Kenton's Challenge by Cameron Judd

Author:Cameron Judd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER 20

Kenton came to his feet, glaring toward the door, then looking wildly at Jack Livingston.

Livingston got up more slowly, frowning. “It probably ain’t nothing,” he said. “People come up from time to time, wanting to meet me because I got this reputation of being a strange old hermit.”

“Should you answer the door or let it go?”

Livingston gnawed at his lower lip, frowning some more as he thought about it. Another round of knocking rattled the door.

“Hell, I’m answering. I’d rather know it ain’t Kevington than think it might be. If there’s a problem on the other side of that door, then bring it on and let’s deal with it.” Livingston reached under his vest and brought out the small revolver he carried there. “I ain’t answering it alone, though,” he said, shaking the pistol.

Kenton produced a derringer from his own pocket. “I’m of the same mind as you, Jack.”

Kenton and Livingston walked together toward the front of the house, keeping their footsteps light so as not to forewarn whoever was outside of their approach. Kenton positioned himself so that he would be hidden when the door was opened.

“Who the hell is it?” Livingston bellowed through the door.

“My name is Billy Connery,” came the reply, in an Irish brogue. “I work for the Illustrated American, and I think there may be someone here I need to see.”

Kenton felt like going through the floor. The Illustrated American had tracked him down! Dear Lord, if they knew he was alive, knew he was here, what else did they know?

He wondered for a moment if this was a ruse. But he knew there was a Billy Connery working for the magazine, an Irish illustrator hired about the time of his own disappearance. Kenton had picked this up through simply reading the magazine itself. Connery worked with Alex Gunnison quite closely. And Alex was probably worried about Kenton because of his lack of communication with him.…

It all fell together in Kenton’s mind. Alex Gunnison had launched a search for him, had somehow detected his presence in Culvertown, and had sent his new partner to find him. Maybe Gunnison himself was somewhere in town, too.

“Ask him to slide his identification card under the door,” Kenton whispered. “The Illustrated American issues standard identification cards.”

“I want to see some identification!” Livingston hollered through the door. “Prove to me you’re with the Illustrated American!”

“Just a moment.…”

A couple of moments later, the edge of a card appeared under the door. Livingston knelt and picked the card up, glanced at it, and handed it to Kenton.

There were no images on Illustrated American credential cards, so Kenton could not match the name on the card, that of William Clive Connery, with the so-far unseen face on the other side of the door. But the card was the authentic item. The accent sounded real enough, too.

He handed the card back to Livingston. “Maybe we should let him in,” he whispered. “I think this is all on the up-and-up.”

“But how in hell did they track you here?” Livingston whispered back.

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