| CAUGHT UNAWARES "You can turn around, mister,
and get your due." Talbot sneered.
Fargo saw Rupert and Delicia next to a crate, the father's arm protectively
draped over his daughter's shoulder. In front of them, fists clenched, were Talbot's
partners, poised like grizzlies ready to strike.
"You really thought you could get one over on me, did ya, mister?"
Talbot said.
Rupert spat. "Were I ten years younger, I'd thrash you within an
inch of your life!"
One of Talbot's friends buried his fist in the professor's stomach, dropping
him.
Delicia screeched, "You bastards!" and threw herself at Talbot, who
backhanded her across the cheek, slamming her into a crate. It took all of Fargo's
self-control not to throw caution to the wind and tear the man apart. Talbot noticed
it.
"I wouldn't, were I you. There are three of us, remember?"
Fargo had to get them closer before he could strike. He growled,
"Three cowards who hit women and beat old men. what else do you do to prove how
tough you are? Kick puppies and spit on babies?"
Talbot's features twisted. "One more word and yer gonna get
hurt."
Fargo braced himself. "Big talk for someone with a yellow streak
down his back."
And then all three of them rushed him.... |
OUTNUMBERED.... Carver laughed, an icy, brittle
burst laced with contempt. "You're one man against thirty. My boys will
cut you down where you stand."
"I'd get off a shot or two," Fargo said. "At
you."
Carver's free hand was clenching and unclenching as if he yearned to clamp
it around Fargo's throat. "The last time someone had the nerve to buck me, I
had him tied to a tree and whipped. Don't make the same mistake. If I want to
manhandle my servant, I will. If I want to wipe out the Pawnee, I will. No one
defies me. Ever."
Fargo's right hand flashed so swiftly that the Colt was out and cocked and
the muzzle pressed against Carver's forehead before anyone else could so much as blink.
"For the last time. Let go of him or buck out in gore...." |
