arms to fend off her attack.

She regained her wits in an instant. Without him saying another word, she knew there was something wrong from the worry etched into the taut lines of his face.

He didn’t leave her guessing. ‘Braddock and Harris snuck back in to town before dawn. Flo’s dead. One of the locals caught a bullet. Bart Weston’s in a bad way. Doc’s gone over to the saloon to see what he can do.’

She gripped his arm as he tried to walk away. ‘Where are Braddock and Harris now?’

‘One’s dead. One got away.’

She noticed he had strapped on his gun. ‘Are we going over there?’

Rick nodded and pressed something cold and hard in to her hand. It was Frank’s Schofield.

‘I loaded an extra round under the hammer,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid to use it, if you need to.’

She shoved it in her pocket and followed him.

The street outside the saloon was alive with activity. Men stood talking in small groups, some gesticulating wildly, others glancing furtively along the street. She noticed a couple of women, standing in a doorway. Their pale faces stared back at her with reddened eyes.

Doc didn’t look up when Maggie and Rick crowded in to Bart Weston’s office. Maggie knew just by looking at Bart’s bleeding torso, the pool of blood spreading around him like a cape, that there was no hope. Kneeling on the floor beside the barkeep, his black bag unopened beside him, Doc had his ear pressed close to the dying man’s mouth, listening as he breathed his last words.

Maggie’s gaze shied away out of respect, her eyes drawn to the gory mess splattered around the walls and over the furniture. On the floor, she noticed a long red stain like something had been dragged. She followed it with her eyes, out into the barroom to a man’s boots poking out from beneath a grey blanket that covered the profile of a body. Beside it, she noticed another.

A sudden gust blew in through the busted window where already a man was hammering planks over the gaping hole.

She shivered. ‘Why didn’t he just give them the money and send them on their way?’ she mumbled.

Doc got to his feet, his expression pinched as he turned to face them. ‘It seems he tried to but that’s not all Braddock and Harris wanted.’

He pushed past them and went to the bar where he set up three glasses and filled each with a full measure of whiskey. He pushed one toward Rick, the other toward Maggie then drank his own down in a single gulp.

‘Medicinal,’ he said.

‘What else did they want?’ Rick asked.

‘They asked a lot of questions about me.’ Doc hovered the neck of the bottle over his glass for a moment then set it aside without pouring another drink.

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