Free The Wrath of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western #5) by Rory Black

something a
long time ago but the tequila made me stupid.’
    ‘ So we can have her?’ Jose
asked, rubbing his groin with his pistol.
    Malverez nodded.
    ‘You can all have your way with
her until she dies of happiness or exhaustion, amigo. But after I have tasted her
first.’
    The eager bandits all nodded as one.
‘When?’
    Malverez was trying to buy himself time.
    ‘ Tomorrow. We are all too
tired to fully enjoy ourselves tonight.’
    Carlos holstered his gun first.
    ‘This is why Malverez is such a
great leader, amigos’
    The bandit leader nodded, holstered his
pistol and watched the men moving to their bedrolls. He had bought
himself a little time but how much and what it would cost, was yet
to be resolved.
    Malverez moved back to his own bedroll and
stared down at the hair of Rosie Smith flowing from beneath the
velvet drape she had used as a blanket.
    He swallowed hard.

Chapter
Eighteen
    Iron Eyes sat on the cot and dragged the
still blood-soaked mule-ear boot back on to his wounded leg. If he
was in pain, he hid it well from his two companions.
    ‘ This is plumb loco, Iron
Eyes,’ Black Ben Tucker said loud enough for the entire town of
Sanora to hear.
    ‘ Reckon so,’ Iron Eyes
agreed, picking up his pair of Navy Colts and tucking them into his
belt. He ran the palms of his hands over the well-used grips and
sighed heavily. ‘It’s time for me to do what I do best.’
    ‘ You ain’t strong enough,’
Black Ben Tucker said, frowning.
    Sheriff Hardin touched the sleeve of the
train-robber and made a face that told the younger man to calm
down.
    ‘ Ease up, son. Iron Eyes
knows what he’s doing.’
    ‘ But this man has just
recovered from having poison dug out of his leg, Sheriff,’ Tucker
protested. ‘He ain’t in no fit state to do nothing, let alone
ride.’
    ‘ I’m OK!’ Iron Eyes
insisted, reaching for a bottle of whiskey on the cot and taking a
long swallow.
    ‘ You’re as weak as a
kitten, Iron Eyes,’ Tucker insisted.
    Hardin nodded.
    ‘ He knows that,
Tucker.’
    ‘ Then why ask him for
help?’ Black Ben asked.
    ‘ Because the life of a
young girl is at stake. I know of only one man who can possibly
track down the bastards who took her. One man who has the skill to
kill anything that’s capable of raising guns in anger. That one man
is Iron Eyes. Rosie Smith has just one chance in hell of being
saved.’
    Black Ben rubbed his face in frustration.
‘It’ll kill him, Sheriff. He’s spent most of the night racked with
fever.’
    Iron Eyes stood up and pressed his left leg
down hard on to floor as if trying to gauge the pain level he would
have to withstand.
    ‘ I’ll find her, boys,’ he
said, adjusting the grips of his guns, which jutted from his
belt.
    ‘ We ain’t got much time
left,’ Hardin said anxiously. ‘I figure whoever abducted Rosie has
no intention of keeping their side of the bargain and returning her
after they get the ransom money from Smith.’
    ‘ I want to ride with you,
Iron Eyes,’ Black Ben said to the pale bounty hunter. ‘I want to
help you find this girl.’
    Iron Eyes nodded. ‘Fine.’
    ‘ I’m pretty good with this
old Colt, boys,’ Hardin said, slapping the holster on his
hip.
    Iron Eyes attached his spurs to
his boots and then walked from the room, across the cantina and out
into the street. Tucker and Hardin followed the tall limping bounty
hunter like chicks trailing a mother hen. Iron Eyes stood and listened to the
sounds of guitars and trumpets echoing all around him. Sanora was
noisy with the Mexicans who had slept throughout the baking-hot
afternoon.
    ‘ If Smith pays them,
they’ll not get a chance to spend that money, Sheriff.’
    Sheriff Hardin and Black Ben Tucker squared
up to the brooding man who was checking his saddle.
    ‘ What do you mean, son?’
the sheriff asked.
    ‘’ Cause they’ll all be dead as soon as I catch up with
them,’ came the grim reply.
    The three riders had made
remarkable progress through what