Texas Outlaw (Rory Yates #2)(76)

“You think ’cause you shot a couple of guys in a bank robbery that you know what it’s like to kill?” Gareth says. “I’ve killed more…”

Gareth stops himself. He doesn’t want to admit to all the murders he’s committed, so many more than the twelve confirmed during his time in the army.

“You ever stood face-to-face with a man holding a gun?” Rory says. “Ever shot anyone who had any real chance of fighting back?”

He hates to admit to himself that he hasn’t. His army kills were all long-range sniper shots. Skip Barnes was, too. He also killed Rio Lobo’s former police chief, making way for Harris to take over, but he’d hit him in the head with a rock and drowned the old man in the river. And all their old employees, the ones who were told they would be bought out, to start over somewhere else, he’d slashed their throats while they slept and buried their bodies out among the pump jacks.

Sure, he’s killed a lot more people than Rory Yates has.

But not one of them knew what was coming.

Not one of them had any chance of shooting back.

“I’m happy to make you the first,” Gareth snarls into his phone.

“Good,” Rory says, “because I’m calling you out. No beer bottles this time. You and me, face-to-face. Two cowboys with two pistols. Nothing else. An old-fashioned showdown. A duel—to the death.”





Chapter 94



“IS YOUR FATHER with you?” Rory asks.

“Yes.”

“Put me on speakerphone.”

Gareth does, setting the phone on top of his father’s desk so both of them can hear.

“How much faith do you have in your son taking me down?” Rory asks.

“All the faith in the world,” Carson answers, grinning.

“Okay, then here are my conditions.”

Rory says that he’ll show up to the ranch two hours after sunrise. He and Gareth will have a duel. Winner takes all. If Gareth kills Rory, then it’s over, the McCormacks have won. But if Rory wins, Carson has to give his word that he’ll surrender. Turn his operation over.

“This used to happen on ancient battlefields,” Rory says. “Instead of two armies massacring each other, they sent in their best warriors—knights, samurais, whatever—to decide the outcome.”

“The difference,” Carson says, “is that you don’t have an army.”

“Not true,” Rory says. “I’ve got a bigger army than yours. I’ve got the whole Texas Ranger Division. And behind them I’ve got the DEA and the FBI and Homeland Security. They’re not here yet, but they’ll be coming if you’re not careful. You might be able to stop me before I can bring them all in, but then again, maybe you can’t. Do you want to take that risk? Or would you rather gamble on your son to end this once and for all?”

Carson is quiet for a moment. Gareth mouths the words, Do it.

“What about Ariana?” Carson says.

Rory changes the tone of his voice. “You didn’t find her body?” he asks.

Carson and Gareth look at each other but say nothing.

“She took a bullet while we were running away,” Rory says. “I stayed with her until she stopped breathing, but then I had to leave her behind. Your men were all over the area. I thought they would find her.”

“Who got her?” Gareth asks. “Me or one of my guys?”

“I don’t know,” Rory says. “But I blame you. That’s why I’m doing this. I want you to pay. I just need your daddy to give me his word that he won’t gun me down afterward.”

“You have my word,” Carson says. “A duel. Winner takes all.”

“I’ll see you two hours after sunrise,” Rory says and hangs up.

Gareth and his father stand in his office, grinning like hyenas.

Gareth says, “I’m going to kill that son of a—”

“Yes,” Carson says, interrupting him, “you are, but not in any stupid duel.”

Gareth glares at his father.

“I want you on that tower,” Carson says, pointing at the darkness on the other side of the window. “When he shows up, I want you to put a bullet through his brain. You got it?”

“I can take this guy,” Gareth says, his voice furious. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“This isn’t the fucking Wild West, Son,” Carson snaps. “I’m not risking my whole operation on some dick-measuring contest between you and that Texas Ranger.”

Gareth opens his mouth to argue, but Carson cuts him off. “You’ll still get to kill him, Gareth. Just my way. Not his. He doesn’t get to make the rules.”

Gareth seethes.

Carson says that at first light he wants Gareth to walk out to the derrick and get into position. At the same time, he’ll send out some teams into the open space to see if Yates was telling the truth about Ariana Delgado.

“I’m not sure that son of a bitch wasn’t bluffing,” Carson says. “This might be some trick. If he doesn’t show and we can’t find Delgado, it’s time to pack all the merchandise and get ready for a raid. We’ll haul out what we can, burn what we can’t.”

Gareth says that he doesn’t believe Rory was lying. “He’s a fugitive who aided and abetted a known felon,” Gareth says. “He knows this is his only option. If he could call in the Rangers, he would have done it already.”