Missing Patriarch (9781101613399) (6 page)

NINETEEN

Clint sat in the large tub of hot water while Angie washed him with soap and a cloth. She rubbed his chest, his shoulders, his back, then went to work on his legs and his feet. Finally, she reached into the water for his cock, which was already stiff.

“My, my,” she said, “look what we have here.”

“I'm only human, you know.”

“I can see that,” she said. “Well, I'll take good care of it.”

She rubbed the soap between her hands until she had a good lather going, then picked up his cock and started cleaning it, stroking it between her soapy fingers. As she continued to stroke him up and down with one hand, she reached deep into the water to wash his testicles with the other.

“We're going to have us an accident here if you're not careful,” he warned her.

“Don't worry,” she said. “I won't let that happen.”

She lovingly kept his hard dick soaped up with one hand, while squeezing it at the base with the other. Whenever he thought he was going to spurt into the water, she stopped him. It was extremely intense.

“You said you had some questions to ask,” she said. “Why don't you ask them?”

“Jesus,” he said, “how do you expect me to concentrate when you're doing that?”

“Oh? Does this distract you?”

“You know it does.”

“I can stop,” she offered.

“Not right now you won't.”

He reached out and pulled her into the tub with him. She did not resist or object. In fact, she laughed. Once in the water, she removed her flimsy robe and dropped it outside.

She sat between his legs, grabbing his cock again with both hands. He reached out to touch her breasts. They were firm and round, with dark nipples. He rubbed his thumbs over them, then pulled her to him so he could kiss her. He knew many whores didn't kiss, but she did not resist. She opened her mouth, thrust her tongue into his, and moaned. She inched close to him, spreading her legs so that the head of his cock pressed against her vagina.

“Mmm,” she said, reaching down to rub the spongy head of his penis along her slit.

“We can't do this in here,” he said, lifting her breast to his mouth.

“No,” she said, “we'll go back down the hall to my room, now that we are both clean.”

She stood in the tub. The water ran down over the globes of her breasts, dripped from her nipples, and from the red hair between her legs. Clint put his hands around to cup her ass, pulled her crotch into his face. He breathed her in, then extended his tongue to touch her. She jumped, then put her hands on the back of his head as he continued to lick her.

“Oh my God,” she said, “I have to lie down if you're gonna do that.”

“All right,” he said, giving her one last lick and then a slap on the butt. “Out!”

She stepped from the tub, wrapped herself in a towel. Then she held another towel open while he stepped out, and wrapped him in it from the waist down.

“Let's go,” she said.

“Walk down the hall like this?” he asked.

“It's all right,” she said. “Everyone does it. Come on.”

TWENTY

Donovan, McCall, and all but one of the men sat around the campfire, drinking coffee and waiting to eat. One man had been left up the trail, on watch. At the first sign of trouble—namely, a posse—he would fire a shot and the light out himself.

“We got all this money,” a man named Long said, “and we're eatin' beans?”

“Just shut up and eat,” Donovan said.

They passed around tin plates of beans and then the gang moved away from the fire, leaving Donovan, McCall, and Henry Carter.

“That was a good haul,” Carter said. “Better than we thought.”

“Yeah,” Donovan said, “way better. Good job finding that one, Jimmy.”

“Yeah.”

Carter looked across the fire at his boss.

“Are we done with them yet?” he asked, jerking his head to indicate the other four men who were eating. The gesture also took in the man who was on watch.

“Not yet,” Donovan said around a mouthful of beans. “Go keep an eye and ear on them, though, Henry. Make sure they ain't thinkin' about bein' done with us.”

Carter nodded, carried his plate and cup over to the other men.

“What about you?” Donovan asked.

“What about me?”

“Why don't you ever complain about eatin' beans all the time?”

“Maybe it's because I remember a time when me and my family didn't even have beans,” Jimmy said.

“Well, those times are gonna be done pretty soon, Jimmy.”

“How soon?”

“Don't be impatient,” Donovan said. “We still got lots of money to make together.”

“Sure,” McCall said. “That's what it's all about, right? Money?”

“That's
all
it's about, Jimmy. That's the only thing. Money.”

That gave McCall an odd sense of calm. As long as he was worth money to Donovan, there was no way the man was going to turn on him and kill him.

Not yet anyway.

*   *   *

Later, Donovan settled down into his sleeping bag for a nap. There was plenty of daylight left, and the other men were wondering why they weren't on the move.

“If the posse is on our trail—” Long started, but Jimmy McCall cut him off.

“There's no posse.”

“How can you be sure?” Long asked.

