Everett Brooks and the Dodge City Renegade: Part 5
Face-off in the Hollow.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Sorry about the mess.
Han Solo, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Everett Brooks and Caroline went into town early on a Sunday to enjoy a delectable breakfast together at the Hollow’s Grand Hotel. It had been little more than a week since their return from River City, and church bells pealed through the streets of Heaven’s Hollow, announcing the impending start of the morning service. Their dishes were cleared, Caroline stood up from the table, and Everett savored the last of his coffee.
Setting his cup down, Everett glanced at Caroline and saw her face held a queer expression, while her eyes were locked on the entryway of the hotel’s dining room. He swiveled in his seat to see what-or who-held Caroline’s rapt attention. His inquiring gaze fell upon a man he had never met before, but recognized all too well, flanked by a pair of grim looking Regulators.
The newcomer and his lackeys strode with a confident swagger over to their table, where the man haughtily helped himself to a seat across from Everett without so much as a word. The Regulators continued to stand behind him, silent and threatening.
“Do you know who I am?” the stranger drawled in a voice that was rich and smarmy, with an unmistakable undertone of menace.
“I certainly do…Mr. Skinner.”
Jack Skinner smiled an oleaginous grin underneath a close cropped beard flecked with white, then turned the calculating gaze of his storm gray eyes upon Caroline. “And who is this enchanting mare?”
Everett ground his teeth at the insult to his paramour, but he maintained his composure.
“Caroline,” he said evenly, “you go wait outside.”
“She can stay right where she is. I’ll get to her when I’m through with you.” Skinner smirked coldly, and the Regulators each drew a pistol, crossing their arms in front of them, guns pointed at the plank floorboards.
Everett, meanwhile, coolly drew one of his Open Top revolvers and resolutely placed it on the table in front of him. “And I say she goes.”
Jack Skinner spent several moments scrutinizing the gunslinger before he let out an exaggerated sigh of resignation. “Fine. She can go.”
Caroline was apprehensive, but Everett smiled reassuringly. “It’s alright. I won’t be far behind.”
She got up from her seat and quickly retreated into the hotel lobby. Skinner watched her leave with a leering, bemused expression before turning his attention back to Everett Brooks.
“You killed my men…and my boys,” he asserted indignantly. “They might’ve been good-for-nothing rabble-rousers what caused me a world of misfortune over the years, but they were still my sons.”
“In point of fact, it was the late sheriff of Heaven’s Hollow who killed your boys. I’m just sorry I wasn’t there to see it.”
“Still,” Skinner growled, “eight of my Regulators were bushwhacked in River City, and we both know that was damn sure your handiwork.”
“Damn sure was,” Everett agreed amiably.
“Well, I’m here to settle the score.” Jack Skinner gave an almost imperceptible nod, and his two gunhands raised their pistols. In a flash, Everett’s revolver leapt from the table to his hand, and a pair of gunshots roared in quick succession. Cries of shock and alarm from fellow patrons startled by the sudden outburst of violence echoed throughout the dining room. Everett set his sights on Jack Skinner, who sat frozen in stunned silence at the ruthless efficiency with which his men had been dispatched.
“I know ought to kill you. I know it. I’d save myself a whole heap of trouble if I just painted the floor with your brains right now.”
“Then why don’t you?” Skinner challenged. “Feeling altruistic, are we?”
“No, it ain’t that.”
“Then what is it? You had no problem butchering my men just now.”
“That’s cause they cleared leather on me. You haven’t. Least, not yet.”
“So, you’re going to let me live if I don’t draw down?” Skinner asked with a sinister gleam in his eyes. “That’s a mistake, and one you shouldn’t make.”
“Then go for that smoke wagon on your hip. You won’t, will you? Because you’re a coward. You ain’t got the sand to do the dirty work yourself.”
Jack Skinner fumed. “You’re going to regret not killing me when you had the chance.”
“I’m regretting it already,” Everett sighed as he holstered his revolver. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a good-lookin’ lady waitin’ for me to take her to worship the good Lord this morning.”
“Don’t you walk away from me, Everett Brooks! I’m not through with you!” Skinner raged.
“I already told you what to do to get my attention. But we both know you’re too yellow to do it. So, I’ll see you around,” Everett said without looking back. As he passed by the hotel’s front desk, he flipped a five dollar gold piece at the bewildered manager. “Sorry for the commotion.”
Everett Brooks walked out into a bright morning under a clear Montana sky, where Caroline was eagerly awaiting him. He squeezed her hand affectionately, then the two of them walked arm in arm down Main Street toward the whitewashed church gleaming jovially in the sunshine.
The End
Everett Brooks will return.
Afterword: To enhance the impact of this story, listen to the song below after you read.
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Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour and Elmer Kelton would be proud.
Skinner is going to get it in the end, his type ain't gonna change. What goes around comes around. This was a fun read!