| ONE DOWN It was close. Charley Crow
moved like a silent shadow in the night, and he struck like lightning. His knife
went straight for Skye Fargo's heart--and came damn close to hitting home.
Fargo did the only thing he could do. He let go of his useless Colt
and grabbed the breed's knife arm with both hands, twisted sharply, shifted, and speared
the killer's own knife up into Charley Crow's gut.
Fargo talked fast, while Crow could still speak. "Why does Morgan
want me dead? Why were all those others killed?
Charley Crow's mouth moved as if to speak, but instead spit, aimed at
Fargo's face, came flying out. It fell short, onto the tip of Fargo's boot.
"With my dying breath I curse you, white-eye! I hope the others
kill you! I hope they make you suffer!" He would have gone on had the end
not dawned. his legs buckled, and he pitched onto his chest and was still.
Skye Fargo spoke his epitaph. "Good riddance, bastard."
The Trailsman was lucky to be alive. But how long would that luck
hold....? |
PAYBACK TIME He let himself be distracted by
Virginia Ragsdale when the rancher's redheaded daughter asked him into her room. He
didn't see the door swing open until the two Mexicans were inside with their guns cocked
and leveled. He didn't have to ask who they were--Santiago Maxwell's men.
Fargo tried to ease his Colt from his holster. But the gunmen were
watching him like twin hawks. he had no choice. He set it down on the floor
and held his hands out from his sides. "What's this all about?" he
demanded. "What does Santiago want with Miss Ragsdale?"
Without warning, the Mexican in the red sash lashed the barrel of his gun
across Fargo's temple.
"It is not the woman Santiago wants," Red Sash hissed.
"He sent us to deal with the bastardo who killed Pedro Valdez and
Jose Gonzalez."
Red Sash shook Fargo, then tossed him down. Fargo tried to marshal his
thoughts, but his head was spinning.
All he could hear were the snarling words: "Time to die, gringo." |
