BAWA'S LAW

Chapter 5-1

 Billy Spencer had re-lived this day time and again in his mind.

He had lived just for this moment. Hidden behind a boulder many years ago, he had seen his father and two friends shot dead by this old waste of a man called Chadwick and his deputy.

Billy Spencer had waited in anguish for them to leave, and then he had come out of hiding to drive the buzzards away. On the hot desert sands of San Lorado, he had buried his father and vowed to get revenge on Chadwick and his deputy.

He had forced two of his four brothers from their anguished mother who had begged them not to go. For years he had built his army, and then he had been on the trail of the two men responsible for his father’s death.

 Richard Chadwick had seemed to have vanished into thin air, but Billy had been patient. He had caught up with Chadwick’s deputy at last and killed him.

Now it was Chadwick’s turn to die.

In all his dreams, Billy Spencer had seen Richard Chadwick on his knees, begging for forgiveness, his body racked by great sobs as his fear poured out of him.

The Chadwick facing him now, however, was not the one in the dream.

This one was the real version, and he was angry. Billy involuntarily shuddered. He remembered how his father, the greatest gunfighter then, had faced Chadwick and lost.

 Billy remembered the stunned incredulity still on his father’s face as he had buried him, frozen forever by rigour mortis. His father had never believed that anybody could beat him to the draw…until he met Chadwick.

Billy was aware of his two brothers on his left, fanning out. His other two hired guns, Jack the Hammer and Fred Ford who were on his right.

Billy was aware that they were waiting for him.

His eyes bore into Chadwick, seeking some advantage, even a tiny one, but there was none; the old man was not going to be stared down. Billy felt a slight tremor in his knees, and he fought it down savagely.

 It was an unknown element and the sudden realization that he was scared that forced him to make his move.

With a yell, he went for his gun.

“Craps!” his mind exploded as he saw the impossible, the unbelievable!

He barely saw Chadwick moving, but he suddenly became aware that the old man’s gun was pointing whilst he had still not cleared leather.

Uncle Chad’s left palm fanned the hammer of the gun in his hand as he fired with wrath.

His first two bullets sounded as one.

 Jack the Hammer’s hand was on the butt of his gun when the first bullet ripped through his chest and shattered his heart. He reeled backwards and died before he hit the ground.

Fred Ford had gripped his gun butt and was tensing for the draw when Uncle Chad’s second bullet hit the base of his neck.

Actually, as was his normal practice, Fred Ford always fired from a crouch. He always went down low whilst his gun came up. This movement ensured that Uncle Chad’s bullet, which was meant for Ford’s heart, found his neck instead.

Fred Ford’s head was jerked back like some out of control marionette. He fell on his back, making gurgling noises, his heart pumping blood into the hot ground.

 Billy’s gun was half-cleared when he saw the hole in Chadwick's gun staring at him. He had one terrible moment of sheer fear, staring death in the eye. He watched with fascinated horror, almost in slow motion, as Chadwick’s palm fanned the hammer. His throat constricted, and a scream began deep in his belly.

And then, incredibly, the hammer on the gun in Uncle Chad’s hand fell on empty chambers, and there were only metallic clicks as Chadwick fired three times in succession!

Uncle Chad knew then, and accepted the fact, that Phil Mortimer’s gun had contained only two bullets in the chambers! He had used the two bullets to kill Jack the Hammer and Fred Ford…and the gun was empty now!

 No more bullets!