Scott holstered his pistols and went to open the door. The tall figure of the marshal confronted him.
“You’ll have to come with me. Kid.” said Wyatt.
Scott stared at him. Then he looked down and saw the gun.
“I’m putting you under arrest for the murder of Ross Demming. Hand over your guns.”
The two rustlers waiting in the alley never knew what hit them. One moment, they were standing near the entrance to the alley, staying out of sight and keeping a watch out for Delaney, the next, they were suddenly being grabbed from behind by black-suited commandos. They felt hands being clapped over their mouths and then an agonizing, incandescent pain as the razor sharp, nine-inch combat blades did their grisly work. Their bodies slumped to the ground. Without wasting any time, the S.O.G. commandos quickly strapped warp discs to the corpses’ wrists and clocked the bodies out. One of them spoke into his wrist communicator.
“Mattick to Team Leader.”
“Go ahead, Mattick
Two down.”
“Roger. Stand by.”
On Third Street, just around the corner of the Aztec Rooming House, two gunmen were shocked out of their wits when two black-uniformed men in commando masks suddenly appeared before them out of nowhere. That one second of shock was plenty of time for the two men who clocked in behind them to move up and slit their throats.
“Sagretti to Team Leader.
“Go ahead, Sagretti.”
“Four down, two to go.”
“That’s a roger. Stand by and stay out of sight. Okay, Miller, Donninger. you got a clear shot at the two out front?’
“That’s a roger.”
“Drop ’em.”
The two commandos stationed on the roof across the street from the rooming house fired. One of the rustlers slapped his hand to his chest.
“Ow! Jeez, damn skeeters-” then he spasmed and dropped dead as the fast-acting poison did its work. His partner collapsed a fraction of a second later. Capiletti spoke int
o his radio. “Okay. Sagretti, get those bodies out of there! Now! Move it!”
The black-clad commandos blended with the shadows as they quickly ran around the corner and up to the fallen rustlers. Seconds later, the bodies were gone.
“Well done. Lieutenant.” said Stone. He pulled back his sleeve and spoke into his own radio. “Listen up. This is Stone. I’m going in Give me five seconds once I go through the front door, then move in behind me. We’re taking that house. Miller, Donninger, you keep to your posts. Cover the street.”
“Roger. Captain.-
“Okay, here we go.” said Stone. He turned to Capiletti who, unlike the other commandos, was dressed in period clothes He was wearing jeans, a cotton shirt, boots and a Stetson hat. Only beneath his coat, his holsters held a laser and a plasma pistol. “Let’s go.” said Stone.
Together. the two men started across the street, heading toward the rooming house.
O’Fallon stood among the crowd, looking down at the body of Ross Demming. There was a slight tic at the corner of his mouth. He balled his hands into fists. Idiots, he thought. Goddamn idiots! A simple job, one shooter on the street, another on the roof to cover him. How in hell could they possibly have bungled it? And where in hell was Brocius?
“All right, move aside.” said Wyatt Earp, pushing his way through the crowd. He looked down at the body sprawled out on the street. “Demming.” he said, with a grimace. “Had a feelin’ he’d wind up like this, sooner or later “
He bent down and picked up the Winchester that was lying next to the corpse. He checked it. “It hasn’t been fired.” He glanced around at the crowd. “Anybody see what happened?”
“I saw the whole thing. Marshal,” said O’Fallon. “It was the Montana Kid. He shot Ross down in cold blood. Never even gave him a chance.”
“He’s lying!” Jenny shouted.
Wyatt turned toward her. “What do you know about this, Jenny?”