Free The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) by Rory Black

them critters turning their guns on
us?’
    Snake Billow shrugged and
glanced through the open doorway.
    ‘ We
could give them a share of the money we’ve got stashed in the bank.
Maybe they’d just take it and head on out of this damn
town.’
    Clay Moore
laughed.
    ‘ I
don’t think so.’
    ‘ Me
neither, Clay.’ Jardine sighed heavily. ‘I figure them boys have
tasted so much blood over the last couple of months that they’ll
just draw their guns and start shootin’, even if we just mention
them leaving Diamond City.’
    Doc Weatherspoon walked to
the window and looked up at the open windows above the saloon
veranda. The sound of screaming females had not eased up for more
than an hour. It was starting to get the veteran outlaw
down.
    ‘ There
was a day when I’d have taken on all three of those boys in a good
old fashioned shoot-out. But now I’m doubtful if any of us could
get the better of them. We could bushwhack ’em, I guess. But that
takes a lot of planning when your chosen targets are scum like the
Darrows. They know every damn trick in the book and have used every
one of them over the years. How can you trick that kinda
critter?’
    ‘ Ain’t
possible.’ Jonah Clayton shook his head.
    ‘ We
could just get our scatterguns and wait for them to come out of the
saloon, boys,’ Bodine suggested. ‘They’ll be a tad tuckered after
servicing all them females. We could just give ’em both
barrels.’
    Luther Cole ran the palm of
his hand over his bald head.
    ‘ Skeet’s got a point. That might just work. Half a ton of
buckshot might solve our problems.’
    Jardine sucked on his cigar
thoughtfully.
    ‘ I
don’t think so. I reckon it’d be a fair bet that they’d kill most
of us before we had time to pull back the hammers.’
    Cole exhaled loudly as
frustration gnawed at his guts.
    ‘ Then
how are we gonna get the better of them?’
    Jardine smiled
wryly.
    ‘ I’ve
got me an idea, Luther. What if we let the law do it for
us?’
    ‘ How
do ya figure we could arrange that, Henry?’ Cole asked with more
than a little curiosity in his deep voice.
    ‘ We
send a wire to the marshal in Waco,’ Jardine explained.
    ‘ Ain’t
you forgot that I chopped the telegraph worker’s fingers off?’ Cole
patted his coat pocket where he still kept the dismembered digits.
‘How can we send any messages anyplace?’
    Henry Jardine looked smugly
at Cole.
    ‘ I
know how to handle a telegraph key, Luther. I spent me a very
profitable summer working for Eastern Union once. You can make a
lotta money if you can handle a key.’
    ‘ What
ya talkin’ about?’
    ‘ We
are thinkin’ of heading down into Waco and trying our hand at
robbing one of their juiciest banks, right?’ Jardine looked through
the smoke that trailed up from his cigar. ‘Then that’s what we do.
But we have to send a few boys down there to get an idea of the lie
of the land first. What if we send Toke and his
brothers?’
    ‘ And?’
Lomax scratched his beard.
    ‘ And
we send a wire to the law down in Waco telling them they got
uninvited guests coming their way.’ Jardine tapped the ash from his
cigar. ‘They’ll get rid of the Darrows for us.’
    Red Clayton rubbed the side
of his nose with the barrel of his gun. Then he looked at
Jardine.
    ‘ Do
you figure that they’re dumb enough to fall for that?’
    Henry Jardine pushed himself
away from the desk and dropped his cigar on the floor. He crushed
it beneath his boot and then moved forward.
    ‘ We’ll
soon find out. Here they come.’
    The outlaws inside the hotel
foyer turned their gaze upon the three Darrow brothers as they came
triumphantly out of the saloon together. They had left the females
still crying up in their rooms.
    Toke Darrow drew one of his
guns and
fired at a group of men down the end of the street. One of the men
fell as the bullet tore through his shoulder. Toke roared with
laughter as he led his grinning siblings into the hotel. All of the
outlaws seemed to