Read Online Iron Eyes Must Die by Rory Black - Free Book Online Page B

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