The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) (15 page)

As a shot tore the sodden
hat from his head, Bodine at last found what he sought: a door with
a glass panel in it. He used his shoulder, shattered the glass
panel, then unlocked the door.

Within seconds, Bodine had made
his way through the unlit structure and found himself in what he
imagined was a hardware store. The large wall of glass in the
store
’s
front window allowed him to stare out into the street at the bodies
of his fellow gang members lying in the still-bright light that
cascaded out of the saloon.

He heard the boots behind
him crushing the broken glass as Darrow followed his
trail.

Desperately, Bodine unlocked
the door and ran into the driving rain. The street still stank of
gunsmoke as he made his way toward one of the loose horses that
stood next to the bodies of their stricken masters, Jonah Clayton
and Snake Billow.

The sight of Bodine rushing
towards them caused both horses to shy away from the outlaw. The
man eventually managed to grab hold of the reins of one of the
frightened mounts. He dragged the animal around, held on to the
saddle horn, then poked his left boot into the stirrup. He mounted
swiftly, then saw the blinding flashes of Toke
Darrow
’s
guns blasting from the doorway of the hardware store as the outlaw
emerged into the rain.

Bodine returned fire as he
tried to steady the horse.

But Toke Darrow was not a
man to fear his fellow outlaws and kept on coming. With every
stride, Darrow unleashed the fury of his weaponry.

Skeet Bodine felt the animal
beneath him rear up as another flash of lightning crackled across
the sky above them. Then he felt the impact of two well-aimed
bullets tear into his flesh.

As the horse
’s forelegs landed back on the
wet sand, another bullet ripped into Bodine. This time the outlaw
was lifted over the cantle and slid down the back of the soaked
horse.

Skeet Bodine landed in the
churned-up ground. He focused through his pain at the shape of Toke
Darrow moving at him with both his guns
leveled at his prostrate
carcass.

Bodine tried to fire the
remaining gun in his right hand but another shot tore his hand
apart.

Then Darrow was above him
with the barrels of his weapons aimed straight at his
face.

‘
Gonna
shoot, Toke?’ Bodine coughed.

A twisted grin traced across
Darrow
’s
face as his thumbs pulled back the hammers of his guns. He was
about to squeeze both triggers when he saw Bodine’s head turn and
stare into the darkness.

‘
Look
at me, ya yella bastard!’ Darrow growled.

Blood ran from the corner of
Bodine
’s
mouth.

‘
Riders comin’, Toke.’

Darrow turned his own head
and stared down the long street to where the dying Bodine was
looking. For a moment he thought the outlaw beneath him was
bluffing.

Then the truth dawned on
him.

Thunder shook Diamond City
for the umpteenth time before lightning illuminated the line of
five horsemen who were galloping straight at him.

Toke Darrow raised himself
up and stared in disbelief at the lead rider. He felt his heart
pound as he focused on the one man he feared above all
others.

A man whom he had truly
believed was dead.

‘
Iron
Eyes?’ Darrow gasped.

Then he saw the Navy Colt in
the skeletal hand of the bounty hunter as Iron Eyes led the lawmen
through the rain towards him. It was the most chilling sight Darrow
had ever seen. The long hair flapped like the wings of a bat on the
wide shoulders of the gruesome rider as Iron Eyes got closer and
closer.

Few men could have remained
as calm as the outlaw did as he watched the strange vision bearing
down on him. Darrow holstered his guns, grabbed at the reins of the
nearest horse and hauled the scattergun from its saddle
scabbard.

He pulled back both large
hammers of the twin-
barreled weapon and balanced it on the top of the saddle.
As the street lit up again with light from the heavens, he pulled
back on both triggers simultaneously.

The massive weapon almost
kicked Darrow off his feet as it blasted both
barrels of deadly buckshot at
the five horsemen. He watched as the massive lead shot tore into
the galloping animals’ flesh.

A blood-curdling noise came
from the riders and their mounts.

All five horses crashed
headlong into the wet sand. The riders were discarded like
rag-dolls.

Darrow tossed the scattergun
away and mounted fast.

He turned the horse and glared
down at Bodine. He drew a gun and fired a shot into the
outlaw
’s
head. The ruthless outlaw then spurred hard and galloped towards
the bank and his waiting brothers. Within seconds all three outlaws
and their two pack-horses laden down with cash and gold had ridden
out of Diamond City up into the uncharted crags.

Marshal Lane Clark rolled
over on the wet sand. He knew his right leg was busted and his
prized stallion was dead. His eyes sought and found his three
deputies.

Only Col Drake was
moving.

‘
Pete?
Tom?’ Clark groaned. There was no reply. Then the marshal saw the
long thin frame of the bounty hunter move a few feet ahead of
him.

With the wrath of unseen
gods sending forks of deadly lightning bolts all around the remote
settlement, Iron Eyes rose off the ground and defiantly screamed at
the top of his lungs at the fleeing Darrow brothers.

‘
You’re all dead men! You hear me? There ain’t no place to
hide from Iron Eyes!’

Marshal Lane Clark watched in
amazement as Iron Eyes checked his Navy Colts. Then he ran through
the rain towards Jonah Clayton
’s horse.

The bounty hunter leapt on
to the saddle, hauled the reins hard to his right and sank his
razor-sharp spurs into the stunned animal.

Like a man possessed by
demons, Iron Eyes galloped after the three horsemen. He had the
scent of his prey in his nostrils.

Having used the last hour of
darkness to their advantage, the Darrow brothers had forced their
mounts up through the crags and then turned to head along the trail
that led to the desert. By the time the horsemen had cleared the
jagged rocks that fringed the line of small towns, the violent
storm had moved south and the sun had risen once more.

