Crow Bait

Four Against One

As Lancaster and Hermione stepped out the door he saw the four brothers standing shoulder-to-shoulder rather than fanned out, the way they should have been. They were probably used to facing men who wilted beneath their superior numbers, or had no experience in a gunfight. Neither was true of Lancaster.

“Hello, boys,” he said.

“What’re you doin’?” Sam asked. “Let Hermione go.”

“I don’t think so,” Lancaster said. “Drop your guns.”

The brothers exchanged glances with each other.

“What do we do, Hermione?” George asked.

Lancaster saw her shoulders rise and she took a breath, preparing to answer. But before she could Dan came busting out of the saloon, shouting, “What do you think you should do, you idiots? Kill him!”

Galvanized into action by someone actually making a decision, the four men went for their guns.

“No!” Hermione shouted, much too late.

Lancaster’s gun was already out…