Read Online Dorothy Garlock - [Colorado Wind 03] by Wind of Promise - Free Book Online

time. His face was tight and his lips barely moved. “We’ve got the number on you. That means we keep the mules till the woman comes to get ’em.”
    “She’s here.” Vanessa spoke from somewhere behind Kain. “Now it’s three on three.”
    An oath sprang to Kain’s mind that he dared not voice. The damn fool girl would mess around and get them killed. He shoved his anger to the back of his mind. He couldn’t allow it to tighten him up.
    “No,” Kain said, choosing his words carefully and looking squarely into the dark eyes of the man who stood tensely, as if coiled to spring. “It’s just you and me.”
    Tass’ thin lips tightened, honing his already sharp features. He had not expected that. There was quick calculation in his eyes. The stranger was mounted, he was on the ground. But there was the old man with the buffalo gun.
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means we take the mules and ride out. It means if you make a move to stop us, I’ll kill you.”
    The breed was bothered by Kain’s confidence but was still sure enough of himself to stand his ground. Kain waited to see how long it took for the man’s sand to run out. The more bothered he was the better Kain’s chances. The breed was a killer. Kain had seen his kind before; quiet like a snake, but when he struck he meant to kill. How many men had he shot in the back, and how many men had he killed face-to-face?
    “Vanessa, you and Henry get the mules.”
    Kain heard her turn her horse. The breed’s ink-black eyes darted from him to the girl and back. His nostrils flared, but otherwise he didn’t move a muscle.
    “Like hell,” the fat man yelled suddenly.
    Vanessa’s horse jumped nervously and squealed when she drew up on the reins. The fat man thought this was his chance; his hand swept down. It was the last thought he would ever have. The buffalo gun boomed. The force of the shot flung him back like a rag doll, and when he landed there was scarcely anything left of his head.
    Kain’s gun was out and covering the other two, who stood in flat-footed astonishment, caught that way, unmoving, not wanting to move. The gruesome sight of their companion’s headless torso had taken the fight out of the young one. The skin on his face had turned a pasty yellow.
    “Get out of here,” Kain snarled at Vanessa and she went.
    John calmly rammed another charge in the buffalo gun, then cocked it and pointed it at the men.
    “I’m aready,” he said calmly. “Ya want that I blow ’em to hell, too?”
    “It’s up to them,” Kain said matter-of-factly. “If they don’t shuck the guns by the time I count to three, go ahead.”
    “I ain’t sure I know past one,” John said innocently.
    The men unbuckled their gun belts and let them fall to the ground. The kid seemed to notice for the first time the splatters of the fat man’s blood on his pants. He gagged repeatedly, then bent over and vomited. The dark man seemed unmoved by the grisly sight and kept his eyes on Kain’s face.
    “Keep them covered, John, while I collect the guns.” Kain got down out of the saddle, picked up the gun belts and the gun the fat man had dropped. He collected three rifles and bashed them against a tree until the barrels were bent. “You birds will be busy for a while burying your friend, so you won’t need your horses. We’ll borrow them for a spell.” He walked over and cut the horses loose from the line. “Unless you want to join your fat friend, keep a distance between yourselves and those wagons.”
    Kain mounted and drove the horses out of the camp ahead of him. John followed slowly, watching the men over his shoulder.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Primer Tass watched the old wolf with the buffalo gun ride out and congratulated himself on his self-restraint. Unlike the stupid, fat Dutchman, he would live to even the score with the gringos. They would wish they were dead a hundred times before he was through with them. The kid and the Dutchman had both wanted the girl