Death Valley Demons by Jon Sharpe

Author:Jon Sharpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Fargo didn’t worry too much, during the ride south to the shack, about his enemies spotting them. The Barton gang would have bigger problems getting their horses under control—Fargo had seen panicked mounts run themselves to death before a rider could regain mastery. More than one cavalry officer had been forced to shoot his own mount from under him to avoid going over a cliff.

“Didja see Mad Dog’s beard?” Scotty crowed. “Son of a bitch caught fire! That’ll learn him to ruin my beard, the coyote-ugly sidewinder.”

“Rena!” Fargo called out when they reined in out front of the hidden shack. “Rena, all clear!”

Dead silence greeted his hail.

“Rena! Sing out, girl!”

Only a hollow shrieking of wind in the rocks. On a sudden hunch, Fargo raised his eyes past the wild jumble of boulders ahead to the steep slope of the Funeral Mountains that bordered much of the east wall of Death Valley.

“That stupid little greenhorn,” Fargo burst out. “She’s tryin’ to get up to those caverns.”

Rena, astride her chestnut, was attempting to negotiate a steep, rocky slope about one-third of the way up the face of a mountain.

“She can’t make it, can she?” Scotty asked.

“Hell no. Not even on foot. I mapped those mountains myself, and the only way up is the slope we took well north of here—the divide between the Black and Funeral Mountains that leads to Dante’s View. She’s on a fool’s errand.”

“Even if she did somehow miracle her ass up there,” Scotty added, “she’d still have miles to go due north ’fore she reached that bottleneck. With no trail to follow.”

“That’s the straight,” Fargo agreed. “C’mon, let’s try to shout her down before Barton’s gang spots her. I’m not risking my horse for that damned fool. I’m all for protecting a woman, but this one hasn’t got the brains God gave a rabbit. Those damn ‘family heirlooms’ are gonna send her to an early grave. Maybe us, too.”

Both men led their mounts behind the shack and ground-reined them. They cupped their hands around their mouths and bellowed to catch her attention. Rena looked down, spotting them, and waved. But she continued her steep ascent.

“Bleedin’ Holy Ghost!” Scotty cursed. “She’s about to fall bass ackwards off that mountain!”

A moment later, however, it was the mountain that fell backward. Rena’s chestnut dislodged a large rock, the rock dislodged more rocks, and suddenly the entire slope beneath her heaved into motion.

“Rockslide!” Fargo shouted, spinning around on his heel. “Grab your mule and get out onto the valley floor. It’s all headed our way!”

Rena was past worrying about now as Fargo and Scotty scrambled to save their own hides. The ground beneath their feet shook and vibrated as if an earthquake had struck, and they could hear the accumulating roar as more and more rocks and boulders were swept up in the rush.

Fargo sent a cross-shoulder glance behind him as he ran out into the valley, leading the Ovaro.

“Christ, don’t stop!” he shouted at Scotty. “It’s coming into the valley!”

Moments later

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