Read Iron Eyes Must Die Online

Authors: Rory Black

Tags: #bounty hunter, #cowboys, #old west, #frontier life, #the wild west, #rory black, #western frontier fiction, #iron eyes

Iron Eyes Must Die (9 page)

BOOK: Iron Eyes Must Die
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Beats
me,’ Hanney admitted. ‘They must have their reasons though. Maybe
they needs this town. Maybe they have to have some kinda control
over it.’


How
far is the Mexican border from here?’


Five
miles or so.’


How
come the town’s menfolk are helping them?’


Money!’ Hanney shrugged. ‘Payne and his boys seemed to have
a lot of it somehow. They bought up all the town scum easy. The
honest men don’t stick their noses out of their homes
much.’

The bounty hunter turned and looked straight
at the man beside him.


Why
didn’t ya wire somebody and tell them what was going on here,
Hanney?’


The
telegraph don’t work, Iron Eyes. They cut all the wires before they
killed Tom and his deputies. They knew what they were doing OK. Had
it all planned out. There ain’t no way to contact anyone. This
town’s a long ways from anywhere.’


Does
the stage come through here?’


Every
Friday around noon.’ The livery man shrugged. ‘Payne always made
sure he and his deputies were waiting at the depot when it arrived.
None of the honest townsfolk have dared to open their mouths to the
stagecoach drivers or guards.’

The picture painted by the
words of
the
older man was not a pretty one. Iron Eyes rubbed his face and
pushed his long limp hair off his scarred features.


This
is gonna be a tough one.’


But
you’re Iron Eyes, boy! There ain’t no man who can stand up to you!
I’ve heard all them stories about you. They say that every outlaw
in the West fears Iron Eyes! Besides, you’re the only hope the
decent folks in Rio Concho got left, son!’


I’m
that good, huh?’


No.
Not good, Iron Eyes,’ the man corrected. ‘Bad! You’re that
bad!’

Iron Eyes gritted his teeth and almost
smiled.


Reckon ya right! Now dig that lead out of me and I’ll get
to work.’

Hanney swallowed hard and moved the pointed
tip of the Bowie knife close to the inflamed bullet wound. His hand
shook. Their eyes met.


I
ain’t never cut a man open before, Iron Eyes,’ he admitted. ‘What
if I makes a mistake? I could do a lotta damage with this big old
knife.’


You
ain’t gonna make no mistakes, Hanney,’ Iron Eyes said confidently.
‘I trust ya.’


I
wish I trusted me,’ the old man whispered.


Do it
for ya brother!’ the bounty hunter said. ‘I ain’t gonna be able to
get justice for Tom with this lump of lead in me!’

Duke Hanney inhaled deeply and mustered every
ounce of his nerve.


This’ll hurt darn bad, Iron Eyes. If n ya scream out, them
critters will swarm all over us like flies on an outhouse within
seconds!’ he warned.


I
ain’t gonna make one sound! Now start digging!’

True to his word, Iron Eyes did not move a
muscle. He remained perfectly still. Even as Hanney pushed the tip
of the sharp blade into the inflamed bullet wound, Iron Eyes made
no noise.

He glanced at Hanney and nodded. The relief
was evident in every scar upon his hideous face.

Like an erupting volcano, green poison
squirted out as the stableman continued to search with the Bowie
knife for the small lead bullet.

The throbbing pain had suddenly stopped.

Iron Eyes continued to stare straight ahead
until the livery man sat back and pushed the bullet under his nose.
The bounty hunter looked at it, then at his shoulder and lastly
into the bearded face.


I’d
have thought there’d be more blood, old-timer.’

Hanney dropped the small piece
of lead into Iron Eyes
’ palm.


Reckon all that poison kinda used up most of ya blood,
boy!’


Dig
out every bit of that poison, Hanney!’ Iron Eyes growled. ‘I don’t
cotton to this thing flaring up again when I’m killing.’

Duke Hanney pushed the knife in again and
scraped at the injured flesh.


I
reckon it’s done, Iron Eyes,’ he said.

The bounty hunter nodded.


Got
any whiskey to pour into this hole?’


Nope.’


Salt?’ Iron Eyes pressed.

The livery stableman rubbed his neck and then
pointed at a box near the loft door.


I got
me a lump of salt I use on the horses over there.’


Good
enough.’ Iron Eyes gritted his teeth. ‘Cut a pellet of it to fit
this hole, Hanney. This wound needs pluggin’.’


It’ll
burn like crazy.’

Iron Eyes nodded again as he
took the knife from the hand of the older man and looked at its
smeared blade. He rubbed the knife clean on his
pants

leg.


Good!
The hotter the better. I need to be in a killin’ frame of mind,
old-timer!’

Chapter Ten

No monstrous demon from the fiery bowels of
hell itself could have carved a more fearful sight than did the
bounty hunter as he moved silently around the high loft, ever
closer to his goal. Iron Eyes had crawled through the scattered hay
until he was directly above the stall where he knew the deadly
outlaw was hiding. The stall was bathed in dark shadows, but that
could not disguise the truth from Iron Eyes.

Iron Eyes had the scent of his prey in his
nostrils. He gripped the handle of his Bowie knife in his bony
right hand and looked down at the man crouching below his high
vantage point.

It was a ten-foot drop to the stable floor,
but Iron Eyes had no fear.

His cold
steel-
colored eyes glanced across the distance to where the
livery stableman waited for his signal to move.

Iron Eyes waved the knife. Hanney got to his
feet and walked to the top of the ladder.


What
ya doin’ up there, old man?’ the outlaw with the deputy star pinned
to his vest called up from the horse-stall when he saw Duke Hanney
resting his hands on the top of the ladder. ‘You bin in that loft
too damn long.’


