Little Sharpshooter Chap 19

Randy hurried to get to Al before he started banging on the doors of the stable. The stable was not close to the boarding house so she had no idea if he was behaving himself. She opened the door as quietly as she could to not wake Trevor as she left. When she shut the door softly, someone cleared their throat and she jumped completely mortified at who was standing in the hall waiting for her.

“I was gonna see you durin’ the night but you let that little boy stay in there with ya. Probably wise.” The man she didn’t want to see stood in a dark corner in the hall. He slowly stepped closer to her.

Randy had already locked the door before she shut it. Her hands were instantly trembling too much to open it. She backed away from him down the hall closer to the stairs.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill ya. At least not yet.” He moved faster cornering Randy against the wall.

Randy moved her face away when he stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. He leaned in close to speak in her ear.

“I just want you to know that I’m watching ya. And ya did us a favor by tellin’ no one your pa was dead. Makes things so much nicer for me to keep track of ya without the law breathin’ down my neck. At least not until I’ve done what I wanted with ya.” He lifted a tendril of her hair so he could examine it. “Or maybe I might have a little fun. I haven’t made up my mind. Ernie warned me about how mean you can be though. He always was the weaker one of us and a little stupid too. Just so ya know, there’s no point in leavin’ town. We’ll find ya. Y’all will be outnumbered. I have no problem takin’ out every one of your friends just like I had no problem shootin’ your pa in the back.” He pushed her against the wall with one hand and pressed his nose against her neck and inhaled. “You smell like such a nice girl.”

Randy was ready to stomp on his foot when one of the guests opened a door next to her and stepped into the hall. The man from the room looked at the two of them and she was let go.

“I’ll be seein’ ya.” He gave a little wave as he ducked his head and jogged down the stairs.

“Are you all right?” the man asked.

“I will be now.” Randy nodded, folded her arms tight against her chest so he couldn’t see her shaking hands. She held her breath until she opened the door to her room. On her knees beside the bed, she shook Trevor’s shoulders with tears running down her cheeks.

“He’s gonna kill me. He’s watchin’ us. He might kill you.” Randy was wild with terror.

Trevor gripped her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. “Now what is this? Why are you all upset?”

“He was out in the hall waitin’ for me. He said he’s gonna kill me. He’s just waitin and wants to torture me. He said I did him a favor by not tellin’ anyone Pa was dead. What have I done?” Randy buried her face in her hands.

“Where is he now?”

“He left. I don’t know.”

“I’m gonna get Bronson.” Trevor threw on his trousers and ran out the door.

Bronson staggered in the room and kneeled in front of Randy.

She told him everything that was said. “I don’t even know his name.”

“I did some findin’ out. His name is Clyde. He’s one of those outlaws from Lincoln County that have been causin’ trouble with cattle for some time now. He was with a group that arrived here the day before yesterday. Clyde probably has it out for your pa because he broke up at least half of their gang. Most of them are in prison now.”

“He says he’ll follow us outta town and kill y’all as well.” Randy was still teary eyed.

“Now, Randy. What would your pa think of ya snivelin’ like this? What’s he been teachin’ ya all this time? How to be scared?”

Randy hung her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Why do I keep havin’ to remind ya? He taught you to survive and how to be brave. He prepared you for all this. I think we can beat Clyde. He’s a lot of talk. All guys like him are. He has no idea what your pa taught you. There are plenty of ways we can outsmart him and have a shot of leavin’ town without him trailin’ us. I have some ideas. You’ll need to play along though. I just need to line a few more things up and then I’ll tell ya the plan. Just don’t go anywhere alone. Trevor, ya probably need to go with her to take care of that horse before the stables let him loose.” Bronson stood up and with vigor he didn’t have when he entered the room, he headed out the door.

Randy still trembled when they went to the stables. Al was difficult to deal with due to her distress. Trevor took over and then took Randy back to her room. He sat on the bed with her curled up under his arm.

“He said he would have come in the room if you weren’t here.” She suddenly felt like she was nine again.

“Now I’m gonna sound like Bronson. What would your pa say about all this?” Trevor pushed her hair away from her face.

“He’d tell me to quit snivelin’ like Bronson said,” Randy answered. That just brought on more tears. “He’d ask me all the different things that Clyde might try and then he’d ask me how I would get out of it.”

“Have you done that?” Trevor made her look up at him.

She sighed. “No. But I will.”

Randy named off all the different scenarios that Clyde could try and what she would do in each situation. The more she listed, the more solutions she came up with, and the more at ease she was.

“Seriously, your pa taught you all that?”

“I think there’s more. I can’t remember them all. They come to me when I need them. He had his friends play games with me sometimes. They never liked to be mean to me. They usually weren’t. But they thought they were.” Randy sat up and dried her face on her sleeve. “I just need to look at Clyde differently. I give him too much power thinkin’ he’s better than me. Bronson was right. He has no idea what Pa has taught me. Pa always said that would be my strength. They would see a weak little girl but really I was a wildcat.” She smiled. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.” She was on her knees on the bed when she leaned over to kiss Trevor. His hands trailed around to the back of her neck. He held onto the hair at the base of her head holding her where she was so he could kiss her harder.

Bronson opened the door. Trevor let her go and she sat up straight.

“Oh, now I don’t know about this anymore.” Bronson shook his head, rubbed his face with his hand, and sat down in the wooden armchair kicking his legs out. “We got enough trouble without you two actin’ like this all the time.” He winked at Trevor.

Trevor flushed and glared at Bronson. He wouldn’t look at Bronson after that.

“Randy, I know you won’t like this but there’s a good reason for it. I wanna do what we did in Silver City again. But this time I wanna tell everyone your James Carter’s daughter. There are plenty of men here that know his name. Bein’ his daughter that is good with a gun will bring out all sorts of people. Some might be out to get revenge. But we won’t be alone. I talked with the deputy yesterday. He’s already bringin’ other lawmen, even a few U.S. Marshalls to town this afternoon. We got this plan and we can clean up a bunch of them here that they’ve been lookin’ to clear out. Most of those men don’t like your pa.”

“This sounds like an awful plan.” Trevor’s face was white with his eyes like saucers.

Randy examined her hands while she was lost in thought. “It sounds really dangerous.”

“I know. It is.” Bronson looked at them both. “Trevor, I don’t want ya there. I don’t want anyone to see you when we have our little contest. In fact you’re gonna be a second set of eyes. We will be at the far end of town and there’s a brothel there. I’ll talk to the madam and see if I can have you hide out in there with some lawmen. You can be their second set of eyes.  I was a Texas Ranger too and I’ve been almost sober for two days now. I ain’t completely useless when it comes to protectin’ us. ”

“Almost sober?” Randy asked.

“Yeah, I had somethin’ last night but nothin’ all day yesterday and nothin’ today so far.”

“It isn’t even lunch. That’s not even two days,” Trevor said.

“That’s the longest I’ve gone in a long time so don’t knock it, boy. Anyway. Randy I don’t want ya to worry. You got a sharp eye and I know your instinct is good.”

“But I can’t dodge bullets.” She shook her head with dread knotting up her chest.

“It won’t get that far.” Bronson stretched as he stood.

For some reason Randy didn’t quite believe he was all that confident.