Devlin's Curse by Lady Brenda

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    “You alright, Miss Esmeralda? You need to set down a spell?” he asked.
    Esmeralda wanted to run to Devlin but hung back.  He was safe that is all she cared about. She pulled her scarf close over her hair and with Jamie at her side made her way through the crowd and back down to Town.

Chapter Eight
    Reckoning
     
    F or days Laredo had been riding high on his dirty deed.  He drank whiskey and bragged about how he put the lights out for a certain gambler. Winter had tried to make him look yellow in front of the whole town; well he had shown them all. That gambler and his dirty Paiute sidekick were dead as doornails by now. Washed up and suffocated by the blast he set to destroy the mine. He used the last of Big Jim’s hundred dollar reward to buy another round. As long as the alcohol flowed he had an audience because everyone in town knew him to be nothing but a trumped up jackass with a trigger finger. He poured himself a shot and pounded it back.
    The sound of the door to the saloon being flung open startled him. A ragged young newsboy popped his head into the saloon and shouted. “Thier alive! Thier alive, survivors found in the Gilded Bird mine”
    Laredo gagged and spewed his whiskey.
    Fit to be tied he grabbed the poor boy by the collar and shook him. “What the hell is you spoutin’ about boy!”
    The boy squirmed. “It’s that gambler and that Injun, they were found alive.”
    Furious, Laredo flung the boy away from him. The boy stumbled and fell onto the sawdust floor. Laredo pushed himself away from the bar and started towards the door but before he could reach it a shadow blocked his view.
    He looked up and saw that the gambler,
    Devlin Winter stood there. Whole, and in the flesh, dressed immaculately with not a speck of dust soiling his black frock coat or the brim of his hat.
    “Going somewhere Laredo?” he drawled.
    Laredo rocked back on his heels. His eyes bugged out. “You!”
    “Surprised to see me alive? Don’t worry it won’t be for long. You won’t be seeing anything after I plant a 44 slug between your damned eyes.”
    Devlin drew back his coat and rested his hand on his gun. 
    Laredo blustered.  “Oh Yeah, well mister I ain’t scared a you, won’t be the first time sum’ un thought they could kill me. You can take your best shot.”
    The crowd in the saloon had parted around them muttering. The bartender reached for his shotgun but Devlin spoke out. “There’s no need for that. If Laredo wants to settle a score with me he can meet me at the corner of Taylor and A Street at noon.” He took an antique silver watch out of his vest and perused it. “You have ten minutes.” With those words he turned and walked out the door.
    Devlin waited for him and took a casual stance in the very center of the street. He had no doubt that Laredo would follow him, along with half the drunks, on the boardwalk. He stood motionless while Laredo walked jerkily up the hill.
    It took a minute for the stupefied expression to leave his face but by then Laredo found himself on Taylor and A Street where small crowd had gathered. Now he looked stone cold sober, and from the expression on his face – scared to death, the alcohol that had soaked his brain all but evaporated by the hammering of his heart.
    Devlin and Laredo faced each other. They stood about fifty feet apart. For a split second they were motionless. Then leather was slapped and two shots rang out.
    Laredo was flung backwards and a thin stream of blood ribboned out around him. When he hit the ground Devlin replaced his smoking gun in his holster. He walked and stood over Laredo’s lifeless body. He flipped a playing card out of the pocket of his vest. The Ace of spades fluttered down to stick over the ragged bullet hole between Laredo’s sightless eyes.  
    Devlin knew then that the reckoning had begun.
    A maelstrom would be drawn to him and his curse, setting the wheels in motion for the confrontation that was sure to come. He