Defiant (23 page)

“Well, we want to help in any way we can,” Eve told Rachel with a smile. After what Rachel had done to save her and Jacob when the stagecoach was attacked, this was the least she could do. “This is our town and we want to keep it safe.”

“Thank you,” Rachel responded with heartfelt emotion. “I think if we just do what we did the last time we went into the Last Chance, it should work.”

Martin led the way with Rachel.

They were on a mission to save souls and lives.

Chapter Twenty-three

Clint and Nick made their plan to put an end to the Tucker Gang once and for all as they walked over to the Last Chance.

“Wait outside for me,” Clint told him. “I’ll tell them I want to talk to them privately, and when we come out of the saloon, we can make the arrests. That way nobody will get hurt if any shooting starts.”

“I’ll stay in the alley until I see you.”

They shared a look of understanding, and then Clint entered the saloon.

“It’s about time you got here,” Trey said as Clint came up to the bar. “Couple of boys back there have been looking for you.”

“I’ll have to check that out,” Clint answered.

He waited while the bartender poured him a drink. He paid him and then, with drink in hand, made his way to the back of the room where several poker games were going on. He spotted
Tuck and Ax at one of the tables but saw no sign of Walt.

“Evening, boys,” he greeted them.

They acknowledged him but kept their concentration on their hands.

Clint relaxed and waited, keeping an eye out around the room for any surprises. Everything seemed normal. He turned his attention back to the poker game just as Tuck started to shout in excitement and rake in a huge pot.

“I won!”

“Damn!” Ax was snarling. His mood was ugly, for he’d lost a goodly sum to Tuck in spite of having three jacks.

“You ready to step outside and talk?” Clint asked them now that the hand was over.

Tuck looked up at him and sneered, “Hell, no. There ain’t no way I’m quitting now. I’m winning, and winning big! Just sit yourself down and relax for a while. Lady Luck is on my side tonight, and I’m taking full advantage of it.”

“But we need to talk. I want to know what you found out today,” Clint insisted.

“I said I’m winning and I’m not leaving the game,” Tuck told him angrily. “Ax is a loser. Talk to him.”

“I’m not quitting either,” Ax countered. “I want my money back.”

“Good luck,” Tuck taunted him.

“Where’s Walt?” Clint asked, glancing around the saloon once more.

“He’s playing another game,” Ax chuckled as
he waited for the next hand to be dealt. “He disappeared upstairs with one of the girls a while ago, and I ain’t heard from him since.”

Clint was glad to learn there were only the two of them downstairs, but it still didn’t help him get Tuck and Ax outside so he and Nick could make the arrests. He was tense as he sat down at a nearby table to watch them play out their new hands.

Martin was leading the group down the street toward the Last Chance. When they got within a block of the saloon, he stopped and said a short prayer for the protection and safety of everyone involved that evening. That done, they started off again for the bar.

Rachel and Michelle stayed right up front with her father. Rachel was tense as she carried the gun hidden in the pocket of her skirt. She prayed she wouldn’t have to use it, but it was good to know she had it with her—just like on the stagecoach trip.

As they neared the Last Chance, they could hear the rowdy music coming from inside. They reached the swinging doors, and Martin started to lead them in a song.

Nick had been keeping an eye on the saloon from the alleyway across the street when he caught sight of Reverend Hammond and his group walking up the sidewalk. Knowing there might be trouble, he came out just as the reverend led his
followers into the Last Chance. And as they passed through the door, there was no mistaking Michelle and Rachel following Reverend Hammond inside.

If they hadn’t been church folks, Nick would have been cussing them all for getting in the middle of a showdown with the Tucker Gang. Somehow he managed to control the urge. He waited for a few moments, trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation. When he heard Trey’s shouts all the way across the street, he knew he had to take action. He started after them to try to get the church folks out of the saloon before things got dangerous.

Martin led the way inside the Last Chance and encouraged his followers to sing even louder.

