The eight people in the store all responded with the same reactions, confusion, disbelief and fear mixed with anger. The young buck behind the counter was the first to go because he foolishly began waving a large shotgun at him, mentally strutting his stuff for the attention of the young woman. Devlin smiled at the stunned expression when, without a thought, he fired point blank into the startled face. The shotgun clattered to the floor by Devlin's feet and the young man careened back into the shelf of canned goods bringing it down with a noisy crash.

Two of the women screamed and he noted with interest that the one that didn't seemed to regard him with the purest hatred he'd ever seen on a person's face. He demanded their belongings once more, relishing the idea that his quest for a bit of easy cash was going to provide him with a playground for excitement and mayhem. He quickly assessed the women's attributes and decided on the one he would devote most of his time to. If anyone heard the shots it wouldn't matter; Devlin had plenty of ammunition.

The two ranchmen had both drawn their guns and ducked behind a display of imported china. Devlin snatched up the clerk's shotgun and fired both barrels, slaughtering both of them with one well aimed barrage into the center of the display spraying bits of glass, blood and china up the back wall. The old couple was next.

As soon as they placed their meager contribution on the counter, she took one in the chest and he let the old man get close in a futile act of defiance, before gut shooting him and kicking him back on top of his dead wife to writhe and groan as his life brutally drained away.

Devlin wasn't interested in a pair of dithering old fogies. He stepped quickly forward and placed the gun against the head of the child with the scowling woman, ordering she and the other younger woman to strip. When the latter began to cry and scream, Devlin simply pumped a shell into her head sending her body flying backwards onto a heap of grain sacks. The child had begun to shake and snivel and he'd tightened his grip, looking at the remaining woman.

"You're a murdering coward and a pig," she had spit out angrily while reluctantly undoing her dress with trembling fingers. Devlin laughed and when she finally stood before him nude except for her boots, he blew the child's head off and attacked her with a ferocity she could not withstand.

By the time the shots were reported by a cautious but curious gathering of townspeople and the Marshal was dragged reluctantly away from a card game in the local saloon the carnage was over. With gun drawn and a pair of nervous Deputies behind him, he charged into the store and staggered to a dead halt, gagging at the bloodbath inside and stumbled backwards into the street where he sat stunned, speechless and sober, his earlier, enjoyable drinks spilling down the front of his shirt in gut wrenching spasms. Devlin was long gone and his merciless acts of murder left the town stricken and helpless.

The town council was too staggered to react quickly; after locating next of kin it had taken a week to gather and compile all the reports on the killings, send them to the capital with a plea for the aid of a Territorial Marshal since their own had thrown away his badge and fled town and another three weeks for the arrival of the determined Territorial Marshal, Ryan Waites.

Next of kin had been notified and the tedious arranging of funerals and transportation along with debating legal challenges against the town for the ineptitude of the ex Sheriff amassed to bring the Marshal's investigation to a grinding halt. Not one to abide bureaucracy, Ryan Waites faced down the town council with the threat of leaving them to fend for themselves or do their own paperwork and let him go after the killer—Ryan won.

Riding night and day he used every bit of his experience to track the route Devlin had taken, pushing himself to the point of exhaustion as he witnessed the results of several more of Devlin's sprees along the way and he wondered in his heart if he could seriously try to capture such an animal or if he should take the first opportunity and gun the man down. It took another two weeks for him to finally track him to the mining town of Dry Pan where he learned that Devlin was terrorizing the local brothel with tales of his murderous deeds.

Ryan confirmed that his man was comfortably ensconced in one of the brothel's rooms and he forced himself to grab some sleep in the livery with a promise by the owner to wake him in a few hours or if Devlin made a move to leave. When the time came and he was rested enough to act and react with some efficiency, he went straight to the brothel and confronted Devlin abusing one of the women in her room.

Before he could subdue him, in a surprising move for a stone killer, Devlin had leaped through a window and made his way to the blacksmith shop looking for his horse. Ryan had already removed the animal and there was no way out except on foot. Devlin took the local blacksmith as a shield and when Ryan refused to give in to his threats, finally killed with his hammer and then made a run for it to the smithy's barn. Waites trapped him inside and finally managed to put a shot close enough for Devlin to consider his options.

He held up his hands, smiling and making smart remarks about how he would get his chance soon enough. Ryan tied his hands and feet and then beat him senseless before strapping him naked on a horse and taking a slow, torturous trip back to Triple Creek, the site of his massacre and the only town with a train station, a telegraph office and an official representative from the seat of government sent to make the formal charges.

Ryan was praised by the governor and for those family members whose kin had been slaughtered, the town had telegraphed the county seat with all the information and arrangements were made for their transport to Triple Creek and then on to the site of the execution—the town of Judgement.