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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3134358" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 183, “Shooting on Sierra Street”, Sunday, March 26th, 1882, 9:15 PM Jake continued north on Allen alongside the eastern wall of the Silver Dollar Saloon. Glancing through the saloon's windows, he sees the tall man has reached Sierra and then turns right onto the street, moving east and heading towards Jake. Jake stops at the corner of the building, just before Sierra.  Jake still has his Colt in his hand and will melt into the dimness at the corner. Jake decides that if 'Whitey' comes close enough to the corner, Jake will thrust out his foot and attempt to trip him. Instead the man stops and pauses as he nears the corner. Jake leaps out just before the man passes by the corner and exclaims. "You must be getting tired. Why don't we talk?" Jake adds in his most intimidating tone, "unless you'd rather do something that looks like drawing a gun and I have to shoot you."  The man stops and slowly begins to raise his hands, palms open. Jake then feels the barrel of a gun press against his right forehead as the invisible man holding it materializes on Sierra Street beside him. From the corner of his eye Jake can make out that the man is tall and wide, with a broken nose and several bruises on his face. Sixty feet further west down Sierra Street Jake sees Helen Barker exit from the front door of her home, her Colt in her right hand. With the white-haired man with his back to her and tall bruised one watching Jake neither have noticed her yet.The man says "Why don't you just drop that gun of yours."    Jake replies, "It's a Colt, it will fire if I drop it. I'll place it down."  Jake slowly and deliberately pulls back the hammer and gently places it forward. Then he releases the grip and the pistol pivots on his finger so he can grab the barrel with his hand. Continuing to move slowly and hold the mans attention, Jake holds his left hand up in the air and places the gun on the ground taking a step directly backwards while doing so. Jake takes another step back when rising, trying to keep the large man from looking in Helen Barker's direction. Jake slowly raises his right hand in the air. "I just keep trying to talk to you guys, but you'd rather blow things up. You can't be being paid enough to want to be on the Earp’s dead man list."Helen Barker then fires, blowing out the brains of the large man pointing at gun towards Jake. The white haired one dives towards Jake's colt lying on the ground.   Jake attempts to kick his Colt away from the man while cross drawing his other pistol. "I really wouldn't if I were you," Jake says while taking aim at him, prepared to fire.Jake goes to kick the gun but the man grabs and scoops it up with his other hand. Jake fires his other gun. The gun strikes the man and a fireball erupts. Jake successfully dives and tumbles onto the street to keep from getting engulfed in the flames, although his pants do get a few scorch marks. Helen moves forward while taking two more shots into the burning man's back, guaranteeing his demise. A crowd begins to gather, including the customers from the Silver Dollar Saloon, who notice the saloon's wooden steps beside the man are starting to catch. Saloon owner Haywood Smith gets a couple of men to help him dump a rain barrel over onto the fire and burning corpse. Helen Barker picks up Jake's Peacemaker and hands it back to him."Thanks," Jake brushes the dirt off it before holstering it. "...and thanks. Sorry to interrupt your Sunday night but these guys were trying to blow up the Lucky Lady. Chester had me chase this one," Jake says pointing to the charred body and then to the large man, "and this one just appeared out of nowhere. He has two other guys at the Lucky Lady he is questioning. They had explosives, I suppose I must have hit whatever he was carrying." Jake takes a minute to search the men for clues, weapons, valuables or items that look like they could be enchanted. Anything small enough to be removed unseen will be. When he and Helen can speak away from the crowd, Jake says, "These are two of the five men that Isby had information suggesting they were part of Ringo's gang. It does not look like they will be talking though." Jake looks around and sighs. "I need to get back there now, come along if you like." He heads back quickly to the Lucky Lady.Half way back he runs into Marshall Berg, exiting his house on Allen Street. "What was all that shooting?" he exclaims.   