Collection 1983 - The Hills Of Homicide (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Read Free Book Online

man was coming toward us now, and with him was still another man who had unloaded from the car. The first was Nick Ries, Caronna’s man, but the other I had never seen before. “Yeah,” Nick said, “you can get out.”
    I got out.
    My gun was in my hand, and I could have taken a chance on a gun battle, but it was three to one, and they had a flashlight on my face. I’d have been cold turkey in a matter of seconds. With a flit of my right hand I shoved my gun off my lap and behind the cushion, covering the movement by opening the door with my left. I got out and stood there with my hands up while they frisked me. “No rod,” the new man told Nick. “He’s clean.”
    “Okay, get him off the road. We’ve got work to do.”
    They pushed me around behind some rocks off the road. I could have been no more than fifty yards from the road when we stopped, but I might as well have been as many miles. Nick stared at me, his eyes hard with enjoyment.
    “Looks like it’s my turn now. Tough guy, huh? All right, you tell us what we want to know, or we’ll give you a chance to show us how tough you are.” He waved the gun at me. “Did you see Castro? What did you tell him?”
    “Sure I saw him. I told him he was the guy who murdered Bitner. I asked him what Caronna wanted from him, and when Caronna got in touch with him last. It struck me,” I added, and this was for Toni’s benefit, “that he was a pretty smart joe. I think you guys are backing the wrong horse. Anyway,” I continued, “I’m riding with him.”
    “You?” Toni snapped. “What do you mean?”
    “Hell,” I said, offhand, “figure it out for yourself. I was ready to do business with Blacky, but he wouldn’t offer enough dough. Castro’s a gentleman. He’ll play ball with you. That’s what you guys should be doing, getting on his side!”
    “Shut up!” Nick snapped. Then he sneered, “You know what happens to guys that double-cross Blacky Caronna? I do. An’ I don’t want any part of it.”
    “That’s if he’s alive,” I said. “You guys do what I tell you. You go to Castro.”
    The line I was using wasn’t doing me any good with Nick, I could tell, but I wasn’t aiming it at him. I was pretty sure that Toni had her own little game, and that she was playing both ends against the middle. If I could convince her I was playing ball with Castro there was a chance she would lend a hand. A mighty slim chance, but I was in no mood or position to bargain with any kind of a chance.
    Of one thing I was sure. When they stopped that car they had no idea of ever letting me get away from this place alive. I had to talk fast. “I never expected,” I said, flashing a look at Toni, “to find you out here. If we’re going to get anything done, it will have to be done in Ranagat.”
    “Shut up!” Nick snarled.
    “Hold it up a minute, Nick,” Toni said. “Let the guy talk. Maybe we’ll learn something.”
    “What I was going to say was this. I’m in this for the dough, like you are. Caronna fires me, so I tie on with Loftus, figuring if I stay where the big dough is, I’ll latch onto some of it. So what do I find out? That Loftus and some others have a beautiful case built against Blacky. He’s got a bad rep, and the owners are figuring on getting rid of him over this highgrade deal. So they have all gone in together—the mine owners, Loftus, Holben, an’ all the rest. They are going to swear Caronna right into the death penalty. By the time that case goes to trial Caronna will be framed so tight he can’t wiggle a toe.
    “Why do you suppose he wanted me up here? Because he knows they’re out to get him. Because he’s hotter than a firecracker right now and he can’t afford to go on trial.
    “What I’m getting at is, why tie yourself to a sinking ship? Caronna’s through. You guys can go down with him, or you can swing over to Castro and make more money than you ever will from Caronna.”
    “But,” Ries objected, “the will