Tears of the Sun by Al Lacy

Author:Al Lacy [Lacy, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-78055-3
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

It was ten o’clock, and Vic Coburn was in a frenzy. He paced the kitchen floor like a caged beast, and his hands trembled with anger.

“What’s happening? Why haven’t they come back?”

“They must not’ve found Hardy at the hotel, sir,” Ritchie said. “They’re probably leaving no stone unturned. Who knows? They may be searching every house, barn, and shed in town.”

“That would take a week. I don’t think that’s what they’re doing. There’s something fishy going on, and we’re going to find out what it is. Come on.”

Ten minutes later, the major and Judd, Tobin, and Ritchie filed into the lobby of the Desert Rose Hotel. When Delbert Coggins saw Coburn, his face blanched.

“I want to know something, little man,” Coburn said.

“Yes, sir?”

“Is John Stranger in his room?”

“Uh … no, Mister Major, he ain’t. He went out a while ago and hasn’t come back.”

“Did you see some of my men come in here tonight?”

“Well, I … uh—”

“Come on, man! Did you or didn’t you?”

“Well, sir, I did. They, uh, went upstairs and knocked on Reverend Stranger’s door.” He pointed toward the balcony. “It’s the middle door right up there.”

“Okay, so they knocked on his door. Then what? Did they go inside his room?”

“Not that I know of, sir.”

“Well, did you see them leave?”

“No, sir.”

“If you didn’t see them leave, they must still be up there. Come on, men, let’s go and see for ourselves.”

Coggins watched the four men ascend the stairs. They had their guns out by the time they reached the door of room number two.

Coburn pounded on the door, holding his revolver ready. When there was no response, he pounded again, yelling at the top of his voice, “Open up, Stranger! It’s Major Coburn! Open the door, or we’ll break it down!”

“No! Please don’t break it down, Major!” Coggins called from the lobby floor. “If Reverend Stranger isn’t answering the door, it’s because he isn’t in there! Neither are your men, or they would open up.”

“I want to see for myself. Come up here and unlock this door!”

Coggins pulled a skeleton key from his pocket and headed for the staircase closest to him. When he unlocked the door and stepped back, the four men plunged inside. Seeing no one, Coburn turned and stormed past Coggins and down the stairs with his three men on his heels.

“I know where they are,” Coburn said. “Stranger somehow got the drop on them. What better place to lock them up than the jail!”

The foursome hurried down the dimly lit street toward the marshal’s office and jail.

“Why didn’t I think of it before! Since Stranger got the upper hand on Hardy first, he’d have Hardy’s key to the office. Once in the office, he’d have access to the cell keys.”

They found the office door locked and saw the sign Stranger had placed in the window. Coburn told Ritchie to break the door open, which he quickly did. They flared a lantern and went into the jail, but found it empty. Coburn swore and his face went beet-red.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.