Jake replies, "Some of the Cowboy gang tried to dynamite the Lucky Lady. We stopped them and Chester had me chase down one that ran out the door. He has the other two at the saloon. When I caught the guy and had the drop on him, that fighter, Rudy Foote, appeared next to me out of no where with a gun to my head." Jake puts his hand emulating a gun to his temple. "Marshall, literally out of no where. Fortunately for me Marshall Barker had heard me hollering for her when the other buy ran by her studio. She shot Foote in the head. The other guy dove for my gun that was on the ground. I tried to kick it away but he grabbed it anyway. Your deputy and I both shot him. Both these guys were among the five names that Isby gave us to watch out for." Fifty feet to the south Jeff goes to open the back door from the kitchen. He and Ruby both now see Jake on Allen Street next to the vacant lot between the Lucky Lady and Mitchell Berg's house, talking to Marshall Berg. Jeff says, "Well, there's Jake and the Marshall. I'll be seeing you tomorrow I guess." He heads off and up Allen Street, stopping to talk to Berg and Cook.  Ruby watches Jeff walk away, glad that she had been convincing but concerned that she upset him. Not wanting to let the Cowboys escape she decided to take care of the Jeff issue later. She heads back into the main room.  Jeff tells the men, "You men are both needed at the Lucky Lady. Miss West has some prisoners for you."  Jake says, "Chester still has them? Good. We better get going..." Berg starts to walk but Jake says, "I'll be right with you." He lets Berg move away before saying, "Um, Jeff, where are you going?"Jeff answers, "To Job's house. He gave me his spare key and asked me to keep an eye on the place whenever he's away. I'm...I'm going to spend the night there. Miss West....well...she crossed over a line. She says that she was only bluffing but I'm not so sure. I do my job to the best of my ability but there are things I won't do. William Whipple found that out when he went to hit Sonoma. The job's important but not more important than my self respect.""Oh." Jake scratches his beard. "If that is what you think is best for tonight. I'll go find out for myself what happened, but give Ruby a fair shake. The Cowboy gang don't play by any rules so it is hard to deal with them. They almost blew us all to kingdom come and it was Ruby who figured it out and I assume disarmed the explosive." Jake pats him on the shoulder. "Let's talk tomorrow. Things aren't always what they appear Mr. Mills. I remember hearing a hammer click in my own saloon when I knocked on a door. A door which YOU were on the other side. I could have assumed the worst at that time and chose not to. I hope you'll give us the same chance. Sleep well, Jeff."  Jeff nods, then turns and walks away towards the northern part of town.  Mitchell Berg had glanced down Sierra Street, seeing that Deputy Marshal Barker had matters under control. He joins Jake and says, "Shall we see what this is about?"  "Yes" Jake replies and they walk to the Lucky Lady. "Alright," Ruby states inside while staring hard at the two men, "Either of you have something to say before go for our little walk?" As she speaks she runs her hand across the table, picking up the other two sticks of dynamite. "Why be wasteful..." she says with the evil grin reappearing on her face. She walks over to Chester and puts an invisible stick in his hand. "This one's for Riff. Why don't you and Niles start taking him out of here?" Chester nods and they start towards the door. Ruby walks over to Ambrose and slowly puts the stick into his other pocket while standing close to him, staring him in the eyes. "You sure there isn't anything else you'd like to add? Maybe you can convince me to change my mind about this plan."   He says, "I'm just a little guy. The one you want is Roy, he's the brains of the outfit."Ruby runs her finger across Ambrose's cheek and says sweetly, "But Roy isn't here right now, is he? He ran off and left you. You're here and you can help yourself by telling me what you know." Chester puts the dynamite in his own pocket. He and Niles walk McNally out of the Lucky Lady. "Are you sure you don't have anything to say, Alabama? Judge Isby is very interested in talking to you.”   He replies, "Yeah, go to hell! Do you honestly think Ringo's done with this place? Isby may be harsh but he plays by the rules. You all ain't gonna kill me or Ambrose, leastwise not without a trial and appeal. By that time all of you will be dead."Chester states, "Maybe, but imagine what Ringo will do to you. Maybe Isby will give you a shorter sentence than usual. Maybe Ringo thinks you ratted him out even if you don't. So you might as well talk." Chester shrugs. "Your choice."  The man spits onto Chester's shirt.  Jake arrives with the Marshal, seeing Chester with one of the men.   