I’m
just gettin’ hay for the horses!’


Ya
took long enough!’


Shut
the hell up!’ Hanney spat.


I’ll
shut you up for keeps!’ The outlaw stood and shook a clenched fist
up at the defiant livery man. ‘Just wait ‘till ya gets back down
here!’


Reckon all ya gotta do is wait for me to turn my back and
then you’ll start shootin’!’ Hanney kicked a bale of hay over the
edge of the loft platform. It hit the stable floor. The horses
inside the dark interior of the large building all whinnied at the
same time and fought against their restraints.

Shod hoofs kicked at everything.

The noise was deafening.


Quiet
these nags down, old man!’ the outlaw shouted above the
ear-splitting noise.

Duke Hanney smiled and watched as the bounty
hunter started to rise. Iron Eyes straightened up to his full
height.

He leapt from the loft.

Like a mountain lion seeking its chosen prey,
the bounty hunter flew through the air towards his target. Both his
boots hit the neck and shoulders of the outlaw. The two men crashed
into the ground. Iron Eyes fell to the side with the knife in his
hand. He watched the stunned outlaw roll over on his shoulder and
drag his lethal gun from its holster.

Before the outlaw could fire, the bounty
hunter drew his arm back and unleashed his weapon. He threw the
Bowie knife straight and true.

His aim was deadly accurate.

The outlaw staggered back when
the long, honed blade entered his chest with ferocious force. Only
its handle guard stopped it from going all the way
through his lean
frame.

He hit the wooden partition of the
horse-stall and slid to the floor. A trail of gore covered the
wood.

Iron Eyes leaned over, grabbed
hold of the knife handle and pulled it clear of the dead
outlaw
’s
chest. The body slid inertly on to its side.


Ya
get him, boy?’ Hanney asked. He descended the ladder and moved
quickly across the stables to the gaunt figure. ‘Ya kill the evil
critter?’


I
killed him OK!’ Iron Eyes wiped the blood off his knife and slid it
down into his boot. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the dead
outlaw’s hair.


Dead
centre!’ Hanney enthused as his wrinkled eyes stared at the
bloodstained shirt. ‘Never seen anyone throw a knife like that
before, boy!’


Give
me a hand, Hanney. Grab his legs. We’d better hide this
carcass!’

Both men hauled the dead weight back into the
shadows and covered it with hay.


Ya
gonna try and get the drop on the rest of them dirty varmints, Iron
Eyes?’ Hanney asked as they moved to the tall open
doors.

Iron Eyes leaned against the doorframe and
squinted out into the sun-baked streets of Rio Concho. He knew that
there was probably bounty on all the outlaws who controlled the
remote town. Yet who were they really? And how much were they
actually worth?


I
wonder if there are any wanted posters in the sheriff’s office,
Hanney?’ he muttered thoughtfully. ‘There ain’t nothing worse than
killing wanted outlaws and not knowing how much money’s on their
heads. Did ya brother Tom keep any wanted posters in his office,
Hanney?’

Hanney gripped Iron
Eyes
’ arm
and pulled him around.

Their eyes met.


Steady on, boy! Ya ain’t seriously thinkin’ of going back
to the sheriff’s office, are ya?’


Yep,
I sure am. Maybe ya brother Tom had a pile of posters tucked away
in his desk or someplace. These varmints have to be worth
something. I wanna know how much.’


Don’t
be loco!’ the stableman pleaded. ‘They’ll kill ya on sight! Ya have
to lie low until sundown, boy! Think about it, Iron Eyes. Ya lost a
lotta blood. You gotta try and get some strength back in that
pitiful body of yours. Right?’


I
feel OK!’


But
there are too many of them!’ Hanney insisted.


I’ve
faced more and come out the winner!’ Iron Eyes ran his fingers
through his limp, sweat-soaked hair.


Wait
until dark. OK?’


How
long is it until sundown, old-timer?’


Not
long. No more than a couple of hours, Iron Eyes,’ the older man
answered. ‘Come with me. You can hide out in my cabin until then.
It’s out back. What ya say?’

The sharp-eared bounty hunter
could
still
hear the men who were searching for him. Iron Eyes listened to the
sounds of those who still hunted him in the streets of Rio Concho
drifting on the warm afternoon air.


Ya
got got any whiskey in that cabin of yours, Hanney?’ He
asked.


Yep!
I also got vittles. I could rustle ya up a dandy meal if n you’d
like?’


The
whiskey will do just fine!’ Iron Eyes followed the older man
through the stable towards the rear door. ‘But when the sun sets,
I’m headed back to the sheriff’s office! I like to know who I’m
killin’, Hanney!’

Both men ran across the open ground to the
small cabin.

Chapter Eleven

Marshal Casey Layne stood beside his
drinking mount and stared at the terrified face of Herb Snape.
Steam slowly hissed from unseen valves along the length of the
engine. The mighty locomotive had not been an easy catch, but the
lawmen had somehow managed to halt it before the engineer had
reached the steep gradient that led between the tall red mesas.


I’d
leave them outlaws
be if I was you, Marshal,’ Snape advised.


How
many of them were there exactly?’ Layne asked. He watched his
deputies gathering the extra canteens from the senior
conductor.


I
think there were seven, Marshal,’ Snape replied. ‘But I might be
wrong. I was plumb scared. Too scared to count. We all thought that
they was gonna shoot us.’

Layne rubbed his chin.


You’re a lucky bunch. Snake Adams usually kills all
witnesses to his crimes.’


They
made me leave the baggage car back there.’ Snape indicated with a
nod of his wet brow.


Anyone in it?’


The
guard.’ Snape gulped. ‘We heard a real loud explosion a few minutes
after we left there. It shook everything for miles.’

BOOK: Iron Eyes Must Die
3.38Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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