Ball and Chain Read Online Free PDF Page A

“It was enough for him to hide what he was doing and offer good money to hire a man to ride it into Oregon, so that means it’s worth enough for him to pay out the ass to keep it safe. You can either hand over that goddamn package or enough money to make it worth our while to let you go. On second thought,” he added as he bared a few more of his yellowed teeth, “you can do both and be real damn quick about it.”
    â€œOr,” Clint said, “I could do neither.”
    â€œWhat’s all of this to you anyway?” Acklund asked. “Are you a friend of that barber?”
    â€œWho I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that I let you catch up to me so I could give you a chance to think about what you’re doing.”
    â€œYou let us catch up to you, huh?” Dave chuckled. He looked over to Mose, who was still standing over the tracks he’d been following. The biggest of the three shrugged as if he were about to agree with what had just been said.
    â€œI gave you boys every chance in the world to turn back and let me go about my business,” Clint continued. “Since you came this far, it’s plain to see that you don’t intend on being so smart. You found me. Well done. Now go home while you still can.”
    Dave continued to glance around at all the other men. The more time passed without anyone saying anything else, the more he kept looking around for something. Soon, his head seemed to be attached to a spring and he looked ready to jump out of his own skin. “I’m sick of this talk! You’re outgunned, asshole! Hand over the package!”
    Shaking his head slightly, Clint replied, “It’s not worth all this fuss, boy. If you knew what it was, you wouldn’t be so anxious to get it.”
    â€œI don’t care what it is! Just—”
    Before Dave could finish his sentence, Acklund cut him off by saying, “I do. Show us what it is, mister.”
    Clint nodded and backed toward Eclipse. He even started to smirk as he imagined the looks on the three men’s faces when they got a look at Ned’s pretty flower picture. He made it to just within arm’s reach of the Darley Arabian before a sudden movement caught his eye.
    â€œTo hell with that,” Dave snapped as he brought his arm up to sight along the top of his gun barrel.

SEVEN
    Clint knew what the kid was going to do just by listening to the tone in Dave’s voice. Watching Dave bring up his gun was just frosting on the cake. Even though he’d lowered his own gun to try to defuse the situation, Clint was able to correct his mistake in a fraction of a second. He kept the modified Colt down where it was and fired from the hip. Dave was close enough that a blind man would have been hard-pressed to miss.
    The Colt barked once and bucked against Clint’s palm. Rather than put the kid down with that single bullet, Clint placed his shot in a spot that was meant to keep Dave from doing any damage in return. When the lead punched through the upper portion of Dave’s chest, it hit him with enough force to spin him to the side and snap his arm out like a whip.
    Dave was still able to pull his trigger, but his shot ripped into the tops of the surrounding trees. His eyes were still fixed upon Clint, but were wide with pain and surprise.
    Both of the shots happened within the blink of an eye. After they’d gone off like a pair of firecrackers, Acklund and Mose came to Dave’s aid. Unfortunately for Dave, he’d ridden forward just enough to put his own horse in the line of fire of the two other men.
    Mose pulled an old .44 from his belt and jumped to one side so he could get a look around Dave’s horse.
    Acklund was still in his saddle, so he had a better vantage point. He waited before pulling the trigger of his .38 Smith and Wesson until he had a clear line on his target. Since Clint wasn’t about to step in the open for him, Acklund fired