Aunt Kate sat in her chair staring at a man who had come in the side door and had his back to Sara Lynn when she entered the big lodge. He had long black hair, wore pieces of an old army uniform, had a gun on his hip. Sara Lynn's heart stopped beating. It was Wade Brand, the man on the posters. The killer. The man she'd shot years ago, escaping.

Carefully, she backed a step. She had to get help. The killer turned and saw her. He started for her, limping as he crossed the big room.

Sara Lynn backed into the kitchen. She needed one of CR's guns right now but they were with him in the barn. Could she run for it? She had to. She didn't make it to the door.

"It was you I glimpsed last time." The black-haired gunman who liked officers' coats stepped into the kitchen a pistol in his hand. "You run and I'll drop you. The Deacon wants to see you again, but he won't mind if you're leaking a mite from a leg."

She stopped. She had no weapons, just her wits to face the killer with. Think, Girl."I don't believe we've had a visit from any deacons lately."

"You know who I mean, Missy Redhair. I'm here to take you to him." He limped after her. "You put the slug in my side that left me walking like this."

From outside, she heard the trumpet of a horse? Diablo? No. Too high pitched. Then from far out back Diablo trumpeted his challenge in response. She could use that big horse right now. Get on him and keep riding forever. She scooped up a big kitchen knife and swung it back and forth. A slash at his face, which he'd block, then reverse it and cut his thigh or wrist. Deep so he'd bleed a lot. She feinted at his face. He jerked back.

If she didn't kill him, he'd kill her, after he assaulted her. He pursued. She backed, keeping the blade facing him. Sharp edge up. If he tried to rush her, she'd cut him. She'd been here before. Determination filled her; she wasn't going with him. Not alive. Then she couldn't back any more. She was in the corner between a wall and the back door.

Brand grinned, a mean grin and he held the gun ready. "Put down the knife. I'd rather not have to bandage you first, or get blood all over me."

"Try to touch me while I'm alive, and I'll cut you to pieces. No one will do that to me again."

He lunged. She jabbed. First at his eyes, then a slash at his wrist, and got him. He jumped back, blood oozing from the wrist that grabbed for her.

"Not so much fun when your victim fights back is it?"

He grabbed for the front of her dress with his free hand. She slashed at his hand again. He dodged, then before she could go for his thigh, hit her arm with his pistol barrel. It numbed her arm so she could barely hang onto her knife. On the back swing, the barrel caught her on the side of the head. The world whirled. She barely kept her feet. She put her hands on the water table edge to steady herself. Confident now, he reached out. She was ready, lunged, and stabbed him with all she had. She got him low in the left side.

"Damn you!" He swore and swung his big gun. Pain exploded in her head. Worse than before. Her legs wouldn't hold her up. Everything went black.

She was on the floor and had lost her knife. Brand had holstered his gun and was digging a piece of rope from a pocket. "Understand this," he said. "I'm taking the girl. Deacon ain't through with her. You can tell ever'one that she got tired of how you treat her an' run off."

"You leave her and get out." Aunt Kate had a knot on the side of her head, but her sharp tongue still worked just as she'd lit into Uncle when she realized what he'd intended Golden do to her. She touched her head injury and saw blood on her fingers.

"Guess maybe, I'll havta kill you. I'll take one or two of her bags, liked she'd got tired of being treated like nothing but a servant girl, and left, after she killed you. Who'd blame her after the way you treat her?"

Brand jerked Sara Lynn to her feet and shoved her reeling through the door and at a table in the big room. He grabbed her wrists. Blood dripped from his arm. She'd done damage to him. The side of her face was oozing blood, but she was mad clear through. Like before when they had her, she let her rage build.

"Take me to Deacon," she said. "Don't worry about them. They talk so much, no one will listen no matter what they say." She let her voice go hard and brittle. "I want to get my hands on The Deacon. I'm not through with him." To avoid Brand's attempt to tie her hands, she touched her aching head where he'd hit her. She got a napkin off the table and pressed it to her bloody temple. "I don't like you either."

Brand glanced at Uncle and Aunt. "I'm taking you with me. But they ain't gonna be alive."

"No, you aren't." CR's voice sounded conversational, though she recognized a controlled anger in his words, a cold hard speech she'd never heard from him before. "You aren't going to kill them and you can't take her."

He stepped away from the shadows by the side door. "Unbuckle your shell belt. Ease out the gun at your waist. Put both on the table. Do it now."

Brand turned so he could see CR, but still keep Sara Lynn in sight. "I'm Wade Brand. No one can outshoot me. You're a dead man."

CR didn't have a gun in his hand. Didn't he see who this was? He was going to get himself killed trying to save her. Where was that knife she dropped? She tried to locate it, but her eyes didn't want to focus. Sara Lynn, you've got to go something. He'll kill CR like he did your other friends.

"Marshal McTigh didn't think anyone could take him either. But I did. And I didn't have to kill him. Now disarm!" His voice reverberated down the room.

