Chapter 7: Fight To The Finish

Buck held the bank's front door open and waited for Millicent and the two children enter. "Oh how I wish we were coming in here under better times," she said to herself. She felt so tired and ill equipped to continue in the role fate seemed to have cast her. Millicent did her best to show no emotion.

Her head was held high as Buck opened the door to Martin's office. Before Millicent and the two children could enter, Doctor Price stomped out. "He refused to comply with your request for money, Missus Summers," he told her through clenched teeth.

"That was not a request, that was an order. Come back into my husband's office and we shall get this straightened out now." She charged straight ahead and opened the door with Martin's name on it. "Get out of my husband's chair." She demanded.

Raymond Trabing sat behind Martin's desk. He acted as if he owned the bank. His eyes glittered as he said, "Martin is incapacitated and I am the business manager in charge of all his holdings. I hold the purse strings until he tells me otherwise. That might be a long, long time." His lips curled in a sneer.

"Remember, Millicent," he ran his eyes up and down her body in an open insult to her. Oklahoma law states in no uncertain terms a wife only has only what authority her husband allows her where business is involved. He is not here to allow you to do anything."

"My husband was Mister Summers before he was shot and he shall continue to be Mister Summers to you now." She ignored the intentional insult to her.

"Now I want the money released to help Doctor Price and his staff care for my husband." She stared hard into his eyes.

As Buck started forward, Raymond Trabing pulled a small revolver out of Martin's desk drawer and pointed it at him. "Don't try anything or you will be one very dead watch dog." He looked at Millicent and added, "Get out. I run things here and will until Martin tells me otherwise."

Colleen ran out the door. In shock, Millicent turned to leave the office. At the same time, Billy ran to one side of the desk and grabbed a paper spindle from in front of Trabing. He stabbed Trabing in the thigh. Trabing aimed the gun at Buck and pulled the trigger. Buck grabbed his shoulder and backed up a step.

Colleen rushed in with her father's car gun. She handed it to Billy as he scurried back around the desk. Without hesitation Billy pulled the trigger and sent a wild shot at the desk front.

Raymond Trabing tried to stand so he could get a clear shot at Billy and fell back in his chair. The spindle was buried to its base in his upper leg. Billy went back around the desk and shoved the gun into Trabing's side. His face was twisted into a feral grin.

Colleen rushed around the other side of the desk and removed the small pistol from the man's half opened hand. "Mother, we have disarmed this man." Her face held a smile of triumph.

Millicent and Doctor Price stared in stunned amazement at the speed of events. "Billy, Bring me your gun," Buck ordered through gritted teeth. His face was pale and he was barely able to remain conscious.

Doctor Price shook himself out of his stupor and removed the smaller pistol from Colleen's grip. Billy did not hurry to Buck. Instead he said, without removing his eyes from Raymond Trabing,"You get the doctor to bandage your hurt. I'll shoot this galoot if he tries anything." Buck closed his eyes and nodded, too weak to reply.

The doctor handed the small revolver to Millicent and said, "My bag is outside in my car. I'll be right back." He hurried away.

Billy backed slowly away. "Where is Ed Bowline?" Millicent asked.

"I fired him this morning," Trabing answered, his voice filled with hate.

Millicent smiled an angry smile with no warmth in it. "You are incorrect, sir. You are fired, Mister Trabing. I shall re-hire Mister Bowline into your old job. Get out."

"Look out," Colleen screamed as the door started to open.

Ike from the Roadhouse came rushing in and told Trabing, "I had that little job taken care of, Ray. I want my money." Then he saw the guns that both turned in his direction. He dove back out the door and ran from the bank. He knocked Doctor Price aside in his rush to escape the two drawn pistols.

Colleen shoved a chair over for Buck to sit in. He nodded his thanks and sat down, too weak to stand any longer. Doctor Price helped him out of his shirt. He washed the wound with alcohol, painted it with iodine and wrapped a bandage around it. "Take it easy and eat plenty of red meat. You lost a lot of blood. We need to get it replaced. No alcohol and plenty of water. Come see me in the morning."

"Go lie down in the back seat of the Packard, Buck. You may stay with us this evening and see the doctor in the morning." Millicent nodded and left the office.

She hurried to the teller's cage. She told the young man behind the counter, "Please honor any amount Doctor Price asks for. There are to be no further arguments or discussion on this matter."

"Thank you Missus Summers." the doctor told her.

"Y-yes ma'am," the head teller told her.

The doctor smiled his thanks and added. "I shall return to the hospital and get some much needed rest. He staggered a moment, righted himself and drew on his reserves to make his body carry him to the hospital.

