Only one robber worked these parts and worked alone.
Jack Daily.
Within sight. He could get him.
He raced back to his horse and his woman. “Naomi, stay here. No matter what happens. Do not be seen.”
“Bobby...what is it?” Her beautiful eyes were round as new nickels.
This bounty would give him the means to start a life with Naomi. A new life. The life she deserved.
“There’s a gunman chasing the stage. He’s alone. I know him. There’s a bounty on his head of five hundred dollars. This is our chance, Naomi. Our chance. I can get him. I know it. Stay here and wait. I’ll be back for you. I promise you that.” He kissed her lips hard and fast, swung up on the horse, and galloped toward the action.
Bobby tried never to kill his prey. Live men were much easier to transport. He could tie them up and make them walk in front of him. One time, though, he’d inadvertently killed the man he was hunting. He’d tied him behind his horse and dragged him to the nearest town with wiring capabilities a hundred miles away. By the time he got there the body was so bedraggled to be nearly unidentifiable, and he’d had to fight for the right to collect his bounty. After that he took care to keep his quarries alive.
Daily, though, he’d have to kill. He couldn’t risk keeping the dangerous man alive, not when he had Naomi to think of. He couldn’t leave her vulnerable.
He didn’
t like to kill. Naomi would like it even less.
But it would be the last time.
The last bounty.
In a few seconds, he overtook Daily, who hadn’t yet managed to stop the stage. They were perilously close to where Bobby had left Naomi, and that unnerved him, but it couldn’t be helped. This was his one opportunity, and he’d learned long ago to take what fate offered.
Daily’s revolver was trained on the driver of the coach, and though he turned to see Bobby and a flash of recognition crossed his stern features, Bobby was quicker. At this angle, he didn’t have a good shot at the outlaw’s heart. His Colt already drawn, Bobby aimed for Daily’s upper arm, to dislodge him from his mount. He’d finish him off later.
He fired, and Daily fell to the ground, cursing. His horse galloped away, whinnying into the afternoon.
The stagecoach slowed, and Bobby shouted to the driver to pull back. That he was no threat.
Clearly the passengers weren’t convinced. An arm stretched through the window, pointing a gun in Bobby’s direction. Bobby swerved Thor to the right, missing the shot. No harm done.
Until a sound ripped through him.
The sound of heaven.
And of hell.
Naomi’s voice.
Naomi’s scream.
He turned toward it and his vision clouded. Naomi swayed, the blue fabric of her dress rippling in the soft prairie wind. Blood poured from her shoulder.
“No!” Bobby shouted, and raced toward her.
* * *
Blinding, piercing pain shot into Naomi, and she heard Bobby’s voice, deep and guttural.
“Noooooooooo....”
He rode toward her, his movements slow and deliberate, or was that in her mind? His beautiful face blurred, and then there were two of him, both catching her as she fell to the ground.
Her love.