Blaze! Ride Hard, Shoot Fast by Wayne D Dundee

Author:Wayne D Dundee [Dundee, Wayne D]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rough Edges Press
Published: 2015-11-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

"You conniving old bastard, you knew, didn't you? You were in on it with them, weren't you?" Jeremiah Baker's face was once again purpled with anger. He was speaking in a low, harsh voice, fighting to control the volume so as not to be heard outside the sleeping compartment that he and Harlan Hudson shared in one of the race train's luxury cars. His hands were balled into trembling fists and wrapped around the lapels of the older man's frock coat as he held him pinned to the wall of the compartment.

"I suggest," Hudson said in a totally relaxed voice as he frowned down at the shorter youth who was threatening him, "that you calm yourself, Jeremiah."

"You go to hell, you damn shyster! I'm through listening to you."

With speed and strength that belied his angular frame and advanced years, Hudson swept his hands up and outward in a motion that knocked loose Jeremiah's grip and sent him staggering backward. Hudson immediately closed the gap that had briefly been created between them and now it was he who grabbed Jeremiah by his lapels, leaning over him and bending him back awkwardly, painfully.

"No, you are not through listening to me, you impertinent little pipsqueak! Not if you know what's good for you," Hudson hissed. "You've been listening to the advice and guidance of others all your pampered excuse for a life—because you're too jelly-spined and weak-willed to decide anything for yourself. And now that you're finally on the brink of doing something that at least has the appearance of acting like a man, you're not going to piss it down your leg by taking the moral high ground on me."

Jeremiah made a strained sound. "Harlan...Please, you're breaking my back."

"I'll do more than that if you ever try to threaten me or lay your hands on me again!"

"Okay...Enough."

Hudson jerked Jeremiah upright again and then pushed him away. Puffing somewhat from the exertion, he said, "What the hell were you thinking, anyway? You ought to know that anything I did was only for your own good."

Jeremiah looked completely bewildered. "I just never...I don't understand."

Hudson straightened his clothes, ran his hands back over his head, smoothing the mass of wavy hair. "I regret the harsh words, Jeremiah. But you know there was truth in them. Though not completely your fault alone, you have led a very soft, pampered life. You never gave a damn about or attempted or accomplished anything of note in your whole life...except for the God-given skill you have with horses. The way you can gentle them, ride them, race them. It's like nothing I ever saw. It's as if, in a saddle, you suddenly possess all the confidence and strength and drive you lack under any other circumstance."

Jeremiah arched a brow skeptically. "I'm not sure if you're running me down or paying me a compliment, Harlan."

"How about a bit of both?" Hudson said. "Whatever it takes to help you get hold of yourself, you young fool, and see this thing the rest of the way through with the right perspective.

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