California Crackdown by Jon Sharpe Read Free Book Online Page B

guns, but Fargo said, “Too early and too cold to die.”
    Both men froze, half up, half reaching for their guns.
    “Sit back down now real slow and put your hands where I can see them.”
    Both men did as they were told. Now the trick would be getting information out of them.
    “You men look to have a pretty easy job. Just sit up here and watch things down below.”
    “We earn our keep,” the first man said. He stroked a red beard and watched Fargo skeptically.
    “That’s what I want to know about. Your ‘keep.’ Who’s paying you to sit up here?”
    “I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” said the bald one.
    “Since I’m holdin’ the gun, I’d say my business is anything I want it to be.”
    Red Beard shrugged, looked at his partner, then back to Fargo. “Nothin’ worth getting shot over.”
    “Sensible,” Fargo said.
    “We just keep track of the comings and goings at the mine.”
    “The shipments, you mean.”
    “Who the hell are you exactly?” the bald one snapped.
    “Name’s Fargo.”
    Red Beard snorted. “Skye Fargo? Sure you are. And I’m George Washington.”
    “You can believe me or not. All I care about is finding out who hired you to sit on your lazy asses up here.”
    The bald one said, “You really Skye Fargo?”
    “I’m really Skye Fargo.”
    “Well, hell,” Red Beard said. “If that’s the case, then I’ll tell you right off. Sarah Brant hired us.”
    That rocked Fargo back a moment. It was not the answer he had been expecting.
    “Not her father?”
    This time both men shook their heads no.
    “Does he know you’re up here?”
    Red Beard said, “We’re just pickin’ up some wages, Fargo. We don’t ask no questions.”
    “They wouldn’t tell us even if we asked,” the bald one agreed.
    “What about Daniel Parker? Does he know you’re up here?”
    The bald man said, “That kid is so under Sarah Brant’s skirts, I doubt he knows when the sun comes up.”
    “Yeah, leads him around by the nose.”
    Hearing that about Daniel made Fargo feel disgusted, and sad for his friend Cain. Clearly, Daniel hadn’t turned out to be the man Cain had hoped he would become.
    “How long you two been working for Brant?”
    “Three days,” Red Beard said. “We met her in Sacramento and she offered us a lot of money to take down a gold ore shipment she said was being stolen from her father’s rightful mining claim. She didn’t say anything about going up against you.”
    Fargo nodded. After she had lost her last band of robbers willing to do her deeds, she had apparently decided to go for a little more talent. Fargo pointed over the edge. “Does that look like stealing from the Brant mine?”
    Both men shrugged. The bald one said, “Fargo, we don’t know what goes on inside those mines. We were just hired to do a job.”
    “Well,” Fargo said, “unless you have a desire to be dead real soon, you go down the mountain, get your gear and horses, and without a word to anyone about this conversation, you both ride out hard and fast.”
    Both men nodded and just sat there.
    Fargo stepped back and waved the Colt at them. “What are you waiting for? You have some hard riding to do and the day is still young.”
    Both men scrambled to their feet and took off running toward the Brant mine. Neither of them looked back.
    At the main house, Cain was having lunch by the time Fargo returned from his hike, so he joined him in his big dining room where it was clear he ate most meals alone. The walls were covered in a fancy wallpaper, the wood floor polished to mirror level, and a huge glass chandelier hung over the table, sparkling in the morning light.
    “So, have a great hike?” Cain asked, pointing to the tray of sandwiches for Fargo to help himself.
    “A productive one,” Fargo said, taking a thick beef sandwich from the tray. “I know how the robbers are pinpointing your ore shipments and who’s behind it.”
    Cain stopped in midchew and stared at his old friend.