?He
he?ll kill me if I tell you.?
?A judge will kill you if you don?t. Tell me and I might, just might, keep him separate from you when I haul your ass off to prison. Keep it to yourself, Carter, and when I do find him, man, I?ll tell him it was you who told me where to look.?
?God, Marshal, you can?t do this to me,? Carter wailed.
?Oh, but I can,? Longarm said calmly. ?If you don?t mind a suggestion, though, I think it?s a little late to be thinking about God. I expect He?s pretty disappointed in you by now. Now are you going to tell me or not??
?Yes,? Carter sobbed. ?I?ll tell you where to find him.?
Longarm listened patiently while Jamison Carter blubbered out everything he knew and probably somewhat more. Only then did the angry deputy release the creepy weasel from the handcuffs and shove him into a cell.
?Frye!? Longarm bellowed down the staircase. ?Go get Arnold Batson. Tell him to bring some of his people and meet me here on the double.?
Young Frye looked confused again. He had been expecting screams and all he heard was some crying and babble from upstairs. But he did as he was told.
Chapter Forty-Two
Batson motioned for them to stop, then leaned closer to Longarm. ?That?s it, Marshal. The Pearly Number Two. You can see from the size of it that they never got far developing it. Low-grade ore and getting worse as they went in, so they quit before they had even more money sunk in it and wasted. There?s probably not more?n a half mile of tunnel in there.?
He made that sound like it wasn?t much, although to Longarm a half mile of digging through solid rock was one hell of a lot. Still, he knew that an active, established mine could have literally miles of tunnels and shafts under ground.
Longarm frowned and tried to get a better look at the area. It was dark, somewhere past nine o?clock, and the moon was obscured by cloud cover.
The mouth of what once was the Pearly Number two yawned dark against the mountainside. Some regular shapes laid out on the ground would have been where buildings once stood, but their wood had long since been carried away and put to other uses. Now there was only a more or less level clearing in front of the tunnel. And damned few places where a man could take cover if it came to a gunfight. Longarm hoped he could resolve it without that, though.
?If we try and go in now,? Longarm whispered, ?we?d only be silhouetted against the sky. A man inside there could pick us off without hardly working up a sweat. I think we?d better lay up nice and easy until three, four o?clock in the morning. He should be asleep then for sure. He?s got no reason to be expecting a visit. So we?ll lay low for now, and when I think it?s safe I?ll go in by myself and see if I can?t have a gun to his head when he wakes up.?
?I think I should be the one to go in, Marshal,? Batson said grimly, and Longarm was reminded anew that Arnold Batson was one decent man. He hated killing, as he proved with Paul Markham, but he was willing to put himself on the line again now when he believed it was his duty to do so.
?No, Arnold, this is my job. I?ll handle it. I want you and your people to stay out here on the ready just in case I trip over a bucket or something and give myself away.?
?I still think??
?No. And that?s the end of it. Just to be safe, though, I want you to send two of your boys over to that side of the tunnel and put the third man up over the top of it. Cartridges chambered but keep the rifles uncocked. We don?t want any accidents, and we sure don?t want to alert him that we?re out here waiting for him.?
Batson hesitated for only a moment, then nodded. He crept back to where the Arrabie guards were waiting and whispered to them. One moved silently forward toward the tunnel opening while the other two started across the clearing.
Without warning a rifle shot rang out of the tunnel, splitting the darkness with its flame, and one of Batson?s men dropped his Winchester clattering to the ground and fell, grabbing his leg.
The other guard turned, snatched his fallen companion up, and ran with him toward the far side of the clearing as two more shots spat out of the tunnel toward them.
Longarm returned the fire, emptying his Colt into the mouth of the tunnel without aim, but in the hope that a ricochet might find a mark in there.
He reloaded, not at all minding that neither Batson nor any of the three guards had returned the murderer?s fire. It would be damned difficult for them if they had to, and he hoped he would be able to avoid the need for it still.
Batson, though, took a deep breath, aimed in the direction of the dark tunnel mouth, and fired.
?It?s all right, Arnold,? Longarm said, in a normal voice now that they had been discovered. ?I?ll do any of that that?s necessary.?
Batson nodded. There was enough light from the sky that Longarm could see the pain that was in his expression. Batson took his Winchester down from his shoulder. ?Thanks.?
Longarm moved forward, keeping to the side of the tunnel as well as he was able, and shouted, ?Jack. Jack Thomas! You have nowhere to run, Jack. It?s over. Put your gun down and come out now.?
?Is that you, Longarm?? The voice sounded slightly hollow as it emerged from the enclosing rock, but Thomas sounded cheerful enough.
?It?s me, Jack,? Longarm called.
?I?ll be go to hell. How?d you find me??
?It wasn?t that hard once I got it figured out, Jack.?
