Wolf's Tender Read Online Free PDF Page A

coin.” The deputy read slowly from the wanted poster. Then he looked up at the gagged and bound prisoners. “You got both of the bastards. I don't suppose they told you where they stashed the money?"
    As Naomi watched, the Indian drew a heavy pouch from his saddlebags and tossed it at the feet of the deputy, who muttered, “Charlie Wolf,” acknowledging the receipt, without meeting the gaze of the third bounty hunter.
    The deputy didn't offer insult by inspecting the content. Instead he kicked it over to the office door and moved on to the dead. There were six decaying murderers inside the heavy canvas wrappings. The deputy cursed, gagged, and whined, while the bounty hunters waited.
    The horses twitched and stomped at the flies that were drawn by the smell of rotting flesh. Naomi peered at the crudely displayed bodies that had once been men.
    "Henry Loco Miller, Thomas Wright, Juarez Sutter—payout for these is one thousand dollars each, wanted for murder.” When the deputy uncovered the next body, he cursed and kicked the carcass.
    "Damn sonovabitch, I hope this one suffered before he died. Fifteen hundred dollars for murder, fraud, and theft, put up by the Texas Bank Association. He shot and killed the Austin Bank President's wife during the holdup."
    The last two bodies, in the final stages of decomposition, were given a cursory glance before the deputy replaced the tarp. “Alsgood boys, five hundred each. They weren't worth much alive and didn't fetch much dead."
    The third bounty hunter remained a silent, dark outline against the sun. Naomi looked speculatively at him as he sat facing the far end of the street, ignoring the caterwauling of the deputy. The blond-haired hunter mirrored his position, angling his mount to check for danger from the other direction.
    When the count was finished, the deputy pushed the still gagged and cuffed prisoners through the sheriff's door, and two of the bounty hunters followed to collect their reward money. Naomi stared intently at the man called Charlie Wolf. He sat relaxed in his saddle, carelessly resting.
    She knew better. He was a predator scanning the area for danger. Every other living creature within sight knew it too. The normal afternoon rowdy bluster that marked the streets in Flat Rock had quieted.
    His animal snorted in the dust and scraped its hoof impatiently. Muscles rippled beneath the dark bay coat as the horse made its own protest at the stench permeating the air.
    He patted the animal's neck and said something in a guttural language Naomi didn't know, “ Eyaia oyamossa ,” and the horse quieted. She tucked herself deeper into the shadows as he glanced toward the alley where she stood studying him.
    When the door to the sheriff's office banged open and the other two men emerged, business complete, the sound jarred her into awareness.
    Without a backward look, the men headed across the street, leading the string of horses, now empty of their ghoulish burden. They left behind the dead bodies wrapped in tarp, flies buzzing loudly in the heat.
    "Sheriff said he didn't have that much cash on hand,” The blond man spoke loud enough for Naomi to hear. She suspected he spoke for listeners like herself, who spied from corners and alleys. “Deacon tells him, ‘We'll take this voucher to the bank to get the rest tendered.’”
    As Naomi watched, they crossed the street to the building there. The sign out front read: B and B~The Biggest Bank in the Territory . It had a false front glorifying a tin-roofed building smaller than the town's only saloon. Again, the third bounty hunter waited with the horses, while the other two took their voucher inside.
    In a short time, they returned and stood there on the sidewalk, dividing their blood money up, offering bait to the wicked and stupid. Each man received a stack of bills.
    "Give you any trouble?” The third man spoke to the other two when they emerged, but his eyes remained trained on the banker who had followed them to