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As the sun shone its last rays across the green hillsides, a lone rider dismounted a snarling black horse. The rider, Jake Dawson, focused hard, narrow eyes on a little hacienda down in the valley. It belonged to the infamous El Bandido, who, if Jake got his way, would be dead by morning.
The outlaw fidgeted with the two pistols on his hips. For years he had dreamed of the time when he'd not only put a bullet in the side of El Bandido’s head, but see him grovel and beg for mercy. Yet, he knew he couldn’t simply kick in the door, guns blazing. El Bandido was far too savvy to fall victim to such a reckless trap. He had to bide his time and then at just the right moment, pounce with the cunning ferocity of a cougar.
In the distance, Jake heard a galloping horse fastly approaching. There was no time to take cover. He gripped his pistols and turned to face whoever it may be.
A tall man with graying hair and a scowl on his craggy face reined his horse to a halt. Jake squinted, trying to place him. Finally, a name popped into his head. “Clay Campbell,” Jake said. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
The two men had run in the same gang years ago, and knew each other well. Still, Clay struggled to recognize Jake underneath his black mask and wide brim Stetson.
“It’s me.” Jake thumbed his hat up a notch and lowered his mask. “Jake Dawson.”
Clay relaxed a bit and climbed down from his horse.
“So why are you here?” Jake asked again before Clay could get both feet on the ground.
“I’ve got business out here.” Clay walked over to the edge of the hill and peered down at the hacienda.
“What business?” Jake asked.
“My business.”
“It wouldn’t have to do with El Bandido, would it?”
Clay’s brows furrowed, having a difficult time understanding Jake through the mask. “Would you take that damn thing off?”
Jake pulled the mask down and let it hang around his neck. “Happy now?”
“Overjoyed.” Clay feigned a smile. “What’s with that get up anyway?”
“Well, I’m here to kill El Bandido,” Jake said. “And the way I figure it, I’ll be famous afterwards. So I thought I’d spice up my image a little."
“Spice up your image?” Clay rolled his eyes.
“That’s right,” Jake said. “I picked a new name and everything. You want to hear it?”
“Go ahead. You’re going to tell me regardless.”
“The Dark Avenger.” Jake held his hands out for dramatic effect.
“I’ve always thought you were a nut,” Clay said. “Now I know it for sure.”
“What?” Jake asked defensively.
“It doesn’t matter.” Clay pointed a thumb back at his chest. “Because I’m going to kill El Bandido.”
Before Jake could respond, another man approached and stopped his horse above the valley. Both Jake and Clay drew their weapons and pointed them at the rider.
“Announce yourself, stranger,” Clay demanded.
The rider raised his arms to show he was no threat. “I’m Jeremiah. Jeremiah Hayes,” he said in a thin voice.
Even in the dim evening light, Clay could see that Jeremiah was a gangly kid. “How old are you, boy?”
“Eighteen.”
“You better ride along, boy,” Jake said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Ain’t it about your bedtime?”
“With all due respect, sir,” Jeremiah said, lowering himself from his horse. “I’ve come to kill El Bandido, and I aim to do it.”
“It seems we have ourselves a bit of a conflict of interest here,” Clay said as he holstered his gun and cinched up his britches. “All three of us have come here for the same reason. Now who’s going to do the honor?”
“Well, I was here first,” Jake pointed out.
“Then you should’ve done it while you had the chance,” Clay snapped.
“You can’t rush these things,” Jake said. “You see that light down there?” He pointed to a flickering lantern light in a window of the hacienda.
“Yeah, so?” Clay shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s El Bandido’s bedroom,” Jake continued. “Now I learned from good sources that he’s entertaining some little floozy tonight. Myra something or other.”
“Campbell?” Clay asked.
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“That’s my daughter, you idiot!” Clay’s eyes were ablaze and he huffed like a steam engine.
“Settle down,” Jake said. “If you go barging in there now, he’ll put a bullet in you faster than a pig to slop.”
“So what’s your plan, Jake?” Clay asked through clenched teeth.
“When the light goes out, I’ll burst in and catch him at his most vulnerable – with his pants down.”
“That’s your plan?” Clay grew more agitated. “What about my princess?”
“Collateral damage?” Jake smirked.
Clay raised a fist to strike his former partner in crime when Jeremiah stepped between them. “Woah, you’re losing focus. El Bandido is our real enemy. I think the man who gets to end his life should be the one who had the biggest wrong done to him.”
