Pearl River Junction: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

75

Jeb looked at Delay.

“You gotta kill him,” Jeb whispered to Delay.

“How?”

“Face him,” Jeb said. “Man to man.”

“He won’t agree to that.”

“Sure he will,” Jeb said, “and while you’re doin’ that, we’ll get as much money from the vault as we can. Once he’s dead, we’ll be able to get past the rest.”

Brown was working on the vault, but he was sweating so much his fingers were slick.

“Talk to him,” Jeb said.

Delay nodded, holstering his gun.

“Shaye!”

The guard looked at Shaye, who waved at him to be quiet.

“What is it, Delay?”

“You and me, Shaye,” Delay said. “I want out and I’m comin’ through you—unless you’re scared.”

Shaye thought about it. If he could put Delay down, it might make Jeb think differently about the whole thing.

“Who is this guy?” the guard asked. “Can you take him?”

“I guess I’ll have to see.”

“If you agree,” the man said, “he’ll step out and I can gun him.”

“No,” Shaye said, “if I agree, then I’ll face him—one on one. If he beats me, you’ll be on your own—unless you want to leave now.”

The guard considered the offer.

“You’ll have to put your gun down,” Shaye added. “If I agree, this is not a good situation for you. If you want to leave, I’ll understand.”

“Is it just you and me?” the guard asked.

“The sheriff is around back,” Shaye said, “and there’s three more deputies outside.”

The guard started to sweat and for a moment Shaye thought he’d take him up on his offer.

“Okay,” the man said, “I—I’ll stay.”

“Good man.”

“Shaye! What’s your answer?” Delay shouted.

“You step out, Vic,” Shaye said. “We’ll do it.”

Shaye didn’t know what he’d do if Delay told him to come back there, instead. If he agreed, there’d be two other guns back there and he couldn’t depend on them to play fair. But he figured Jeb would send Delay out, so he could start on the vault.

“Okay,” Delay said. “I’m comin’ out. I’m gonna take you at your word, Shaye.”

“I give you my word.”

Shaye holstered his gun, motioned the guard to move out from behind the tellers’ cages, and then followed. There was room for all of them back there, but he wanted more.

Then, as an afterthought, Shaye turned to the people against the wall and said, “Everybody out—now!”

They didn’t wait to be told twice. The employees and the only customer ran for the door, shocked into movement despite the fear that had them frozen in place.

Samms and Leslie began to slowly walk up the street in the direction of the bank. Across from them Thomas and James kept pace. All four knew that the minute one of them stepped into the street it would be time for guns.

“What are we doin’?” James asked.

“We’ll just follow them,” Thomas said. “Just keep up with them and see what they’re gonna do.”

“What if they try to go into the bank?” James asked.

“That’s when we’ll stop them.”

So they all kept moving—until they were within sight of the bank. Thomas and James could see the bank from their side of the street. Samms and Leslie could not. And the guard on the roof couldn’t see the outlaws, just the lawmen, but still had no reason to think anything was amiss.

And then all of them saw people running from the bank.