“Get him!” Ezra shouted. All of his men stormed toward the much smaller crowd in the middle of Main Street, running at them, screaming like warriors from ancient times.
Main Street quickly turned into a battlefield.
Timothy, Caleb, Luke, and some of their men began to shoot, but they only hit a few of Ezra’s men, and most of them retaliated their fire, so most of the men supporting Luke either fled or were wounded. There weren’t many left to help them, and when Luke realized that, he almost lost all hope. If he had been a better sheriff, he would have figured it all out sooner, and he would have been able to capture this gang before it got this far. All of this was his fault.
As soon as the larger gang reached Luke and the rest of them, they tore all three men off their horses and separated them while they attacked the others. Luke lost sight of Caleb and Timothy in the midst of being bombarded by several fists and kicking legs.
Surprisingly, Luke recognized Phineas’ face among them. He decided to go straight for him. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy as he wanted it to be. In the midst of being shoved, kicked, and punched, he used all of his skills and managed to finally fight his way free, but it was a tough battle. They came at him relentlessly while Phineas stayed out of reach.
Then, suddenly, everything stopped for a moment, and he was held up under his arms by several men as he watched Ezra slowly splitting the crowd, stepping right in front of him.
Luke could barely see out of his left eye, and his body hurt in too many places to count, but he straightened himself up enough not to look weak in front of that man.
Ezra looked him up and down with obvious disgust.
“You shouldn’t have interfered,” he said, clicking his tongue dismissively. “I had a plan, you know? A great plan. Unlike yours,” he spat something on the floor right next to Luke’s boots. “And now, you’ve forced me to put an end to it all. I will burn this entire town to the ground, just like I burned down your pathetic little house all those years ago.”
Luke screamed and tried to free himself, but there were too many men holding back, while Ezra laughed in his face. “You murdered my family!” Luke yelled. Ezra nodded with an evil grin.
“And how they begged,” he said with a chuckle. “Oh, how they begged and pleaded when you weren’t there to save them. What a pathetic husband, father,andsheriff you are.”
Luke struggled again, tears and sweat burning in his eyes as he screamed his frustration, trying to kick and shake them off to no avail. He saw Phineas step next to Ezra.
“What do you want us to do with him?” Phineas asked, revealing his rotten teeth as he grinned. “What do you want us to do with all of them? I think we know where Madelaine and the little ones are hiding,” he said, laughing in Luke’s face when he saw his distress.
“I told her to divorce you, but she didn’t listen. So, now I have to kill you so I can marry her and take over the farm,” Phineas told Luke with an emotionless expression. “Their lives will be miserable. I’ll make sure of that.”
“And none of it will cost me a penny,” injected Ezra, tilting his head cockily to one side. “Marvelous times.”
Luke watched as Phineas pulled out a revolver. He even took a couple of steps back so he’d be able to stretch out his arm to properly aim at him.
“Say hello to your maker, Sheriff!” Phineas pulled back the hammer, cocking the gun, ready to shoot.
“Nooooo!” A piercing scream echoed through the air, and Luke recognized the voice instantly.
It was Madelaine.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Madelaine couldn’t believe what was happening. She’d never seen anything like this before. Ever. She’d ridden in on Tinsel, but she’d left her behind the schoolhouse next to the church, where she would be safer. At least, she hoped so.
The town was absolute mayhem. She ducked, crouched, and ran to get away from all the chaos surrounding her as people screamed, yelled, and shouted, darting this way and that, all the while trying to avoid burning buildings and falling debris. It looked like the world was ending. Was this the rapture?
Whatever it was, the terror couldn’t possibly distract her from the peril Luke was in. The second she heard Phineas’ voice, as cocky and obnoxious as ever, she knew where to find him. She gasped, and her heart almost stopped when she finally caught a glimpse of her husband, in the midst of fights and total chaos, among a leering group of derelict men. She saw Caleb on the other side of them, fighting—seemingly for his life.
Too many of the wrong men surrounded too few of the good ones, and when she ran closer, she heard the nasty words coming out of Phineas’ mouth, and they instantly made her nauseous.
She screamed as loud as she could, “Nooooo!”
All heads in that group turned toward her, and when some of them stepped back to look at her, she had a better look at Luke and saw how bruised and battered he was. Ezra was right there with him, and she saw the evil pull of his mouth when he noticed her.
Madelaine acted on blind faith that God would protect her, or maybe out of mindlessness. Whatever it was, her legs moved before her brain could talk them out of it. Her heart pulled her with all its might to Luke as she ran straight toward the group.
Then something else happened which surprised her even more. Several groups of men ran toward the group in the middle of Main Street, surrounding and overtaking her as she went. Madelaine recognized some of their faces—these were townsfolk, sons, and young men—also racing toward the gang holding Luke hostage. They came from all sides.
She had no idea where they’d come from, but she thanked the Lord for sending reinforcements.
Madelaine watched as a new wave of chaos broke loose when all the members of the gang dropped whatever they were doing and scrambled to get away as quickly as possible. They dispersed in multiple directions, most of them running away, some having to fight their way free. Amidst all the mayhem, the ones that held Luke let go of him, and he dropped to his knees.
