Shot in the Back Read Online Free

They’re robbing the bank!” he shouted.
    Clell pulled one of his pistols and fired at Wheeler, but he missed.
    After Clell’s first shot, he and Cole mounted their horses and began charging up and down the street firing into the air and shouting.
    â€œGet off the street! Everyone, off the street!”
    Jim, Bill, and Chuck, on the bridge, heard the shooting and hurried down to offer assistance. At first, it seemed to be working. The citizens got off the street but only to arm themselves. Within minutes, dozens of armed townspeople were shooting at the five outlaws, and the street became a battlefield with bullets flying from every direction.
    Inside the bank, Jesse knelt down by Heywood, who was still on the floor. He held a knife to Heywood’s neck. “Open the safe, or I’ll cut your damn throat from ear to ear.”
    â€œI can’t open the safe,” Heywood said. “It has a time lock.”
    â€œIt has a what?”
    â€œA time lock. It can’t be opened until four o’clock this afternoon!”
    Cole stuck his head in through the front door. “Hurry up! All hell’s breaking loose out here!”
    Outside, Clell Miller took a load of birdshot in the face, not enough to kill him but opening up wounds that bled profusely. Cole and Jim both took slugs through the shoulder.
    One of the townspeople, seeing three horses tethered in front of the bank, shot one of them in the head. The horse, which belonged to Bob Younger, dropped dead instantly. Cole Younger’s hat was shot off, while Bill Chadwell was shot through the heart and he fell from his saddle, dead before he hit the ground.
    Clell Miller, still screaming in pain and rage from being shot in the face with a load of light birdshot, was hit again, this round severing his subclavian artery. With blood gushing out of his eye, face, and shoulder, he attempted to lift himself up on his arms, but after about three seconds of this, his strength gave and he toppled over. Cole saw this and raced toward him. Reaching his body, he dismounted and, using his horse for cover, knelt to examine Clell. Discovering that Clell was dead, Cole grabbed Clell’s pistols and cartridge belts and attempted to remount. As he was doing so, another bullet tore through his left thigh. He winced in pain but managed to pull himself up on his horse and make another charge. He ran past the bank door again and yelled inside, “We’re being killed out here! Come on, now!”
    As they were leaving the bank, Frank saw that Heywood had pulled a pistol from somewhere and was aiming it at Jesse.
    â€œNo!” Frank shouted and, aiming at Heywood, pulled the trigger. Blood, brains, and bone detritus exploded from the side of Heywood’s head.
    â€œWhere the hell did they all come from?” Frank shouted as they ran from the front of the bank .
    â€œ My horse!” Bob shouted, seeing his mount lying dead.
    â€œLet’s go!” Jesse said as he and Frank mounted. Frank was shot in the leg, and Bob was shot in the arm.
    â€œDon’t leave me, boys!” Bob called.
    Cole came racing back for his brother, while Chuck covered them with his pistol. By now everyone was firing at Cole and Bob. One bullet hit Bob in the left leg and he stumbled. Another took off Cole’s saddle horn and another cut his reins. Despite that, he managed somehow to reach down, and, with almost superhuman strength, he lifted Bob off the ground and onto the back of his saddle. Bob then wrapped his left arm around Cole’s waist and, with Cole holding his horse’s mane, they took off after the others. The townspeople kept firing, and Cole was hit three more times. Following this, he and Bob met up with Chuck at the end of town and the three of them rode at breakneck speed after Jesse, Frank, and Jim.

CHAPTER THREE
    Granbury—February 2, 1942
    It had grown dark outside, and now the three men, Jesse James, Sheriff Oran Baker, and