Blood Ties Read Online Free Page A

him, but he knew who it had to be.
    “Boy, you sure are a sore loser, Quinn.” Jake’s voice held no fear, simply disappointment. One man with a short sword frightened him about as much as a kid with a broom handle. Jake raised his hands and looked over one shoulder … and then the other.
    A knot of fear tightened in his guts.
    There was no sign of Quinn. Instead, Jake found himself looking at three strangers in black, their heads topped with black bowlers, their faces covered by strange looking goggles whose opaque lenses glowed faintly green.
    The man directly behind him stood close enough for Jake to smell sour breath. The other two flanked behind about five feet. The flankers twitched their right wrists. With metallic clicks, eighteen-inch blades popped out from their sleeves.
    Oh shit, Jake thought. He’d seen such weapons before. The pit fighters and generally unsavory sorts who used them called them slashers . Each of the flankers stepped in, pulled one of Jake’s pistols, and tucked it into his black sash. The knot of fear in Jake’s guts turned to pure dread. Three against one was long odds anytime, and now they had his pistols.
    “Shut up and move !” the first man whispered in Jake’s ear. He shoved hard into Jake’s back.
    Stumbling, Jake banged into the stable door face-first. Recovering quickly, he reached out and slid the door open. He still couldn’t hear the men moving behind him.
    They’re pros, whoever they are, he thought.
    He stepped into the darkness, his arms raised, and started to reach for the light switch just inside the door. His arm froze in place, hope pushing away the dread. In the dark he might have a chance, albeit a slim one. But slim was better than none anytime, especially against three armed killers.
    With his arms still raised, Jake lowered his left hand a bit and twisted the ocular, allowing in all the available light. He passed the massive, tan hindquarters of his mount Lumpy, tensing his body to leap away.
    “Don’t even think about it,” the man behind him said with a mild accent familiar to Jake. Jake froze. “We know all about that eye of yours. Now turn around.” Jake did as instructed. The goggles glowed more brightly in the darkness. The man raised his finger and tapped the goggles for emphasis. “We see you fine.”
    Jake was just about out of tricks. The man shifted the dagger to his left hand and twisted his free wrist. A slasher popped out with a loud click, and then all three stood facing him, motionless.
    Seconds ticked by.
    Jake was a patient man, but he wasn’t in the mood to wait around for someone to open him up like a Christmas goose. “So, are you fellas gonna make a move, or are we gonna just stand here and stare at each other?”
    “We definitely will not be staring at each other, Mr. Lasater,” Quinn sneered as he stepped into the doorway. Quinn turned the light switch.
    The sudden brightness made Jake wince and close his left eye.
    “I have something else in mind.” Quinn added as he slid the door closed behind him.
    “If this is about the money, Quinn, I’ll just hand it over.” Jake knew when he was beat, and he wasn’t willing to risk his neck over fifteen-hundred dollars when the odds were stacked so high against him.
    “The money is not why we are going to kill you.” Quinn smiled like a predator. “Although I will enjoy taking it off your corpse when we are finished cutting you to pieces.” Quinn drew the sword at his waist as he approached. The curved blade gleamed in his hand. “I will consider it a bonus on top of what we have already been paid.” He spun the blade a few times and loosened his neck and shoulders as he stalked down the middle of the stable. The other three spread out behind Lumpy, crouching down into fighting stances that gave Jake a bad case of déjà vu.
    Jake didn’t see how he could beat four trained killers when they had blades. It did seem odd that none of them was packing iron, but even without