Chapter 4

It wasn't long before most of the hands at the camp were aware that they had ridden for four weeks with Jake Dunn. Dunn's reputation was that as a gun-hand, not a cold-blooded murderer. But the latter was as true as the former. Farmers and ranchers often were too busy to be proficient with a weapon.

Jim Powers had studiously avoided talking to Jacob after the dust-up. But Jacob was certain that Juliette and her family would know in three weeks just how close she came to marrying a killer.

Jacob hoped that the way he handled the pair in the saloon and the fact that Juliette and her wayward husband were still alive might speak for something. But he doubted it.

As the sun started heading down in the western sky, Jacob dreaded the thought of the two kids paying a visit to the camp. He could tell the girl was used to guns and he really didn't want to kill her. But if she drew on him, he knew he would.

He considered just letting the boy kill him — briefly. But then he thought of Marnie and he knew that if he needed to, he would kill the boy.

Riding away would only delay the confrontation. The boy's anger would lead him to chase Jacob as far as Texas if need be. The only way out for Jacob was if the boy didn't show.

Which of course, he did.

It was late afternoon when Jacob spotted two figures walking up the trail toward the camp. He hoped the boy had practiced some with the Colt, not that it would matter much.

The boy stayed on the outer edge of the camp while the girl came in to speak to Jacob. She looked a bit older than his early estimate, maybe early teens. Her short haircut and men's clothing would serve her for now, but in a few months her womanly assets would make it impossible to hide her gender.

"Miss," Jacob said warmly. "I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this."

The young woman sat across from Jacob.

"I would rather you not kill my brother," she said.

"I would rather not to kill your brother," Jacob answered. "But the fact he is standing 300 yards away practicing his draw seems to make that possibility unlikely."

The girl turned to glance at her brother. She turned back, red faced.

"How old is he?" Jacob asked. He wasn't sure why he was stalling. What was going to happen was going to happen.

"Fifteen," the girl answered.

"He ever kill a man?" Jacob inquired.

"No," she said simply.

"I can't let me be the first," Jacob said. "I thought about it. You know, just standing there and letting him shoot me. But I decided I can't do that."

The girl's eyes widened.

"Of course you can't," she said.

"What's his name?"

"Danny," she said. "Daniel."

"And yours?"

"Ann," she replied meekly.

"How old are you?"

The girl sat back against a log.

"Sixteen," she replied after a while.

Jacob nodded.

"Am I going to have to kill you, too?" he asked.

"Probably," she answered.

Jacob pursed his lips.

"Is there no way I can convince you that I wasn't the one who shot your Pa?"

"I'm already convinced," the girl answered. "I tried to tell Dan. If you were a back-shooter, you'd a kilt him in the saloon. You had him dead to rights."

"Didn't make much headway, huh?"

"None," the girl admitted.

"So he is willing to die for something we both know is a lie?" Jacob said. "And he's willing to get you killed for the same reason. That doesn't make much sense to me. He doesn't really think he can beat me, does he?"

Ann was silent.

"He's pretty fast," she said. "Not as fast as I saw today, though. But yeah, I think he believes he's got a chance."

"How about you?"

"Me?" Ann smiled. "I'm faster than he is. So I figure I got a better chance."

"Why don't you just stay out of it, Ann?" Jacob asked. "There is no reason for you to die. I'm at a ranch down in Texas. You could come with us — both of you could, you know — we'd get you set up there."

"Wouldn't matter," Ann replied. "Someday, either Dan's gonna kill you or you're gonna kill him."

"Doesn't have to be today though," Jacob said.

In the end, it did have to be that day. Ann relayed Jacob's offer. A chance for Dan and Ann to have a decent place to stay and jobs. They wouldn't have to steal or roam the streets. Ann wouldn't have to be destined for a whorehouse in a couple of years and Dan wouldn't be destined for an early grave.

Dan's pride refused to let him back down. Jacob would always wonder if he had made the offer earlier, before the boy was standing in front of a camp full of faces, if the decision would have been different.

But he hadn't and Dan's loud voice rang through the camp site.

"You come on out here, you back-shooting son of a bitch," Dan yelled. "You and me got a score to settle, Jake Dunn."

Reluctantly, Jacob rose from his camp bench and strapped on his Colt. He usually wore two but since he'd offered one of them to Dan, he carried but one. If he needed the other, it would be because Ann shot at him from the side.

Jacob was in the middle of telling John it didn't have to be this way when the boy's hand went for his Colt. Jacob didn't waste time. The boy was quicker than he suspected. He deftly slid the pistol from the holster and shot the boy in the chest. The boy's borrowed Colt had never made it out of the leather.

Jacob swiveled and expected to see Ann's pistol trained on him. But instead she simply stood there and watched her brother die, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes.