• Joe welcomed his guests. "Sit down, please."
    tab "Hello Mr. Joe," Domingo said, "we represent the Boss."
    tab "Well, It's nice to hear from Robert again."
    tab "We're here on business concerning The Stranger."
    tab Stoney looked outside the window and saw a bunch of horses and men outside and a red bandanna over their face like the other two in here. Then he looked at the body guard at the door and held up two fingers to signal that there were two others in the casino. Stoney nodded.
    tab "What about the Stranger?" Joe asked.
    tab "Well, the Boss wanted to know if you have heard of him," Domingo said.
    tab "Yes, I heard that he was in a small town at a hotel."
    tab "We also heard that some bandits went after him and ended up being blown."
    tab "Yes that's also what I heard."
    tab "It is just that the Boss and you have some history, and he also said that you owed him a favor."
    tab "What else?"
    tab "He wants your help in catching the Stranger."
    tab "My help? That's interesting."
    tab "Yes. He needs your help since you have more contacts with the law and all."
    tab "If this is a business trip," Stoney interrupted, "why all the protection?"
    tab "Well, after Lucky's unfortunate death, I became the Boss' right hand man."
    tab "That is why you need all those bodyguards?"
    tab "Sort of."
    tab "You think we're hiding the Stranger."
    tab "No. But now that you mention it, the Boss also said that the boy's father also owes you some favors as well," Domingo said turning to Joe.
    tab "Yes, but that is something I'll sort out with the kid when I see him."
    tab
    tab The man got tired of the game and headed to the restroom. He entered the room and quickly unbuttoned his pants but then he saw a pair of arms go over his head and back again and felt a cord on his throat. He tried screaming but couldn't because his vocal cords were being blocked from making any sound.
    tab He had no choice but to back up and make his attacker pass out against the wall or for someone outside to hear. The stranger stiffened his legs so that there wouldn't any compromising himself. He pulled on the rope harder to increase the asphyxiation. The man slowly stopped struggling until he was completely motionless.
    tab The Stranger stopped and started to strip the corpse, then he started to undress. He put the other man's clothes on and put the body in the tub filled with water. He grabbed the hat and pulled it all the way down to cover his face with the shadow it pronounced. He exited the bathroom and headed to a poker table.
    tab The other man at the bar looked at who he thought was his partner. He looked at the clock at the opposite end of the room. It was almost time to start weather Joe accepted the offer. He headed over to his partner and tapped him on the shoulder. The man came up to the Stranger's ear, "It's almost time."
    tab Almost time? the Stranger asked himself, time for what?
    tab
    tab "Look," Joe said, "if I know Rob he didn't send you just to make me the offer to help him. He thinks- No wait, he knows that those 'bandits' were my men."
    tab "Looks like you know him very well," Domingo said.
    tab "I bet those ten men out there at front are barely half the force, the rest are at the casino and some are just walking around like civilians, just waiting for something to happen."
    tab "Very good, but how do you know?"
    tab "Me and Robert used to be two of the four right hand men of the original Boss when the Red Flag gang barely started. He didn't tell you that? Us five were the original founders of the gang. What he is using is simple Red Flag tactics; ten men at front and about twenty scattered."
    tab
    tab The man sitting in front of the Stranger took out a six gun. "What are you doing?" the Stranger's "partner" told him to calm down.
    tab "Don't be stupid," the man said still pointing the gun at the stranger, "this ain't Dwight." he reached over and took off the hat.
    tab The Stranger punched the partner and grabbed the gun from the holster and shot him and the man opposite of him, then he took out his own gun shot the guard at the door.
    tab
    Domingo looked back at the door and Joe shot the shotgun that was harnessed to the bottom of his desk and Domingo went flying backwards, blood staining the wall in the behind.
    tab The guard at the door told Joe to head to the secret passage. Then the door's knob was shot off and the Stranger flew in with a loaded shotgun and shot the guard and went flying through the back window which startled the dozen and a half Red Flag members already trying to get in.
    tab The Stranger shot the desk more than enough times to bust up the shotgun under Joe's desk. He ducked behind the bar and reloaded his revolver and shotgun as Joe and Stoney shot at him.
    tab The Stranger waited for them to reload and came from behind the bar and shot at them. Joe and Stoney ran for cover but Stoney got shot in the leg just when the Stranger shot his last shot in his revolver.
    :********," Stoney yelled. The Stranger came up with his shotgun to finish off Stoney and quickly went down again and Joe started shooting at him again.
    tab When Joe wasn't shooting anymore he came up again but wasn't expecting him to have a second pistol and got shot in the arm.
    tab The Stranger counted six and came up again with more precaution and came from the side of the bar instead of up and shot Joe on the left flank and he went down.
    tab The Stranger waited a few moments as he heard the gunfight outside. He decided to go toward Joe, shotgun ready.
    tab "Hey kid," Joe said.
    tab "Hey, uncle Joe," the Stranger said.
    tab "How you been, Johnny."
    tab "Heard you wanted me to come."
    tab "Yeah. I just wanted to talk to you."
    tab "For what?"
    tab "Your father's contract."
    tab "What contract?"
    tab "Your father had a contract with me. Unfortunately for me he died before he completed it."
    tab "What does that have to do with me?"
    tab "Nothing, I just want you to complete it."
    tab "Why would I want to do that?"
    tab "Because your father owed me many favors, he had to repay me."
    tab "With work?"
    tab Joe nodded.
    tab "Well, too bad. You're really ******** up, huh?"
    tab "Yeah."
    tab They heard the doors of the front entrance break and even more gunshots sounding. The Stranger picked Joe up and put him against the wall. "You don't have a lot of time left kid," Joe said, "Come on, Johnny, what you gonna do?" The Stranger looked at Joe then at the door, "If you're going to kill me do it now, 'cause they're coming." The Stranger had the shotgun leveled at Joe's chest.
    tab The Stranger let Joe go and went through the broken window to the ground and grabbed a horse from the gang members and rode off.
    tab Joe chuckled, "I actually thought he was going to do it." He kept chuckling as he pulled a lever next to him, and next to the lever a secret passage opened. The passage closed just as the gang came in to the office.
    tab "Where the hell are they?" one of them asked another.