“Apart from being a good example to that Injun, you don’t have a bit of pull in this,” Mays said. “You’re just another piece of shit card player who should have stuck to a more respectable job. What’s the matter, Doc? Being a dentist just ain’t good enough for you?”
Allowing his posture to slip just a bit, Doc let out a cough that soon turned into a hacking fit, which rattled him down to the core. When he was able to catch his breath, he said, “You try sticking your hands into people’s mouths for a living. It’s not as delightful as it seems.”
The group stood in front of an empty storefront that faced onto Houston Street. With all the commotion in town as the other gamblers were swept up, there weren’t many people out and about in this area. Some were in sight, but they were either down the street with their backs turned or rushing on their way to see some of the more dramatic arrests.
Ben Mays looked at Doc with a mixture of disgust and pity as Doc strained for his next breath. Nodding toward the empty storefront, be said, “Take him inside, Theison. Make it quick, and try to keep it quiet.”
The first deputy nodded.
With everything happening so quickly, Doc had barely even felt his gun get taken from him. At that moment, however, he was plenty aware of the empty holster hanging uselessly under his arm. His mind raced with a thousand possibilities as he quickly figured odds and angles as if he was calculating the next hand of a poker game rather than summing up his own chances for survival.
“You’re a Texas Ranger,” Doc said. “Whatever happened to those men being fine examples of enforcing the law?”
“I do enforce the law,” Mays said without a scrap of emotion in his voice. “Cheating is illegal.”
“What about murder?” Doc asked. “Were the laws changed on that?”
Mays raised his eyebrows and looked around as if he’d just woken up and found himself standing on that boardwalk. “I don’t know what this is, and I’ve never seen these men before in my life.” Shifting his eyes to the men surrounding Doc, he said, “Quick and quiet. Especially you, Cambridge,” he added while stabbing a finger to one of the deputies. “Remember to leave through the back.”
With that, Mays turned on his heel and walked down the street.
“You hear that?” Theison asked. “You belong to us now.”
Doc knew that trying to talk to these men was useless. He could tell the difference between the dog and the one holding its leash. Unfortunately, the latter of those two had already disappeared around the corner.
One of the men reached out to shove the door. It swung open on rusted hinges and all but smashed a hole into the wall beside it. The loud bang rattled through the dirty room inside, which was roughly the size of the drugstore beneath Dr. Seegar’s office. Dust swirled through the room, making the few bits and pieces of abandoned furniture look more like relics in a tomb.
Each of the deputies reached to pull bandannas over their faces. Some of them were coughing a bit underneath the cotton mask, but none of them could be heard over the noise coming from Doc’s shredded throat. Whenever Doc tried to pull in a breath, he only sucked in more dust to further aggravate his condition. It finally got to the point that one of the other men took hold of his arm to keep Doc from keeling over.
“Jesus Christ,” the third deputy said. “What’s his problem?”
“He’s sick, Danny,” Theison replied. “Ain’t you got eyes in your head?”
“I know, but it sounds like he’s gonna die.”
“Let him. It’ll save us the trouble.”
Doc staggered forward another few steps until Theison was forced to pull him back. There were two other deputies in the room as well, and they’d both taken up positions in front of Doc.
“You all right?” Theison asked.
Through the hacking coughs which shook his shoulders, Doc laughed and asked, “Does it matter?”
The deputy pulled his arm back, but was unable to take his eyes off of Doc’s trembling frame. “I . . . uh . . . I guess not.”
“Are we gonna do this or what?” Danny asked. “The more he chokes, the more noise he makes.”
Theison’s scowl showed through the bandanna, which clung to his jaw and nose. It was also reflected in his eyes.
Sucking in one more wheezing breath, Doc stood up as straight as he could manage and started moving his hand inside his jacket. When he saw the others snap their guns toward him, he stopped and asked, “Do I get one last drink before we go through with this?”
The other two men looked toward Theison, who nodded and said, “Keep yer hands out where we can see ’em.”
“My flask is in my pocket.”
“Yeah, I figured that much. I’ll get it.”
“You’re too kind,” Doc said in his normal, easygoing manner.
Keeping his arms extended, Doc lowered his eyes so he didn’t have to meet the pitying gazes of the other two men who were keeping their distance. He pulled another labored breath into his lungs, which filled the dusty air with a dry, scratchy sound.
Theison let out an impatient grumble as he reached for the flap of Doc’s jacket. “Let’s just get this over and done with. I don’t want to catch whatever the hell this poor bastard’s got.”
Doc struggled to take his next breath as his upper body drooped forward like a wilting stem. The moment the deputy’s hand reached into his jacket, however, Doc flew into motion like a trap that had been sprung.
Doc’s left hand snapped up to close tightly around Theison’s wrist. He then reached out with his right hand to snatch the gun from the deputy’s grasp. The bigger man was so surprised that Doc hadn’t fallen over that he barely noticed when he was relieved of his gun.
The other two deputies jumped back with a start when they saw Doc make his move. It took them a moment to comprehend what was happening, but the gun that was now in Doc’s possession was more than enough to get their minds on the business at hand.
Fuming as he backed away from Doc, Theison shouted, “Shoot this son of a bi—” His words were cut short when the butt of his own pistol was delivered straight into his mouth.
Doc’s arm snapped out like a spring to crack the gun’s handle flat against the deputy’s jaw. A dull crunch drifted through the air, followed by a muffled groan coming from beneath Theison’s bandanna.
Just as one of the other deputies took aim, Doc squeezed his trigger. Fire and thunder erupted from his barrel as lead flew through the air. Cambridge snarled in pain as he was twisted around like a top with blood spraying from his elbow.
Danny jumped away from his partner and fired back, only to take a chunk of meat from Theison’s rib cage. With his bandanna already soaked through with blood from the knock Doc had give him, Theison crumpled over to let out a violent string of profanities.
Even as more shots were fired at him, Doc stood rooted in his spot. He squinted through the dust and smoke churning through the air to try to pick out his next target. When he found what he was after, he snapped his arm out in a fluid, practiced motion and pulled his trigger. The gun bucked in his hand as it spat hot lead toward Cambridge. His bullet cut a messy path through the deputy’s hip and dropped him straight to the floor.
“Toss your guns,” Doc said to any of the men who would listen.
Theison was finally mad enough to push through his pain. Now that he could see straight again, he reached across his belly to draw a second gun that had been holstered under his jacket. “You’re dead, you skinny bastard!”
Doc took a quick look around at all of the deputies. Each of them was still trying to shoot him, so Doc pointed his gun at each in turn and pulled his trigger in a fluid rhythm. Like the bottles on Dr. Seegar’s fence, the deputies fell backward and dropped over as they rushed to find some cover. Thunder filled Doc’s ears and he was vaguely aware that the other men were firing back at him.