"Wait," Millicent told him, as he started out the door. "Take two thousand dollars with you and give a hundred dollars to each of the staff. Later on this week we shall straighten things out. All back wages shall be paid in full."

"You will have to hurry to do anything more this week," the doctor told her. "This is Saturday."

"Oh dear," Millicent said. "So much has happened I feel like it is the middle of next week. Monday then." She nodded. Inside her she felt better.

Trabing limped out of the office. "I'll be back and you shall be sorry you interfered with me," he as he left the bank.

In a loud and angry voice, Millicent told all present, "Mister Trabing is no longer welcome in this bank nor anywhere else on property owned by Summers." Trabing turned and glared at her back. He left in silence, in too much pain to protest further.

Millicent looked around at the bank employees. "I realize it is close to noon and you are all anxious to go to your homes. But I must ask you to stay a few minutes longer.

"Inasmuch as I shall take over the reins of my husband's businesses, it is important that you know a little about me. First, I act with decision. Second if I need help, I shall ask for it. If I ask and you do not know, say so."

"Now, who has the keys to the bank?" She looked keenly at each person in turn.

"Mister Trabing has them; also, Mister Summers has his," a young woman told her.

Millicent pursed her lips, angry with herself that she neglected to demand Raymond Trabing turn his keys over to her. "Very well, you may all go home. Be here Monday morning at the regular time."

"You want me to go to the hospital and bring you Dad's stuff?" Billy asked eagerly.

"I shall accompany him to ensure he does not get in any trouble," Colleen assured her mother. "Billy needs me to keep him safe from harm.

Millicent nodded her assent. "Hurry over there and come right straight back," she told the two. She sat in silence in her husband's, now hers, office. She remained motionless while she tried to think of what to do next. She wondered what to do about the keys in Trabing's possession.

A half hour passed when Millicent heard a rustling noise at the bank's back door. Raymond Trabing limped inside. He turned his head and told the person behind him, "The stupid woman left the place unlocked." He stepped all the way through. Millicent saw the bartender from The Roadhouse about to enter.

"You are absolutely wrong again," Millicent told him. "The stupid woman is right here with a gun pointed at your middle." Surprised, Raymond Trabing stumbled and fell to the floor. Ike ran back outside and away from the bank.

"Stay down and take off your trousers. Then leave them where you are now. I want you to crawl over against the wall and wait there for the police to arrive."

Billy and Colleen entered. "We have Father's effects," she announced in a pride filled voice. "I carried them while Billy guarded us."

"What's he doing here?" Billy asked. Without waiting for an answer he hurried into Martin's office and came out with the larger forty-five caliber pistol. "Now, you try anything and you're history." Millicent was tempted to laugh until she saw his face. Billy was serious. There was nothing humorous about the ten year old's facial expression. Millicent realized Billy meant what he said.

In a soft voice, Millicent told him, "Bring the gun here, Billy. You stay at my side and keep close watch on Mister Trabing here. He is going to empty his pockets for us.

Trabing sneered, "You don't dare do anything in front of these kids."

The big revolver roared and a hole appeared right above his head. "I don't know if she would dare, but I would. Now you do what she says or I'll help her search a dead body," A grim-faced Billy told him. Trabing believed Billy and emptied his pockets. "Throw that ring of keys over here and you may place everything else back in your pockets.

"Know this," she said, "I shall place a thousand dollar bounty on your head payable upon proof of your death anywhere in Woodman County. I shall do this immediately after we leave here. I suggest you grab whatever you can and leave the county post haste."

Raymond Trabing had considered himself the king of all he surveyed until an hour before. Suddenly he felt alone and adrift with no moorings. For the first time in years he was without defenses, without any resources he could draw on. "What about my money in this bank?" he asked, almost pleading.

"I shall investigate the origins of the money deposited in your account and return to you what does not seem to be tainted by dishonesty." Millicent's voice left no doubt she was serious.

Buck came in the front door, "Hey Buck, you want to take this gun, it's heavy." Billy was glad to see his friend. "You look a lot better than you did."

"Ma'am, I feel a lot better after resting out there in that car." He took the gun from Billy's small hand. "Now what has happened while I was sleeping on duty?"

Millicent told him in a prim voice. "Buck, you know more of these things than I. I would like you to spread the word that if Mister Trabing is seen anywhere in Woodman county after today at sundown, there is a thousand dollar bounty on his head. The person who brings it to me in a gunnysack or box shall be given ten one hundred dollar bills. You take care of the details."