Pulp Fiction | The Ghost Riders Affair (July 1966) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Unknown
me. I had such high regard for your taste. Tell me, if I'm not your type, why do you follow me around?"
She winced, looked helplessly both ways along the sun-stricken street. "Maybe you just happen to go all the same places I must go."
"An interesting theory. Maybe you can tell me why you want to go all these places where I so inconveniently show up—just ahead of you."
"Need I remind you, Mr. Solo? It's a free country. I can go where I like?"
He continued to smile, coldly. "And let me remind you. Freedom and life are being threatened here. It's no game. I won't play by any rules that will please you. I might even get rough. Now, shall we try again? What are you doing here?"
"Because I heard that one thousand of Mr. Maynard's cattle disappeared without a trace."
"Are you interested in cattle? Or disappearances?"
Mabel's head tilted slightly. "Like everyone else, I heard that two huge trains also disappeared without a trace."
Solo stopped smiling. He shook his head, puzzled. "And that's why you came here?"
She met his gave levelly. "Doesn't the name Finnish mean anything to you, Mr. Solo?"
Solo frowned, filtering the name through his mind. There was the faintest stirring of recall. He shook his head. "Should it?"
"Leonard Finnish," she said. "He was a geologist known all over the world. He was my grandfather. He disappeared without leaving a trace."
"On one of those trains?"
She shook her head. "My grandfather disappeared five years ago."
"Here in the Sawtooth mountains?"
"No. Grandfather vanished while on a geology expedition in Death Valley, in California."
Solo nodded, remembering. "Yes. He was exploring some subterranean caverns in Death Valley, but that's fifteen hundred miles from here."
"Yes. And five years ago. Still, he did vanish without a trace. Just as the cattle and the trains disappeared. Is it so wild that I'd look for my grandfather here—try to learn all I can about these disappearances? You're here. Yet those trains disappeared in Indiana, didn't they, Mr. Solo?"
Solo smiled, released her arm. "Checkmate."
SIX
Solo set up the polygraph machine in Maynard's ranch house den. He was checking it out when the door was thrown open and Maynard burst into the room.
The rancher's sun-tanned face was gray. His eyes were distended. He said, "Solo. The bunkhouse. You better come. Quick."
Maynard turned on his heel and Solo followed. The few dude ranchers remaining on the place eyed them silently, coldly as they passed. These people stood up, tense, watchful.
They found the same chilled reception at the bunkhouse. The ranch hands were taut, eyes bleak and troubled.
Maynard thrust open the bunkhouse door and Solo followed him inside it.
Inside the room, Solo slowed, stopped, staring at the men on the bunks.
"Pete and Marty," Maynard said. "They got violently ill last night. Mabel Finnish drove into Cripple Bend to fetch Doc Cullin, but I don't think she'll make it."
Maynard was right. Marty died before Doc Cullin arrived, and there was nothing the medic could do to save Pete.
Maynard caught the doctor's arm. "Why? What caused them to die like that, Doc?"
Cullin shook his head. "I don't know, Carlos. There are no physical signs of any kind. We'll just have to wait for the autopsy."
That evening Solo was working on his daily report when there was a knock at his door in the upstairs of the ranch house. He said, "Come in."
The door opened and Doctor Cullin entered. "Maynard said I should give you the results of the autopsy report, Mr. Solo. Autopsy shows the presence of a nerve gas in the lungs of both men. Death was caused by strangulation; that nerve gas had been in them for some days slowly choking them."
Solo gazed at the doctor, then stared beyond him at Mabel Finnish, standing gray-faced in his doorway.
ACT II: INCIDENT OF THE MISSING CASTLE
The train hurtled downward into the belly of the earth. The stifling darkness shrouded the car where Illya braced himself against the plunging
She winced, looked helplessly both ways along the sun-stricken street. "Maybe you just happen to go all the same places I must go."
"An interesting theory. Maybe you can tell me why you want to go all these places where I so inconveniently show up—just ahead of you."
"Need I remind you, Mr. Solo? It's a free country. I can go where I like?"
He continued to smile, coldly. "And let me remind you. Freedom and life are being threatened here. It's no game. I won't play by any rules that will please you. I might even get rough. Now, shall we try again? What are you doing here?"
"Because I heard that one thousand of Mr. Maynard's cattle disappeared without a trace."
"Are you interested in cattle? Or disappearances?"
Mabel's head tilted slightly. "Like everyone else, I heard that two huge trains also disappeared without a trace."
Solo stopped smiling. He shook his head, puzzled. "And that's why you came here?"
She met his gave levelly. "Doesn't the name Finnish mean anything to you, Mr. Solo?"
Solo frowned, filtering the name through his mind. There was the faintest stirring of recall. He shook his head. "Should it?"
"Leonard Finnish," she said. "He was a geologist known all over the world. He was my grandfather. He disappeared without leaving a trace."
"On one of those trains?"
She shook her head. "My grandfather disappeared five years ago."
"Here in the Sawtooth mountains?"
"No. Grandfather vanished while on a geology expedition in Death Valley, in California."
Solo nodded, remembering. "Yes. He was exploring some subterranean caverns in Death Valley, but that's fifteen hundred miles from here."
"Yes. And five years ago. Still, he did vanish without a trace. Just as the cattle and the trains disappeared. Is it so wild that I'd look for my grandfather here—try to learn all I can about these disappearances? You're here. Yet those trains disappeared in Indiana, didn't they, Mr. Solo?"
Solo smiled, released her arm. "Checkmate."
SIX
Solo set up the polygraph machine in Maynard's ranch house den. He was checking it out when the door was thrown open and Maynard burst into the room.
The rancher's sun-tanned face was gray. His eyes were distended. He said, "Solo. The bunkhouse. You better come. Quick."
Maynard turned on his heel and Solo followed. The few dude ranchers remaining on the place eyed them silently, coldly as they passed. These people stood up, tense, watchful.
They found the same chilled reception at the bunkhouse. The ranch hands were taut, eyes bleak and troubled.
Maynard thrust open the bunkhouse door and Solo followed him inside it.
Inside the room, Solo slowed, stopped, staring at the men on the bunks.
"Pete and Marty," Maynard said. "They got violently ill last night. Mabel Finnish drove into Cripple Bend to fetch Doc Cullin, but I don't think she'll make it."
Maynard was right. Marty died before Doc Cullin arrived, and there was nothing the medic could do to save Pete.
Maynard caught the doctor's arm. "Why? What caused them to die like that, Doc?"
Cullin shook his head. "I don't know, Carlos. There are no physical signs of any kind. We'll just have to wait for the autopsy."
That evening Solo was working on his daily report when there was a knock at his door in the upstairs of the ranch house. He said, "Come in."
The door opened and Doctor Cullin entered. "Maynard said I should give you the results of the autopsy report, Mr. Solo. Autopsy shows the presence of a nerve gas in the lungs of both men. Death was caused by strangulation; that nerve gas had been in them for some days slowly choking them."
Solo gazed at the doctor, then stared beyond him at Mabel Finnish, standing gray-faced in his doorway.
ACT II: INCIDENT OF THE MISSING CASTLE
The train hurtled downward into the belly of the earth. The stifling darkness shrouded the car where Illya braced himself against the plunging
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