The Ghost of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western Book 8) Read Online Free PDF Page B

checked his
saddlebags and found the twenty remaining .36 caliber bullets in the
crumbling cardboard box. Not enough to wage war even on pumas. He
had never been so low on ammunition in all his grown
days.
    From now on, he knew that he
had to make every bullet count.
    He had to kill!
    The matched pair of
lightweight weapons held six bullets apiece. Thirty-two rounds was
all he had between life and death.
    Iron Eyes knew that he could
not afford to waste a single shell.
    He narrowed his eyes,
gritted his teeth and focused on the large cats as they leapt from
one boulder to another on their descent to the canyon floor. This
time they were coming to get him. They had lost all fear of the
deadly bounty hunter.
    At last they were both on
the sand and less than thirty feet from where he sat propped up
against the ragged rocks. Their eyes seemed to glow as they moved
in and out of the black shadows, staring at him.
    It had taken the better part of
a year for Iron Eyes to regain his lethal instincts. His hands
clutched the Colts as his thumbs pulled back the hammers until they fully
locked into position.
    He rested his head back
until he could feel his matted hair being pushed into the nape of
his neck against the rocks. Never blinking, his narrowed eyes
continued to focus on the pair of pumas.
    They had committed
themselves and he would attempt to give them a fight. He would not
allow them to do what so many others had tried to do in the past.
He would not let them win this battle.
    For what felt like an
eternity, they had wanted to kill him.
    Iron Eyes had tried to
dissuade them with his guns but now knew he would have to try and
destroy them before they destroyed him. It gave him no satisfaction
killing anything that he could neither eat nor get bounty
upon.
    There would be no profit in
this night ’s
work.
    None!
    The only thing he would gain
would be more unwanted visitors when the scent of their freshly spilled blood
drifted on the warm night air which continued to pass through the
maze of canyons.
    There were plenty of other
predators in Devil ’s Canyon waiting for the chance to get a free meal. He had
heard wolves and coyotes howling at night since the moon had
returned to the star-filled sky above him a week
earlier.
    Iron Eyes knew that there
was no way he could fend off an attack by a pack of hungry wild
dogs. He simply did not yet have the strength to fight.
    His only power rested in the
guns he held in his hands.
    His unblinking eyes burned
into the eerie blue light and tried to penetrate the black shadows.
The pumas continued to make their blood chilling
screams.
    The barrels of the Navy Colts
tracked both cats ’ every movement without the bounty hunter even realizing
it. His hands had learned long ago how to aim the long seven-inch
barreled weaponry without any conscious thought. Even during his
worst moments, when he had first found himself in Devil’s Canyon,
he had still been able to rely on his ability to kill.
    Then when both the pumas had
moved into the blackest of shadows on the rockface opposite the
bounty hunter, the pair of mountain lions stopped their
pacing.
    Iron Eyes inhaled
deeply.
    He tried to lock every
muscle into place as his trigger-fingers teased the cold steel. He
waited with the cocked guns held firmly in his outstretched
hands.
    For what seemed a lifetime,
Iron Eyes patiently waited and watched the shadows. He knew what
the pumas were doing for he had done the same thing on countless
occasions.
    They were getting ready to
strike!
    Iron Eyes felt the weight of
the Navy Colts straining every muscle in his emaciated body. The
lightweight guns felt like blacksmith ’s anvils to the disheveled figure as he
rested his wrists upon his thin thighs.
    ‘ C’mon!’ he urged under his breath. ‘I’m ready!’
    Then with a crescendo of
terrifying roars they came!
    The huge paws of the large
cats ate up the distance as they thundered across the surface of
the soft sand towards their immobile prey.