“What the hell—?” Trey raged at the sight of them coming though the doors. He’d thought this was going to be an easy night. He’d thought things were going to be nice and quiet, but he’d been wrong. “Get out of here, preacher man! Get out now!”

“Peace be with you,” Martin told him as he came to stand before him at the bar.

“The hell with your peace!”

Martin was shocked by his blasphemy but continued to try to preach to him. “We’ve come to help you,” he said, looking around the crowded saloon.

“I don’t want or need your help! I said get out
of here, and I mean it! I don’t want you in here disrupting my business and causing trouble!”

“But we’ve come to save you,” Martin went on, facing him down.

“I don’t need no damned saving! My business needs saving from you! Now get the hell out of here!”

“We’re not going anywhere.”

Trey was ready to use force if necessary, but he thought better of it for the moment. As the reverend and his followers continued to sing their hymns, he went down to the end of the bar to speak with Chip, one of his regular customers.

“Go get the sheriff! And make it fast!” he ordered, swearing under his breath. “I want them arrested tonight, not just chased out of here! I want to make sure they leave and never come back!”

“I’ll see what I can do, but it’ll cost you,” Chip said with a grin as he drained his drink.

Trey set a bottle of Chip’s favorite whiskey in front of him. “It’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”

Chip headed out, intent on finding the lawman. He didn’t see Nick coming across the street.

Clint was waiting for Tuck and Ax to finish playing their hands when he heard the ruckus in front. He looked up to see Reverend Hammond marching into the saloon followed by Rachel, her mother, Michelle, and several others who he guessed were members of the church.

Clint had a feeling he knew exactly what they were trying to do, and he was worried. Michelle must have told them what was going to happen, and they thought they could help. Prayers could be powerful, but at tense times like this, the presence of the church group was more of a hindrance than a help. The gunfire could start up at any time, and he didn’t want Rachel and the others to be in harm’s way.

“Hey, McCullough!” one of the drunks called out to him from another table. “Lookee there! Your little sweetie from the other night is back! She’s looking your way, so she must be back to try to save your soul again.”

Clint glanced toward Rachel, and across the room, their gazes met and locked. He had missed her desperately and wanted nothing more in that instant than to get up and go to her and take her in his arms, but he couldn’t. What was going down tonight was deadly, and he wanted her to be safe.

The drunk went on, “Or maybe she came back looking for Ed again since she had such a good time with him the other night. What do you think?”

The men sitting with him were laughing loudly at his drunken humor.

Clint tore his gaze away from Rachel and turned his attention back to Tuck and Ax. “I think she’s probably here with her father to try to save all of us.”

“Pretty as she is, she can save me any old time,” Ed said.

“Don’t go getting any ideas,” Clint warned him. “She is the preacher’s daughter.”

The others piped down and tried to ignore the disruption the church people were causing.

Clint took a drink of his whiskey and wondered how to handle the situation. He had to get Rachel out of the Last Chance as quickly as possible. But how?

Rachel’s heartbeat had quickened when she’d seen Clint seated at a table in the back. She loved him so much and she ached to be with him. She was relieved to know she’d gotten there before any trouble had started.

Rachel had just begun to make her way to the back of the room to pretend to preach to the gamblers when Nick came through the swinging doors, looking very angry. Michelle reached out and grabbed Rachel’s arm to stop her from going any farther.

“What’s going on here?” Nick demanded, confronting Reverend Hammond.

“We’re here praying for lost souls,” he responded.

“Deputy—I want them out of here!” Trey yelled. “I’m trying to do business here, and all they’re doing is causing trouble! We don’t go in their church and gamble, so why are they coming here to pray?”

“I think we’re in trouble,” Michelle whispered to Rachel, seeing Nick’s furious expression.

“No, we’re not. We’re helping,” Rachel insisted quietly.

Nick was determined not to let the church folks get caught in the middle of what was about to happen. “I need you all to leave the Last Chance and go back to the church, right now.”

“We can’t do that, Deputy,” Martin told him, gesturing for his followers to keep singing. “We’re on a mission tonight.”

“That wasn’t a request,” Nick countered. “It was an order.”