Carter and McCall were again hunkered around the fire, this time with the other men. Donovan's absence brought them all to the fire.

“We—you killed the sheriff and the deputy,” McCall said. “It'll be a while before they can hire new ones. By that time we'll be in Mexico.” He looked over at Donovan's sleeping form. “If that's where he's takin' us.”

Long, who seemed to be the spokesman for the others, looked at Carter.

“Where
is
he takin' us?”

“Only he knows that,” Carter said.

“Well, why don't you ask 'im?”

Carter looked at Long and replied, “Why don't you ask 'im?”

Long looked around, then muttered, “I ain't gonna question 'im.”

He turned and walked away from the fire. The other men followed him.

Carter looked at McCall.

“You sure about the law in that town?”

“A sheriff and one deputy,” McCall said. “I'm sure. And they're dead.”

“Well, we still should be movin',” Carter said.

“Tell him,” McCall said, jerking his head toward the sleeping Donovan.

“I'm with Long on that,” Carter said. “I ain't about to start questionin' Donovan.”

“Well then,” McCall said, “I guess we'll just have to keep waitin' for him to tell us somethin'.”

Carter looked over at Donovan again.

“What are you thinkin'?” McCall asked.

Carter looked at McCall, seemed to be considering something, but then shook his head and said, “Nothin'. I ain't thinkin' nothin'.”

He poured himself a cup of coffee, then turned and walked away from the fire. He didn't, however, join the other men. He remained on his own.

TWENTY-ONE

Clint followed Angie down the hall. Another man ran past, naked, chasing a naked girl, both of them laughing. Neither of them seemed to notice either Clint or Angie.

When they got to her room, she opened the door and let him go in first, then stepped in and closed the door. She also locked it. He set his clothes aside, made sure the gun was within easy reach of the door.

“I don't wanna be disturbed,” she said.

He sat down on the bed.

She stood in front of him and removed her towel.

“Still wanna ask questions?”

“Don't want to,” he said. “I have to.”

She frowned at him, then put her hands on her hips and said, “Okay, go ahead.”

“You mind putting your towel back on?” he asked. “Just for the question-and-answer part?”

“Oh, all right.”

She bent over, grabbed the towel, and wrapped it around herself again, covering her breasts and barely covering her crotch.

“Better?”

“Better.”

“Good thing you have yours on.”

He looked down at his lap, saw the outline there of his cock, still hard.

“Better ask your questions,” she said. “I'm gonna be going for that any minute now.”

“Jimmy McCall,” he said.

“What about him?”

“You know him?”

She frowned.

“The name sounds familiar.”

“He was in town with the gang that robbed the bank,” he said.

“Some of them came here for a few days before the robbery,” she said. “He was one of them?”

“Yes.”

“You know,” she said, “those boys never did say their names when they were with us. In fact, I never heard them call each other by name.”

“Then why does Jimmy McCall sound familiar?” he asked.

She came over and sat next to him on the bed.

“I don't know,” she said. “One of the girls was with a guy named Jimmy. But McCall . . . maybe I just heard that later.”

“Could you find out which girl?”

“You want me to go around and ask all the girls?” she asked, looking at him.

“I guess I could do that myself.”

“Oh, no,” she said, putting her arm on his, “I'm not sharin' you with them. Don't worry, I'll find out which one of them was with Jimmy. Then you can ask her your questions.”

“Okay,” he said, “that suits me.”

She ran her hand over his chest.

“Is that the end of the questions?”

“That's all I have to ask,” he said, “for now.”

He leaned over and kissed her. Her arms went around his neck, and her towel fell away. He used one hand to cup her right breast, teasing the nipple with his thumb. She moaned, reached down, and loosened the towel around his waist. Then she took his cock into her hand and began to stroke it.

This time he moaned and kissed her more deeply. He squeezed her breast and she gasped, returned the favor by tightening her grip on his penis.

She broke from his hold, then, and slid to the floor on her knees. She took his cock in both hands and guided it into her hot, avid mouth. She began to suck him, sliding her hand up and down the part of the shaft that did not go into her mouth.

Clint leaned back on his hands, began to lift his hips, moving in unison with her sucking motion. This time, she didn't use her technique to keep him from finishing. She sucked him until he exploded into her mouth with a loud groan.

“What'd you do that for?” he asked as she stared up at him with a smile.

“Oh, don't worry,” she said. She stood up, pushed him down on his back. “You're far from done. I just wanted to keep you too weak to leave my room.”

“What makes you think I want to leave your room?”

She climbed on top of him, started to run her wet pussy up and down the length of his cock. Immediately, he began to stiffen again.

“See?”

