Way of the Lawless Read online

  Way of the Lawless

  Butch Shilton and Joe Peters are on the run and think to hide out in a quiet township. The sheriff comes across them on a wanted poster and once again they have to hightail it. Trouble seems to follow the pals and they end up in the confines of the brutal Los Pecos penitentiary. Breaking out they flee over the border into Mexico only to fall foul of the notorious bandit Barca.

  They recruit a bunch of escaped convicts to fight Barca only to find they have made a pact with one pack of devils to fight another pack of devils. On top of that the prison guards are out scouring the countryside for the escapees. With enemies closing in on all sides there is nowhere to run. Could this be the end of the trail for Butch and Joe?

  By the same author

  Zacchaeus Wolfe

  Massacre at Empire Fastness

  Hammer of God

  Paths of Death

  Caleb Blood

  Wild Justice

  Maclean

  Hornstone

  Gun Barrel Justice

  Days of Death

  Writing as Elliot James

  Hot Spur

  Son of a Gun

  Hal Grant’s war

  Writing as Gary Astill

  Texas Rendezvous

  Writing as Henry Christopher

  Vengeance Unbound

  Writing as Jim Wilson

  Carson’s Revenge

  Way of the Lawless

  P. McCormac

  ROBERT HALE

  © P. McCormac 2017

  First published in Great Britain 2017

  ISBN 978-0-7198-2203-2

  The Crowood Press

  The Stable Block

  Crowood Lane

  Ramsbury

  Marlborough

  Wiltshire SN8 2HR

  www.bhwesterns.com

  Robert Hale is an imprint of The Crowood Press

  The right of P. McCormac to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him

  in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  For John Auerbach and Joe Gilbert

  CHAPTER 1

  ‘Butch, can you hear something?’

  ‘Sure, when I lean my head on your breast I can hear the beating of your heart.’

  ‘No, silly. I thought I heard a noise. Like someone moving around.’

  ‘Huh, maybe a rat.’

  A voice came out of the dark, loud and accusing:

  ‘It ain’t no rat, unless you’re talking about yourself.’

  ‘Father?’

  ‘Arrest that serpent, Sheriff.’

  A match flared in the dark as a lantern was ignited. Its light revealed a man and woman scrambling to their feet, dusting straw from their clothing.

  ‘Evening, Reverend. No need to get all riled up.’ The speaker grabbed a hat from a peg. A gunbelt hung from the same peg. ‘We were just sitting here in the dark, talking. People like privacy from time to time, and seeing as you banned me from your parlour I had no option but to meet Josephine in a quiet place like this. If I took her to my hotel room that would surely not have met with your approval. What’s a man to do, I ask you?’

  ‘Fella, shut your mouth.’

  A second figure loomed beside the preacher. The man who had lured the preacher’s daughter, Josephine, into the livery stables, saw the gleam of a star on the man’s waistcoat. Sheriff Stanley Richards was of stocky build with blunt features. Not only did the light from the lamp reflect from the star, it also gleamed dully on a Colt .45 in the sheriff’s hand.

  ‘I’m taking you down the hoosegow.’ There was a leer on the sheriff’s face as he held the man at gunpoint. ‘I’ve been going through some Wanted posters. Butch Shilton, wanted for murder. There’s more, but you know already all the crimes you’re guilty of.’

  ‘Butch!’ The girl was staring wide-eyed at her companion. ‘Is this true?’

  ‘Josephine, I swear to you I was framed. Judge Parsons had a particular grudge against me. He made up a pile of false charges and sentenced me to ten years in the pen. I never killed no lawmen. It was a gang of outlaws as jumped us and murdered that sheriff and his deputy and I got the blame for that.’

  ‘Oh, thou false-hearted man, for your tongue is like a sharp razor working deceitfully,’ Reverend Dinwiddie intoned. ‘Please Lord, deliver us from evil men, for the mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me.

  ‘Come away, my child. I will take you home and we will pray to God for your forgiveness. This vile creature has lured you from the paths of godliness. I thank the Lord we were in time to save you from this depraved monster.’