Chester states, "That wasn't neighborly. I bought you a round after all. Between you and me, I heard a rumor that the judge has had lunch a couple times with Miss West. That might sway his opinion of people who tried to blow her up." Chester sees Jake and Berg. "Oh look, there's Mr. Cook. Odd. I don't see your friend who ran out. Hi Jake, Marshall. I'm on my way to jail. Ruby has the other guy back at the Lucky Lady. Where's the third guy?"   Jake answers, "The white haired guy? He got shot right after Marshal Barker shot Foote dead." Jake turns to Riff. "Seems like you guys joined the right gang if you want to rise to the top quickly. Lot's of vacancies all the time.  Deputy, you want to fill Marshall Berg in on what happened?""Sure. Marshall, this is Riff 'Alabama' McNally. Him, a guy named Ambrose, and a white-haired guy. He was the fellow hanging around Rudy Foote when we were at the Palace. Ruby suspects something and goes upstairs. She finds some dynamite in one of the rooms up there. We lock the doors to prevent them from getting away. The white-haired guy runs out the back and Jake chases him. I have Riff and Ruby is talking to Ambrose back at the saloon."Inside, Ambrose tells Ruby "I don't know much. This was all 'Bama's idea. He decided to join those guys in Galeyville. We did come here from Texas to find ranching jobs, but 'Bama like the sound of rustling better, said it required the same sills but sounded like easier work. We've been in Galeyville for around a month now. Ringo used other guys instead of us, didn't want new folks who he didn't trust. But they're all either dead or busy so he brought us on this run. There, I told you what I knew."She states, "Of course they are, they were either killed by Wyatt or us. What was your job here on 'this run'. And where is he and when is he coming back here. Don't lie because we already know he's planning it."   Ambrose replies, "I don't completely know. We were told to come here and just wait in case Roy's friend needed our assistance. We were told to make sure that we stayed here at least an hour. Roy was the guy in charge, you'll have to ask him.""If he's still alive, maybe I will." Ruby takes the sticks of dynamite out of his pockets and sticks them in hers. "Let's go." She grabs Ambrose by the back of his shirt and starts dragging him out the door, catching up with Chester.   Jake sees Ruby coming out the door with the red bearded guy. He leaves Berg with Chester and walks quickly over. "Whitey and Foote are dead. You able to take care of the dog?"   "Sorry to hear about that," she replies sarcastically. "Yes, I took care of that very naughty dog, although it wasn't easy."Jake asks, "Are you done with them? Shall we let the law take them away?"  "I'm done with this one," she pushes Ambrose forward.  Jake turns to his gambler and says, "Tony, if there is anything left of your game feel free." Jake motions for Ruby to follow him and he pushes the red bearded man over to Berg and Chester. "All yours, we'll walk with you to the jail." Jake let's the lawmen and their new prisoners get ahead of he and Ruby. "Anything you want to tell Berg?”   "Like what?" she replies.  Jake says, “"I don't know. My girl is resourceful. I assume you kept yourself busy while I was running through the alleys of Promise City. If there is nothing he needs to hear tonight, then we'll make it quick.  I just want to make sure he knows what Nanuet heard about them looking for weapons. We can tell him once those guys are behind bars."   Ruby asks, "What happened to the guy with the white hair you were chasing, Roy?"   Jake tells the whole story quietly. "Imagine my surprise when I shot him with one of those fancy rounds. Boom! A bigger flash than a gun rag full of oil and powder. As if he wouldn't be dead after that, Barker shot him twice more." "I wish I knew were they were getting all these invisibility potions or whatever and stop it. How in the flames of Hades to they make objects invisible too? I wonder how that big boxer guy got into the locked liquor storage. Didn't seem to me he would be nimble with his hands." Jake finishes with a raised eyebrow.  "Well, Roy was the one with the information," Ruby replies. She walks up behind Riff and checks to make sure no one is paying attention to her before she deftly lifts the invisible stick out of his pocket. Then she turns to Berg. "Ringo's going to be back in town sometime soon. Seems the guy with the real info is dead."  She stops walking. "I'm going to head back to the Lucky Lady. Marshal, if you need me to answer any questions you can find me tomorrow.""Wait." He walks over and gives her a hug. "I'll be quick...." Turns her around towards the saloon and unseen by the others leaves on her person a Bowie knife, wallet and whiskey flask. He whispers in her ear, "These were on Foote. If you can check them..." then releasing her and resuming normal speech, "....talking to the Marshall."  