Read The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) for Free Online

As one and then the
other puma sprang like coiled springs into the air, Iron Eyes
squeezed the triggers of his guns.
    The deafening sound of the
Colts rang out through the arid landscape.
    Both animals crashed
violently into him. He felt the claws tearing at his skin. The
sheer force of their full weight slammed into him. The back of his
head hit the rocks behind him. His smoking Colts were knocked from
his hands. Then he felt warm blood soaking him like a bursting
dam.
    Iron Eyes somehow pushed the
lifeless animals ’ heavy bodies off him and then he stared at his handiwork.
Both his bullets had found their mark.
    The cats had been hit
dead center
as they had leapt off the ground. Blood still poured from the
wounds.
    Iron Eyes rubbed the gore
from his face. His bony hands plucked his guns off the sand and
held them to his chest.
    He closed his eyes and
listened to his own pounding heart.
    Iron Eyes was still
alive.

Chapter Six
    The brilliant moon illuminated
a thousand white-faced steers as the startled cattle stared up from
the sweet grass of the open range and watched the five riders
gallop along the sandy ridge high above them with their four pack animals in
tow. Dust drifted off the hoofs of the horses as the lawmen headed
at top speed for the first in the long line of remote settlements.
The isolated trail was the only route to the town of Porter’s Bluff
from Waco far to the south.
    With every stride of the
lathered-up mounts, the acrid smell of foreboding grew more
intense. Each of the five Texans knew that their worst fears were
true. Brutal death had come to the town ahead of them.
    Marshal Lane Clark drew his
reins to his chest and watched his dust drift toward the strangely quiet
array of buildings ahead of them.
    Clark lowered his
head.
    ‘ Damn!’ he snarled under his breath. ‘I was hoping I was
wrong.’
    As the quartet of deputies
stopped their mounts alongside the brooding marshal, they saw the
reality that faced their skittish horses.
    Even the moonlight could not
hide the bodies from their dust-caked eyes for long. They were
everywhere. Lifeless remnants of men, women and even children lay
rotting all around the deserted streets.
    The sickening aroma hung on
the night air. It was the smell of decaying flesh.
    ‘ Oh,
dear God!’ Col Drake gasped as the true horror of their discovery
overwhelmed him. ‘Look at them, Lane. They’ve been slaughtered by
Jardine and the vermin that ride with him!’
    Lane Clark reached across and
touched Drake ’s sleeve. He nodded slowly.
    ‘ Easy,
Col. We have to stay calm.’
    Drake lowered his head and
tried vainly not to inhale the stench that turned his
stomach.
    ‘ I’ll
try, but it ain’t gonna be easy. I ain’t never smelled nothing as
bad as this.’
    ‘ You’re lucky. I have.’ The marshal flicked his reins and
pressed his nervous mount to walk forward. ‘I hope your canteens
are full. I got me a gut feeling that we ain’t gonna find no fresh
water here.’
    ‘ Why
not, Lane?’ asked Bobby Smith innocently as he steered his horse
wide of the marshal’s stallion.
    “ Coz
men like Jardine take pleasure in dropping bodies down wells so
that they poison the water for anyone who’s brave enough to try and
follow them,’ the marshal answered, leading the horsemen through
the dark streets.
    One by one the deputy marshals
followed Clark deeper into the silent town. From atop their horses
they continued to survey the scene of human destruction that surrounded
them on all sides. None except Clark had ever seen anything like
this before.
    Pete Hall took a half-smoked
cigar from his vest pocket and quickly lit it. He inhaled the blue
smoke and forced it down his flared nostrils. It was a vain attempt
to prevent the aroma of death from filling his every sinew but the
further their horses ventured in Porter ’s Bluff, the stronger the smell
became.
    Bobby Smith urged his mount on
until it was nearly level with Lane Clark ’s.
    ‘ I’m
scared, Marshal