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

“but don’t expect that they’ll actually be with the buckboard. They might be following it, or they could be coming on their own.”
    â€œI’ll be ready for anythin’,” she promised.
    â€œI’ll relieve you in four hours,” he promised.
    â€œThat’s fine,” she said. “I’ll sit here and enjoy the fresh air.”
    â€œJust be on the lookout for predators,” he said, “two legged and four.”
    Clint walked back to the house. When he entered, Tesla was sitting at the table, and it was covered with books.
    â€œWhere is our lovely sheriff?” he asked.
    â€œShe on lookout,” he said. “I’ll relieve her in four hours.”
    â€œAnd me?”
    â€œYou’re here to do your business,” Clint said. “She and I will split the watch.”
    Clint looked down at the sheriff’s saddlebags, then picked them up and set them on a chair. He started to go through them.
    â€œWhy are you doing that?” Tesla asked.
    â€œBecause all we know about her is what she’s told us,” Clint said.
    â€œYou mean, you don’t trust her?”
    â€œNot at all.”
    â€œThen why did you put her on watch?”
    â€œSo that she doesn’t know I don’t trust her.”
    â€œBut . . . those men could arrive, and we wouldn’t know,” Tesla said. “I mean, if she’s working with them, she wouldn’t warn us.”
    â€œThat’s right.” Clint put her saddlebags back on the floor, satisfied there was nothing in them worth seeing—an extra shirt, some bullets, no letters to identify her. “That’s why, while she’s on watch, I’ll be watching her—at least, in the beginning.”
    He turned and opened the door.
    â€œKeep your gun handy, just in case,” he advised.
    â€œI shall keep it by my side.”
    He was already engrossed in his books when Clint went out the door.
    Â 
    Miranda was relaxed as she sat with her rifle across her knees. She knew Clint Adams didn’t have to trust her right away. It might take time, but at least she wasn’t in Gunnison, having to face four gunmen by herself. As a whore, she had always been confident that she could handle men, even more than one at a time. But as a sheriff, she had very little experience. Better to have a man like the Gunsmith backing her up when it came time to face more than one man with a gun.

TWENTY-SEVEN
    Clint found a good vantage point from which he could watch both the road and Sheriff Miranda, and also keep a wary eye out for a mountain lion, or rumored killers.
    He should have checked Miranda’s bona fides when they were in Gunnison, but he never expected her to show up at the house. He supposed she could have been planted in Gunnison to wait for them, and then make their acquaintance, but he doubted she’d go through all the trouble of wearing the badge. After all, a badge made you a target, no matter what town you were in, and why do that if she was waiting for them to appear?
    He settled down to watch the watcher.
    Â 
    The predator could see everything from his vantage point. The woman watching the road, the man watching the woman. The only one he couldn’t see was the man still inside the house.
    The predator was in no hurry, however. He settled down into a relaxed pose and was content to wait.
    Clint relieved Miranda after four hours, told her to go back to the house. He followed her, positioned himself outside, peering in a window. If she was there to kill Tesla, this was her chance, but instead she simply poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table with the scientist, who didn’t seem to mind the interruption.
    Clint watched as the two had a conversation. He noticed that Miranda did not have her rifle, probably left it by the door, and she had also removed her gun belt, probably hanging on the wall by the door. If she wanted to kill Nikola Tesla, she was