As Jake catches up with the lawmen he overhears Chester tell Berg about the weapons. I guess I don't need to tell Berg. Jake says good night at the jail and heads back to the Lucky Lady.  Ruby also heads back to the Lucky Lady, having left only Tony and Harry there.  "Is everything ok down here now?"  Harry says, "Yeah, sounds fine. Maria and her boyfriend came back a few minutes ago. They're upstairs in her room now. Not much else going on around here tonight." Tony says, "Game broke up before I could win anything. Guess I'll try my luck again tomorrow. Goodnight Ruby.""Her boyfriend, huh? I didn't know she had a boyfriend." She taps her lips, "Good night Tony. Try to keep yourself out of trouble." She turns to Harry. "Can you stay down here for a bit. I'd like to go to my room for a while." Harry replies, "Of course Ruby."  Ruby heads upstairs and collapses on the bed. She finally lets the tension out with a big breath. I could really use a bath, a drink and a massage. Well, I can get one of those things. She stands and helps herself to a drink. Then she pulls out the items Jake handed her and checks them over.The wallet contains $ 120 in cash, all in crisp new twenty dollar bills. It also feels more solid that a thin cowhide wallet should be. She finds a hidden compartment from which she pulls out a flat piece of leather with custom pockets with some very nicely made lock picks and skeleton keys. The Bowie knife feels lighter than it should and she assumes it has some sort of magic on it although she is unable to detect what. The flask does not contain whiskey but is instead one-third filled with a clear liquid that radiates a magical aura.Ruby smiles as she takes a close look at the lock picks. These might come in handy She places them back in the small leather case and picks up the knife. She stabs it into a pile of newspapers on the table. She takes the flask and carefully spills a couple of drops onto the newspaper, watching to see if anything will happen.  Ruby's experiment with the knife does not reveal anything in particular.  When nothing happens Ruby shrugs and heads back downstairs.As he's walking to the office with Berg, Chester says, "Marshall? I heard that the cowboys are planning on robbing a place sometime soon. Maybe the gunshop."    Berg replies to Chester, "What makes you think they would attempt there?" Chester says, "My informant overheard some of the cowboys talking about needing more weapons and wanting to hit the place as soon as possible."Berg quietly whispers to Chet, "Well, I want to question these two, I've got Eduardo watching Ike Sherman's place, and Helen has her hands full with the two bodies. Al Brower and Pierre Jacquet both have rooms over at the Double Eagle Boarding House. Why don't you head over there and let them know."  "Sure thing, boss. See you in a bit." Chester turns and goes up Fremont Street. Reaching the Double Eagle, he knocks on the door. Clay Milford answers. "Evening Marshall. Bit late to be calling on Miss Townsend, don't you think?"  "Unfortunately this is a business visit. Is Al or Pierre in? I need to talk to them."   Both men are in. They meet Chester in the Boarding House's dining room. "Is this about that shooting we heard earlier?" Al asks.   Chester says, "Sort of. I heard that the Cowboy Gang is planning on robbing a place soon. Apparently they need more guns, so naturally the gunshop was tops on the list. When was the last time you were there?"Pierre has a panicked look on his face. He says, "We were only open for a few hours this afternoon. It has been empty for a while." "Let's go," Al states.  The three of them make their way down Fremont and Main and enter through the front door. The place is a mess, with things scattered everywhere and the safe is open. The back door is also unlocked. Al finds a candle where the wax is still hot and says, "This happened within the last hour." Pierre does a quick inventory and says "They left all of the used firearms but took everything new. Eighteen rifles and twenty-three revolvers. They also took everything in the safe, which included several boxes of special ammunition.""Damnation. I better tell Berg. Maybe the guns are still in the area. I'm really sorry about this."  Chester runs back to the office. "Marshall, come outside. I need to talk to you."  They go onto the front porch. "The cowboys hit the gunshop. They took a bunch of rifles and revolvers. Al thinks it was no more than an hour ago. The guns might be at the Indian Head."</blockquote>

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