The vast expanse of sand that
lay beyond the rolling hills and deep canyons seemed to stretch
on
forever
to the eyes of Toke Darrow and his kin. Even though it was only an
hour since sunrise, the heat haze was already blurring whatever lay
beyond the desert from their prying eyes.

When they reached a high
plateau, the three riders stopped their mounts and checked the
pack-animals.

Fern Darrow looked down at
what
was
left of his foot. It had been almost severed and hung limply next
to his stirrup. Only the leather of his boot kept it in
place.

‘
I
needs me a sawbones darn bad, Toke!’

Toke Darrow was about to speak
when he saw dust rising from the crags behind them far below their
high vantage point. He tapped Jade
’s arm and then pointed.

‘
Look!
He’s still coming!’ Toke Darrow growled.

‘
That
can’t be Iron Eyes, Toke.’ Jade shrugged. ‘We all know that he’s
dead.’

Toke grabbed his
brother
’s
bandanna and twisted it until he saw Jade’s eyes bulge.

‘
It’s
him, I tell ya. Iron Eyes ain’t dead and he’s after our
bounty.’

Fern moved his mount
forward.

‘
Whoever he is, he’s getting closer, Toke,’ he
shouted.

Toke Darrow released his grip
and stared back at the dust that trailed up into the blue sky from
the crags. He bit
his lip and then looked all around them for a safe route
away from the man that hunted them.

‘
We
can’t go nowhere without being in that critter’s rifle sights. Once
he gets here, he’ll be able to use a Winchester and just pick us
off. It’ll be like a turkey-shoot.’

Fern screwed up his eyes in
agony as his foot touched the side of one of their
pack-horses.

‘
Let’s
just find a place to bushwhack him, boys. We gotta kill him fast
and then we can head back to Diamond City. I gotta get my leg
tended by a doctor,’ he groaned.

Toke and Jade looked at their
brother and then back at the dust which rose from the hoofs of
their pursuer
’s mount.

‘
He’s
right,’ Jade said. ‘We have to kill Iron Eyes so we can get him to
a sawbones.’

Toke swung his horse full
circle, studying the area below them. He looked down into the
nearest canyon
where it narrowed between high-sided sand-colored rocks.
Dried brush masked the approach.

‘
C’mon. We’ll bushwhack him down there. When we’re finished
with Iron Eyes, he really will be dead.’

All three riders slapped
their reins and started the steep descent into the canyon below
them.

~*~

Iron Eyes had driven the
horse as hard as he could after the fleeing outlaws. There was no
mercy in the heart of the bounty hunter, even after the animal had
thrown a shoe climbing the steep route its new master had chosen
for it.

As at last the lame animal
reached the highest point on the long trail, Iron Eyes dropped from
its back and studied the dry ground.

His keen hunting instincts
saw the hoof-tracks in the sand; he knew exactly where the outlaws
had headed only thirty or so minutes earlier.

Iron Eyes gritted his teeth
and knelt down to study the trail that led down into the canyon
below him. He pulled a cigar remnant from his deep coat-pockets and
put it into his mouth. He struck a match and inhaled the
smoke.

There seemed to be no sign
of the riders beyond the canyons out on the desert. Yet he knew
that they ought to have reached the almost white sand by
now.

He sucked the last of the
smoke from his cigar and then pushed it into the sand beside his
right boot.

The tall emaciated figure
rose to his full height and walked back to his horse. The animal
was totally lame but could still prove useful to him.

Iron Eyes removed the
canteen from the saddle horn and took a long swallow of the
still-cold liquid. The outlaws were still in the canyon waiting for
him, he thought. He could almost read their minds.

The bounty hunter returned the
canteen to the saddle horn and then
threw himself up on to the injured horse.
He forced the limping animal to the edge of the slope and spurred.
The horse obeyed and rode through its own pain down the steep
incline.

Iron Eyes used the long
lengths of his reins to whip the shoulders of the animal to greater
and greater pace as they quickly approached the mouth of the
canyon.

As the horse rode under the
overhanging brush, Iron Eyes released his grip on the reins and
then dragged both his Navy Colts from his deep pockets. He stood in
his stirrups and then jumped off the back of the animal.

No sooner had Iron Eyes
landed on the ground than the air suddenly erupted with rifle-fire
from three directions. The horse staggered as bullets cut into
it.

Iron Eyes rolled over and fired
two shots at the trail of gunsmoke that still hung on the hot air
above him. Jade Darrow fell from his lofty hiding-place and crashed
into the ground. A cloud of
dust rose around the lifeless body as the bounty
hunter moved up the rocks.

More shots skimmed off the
rockface all around him.

Then he spotted the injured
Fern crouching behind a massive boulder, fanning his gun-hammer.
Iron Eyes raised his left gun and fired three deadly shots into the
outlaw. A rifle barrel gleamed in the sunlight to his left as it
was pushed from a wall of brush.

Iron Eyes turned and fired
just as the Winchester blasted.

The rifle bullet came close.
Too close for comfort.

The tall figure felt the
tail of his long trail coat being lifted as the bullet ripped
through its fabric. Iron Eyes leapt down to the canyon floor and
stumbled as another shot skimmed off the rocks next to his
head.

An excruciating pain blinded
him as fine stone-dust filled his eyes. Iron Eyes turned as blood
and tears streamed from his eyes. Then another bullet came so close
that it burned the skin on his
already scarred face.

The tall man dropped to the
ground and squeezed both the triggers of his guns. His bullets went
wildly into the air. He had no idea where the last of his enemies
was.