Eldorado part 2.

And like I said we’ve all drawn steel and Damon’s flipped the table between me and him blocking my view of him.

Okay…in the few scant seconds I need to think.

Is he going for cover?
Is he going to run?
Is he going to shoot me through the table?

He stabbed Jade who was a friend in cold blood.

I lean/fall back and just in time as he’s palm snapping the hammer and there’s bits of table flying over me as his bullets whiz past me as I fall backwards and one’s close enough to take my hat off my head.

His friends at the table are drawing and turning to track me as I’m going down. I’m not killer, well…I have but I don’t need to here. I unload on them legs don’t move thet much y’know in times like this so putting a forty five bullet through an ankle or a knee’s pretty easy at this range but I save two shots per Colt.

I put my guns close together and shoot the middle of the table and blow a good hole in what’s left of it. Damon’s there and stares at me through the hole and we exchange shots agin me rolling left.

On of the fellas I shot in the knee grabs me cussing and Damon’s reloading and then as I’m struggling with the fella I hear this really American accent yelling. “Damon Black! Drop your guns and raise your hands you’re bound by law and you’re coming with me.”

Oh what the hell!?

No damned way, Damon stabbed my Jade and stole from my house I’m not letting some bounty hunter get in my way now!

The fella that has me gets both guns in his nostrils and he screams in pain and lets me go and clutches at his face. I jus got done firing pretty fast and a colt gets pretty hot, hot enough at burn a person.

He lets me go and I holster my colts and reach back and touch the floor and do a kick up that Jade had taught me. A fella, one of the types that looks like he was with Damon or friends wit ’em comes at me and swings a bottle at my head.

Okay…step into him, grab his wrist and turn…use his weight to roll him up over my back and through another table.
He crashes through with a surprised yell.

I look for Damon who’s reloading his gun and I pull my whip off my belt and snap it out one, two, three lashes side to side getting anyone coming at me stung and outta my way and I snap my wrist at Damon.

I’m not going for his gun. Naw that’s for dime novels and such. I hit him square in the face and slice him a good one and he turns yelling “Christ!” and turns back and decides the bullets he’s got in are fine enough to kill me and he opens fire.

I duck into a roll behind what’s left of his table and grab the knife still stuck there. I hear more gunshots and more fighting and Damon yelling. “Fifty dollars! Dollars to the men who kill the whore and the Canadian!”

Canadian?

What the hell is a Canadian doing in Chile?

Oh he must have flashed the cash because the ones not pissed off and involved are getting involved with this dangerous greedy desperate look in their eyes. Some are grabbing bottles and knives and whatever is handy to take me down.

It starts way too fast really for me to describe other than I’m awash in a sea of the worst kind of maggot that survived the big wave here and it’s a damned good thing I know a lot of tricks to keep myself safe and that I’m hand with a knife. I use it mostly fer blocking as I’m not partial to killing a man I don’t have a solid hate on for. But I’ve got a good idea of the stuff on a body and there’s lots of muscle and tendons you can poke and slice that’ll take a fella out of a fight.

I’m grabbed again by behind and he finds out why I have sharpened spurs and while I down use them on my horses. I’ve no problem taking a fella in the crotch with a mule kick when I’m getting grabbed like that or lifting my leg enough to run a long slice down his leg.

The one’s behind me now aren’t too keen on grabbing me and they try to hit me more than anything and I take more than a punch or seven to my liking and someone was about to smash my brains in with a chair when this tall fella in a duster and a buffalo furred collar steps into my fighting circle and blocks the chair shot with his long rifle before driving the butt of it into the guys face.

“Ma’am.” I think he had time to tip his hat to me.

“Don’t ma’am me what the heck are you doing here?” I shift sideways of a punch and snap out a hard backhand right into the guys ear.

“I’m sorry but I don’t follow?” he blocks another attempt with a knife on him with his rifle again and butt strikes that fella down too.

