Brutal Vengeance by J. A. Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page B

Texas.
    “Well, how about it?” he said in a tortured croak. “Are we going after them or not?”
    “We’re goin’, Mr. Reilly, but we can’t leave until everybody’s rounded up their horses,” Culhane said.
    “I’ve got my horse,” Reilly said. “If I can catch him, you’d think these others could round up their mounts.”
    “You’re sure right about that. I reckon it won’t be much longer now.”
    Reilly shook his head balefully and turned away. The Kid noticed the other men moved back to give him room as he walked through the posse toward the horses that had been gathered so far.
    “Ain’t that the most pitiful thing you ever saw in all your born days?” Culhane asked.
    “You weren’t as sharp with him as you were with the others,” The Kid pointed out.
    “Well, how in Sam Hill could I be? You saw the way the fella looks, and you don’t even know the whole story!”
    “What is it?”
    Looking at the burned man, Culhane said, “His name’s Vint Reilly. He ran the stage station in Fire Hill.”
    “So it was his safe Burton’s money was in.”
    The Ranger nodded. “That’s right. I reckon he feels some responsible for what happened, although when you come right down to it, there’s not a blessed thing he could’ve done to stop it. He and a couple guards were at the station when Latch’s gang hit town. The other two hombres were killed almost right away. Reilly got out and headed for his house.”
    “He abandoned his responsibility?”
    Culhane frowned. “The man’s wife was home by herself. He wanted to get to her and protect her. There wasn’t nothin’ he could’ve done to protect the money at that point.”
    “Sorry,” The Kid muttered. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that.” If he had been able to save his wife, he would have turned his back on anything else in the world. “What happened?”
    “When Reilly got there, they’d already set fire to the place, but he was able to get inside to try to get her out. He was too late. She was already dead. Shot in the head. From what the marshal at Fire Hill told me, Latch and his varmints started shootin’ into houses as soon as they hit town, and Reilly’s was one of the first places they came to. I reckon it’s possible Miz Reilly was the first person in town they killed. But Reilly didn’t know that until after he got inside the house. He tried to get her body out anyway, but the roof collapsed and trapped ’em both. Marshal Hyde barely got in there and dragged Reilly out before he burned up.”
    “Looks like he came pretty close to it anyway.”
    “Yeah. I didn’t want him to come along. The local sawbones said he oughtn’t even be out of bed, let alone ridin’ with a posse. But Reilly’s bound and determined to be there when we catch up to Latch. Says he’s got a score to settle. I don’t know about you, Morgan, but I can’t argue with that.”
    “No.” The Kid slowly shook his head and thought about his own quest for vengeance that had nearly consumed him. “I can’t, either.”
    “I don’t know if he’s gonna make it. The doc gave him some pain medicine he keeps nippin’ at, but even with that, he’s got to be goin’ through hell. I expect we’ll wake up one mornin’ and find him dead.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” The Kid said as he looked at Vint Reilly pacing around impatiently. The need for revenge was a powerful motivating force, able to keep a man going long past the time when reason said he couldn’t continue. He knew that from experience.
    He looked back at Culhane. “You say there’s a marshal at Fire Hill?”
    “Yeah, Alonzo Hyde. He survived the fire and the shootin’.”
    “How come he didn’t come along with the posse?”
    “He would’ve, but he’s an old man. Anyway, somebody had to stay there to see to the buryin’ and protect what’s left of the town. Folks will be goin’ through the rubble tryin’ to see if there’s anything they can salvage. Maybe