Novel 1955 - Heller With A Gun (v5.0) Read Online Free Page A

your count,” Healy said. “There’ll be another man.”
    Barker looked quickly at Mabry. “You?” Obviously the idea was distasteful to him.
    â€œNo,” Healy said, “although we’d like to have him. I referred to the other man in our company, Doc Guilford.”
    â€œOh.…All right.”
    Mabry tried his coffee and found it hot and strong. The room was very still. On the hearth the fire crackled briefly, then subsided. Barker drew on his cigar, seeming to want to leave, but hesitating, as if he disliked leaving them alone to talk to Mabry.
    Or was that, Mabry asked himself, his imagination? He might be letting an irrational dislike of the man influence his judgment. Mabry liked the coffee, and it warmed away the last of his chill. He liked sitting across the table from Janice Ryan and could feel the sharp edge of her curiosity.
    â€œTake quite a while, a trip like that,” he ventured. “Better have plenty of grub and some spare horses.”
    â€œWhen we want your advice,” Barker said, “we’ll ask for it.”
    King Mabry lifted his eyes. He looked at Barker for a long time, then said quietly, “I’ve been asked,” he reminded him, “by him.” He indicated Healy. “Or do you have some reason for not wanting them to get advice from anyone else?”
    Barker stared at him, his lips tightening. He was about to speak when Williams came into the room.
    â€œMabry,” he said quickly in a low tone, “watch yourself. Trouble making up.”
    â€œThanks.”
    He saw startled comprehension in Barker’s eyes and saw the man grow faintly white around the eyes as he heard Mabry’s name.
    Trouble might mean that Griffin’s friends were going to take action. That could mean nothing to Barker, but the name obviously had. It had proved a severe jolt, by the look of him.
    â€œKing…King Mabry.”
    â€œThat’s the name.”
    Barker smiled stiffly. “Healy,” he said, “when you introduce a man, use his whole name. It might make a difference.”
    â€œThe bartender called him King. It was the only name I knew.”
    â€œDoes it matter so much?” Janice asked.
    â€œIn this case, yes.” Barker chose his words with care, yet they carried the information he intended, and a warning. “King Mabry is a known man. They say he has killed fifteen men.”
    Mabry’s eyes were bleak. He gave Barker all his attention. “Not fifteen. Only eleven—not counting Indians.”
    Barker got up, smiling faintly, obviously feeling he had scored a point against Mabry. Yet as he turned to go, King Mabry spoke. The remark came from nowhere, unconsidered, unplanned. “One thing, Barker. They were all armed, and they were all facing me.”
    The big man stiffened, and the glance he threw over his shoulder at Mabry was malignant. Yet it held a probing, half-frightened curiosity, too.
    As he watched the man leave, Mabry’s mind caught at that final reaction. Somewhere, Mabry told himself, he’s shot a man in the back, or been accused of it.
    It was something to remember. Something not to forget. Nor was Barker an enemy to be underrated. The big man was too confident not to have victory behind him. He was no fool. He was a shrewd, tough, dangerous man.
    There was an uncomfortable silence in the room after Andy Barker had gone. Mabry drank his coffee and refilled the cup.
    â€œNone of my business,” he said, “but I’d think about that trip. You’ll have trouble.”
    Healy shifted his cup on his saucer and said nothing. Janice Ryan started to speak, then stopped. Silence stretched taut between the walls, and then a board creaked, and when they looked around a man was standing in the door.
    He was a tall man, somewhat stooped, with a lean hatchet face, and he wore his gun tied down. And King Mabry knew the kind of man he was, and what to expect.
    Low-voiced,