“You're going to try to kill me, aren't you?” he asked.

“Oh, no, honey,” she said, rubbing her breasts in his face, “I'm gonna do everything I can to keep you alive.”

TWENTY-TWO

The members of the town council watched as portly Sheriff Willis entered the room. At the head of the table was Mayor Plummer.

“All right,” Plummer, a rotund man in his own right, said. “Sheriff Willis called this meeting, so let's hear what he has to say.”

“Like I told you when I accepted this job, I'm a law
yer
, not a law
man
. You fellas were supposed to find somebody to replace me.”

“We been trying, Louis,” Plummer said. “We just haven't had any luck.”

“Well, a man rode into town today who I think will change your luck.”

“Is that a fact?” Plummer asked, looking around at the other men. “And who is that?”

“Clint Adams.”

One of the other men at the table said, “The Gunsmith is in our town?”

“He is,” Willis said, “and that's not the best part.”

“What's the best part, Louis?” Plummer asked. “Please, don't keep us in suspense.”

“He's already looking for one of the members of the gang.”

“Do you think he'd accept the badge?” Plummer asked.

“Not for what you're paying your sheriffs,” Willis said. “You'll have to commit a lot more money to the job if you want him to take it.”

“For Chrissake,” one of the board members said, “our bank was robbed.”

“Well,” Willis said, “he's not going to do it for the fun of it.”

“You said he's already looking for one of the gang members,” Plummer said. “Why don't we just let him do it?”

“Because when he catches up to them, that's all he'll do,” Willis said. “He won't bring the gang to justice, or bring the money back. For that, you'll have to pay him.”

“Did you talk to him?” the mayor asked.

“I did.”

“Do you know how much he's going to want?” Plummer asked.

“I didn't talk to him about that,” Willis said. “I didn't bring it up.”

“Why not?” a board member asked.

“I was just questioning him as a stranger in town,” Willis said. “When I found out who he was, I let him walk.”

“Is he even still in town?” Plummer asked.

“Yes, he is. He's asking questions, trying to find out if any of the gang members said anything that would tell where they went.”

“Who would they have been stupid enough to tell that to?” another man asked.

Willis shrugged. “A bartender? A whore? That's what he's trying to find out.”

“All right,” Plummer said.

“All right . . . you'll do it?” Willis asked.

“We have to vote,” a board member objected.

“Vote on what, Sam?” Plummer asked. “On whether or not we want our money back?” He looked at Willis. “Give me the badge, Louis, if you don't mind.”

“I don't mind at all.” Willis stepped forward, took the badge from his chest, and set it down on the table. A great weight seemed to lift from his shoulders.

“Now can you ask Mr. Adams to come and see me?” Plummer asked.

“Yes, sir,” Willis said. “I'll find him and ask him.”

“Then this meeting's adjourned,” Plummer said. “Louis, will you stay a moment?”

“Sure.”

The other members of the board stood and filed out of the room. Not all of them were completely happy.

Finally, the room was empty but for Willis and the mayor.

“It must be a great relief, Willis, to get that target off your chest.”

“You have no idea,” Willis said. “I just took the job because we're friends, Mr. Mayor. It was a favor to you, Jackson.”

“Well, I'm going to ask you for another favor, Louis,” the mayor said.

“What's that, Jackson?”

“I want you to go with Adams.”

“What?”

“We need someone from this town to go with him,” the mayor said. “What if he catches them and decides to keep the money?”

“First,” Willis said, “how do you expect me to spend days on the back of a horse? Second, he hasn't even taken the job yet. Why don't we wait and see what happens?”

“No,” Plummer said, “I want you to be in my office when I talk to him, when I offer him the job.”

“You think my presence will make him take the job?” Willis asked. “And you think my presence on the trail with him will keep him from taking the money? Jesus, Jackson, he'll just kill me and take it.”

“There is nothing in the man's reputation to indicate he's a thief or a murderer.”

“No, not a murderer,” Willis said. “Just a killer.”

“Louis,” Plummer said, “I can't trust anyone else to do this.”

“Why don't you do it yourself?”

“I would,” Plummer said, “but with my bum leg, I'd never be able to sit a horse for that long.” He touched his leg, which had atrophied from an earlier injury.

“Damn you,” Willis said, because he knew the man's reason was real.

“You'll do it?”

“I'll be in your office when you offer him the job.” Willis said. “Let's just get there.”

“All right,” Plummer said. “Then go and get him, Louis.”

“I'll have to find him first.”

“That shouldn't be too hard,” Plummer said. “From what you said, he's either in a saloon, or the whorehouse.”