Free Gunsmith 360 : The Mad Scientist of the West (9781101545997) by J. R. Roberts Page A

left?”
    He smiled.
    â€œI can make more,” he said. “Mr. Tesla has acquired a taste for it.”
    â€œGood,” she said. “I acquired a taste for it a long time ago.”
    She came and sat at the table with him. She brought the pot and emptied it into his cup.
    â€œHow long do you intend to stay with us?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know. I guess if I stay here, I’ll have to face those four, and if I go back, I’ll have to face them.”
    â€œBetter you stay here, then,” Clint said. “Face them with me, if the time comes.”
    â€œAs you say,” she said. “Meanwhile, maybe I can help.”
    â€œTesla’s equipment is heavy,” Clint said. “We’re waiting for two more men to arrive with still another buckboard load, and then we’ll all unload it.”
    â€œAnother buckboard?” she said. “From Denver?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIt’ll have to go through Gunnison, like you did,” she said.
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œThen those four men . . .”
    â€œWill probably take it.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut what would they do with all that equipment?” he asked. “They wouldn’t even know what it was for. No, something else is more likely.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œLike they would follow it.”
    â€œFollow it here,” she said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œSo I’m right,” she said. “We’ll have to face them.”
    â€œProbably, and yet—”
    â€œAnd yet what?”
    And yet it wasn’t those four men he had been hired to protect Tesla from. It was others, unknown others rumored to want him dead.
    â€œNothing,” he said. “We’ll have to set some watches. You and me.”
    â€œNot Mr. Tesla?”
    â€œHe has other work that he came here to do,” Clint said. “Besides, he wouldn’t see what you and I will see. No, it’ll just be you and me.”
    â€œWatch from where?”
    â€œWe’ll need to see them before they get here,” he said. “They’ll be coming from Denver. We’ll have to find ourselves a good point to watch from.”
    â€œLet’s do it, then,” she said.
    They both stood up.
    â€œI’ll tell Tesla we’re going out,” he said.

TWENTY-SIX
    Clint and Miranda walked away from the house, back in the direction she had come. No one had come up to that house in a long time prior to Clint and Tesla’s arrival. There was a road, but it was partially overgrown with grass. Still visible, though.
    â€œOnce they spot this road, they’ll follow it up,” Clint said.
    â€œSo we need to find a place to watch this road from, right?”
    â€œRight. But one of us will always have to be back at the house, as well.”
    â€œWhy?” she asked. “Isn’t the danger coming from here?”
    â€œThe danger we know of,” he said.
    â€œYou mean, there’s more?” she asked. “Do you mean the cat?”
    â€œLook,” he said, “I’m here to keep an eye on Tesla while he does some experiments. There’s a rumor that someone might try to hurt him, or kill him.”
    â€œSo you’re his bodyguard?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œWho’s payin’ you?”
    â€œI can’t say.”
    Miranda shrugged.
    â€œDoesn’t matter much to me,” she said. “Okay, so when one of us is out here, the other one is back at the house with Mr. Tesla.”
    â€œRight. So let’s find our spot.”
    They found a good vantage point where they’d be hidden by a stand of trees. They were able to see down the road a few hundred yards.
    â€œIf that buckboard is loaded the way you say,” she commented, “we’ll be able to hear it comin’.”
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œDo you want me to take the first watch?” she asked.
    â€œOkay,” he said,