Canyon of the Long Shadows by Carl Dane

Author:Carl Dane [Dane, Carl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction_ Westerns, carl dane, cowboys, hawke and carmody, western books, westerns
ISBN: 9781999760090
Google: feCXvgEACAAJ
Publisher: Raging Bull Publishing
Published: 2018-05-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Munro held up a hand.

I wanted to go in after Miller. Obviously, Munro thought differently.

“Hawke, there’s nothing to be gained by riding in. If Miller rode into a deathtrap, then he’s dead and there’s no point in winding up the same way. If he can get out, he will, but we’ll just get in the way if we clog up the mouth of the cave.”

“Damn it,” I said, “he’s an old man.”

Munro shot me a hard glance and it occurred to me that he and Miller were probably about the same age. It seemed an odd occasion for Munro too take offense, but vanity has no boundaries.

“Old men are smart,” Munro said. “And mean. Those are qualities that come with age, so right now I give him the advantage. I think he’ll be out any minute.”

As if on cue, an oboe voice from inside shouted, “I’m coming out alone.”

Miller was smart. I’d already known about the mean part.

If Miller had ridden straight out without warning, we’d have had no idea whether it was him or a hostile and he could have gotten shot by accident. And by letting us know he was alone, he freed us to cover other threats rather than bracing for an attack from his pursuers.

Maybe Munro was right about old-man smarts. I hope so. It’ll give me something to look forward to.

Miller burst through the opening. He and the horse had to duck below the overhanging rock, and when the mount straightened up, the upper body of Adam’s Apple jerked upright and the back of his head smacked Miller in the mouth. Miller shoved him forward and told the dead body, without irony, to stay the fuck out of the way.

Carmody had done an outstanding job tying the man in front of the saddle. Those country boys really know their knots.

“There were two in there,” Miller said. “Accommodating hosts. Left the lights on for me.”

“Hug the wall,” Munro said, and Miller understood and complied.

“If this guy told us the truth,” Miller said, pointing to the body slumped in front of him, “there are three or four men left.”

I took a look and listen. There was no active firing. No sounds of scurrying. No glints of metal in the jagged sunlight.

Carmody continued to scan the outcroppings. He looked pale, though, and his left arm hung limp and looked as though it had been dipped in bright red paint up to the shoulder.

Harbold kept his rifle trained on a line running in front of caves two and three.

“I’m not optimistic about this guy telling us the whole truth,” I said, lowering my voice. “He had to tell us the truth about the caves because we’d see for ourselves soon enough, and if he lied, who knows what body parts Munro would shoot off. But we have no way of knowing how many more might be lurking in this complex. Come to think of it, lying would have been in his best interest because we’d get overconfident.”

Miller grabbed a handful of hair and lifted the head.

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