Brand 1 by Neil Hunter

Author:Neil Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: zane grey, louis lamour, william w johnstone, ben bridges, mike stotter, piccadilly publishing, max brand
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing

Chapter Nine

Brand leaned against the cell door, holding himself erect by hanging on to the very bars. He didn’t dare let go and lie down, even though his battered body screamed for relief. He knew that if he did lie down he might not get up again. Sweat oozed from him, mingling with the blood on his bruised face. He tried to guess how long he’d been standing at the cell door. There was a dim recollection of Huerta and Chino being there, then they had moved away and he had been left alone, lying in his own blood on the cell floor. In his pain shocked mind he had registered the fact that the beating had stopped. Somehow he had climbed to his feet, hauling himself up by his hands. Clinging on to the bars with the ferocity of a drowning man clutching a straw.

He asked himself if he was wise keeping up his pretense. He was suffering for nothing when it came down to it. Keeping Huerta guessing was costing him a hell of a lot in blood and sweat. The way it was going he could end up dead or crippled.

Movement broke the silence. Luke Dorsey appeared at his side.

“For God’s sake, man, if you know anything tell them. I don’t care what Morgan’s paying you. It isn’t worth this kind of treatment.”

“You mean they’ll let me go if I talk?” Brand managed a lopsided grin that hurt like hell. “The only reason I’m putting up with this is so I might get a chance at one of them when that door’s open. Once Huerta gets his hands on that money we’re all dead. I want to be out of here before that happens.”

“You’ll never get out of here,” Luke said. “Nobody ever escapes from this place.”

Brand moved away from the door. His eased his aching body around the cell. Every step was an agony. The more he thought about what he’d been through the more determined Brand was that he would come out alive.

There was a part of him that wanted to hit back each time he was kicked. It was pure cussedness. A stubborn refusal to bend and break.

There was no more food. No water. Brand and Dorsey were left totally alone. As the hours wore on Brand began to feel a little better. His body still hurt but the initial pain had faded, leaving behind a persistent ache. His eternal pacing around the cell had prevented his bruised body from stiffening up too much.

He wondered what was going on upstairs. What was Huerta planning now? It was obvious that the Mexican was concerned over what Brand might have found out and possibly passed on.

Was he preparing to move? To bring his plans forward? Morgan Dorsey had said he was prepared to pay the ransom. Maybe that money had already been dispatched. Brand stared at the locked cell door in frustrated impatience.

One chance!

That was all he needed.

The door at the head of the steps swung open.

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