Tender Is the Storm Read Free

just went on the raid last week to please me. I knew it!”
    “Nonsense,” Slade scoffed. “I enjoyed the challenge of taking that rancher’s stock right from under his nose. His spread was big enough that he won’t miss them. And I hadn’t been that far east in a good many years. It gave me a chance to see what new towns were springing up. And it gave me an adventure to remember for when I become…civilized.”
    “But all of them, Slade?” Billy protested. “You can use the money they’ll bring.”
    “I have enough money for what I have to do.”
    Billy didn’t express his thanks except with a nod of acceptance. “So where will you begin your search?”
    “Where it began.”
    “You really think Sloan will still be in Tucson? Hell, that’s the territorial capital. Characters like Sloan don’t find it easy in big towns anymore.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Slade said offhandedly. “There or somewhere else, if he’s still alive, I’ll find him.”
    “And after you kill him?”
    “I’ll have the name of the man who hired him.” There was a cold edge in his voice now.
    “And after you kill that one?”
    Slade turned away before answering. “I’ll then be free to find my brother.”
    Billy changed the subject quickly. “What about your father’s gold?”
    “What about it?”
    “It’s still there, ain’t it? You said your father and his partner rigged it so there was a worthless mine visible to anyone who wanted to look while the real mine was hidden up the mountainside where no one could find it.”
    A rare show of anger crossed Slade’s handsome features. “That gold killed my father, separated me from my twin, and forced me to live like a wild animal. I want no part of it.” Then he said, “What good are riches, anyway? The land offers all a man could want.”
    Billy grunted, deciding not to point out that Slade was thinking like an Indian. Was that a good thing or not?
    Billy Wolf looked hard at the young man he loved like a brother. “Well, if you ever need anything, you know where to find me.” Then he grinned, trying to make light of the moment. “I’ll be the rich scout with the pretty wife—it shouldn’t tax you too hard to find me. I just hope I don’t run into your large cougar friend any time you’re not around.”
    Slade laughed.
     
    By early evening the Whiskers Saloon was crowded. It looked no different from all the other saloons Slade had walked into during the last year. By now he was immune to the reaction his appearance caused. Everything always quieted down until he ordered his first drink. Men sometimes movedaway from him. Once it had been his quiet manner that made people wary. Now it was the savage look about him.
    Slade never appeased the curious or volunteered his name without reason. His name had become a curse, inspiring fear beyond that caused by a stranger who carried a gun like he knew how to use it. The name had become an obstacle only a month after he began his search, and all because some fool cowboy in a small mining settlement had challenged him. Many witnesses saw Slade’s gun clear his holster before the other man had touched his. That was all it took. In the next town he came to, they knew about him. Too late he learned about rumors. A man who had never drawn his weapon could be reported to have ten to fifteen notches on his gun. But if he let his speed be observed, he’d be counted as one of the bad guys.
    Slade had yet to kill anyone, yet he was a known killer! He had only reappeared in the white man’s civilization a year ago, but rumor had it that he’d come up from Texas five years before, after killing his first man. All his killings had been fair and square, it was said, the assumption being that a fast gun didn’t have to fight dirty. Yet marshals quickly asked him to leave their towns, and Slade found it impossible to get information out of anyone once they knew his name.
    He had changed his appearance. He had let his hair grow again