The Man with the Iron Badge Read Online Free Page B

mug.
    â€œKelly!”
    â€œComin’ up, Mr. Adams.”
    Â 
    Clint and Starkweather sat in Rick Hartman’s office and drank their beer.
    â€œYou did pretty good out there,” Clint said to the younger man.
    â€œSo did you.”
    â€œYou didn’t set that up, did you?” Clint asked. “To prove something?”
    Starkweather smiled. “No, sir, but now I’m wondering why I didn’t think of it.”
    Clint also approved of the way Starkweather had quickly replaced the spent shells in his gun with live rounds before he holstered it.
    â€œOkay,” Clint said.
    â€œOkay . . . what?” Starkweather asked.
    â€œI’ll go along with you on this . . . quest of yours,” he said.
    â€œAll ri—”
    â€œBut there have to be some ground rules.”
    â€œName them.”
    â€œGive me some time,” Clint said, “I’ll think of some. You got a horse?”
    â€œI do.”
    â€œOkay. You want to leave in the morning?”
    â€œI’m ready now.”
    Clint swirled the beer at the bottom of his mug and said, “Tomorrow will be soon enough, kid.”

NINE
    Clint stayed in Rick’s Place after the front doors were closed and locked.
    â€œNeed me for anything else, Boss?” Kelly asked.
    â€œNo, Lew,” Hartman said. “Go on home.”
    â€œOkay,” Kelly said. “ Night, Mr. Adams.”
    Clint just waved his hand.
    Hartman followed the bartender to the front doors and locked them behind him.
    Clint moved around behind the bar.
    â€œYou want a beer?” he asked.
    â€œSure.”
    Hartman approached the bar and Clint set a mug of beer in front of him.
    â€œI don’t like that guy,” he said.
    â€œCan’t say I’m crazy about him, either,” Hartman admitted.
    â€œWhy don’t you fire him?”
    â€œHe hasn’t given me any reason to,” Hartman said. “He does his job.”
    â€œPoor reason not to fire somebody.”
    â€œWhat are you mad at?” Hartman asked. “Or who?”
    â€œWell, for one thing I don’t like killing people, so I’m mad about that.”
    â€œThen be mad at the dead men, don’t be mad at me,” Hartman said. “What else?”
    â€œThe kid.”
    â€œWhat about him?”
    â€œHis father’s name is Nate Starkweather.”
    â€œWell, I’ll be . . . and is he on the level? I mean, with that badge?”
    â€œI only have his word for it, but yeah, I think he’s on the level.”
    â€œSo what’s he want with you?”
    â€œHe wants to go after his father.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œTo bring him in.”
    â€œSo, tell him to go ahead. Why does he need your blessing?”
    â€œHe wants me to go with him.”
    â€œWhat for? Do you know Nate Starkweather?”
    â€œNo, but he’ll have a gang with him.”
    â€œSo he handles the father and you handle the gang?” Hartman asked. “Sounds a little uneven to me.”
    â€œHe handled himself okay tonight,” Clint said.
    â€œOh hell,” Hartman said. “You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œYou’re going with him?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œIf I let him go alone, it’ll be the same thing as shooting him myself.”
    â€œI don’t follow that logic at all,” Hartman said, “but never mind. I never understand it when you take a hand in somebody else’s trouble. When are you leaving?”
    â€œIn the morning.”
    â€œDoes he know where his old man is?”
    â€œHe’s got it narrowed down to New Mexico.”
    â€œYeah,” Hartman said, “and by the time you get to New Mexico, where will he be?”
    â€œI don’t know, Rick,” Clint said. “I guess we’ll just have to find out.”
    â€œWell, I know you well enough to know I can’t talk you out