The Loner: The Blood of Renegades by J.A. Johnstone

Author:J.A. Johnstone [Johnstone, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp
Published: 2011-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

In the dead of night, the sound of a shot would carry easily to the settlement at the other end of the canyon, two miles away. That knowledge gave Conrad speed as he flung himself forward, his left hand closing around the rifle barrel. Instead of wrenching the weapon out of the guard’s hand, which would have caused it to go off, he shoved as hard as he could, driving the stock into the guard’s belly. The man grunted in pain, doubled over, and let go of the rifle.

Conrad swung the revolver in his hand and smashed its barrel against the man’s head. The guard dropped instantly and didn’t move when he hit the ground.

Kingman had leaped forward with matching swiftness. The second guard barely had time to react when Kingman’s gun crashed against his head and knocked his hat flying. The man crumpled.

The commotion roused the third guard. He burst out of the tent with his suspenders flapping around his hips and ran right into Conrad’s hard fist, which caught him solidly on the nose. Cartilage crunched and blood spurted as the man’s nose flattened, and he went over backward. As soon as he hit the ground, Kingman finished the job with a sharp rap from his gun butt. The man sighed and stretched out in a limp sprawl.

Conrad and Kingman holstered their Colts. A second later, Conrad saw a reflection of moonlight on steel and realized Kingman had drawn a knife. As he bent toward the unconscious men, Conrad said quietly but sharply, “What are you doing? We were just going to fix it where they couldn’t raise the alarm.”

“I guarantee they won’t make any racket if their throats are cut,” Kingman said.

“Hold it. You’re too quick to resort to murder to make sure people don’t cause problems for you, Kingman.”

“Blast it, this is none of your business!”

“As long as I’m risking my life and the life of my friend to help you, it is. Kill those men in cold blood and you and Ollie and the others are on your own. Arturo and I are riding away.”

“You’re awful high and mighty.” Anger seethed in Kingman’s voice. “You never did anything that was over the line, Browning?”

Conrad remembered several times he had pulled a trigger in cold blood and ended the life of an evil man. The thing of it was, he had known the evil those men had done. Maybe these guards were guilty of things just as bad. Whether that was the case or not, he didn’t have any knowledge of it himself, and he wouldn’t stand by and watch them slaughtered like sheep while they were unconscious and helpless.

“We said we’d tie them up and gag them, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“Fine!” Kingman jammed his knife back in its sheath. “We’re wasting time.”

Conrad couldn’t argue with that. He and Kingman worked quickly, using the man’s belts to tie their hands behind them, ripping strips from their shirts to lash their ankles and knees together, and stuffing bandannas in their mouths as gags.

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