The Daughter by C.B. Cooper (best value ebook reader .txt) 📕

of Jarvis's men happened to look up, spying them crossed the street. The two exchanged a few words, then started walking their way.
Stopping in front of them, the tall one asked, "You boys been sittin' here long?"
Sam shrugged, "For a while, I guess."
"Did either of you two happen to see anyone sneaking around the hotel? A woman perhaps?"
"No." Zeb answered.
The man frowned at his partner, then eyed their gun belts, "You two any good with those irons?"

That night, Sam and Zeb stood guard at the southern end of town.
"Can you believe those jackasses are paying us twenty dollars a night to stand out here?"
Sam smiled, nodding, "Something must of spooked them awful bad."
"Boy, I'll say. Them two'd have to be scared spitless to pay ten men, twenty dollars a night to watch the town. How much is that?"
"Two hundred dollars, I believe."
Zeb whistled softly. "Boy, if we could git that girl a yours to hold off awhile, we could make a fortune here."
Sam chuckled, just as a woman's voice sounded from the woods, "No such luck, Old Timer."
They watched as a woman materialized from the dark shadows of the trees.
Angel walked towards them, a small smile playing on her lips.
Beside Sam, Zeb drawled, "Well, speak of the devil." then immediately regretted his choice of words.
Angel read it on his face, then chuckled, "That’s alright, Zeb. I know what you meant. Here, I found this for you."
"Hey! My hat!"
Sam studied her for a moment. For the first time ever, Angel, seemed happy. That was something he hadn't seen on her before. Perhaps because the end was near?
He whispered worriedly, "You shouldn’t be here. Jarvis has got the whole damn town looking for you."
She smiled, "I bet. After our little 'heart to heart' this morning, he and Adams are probably shitting in their pants." Then the smile disappeared, replaced with seriousness, "But the games are over now, and the funs about to begin. That's what I came to tell you. I want you to take Zeb and get out of town. After tonight, the bloods gonna flow."
Sharp frowned, "I aint leaving. I didn’t come all this way to turn tail and run now."
"Me neither." Zeb piped up.
"I came to help you, and that’s what I aim to do."
"Me, too." Zeb nodded.
Angel stared at them both. "I don’t want neither of you to get hurt."
"We wont."
"Nope, we wont."
Sharp rolled his eyes. Zeb was bound and determined to be a part of this. Sam wanted to try and talk him out of it, but he knew he'd just be wasting his breath. "I guess we'll both be careful."
"Yes, we will."
Angel sighed, "Just stay out of my way when the time comes. And what ever you do, don’t touch Jarvis or Adams— their both mine." Angels eyes flew past Sam's shoulder, "Grab your gun and shoot at me." she whispered urgently and turned to run.
A few seconds later, the sound of several hammers being cocked pierced the night…

"Boss, Ike here, seen these two men talking to that woman yer lookin' for."
"Yeah, I seen them talking to her out on the edge of town and went to go get the men, but by the time we got back there, she was gone."
Jarvis turned murderous eyes toward the man, "You seen her and you didn’t shoot her!"
The man frowned, stuttering, "Th-there was three of them," he whined, "I couldn’t take them all by myself!"
Jarvis strode over and grabbed the man by his shirt front, "You didn’t have to take all of them," he ground, "You only had to take her, you fucking coward." Jarvis shoved him backwards and turned, walking towards Sam and Zeb.
Stopping in front of them, he glared, "Who is she, and why is she after us?" he asked evenly.
Neither man said anything. The long seconds ticked by on the Regulator clock on the wall as they all glared at each other.
Losing what little patience he had, Jarvis screamed, spittle flying out of his mouth, "I said, Who is she!"
Coulter spoke from behind him, "They ain't saying nothing, Boss. We already tried to git them to talk, but they clammed right up as soon as we got the drop on them."
From across the room, Adam's said dryly, "I'm sure we can think of something to loosen their jaws."
Jarvis looked from one man to the other. The younger of the two was about his age, but he was a huge man. Tall, and built as sturdy as a tree. The old man standing next to him was small and frail.
He glared at Sam, "Answer me."
His question was met with obstinate silence again. Furious, Jarvis clenched his jaw. Dropping his shoulder, he swung his arm around, his clenched fist shooting past Sam and coming down on his right, smashing Zeb in left eye.
"Arrgh." Zeb cried as his head snapped to the right and his knees sagged. He would have fallen from the force behind the blow, but the two men that held his arms, kept him on his feet.
"Zeb!" Sharp cried, as he struggled to free himself from the hired guns that held him.
Smirking, Jarvis said amused, "So you can talk."
Sam swung deadly eyes back to Jarvis.
In that split second, he became Sam Sharp, once again. All the furry and raw rage from the past ignited inside of him; the burning desire for justice and retribution was like a hot poker, slicing right through his core. His adrenalin ramped up, then shot through his veins like a bullet fired from a buffalo gun. The fervent craving to kill.
Suddenly, he dropped his weight, and using the two men behind him for leverage he brought both legs up and kicked straight out and up with the right, catching Jarvis on the tip of his chin with the toe of his boot.
Jarvis's head snapped back and he stumbled backwards, as the two men holding Sam fell too, taking him with them.
On the floor, Sam rolled to his right, pinning the gunmen beneath him. In one lightening fast move, he raised his fist and delivered a savage blow to the mans jaw, feeling the heavy bone crack under his knuckles.
His arm continued to circle around, and he grabbed the gun at the man's waist. Jerking it up it up, he cocked it at the same time, and pointed the barrel at the gunman. He fired off a rapid shot, the slug taking the man in the middle of his forehead.
Swinging the gun to his left, he cocked and fired again, hitting the other man in the throat. The man dropped the gun he had just pulled and grabbed his neck, his eyes bulging, as warm blood poured through his fingers.
Sam cocked the .44 again, intent on spinning around and taking out Jarvis and Adams next, when Coulter calmly stepped forward and planted one on the side of his head with the thick stock of his rifle.
Sharps mind exploded with pain, and a second later everything went dark.

