Chapter 23
I’m grabbing my coat and hat and moving before the door has a chance to fully swing closed behind Maddock, gesturing for the older man to follow me as I take the shortest path toward the back of the saloon.
“You’re not…” he starts to say, practically having to jog to catch up. “You’re not going to leave him out there with them?”
“No,” I say, the word coming out a bit sharper than I intended.
“And neither are you.” Quickly, I look back over my shoulder, pointing at the bartender so he understands my next order is for him.
“You stand by the front door and you don’t let anyone in here.
Otherwise you really will have a mess, you understand? ”
He nods and goes to take his place as the older man asks, “What can I do?”
“You can go get your buddy,” I tell him as we arrive at the door to the alley, pausing before reaching for the handle.
“When we step outside, you go left until you’re far enough away that you’re not going to be seen.
Then, when you get to the sheriff, tell him he needs to bring backup with him. More than a couple people.”
I glance to my right, catching the eye of the closest armed citizen inside the saloon. “You. Take this door when we leave and don’t let anyone back in if you want to remain alive. Got it?”
The man’s eyes widen, but he gets up to do as I say. Redeeming himself, albeit only slightly. When he assumes his position, I turn to the older man while I start checking my gun, just as I said I would.
“Tell me honestly,” I say, counting out the six rounds in the chamber. “He cheat?”
“No,” he replies, confidently. “Seems to me he only started actually playing.”
I nod. “That’s what I figured, but wanted to be sure.”
“What will you do?” he asks, expression shifting to concern. “You’ll go out there? On your own?”
“Not entirely on my own. I’d like to believe Cypress might participate in his own rescue.” I pause, noticing the way the older man is suddenly studying me. “What?”
“Didn’t realize the two of you were on a first-name basis.” The corner of his mouth twitches upward. “How’d that come about?”
“Must have…” I clear my throat, glancing around the room and wondering how long the men in here will actually have good sense to stay put despite the guards I’ve placed. “Must have overheard it.”
“Interesting,” the older man says. “Then you know mine, too? Since I gave it to you directly.”
“Sure I do. It’s…” My mind remains completely blank, though I know he did give it to me, and I sigh with exasperation before replying, “It’s hurry the fuck up and go get some help when I open this door.”
He chuckles. “I wish you two the best of luck. And, if you make it out of this, a long life tog—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter, abruptly shoving the door open and stepping out into the lantern-lit alley. Pleased for more than one reason when he slips out behind me without another word and takes off in the opposite direction.
Last thing I fucking need right now—yet another person in this town getting some idea about what Cypress and I are to each other. Which is nothing. Apart from a growing source of agitation. And a likely death sentence.
No sooner have I taken a couple steps toward the side of the building than I’m able to make out their voices, the echoes of their threats, the cruelty of their laughter that gets louder the closer I get.
I don’t even need to hear the exact words to know exactly what they’re saying, to understand that they’ve already trapped him in the few minutes that have passed.
A quick check around the darkened corner reveals there are indeed seven of us total in this alley, more than enough to make it plenty crowded, and I take stock of each man’s exact location before proceeding.
Fortunately, Maddock is closest to me, a consequence of him standing where he is at the least risk of being seen while he’s got the kid standing closest to the street playing lookout—even though he seems to want to do anything but look at what’s happening. At what he thinks is about to happen.
“Well, well, here he is,” Maddock says when I come into view. “You really are a man of your word after all.”
“Try to be,” I reply, my gun raised and aimed behind him. “We’ll see how the next few minutes go.”
As I already knew, Maddock’s other three men are in the middle of the alley, two of them with their guns out and hanging uselessly at their sides while the other has blood on his raised fist, its intended mark the last man counted and the only one not currently standing. At least, not on his own.
“Fuckin’ told you to wait,” I snap, adjusting my aim slightly. “Let him go. Now.”
Maddock’s head tilts in confusion as he looks at me then behind him, pausing the straightening of his suit after whatever scuffle had occurred before I got here.
He sighs, waving a hand at his man. “Do as he says,” Maddock tells him, laughing slightly.
“Suppose he at least wants it to appear to be self-defense.”
I realize I don’t remember this man’s name either. Not that it really matters, since he might as well be another of Maddock’s limbs for how easily he bends to his boss’s every whim. Although right now, he is hesitating. “You sure? We turn him loose and—”
“Now,” I repeat, cocking my gun to help him along. “Let him go.”
Far quicker this time, he relaxes the hold he has on his captive’s neck, and I get my first true glimpse of Cypress as he sags against the wall, then takes a jagged breath in.
Alive. At least he’s still alive. And, somehow, still smiling.
“There…” He wheezes, brushing the blood from a busted lip with his thumb. “There you are, wolf. Thought maybe you were going to miss our appointment.”
“Really not the time, Cypress,” I reply, watching as the understanding of where my allegiance currently lies ripples through the rest of the crew.
Something I confirm for them when I decisively turn my gun on Maddock, my finger hovering near the trigger.
“You lost. Make your peace with it, and let him be on his way.”
