Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{Try with the left, he told himself. Gotta get to it. Use the other hand.}

_{He heard the sound of a gun hammer being cocked.}

_{“Damn you.”}

_{He could see a little now. A dark figure loomed over him, in silhouette against the stars now that there was no roof. The standing, weaving figure held a short, stubby, double- barreled scattergun, its shape unmistakable. The man was crying. His shoulders shook, and he took a moment to wipe his eyes on the back of his coat sleeve.}

_{“I’ll send you to hell behind him, damn you,” the man swore in a tremulous voice.}

_{He raised the shotgun to his shoulder.}

_{Longarm was still clawing with both hands. Trying to grab the derringer in his vest pocket. Trying to find the dropped Colt. Trying to wriggle the hell out of the way. Trying...}

_{A muzzle flash illuminated the night once more.}

_{The shotgun roared and spat its fire in a macabre halo of death and destruction.}

_{Longarm snarled and cursed and continued his struggle.}

_{After a moment it occurred to him that he was still alive to struggle. He stopped. Blinked.}

_{There was a faint sound of scuffling. Very light. No more noise than that of a pair of rats mating in their nest. And then there was silence.}

_{Longarm thought back.}

_{The shotgun blast. It hadn’t been directed down at him. Although that was certainly where the man had been aiming a moment before. Instead, he thought, the gun had been pointing harmlessly into the sky when it fired.}

_{And there had been a half-seen blur of movement a scant fraction of a second before. Or had he only imagined that part? He didn’t honestly know.}

_{He tried to concentrate on listening to whatever the hell it was that was happening.}

_{There was ... silence. Absolute silence. Nothing at all now except the silence of the night and, somewhere far}

_{away, the sound of a barking dog. A few seconds more and even the dog became quiet.}

_{Longarm began pulling and squirming and clawing at the debris that trapped him there. Whatever the hell was going on, he would feel better about it all once he could stand up and move again.}

_{Chapter 29}