insist that the only living person who could possibly identify him stay
on the opposite side of the courtroom. She couldn't see him in the
crowd, not with the sea of faces gawking at her and Rebecca. Thanks to
the overly cautious marshal, Donald didn't have to worry.
He would continue to sit back and patiently bide his time. He knew
Rebecca expected him to help her escape, but he had no such intention,
of course. He would wait it out and then sneak away. The poor dear
was looking quite desperate now. Donald knew exactly what would happen
as soon as he gave her asignal. She would jump to her feet and attempt
to use that pathetic little gun she had hidden in her pocket. One of
the lawmen would shoot her, of course.
Donald also knew what Bell would do. He wouldn't continue to stand
there with his head hanging down, his shoulders stooped, and his hands
limp at his sides, looking like the sheriff's whipping boy. Why, he
hadn't moved a muscle since he'd shuffled across the room to the
railing in front of the star witness.
The cold-blooded murderer was as cunning as a fox. He was waiting for
his opportunity to spring into action. The sheriff had already relaxed
his guardţthe old fool was still looking around for his handcuffsţand
barely paying his prisoner any notice at all, which Donald knew was
just fine with Bell. The sheriff was going to have to get close to
Bell in order to shackle him, and when he did, Bell would attack.
Donald expected him to go down in a blaze of bullets, and while the
deputies and the marshals were firing, Donald would fold into the
inevitable stampede as the crowd swarmed out the doors to escape.
A man in the back row jumped to his feet and reached into kis hip
pocket, drawing botk Cole's and Daniel's attention.
"Hands up, " Cole shouted as he strode up the center aisle amid the
spectators, his gun trained on the stranger.
"I'm unarmed, I'm unarmed, " the man stammered. "I just needed my
handkerchief." He then sneezed, drawing smiles from those around
him.
Jessica was trying to figure out who Rebecca was looking at in the
crowd. Who would she know in Blackwater . . .
"Cole, " Jessie screamed as she rushed across the room, "he's here.
The leader . . . he's here." Daniel raced toward her and jerked her
back just as Donald gave the signal to Rebecca.
Rebecca leapt to her feet and fired one shot through the sheriff's
temple, but before his legs could begin to fold, Bell was behind him
and had his gun. He fired at the deputy guarding the side door,
hitting him in the center of the chest, then whirled and fired at
Jessica. Daniel shoved her to the floor in the nick of time, but the
bullet caught him in the left shoulder.
Pandemonium broke loose as the crowd jumped to its feet, obstructing
Cole's view.
Bell, diving for cover at the side of the witness-box, fired at Daniel,
but the shot went wild, for Daniel was already in motion. He shot the
gun out of Rebecca's hand. She screamed and fell backward. Daniel hit
the table, slid across on his side, his gun blazing. Bell lunged back