The Gunslinger Who Came to Bury His Past — Then the Town Gave Him a Reason to Draw Again
CHAPTER 1
Gabriel Shaw arrived in Mercy Creek just before sunset.
He had one horse.
One rifle.
One revolver.
And exactly twenty-three dollars in his coat pocket.
That was everything he owned.
He liked it that way.
The town looked smaller than he expected.
A church stood at the end of the main road. A blacksmith shop leaned beside a saloon. Wooden buildings crowded both sides of the street, their windows glowing orange beneath the setting sun.
Gabriel stopped his horse.
A man unloading barrels from a wagon looked at him.
“You passing through?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Staying.”
The man laughed.
“Nobody stays in Mercy Creek unless they’re too poor to leave.”
Gabriel looked toward the hills.
“Then I suppose I’ll fit in.”
He had come to buy forty acres outside town.
No law badge.
No army uniform.
No bounty.
No trouble.
That was the plan.
He had spent twelve years moving from one border town to another, always leaving before anyone learned enough about him to ask questions.
This time would be different.
He had promised himself.
Then he heard a woman scream.
Gabriel turned.
Three riders had stopped beside a small wagon.
A farmer stood beside it.
One of the riders kicked him into the dirt.
“Your land belongs to the railroad now.”
The farmer coughed.
“I paid for that land.”
The outlaw laughed.
“You paid for a piece of paper.”
Gabriel sighed.
He hated trouble.
He hated men who enjoyed causing it even more.
He dismounted.
The outlaw noticed him.
“You got something to say?”
Gabriel tied his horse to a post.
“No.”
“Then keep walking.”
Gabriel looked at the farmer.
Then at the three guns.
He shook his head.
“I was going to.”
He walked closer.
“But now you’ve made that difficult.”
The outlaw reached for his revolver.
Gabriel moved.
Nobody in the street saw exactly what happened.
There was only the sound of leather.
A flash.
A gunshot.
The outlaw’s revolver landed in the dirt.
Gabriel’s gun was already pointed at his chest.
“Leave.”
The man stared.
“You don’t know who I work for.”
Gabriel holstered his weapon.
“That’s why I’m giving you a chance.”
The three riders left.
The farmer stared at Gabriel.
“Who are you?”
Gabriel looked toward the hills.
“Nobody.”
Across the street, a woman stood behind the window of the newspaper office.
Ada Monroe watched him carefully.
She had seen gunfighters before.
But never one who looked disappointed after winning.
Gabriel mounted his horse.
He had come to Mercy Creek to disappear.
Instead, the town had just noticed him.
And somewhere outside town, a man named Calder Boone had already heard his name.
