Simon Hawke - The Six Gun Solution

As they stood on the walk in front of the hotel, Finn Delaney came riding by He nodded and touched the brim of his Stetson. Lucas nodded back.

“He’s right on time.” he said. “Which leaves only Darkness.” He sighed. “Damn it. I hate not knowing what he’s up to.”

“From the way he talked, it’s pretty serious.” said Andre.

“Yeah. Here we are trying to pull off a temporal adjustment mission and meanwhile. we’re part of something in his past that he’s trying to change. Only he can’t tell us what it is, any more than we can tell the people here. The only difference is that they don’t know what they’re caught up in and we do. Or at least we know that we’re caught up in something_ God knows what.”

“There’s not much point in worrying about it now, since there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.” she said. “At least not until Darkness tells us what it is.”

“That’s just what worries me.” said Lucas. “What if he’s wrong? What if whatever it is he expects us to do back here isn’t the right thing to do? How the hell do we know?”

“We don’t. We’re simply going to have to trust him.”

“Yeah. He wants our trust, only he won’t give us his.”

“Maybe he can’t afford to.” she said. “It’s like he said, if we know more than we should, it could affect the outcome.”

“Only what is the outcome?” Lucas asked, with exasperation. He paused as several people passed by, then turned to Andre. “What happened in the future, where he came from? Was it a timestream split? A chain reaction? An invasion from the parallel timeline? What?”

“There’s no way we can know” she said. “We don’t know what time period he came from. Even if we were crazy enough to take the risk and clock ahead, we wouldn’t know which sector to check out. Or if we’d be able to make it back.”

“He made it back.”

“He’s faster than light. We’re not. Don’t even think about it. Lucas. It would be crazy. It’s against all the rules.”

“How do we know he’s playing by the rules?”

“We don’t.” she said. “Rut where he came from, the rules might have ceased to matter. We’ve got to trust him. Lucas. We have no other choice. Remember what he said. When the time comes for whatever it is we have to do, there’ll be no time for doubt or hesitation.”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about that. It tells me that whatever it is that’s going to happen, or that has already happened from his temporal point of view, is going to happen so fast that a split second could make all the difference. And that scares the hell out of me.”

“It scares me, too,” she said “But I have to believe that Darkness knows what he’s doing. After all. if it hadn’t been for him, I would have lost you.”

Lucas looked at her and took her hands in his. “I’m very much aware of that myself.” he said. He smiled. “I wouldn’t have come back from the dead for just anyone, you know.”

“Just don’t die on me again,” she said, “or so help me. I’ll kill you. Remember, you promised to marry me.”

He grinned. “That promise was extorted under false pretenses.”

“I might hold you to it just the same.”

“We’ll talk about it later. In about eight hundred years. Meanwhile, let’s split up and see what we can learn. I’ll meet you back here later.”

Jenny was sitting beside a dapper man who was dealing in a card game when Scott came into the Oriental Saloon. The moment she saw him, she whispered something to the man, got up and rushed over to him.

“Hi. stranger.” she said, with a dazzling smile. “I missed you.”

“Who was that man you were sitting with?” asked Scott, as he stepped up to the bar. Frank Leslie set a glass of whiskey before him with a wink.

You jealous?” Jenny asked, coyly.

Scott was surprised to discover that he was. That wasn’t a good sign. It wasn’t a good sign at all. He couldn’t afford to get involved. Or was he already involved?

“Maybe,” he said. “What if I am?”

“I think I like that,” Jenny said, pressing up against him and rubbing his chest.

“Who is he?”

“That’s Ben Stone. He’s the gambler I told you about. Came to town just a little while before you did.”

“About the same time my friends were killed?” asked Scott, softly.

She looked at him wide-eyed “You think he might have had something to do with it?”

“I don’t know.” said Scott. “What do you think?”

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t think I’d be surprised,” she said. “Not that I know he did,” she added quickly, seeing Scotts sharp glance. “Only there’s something about him… something strange. And dangerous. He gives me chills.”

You ever been with him?” asked Scott, uneasily.

She looked up at him. “Scott. I’ve been with lots of men. You know that. But that’s all in the past now. Oh, I still sit with cowboys and get them to buy drinks because that’s my job here. Sometimes I might let them put their arms around me. but no more than that, honest. No more trips to the back room. All that’s over now. It’s been over ever since I met you. Things are different now. Does it really matter what happened in the past?”

“Sometimes it matters more than you might know, Jenny,” said Scott, somewhat distantly. Then he smiled at her. But that doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

“Then that’s all that really matters.” she said.

Ben Stone put down his cards and got up from the table. He picked up his hat and cane and came over to them. Scott watched as he approached. He was a tall man, very fit looking. with short, neatly trimmed dark hair and gray eyes. He was clean-shaven except for a dark, close-trimmed, pencil-thin moustache. He was wearing an elegant dark suit and waistcoat, a gold watch chain, and a neatly tied cravat held down by a pearl stickpin. He would have looked like a fashion model. Scott thought, if it wasn’t for those light gray eyes. They were alert, shrewd and calculating eyes. Eyes that didn’t miss a thing.

“You must be the Montana Kid.” said Stone. He offered his hand. Scott took it. “Benjamin J. Stone, at your service.”

Scott nodded. “Mr. Stone.”

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” said Stone.

“Is that right?”

“I wanted to see the man who managed to capture Jenny’s affection. The moment she saw you, she excused herself and rushed right over to you. If I wasn’t such an easygoing man, I might have taken exception. Jenny brought me luck. The moment she got up from the table. I started losing. A man can’t afford to do much of that in my profession.”

“No. I don’t guess he can.” said Scott. “Jenny’s told me about you, but I don’t believe I’ve seen you in here before.”

“I’ve been playing down at the Alhambra for the past week or so,” said Stone. “Thought, I’d come back to the Oriental for a while. You never want to push a streak of luck too far in just one place.”

“So you’ve been lucky, then?”

“I like to think that skill has a bit to do with it. but luck plays a part, as well. May I buy you and the lady a drink with my winnings?”

“It would be a pleasure, Mr. Stone, thank you “

“Call me Ben. Kid. All my friends do. And from what I’ve heard about you. I’d rather count you among my friends than among my enemies.”

“You have many enemies, Ben?”

“A few, here and there Some men like losing less than others. But I’ve always taken great care to stay on the right side of the law. Sometimes the only thing between you and a bullet is the local lawman, isn’t that right, Marshal?”

Scott turned to see that Wyatt Earp had come up behind them.