"This ends today. I hope there's a God who exists, and who will answer my prayers again."
Roy dashed out the door and headed back toward town. Tom was dismayed as he watched his friend for perhaps the last time. Tom bellowed at the employees and grabbed the ammunition crate.
"Bobby, have everyone meet with me in my office."
A venomous presence preceded the Conroy Dixon gang as they rode in from the east. They found the place was eerily desolate and quiet. Slowing their pace, they stopped in the middle of the road near the edge of town. Dix was a brutal gunslinger who killed more men than he could remember or count, and frankly didn't give a damn. Grizzled with a salt and pepper beard, his dark sunburned skin wrinkled as he leaned forward to scan the streets. The saddle leather made noise when he shifted his weight.
"Too damn quiet. I don't like this one bit. Billy, take my kid brother Jake and go around to the right. Sal, take Pretty-Boy and go to the left. Let's meet up at the bank."
Billy and a young man in his early twenties rode off in one direction while Sal and a handsome man with blond hair and a chiseled jaw took off to the left.
Squinting at the two remaining riders, Dix said, "You two ride with me."
Frank and Henry unholstered their weapons and rode on either side of Dix. The trio quietly moved toward the middle of town while scanning both sides of the street for any movement. Town folk peering out their windows quickly pulled back whenever the trio spied them staring. When Dix arrived at the bank, the closed sign was posted in the window.
"I don't suppose these folks are putting out the welcome mat for us Dix," said Frank.
Dix saw the note on the door. "Frank, get that and read it to me." Dix jerked his chin toward the bank's door.
Frank snatched the note and quickly read it. He looked up at Dix and smiled. "It seems their sheriff stole our money and is sitting inside waiting for us."
Dix immediately sat up straight and pulled both his pistols out. Without hands, Dix swung his leg over the saddle then jumped to the ground. The other two men raised their weapons.
"Stay alert boys. I don't feel good about this."
When Roy ran out of the blacksmith's shop, he dashed for the cluster of buildings located in the center of town. The outside walls, on either side of the front and back of several business buildings, touched or were part of their adjacent structures. Roy ran up a set of stairs on the back side of the saloon leading up to the working women's floor. At the top of the stairs, Roy jumped onto the hand railing and pulled himself on top of the flat roof.