“Harkner knows what he’s doing,” someone else answered.
The five men stood there, looking undecided for a moment.
“George,” the one called Jimbo warned, “Jake Harkner ain’t no ordinary man.”
“He dies easy like any other. There’s five of us and only one of him.”
“From what I hear, those are odds in his favor, not ours.” Jimbo yanked little Tricia closer. “He’s already killed Sam and the others we left outside.” Little Tricia was shaking and sobbing. “Shut up, kid!” He jerked at her again.
“Stay calm, Button,” Jake yelled to her from behind the wagon. “When Grampa starts shooting, you lay down flat and cover your ears, understand?”
The little girl nodded, unable to stop crying.
“Promise me, Button!”
“I…promise,” the girl answered in jerking sobs. Her curly red hair was stuck to her cheeks from tears.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jimbo growled, looking nervous now.
“Cuando comience a disparar, Teresa, quiero que te tires el suelo con Button!” Jake stayed out of sight as he shouted the words.
A trembling Teresa nodded. “Sí, señor.”
“What did he just tell you?” the man holding her asked, pressing his gun against her neck. That man would be the hardest to hit—Teresa was a hefty woman who made a good shield. He’d have to make his shots count. He’d hate to have to go home and tell Rodriguez his wife was dead.
“I… He just say to stay calm,” Teresa lied to her abductor. Jake had told her to hit the ground with Tricia as soon as he started shooting.
It was a standoff. Jake watched Randy. “You know what to do, Randy,” he called to her. “Stay calm.”
“Jake, they’ll kill you!”
“How well do you know me, Randy Harkner?”
Randy choked from tears, unable to reply.
“I asked you a question, Randy!”
Randy nodded. “I…know how good you are…with those guns. Jake, I love you!” Randy glanced at the other two women. “When he starts shooting, lay down flat.”
“Shut up!” Callahan told Randy, ramming the barrel of his gun hard against her cheekbone, making Randy wince with pain. “We’re leavin’, Harkner,” Callahan practically screamed, “with the women and the money! And you ain’t gonna stop us!” He turned to the man holding Tricia. “Let the brat go!”
“I ain’t lettin’ go of my only shield! Harkner will shoot me the minute I’m in the open!”
“Wrong, Mister!” Jake shouted in reply. “I’ll shoot you even though you’re holding her!”
“Don’t do it!” Susan’s husband pleaded.
Before the robbers had time to choose, Jake made his move. He darted into the open from behind the wagon, his guns booming. He shot so fast that onlookers could hardly count how many times he pulled the triggers. They’d banked on him not shooting. How many men would be so confident that their bullets would hit the right target? Townspeople watched in wide-eyed shock, a few women screaming and covering their ears, others turning and looking away.
Jimbo fell backward with a hole in his head, and Tricia went down with him. She screamed in terror as she wiggled from under her dead abductor, but just like her grandpa had told her, she stayed flat on the ground, putting her hands over her ears. At almost the same time, the man holding Teresa fell forward. Quickly, Teresa crawled to Tricia and lay over her to protect her.
The horses tied in front of the bank let out screaming whinnies at the roar of guns and managed to jerk away, pulling out the hitch post and running off, the post bouncing along with them.
By then, George Callahan was also down. Randy hit the ground as well, and by the time she did, the men who’d been holding bags of money had been shot. One of them remained squirming in pain.
It happened in a matter of seconds, so fast that onlookers remained stunned and unmoving. After the shattering boom of all the gunplay, the street grew dead quiet except for Tricia’s whimpers and the trickle of water that poured from a hole in a watering trough. The stream rinsed over the face of George Callahan, washing away the blood that trickled from a hole in his forehead.
“Jesus God Almighty,” Till Medley told the other men standing at the saloon door. “We wanted to see Jake Harkner in action, and we sure as hell did!”
People came out doors and from behind barrels and wagons and whatever else they’d used for cover.
Randy looked over at Tricia and Teresa as she got to her knees. “Tricia!”
“She is fine, Miranda,” Teresa told her as she quickly looked the sobbing little girl over. She smoothed Tricia’s red hair away from her face, then managed to get to her feet and pick the girl up in her arms. “I will look after her. Go to your husband.”