  ‘Hang on, Reverend Dinwiddie, Josephine is pure as new-fallen snow and I was hoping some of her righteousness would rub off on me.’

  ‘Humph,’ Sheriff Richards grunted. ‘You’re right, Reverend, this fella has the forked tongue of a serpent, sure enough. The best place for him is behind bars where he can’t do no more sinning and robbing and murdering and tempting young girls to sin with him.’

  ‘Sheriff, I ain’t like that, at all. Dang me, a fella has to put down roots somewhere, and I was figuring on settling in this here peaceable fine town of yours. But if all you can do is accuse me of crimes I did not commit then I will have no option but to shift my prospects on to someplace else.’

  ‘Well, you can shift your prospects into a cage of iron bars. You’re going to prison, Shilton, and I’m the man as is going to put you there.’

  ‘Come, Josephine.’

  The Reverend Dinwiddie held out his hand to his daughter. She cast a forlorn glance at Butch. His face was a study in injured innocence. Reverend Dinwiddie stepped forward to retrieve his daughter from the sinful influence of Butch and inadvertently moved in front of Sheriff Richards, leaving his gun unsighted. It was enough of an opportunity for Butch to make his play.

  He tossed his hat into the preacher’s face. Reverend Dinwiddie flinched and jerked back just as the sheriff was trying to edge round him to keep his gun sighted.

  ‘Damnit!’ the sheriff swore as the preacher stepped on his foot.

  Butch dodged between the two men, hooked an arm around the lawman’s neck and clamped his other hand on the gun. Josephine gasped and stepped back against the wall. Reverend Dinwiddie moved back also, staring apprehensively at the struggling men as they thrashed about, each trying to overturn the other.

  ‘Damn you, Shilton!’ the sheriff grunted. ‘You’ll hang for this. You ain’t staying in no prison cell. It’ll be a rope necktie for you.’

  Butch said nothing, concentrating all his efforts in overpowering the sheriff. Their boots stomped in the dirt floor as they wrestled.

  Reverend Dinwiddie watched anxiously as the men struggled.

  ‘Give me a hand there, Reverend,’ Sheriff Richards yelled.

  Reverend Dinwiddie stepped closer to the men and pulled Butch’s arm. He might as well have tugged at one of the uprights that held up the roof of the livery. Realizing how ineffectual his efforts were, the preacher let go and looked round for a weapon. The only thing of any use was a feed bucket. Quickly he picked it up and swung it at Butch.

  ‘Yeoow!’ Butch howled as the bucket hit him on the side of the head. He jerked to one side, lost his footing and both men hit the dirt with a thud. They broke apart.

  Reverend Dinwiddie was enjoying himself. The last time he had hit anyone was when he chased two small boys and cuffed their ears for using strong language. As Sheriff Richards rolled to one side and lined up his Colt on the wanted man, the preacher lashed out at Butch with his improvised weapon. Once more, the preacher saved Butch as he stepped into the sheriff’s line of fire.

  ‘Goddamn it, Dinwiddie! Get out of the way. I’m going to blast that kille
r.’

  Butch saw the bucket swinging towards him; swiftly he kicked the preacher’s legs. Reverend Dinwiddie went down with a yell and let go the bucket. Butch fielded it and, seeing the sheriff aiming his Colt, slung it at the gun just as Sheriff Richards pulled the trigger.

  The sheriff jerked aside as the bucket hit him. The shot intended for the wanted man embedded itself in the stable wall, showering Butch with splinters. Butch was on his feet now; in a few quick strides he reached the sheriff and kicked him in the face.

  Sheriff Richards went over backwards. He was yelling incoherently, blood streaming from his mouth. He yelled some more when his attacker stood on his gun hand. His words were somewhat mangled for Butch’s kick had broken his jaw.

  Butch stooped and retrieved the Colt. Swiftly he stepped to where his own weapon was hanging on its peg. He turned to the young woman who was huddled against the back wall, staring at him with wide-eyed concern. Her father was lying on his back, his hands clasped together as he prayed fervently for deliverance from this fiend who, he believed, was about to murder them all.

