“It’s too late to pull this out of the fire,” Slocum said. “Might as well give it up.”

  “It ain’t never too late,” Darrel replied.

  More shots were fired outside. At the front of the room, Landry stood with his rifle at the ready, glancing back and forth between the street and Slocum. Fortunately, Slocum had positioned himself so Darrel was blocking the rifleman’s shot.

  “Most of your men are dead,” Slocum pointed out.

  Darrel was quick to reply with, “And you ain’t got no men. That means I’m still ahead on that score. Hand over the documents and we can both part ways here and now.”

  “You really expect me to believe we’d be square if I just give you what you want?”

  A few bullets whipped into the bank amid the crackle of gunfire from outside. Judging by the voices from the street, the lawmen were closing in fast. Landry kept them at bay with a few shots from his Winchester; the first caused a commotion and the last was punctuated by a painful cry.

  Amid all of that, Darrel started to laugh. “I gotta hand it to you, Slocum. You really had me goin’. I ain’t the trusting sort, but you really pulled the wool over my eyes. You know what really got me on the hook?”

  “Shooting the woman?”

  “Nah, I heard enough about you to figure you’ve got that much in you.”

  Even though Slocum was glad Darrel still thought Leanne was dead, he didn’t know what to make of the rest.

  “It was that business with the hostage,” Darrel continued. “From what my boys told me, that man was the real deal. You’re a cold son of a bitch. I admire that. You know these lawmen will probably be too fired up to let any of us get outta here alive. Sure you don’t want to clear out of here and then settle up our score once the dust has cleared?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  “That’s what I thought. Figured I’d make the offer, though.”

  “Appreciate it,” Slocum said earnestly.

  Leaning toward the front door without taking his eyes off Slocum, Darrel said, “Mark, burn us a path out of this shit hole. I’ll be with you directly.”

  Like a rabid dog that had been finally set loose, Landry picked his shots and pulled his trigger in a steady stream of explosions from the Winchester. Plenty of gunfire was thrown back at him, but he merely dropped to one knee to present a smaller target and kept firing.

  Both Slocum and Darrel already had their guns drawn. Even if they hadn’t, they both knew well enough that it would only make a difference of a fraction of a second anyhow. In the scheme of things, between two men of that caliber standing in the middle of a raging battle, most of the fight would be won or lost before either one of them made a move.

  Slocum studied Darrel’s face while also watching for movement in his shoulders or torso. Any shift in those areas could mean the outlaw was preparing to fire. Darrel didn’t seem anxious and he wasn’t rattled, even as hell raged around him and men outside shouted over the thunder of multiple gunshots. Slocum might not have been able to read the outlaw’s mind, but he knew all too well what must have been flying through it.

  There were no more words to pass between them.

  There was no bargaining to be done.

  Darrel had all but dismissed the last remaining member of his gang, which meant he wanted to deal with Slocum on his own. Doing anything less would only give him a whole other world of problems to deal with once they got out of McCord. Outlaws lived by a savage code where there was no room for pity or weakness. Faltering at any time wasn’t a good way for a man to remain at the head of a gang, especially if he wanted to replenish his ranks when he got out of McCord.

  If he got out of McCord.

  The outlaw may have allowed himself to become concerned with the lawmen outside or his chances of escaping the bank, but the uneasiness showed up nonetheless. As soon as Slocum saw the flicker of doubt cross Darrel’s eyes, he acted on it. He snapped his gun hand up, paused long enough to line up his shot, and pulled his trigger. The entire process was over in less time than it took to blink, but Slocum was still uncertain as to whether or not he’d taken too long.

  Darrel’s aim was thrown off by the hot lead that tore through the left side of his torso and spun him around. He fired his round into a wall a few feet from where Slocum stood. After Darrel dropped, Slocum sighted along the top of his Colt and waited to see what would happen next.

  The gang leader tried to speak. Perhaps it was a curse or it could have also been a promise. Slocum would never know for certain because Darrel was all out of breath. He used his last bit of strength to lift his .44 and try to take aim, so Slocum put his last round through Darrel’s skull.

  “It’s all over, Mark,” Slocum said as he scooped up Darrel’s .44 and pointed it at the rifleman.

  Always the one to do the most thinking within the gang, Landry sighed and lowered the Winchester. He obviously wasn’t happy about the way things had turned out, but knew when he was beaten. Another wave of gunfire rolled in from the street, but he kept his back to the strip of wall he’d chosen and weathered the storm. Once the men outside either ran out of ammunition or took a breath, Landry said, “Tell me something.”

  Slocum walked around the counter while keeping the .44 pointed at the outlaw. The teller was huddled in a corner and bleeding. The smaller man lifted his head and started to stand up on his own, so whatever wound he’d gotten must have been shallow.

  “What do you want to know?” Slocum asked.

  “Were you gonna do this all along? Coming here, tricking us, getting us all to take a fall here in this town. Was it in your sights the whole time?”

  “Yeah. Pretty much.”

  That revelation stole all the remaining wind from Landry’s sails. As the footsteps thumped against the boardwalk outside and lawmen began piling into the bank, he lowered his Winchester, put his hands on top of his head, and allowed himself to be taken away.

  In a strange way, Slocum felt bad for the rifleman. All this time, Mark Landry had been the one member of the gang who knew what he was doing and never let himself get carried away. Slocum even thought the rifleman may have planned things out better if he’d been given a chance. Slocum had also been more comfortable playing things loose and changing direction when the mood suited him. More often than not, it worked out for the best. Now he had to see if this would be one of those times.