Sharp awoke sometime later, laying on a hard flat surface, his head splitting. Groaning, he rolled from his back to his side as fireworks exploded behind his eyes.
"Glad to see yer awake, Boy. I was staring to get worried."
Sam spoke, his throat and mouth feeling as dry as cotton, "Zeb. Where are we?"
He heard the old man sigh, "We're in jail."
"Is it dark in here?"
"Wall, hell ya it is. Them bastards wouldn’t leave no lights on fer us."
Groaning, he said, "Good. For a second there, I thought I was blind."
Zeb was quiet for a moment, then he said, "Ya know, that was a stupid-fool thing ya did back there, standing in a room with twenty armed men. I'm surprised they didn’t shoot ya."
"Thanks."
"Naw, thank you. I know you's jest tryin' to protect me."
Sharp shivered. He was freezing. "Is there any blankets in here?"
"Nope. No blankets, no cots, not even a pisser. Just the floor."
"Great." Sharp groaned as he tried to sit up.
"Don’t worry, Son, we aint gonna be in here fer long."
"Really?"
"Nope. They plan on hangin' us tomorrow at noon."


"What!" Sam yelled, then grabbed his head as a sharp pain threatened to knock him out again.
"Yeah, Jarvis was pretty pissed when he woke up. He said they were gonna hang us from that big oak tree at the edge of town, so if there were any others like us around, they'd get the message."
"Like us?"
"Yep. What was that he called us… double eagles? Or something' like that. He said cause we were workin' fer him, and spying fer her at the same time."
Sam groaned, "I think you mean, double agents."
"Whatever."

They sat in the dark, each contemplating what would take place the following day, and the turn of events that had brought them there.
Sharp wasn’t as upset about hanging, as he was about Zeb hanging right along with him. He should have tried harder to get him to quit, to pack it up and get the hell out of town.
"Zeb?"
"Yeah, Son?"
"I'm sorry you got mixed up in all of this."
"Wall, I aint. I've been thinking' about this, and I wouldn’t trade one minute of what we've been through together, for all the planted gold in that creek up yonder."
"How can you say that? You should be working for the railroad right now, shooting Indians and buffalo and collecting a paycheck, instead of sitting in this jail cell waiting to die."
"Shit, Son, I've been on my way to dying since the day I was born. Everybody is, we all gotta go sometime."
"But not like this."
"Why not like this? It sure beats the hell out'a the alternative."
"What alternative?"
Zeb snorted, "Dying of old age. Boy, I'll tell ya, getting old's a bitch. Everything you once had, is in the process of leavin' or stoving up, or it jest plain ol' don’t work anymore. Your body hurts, yer bones ache, yer eyes and hearing goes. That aint no way to die. But, this here? It leaves a man his dignity."
Sharp didn’t know how much dignity could be found twirling at the end of a hangman's noose, but he figured Zeb was just trying to make him feel better.
He heard a deep sigh in the dark, just a few feet away, "You remember that first night when I rode into your camp? And I told you I was headed up north to get a job with the railroad?"
"Yeah."
"Wall, I sorta lied 'bout that."
"What?"
"The truth is, I had just come from up north. The men at the railroad laughed at me when I tried to get myself hired on. They told me I was too old to be of any use to them. When I seen your campfire that night, I was probly at my lowest yet. I figured that if I talked to you, told you my stories, that maybe I wouldn't feel like such a loser. I wouldn’t feel so worthless.
Sharp groaned, "Your not worthless, Zeb. And those men at the railroad were fools to pass you up."
"Well, anyway, I just wanted to thank you for taking me in and letting me tag along. I know'd you didn’t want me with you at first, I know'd it when you kept trying to shake me off. But at the time, I kept tellin' myself that you needed me, needed my help. But the truth was, Son, I needed you a hellofa lot more than you ever needed me."
Sam