  ‘Goodbye Josephine,’ Butch said, genuine regret in his voice. ‘I sure wish we could have spent more time together.’

  He turned and ran from the livery. Josephine raised a hand as if to wave goodbye but Butch was gone.

  CHAPTER 2

  Joe Peters was a big man who liked nothing better than to sit at a well-laden table and tuck into some home-made fare. He had finished doing just that in Maud Ellison’s diner and was contemplating moseying down to the Golden Horseshoe for an evening of card-playing. Maud, a widow three times over, had warmed to the big man since he had arrived in town and taken to having his meals at her diner.

  The highlight of Joe’s day was dinner. Usually he came away from this meal having made a glutton of himself with the main course and two or three helpings of delicious desserts. Tonight was no exception and Joe felt pleasantly bloated as he stood up from the table.

  ‘Maud, if I stay in this town much longer I’ll become too big to get through your front door. You must be the best cook in the whole of New Mexico.’

  ‘I like to see a man eat,’ the widow said coquettishly. ‘The sight of a clean plate after a man’s ate one of my meals is as good as a hymn of praise. It sure gives me satisfaction to see you tuck in. A real man needs proper food to keep him healthy.’

  Joe, along with his partner, Butch Shilton, was on the run and had been for the last year after an unfortunate incident during a card game in which he had killed a cheating gambler. Joe had been sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary.

  He and Butch Shilton had been on the way to prison, when they encountered a gang of outlaws. The lawmen escorting the prisoners were murdered. Joe and Butch were blamed for the killing even though they had subsequently pursued the gang responsible for the murders and wiped them out.

  Strangers up to that point, Joe and Butch had become friends and now they drifted, not staying in any place too long in case they came to the attention of the law.

  As he wandered down to the Golden Horseshoe Joe was fantasizing about the well-endowed Maud.

  ‘Sure is a fine-looking woman,’ he opined out loud and belched contentedly. ‘A man could do worse than settle down in this here town with a well set-up widow.’

  It was a pleasant reverie and Joe arrived at the saloon more than convinced that he would be very happy to settle down with the widow and spend the rest of his life living in a gourmet’s paradise.

  But Joe wasn’t sure if his daydream was unrealistic: perhaps he was deluding himself. He and Butch were on Wanted posters; one day someone would cotton on to who he was, and his dream of settling down would come to a violent end.

  Dead or alive had an ominously fatal ring to it. Bounty hunters abounded and if they came after him there was a good chance that Maud Ellison would become a widow for a fourth time.

  ‘Maybe it’s time to move on,’ he muttered and pushed inside the saloon for a night’s gambling. Just as he stepped inside he thought he heard the faint sound of a gunshot. He paused for a moment, listening, his senses heightened by months of living on nerves attuned to every nuance of danger.

  ‘Some drunken cowboy letting off steam, I reckon.’

  There was a card school in progress and Joe stood watching.

  ‘You gonna join us, Joe?’

  ‘Reckon I will. Time I won some of my money back from you card-sharps.’

  There was a murmur of nervous laughter from the players. Joe took a vacant chair and watched the cards being dealt. He heard someone come up behind him but paid it no attention. A hard round object pressed against the bone behind his ear. Joe went very still.

  ‘Joe Peters, this is a gun I got shoved against your skull. Deputy Hoskins is backing me with a shotgun. We got a Wanted poster with your name on it. It says dead or alive. It don’t matter to me neither way. So if you want to live, place your hands flat on the table real careful like.’

  Joe did as he was ordered. He realized now why the gamblers at the table had seemed nervous. They must have been in on the plan to arrest him. Right now they were scrambling to get away from the card table, leaving Joe all alone with the two armed deputies.

  ‘In case you’re wondering about your pal, Butch Shilton, Sheriff Richards is looking after him. About right now he should be taking that galoot to the jail. You going to come quiet?’

  ‘I’ll come quiet,’ Joe said.

  Other than committing suicide by putting up a fight, he could see no other option.

