Read Online A Gathering of Widowmakers (The Widowmaker #4) by Mike Resnick - Free Book Online Page B

and fired at Bellamy's head. He could hear the thunk! of the bullet as it hit—but then the misshapen metal simply bounced off.
    Bellamy walked toward him, and Nighthawk aimed his laser at the street, turning the pavement a brilliant red-gold in front of the huge man, who laughed and walked right across it.
    When Bellamy was six feet away Nighthawk changed the setting on his burner from kill to flash, closed his eyes, and pressed the firing mechanism. The resultant brilliance momentarily blinded the unsuspecting giant, and he staggered off, rubbing his eyes.
    Think! Nighthawk told himself. Use your brain! You've bought yourself fifteen or twenty seconds before he gets his vision back. Don't waste it!
    Nighthawk stared at Bellamy. There's got to be a way or he wouldn't have bodyguards. So where's his vulnerability? Burners don't hurt him. Bullets don't hurt him. How do you penetrate that artificial skin?
    And suddenly he saw the answer. You don't penetrate it at all! If you can't hurt him from the outside, you do it from the inside. Quick, now, before he can see again!
    Nighthawk stepped forward, pulled the two sticks of mexalite from his pocket, and crammed them into the giant's nostrils. Bellamy opened his mouth to breathe—and the second he did so, Nighthawk stuck the muzzle of his burner into Bellamy's mouth, past the invulnerable epidermis, and fired. The huge man collapsed without a sound.
    Nighthawk was still standing there next to Bellamy's body when Kinoshita finally emerged from Horatio's. The smaller man spotted the dead gunman half a block in one direction, the dead Lexonian a block in the other direction, and the corpse of Hairless Jack Bellamy right in front of him.
    Nighthawk looked up as he approached. "I'm really getting a little old for this shit," he said.

9.

    "What do we do now?" asked Kinoshita, staring at the three bodies.
    "Get some airsleds and cart them off," replied Nighthawk.
    "Cart them where? There's no bounty station on New Barcelona."
    "We'll get some body bags and ship them to the station on Binder X."
    "Right now?"
    "I don't plan to leave them on the street all night," said Nighthawk. "Scare up some airsleds. I'll stay here with the bodies. I'm better able to protect them than you are."
    "Protect them?" asked Kinoshita, puzzled. "Protect them from what?"
    "From claim jumpers," answered Nighthawk.
    "All right," said Kinoshita. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I'll try to hunt up some body bags too, or at least get some blankets to cover them up."
    "Don't bother. Just bring the airsleds."
    "You don't want body bags?"
    "I want everyone to see who we've got here, and to know who killed him."
    Kinoshita frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You'll be making yourself a target for every killer in the District. Bellamy may not have had any friends, but nobody's going to want word to get out that bounty hunters can come here and live long enough to collect the rewards."
    "It'll save me the trouble of hunting for them ," said Nighthawk. Suddenly the trace of a smile played about his lips. "Besides, I'm an old man. I tire easily."
    Kinoshita took another look at the devastation surrounding him and declined to reply. Instead he walked off in search of the sleds.
    Nighthawk leaned against a building and lit a smokeless cigar. A woman crossed the street half a block beyond the fallen Lexonian, but paid no attention to it. A moment later two men turned the corner and found themselves confronting Bellamy's huge body.
    "Son of a bitch!" muttered one, walking over to it. "Is that who I think it is?"
    "It's got to be," said the other. "How many bald seven-footers do you know?"
    "Is he dead?"
    "Sure as hell looks like."
    The first man leaned over the corpse. "I wonder if he was carrying any cash."
    "Don't touch him," said Nighthawk.
    Both men jumped, startled.
    "I didn't see you there," said the first man.
    "How the hell did you kill him?" asked the second. "I thought he couldn't be hurt."
    "You thought