  20

  It was closing in on suppertime when Slocum rode along the trail that led south out of McCord. He didn’t need a watch to tell him as much simply because his stomach was telling him plenty. He was about to give up on his ride and head back into town when he heard excited shouting coming from a little ways off the trail. Slocum looked in that direction and had to keep himself from laughing when he saw a very rumpled Mr. Emberson waving his arms to catch his attention. Slocum waved back and steered toward a large tree that looked as if it had been there longer than anything else in the vicinity.

  “I want to thank you for all you did, Mr. Slocum,” Emberson said as he nearly pulled him from his saddle in his haste to clap him on the shoulder. When he saw Slocum glance over to Jimmy, Emberson added, “I know about what happened with my brother, but this fine woman told me about the lengths you needed to go to in order to infiltrate that gang of ruffians. Well done. Well done, indeed!”

  “Glad you see it that way,” Slocum replied. “I’m just glad you came here instead of rushing to the law.”

  “Of course I came here,” Emberson replied. “Too much shooting in that other direction. Also, I’m certain you had to go through three kinds of hell to get in a spot where you could help us.”

  When Slocum saw Leanne walk around the tree and smile at him, he was finally able to relax. She looked tired, but was healthy and smiling. That sight alone was enough to make Slocum glad he’d come as far as he had.

  “And since you helped us,” Emberson continued, “you must have seen to it that the safe was properly closed and that everything was intact?”

  “Well, they did get the documents they were after. You saw that much. I believe one of the gang members got away. He must have those papers because the lawmen who stormed into that bank couldn’t find them.”

  Slocum hadn’t been sure about using that line of manure or not after the shooting had stopped. When the lawmen had come into the bank, it had taken several hours for things to get straightened out enough for him to be released from the town’s jail. Thanks to the teller’s emotional testimony and the fact that the notorious outlaws were either dead or imprisoned as well, Slocum was finally set free with the sheriff’s apologies. It had been a few more hours before he felt comfortable enough to go back and retrieve the documents from where he’d tossed them through the broken office window. Slocum was tempted just to hand them over, wrangle some sort of finder’s fee out of Emberson, and be done with the whole affair. Now that he saw the bank manager’s willingness to see past his own brother’s ordeal just to get his precious papers back, Slocum didn’t feel too bad about going with his other plan.

  “I was with the gang for a while,” Slocum explained. “I might be able to track those documents down for you.”

  “That would be most appreciated,” Emberson sighed. “Except they will have to be returned within the next two days if they’re to be of any value. I can’t get into the particulars, but—”

  Stopping him with a raised hand, Slocum said, “No particulars needed. How much is it worth to get them back?”

  “Would five hundred dollars be enough incentive?” Seeing that his offer wasn’t met with as much enthusiasm as he’d hoped, Emberson reluctantly said, “Make it a thousand.”

  “How about two thousand?”

  “That seems fair,” Jimmy said. “Especially after what my brother told me concerning the—”

  This time, Emberson was the one to interrupt. “Fine, fine. Two thousand. But only if you get them to me in a timely manner.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.” From there, Slocum walked over to Jimmy and extended a hand. “Sorry about all of that. I did what I could to keep you safe.”

  “I know.”

  Although it hadn’t been a part of his plan, Slocum told him, “I’ve got part of a pretty healthy reward coming to me for my part in bringing down Darrel Teach and his men. Since having you along sealed the deal, I’d say you’re entitled to a taste.” Slocum reached into his jacket pocket for the bundle of cash the town law had given him for the gang’s downfall. Instead of counting out the money, he simply removed a portion that seemed fair and handed it over.

  He may not have been the banker of the family, but Jimmy could still count. “This is over six hundred dollars!”

  “You earned it.”

  “My thanks to you, Mr. Slocum.”

  Considering the hell he’d been put through, Slocum was surprised he’d gotten that much from Jimmy. Then again, considering the glare he shot at his brother, Jimmy got a thrill from seeing the banker put through a wringer of his own.

  “So,” Leanne said as she walked up to Slocum and put her arms around him, “do I still need to keep one eye on you and the other on the lookout for lurkers in the shadows?”

  “Nope. You can finally go to your uncle’s spread. He’s probably worried.”

  “He doesn’t even know I’m coming, so I can take my time getting there.”

  “Where else do you need to go?” Slocum stopped and asked. “You’re not going back to Jack, are you?”

  “No. I’ll head back for my things with my cousin just like I planned. What about you?”

  “I’ll be riding back to Reno. There’s a man there who’s got a mighty big stake in what happened here today. Part of that stake is mine.”

  She looked toward the town as if she could peek in through the town’s windows as she said, “Since it’s too late for either of us to leave right now, I was thinking we could wash some of this trail dust off of us before you hunt down those documents.”

  Leaning in close to her, Slocum whispered, “All I need is to kill some time. Finding those documents shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  “In that case, do you think we might be able to get a room where we could have ourselves a nice, long bath?”

  Slocum smirked and wrapped an arm around her. “I like the way you think.”

  Watch for

  SLOCUM AND THE LADY DETECTIVE

  385th novel in the exciting SLOCUM series from Jove

  Coming in March!

 

 

  Jake Logan, Slocum and the Terrors of White Pine County

 

 

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