“You must be joking,” he says, eyes widening as he glances first at Cypress then between my face and the gun. “You—you work for me. You said it yourself in there, we have a deal.”
“And I told you when we made it that I wouldn’t be finishing your fights for you. You knew that when you sat down at the table.”
“He cheated,” Maddock argues. “All week I’ve been winning against him until tonight when he—”
“When he stopped letting you,” I finish for him, getting impatient. “He’s been letting you win all week.”
“No,” Maddock argues again, even more adamantly this time, regardless of this being the one argument he could actually claim in his favor. “He hasn’t let me do a goddamn thing.”
I glance at Cypress, and from the widening grin on his face, I can tell Maddock is acting exactly as he knew he would, as he’s seen others like him do before.
Pretty smart, the way he lets them box themselves in. Playing it straight on the one game they’ll swear he cheated on, then cheating at every game they’ll swear he played straight. In the end, he probably doesn’t even need to cheat them. Their own pride beats them worse than he does.
“Tonight,” Maddock is still saying. “He manipulated the deck. He had cards stashed. Something.”
“Witnesses say otherwise,” I counter, wondering how close the older man is to reaching the sheriff’s office. He didn’t have far to go, but it’ll take them time to round up reinforcements. Time I’m not sure I have. “There’s local folk who will swear to it. You need to stand down.”
“We had an agreement,” Maddock reiterates. “In writing, by your own request might I add, that you look after my interests.”
“I am lookin’ after your interests,” I try to reason. “You do this and you’re not making it to Kansas with the herd.”
“Won’t if we don’t either,” mutters the man who had Cypress against the wall, though he falls silent again as soon as Maddock gives him and everyone else in the alley a warning look. ‘Course, not everyone heeds it.
“He bet the horses,” Cypress explains, by no means cowed even though he’s still wheezing slightly as he straightens.
“Lost every one of them along with every dollar in his pocket.” His head tilts, regarding Maddock with an expression that’s once more bordering on delighted.
“Which, might I add, makes that deal completely void.”
It takes me longer than it should to click into place, although in my defense I have a few things on my mind right now, like how Maddock is twitching toward his gun again. Before he does something stupid, I step forward, placing the barrel of my gun against his skull.
“I wouldn’t,” I warn, pleased when he puts his hands up. “Glad we’re finally listening.” I survey the other men in the alley, all of whom are now also acting a bit twitchy for my liking. “Toss your weapons.”
“Do it,” Maddock orders with a jerky nod, and fortunately, they all obey, except the kid, who picks this moment to finally make a run for it. I let him go. One less to worry about.
“All right,” I say, my hand perfectly steady as I hold my weapon in place. “Now, we’re all going to have a nice, calm chat. Nobody needs to lose their life tonight.”
“If you really think I’m going to let you—” Maddock starts, the words breaking off in a satisfying yelp when I pull back the hammer on my gun.
“Have had enough from you for a bit,” I tell him, finding the silence to be tremendously satisfying even if there’s something I want to hear more. “Cypress, can you repeat what you were saying? So I’m sure I understand.”
He grins again, and I decide that however much I might be starting to enjoy this, I have nothing on him. “Got a little overzealous at the table with his wagers tonight toward the end,” Cypress supplies. “He bet the horses. Including Helios.”
I blink at him. “Who?”
“The mustang,” Cypress clarifies. “I’ve been thinking of names for you, since you told me he didn’t have one. Thought Helios would be good since…” He trails off, perhaps due to the look on my face. “We can talk about it later.”
“Yeah, let’s,” I say, pointedly glancing around at the other men present. “You going to help me out here or…?”
“Oh, yes.” He finally starts moving, collecting the guns from where they landed and frowning at each of them in turn before chucking them in a nearby empty barrel. “None of them really appear to be worth keeping.”
“Well, no, they wouldn’t. Considering they’re not yours.”
“Of course,” he says, pulling out his own weapons now. “Sorry, old habits and all that.”
I roll my eyes, then press my gun harder into Maddock’s head so he knows I’m talking to him. “You bet and lost the mustang?” I ask, thinking of the now useless piece of paper in my pocketbook. “The one you agreed to give me in exchange for protecting those interests of yours?”
He laughs bitterly. “However much good that seemed to do me.”
“Well it certainly doesn’t do you good now,” I mutter, angling my head toward Cypress and wondering how I keep finding myself further entangled with him at every turn. “You won him? He’s yours?”
He shakes his head, pistols momentarily dipping. “Yours. I wouldn’t—”
“Ah, I see now,” Maddock says, tone seething. “You’re working together. He runs the scam, and you make sure he gets away. Then you split it. That how it works?”
“No,” I say, right as Cypress says, “Sure.”
I look at him again, dumbfounded. “What the fuck are you saying sure for?”
“Well,” he replies, shrugging, “it’s not a terrible idea.”
“The hell it isn’t. We are not—”
A single shot rings out in the alley, the bullet ricocheting off the wall, everyone suddenly going for cover in the resulting chaos, and my first thought is that it must be the calvary coming in.
That is, before I have a chance to look toward the mouth of the alley.
To see the one lone shooter, shaking like a leaf.
So much for one less to worry about.