“You want me to arrest that smart-ass kid, Jake?” Sheriff Sparks asked him.
Harkner watched Brad a moment. “No. Just get those three prisoners into the jail. Brian will be here soon to take a look at their injuries.”
Sparks sighed. “If you say so.”
“Juan, come take these horses over to Tobe’s,” the marshal ordered, and the old man eagerly obeyed. He led all five horses away, and Sheriff Sparks herded the three prisoners into the jailhouse, nudging them with his shotgun. Jeff’s heart pounded with anticipation as Harkner, still carrying a repeating rifle, walked closer to the angry young man on the boardwalk.
“Your pa robbed a bank and killed two men,” he announced loudly enough for all to hear. “Then he took refuge with some innocent ranchers, and he and his men defiled their fifteen-year-old daughter. Did you expect me to feel sorry for him? I threw your father down like a piece of garbage because that’s what he is.”
Brad’s eyes spit fire. “Anything my pa did ain’t no different from things you’ve done yourself,” the young man sneered, “including defilin’ women. Somebody should have shot you dead a long time ago, Harkner, and I aim to do it today!”
People mumbled.
“Sweet Jesus,” a man near Jeff muttered. “You stupid ass. You lookin’ to die?”
Jeff shot the man a glance and happened to spot a very nice-looking young man with a doctor’s bag standing near the marshal’s wife. He put an arm around her. The son-in-law. Harkner’s wife didn’t take her eyes off of her husband for one second as he stepped even closer to the much younger and very stocky man who had challenged him.
“Your father already tried shooting it out with me,” the marshal told his accuser. “You can see how that turned out.”
The two men behind Brad backed away.
“You’d better back off, Brad,” one of them told his friend.
“Your friends are talking sense,” Harkner told him. “Fact is, I’d suggest all three of you lift your guns and drop them. Sheriff Sparks can hold them for you until you cool off.”
One of them obeyed. “I don’t want no part of this,” he muttered as he unbuckled his gun belt and let it drop. He hurried around behind Brad and jumped off the boardwalk.
Jeff watched, spellbound. He’d never expected to see Jake Harkner in action today.
“I’m really not in the mood for this, Brad,” Harkner told the young man. He threw down his cigarette and stepped it out. “You’re young, and you don’t want to die yet—and I don’t want to be the one responsible—so why don’t you hand over that gun and go home?”
“You don’t scare me, Harkner.”
Jeff couldn’t imagine why any man would want to challenge Jake Harkner this way. In fact, the second man behind Brad also backed away, putting his hands in the air. “Leave me out of this,” he told Jake. He turned and ran back into the saloon, leaving Brad standing there alone, sweat stains on his shirt.
The marshal stepped even closer, still holding his rifle in one hand. “Last warning, Brad. I’m goddamn tired and don’t want any of this. Be on your way.”
“You worried, Harkner? Age catchin’ up with you?”
The air hung silent. “You don’t want to find out,” Harkner answered. “And I really don’t want to kill you. You’re no older than my own son.”
“Yeah? I’ll bet he loves his pa like I loved mine! That’s where we’re both different from you, ain’t we, Harkner? We loved our fathers!”
Miranda Harkner gasped. “Oh my God,” she said softly.
No one expected what happened next.
In one quick movement that gave Brad no time to react, Harkner slammed the butt of his rifle into the younger man’s chest with a violent punch that sent the kid flying backward. He landed against a stack of barrels, which crashed and rolled over the boardwalk and into the street. The marshal kicked more barrels aside and slammed the rifle butt across the side of Brad’s head. In a flash, he swung his rifle around and pressed the barrel against Brad’s forehead.
“Don’t do it, Jake!” Jeff heard Miranda Harkner say softly.
Jeff was sure Jake would pull the trigger right then and there and blow the young man’s brains all over the boardwalk. The stunning attack had been so quick and vicious that Jeff felt a sudden need to urinate in his fear.
“You’re goddamn lucky we’re in town and I have to abide by the law, kid!” Harkner growled. He moved the rifle aside and fired it into the boardwalk, right beside Brad’s ear.