Bad River (Ranger Sam Burrack, 40) - Softcover

Cotton, Ralph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593437721 ISBN 13: 9780593437728

Verlag: Berkley, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack is back—and hot on the trail of the worst desperados in two countries
 
Following a tip from a prisoner in Yuma Penitentiary, Ranger Sam Burrack is riding to the Mexican Valley to hunt down the Cowboy Gang, notorious bandits who have topped the Most Wanted list for the past year. The crooks have fled to Río Malo and settled in under the protection of corrupt town officials. Now, with new recruits including the infamous Russian assassin Kura Stabitz, they’re robbing banks and trains on both sides of the border.
 
“I will tell you where they are,” Escalante had said, “only because I know that Stabitz will kill you and bleed you like a dying pig!” Burrack knows it won’t be easy. He won’t find the gunmen just waiting to be arrested in Bad River. But with patience—and a little luck—he will find them nearby, maybe in the limestone mountains, maybe in the caves above the old Quaker mission. He’ll smoke them out like rats if he has to. That was the job, and a ranger always gets the job done...

More than 4 million Ralph Cotton books in print!

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ralph Cotton is the author of dozens of Western and crime novels. Prior to writing, he was, among other things, an ironworker, a commercial seaman/second mate, a Teamster, and a lay minister with the Lutheran Church of America.

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Chapter 1

 

"Shoot him again, Earl!" Giles Tillis shouted, jerking his horse to a halt beside Earl Dupree. They stared down at the wounded guard struggling in a bloody belly crawl up the rocky hillside toward the trail. A moment earlier, Earl Dupree's rifle shot had sent the guard flying from his saddle, tumbling down over the rocks. A French pistol had flown from the guard's hand; it lay just out of his reach.

 

"I've got him," Dupree replied, jacking a fresh round into his rifle chamber. He looked down at the struggling guard and chuffed. "Crazy bastard. What does he think, if he gets that gun he'll come back up here and shoot all of us?"

 

"I don't know what he's thinking," Tillis said in a sharp tone. He glanced around at the roar of gunshots on the mining plateau behind them. Bodies of two mine workers and a guard lay scattered down the rocks. "Are you going to shoot him or not?" He cocked the big Colt in his hand.

 

"Hold your water, Giles. I said I've got him." Dupree raised his rifle and took aim, wondering for just a second if Giles Tillis meant to aim his Colt at him or the wounded guard.

 

The guard had managed to reach his pistol and place a weak hand on it. Dupree's shot ripped through his chest and slammed him backward.

 

"You were fooling around," said Tillis as the sound of the shot echoed across the rocky mountainsides. "People fool around, things go wrong. We need to make a good showing here."

 

He motioned his Colt toward the mine office, where their gunmen were loading bags of cash and silver onto a freight wagon. Guards and workers watched in silence as rifles pointed at them threateningly.

 

Earl Dupree chuckled behind his bandanna mask. "Jesus, Giles! Fooling around?" he said. "What are these workers going to say? 'While some gunmen loaded the wagon, others were out here fooling around, playing a harmonica and dancing a jig'?"

 

Tillis took a breath and tapped his pistol barrel against his masked cheek. "Watch your bandanna, Earl," he said to Dupree. "Take this serious."

 

"Hellfire, I reckon I will!" said Dupree, straightening his mask higher up on his nose. His rifle swung up to his shoulder and he fired shot after shot into the dead guard's body. When his smoking gun finally clicked on an empty chamber, he propped the butt of it on his thigh. "Is that serious enough, pard?" he asked. Gray smoke curled up from his rifle barrel.

 

"It'll do," said Tillis. "Reload. Let's get going."

 

He turned his horse toward the mine office as their gunmen stood around the loaded wagon and waited for orders.

 

Inside the office building, mine manager Bob Udall stared out through the dusty window in the direction of the rifle shots. In the room behind the window, the Gunmen's leader, Raeburn "Cree" Sims, stood at ease, a hip propped on the edge of a large oaken desk. He'd pulled his mask down below his chin. A Colt hung loosely in his right hand.

