The Lonely Gun

The Lonely Gun

by

Gordon D. Shirreffs

Case Hardesty had to cross what the Conquistadors called the Devil's Highway on foot—or die. It was the highest, driest, meanest desert in northern Mexico. Hot on the trail behind him were the outlaws he'd taken for $20,000—and behind them the lawmen who had sworn death to the lot of them.

In one hand he held a Winchester, and in the other a salt sack stuffed with enough bills to buy a ranch in Sonora—if he made it. If he didn't, well, there was plenty of space for a grave out on the Devil’s Highway…

Hardesty’s fellow outlaws tried to gun him down, but they failed. He staggered off into the desert with nothing but his life, his guns, and their shares of the loot. Before long he was half-dead and wishing one of those bullets had found him. Only the survival tricks he’d picked up from the Indians kept him clinging to life.

That’s when he crossed paths with three travelers: two women and a man. One woman was the man’s wife, the other his mistress. Two of them were trouble. The third was the sister of the Conchos Kid, a gunslinger riding hard on their trail. Add a relentless posse to the mix, and Hardesty found himself fighting like hell just to stay breathing.

Another solid, fast-paced tale from Shirreffs, full of tension, shifting loyalties, and action that builds steadily toward a smoky, gun-blazing finale.

I read the paperback of this story but it is available here from Wolfpack Publishing as an eBook. 5/5.