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Author Carol Gambill
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Category:
Western
Publisher: Carol Gambill
ISBN-10: 1499257538
Pages: 254
Copyright: January 2015
ISBN-13: 9781499257533
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Springville, Iowa 1871: Complications arise when a Federal Marshal transports two prisoners across Iowa territory.
Excerpt
Sheriff Maylee pushed through the office door. Reese Barstow straightened in his seat, and shot up from behind the desk.
“Sheriff!?” was all that Reese was able to get out before Sheriff Maylee wanted news of where Ms. James was. Jeb Maylee wasted no time as he moved over to the gun cabinet, and unlocked the rack securing a number of long guns. He grabbed four rifles, and slapped them into Reese’s arms.
“Sheriff, that’s what I want to tell you.”
Maylee opened a locked drawer where several containers of shells were tucked safe. “Well, hell-fire, tell me something Reese, ‘cause I got a mess of men to organize.”
“Ms. James isn’t here.”
“She, at the hotel then?”
Half-hearing what Reese was trying to say, Maylee flipped opened the chamber of his revolver, spun it around and reached for several bullets in the container.
“Sir, she left town?”
Maylee stopped, and peered up from his fingers that were working the bullets into the gun chamber. “What in-the-hell ye’ mean she left?!”
“I mean she ducked out of here like a prairie dog skirtin’ a coyote.” Reese waited for some kind of response other than the stunned stare at the revolver.
“She headed in the direction of her homestead,” Reese noted, but it was not what Maylee wanted to hear when he let out a curse, and proceed to load the gun more determinedly.
“Dammit, Reese, how could you let her―?” he started to scold but realized it would do little good and would just lay waste to precious time. The chamber clicked shut.
“All right, fill me in what was discussed, and don’t hold back details. I want to know exactly what’s occurring at Ms. James homestead before we get there. I’m not up to having any surprises, especially when dealing with these men.”
Reese replied, “Right,” and pressed out the door behind Maylee. The guns along Reese’s arms clanked and clattered while the plank-boarding of the walkway quaked beneath their dusty boots. When they saw six additional men waiting at the livery, the only indication to the precarious situation, in which the posse would ultimately face, was when Sheriff Maylee hesitated and momentarily arched his brow in disbelief with how Maddie had misconstrued the men’s identities.
One by one, Maylee swiftly dispersed the rifles to every man with strict instructions. Sheriff Maylee directed the men to assemble and then repeat an oath; he then deputized them as official lawmen, and giving optimism that Maddie James would safely be returned to town.
A short time later, the posse was off to bring Maddie James back alive, and possibly others. Through the center of town, townsfolk in their carefree stroll in front of storefronts quickly turned in wonder at the multitude of horses, charging and rattling the ground. Several others nonchalantly crossing the road quickly scurried from the path of the hotfooted posse.
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