“Damn bitch,” the man hissed. He let the revolver drop from his hand, then reached for the one holstered crossdraw. He drew it, cocked the hammer. Ellen threw the empty revolver at him, missing him but making him dodge.
There was a loud shot, then another. The killer’s body twitched, then lurched back, falling spread-eagled to the ground.
Ellen raced toward him, picked up the still-cocked single action, which had fallen from his hand, then spun around.
“Jack!”
“Get down, kid! Behind the horse, just like in the movies!”
There were still more men in the rocks above them.
Bullets tore into her horse’s body as she flung herself behind it. Jack was beside her in the next instant. He rolled onto his back, smiling at her as he reloaded his big rifle, pulling the cartridges out of a belt slung crossbody from his right shoulder to left hip.
As if reading her mind, Jack told her, “Three of them. All with rifles and revolvers. And horses. Hopefully, they’ll use them—the horses—and ride off.”
“What about Helen, Jack?” Ellen Naile saw the Bledsoe girl rolled up almost into a ball less than what she judged to be a quarter of a city block away from them. “If one of those guys up there decides to be a real schmuck, they’ll shoot her just for spite.”
“I’ve got plenty of .45-70s left, Ellen. If you can do this fast enough, we can make it.” He took off his Stetson and shrugged out of the bandolier, then replaced the black hat, pulling it down low over his eyes. There was a spare revolver stuffed in his trouser belt; he drew it, rolled it in his hand and offered it to her butt first. “You keep them busy, like they used to say in the old westerns. Keep ‘em pinned down. I’m going to go get the girl to cover.”
Ellen warned him, “She’s tied up in barbed wire.”
“It won’t cut up my hands so badly that I can’t shoot.”
“You bringing her back here?”
“Only place that’s close enough. Fire the rifle once, then throw a few pistol shots at them while I run toward her. Save the rest of what’s in the rifle until I’m on my way back with her. Only four shots total in the magazine. And remember, keep the butt of that rifle tucked tight into your shoulder or you’ll hurt yourself.” He drew the one remaining of her original revolvers from its holster and loaded it as he said, “This may also flush them out, which means they may rush us.”
“Why did you leave me the cartridge belt with the rifle ammunition in it?”
Her husband smiled. “Just in case.”
“You are not going to get yourself killed. Do I make myself clear, Jack!?”
Jack tipped his hat as he responded, “Yes, ma’am. But I wasn’t exactly planning on doing that anyway.”
“Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“When this is all over, are you going to make some profound literary reference, some quote, like Richard Boone always did on TV?”
Jack laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.” He kissed her, scrunched his hat down tight and low, drew his special long barreled Colt and ordered, “Fire that rifle shot now!”
Ellen brought the rifle to her shoulder, worked the lever and fired. The recoil slammed into her, and the rifle barrel rocked upward from where she’d rested it across the body of her dead horse. Why would anybody want to shoot something that hurt so much? she asked herself.
She looked behind her.
Jack had already started to run, keeping to a low crouch. He turned around once and snapped a shot toward the three bad guys in the rocks above them as he skidded to his knees beside the Bledsoe girl. He fired another shot, holstered his revolver and swept the girl up into his arms, running with her. Ellen fired out one of the revolvers, put it down, brought the rifle to her shoulder and fired, fired again.
As she prepared to fire a fourth shot, Jack was beside her, Helen Bledsoe between them. “Chamber a round yet?”
“No.”
Jack grabbed the rifle from her hands, worked the lever and fired. Ellen Naile heard something that sounded like a man’s scream of pain.
“Two left,” Jack said flatly. It was when Jack turned around to reload the rifle that Ellen noticed his hands, covered in blood. His shirt was cut, blood oozing through in spots. “Lucky we’ve all had tetanus shots recently. She’ll need one.”
Jack seemed about to say something else, but a flurry of shots from the two men