Morgan watched the man toss the pistol then crawl up to his feet. His eyes followed both hands and he could see the damage to the one arm. Morgan stayed in his cover as his rifle covered the man.
"You stay right there and don't move...I better be able to count all ten fingers with no trouble. I see either hand move faster than that and I shoot you. Now, you turn around real slow and let me see if you have any more weapons on you...again...real slow."
Farther down the street, Morgan could see some sudden motion but the distance didn't let him see exactly what was happening. But the motion did make him take his eyes off the man he was covering for just a moment...
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
Things happened within a heartbeat, the man's gun came up, and Speed fired his aimed Winchester, not waiting to see if it was a bluff or not. The forty-four-forty slug blew out the back of the man's head, sending Zeb Freeman sprawling, dead before he hit the ground. The range was less than ten feet
Speed turned the rifle on Delbert Lee Vincet who had not tried to get up. "You move, you join your friend. Now, when I tell you to, you get up and raise them hands over your head. I'll be walking you to jail."
It was a fool move, and the man with the Colt was too slow, or too unsure, or just wanted to be killed, there was no real way of knowing, but he was dead and Speed was alive. He watched to see what would happen at the other end of the street.
Zeb Del
Storyteller / Shared NPC
The distraction of Zeb's fatal ploy was the best he was going to get, the gunman who now did not have his pistol and was standing hands up. The stranger with the rifle was ordering him to turn around so he could check for hidden weapons no doubt. Well, he yelled back, "Alright, just don't you shoot me. I'm an unarmed man!"
Once he turned around so his back was facing the rifleman, the alley beckoned, it was only a few yards away and he could out of sight of that bastard. He didn't want to die now but hanging seemed even worse. A shot was fired elsewhere and suddenly the man made a run for it, sore foot or not. If you could get in the alley he might still find a place to hide out in this maze of a town. Even as he ran he yelled again.
"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed!"
@Longshot
Morgan looked back closer at the sudden flash of movement. His "wounded" opponent suddenly looked very spry as he darted down the alley. Morgan muttered a curse and took off after him. He slowed at the corner to peek around in case he was waiting in ambush, then he sped up as he saw the man's back heading away from him. Morgan was taller than his opponent and his longer legs helped eat up the distance. He also noted the man was actually hurt from his earlier shot as there was a constant dribble of blood heading down the alley behind him.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
As Morgan turned yet another corner in their back alley to back alley chase, he soon found his prey. Cornered and up against a tall wood fence. But he was not by himself. Things suddenly got very complicated.
The desperate gunman, knowing he was facing a noose if he went to trial, had run into some local lad and grabbed for him. He drew a knife he had on his hip and wrapped one arm about the boy's neck to hold him in place and pulled him in front of him as a human shield. He pointed the small but still deadly blade right at the boy's chest.
"Don't you come any closer or I will kill this brat! You are going to let me go. I just wanna get out of town and I'll let the kid go!"
The boy looked to be about 11 or 12 at the most, he wasn't struggling probably out of sheer terror, wide eyed as he faced Morgan.
Not that Morgan would know being a stranger but the boy was Abraham Kaufman, son of the town butcher.
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
With the action moved into an alleyway, it was time to get the prisoner up and off to jail. "Okay, you get up, try anything and you'll meet your maker." Speed said firmly, not wanting to kill the man, but left no other choice he would. That comes from being shot once before. "Now move! two doors down you stop at the doors til I tell you to open one. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir Marshal, clear as a spring morning." Del was scared, partly because of Zeb shoving him to the ground, and partially because of the Marshal's Winchester.
"Good. Right here, now, easy like you you push that right-hand door open," Speed directed. Vincentshoved the door open and stepped through the door swinging back was stopped by Guyer's boot and he pushed through.
"Now, down to the first door to the right, open it and step inside, then over to the first cell and grab hold of the bars." Was his next order. He complied without so much as a blink of his eyes. They had him, and he knew it. He gripped the bars high so the Marshal could see his hands. He heard the jingle of the keys and the Marshal stepping up behind him, the sound of the key in the lock, and the squeak of the cell door opening. "Step inside."
The door slamming, the lock turning, Del Vincent felt sick to his stomach.
Morgan slowed and stopped. He stared at the man as he tried to hide behind the boy. The man made his demands and Morgan looked him over, then moved his eyes to the boy. Morgan could see the trembling fear behind his eyes and he gave a slight nod.
"Mister, you have made a lot of mistakes to end up where you're standing. You let that boy go...right now...and we'll walk over to the jail. If you don't let him go, I'm going to shoot you, and you're still going to jail but now you'll be a cripple."
Morgan brought the Winchester up to his shoulder but let it point a bit low as he stared at the man just over the sights. "How do you want it...?"
"Mister, you have made a lot of mistakes to end up where you're standing. You let that boy go...right now...and we'll walk over to the jail. If you don't let him go, I'm going to shoot you, and you're still going to jail but now you'll be a cripple."
Morgan brought the Winchester up to his shoulder but let it point a bit low as he stared at the man just over the sights. "How do you want it...?"
Just then another figure joined Morgan, standing to his left side. It was a heavily bearded man carrying a Colt Army .45, Morgan may have seen him earlier shooting at some of the ...well whoever these men were. He brought up the revolver and aimed it at the hostage taker.
"You heard the man, drop that knife!" Ralph snapped. The revolver was already cocked.The hand aiming it steady.
The man knew there was no way he was going to buffalo not just one now but two. And giving up meant the hangman's noose. Still he wasn't going to go down without one last futile act of defiance. No one lives forever.
He started to stab the boy, "You go to hell!"
Ralph pulled the trigger and he had aimed for the man's forehead even as the Winchester opened up too.
When the panicked man reacted with his "Go to Hell!" comment, Morgan had already decided what he was going to do. The newcomer beside him had not changed his plan, but he was thankful for the assistance. He braced the Winchester and fired when the man had snapped. The rifle boomed and as he aimed for the bent arm farthest from the boy's head. He had planned to ruin the man's ability to injure the boy with the knife even as the man's revolver beside him barked with his fire at almost the same instant...Since neither one gave the man a chance to react the twin shots both hit pretty much where aimed. Morgan's rifle round disintegrated the man's elbow but that was irrelevant as Flandry's pistol shot smacked the man's head slightly to one side but not enough to change the result.
The man was dead by the time he fell backward onto the alley dirt. As for the lad, the knife was sort of stuck in his coat but it all happened too fast for the now deceased man to have been able to shove it deeper. Blood spattered onto the kid, but it was not his. He fell with the now corpse but scrambled off as fast as he could.
Ralph lowered his smoking revolver, "Anyone who uses a kid as a shield deserves whatever he gets."
He turned to the newcomer, "Sounds quiet out in the street, think it's over. Name's Ralph......bartender at the saloon."
The boy was getting to his feet, looking quite shocked by it all.
"You hurt, son? We can get you to a doctor," Ralph holstered the gun as he inquired.
" No....I'm ...alright," Abraham replied in a barely audible tone of voice, now staring down at the dead man.