Summary:  There’s a robbery and hostages.  Decisions to be made and the consequences to suffer.

Rating:  T  (870 words)

                                                The Shooting

Again, he balanced the barrel of the rifle on the crate in front of him and sighted down its length. With his left hand, he lifted it just a hair then a little more.

“When I tell you to, you have to hit him. Aim for his head,” Hoss instructed his brother Joe.

Standing in the hot shadow of the Virginia City Mercantile, there was no breeze to cool them. Across the street, the bank’s windows were closed, the shades drawn, making the interior probably hotter than it was where Hoss and Joe waited with the rest of the good citizens. Roy Coffee came towards them, ducking from one barrel to a crate, always trying to stay under cover should the man across the street in the bank let loose with another round of gunfire.

“Boys,” Roy greeted and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Heard tell he’s got a passel of folks held up in there with him. How many you seen?”

Hoss answered. “Four or five. One of them’s Adam, Roy. He’s been using him as a shield when he comes to the doorway.”

Roy grimaced. “That fool can’t get away and he knows it!”

“So do we, Roy,” Joe spoke up, and like Hoss, hefted his rifle to his shoulder and took aim at shadows across the street.

“Roy,” Hoss caught the lawman’s attention. “I got me an idea but to make sure it works, I’d appreciate it if you were over there by Bartlett’s.”

Roy looked across the street and noted Bartlett’s Barbershop. It stood next to the alleyway that the bank also bordered on. “What you got in mind?”

Hoss shook his head. “Just get over there, okay?”

With an eyebrow cocked, Roy left the two brothers and crossed the street well out of firing range then came back up the street on the bank side. Once he got to Bartlett’s doorway he drew his gun, signaled Hoss and waited.

The long minutes ticked by with only the buzzing of flies to mark the passage of time. Hoss wiped the trickle of sweat from his jaw onto his shoulder, never taking his eye from the front of the bank. Beside him, he felt Joe moving from one foot to the other. He didn’t want to do what needed doing but he knew there was no other way. He couldn’t even trade places with Joe since Joe was a better marksman and could hit the target dead on more times than he could.

Then it happened, almost too swiftly for the human eye to track. The door to the bank opened and standing in it was Adam Cartwright, his wide shoulders filling the gap. The only part of his captor that could be seen was the bright silver revolver jammed into his right side. The rifle bucked in Hoss’ hand, slamming into his shoulder. That was the only sensation he had that he had fired the gun at all. Mesmerized, he watched as across the street, the head of a man exploded in gore as the would-be-bank robber was shoved backwards, his hands flying upwards as he fell.

Roy Coffee, his gun preceding him, ran down the walkway and once to the open door, stepped over the dead man. Men ran across the street, in the lead was Joe Cartwright. Others were interested in the spectacle of the dead man but Joe’s interest was Adam. Gently he rolled Adam face up and saw that he had taken a bullet high in his left shoulder and while he was unconscious, Joe knew with certainty that his brother would live.

“Let’s get him down to Paul Martin’s,” Hoss said and together, he and Joe lifted Adam, carrying him away from the crowd, the noise and the rest of the world.

Roy Coffee joined the two younger Cartwright brothers as they waited outside of Doc Martin’s surgery. He laid Adam’s black hat and his gun on the narrow hard bench Hoss occupied. “How’s Adam?”

“He’s gonna be all right, Doc was pretty sure but first he’s got to get that bullet out,” Hoss answered but never lifted his eyes from the floor.

“Wish you had told me what you were gonna do, boys. I might have been able to do something.”

“No, there was only one way to handle it. And we had to be the ones who did it,” Joe explained, his voice husky.

The sheriff stood and dropped a gentle hand to Hoss’ shoulder. “Don’t know how you got the right angle to kill that bastard but it was a good thing you did. Other folks in the bank said he’d talked about shootin’ one of them ever’ hour until he got what he wanted. Shootin’ him like you did saved a lot of innocent folks, Hoss.”

But Hoss shook his head as Roy left. Joe’s shot had taken out the bank robber. Hoss’ job had been to give Joe that brief moment when the man would have been visible. No, Hoss’ target had been his brother.

~~~

No, we really don’t have to write the whole story, do we?