Hugh still remembered staring at the bell tower above the church. It had been chewed and splintered by rebel fire, but that Star Marine was still up there, badly wounded, sniper rifle in hand. The fighting was over, and Hugh was watching when the medics brought him down on a hover stretcher. Back then Hugh hadn’t known his name, but everyone on the street knew what he had done. The word spread in hushed tones that he, whoever he was, had held off the rebels almost single-handedly. The west end of town was littered with rebel bodies, and dozens more had crawled away to die.

The rebellion had ended soon after that. As the town was being rebuilt, the statue had gone up in the park. That was when Hugh learned the name of the man in the bell tower for the first time.

Private first class Nick Walker, Echo Company, 33^rd Star Marines.

And now he was back to take over the U.F. Marshal’s office.

And Hugh was working for him.

What a thrill!

Hugh took another deep breath and turned his eyes toward the bell tower. It was only two blocks from where he stood, and dominated the town in every direction. He stared at it a moment, and his eyes narrowed a little in surprise. For just a moment he thought he saw movement up there, but couldn’t be sure. He took a couple of steps toward the edge of the sidewalk, pulled his hat brim down to shade his eyes, and took a closer look.

He saw the flash just a second before he felt the pain. The bullet hit him an inch above the heart and exploded out the center of his spine, punching him backward with an audible oof! He hit the sidewalk hard, his cowboy hat rolling away to settle in front of the office door. Just that quickly the pain was gone, and Hugh Povar didn’t even hear the crack of the rifle that killed him.

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