The Tin Man Read Online Free

the other Aryan armies in the United States and then the world will be part of my army—or they will be eliminated. So. What do you say, Mr. Reynolds? Can I count on your support?”
    Since these guys couldn’t be intimidated, Bennie decided to try reasoning. “Look, Townsend, or whoever you are, there are two very big, very mean legbreakers over there whose job it is to keep trespassers off this property, and they take their job real serious. So I suggest you …”
    “Hey! What the fuck?”
came a warning shout behind them. Bennie’s two Satan’s Brotherhood enforcers had finally woken up. He didn’t give these Brothers any credit for brainpower, but they loved to fight and they loved guns. He hoped to hell there wasn’t going to be a gunfight around his hydrogénation reactor—the tiniest spark could blow them all sky-high.
    The bikers scrambled for their weapons and started to move toward them. The German made a motion toward his coat opening, but Townsend held up his hand.
“Nicht,”
Townsend said in a low voice. “Tell those bloody bastards to stay where they are,” he warned Bennie. “Major Reingruber will not allow them to come near us. We will leave, but I need your answer. Yes or no—will you join me?”
    “Or else what—I get blown away by you or your Nazi buddy?”
    “If you say no, you’ll be on the losing end of an inevitable war between the Aryan Brigade and whoever stands in our way, including the Satan’s Brotherhood,” Townsend said. “I’ll let you live for now as a sign of good faith if you say no. But if you are not with me in this war, Mr. Reynolds, you are against me, and I guarantee that you will die. Do you have an answer for me?”
    Bennie had no assurance that anything this guy said was for real, but he did know that his chances of getting shot in the face by either the Brit or the German were better than good. Better to pledge allegiance to whatever flag was put right in front of his nose, Bennie thought, and work out the details later …
    “All right, all right, I’m in. I don’t know how inhell you expect you and a hundred hired guns to go up against five thousand Brothers, but I’m in.” Bennie turned toward the biker leg-breakers: “Hey, you guys, put ’em down. These guys are …”
    It lasted only a few seconds, but Bennie saw it all as if in slow motion:
    Sure as shit, the bikers pulled their weapons, one a shotgun, the other a pistol. Never mind that Bennie was standing in their line of fire, the assholes! And they were pretty far away for a gunfight, well over thirty yards. If they thought at all, they were probably thinking that they could scare the intruders off with a shotgun blast into the ground or a few pistol rounds over their heads.
    The German had the bikers zeroed in long before they leveled their guns. He withdrew a small machine pistol from his coat and pulled the trigger three times. The first three-round burst missed, but it caused both guys to freeze—not flee, not run for cover, not dive for the ground, just freeze. They made easy targets then, and the next two bursts did not miss. The biker with the shotgun pulled the trigger on his weapon seconds before his lifeless body pitched over backward and hit the ground.
    The echoes of the brief gun battle were still ringing in Bennie’s ears when he opened his eyes and saw Reingruber trot over to the bikers to check whether they were still breathing. Apparently one still was; he was dispatched with a single bullet to the brain. Then the German put a single round into the other one just for insurance.
“Sie sind tot, Herr Oberst,”
Reingruber said.
    “Sehr gut, Major,”
Townsend said wearily. “I hoped
that
could be avoided.” He had never reached for his own weapon, Bennie noticed. “Now, then, Mr. Reynolds, I suggest we get our fat friends there out of sight before any curious spectators arrive.” Astunned Bennie didn’t say a word as he was led over to the gruesome sight. Reingruber’s