The United States Army had arrived yesterday. Today, they’d already begun being trouble to the peacekeepers. Vin had left town, agreeing to spend time at the reservation with Chanu and Koje to avoid any problems. It was not as much a case of him being wanted, although that was certainly a consideration. It was more his obvious, and in his own way outspoken, support of the Indians the Army was usually fighting with that would inevitably lead to problems. If they could have spared another man, Chris would have ordered Ezra to join the tracker. The southerner, quietly aggravating on a good day, seemed to anger some of the soldiers by his mere presence. As it was, Josiah was on one of his routine trips to Vista City, what the hell he did there no one knew but Vin, and the Texan only assured Chris it wasn’t going to cause trouble for the others. Buck was in Red Fork for a few more days, leaving them with four lawmen and forty soldiers. Chris would have been much more comfortable going with odds they knew, like 7 to 40. JD and Chris did most of the interaction with the soldiers, Nathan being busy in the clinic, and Ezra having a trained aversion to all people in ‘Union Blue’. A small number of the soldiers had taken an immediate dislike to the southerner, and made sure everyone knew it. Tonight, there was an air of tension in the saloon, as if something was about to happen. Anxious about what it might be with the place half full of soldiers, All three of the available lawmen were present. JD left occasionally to do a walk-through of the town, and Ezra held court at his usual poker table. Chris stayed in his usual corner, a bottle in front of him, and the shadows enhancing his menacing appearance.

No one would ever be able to tell what started the whole ruckus. Suddenly, a punch was thrown, the sentiment was returned, and as always, spectators joined in the melee. Chairs, bottles, fists and feet were handy weapons, as the saloon erupted into utter chaos. Five minutes into the brawl, as Chris was ‘subduing’ two more combatants in his inimitable style, a gunshot stilled the men. A second later, as Chris was trying to figure out where the shot came from, he heard Inez call out.

“ Senor Ezra!”

Chris shoved his way across the room, meeting JD a second before Ezra came into view. The southerner was on the floor, the crowd forming a loose circle around him, a rapidly blossoming patch of red centered on his chest.

“Shit! Inez, I need some clean towels. JD, get these people out of here. Ben,” Chris ordered, dropping beside his man, “run get Nathan. Tell him what happened.”

“ Yes, sir.” Ben Odell was the son of a local farmer, barely old enough to be in the saloon. He was a friend of JD’s and Casey’s, and well known to the seven.

“ Senor Larabee.” Inez dropped beside Chris, bringing a stack of clean towels with her. Chris grabbed one, and put pressure on the wound. Inez brushed an errant curl from Ezra’s forehead, and Chris again noticed the easy affection between the two. There was no serious romantic feel to it, but more like the relationship between a brother and a sister. Before he could think any further, Nathan appeared across the prone gambler.

“ Damn. Chris?”

“ Don’t know. Brawl broke out, there was a shot. Ezra got hit.”

“ He been out long?”

“ He was gone when I got here.”

“ What he fall on?”

“ Huh?” Chris asked, confused.

“ Somethin’ hit him. Dislocated this shoulder again.”

“ Inez?”

“ He fell right here.”

“ So it happened in the fight.” Nathan mused aloud, running his hands down the southerner’s body looking for more injuries. He didn’t have much time, that chest wound was bleeding heavily. “We’re good to move him. Chris, you want to get his shoulders?”

The leader didn’t answer, but grabbed the gambler’s shoulders silently. He lifted at the same time Nathan did, and they took two steps before JD spoke up.

“ Nate, there’s blood on the back of his jacket.”

“ Probably means the bullet went through. Let’s go.”

A few moments later, they had Ezra on the clinic bed, and JD had set Nathan’s equipment within reach.

“ JD?”

“ Yeah, Nathan?”

“ Nettie and Casey still in town?”

“ Yep.”

“ Get Nettie. Tell her I’m sorry to wake her, but I’m gonna need some experienced help here.”

“ Sure. Should I get Widow Brooks, too?”

“ Yeah, you better.” Nathan replied, looking down on the unmoving southerner. The bleeding had slowed from both wounds, but not stopped.

“ JD, you get them, and then I need you on the streets. I’ll be down soon as they get here.” Chris ordered, knowing they couldn’t leave the streets unguarded on a Saturday night.

“ Sure, Chris.” JD nodded. He hurried down the stairs, and towards the hotel to wake Nettie, and then head for the Widow Brooks’ place behind the dressmakers. Meanwhile, inside the clinic, Nathan and Chris began cutting clothes off the gambler, and attempting to stop the bleeding.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door to the clinic, and Chris opened it to find Nettie Wells there, and the Widow coming up the stairs. Stepping aside, the two women swept past him, into the clinic.

