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“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

Chapter 13

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The heavy lead ball caught the man squarely in the sternum. He let out a choked gasp, dropped his weapon, and crashed backward into the brush!The second gunman lunged forward, raising his revolver to strike Clara, but Ruth stepped out from behind the boulder like a lioness! She swung the iron pry bar with all her strength, catching the man flush across the jaw with a sickening CRACK!The gunman spun around twice and collapsed unconscious into the dirt!"Nice swing!" Mae screamed from inside the crevice!"I told you the bar was useful!" Ruth shouted back over the deafening noise!Meanwhile, up on the high ridge, two of Harrow’s remaining snipers were reloading their rifles, trying to get a clear angle on Ethan’s position behind the boulders.Ethan crouched behind a flat granite shelf, working the lever of his Winchester with terrifying, rhythmic speed.CRACK!A sniper on the left ledge spun around and dropped his rifle, falling thirty feet to the canyon floor below.CRACK!The second sniper was hit in the shoulder, tumbling backward into the scrub cedar trees.Down on the trail, Silas Harrow was retreating rapidly toward the bottleneck, surrounded by his two remaining mounted bodyguards. Harrow’s face was dark with fury—his smooth, effortless ambush had turned into a bloody disaster within two minutes."Rourke!" Harrow screamed toward the high rocks! "Finish them!"Cal Rourke, his face streaming with blood from the rock splinters, scrambled down the steep stone slope, holding a heavy double-barreled shotgun in his hands! He staggered out from the brush twenty feet from where Ethan was reloading his rifle!"Cole!" Rourke roared, raising the heavy shotgun!Ethan turned, but his rifle was empty! He reached for the Colt in his waistband, but he knew he was half a second too late—Suddenly, a rider came charging down the high canyon trail behind Harrow’s position like a runaway locomotive!It was Sam Houston, riding his heavy draft horse, holding a double-barreled shotgun of his own! Beside him were four local homesteaders from the valley—men who had seen Harrow’s riders tearing through their pastures earlier that morning and had rallied behind Sam!"Hold your fire!" Sam roared, leveling his shotgun straight at Rourke’s back! "Drop the iron, Rourke, or I'll blow you back to Copper Ridge!"Rourke froze, his shotgun raised halfway. He looked from Ethan’s cold Colt revolver to Sam Houston’s heavy double-barrel, then back to the four armed homesteaders blocking the canyon exit.Slowly, bitterly, Rourke lowered his shotgun and dropped it into the dirt.
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“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

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