Once a Ranger (23 page)

“Sounds good to me. Will he be tough?”

“I guess, with a murder charge hanging over him. He probably will try to deny us his arrest.”

“How in the hell did you three figure all this out?” Enlowe asked.

“We came a long ways to get him.”

“What will you do next?'

“Slap cuffs on him and load him on a stage for Soda Springs so he can't get set loose by some high-priced lawyers hereabouts. Then he would keep his ass in Mexico.”

Enlowe laughed. “You got quite a rep from your Ranger days. I've heard lots of stories about you when you were a captain. I'm glad to get to work with you.”

They shook hands and Vance returned.

“The dogs are asleep.”

“You and Noble hold the back gate. Enlowe and I will come in the front door.”

The two nodded and left. Guthrey and the Ranger followed them down the stairs. Soon he and Enlowe crossed the street. With a skeleton key, Guthrey unlocked the front gate, which squeaked loud on the hinges.

Enlowe, six-gun in hand, went up the front steps. They stood aside of the door and he knocked. “Texas law. Open this door.”

A woman screamed down the stairs, “The dogs will eat them up!”

No, they won't
. He and Enlowe both stomped the door at the same time. The latch broke and it flew open.

A shot was fired at them from the upper balcony and both men returned fire. A man, half-dressed, fell off the rail in a thick haze of gun smoke and crashed onto the table on his back.

“Oh my God, you've killed him!” the woman screamed, coming down the stairs in a nightgown.

Guthrey didn't care if the fool was dead. No way to win a shoot-out with Rangers, even if one of them was a former Ranger. His fate was sealed when he decided to fight his way out.

Enlowe wrenched the gun from McAllen's limp hand. But even in the eye-watering smoke, Guthrey knew McAllen had seen his last look on this earth. The case was over.

* * *

A
T THE JUSTICE
of the peace hearing, Guthrey and his men were cleared of any wrongdoing. They shook hands with the captain and Enlowe, then walked two blocks to catch the westbound stage.

In the middle of the night three days later in Steward's Crossing, Cally met them with a buckboard and two horses for the men.

Guthrey gathered her up and kissed her. “Good to see you again, girl.” He hugged her face to his.

“Good to see you too, sir. Come next June there's going to be three of us.”

“Best damn news I ever heard.” He swung her around. “The very best. Hey, guys, we're having a baby.”

“Here?” Noble asked.

“Lord, no. Next May, and you are all invited to his christening.”

Noble squeezed his whiskers. “What if it's a girl?”

“Then I'll have to think of another name.”

“You dang sure will. Damn, missy, it don't seem right, but I'll be pleased when you have one.”

“See you two in a couple of days. Me and Cally are going up on Mount Graham for a couple of days and cool things off.”

The two laughed at him. He loaded Cally on the spring seat and they headed for the cabin. Hadn't thought much about it in a while but he didn't miss being a Ranger anymore.