Free Shoot Angel! by Frederick H. Christian

came free from its holster. His thumb
dogged back the hammer, his finger applying pressure to the
trigger. He heard the whip crack snap of a shot. A solid blow
struck his right shoulder. Capucci felt himself turned about. He
plunged forward, gasping at the white-hot pain engulfing his
shoulder. The hard earth rushed up to meet him and he struck it
with stunning force. The heavy gun slipped from dead fingers.
Capucci lay in shocked silence. He twisted his head and stared at
the glistening red mess of his shoulder.
    Angel put away his gun. He glanced at Birdy,
who was staring at him in utter silence.
    ‘ What
was I supposed to do? Kill him?’ Angel asked.
    Birdy shook himself, blinking
as if coming out of a deep sleep. He watched Angel kneel beside Capucci and
expertly fashion a bandage from a couple of strips torn from
Capucci’s own shirt.
    ‘ Capucci, you get on that horse and you ride, mister. Make
sure you don’t ride in my direction. Next time I see you I’ll
finish what you started here. Find yourself a doctor when you can.
Please yourself about that. I don’t give a damn.’
    Angel stood up and walked to
his horse. He swung into the saddle, turning to stare down at
Birdy. ‘I’m
heading for Liberty. Ride along if you want. But I got business
there that isn’t about to win me any popularity
contests.’
    Birdy mounted his horse and fell in
alongside.
    ‘ I’ll
ride a ways with you, Angel. I need the time to figure you
out.’
    They cut away from the place,
swinging in a wide loop that would bring them in towards Liberty
from the east. Angel was hoping to avoid further contact with
Trench and his hired guns. He wasn ’t too optimistic.
    Ahead of then lay an undulating
fall of land. A crisscross landscape of small canyons and ravines, jagged
fissures striking deep into the rocky terrain. And hanging over it
all the swollen orb of the sun, radiating sullen heat that flowed
into every crack, every hollow.
    Angel rode with his rifle laid
across his thighs, eyes constantly searching for any sign of
pursuit, any movement, however slight, that might reveal
some concealed marksman. Trench’s men had showed him the way
they operated, and as far as Angel was concerned he would deal them
the same hand. In a situation like this there was no time for the
niceties of life. You were either quick or very dead!
    ‘ Angel, behind us!’ Birdy’s tone was urgent.
    Angel reined in and swiveled round in
his saddle, shading his eyes against the savage glare of the high
sun. On a distant ridge, maybe a half-mile back, he could see five
riders outlined against the brassy sky.
    ‘ Damn!’ Angel watched the riders for a minute. ‘Bet you
those sons of bitches are sitting watching us right now, Birdy.’ He
gazed round, seeing nothing to offer him any kind of comfort.
‘Well, they sure got us spotted now. All they got to do is keep
coming.’
    ‘ Ain’t
much chance of losing ’em in this country,’ Birdy observed.
‘Between here and Liberty it’s all the same.’ The little man
screwed up his face. ‘Caught between a rock and hard place, Angel,’
he said, using a well-worn phrase.
    Angel smiled. He could have
used that phrase as his personal motto. He ’d been in the position so many times
he took it for granted now as part of his life.
    ‘ Birdy, you picked a bad time to take a ride with
me.’
    The skinny
man ’s
shoulders lifted in a quick shrug.
    ‘ What
the hell, Angel,’ he said, ‘where else did I have to go? Least I’m
out of that damn place. Worth it just for that.’
    ‘ You
could end up dead,’ Angel said as they rode on.
    ‘ We
all end up dead sooner or later.’ Birdy fell silent for a time.
After a bit, unable to restrain his curiosity any longer, he asked:
‘Tell me Angel, just who the hell are you? I got to know ’cause
it’s drivin’ me crazy!’
    Angel didn ’t reply. Instead he reached
down to work something out of a slit pocket in his leather belt,
something that caught the sun on its