TARN & BECK by Roger Nickleby Read Free Book Online Page A

on?”
    “Somehow they must have found out.” Greg said.
    Suddenly Beck gasped. “It’s Tarn! He must have--”
    The bandit standing behind Beck shoved him roughly in the back with his musket. “Shut up.” He said gruffly.
    Carroll sifted through the wreckage of the overturned coach cab, collecting all of the gold coins he could possibly reach into his bag. He sealed up the bag, and then grabbed the case of bonds, recognizing another treasure.
    Carroll clambered out of the wrecked coach, still gripping his bag and the case tightly as he maneuvered about before dropping onto the ground. He strode across the road toward the group of prisoners and the bandits guarding them like an avenging storm.
    Greg and the surviving attendants shrank back, but Beck remained unafraid and unimpressed as he faced his foe, who looked sort of dowdy and shabby. Carroll strode right up to Beck and eyed him closely with the bandit standing by Beck still holding his gun close by.
    “So you’re the one giving me all of this grief. Where did you get the coins from?” Carroll waved the bag at Beck.
    “I thought you knew. Didn’t Tarn tell you?” Beck asked.
    “Tarn? Tarn’s involved in this?” Carroll gaped at Beck. “You met him? Where did you meet him? Is that who you got the coins from?”
    “I found them. They’re mine. They were buried with their last owner when he died. They belong to me now.” Beck said.
    He couldn’t believe it, but it sounded like this man hadn’t known Tarn was involved, and yet knew him. How could he not know and yet still find Beck and the coins? For that matter, how could Tarn have known…this was getting confusing to Beck.
    Greg stared at Beck in astonishment. “What the hell?”
    Carroll turned to face Greg. “Shut up!” Carroll faced Beck again. “Do you know where these coins came from? How valuable they are? How many have died trying to get their hands on them? Or for standing in my way?”
    Beck was frozen, but he shook his head. “No. I had no clue at all until now. Now I understand why my father called them cursed.”
    Cedric had known something about them, Beck realized. He must have known how valuable they were that this man would want to take them. He should have told Beck the truth about these gold coins, instead of just insisting they were cursed.
    He thought that his father was foolish and foolhardy all those years ago to bury the coins with the old lodger. But maybe he had been trying to protect Beck and himself from this sort of fate all along, death at the hands of bandits and highwaymen.
    Now it was too late, of course, and Beck was going to die for going against his father’s wishes. This was a turnabout and one final straw as he cursed his father once more for abandoning him without taking care of him.
    Carroll laughed and set the bonds down, reaching for his gun. “No, these coins are a gift from the gods.”
    Suddenly the bandit standing right behind Beck stepped out and held his gun to Carroll’s head now. The other bandits and prisoners all froze now, uncertain what to do, as Carroll rolled his eyes.
    “Tarn, what is this?” Carroll asked.
    Beck looked in astonishment as Tarn ripped off his bandana, revealing himself, desperate and grim after the long run and ride he had taken to get here. He had stolen the bandana along with the horse, guns, and sword of one of Carroll’s bandits so that he could slip back into Carroll’s gang once more.
    “Let them go, Carroll. You’ve got your coins. Much good it will do you.” Tarn said.

Chapter 5
    Tarn and Beck
    Despite being held at gunpoint, Carroll eyed Tarn lazily as if asking if he was crazy or stupid. It was an expression that Tarn knew well and remembered from all the times Carroll thought he had made a mistake.
    Admittedly, Tarn knew that he, Beck, and the prisoners were in a dangerous, compromised position currently. But he had a hunch, thinking back over the events of the past day or so, that there was more to this