“He makes a lot of sense for a kid,” Jake said. “What do you say, Clay?”
“Alright, I guess.” Clay put down his dukes. “Well, what did El Bandido do to you?”
“It was about three years ago,” Jake began. “I had been hitched to a woman named Lou Ann for pert neat a year. I loved that woman like I ain’t never loved nothing.”
“Get to the point, Jake,” Clay demanded.
“I came home after a hard day’s work one evening, and there was Lou Ann wrapped up in that son-of-a-bitch’s arms.”
“What did you do?” Jeremiah asked, completely enthralled by the drama.
“What could I do? My heart was shattered in a million pieces. I decided I didn’t want to see that hussy again in my life. I told her she could have everything. All I wanted was my dog.”
Clay sighed hard and rolled his eyes at Jake.
“So I reached down to grab the dog,” Jake went on. “And would you believe he bit me? My own damn dog bit me!”
“Gee, mister, that’s too bad.” Jeremiah said.
Clay rolled his eyes a second time.
“So now,” Jake said. “That bastard’s going to feel the wrath of The Dark Avenger.”
“What’s that?” Jeremiah asked with wide eyes.
“Trust me, kid,” Clay said. “You don’t want to know.”
“Okay, what about you, Clay?” Jake sneered and folded his arms. “What’s your story?”
“He cheated me out of seven thousand dollars in a card game,” Clay said. “I’ve been busting my ass ever since trying to get back on my feet, and I’m still not.”
“Money?” Jake now rolled his eyes. “Is that all?”
“Don’t forget he’s down there doing God knows what to my Myra. So he’s mine!” Clay pounded his fist into his palm.
“Wait, wait,” Jake said. “Let’s hear what the kid has to say.”
Jeremiah hesitated, unsure exactly how to begin.
“Go ahead,” Jake urged. “Just say it.”
“Well, I was ten years old when my ma ran off with El Bandido.”
“Your ma?” Jake shook his head. “That’s a shame.”
“My pa took it real hard,” Jeremiah said. “It was the first time I ever seen him cry.”
“So what happened?” Clay’s curiosity had been piqued.
“My ma came back in about a month, when El Bandido was done with her.” Jeremiah’s voice began to tremble, but he forced the words out of his mouth, knowing that if he stopped, he’d never start again. “Pa took her back, but the love between them was gone. It drove my old man half crazy. He wound up turning his gun on himself and ending it all.”
“Damn,” Jake and Clay said in unison.
“To put food on the table, ma had to take a job down at the saloon, getting groped and harassed by a bunch of drunk, rowdy gamblers.”
“Her name wouldn’t happen to be Agnes, would it?” Jake leaned in quizzically.
Clay walloped him on the back of his head and gave him a look that dared him to retaliate.
“So I vowed that when I was old enough,” Jeremiah said. “I’d avenge my pa. I studied up on El Bandido; I listened to stories, and read dime novels about him. After a while, I found myself idolizing the man. I even started my own gang called the Bandidos.”
“Both Jake and Clay had confused looks on their faces.
“Then finally one day, we were face to face.” Jeremiah flashed a sullen expression before looking at the ground. “I walked right up to him. All I wanted was to shake his hand, and I told him so. He just walked right past me like I wouldn’t even there. All of my years of hate came rushing back. And tonight’s the night I’m going to set things straight.”
“Look here, son.” Clay put a hand on Jeremiah’s shoulder. “That’s tough. It really is. But killing El Bandido won’t help you one bit. You’ll always be haunted by the sight of a man dying by your hands. Don’t put yourself through that before you have to.”
“So where does that leave us?” Jake asked.
“I’m done with this discussion,” Clay said. “I’m going down there to get my daughter.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” Jake shoved the barrels of both of his pistols into Clay’s back.
Enraged, Clay swung around reaching for his own weapon, ready to defend himself.
Before his gun even cleared its holster, he was dead, with two bullets in his ribcage.
Jeremiah fired. He caught Jake in the center of his chest.
The man in black stumbled and dropped to his knees. With a final surge of strength, Jake fired one more shot. It landed right between Jeremiah’s eyes. The eighteen year old’s fate was sealed before his body hit the ground.
As the gun smoke cleared, the bodies of the three men were swallowed by silence and shadows. Down in the valley in the window of the hacienda, the flickering flame was extinguished.
All was quiet until morning.
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