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Jason slapped Butch now. Butch sneered and scowled, and cursed loudly. His first reaction was to draw on his brother, but he thought better of it, as Jason was the kind to get even eventually. It wasn't that he was scared of his brother, he could beat him in a draw, but it was his brother, and his Pa wouldn't have liked that. His Pa had the same overbearing control that Jason had acquired, and he put the fear of God in all the boys, except maybe Jason. Jason wasn't a fighter, physically or with a gun, but he had a way about him, like their Pa, and he instilled fear. Butch was afraid of his dead Pa though. He was superstitious. Butch didn't take to his brother's tactics though, because Jason would fight anyone that got in his way. And h
e fought dirty too. Right now, Jason was pushing it, and very much in the way of Butch's plans. He didn't care what his brother planned, he had a way of settling his own scores.
He cursed, and slopped the coffee all over the table when he slammed the cup down this time. He ignored the mess, as always.
The clumsy oaf. Both of them were slobs!
Jason continued to glare at his brothers.
Dan on the other hand, listened. He was more reasonable of the two. Jason knew this and counted on it. Because Dan could persuade Butch with his childlike logic.
"All right, so what do we do? Since you know everything" Dan's sarcasm irritated, seeming to side with his younger brother once more.
"We kidnap the kid…" Jason smiled and glanced from one to the other.
"What kid?" Dan looked blankly up at him.
"Lilly's kid, you dummy, that's what kid! Cord's kid." Jason shook his head once more at how dense they were. "Haven't you two been paying any attention. He wants to marry Lilly and make a family. He claims it's his kid, too. So he'd want him back. So we kidnap the kid, bring him out here and if he wants him he'll have to come get him. When he does, we'll ambush him here at the ranch. No one could disprove the fact that he drew first. Who'd know that for a fact. It'd be impossible to prove in court. That's how you take a gunfighter down."
"What the hell good would that do?" Butch looked stunned. "What's the kid got to do with anything?"
"Haven't you heard what I said?"
Butch glared at him. "I heard. But how do we know he'd care. He's been gone a long time. Maybe 'cause he hasn't wanted no kid. That's usually why Pa's ain't around, you know."
"He wants him." Jason smiled like a fatted calf. "He's told everyone the kid belongs to him. He's proud of him. You see, he didn't know she had a kid, until he came back to town. He left town right after, so he had no idea she was pregnant with his kid. So, we bring the kid, out here. Take him fishing or something, have a cook out for him and keep him overnight. Lilly will be upset, and not sure where he got off to. 'Cause he didn't tell her where exactly he was going fishing. We deliver a note to Cord that we got the kid and unless he comes, we'll kill the kid. We don't tell Lilly anything. Because she'd be upset and have all manner of law after us. We wait for Cord to come get him. And he will. When he does, we ambush him and kill him, then we'll take the kid back to Lilly the same day. We tell her we went fishing and had a fish fry, the kid will tell her that too, and all is well. And we've done Cord in, at the same time. It's brilliant." Jason strutted around the kitchen like a rooster.
"I don't like it." Dan shook his head. Despite backing Butch, Dan didn't like violence and especially where kids were concerned.
"You want to be rid of Cord, or not?" Jason frowned at them both.
"Sure, but…"
Jason pulled Dan up by the collar, and stuck his face in his. "Look, we gotta take Cord, that's all there is to it. But he's too fast for us and would kill us if we just challenged him to a gunfight. He'd win. So we take the kid, he gets the note, he comes after him and we kill Cord. We send the kid back unharmed. No more problems."
"You're forgetting one thing brother." Butch snarled after listening to him so long. Fed up with his arrogance, Butch stood up, trying to intimidate his older brother.
"What?"
"What if he don’t take the bait and don't come after the kid?" Butch sent him a red-eyed glare.
"If he wants to marry Lilly as bad as I think he does, he'll hightail it over here as soon as he gets the note."
"What if he's smart enough to know it's a trap and don't come?"
"He'll come. And as long as we don't let Lilly in on it, there won't be any problems. Women always cause problems in situations like this, their so emotional." Jason reasoned quickly.
It was that snide look on Jason's face that irritated the hell out of Butch. He always thought he was right. He always thought he was the brains of the family. Butch was ready to beat his brains out.
"We could take Lilly," Butch grinned. "That'd be more fun, and do just as much damage." Butch glanced at Dan who was smiling at him.
"Nah, that won't work. Even if we had some fun with her, she's a whore anyway. And he'd come after us hot and heavy for that. So we gotta take the kid, and soon. You see, when you take a woman, a man comes loaded for bear, shootin' his way in. And you rile him up enough, things could get really bad around here. You take a kid; he'd be afraid to come in shootin'. He'd be afraid we'd kill the kid in front of him." Jason told them. "Besides, you gotta quit frettin' over Lilly, she doesn't even like you."
"How the hell do you know?" Butch stood menacingly over Jason now, he was at least four inches taller than Jason. Sometimes he could intimidate his brother, sometimes Jason backed off. But this wasn't one of those times and he knew it.
"I've seen her with Cord. She's in love with Cord and I figure she has been all along. They've had a thing for each other for years. Why do you think he came back and got her pregnant? He's crazy about her."
Butch scowled at Jason for putting him down like that. Jason always put them down. Like he was so superior to them. "Who is gonna get the kid? I ain't very good with kids."
