Billy the Kid #39

Billy the Kid rides into Talmadge to settle a debt of gratitude, only to find the town overrun by troublemakers—including Dutch Lustig's own son, a cocky young gun who refuses to believe the legendary outlaw's reputation and makes a play for the marshal's badge. When Billy reluctantly takes the job himself, he faces the hardest test of all: proving his mettle against a headstrong kid with something to prove and a gang backing his play.

Billy the Kid takes a job as bodyguard to Carmino Diaz, a ruthless border crime boss whose operation straddles the line between Mexico and the United States—a position that puts the fastest gun in the West in the thick of stolen cattle, smugglers, and outlaws from two nations. As Billy keeps order on Diaz's sprawling ranch and grows closer to the boss's daughter, he begins to see exactly what kind of man he's protecting. Caught between loyalty and conscience, Billy must decide whether he can keep serving evil or if the law will finally catch up with them all.

Tom Knox rides into Highlode as a U.S. Deputy Marshal, only to find himself accidentally embroiled in a gunfight that leaves two men dead—and no thirty-four dollars to bury them. Forced to take the marshal's badge just to pay for the graves, Knox discovers the town is terrorized by Gopher Al Diller's gang, and the decent citizens are too frightened to help. With nothing but quick thinking, dynamite, and nerve, Knox sets out to drive the outlaws from town and restore law and order to Highlode.

Billy the Kid limps into Bone Flats badly wounded from a mountain lion attack, nursing injuries he must hide from the nine outlaws who've sworn to gun him down. Desperate to buy time while he heals, he wages a bluffing campaign of intimidation and psychological warfare, using cunning and cold nerve to keep the hardcases at bay—but his wounds are worsening, and the locals are beginning to sense weakness beneath the bravado.