Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [65]
“Ya lookin’ at me hand, ain’t ya? You remember, huh? Yer sister Beatrice is quite handy with the shears when she wants to be. But don’t you worry; while it ain’t what I’d call operatin’ at one hundred percent, the doctors did patch ’er up, and she works just fine.”
Jenkins clenched the mangle of tight sinew into a fist to emphasize his point.
“Now, I’ve grown tired of askin’…where’s yer sister?”
Beatrice did not allow Lionel to answer. She jumped from the rocks above and knocked Jenkins, once again, to the ground. Jenkins dropped the Frozen Man’s knife, and in a split second Beatrice held it with both hands high above her head. Jenkins clamored for his pistol, but never reached it. Lionel watched as Beatrice drove the blade down as hard as she could, pinning Jenkins’s good hand to the earth where he lay.
They all stood for a silent moment before Jenkins let out the first of many bloodcurdling screams. Lumpkin spun around and cracked Beatrice in the ribs as hard as he could with his rifle. She fell against the rock as he threw back the lever to take aim.
“Kill her!” Jenkins screamed. “Kill her!”
Grandpa was reaching out toward Lumpkin when a shot was fired, but it wasn’t from Lumpkin’s gun.
“You pull that trigger and I’ll blow ya to kingdom come!” suddenly boomed across the clearing from tree line to tree line.
Lionel turned to see Mr. Hawkins and Junebug, now on horseback, with both of their rifles trained on Lumpkin’s head. A small spiral of blue smoke drifted from the barrel of Mr. Hawkins’s rifle.
“I’ve had just about enough of this!” Hawkins declared, a slight tremble in his voice. “You drop that rifle, or I swear to God, damn the consequences, I will shoot you dead where you stand.”
Lumpkin stole a hesitant glance at Jenkins.
“I mean it!” Mr. Hawkins shouted, firing the rifle again in the air.
Lumpkin lowered his rifle as more of the government men, including the captain, entered the clearing.
“That goes for all of y’all!” Hawkins shouted, turning toward the captain. “Me and the boy will keep pullin’ these here triggers until we can’t pull ’em no more!”
Lionel looked at Mr. Hawkins. His eyes were bright with fear and rage.
“The fact there’s more of y’all don’t matter to me.” The barrel of Mr. Hawkins’s rifle was now pointing directly at the captain. “If it comes to it, and you’re set on gunning us down, you better think about which ones me and the boy end up taking with us. I promise, it will be a fair percentage!”
The captain lowered his pistol and stepped his horse forward. “I don’t think it needs to come to that.”
“I sure in hell hope it don’t! I don’t like killin’ folk, but if it’s between me or them, I will if I have to!” Hawkins returned.
“I assure you, if you please lower the rifle, I’ll see that this is all dealt with justly.”
“Don’t do it, Captain!” Jenkins spat, clutching his bloody hand with the mutilated one. “That there is Avery John Hawkins. He’s a wanted man. A murderer. I’ve seen the warrant for his arrest. Figures we’d find him in cahoots with this lot.”
The captain turned to Hawkins, the pistol lower, but still in hand.
“Yes, sir. I am a wanted man, but don’t make the mistake of thinkin’ that you’re bringin’ me in today,” Hawkins shouted, the heavy rifle balanced now between Jenkins, Lumpkin, and the captain.
Lionel thought that during these few fleeting moments, the earth must have slowed down just a bit. All of the men who now stood, guns aimed at each other, were silent. He could hear the wind in the tops of the trees, the unsettled, subtle movements of the horses, and what he thought must have been the rapid beat of his own heart. But the moment didn’t last.
“I’ll tell ya what I’ll do. I’ll make a deal with ya,” Mr. Hawkins continued. “If you promise me that you’ll see to it that these children is treated fairly, I’ll let as many of your men as I could have killed live.”
The government men shifted uneasily.
“Me and the boy, we just want to be left alone, so we’re gonna go. You can follow if ya like, but that’s the deal. I’ll let ya live right