“ Go on, Chris.” Nathan urged the gunslinger. Chris nodded, and reluctantly stepped outside, slowly walking down the stairs. A few moments later, he ran into JD. The young sheriff was as anxious as the leader, only the younger man’s nerves showed in his movements. Chris eyed the street, seeing little or no movement even outside the saloon. It was oddly quiet for 10 on a Saturday. Then, again, the locals would have disappeared to their homes or rooms once Ezra was shot. The peacekeepers had a bit of a habit of being on the warpath when one of them was hurt. Luckily, the Judge was in town. They could use the extra gun, even if it was an old man.

“ JD, you wake the Judge?” Chris asked, noticing a light in the jail. They rarely left a light on, fires started with unattended lamps. Chris, the others knew, had an understandably deep and abiding paranoia about fires.

“ No. Said he heard the shot while he was reading, and decided to come out and give us a hand. He’s at the jail, loading his shot gun and checking on some new posters that came in yesterday.”

“ Good. Gives us three guns.”

“ What about borrowing from the Army?”

“ No. If we need to bring Vin back in, we’ll put him up high. Buck is due back day after tomorrow.”

“ Yeah, but Nathan’s busy, and Ezra, well…anyway couldn’t we use the help?”

“ Don’t trust ‘em. Too many of ‘em were involved in that brawl tonight.”

“ Okay.” JD agreed. Chris was the boss, he generally knew what he was doing. When he didn’t, he asked Vin, or Buck, or even Ezra if a diversion or the like was needed.

“ Send a wire to Vista City. Tell Josiah I’d like to cordially request his presence.”

“ Huh?”

“ Tell him to get his butt here yesterday.”

“ Mr. Lawrence closed up.”

“ Open him back up.”

“ Sure thing. Should I tell Josiah Ezra got hurt?”

“ Yeah. No details. We can tell him here. Go.” Chris ordered, and watched the sheriff bound towards the telegraph office. He nodded to the Judge, who was walking towards him. The older man looked menacing enough, the shotgun providing sufficient deterrent to the criminals. Damn it, even in his head he was talking more, and using Ezra words on top of it. This town was a bad influence.

“Chris.”

“Judge.”

“ What happened?”

“ Saloon brawl.”

“ What was the shot?”

“ Somebody shot Ezra.”

“ How bad?”

“ You feel up to a murder trial?”

“ That bad?”

“ Nate says he’s a mess. Shot up close, right in the chest. Doesn’t think he’ll make it to morning.” Chris replied, keeping any emotion from his features. He was detaching himself from the fact that the man in the clinic was Ezra, one of his men.

“Any ideas?”

“ Who? Not yet. Mostly locals tonight, and the soldiers. Didn’t see any strangers, and no one among the locals who didn’t like Ezra.”

“ Is it possible they didn’t intend to hit Mr. Standish?”

“ In a brawl? I suppose so. He dies, ain’t gonna make much difference to me. Killin’ still a killin’.”

“ Makes a difference to the law.”

“ Only on your end. My job’s to arrest the guilty parties and keep anyone from throwing a necktie party ‘til you order one.”

“ Just remember that. I don’t need six vigilantes, Chris.”

“ No sir. Reckon you could only get two right now.”

“ You gonna bring in Vin?”

“ Tomorrow mornin’. Josiah and Buck I expect day after. May be just in time to bury Ezra.”

“Keep me informed.” Chris nodded, and the two men took separate ends of the town, watching for more trouble.

The next morning, Chris sent the oldest Cooper boy out to his ranch to fetch Vin. The Coopers owned the restaurant, after Heidegger decided it was more fiscally sound to concentrate on the hotel. It seemed to be working so far. More importantly, Henry Cooper was a good man, and he was an avid supporter of the seven men. Two hours later, Vin and Jersey Cooper came back in, Jersey riding one of Chris’ horses.

“ I’ll take the horses to the livery, Mr. Tanner. Mr. Larabee, I left Satch at your ranch. I can trade ‘em back tomorrow, after they’re both rested up.”

“ Sounds fine, Jersey. Thanks.”

“ Mr. Larabee?”

“ Yeah?”

“ Is Ezra gonna be all right? Bryce overheard what happened, and he and the other kids are gonna be worried.”

“ We don’t know. He’s still alive.” Jersey nodded, and led the two horses down the street towards the livery. Vin and Chris shared a look, and headed for the clinic.

“ How’s Ez?”

“ Nate says he was shot up close. It…it doesn’t look good.”

“ You think a soldier?”

“ May be. Hope not. Ez was shot in the back, Vin.”

“ Point blank in the back?”

“ Yep. Nate told me this morning. Says the front wound is the exit wound. He doesn’t think, by some miracle, it hit too much vital, but the lung might collapse. He lost too much blood, and fever has already set in.”