Free The Outlaws by Jane Toombs

Near San Patricio, south of Lincoln, some of the Regulators joined them. They rode into town the last day of March, going at once to Tunstall’s store where they meant to spend the night.
    After eating, the talk turned to Dolan.
    “Them sons-of-bitches,” Waite said. “They gun a man down and mash out his brains and Brady don’t do nothing. Who did he throw in the calabozo after Tunstall got shot? Me and the Kid, that’s who. And what for? Cause we tried to come after the murderers all legal like. Brady’s no damn good except to empty Dolan’s shit-pot.” There was a chorus of agreement.
    “We got three of them anyway,” Billy said.
    “Damn good thing,” Middleton told him. “Too bad Brady wasn’t along with ‘em.”
    The tension in the room made Ezra’s scalp tingle. Something would happen, he was sure
    of it.
    “I’d give ten bucks to see Brady eating dust,” Waite said. “And that smart-ass deputy of his, Peppin.”
    “You’re a piker. I’d give a hundred.” Middleton told him.
    “The day you see a hundred bucks, hell will freeze over and we’ll all go ice-skating.”‘
    Everyone laughed and Ezra relaxed a little, feeling the tension ease. He was both relieved and disappointed when the men laid out their bedrolls. Nothing was going to happen tonight, after all.
    Ezra crawled into his own blankets. Tessa was probably mad as the devil at him, but she had to realize he wasn’t a little boy any more. Nothing in the world was going to keep him from being Billy’s friend, and the sooner she knew it, the better.
    He was awake at dawn. Billy was already standing by a front window, looking toward the plaza. Ezra hastened to join him.
    “You going into court this morning?” Ezra asked in a low tone.
    He knew Billy and the others were supposed to be present for the court session, either as witnesses or because they’d been accused of crimes. Wrongfully, as far as he was concerned.
    “I was thinking about Brady,” Billy said. “He put me down that hole once, but he ain’t going to again.”
    That’s all the jail was, a hole in the ground with a watch tower built over it. Ezra wonder how any man could stand being shut up there.
    “He’s aiming to get me,” Billy went on, “and I don’t fancy being got.”
    As the others began to roll out of their blankets, Washington burst in from the rear of the store.
    “There’s talk Brady’s carrying handcuffs for McSween,” he said. “He’s been bragging that when McSween shows up for court, he’s gonna put him in the hole and run enough water in to drown him.
    The Regulators cursed Brady as they pulled on boots and buckled on gun belts.
    “What are we going to do about it?” Ezra asked Billy.
    “Why, it just ain’t going to happen,” Billy said.
    They ate a quick breakfast. Then Billy drew McNab, French, Waite, Brown and Middleton aside. Ezra trailed after them.
    “Reckon we better spy out the land,” Billy said. “If we use the back way, we can get into
    the corral without anyone seeing us on account of the adobe wall. If we ease up quiet-like to that plank gate that faces on the road, we ought to be able to see what’s going on. If we’re careful, no one will spot us.”
    Billy glanced from one to another of the men. Ezra’s pulse quickened. Billy was the youngest of them all, except for him, and yet he was the leader. What a man!
    “What’re you aiming to do, Kid?” Waite asked.
    “We’ll wait and see what Brady’s up to. But better make damn sure there ain’t nothing the matter with your rifles or your Colts.”
    Ezra spun the chambers of his Colt, saw Billy was watching him. “All loaded and ready,” Ezra said, stammering in his excitement.
    “I was thinking your sister’s going to be down on me if I let you come with us,” Billy said.
    Ezra straightened his shoulders. “I do what I want to. I don’t have to ask Tess.”
    Billy shrugged. “Come then.”
    One by one, the seven of them slipped into the corral. The sun