  CHAPTER 3

  Butch Shilton was hastily saddling up the horses. As a precaution against the eventuality of having to leave in a hurry, Joe and Butch had kept the mounts on the outskirts of town on a piece of ground owned by the diner owner.

  ‘Goddamn that interfering, damn-blasted sheriff!’ Butch swore. ‘Hell! I was just getting to know that gal when that hound dog muscled in. Hell and tarnation, that goddamn sheriff seems hell-bent on stringing me up! And that preacher fella don’t sound like he got no Christian forgiving in him.’ Butch rubbed his ear, which was still smarting from the bucket wielded by Reverend Dinwiddie. ‘I reckon he’ll be as hell-bent on stringing me up as that goddamn sheriff.’

  ‘Mister, put your hands in the air, slow and steady. There’s two guns aimed at your back right now and we both of us got itchy fingers. Just one wrong move and Reverend Dinwiddie will be preaching a funeral service just for you.’

  Butch hesitated, wondering if he could slide beneath his horse and get his gun into play before a bullet slowed him down. The explosion of a gunshot made him jump and something whistled over his head. The saddled horses jerked nervously on their halters.

  ‘Next one’s in the back of your head, buster.’

  Butch gave in and raised his hands in the air. There was movement behind him and he felt his gun being lifted.

  ‘We knowed you were holding your horses down here, and Sheriff Richards reckoned if you slipped by him, this is where you would head. He’s had us staked out here all evening which is not a duty we are partial to. So mister, if you’re thinking of causing trouble, I’d as soon put you in the dirt with this here pistol and take you into town tied over that saddle as walk you in.’

  ‘I’ll come quiet.’

  ‘Good decision, owlhoot. Put your hands behind your back.’

  Butch obeyed and handcuffs clicked around his wrists.

  While Butch was being arrested Sheriff Richards had not been idle either. He staggered out of the livery. Blood leaked from his mouth where Butch had kicked him and broken his jaw. For a moment Sheriff Richards looked around wildly, then he spun round and went back inside the livery.

  Reverend Dinwiddie was standing before a chastened Josephine and preaching to her as only a preacher and a father can.

  ‘Jezebel brought disgrace on herself and womenfolk, and that’s not what I reared my daughter for. You will get down on your knees this minute, young woman, and beg the good Lord’s forgi
veness. When we get home I’ll chastise you with a strip of rawhide across your backside. . . .’

  ‘Rebend. . . .’ The sheriff’s damaged mouth seriously hindered speaking. ‘Wam tha cluch ball!’

  The preacher stared askance at the lawman.

  ‘What are you doing back here? I thought you would be in pursuit of that reprobate who tried to lead my daughter into the paths of iniquity.’

  ‘Wam tha cuch ball!’

  It took some time for Sheriff Richards to make sense of what the preacher required of him. In the end it was Josephine who interpreted for him.

  ‘He wants you to ring the church bell, Father. It’s the alarm to rouse the town.’

  Josephine immediately regretted her impulse to aid her father and the sheriff. She had only known Butch Shilton for a short time. He had swept her off her feet; he was so different from the local men, who tiptoed around her, fearful of her fire-breathing preacher of a father. Reverend Dinwiddie hurried off to the church.

  The tolling of the church bell in the evening was such an unusual event that it did indeed bring people out into the streets. They instinctively headed towards the jailhouse and encountered the sheriff making his way there also. He was being assisted by Josephine and when the crowd gathered she was obliged to act as his spokesperson.

  ‘Sheriff Richards was attacked by someone down at the livery. The man escaped.’

  ‘Bluh Thillon.’

  Sheriff Richards wanted the villain identified, but was saved the bother, for at that moment his deputies pushed a handcuffed man into the centre of the crowd.

  Josephine stared with some distress at the captive. To see her admirer handcuffed like a felon was breaking her young heart. Sheriff Richards came up close to the prisoner and stared hard at him. He pointed to his broken jaw, then drew back his fist and smashed it into Butch’s face. Butch’s captors grabbed him before he fell, and dragged him towards the jail.