Free The Sapphire Gun by J. R. Roberts Page B

killing him when he slept,” Rosa confided. “But . . . then I thought about how far I would have to run just to get away from those others. Franco was bad, but I knew I could eventually get him to let me go. Those others are ruthless.”
    â€œHow do you know for certain?”
    â€œBecause they were the only ones who Franco ever had any faith in. Sometimes, I even think he was scared of them.”
    â€œDo you know where I can find these others?” Clint asked.
    Rosa nodded. “I know where they would meet Franco to give him his jobs.” Lifting her chin a bit, she added, “I can take you there.”
    â€œWhy don’t you tell me where it is?”
    Although Rosa started to speak, she bit her lip and quickly shook her head. “Not unless I know you can protect me.”
    â€œAll right, then. We can wait until you’re safe and sound, surrounded by some lawmen who can protect you no matter what gets thrown at you. The place we’re headed has just those sorts of men. You’ll like them.”
    Clint got up and walked back to the spot where he’d been sitting before. He didn’t let Rosa out of his sight, but he also didn’t engage her in any more conversation. He merely stayed put, watched the camp, and kept quiet until it was time for Johnny to wake up and take his place.
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The next morning, Clint woke up and immediately checked on the other two. Rosa was laying on her side with her back to him and Johnny was using a small mirror and a straightedge to shave himself.
    â€œYou’re up early,” Johnny said. “I wasn’t gonna wake you for another few hours.”
    Clint walked a few more steps from the camp and motioned for Johnny to follow him. Lowering his voice, Clint said, “Rosa and I had a little talk last night.”
    Stopping in mid-stroke, Johnny took the blade from his cheek and asked, “What about?”
    Clint filled him in on the details while making sure Rosa wasn’t watching them. He also kept his voice down so she couldn’t hear enough to put too much together. By the time he was finished, Johnny was wiping his razor against his knee to clean it off.
    â€œWhat should we do about this?” Johnny asked.
    â€œI just thought you’d want to know. There might be some interested parties once word gets out that Franco missed his mark.”
    â€œDo you think I should go after them?”
    Clint smiled and tried not to look too amused by that prospect. “No. I was thinking that you might want to do some traveling until this blows over. Once it’s clear that you and your gold are long gone, any hired guns will cut their losses and take another paying job rather than devote their lives to finding one that got away.”
    Johnny nodded good-naturedly. “You know something? I’ve always wanted to see England.”
    Patting Johnny’s shoulder, Clint said, “There are a few taverns in London I can highly recommend.”

EIGHTEEN
    The next stop they made was to pick up Johnny’s wagon. Since they’d needed to make better time if they were going to get to Dover Shallows without drawing attention, Clint had convinced Johnny to leave everything behind. Clint knew it was going to be a tough job and he’d been right. Of course, now that they were going back to the wagon, Johnny set the pace fast enough that they made it in record time.
    â€œI just hope it’s still there,” Johnny fretted as they approached the riverbed just upstream from where he and Clint had tended to their wounds not long ago. Turning to Rosa, Johnny asked, “Did you and that assassin friend of yours find my wagon?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI don’t believe you.”
    â€œThen shut up until we get there,” Clint snapped. “Grousing about it won’t do any good.”
    Johnny held his breath and didn’t fully let it out until he spotted a large shape covered mostly by branches