Part 38 (1/2)
Jake grunted, then laughed. He stepped in and swung a huge right fist.
Ben ducked and side-stepped. He kicked out with his boot and caught Campo flush on the knee, knocking the bigger, heavier man to the ground. Campo shook his head and crawled to his knees. Ben kicked the man in the face with the toe of his jump boot. Teeth popped out of the man's mouth and rolled around on the ground. Blood dripped from a smashed mouth.
Jake lifted his head, disbelief in his eyes.
He tried to rise to his feet. Ben kicked him in the side, hearing ribs break under the heavy toe of the boot. Jake screamed and fell to the ground, white-hot pain lancing through him.
Ben kicked him twice more in the head, one savage kick tearing an ear from the man. Blood streamed from the man's head.
”Fight fair, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!” Jake spoke through his ruined mouth, the words mushy, pus.h.i.+ng past torn lips.
”No such thing, Campo,” Ben told him. ”Just a winner and a loser.”
Jake rushed Ben, scrambling to his feet.
Ben stepped aside and the man ran headfirst into a tree, splitting his head wide open. Blood stained the man's face, pouring from his badly mangled head.
Ben picked up a wrist-sized stick from the ground and brought it down hard on Campo's back, the force of the blow driving the man to the ground. ”Seems like I ain't been able to do nothing right the past few months,” Jake said. He suddenly rolled and came up with a knife in his hand.
Ben had never lost his savage, cold grin. He pulled his .45 from leather, c.o.c.ked it, and began pulling the trigger. One in the chamber, six in the clip. He put all seven rounds in the big man's chest, each round knocking the huge man backward. Jake Campo, outlaw, self-styled warlord, died with his b.l.o.o.d.y eyes wide open and staring.
”That's three for Jordy,” Ben said.
Chapter 38.
The warm spell broke on the third day, with winter locking Ben and Rani in. Before the new snows came, the pair had worked, dragging off the bodies of the dead outlaws and dumping them into a deep ravine, shoveling dirt and gravel over them.
Now, as the cold winds howled around the snug little cabin in the deep woods, and the snow piled up around them, they sat in front of a fire and played chess.
With Rani regularly beating Ben.
”I don't know how you're doing it,” Ben grumbled. ”But you're cheating. I just know you are.”
Rani laughed at him. ”Checkmate,” she said.
”c.r.a.p!” Ben said.
”How did you learn to fight like you did, Ben?”
she asked. ”The way you fought Jake Campo.”
”There is no such thing as a fair fight, Rani.
Not outside the ring. I've never believed in those so-called fair fights. One goes in to win. Period. The trick is knowing you're right and sticking by your convictions.”
”Did you always fight like that, Ben. I mean, even when things were ...
normal?”
”Yes,” he said, putting away the board and getting a deck of cards. ”Strip poker, maybe?” he grinned.
”You're going to look awfully funny sitting there on the cold floor, stark naked.”
”You have a point.” He put away the cards.
”Were you a loner as a boy, Ben?”
Ben wore a reflective look for a moment.
”Yes. I guess I was. I never followed the usual drummer. I think I marched to my own beat even when it was socially unacceptable. Looking back, I guess I really enjoyed being alone. I know I did. I tried not to bother anyone, and didn't want anybody bothering me. Didn't always work that way, though.”
She was curious about this man, this founder of the Tri-States, the man that so many chose to follow.
”You had a normal childhood, though?”
Ben laughed at her serious expression.
”Oh, sure. I played baseball and basketball. But I never took them very seriously.
How does one take a gameseriously? I spent most of my time working and chasing girls.”
”Were you successful?” she asked, a twinkle in her green eyes.
”Well, I spent more time working than catching the girls,” he admitted.
”But you caught your share of the girls?”
”Yes,” he said slowly. ”Looking back, I'll have to say I did. I wasn't a jock, so that was a definite minus for me. But I had a happy, very normal childhood, I guess.
I've never been a person who sought many material things, Rani. I've always been content with just enough to get by, and perhaps a tiny bit more. I never cared much for a lot of pomp. I was never a joiner. Never belonged to a country club; never cared much what people thought of me. Like I said, I guess I marched to the beat of another drummer.”
”Where have I heard that before?”'
”Henry David Th.o.r.eau,” Ben said, his memory working hard to recall the line. ”I didn't agree with all that Th.o.r.eau said, but I loved much of it.”
”Say it.”
”The line?”
”Yes.”
”If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
She looked at the man for a long moment. ”I guess that fits you rather well, Ben.”