"Ritter! Gawddamm! Yore Ritter. This is my day. Deacon's put a bounty on your head, too. I'm gonna collect both bounties. Right damn now." Brand stepped to the side, free of Sara Lynn, so she couldn't grab his arm,  palmed his holstered gun, and scooped out the one from his belt. The guns came out so fast they were a blur. He was going to kill CR.

CR fired first. In the dim light, she didn't see him pull out his guns. One second he stood there empty-handed, then next his guns were firing. He walked toward Brand, shooting with each step. With CR's first shot, Brand twisted and fired into a table with his left gun. Almost with CR's second, Brand fired his right gun, but that slug went into the floor. He stood, staring at CR, a gun in each hand, trying to raise them. Brand straightened and staggered toward CR. Brand fired both guns again, and again. One of his shots went into the wall, another into the floor. She didn't see where the others went.

From ten feet away, CR stopped walking at Brand, but kept shooting. Brand jerked with each shot. He twisted, dancing to an offbeat rhythm no one else could hear. But he didn't lower his guns. He tried to raise them to point them at CR, but couldn't lift them high enough. CR's right pistol clicked. Brand stood there, not moving. CR stuck the pistol in his belt and reloaded it one-handed. Brand's hands and guns fell to his sides. He stared at CR. CR stared back at him, his left gun pointed at Brand's face, ready to fire.

"Who are you?" he asked. The arrogance was gone, he sounded weak.

"The man who said you couldn't take the girl." CR said, stuffing shells into his right pistol. "You called my name." He snapped the gun shut and pointed it, too, at Brand's eyes.

Sara Lynn's fingers closed around the knife she'd dropped. She stood. She staggered. She rested her hand on the table to steady herself, then lunged for Brand. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him toward her. "Take this, Killer." She shoved the knife under his breastbone into his heart. Her anger gave her added strength. She drove it to the hilt.

Brand sank to his knees. He stared at her. He touched the knife handle. "I'll be damned." His eyes glazed. He fell on his side, curled into a ball, and lay still.

Two doors burst open. Mr. Gunn banged in the big front door, a shotgun in his hands. Billy-boy came in from the kitchen, a carbine in his hands. They glanced at CR, but their weapons pointed at the man on the floor. Both stalked to Wade Brand's body.

With all the shooting, she hadn't heard the stage arrive.

"Used to be Wade Brand, said to be the meanest gunman in Nevada." Smokey Gunn looked up at CR. "What happened?"

Billy-boy slowly put his carbine on a table, and slipped his revolver into his hand. "The other day in Coaldale, Marshal Sam pointed him out to me and Chuck. I knew his blood bay gelding from that day. So we come in fast."

"He tried to take Sara Lynn." CR holstered his reloaded pistol, and started reloading the other one. Though he looked pale, his fingers moved smoothly, doing an often rehearsed drill.

Sara Lynn couldn't put one foot in front of the other without reeling, but she hung onto the table until she reached CR. He looked so pale. Had he been hit? "Are you all right, Charles? Did he hurt you? He pulled out his pistols so fast."

"He didn't get off a shot at me." CR put away the second pistol. He reached out for her. "You look terrible."

"I feel wonderful." She tried to hug CR and sagged against him. "I was afraid, but I didn't quit. I prayed you'd come, and I prayed you'd stay away." She looked down at the body of the 0man who'd tried to take her back to The Deacon, to her death. "They said no one was good enough to take him."

Billy-boy nudged the body with his toe, after kicking the guns away. "That was before he ran into Chuck. I've seen Brand in action. He sure as hell could use a gun. Won't no more." Billy-boy knelt. He glanced at CR with eyes that asked questions, but he didn't ask them out loud. He lifted Brand's pistols and put them on the table by his carbine. "Both been fired. One's empty."

When he rolled Brand's body over, the kitchen knife stuck out of the middle of his body. "He was a dead man either way, wasn't he?" Billy-boy asked, only it wasn't really a question.

Sara Lynn told them of his invasion. ". . . I'd done everything I could do, but he was going to kill aunt and uncle and take me."

Aunt Kate, despite her bruises, was seeing to Uncle Ted who seemed to have been hurt worse than her. She had a wet cloth and was sponging his temple. She glanced at the body, then stared at Sara Lynn. Aunt Kate wet her lips, but for once in her life, had nothing to say.

"You'd have had to kill him." CR held her gently. He was a man and he was touching her, another hug, and today, it was a wonderful hug. The other time was just a preview. She liked his arms and his touch. "You got some awful-looking bruises on your head," CR said, and touched one. "He hit you several times."

"You knew him. You called him by name." She let CR guide her to a chair, his arm around her to steady her. She hadn't been able to stand any man to do that since that happened. Today CR's touch felt wonderful. She must be hurt bad, she who couldn't stand the touch of any man. "Was he one of the men you were after?" she asked.

Heads turned at her question.

"I'm-not-hunting-anyone-I just-train-horses," he rattled. "Let's get you comfortable."