He chuckles. “I wish you two the best of luck. And, if you make it out of this, a long life tog—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter, abruptly shoving the door openand stepping out into the lantern-lit alley. Pleased for more than one reason when he slips out behind me without another word and takes off in the opposite direction.
Last thing I fucking need right now—yetanotherperson in this town getting some idea about what Cypress and I are to each other. Which is nothing. Apart from a growing source of agitation. And a likely death sentence.
No sooner have I taken a couple steps toward the side of the building than I’m able to make out their voices, the echoes of their threats, the cruelty of their laughter that gets louder the closer I get. I don’t even need to hear the exact words to know exactly what they’re saying, to understand that they’ve already trapped him in the few minutes that have passed.
A quick check around the darkened corner reveals there are indeed seven of us total in this alley, more than enough to make it plenty crowded, and I take stock of each man’s exact location before proceeding. Fortunately, Maddock is closest to me, a consequence of him standing where he is at the least risk of being seen while he’s got the kid standing closest to the street playing lookout—even though he seems to want to do anything but look at what’s happening. At what he thinks isaboutto happen.
“Well, well, here he is,” Maddock says when I come into view. “You really are a man of your word after all.”
“Try to be,” I reply, my gun raised and aimed behind him. “We’ll see how the next few minutes go.”
As I already knew, Maddock’s other three men are in the middle of the alley, two of them with their guns out and hanging uselessly at their sides while the other has blood on his raised fist, its intended mark the last man counted and the only one not currently standing. At least, not on his own.
“Fuckin’toldyou to wait,” I snap, adjusting my aim slightly. “Let him go. Now.”
Maddock’s head tilts in confusion as he looks at me then behind him, pausing the straightening of his suit after whatever scuffle had occurred before I got here. He sighs, waving a hand at his man. “Do as he says,” Maddock tells him, laughing slightly. “Suppose he at least wants it toappearto be self-defense.”
I realize I don’t remember this man’s name either. Not that it really matters, since he might as well be another of Maddock’s limbs for how easily he bends to his boss’s every whim. Although right now, heishesitating. “You sure? We turn him loose and—”
“Now,” I repeat, cocking my gun to help him along. “Let him go.”
Far quicker this time, he relaxes the hold he has on his captive’s neck, and I get my first true glimpse of Cypress as he sags against the wall, then takes a jagged breath in.
Alive. At least he’s still alive. And, somehow, still smiling.
“There…” He wheezes, brushing the blood from a busted lip with his thumb. “There you are, wolf. Thought maybe you were going to miss our appointment.”
“Reallynotthe time, Cypress,” I reply, watching as the understanding of where my allegiance currently lies ripples through the rest of the crew. Something I confirm for them when I decisively turn my gun on Maddock, my finger hovering near the trigger. “You lost. Make your peace with it, and let him be on his way.”
“You must be joking,” he says, eyes widening as he glances first at Cypress then between my face and the gun. “You—you work for me. You said it yourself in there, we have adeal.”
“And I told you when we made it that I wouldn’t be finishing your fights for you. You knew that when you sat down at the table.”
“He cheated,” Maddock argues. “All week I’ve been winning against him until tonight when he—”
“When he stopped letting you,” I finish for him, gettingimpatient. “He’s beenlettingyou win all week.”
“No,” Maddock argues again, even more adamantly this time, regardless of this being the one argument he could actually claim in his favor. “He hasn’tletme do a goddamn thing.”
I glance at Cypress, and from the widening grin on his face, I can tell Maddock is acting exactly as he knew he would, as he’s seen others like him do before.
Pretty smart, the way he lets them box themselves in. Playing it straight on the one game they’ll swear he cheated on, then cheating at every game they’ll swear he played straight. In the end, he probably doesn’t even need to cheat them. Their own pride beats them worse than he does.
“Tonight,” Maddock is still saying. “He manipulated the deck. He had cards stashed. Something.”
“Witnesses say otherwise,” I counter, wondering how close the older man is to reaching the sheriff’s office. He didn’t have far to go, but it’ll take them time to round up reinforcements. Time I’m not sure I have. “There’s local folk who will swear to it. You need to stand down.”
“We had an agreement,” Maddock reiterates. “Inwriting, by your own request might I add, that you look after my interests.”
“Iamlookin’ after your interests,” I try to reason. “You do this and you’re not making it to Kansas with the herd.”
“Won’t if we don’t either,” mutters the man who had Cypress against the wall, though he falls silent again as soon as Maddock gives him and everyone else in the alley a warning look. ‘Course, not everyone heeds it.
“He bet the horses,” Cypress explains, by no means cowed even though he’s still wheezing slightly as he straightens. “Lost every one of them along with every dollar in his pocket.” His head tilts, regarding Maddock with an expression that’s once more bordering on delighted. “Which, mightIadd, makes that deal completely void.”
It takes me longer than it should to click into place, although in my defense I have a few things on my mind right now, like how Maddock is twitching toward his gun again. Before he does something stupid, I step forward, placing the barrel of my gun against his skull.