The Wrath of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western #5) by Rory Black Read Free Book Online

shaking as he sat at his desk
and read the note again.
    DEAR MR SMITH
    WE HAVE TAKEN YOUR DAUGHTER, WE
WILL KILL HER UNLESS YOU BRING US $50,000. WE WILL CONTACT YOU
TOMORROW AND GIVE YOU DETAILS OF WHERE YOU HAVE TO BRING MONEY. DO
NOT TELL THE LAW. IF YOU AGREE TO PAY FOR YOUR DAUGHTERS LIFE, PLACE A
LAMP IN THE BANK WINDOW.
    YOUR FRIEND.
    The words could not have been plainer. His
daughter had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. Jed
Smith had always feared that one day armed robbers would raid and
rob his bank but he had never once imagined that someone would
kidnap his beloved Rosie to get what they wanted.
    Why pick on her?
    What sort of person would pick on a helpless
female when they could face a man?
    Jed Smith knew that he was probably dealing
with a coward or cowards. But they might just be sick enough to
kill her if he did not comply with their wishes.
    There came a knock on the door
of his office. Smith glanced up from the scrap of paper but could
not make out who was standing behind the frosted glass. His eyes were
filled with tears.
    ‘ Mr. Smith?’
    The banker recognized the voice of Clayton
Nash. He rubbed his eyes dry with the white handkerchief he always
wore in his breast-pocket.
    ‘ Come in,
Clayton.’
    Nash opened the door and looked at the
seated figure. He knew that something was very wrong.
    ‘ Can I help you,
sir?’
    Smith gave a huge sigh and buried his head
in his hands. The sound of sobbing filled the entire bank.
    Nash slowly crossed the office and stood
beside the man he had worked for for nearly twenty years.
    ‘ What is it,
Jed?’
    Smith wiped his eyes but it seemed that the
handkerchief was not capable of coping with the flood of tears that
flowed from his swollen eyes.
    ‘ Yes, Clayton. You can help
me.’
    ‘ Anything, sir.’
    ‘Place a lamp in the large
window,’ Smith managed to say.
    ‘ Yes, sir.’ Clayton Nash
cleared his own throat and walked out of the office. He was not
going to question the banker any further. It was obvious that the
sobbing man had already reached breaking point.
    The two bandits watched the lamp being
placed in the largest of the bank’s impressive windows, then
casually mounted their horses. Neither acknowledged the other and
they rode out of town by separate routes.
    They now had to inform Malverez that Jed
Smith had taken the bait and was doing exactly as their leader had
instructed. The trail dust drifted over the street as Clayton Nash
and Bobby Cooper left the bank by the side door. For the first time
since either man had worked in the prosperous bank, they were being
allowed off work early.
    The younger of the two, Cooper,
did not ask any questions and ran home but Clayton Nash was made
uneasy by the behavior of Smith since he had received the
note.
    He made his way straight to the sheriff’s
office. Standing on the boardwalk outside the grubby office, the
immaculate man who had never done anything but fill in ledgers and
count other folks’ money, looked through the window at the balding
lawman.
    He felt that it was his duty to tell Tom
Hardin about the strange change in his boss, but he was racked with
guilt.
    Was it disloyal to talk about Smith?
    The question gnawed at the man.
    Sheriff Hardin had noticed the figure
casting a long shadow across his office for more than five minutes.
Finally he had to rise from his comfortable chair and find out what
was eating at Nash.
    Hardin opened the door.
    ‘ Come on in and have a cup
of coffee, Clayton.’
    The sheriff had a way of
inviting people to do something and making it sound like an order.
Nash followed the overweight man into the stale-smelling building. The
unpleasant odor of cigar smoke hung on the air inside the
office.
    Hardin poured a cup of coffee for the clerk
and thrust it into the man’s hands.
    ‘ Spit it out.’
    ‘ What?’
    ‘ Whatever’s chewing at your
craw. Spit it out.’ The sheriff poured himself a cup of the black
beverage and returned the pot to the top