by Jeff Uribe
[[NRPG : Syd - ;) Here's some thoughts on your novel-in-making. :) ]]
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[MD 1, Sheriff's Office]
> Dolan came into the room and dropped a notepad on the table. He didn't > look happy. "Should I bring the Duggins boy in now," he asked.
Jordan nodded and headed back towards the interrogation room. Leo excused himself from this session, since he had a strange feeling that the results with this kid would be the same as the first one. Also, something about those fries didn't quite agree with him and so he decided to take in some fresh air. Zenya and Martin headed back towards the small room once again and Leo stepped out into the cooling Montana air. There was a lot zipping through his mind, in fact, Leo was so distracted, he never noticed 13 year-old Christopher Laughton coming up the road.
Ol' Bullseye Laughton sauntered up Main Street, walking with a steady hand and a confidence that surpassed all 13 years of his young life. Of course, a gunslinger had to have both of these qualities, and Bullseye possessed each in good measure. With his six-gun in his side holster, he measured his opponent who was standing on the steps of the sheriff's office. He wondered why he was only given one six-gun when everyone knew that any gunslinger worth his weight in gold should have two. Perhaps this was as the man said, a test of his worth and mettle. If he passed, he'd get the second gun and be a true gunslinger. Failure was not an option, not to Bullseye. That man on the steps would be dead before long... or else he would be.
As he was being observed, Leo's mind was miles away. He wondered what had come over him when he told Zenya how they were being observed, the way he pulled her towards him and held her. He knew better than that, yet he did it anyways and that confused him. He was acting like a schoolkid with a crush for the first time in his life, and as good as it felt, it was interfering with his work. He knew better, that work and pleasure had to remain seperate and to mix the two could only spell trouble. For one, it was interfering with his ability to be objective and it was wreaking havok with his concentration. Plus it was probably making Zenya uncomfortable and Leo knew that no matter what, he really shouldn't be putting her into any embarrasing situations like earlier today. He made a mental note to himself to apologize to her before she turned in later tonight. Business was business, after all....
After jotting down this note in his mental notebook, Leo's thoughts turned towards that new serial novel he was reading.... Ace of Wands, he believed the title was. (NRPG : I know, I know... shameless plug. ;) It's supposed to be a novel in either two or three parts, the first was published not so long ago. After about seven chapters, it was getting to be pretty interesting. Being a Stephen King fan, he could see comparisons between this book and King's Needful Things, as well as elements from IT and The Tommyknockers. The characters and plot were moving along at a well-paced plot and Leo was starting to get hooked on it. There was one thing that caught his eye while reading in chapter 5 that he didn't know about, and that was what a "merry widow" was. He figured that it was a type of lingerie, but he wondered if Jenn ever wore one and he didn't know about it. Of course, women's lingerie wasn't one of Leo's favorite things especially when Jenn dragged him to lingerie shops with her to shop, but he did admit that it did look very nice on her once she had it on at home. It was down this road of thought that Leo was traveling on when he heard a young voice call out, "Leo Jones, I'm calling you out old man!"
Christopher "bullseye" Laughton wondered how he knew this man's name when he hadn't even met him before today, but somehow he knew. The same way he knew that the old gunfighter in front of him will soon be lying in a pool of his own blood in a few minutes. The old man named Leo Jones (just like on that WANTED poster he saw a few hours back) was musing his day away, thinking about his past glory days, no doubt. Now it was time for a new gunslinger to take over this town, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop Bullseye from being that gunslinger.
He saw the old fire flare up a moment in the old man's eyes. Those same eyes that saw the murder of countless other gunslingers before him, and now was his turn to join them.
At this moment, Martin decided to take a break from the interrogation and get himself a cup of coffee. As he poured himself a cup, he heard the young voice call out Leo's name and call him an old man. Curious, he looked outside to see what was going on. Standing in the street, he saw a young kid with a side holster strapped to his pants and an evil looking six-gun in it. It seemed as though Leo and the kid were into some sort of staring match, trying to stare the other guy down like in those old westerns. A few moments later, the entire team was near the windows looking at the scene outside.
"That's Chris Laughton, the kid of the guy whose cows were in front of the building this morning. What's he doing there?" The sheriff wondered as he saw Leo reach the bottom of the stairs.
"The more important question would be, what's he planning to do with the six- shooter in that holster." Jordan answered.
Without actually seeing them, he knew that he had observers in the windows behind him. As he reached the bottom step, he lifted his hand as a warning for the people behind him not to do anything. He was staring at the kids eyes, looking for any sign of recognition since he called Leo by name. He saw nothing in those eyes but a blank stare, a steely gaze that he himself would have recognized years earlier back in the military.
"Ok, kid. I don't know how you know me, but you do. What do you want?" Leo asked in a steady low voice, his gaze never wavering from the kid.
"You know what I want, Jones." the kid answered. "I'm going to be the new top gun in this here parts, and I'm going to go through you to be it. Best to call the undertaker now to get outfitted for your funeral, old man."
Leo had the feeling he just stepped into an old Eastwood spaghetti-western when the kid said that. Of course, as odd as that was, the only thing about all of this that bothered Leo was the fact that the kid kept calling him old man. It was an old, but very very successful tactic to irritate your opponent into losing his focus. Leo kept his cool, though, and allowed this young brat to have his say. He knew that his reflexes may be a tad bit slower than it was before, but he figured that he could still outshoot this young kid.
"Ready to throw down old man?" the kid asked.
Leo raised an eyebrow and smiled, nearly losing himself in another one of his memories from back in training. The one lesson from sniper training that his CO called "Cherry Picking". A very little used, but extremely handy skill to have as an assassin. The ability to shoot down bullets from the sky without letting it hit the targets surrounding you in the back. According to his CO, every sniper in that class should have been "good enough to shoot the whiskers off of my face without leaving a nick. My wife shouldn't have to complain about stubble either." Leo had managed to breeze past that class, 2nd only to Docker, in fact, it was the only class that Docker managed to outgun him in.
"Let's pick some cherries, kid." Leo said with a grin. He knew that he was at a disadvantage, having his gun in his shoulder holster while the kid had his gun at his side. The trouble was, the kid forgot to unstrap the holding strap to his holster and it would take him an extra second or so to get it off.
It took but a fraction of a second, but Leo's automatic was soon in his hand and the kid had somehow slipped his gun past it's restraint and started to fire at Leo. Leo squeezed off an equal amount of shots as he heard the door open behind him. With each shot that he got off he knew that he had managed to hit each bullet that came for him since he wasn't hit or he didn't hear any sounds of richocheting behind him. The kid stood there, his eyes unbelieving as he saw Leo standing there, his automatic pointed at his head. The kid then shook violently, dropped his gun, and fainted dead away.