 

"Bob. Hey, Bob!" he said to the manager, raising his voice to get the man's attention. "Look around here."

 

When Udall turned from the window and faced him, Sims tipped his gun barrel up and down toward him. "You've got to keep your hands up and stay away from the window," Sims said. "This is supposed to be a robbery, remember?"

 

"Oh, I'm sorry! I forget myself!" Udall said, nervously raising his hands chest high.

 

The Russian Assassin stood near the office door, a big Remington revolver cocked, aimed and ready. The look on his face indicated he was well prepared to shoot anybody for any reason. A stiff four-inch-long black spade goatee covered his chin. He spoke in a gruff tone to the manager. "Maybe next time I shoot you in the head-you won't forget?"

 

The manager's face turned stark white. His lips trembled.

 

"Damn, Stabitz!" Sims cut in. He looked the Russian up and down. "Take a breath. Ease up some."

 

"I am eased up," said Stabitz in a coarse tone. He stared hard at Bob Udall as he spoke to Sims.

 

"Okay, better still, go on outside with the others, check the wagon," Sims said. "We're fixin' to go."

 

Stabitz only nodded, still staring at Udall. But he let the hammer down on the big Remington. Without reply, he turned and stepped out the front door.

 

"Holy God!" said Udall as the door closed behind the Russian. He clasped a hand to his chest, catching his breath. "What was the meaning of all that? I had no warning he was coming with you!"

 

Sims gave him a level stare. "We don't ask your opinion on how we pull off a robbery, Bob."

 

"No, of course not," said Udall. "But there're bodies lying out there. I was told there would be no killing!"

 

"That's too bad," said Sims. "But I don't know how to stop it without tipping our hand. Some people have to be martyrs."

 

The manager was still shaking terribly. Sims took note of it and said, "You ain't going to die on me, are you, Bob?"

 

"No, I'll be okay now," Udall said. "It's just that I wasn't expecting him to be with you. What was I to think, he shows up in my office? He's a known assassin after all."

 

Sims considered Udall's words for a moment, then gave a little chuff and said, "All right, I see how you might have thought I brought him here to kill you to make this look good. But you were wrong. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't need Stabitz. I'd kill you myself."

 

"I can see that now," said Udall, settling a little. He swallowed a lump in his throat and pointed at his desk. "There's a bottle of whiskey in the drawer there. . . . Would you, please?"

 

Sims nodded. Stepping around the desk, he took a bottle from the top drawer, walked back and handed it to Udall. Udall threw back a long swig and let out a whiskey hiss.

 

Sims watched him intently with a slight smile. "I'll be better at this next time," said Udall, settling, wiping a hand across his mouth. "That man just gives me the willies, is all."

 

"Next time won't happen for a year or more," said Sims. "We have to keep things staggered out, not draw attention too much to any one place. There're likely a hundred mines or more up here within spitting distance. One's as fat and rich as the next." He took the bottle back from Udall, corked it and stood it on the desk.

 

"I understand," said Udall. "You set it up with the manager, rob some of the better ones about once a year. Rest of the time, you keep the other bandits away." He grinned. "It's a pretty sweet deal."

 

"Yes, it is," said Sims, "so long as everybody keeps their mouths shut and doesn't let themselves get rattled if anybody comes asking questions."

 

"If they ask, one gang of masked riders looks the same as the next," said Udall. "All these mines get robbed every once in a while anyway. It's a business cost these Frenchmen know they have to pay. But robbers don't have to get all of it. So what if we take something for ourselves once in a while?"

 

"That's the spirit, Bob." Sims grinned. "This is our third French mine. We'll get things running smoother in no time."

 

"Yes, sir, we will," said Udall. He gave a shaky grin, still settling his nerves. "You needn't worry any about us managers on this end keeping our mouths shut."

 

"I know that, Bob," Sims said in a peaceful tone. "Believe me, I'm not worried about any of you at all."

 

 

Outside the mine office, two men resting double-barreled shotguns across their laps sat on the wooden seat...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593437721
• ISBN 13: 9780593437728
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland