High Gun at Surlock (2006) by Terrell L Bowers Page B

Huxton is ready to turn loose his guns on your family. Don’t let them draw you into a fighting war.’
    Jessie appeared to think about what he was saying.
    ‘I don’t want another of my brothers to be killed like Cory, but we can’t take a beating for ever and not fight back.’
    ‘Just give me a few more days.’
    ‘Why should we give you anything?’
    ‘Because I’m on your side,’ he told her. ‘You have to trust me.’
    At last Jessie appeared to relent.
    ‘I’ll speak to Mike.’
    ‘I’ll be seeing you again,’ he promised.
    ‘Yes,’ she said wearily, ‘I’m sure of it.’
    Kyler turned Nipper and headed back the way he had come. As he put the encounter with Jessie behind him, he thought how God must have a great sense of humor.
    Bet he spends a lot of time laughing at us poor saps, whilst we are trying to figure out how to please a woman!

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Kyler arrived at the livery and heard an angry voice from inside the barn.
    ‘I know you’ve been snooping around for someone , old man!’ It sounded like Strap doing the talking . There came the sound of someone being struck with a fist, then, ‘Tell me! Who’s in this with you?’
    ‘I told you,’ Nat ranted back, ‘I was on my way to buy a chaw of tobacca. I didn’t hear nothing!’
    Kyler tied off Nipper and started toward the barn door.
    ‘I’d wager you spilled your guts about Mugs and Skinny!’ Strap sounded furious. ‘You told someone they were going to burn down the Yates’s supply shed. Who was it, old man? Who did you tell?’
    ‘Go suck on an egg, Adere!’ Nat growled back. ‘I ain’t telling you nothing!’
    Kyler moved inside the barn in time to see Strap hit Nat again. This time the old man crumbled on to the floor in an unconscious heap. The gunman drew back a foot to kick him.
    ‘I wouldn’t!’ Kyler’s icy warning stopped him.
    Strap looked back over his shoulder at Kyler.
    ‘Yeah, makes all the sense in the world!’ he stated. ‘It’s you and the old wart here. The two of you are in this together!’
    Kyler took up a stance, ready for a fight, whether it be with a gun or fists.
    Strap turned round slowly to square up to Kyler. ‘You’re the big man,’ he sneered. ‘Huxton’s tough guy teamster.’ He spat on to the straw-strewn floor. ‘Well, you don’t impress me none, Mr Teamster.’
    ‘You’re a pretty tough hombre yourself, Strap.’ Kyler’s tone oozed sarcasm. ‘Takes a big man to knock around a guy who’s pushing sixty years of age.’
    Strap’s hand was poised over his gun. ‘I aim to show you tough, Dane. You best toss your gun on to the ground and march over to Huxton with me. We’ll see how he feels about you working for the Yates bunch.’
    ‘You’re the one who better toss away your gun,’ Kyler advised. ‘You’re going to confess that Huxton has put you up to robberies and acts of sabotage against the Yates Freight Company. With luck you won’t get more than a couple years in prison.’
    Strap scoffed at the idea.
    ‘Huxton was impressed by you being a wanted man and a bad man with a gun, but I ain’t seen you draw down on no one. I’m betting it’s all talk.’
    ‘You willing to bet your life on that, Strap?’
    The man’s eyes were aglow. His body tensed, his breathing stopped. Kyler knew the signs all too well. The man was going to draw!
    Strap’s hand streaked downward and yanked hisgun free. His action was smooth and practiced. His thumb caught the hammer of the pistol, as it came out of the holster, cocked, ready for use …
    Kyler felt the gun buck in his hand. Strap was fast, too fast for him to take special aim to try and wound him. The round hit him on the left side of his chest and Strap’s gun flew from his fist.
    In less time than a single blink of an eye, a life was extinguished. Strap sprawled on to his face without so much as a groan. He was dead.
    Kyler started to walk over and check on both him and Nat, but a cool voice spoke up from behind