Rachel and Michelle moved forward to speak with him as the others kept singing.

“Nick, we have to do this. We came here to help you and Clint. We thought this might work—” Michelle began to explain.

“If you want to help,” he ground out in a low voice, “you’ll leave right now and get as far away as you can. We need to know that you’re someplace safe where we won’t have to worry about you. Clint and I are lawmen. We can handle this,” he stated. Then he looked at the preacher. “Reverend, get these ladies out of here.”

“They are here of their own free will to try to save souls,” Martin insisted.

“And I’m telling you that if you don’t exit the saloon right now, you’re all going to be under arrest. Do I make myself clear?” Nick demanded.

Rachel and Michelle had never seen Nick so adamant or so furious. He was definitely a man
to be reckoned with. They realized he was probably right. In wanting to help him and Clint, they had only made things more difficult.

“We’ll pray on it,” Martin offered, wanting to ease the tension between them.

“You’d better do more than that, preacher man!” Trey shouted, picking up his shotgun.

Clint had been trying to ignore what was going on, but when he saw Trey take out his shotgun, he got up and strode to the front of the saloon. He wanted to defuse the situation if he could.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here tonight, another prayer meeting at the Last Chance?” he asked, looking at Rachel. “I would have thought you were smart enough to stay away from here after what happened the last time you stopped by to try to save souls.”

Rachel met his gaze and could see the worry reflected in his eyes. “We have a calling to help those in need.”

“You need to leave. From the looks of Trey over there, you might be safer finishing your praying and singing outside.”

“He saved you the last time, and he’s saving you again!” Trey shouted at her. “You’d better listen to the man!”

“Leave. Now,” Nick commanded.

The church group looked at the reverend, who nodded in acquiescence. They stopped singing and started praying as they filed out of the Last Chance.

The customers were hooting and laughing at them.

Reverend Hammond heard their hateful, bawdy remarks and turned to address them. “The name of this sinful place is the Last Chance. Hear the Lord’s call or you may be facing your last chance at spending eternity in heaven.”

Martin followed the others from the den of iniquity, praying in his heart that Clint and Nick could make the arrests without violence.

“I’ll make sure they move on,” Nick called out to Trey, so the bartender would relax and put his gun away.

Clint stepped outside to watch Nick do his work. He stayed by the doors so he could see what was going on inside, and he was glad that Tuck and Ax were too busy gambling to be distracted by the church people trying to save them.

It took Nick only a moment to tell the reverend to move on; then he came back to speak with Clint.

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s take them down now.”

The two men shared a determined look and walked back into the Last Chance together.

Chapter Twenty-four

Chip reached the sheriff’s office and though he didn’t see anyone around, he went in thinking the sheriff or his deputy might be in back.

“Sheriff Reynolds? Are you here?” Chip called out.

“I’m locked up! Get me out of here!” Pete shouted from his confinement, unable to believe his good luck.

Chip tried to get into the cell area, but found the door locked. “It’s locked, Sheriff. Where’s the key?”

“I don’t know where it is! Break the damned door down if you have to!”

Chip did just that, kicking the door in violently. He rushed into the cell area to find the sheriff locked up like a common criminal.

“What are you doing in there?”

“That gunslinger Kane McCullough did this! I think he’s trying to pull off a robbery tonight, and I’m pretty sure he’s working with Deputy Evans,”
he lied. “I’ve got to get out of here and stop them! Go get the key and let me out!”

“Where is it?”

“It should be hanging on the wall by my desk,” he directed.

Chip hurried off to look for the key. “McCullough is over at the Last Chance right now,” he called back.

“At least we know where he is. What about Nick?”

“I haven’t seen him around tonight,” Chip said. He searched where the sheriff had told him but found no trace of the cell key.

“Any luck finding it?” Pete called out, figuring Nick or Clint might have taken the key with them.

“No. It’s not here.”

“All right, there’s an extra key in the back of the bottom drawer in the desk. If you can’t find that one, we’ll have to break this damned cell door down, too!”