The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) Read Online Free Page A

them.’
    Cole laughed out loud,
drawing the attention of the rest of their men.
    ‘ Henry
here has got a darn smart idea, boys!’ he bellowed.
    One by one the outlaws
gathered around the small card-table like the flies that had been
drawn to the dead body on the telegraph-office
boardwalk.
    ‘ What’s this idea, Jardine?’ Toke Darrow asked. ‘I sure hope
it involves the money in that bank’s safe.’
    ‘ Better than that, Toke.’ Jardine stood and walked to the
swing-doors. He stopped and rested a hand on the top of
them.
    ‘ What’s better than robbin’ the bank?’ Darrow
asked.
    The taller, older outlaw
looked back for a brief moment before returning his eyes on the
dusty streets before him. He smiled and nodded to
himself.
    ‘ We
just stole a whole town, Toke!’
    There was a brief silence
before the drunken outlaws realized what Jardine had said. Then one
by one they began to laugh and cheer.
    ‘ I bet
Jesse James never stole a whole town, huh?’ Snake Billow
grinned.
    ‘ Damn
right!’ Cole grunted as his fingers continued to search his pockets
for the elusive tenth digit. ‘We got ourselves a place that would
make anyone jealous.’
    ‘ But
stayin’ put in one place has gotta be kinda dangerous, ain’t it?’
Jade Darrow wondered aloud. ‘The law might decide to come visiting
once they find out where we are.’
    ‘ What
law, Jade?’ Jardine piped up. ‘We’ve killed nearly every damn
sheriff and lawman between here and Black Rock in the last month or
so. Who’s left?’
    Clay Moore struck a match
and lit the end of the twisted cigarette in his mouth.
    ‘ Henry’s right! There ain’t nobody else!’
    ‘ Even
ol’ Iron Eyes is dead!’ Darrow conceded. ‘And he was the only one
that I ever lost shut-eye over. Them Apaches done a damn good job
as I hear tell.’
    Saul Bass spat at the
sawdust at his feet.
    ‘ I
hope he’s rottin’ in hell!’
    ‘ Burnin’ more like, Saul!’ Cole laughed. ‘If the Devil let
him in, that is.’
    ‘ Damn
right!’ Bodine agreed. ‘Iron Eyes made even Lucifer look like a
Sunday-School ma’am.’
    Every eye within the saloon
watched the infamous outlaw turn and face them. It was the first
time that any of them had seen Jardine look so happy. Since their
gangs had joined together, Henry Jardine had proved himself the
superior planner out of the thirteen outlaws. If he thought that
they ought to remain in Diamond City, then that was what they would
do.
    ‘ We
own Diamond City, boys!’ he said triumphantly. ‘It’s ours! And
there ain’t nobody gonna take it away from us!’

Chapter Four
    Apache Wells had been the
northernmost Texas Ranger outpost for more than a decade. The
military fortress held more than two hundred of the famed battalion of men
who had enlisted to protect the Lone Star state from a multitude of
enemies.
    Colonel Caufield Cotter had
been there from the beginning and yet he still appeared no
different. His was a mission that had taken on almost biblical
proportions during the previous few years. Most Apache tribes had
never fully succumbed to the ever-growing influx of settlers who
continued to flow into their ancestral lands. The Texas Rangers
were fully stretched just trying to protect its people from bands
of Apache, and yet now there was a new problem.
    The outlaw gangs had begun to
group together in large numbers and were destroying everything in their
path.
    Colonel Cotter had always
managed to keep things under control, until now. Now he was being
torn apart. His oath to Texas had always come first. He was there
to protect those who could not defend themselves. But even with his
expertise in deploying his men he knew that the news that over
ninety Rangers had been killed three hundred miles to the east of his
outpost whilst untold numbers of people had fallen victim to the
rampaging outlaws to the west, meant that his men would be
stretched beyond their limits.
    Men looked at the
silver-haired man and were in awe of him