Free To Reap and to Sow by J. R. Roberts Page B

piece dug a fiery trench through the meat of his upper arm. Clint let out a curse and jumped back into the stable. When he landed and examined his wound, he was more upset at himself for being stupid than at Mark for firing the shot.
    Before Mark could follow up with another pull of his trigger, Wes pulled his own trigger. The shotgun’s roar blasted through the night and was followed by the crunch of buckshot shredding through wood.
    The wound in Clint’s left arm was messy, but nothing serious. After wiping away some of the blood that had seeped out, he could see a nasty gash through his flesh that looked more like it had been put there by a wild animal’s claw. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind as he reloaded and hurried toward the back of the stable.
    Sure enough, there was a rear door. Clint threw the latch up and pushed the door open just enough for him to get a look outside. Compared to the chaos out front, the scene in back of the stable was genuinely tranquil. Rather than wait for more hell to erupt, Clint kept his head down and ran outside.
    When Clint was halfway to the back of the barn, he saw a smaller door swing open and Mark race outside. Although Clint had been hoping to sneak up on Mark, he supposed this was the next best thing.
    As if sensing Clint was there, Mark turned on his heels and glanced toward the stable. He picked Clint out right away and brought his gun around to start firing. Mark’s pistol spit out a tongue of sparks and smoke as it was fired again and again.
    The shots were just quick enough to force Clint to the ground, but not accurate enough to keep him there. When he looked up from where he’d dropped, Clint had a clear shot at Mark.
    Suddenly, a shotgun went off behind and to the right of Clint. The blast caused Clint to reflexively press himself against the ground. It also caused Mark to leap for the corner of the barn in a desperate attempt to get some cover.
    Since he let out a pained yelp, it was obvious that some of the buckshot had found Mark. Since he was nowhere to be seen when Clint looked up again, it was obvious that he wasn’t hurt badly enough to have been stopped. One of the women at the house let out a scream as horses rumbled toward the bam and then rumbled away.
    Clint scrambled to his feet and was just in time to see both men on horseback and racing away from the farm. They fired a few shots over their shoulders, but that did as much good as one might expect from the proverbial shot in the dark.
    â€œThey’re gettin’ away!” Wes shouted as he closed the breech of his shotgun and brought the weapon to his shoulder.
    Clint was about to try and stop the old man, but he wasn’t quick enough to get a word in before Wes pulled his trigger. The shotgun blasted once more, but the horses were much too far away to have been in any danger.
    Watching the old man for a few seconds, Clint noticed that Wes glanced nervously at the barn before checking up on the women one more time. At least that put Clint’s mind to rest regarding the outside chance that Wes didn’t know about the gold hidden under those rags.

EIGHTEEN
    Tina rushed outside with Lynn not too far behind. Locking her eyes on her father, Tina yelled, “What happened, Daddy? Who were those men?”
    â€œGet back inside,” Wes shouted at her. As soon as the words came out, he seemed to be just as surprised by the ferociousness in his voice as the young women were. Forcing himself to ease up a bit, Wes added, “I think they’re gone, but you two should stay safe until we’re sure.”
    Tina nodded and started to walk back to the house. Although she grabbed Lynn’s wrist to pull her along, Tina wasn’t able to budge the tall blonde from her spot.
    â€œThat was Mark,” Lynn said as she fixed her eyes on Clint. “I know it was.”
    â€œYeah,” Clint replied. “It was him and that other fellow who was with him when