“You! You’re the Canadian aren’t you?” I step in with a fast jab at this uncertain looking cretin and pop his nose like a hammer on a tomata.

“Yes ma’am.” He hard stomps a guy’s foot and it musta hurt because he yelled and the Canadian hits him under the chin with a rifle in hands uppercut.

“Why are you here?” there’s a second of breathing room and Damon’s damned well headed out the back of the place.

“Damon Black’s bound by law to stand trial for his crimes.”

“And this isn’t Canada!” More are closing in on us and right now it’s more to make us pay for hurting their friends and their pride than anything else. I duck a punch and counter with an uppercut with the fist holding the knife; I hear the crunch of teeth.

“I know that but my orders come from the Queen’s Governor-general’s office.”

I have no idea how the whole Canadian politics goes and stuff but it sounds all official and stuff. Dove has a liking for Upper Canada as she calls it with York? And Quebec and Montreal and places like that. Me I really don’t know a damned thing about it save the Brit’s are still big there and there’s a whole pile of Indians and Frenchmen up there.

“Well that’s all well and good and everything but I’m after the sonovabitch for stabbing my girl and stealing a bunch of things that belonged to a friend of ours. You can have him after I get what’s mine and take a strip or two off of him for good measure!”

I make a push for the door…well the back door and a few cuts with the knife and a knee here and an elbow there and the fella behind me laying about with that long gun of his like he’s done a lot of this before and watching my back.

They close in really hard thinking we might get away and the Canadian fella does something…because he’s just holding his rifle in one hand and in the other I’m hearing this unmistakable hiss of a lit fuse and I glance over my shoulder to see him holding a stick of TNT with the fuse burning away.

Oh fucking hell is this guy loose a few marbles outta the set?

“Gentlemen…I’m sorry as entertaining a stop in this lovely establishment has been I think the young lady and I will be taking our leave. Thanks ever so much for the taste of local hospitality.”

And he’s not bluffing!

He tossed the lit stick into the middle of the room!

The next thing I know he’s got me by the arm and we’re running out through the back of the bar into the alleys.

There’s a loud BANG!!! And the windows blow out and there’s a huge amount of smoke!

I’m still staring and he’s already rattling something off in really good Spanish to one of the locals who points and he takes off running.

Oh no I’m not getting blamed for this! And he’s not taking Damon before I get a
hold of him!

I’m running as best I can given the junk still around and well being ample chested corset or not still doesn’t make running easy by any means. And I’m reloading as I go.

“Are all Canadians as damned crazy as you are!? You know how many people you killed!?”

“No one here as far as I know.”

“What!?”

“It was a fifth of a stick of dynamite mixed in with the rest being flash and smoke powder.”

Oh…well that was a neat thing then. Loud and some force to knock people on their asses and a lot of smoke blasted all around.

“Ha! I might have to steal that trick.”

“You’re more than welcome to it ma’am.”

“Call me Nikki.”

“Well then you’re more than welcome Miss Nikki.”

“Just Nikki, Nikki Steele.”

“Really? It’s a pleasure then.”

“Pardon?”

“I seen a show you were in a few years back in Baton Rouge. You were amazing.”

Oh well…shit…

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage sir.”

“And that would be Miss Steele?”

“Nikki please, what’s you’re name?”

We were running and talking and we come round a corner near the docks or the docks that were strong enough to stay standing and Damon’s there moving through the crowd with two other fellas that nudge him seein us and he says something that looks like he was cussing and one of the fellas turns on us fast like a real fighter and raises a double barreled shot gun at us and dammit there’s no time…

He fires…

Both barrels at us and the Canadian fella is in front of me suddenly looming over me and pulls me into his chest and ducks over me and Goddammit I feel the force of him getting shot through his body.

“Daniel, Daniel Scott…you ready?”

“Are you crazy!?....yeah…”

He turns around to face them and turns me around with his hands manhandling me…wha…dammit no time now.

I draw on Damon and his friends again…