The Loner: Trail Of Blood Read Free Page A

left. Though much of the West Texas landscape was featureless, making it difficult to know exactly where they were, there were a few landmarks. One of them flashed past as he looked out the window.
    As a major stockholder in the line, Conrad had ridden the route a number of times, and he recognized the elevated water tank they had just passed. Normally, the train would have stopped there to take on water, but the engineer still had it barreling along the tracks.
    In less than a mile, the tracks angled sharply to go around a mesa. Knowing that put an idea in Conrad’s head. “Let the woman go,” he called to the outlaw. “If you do, I give you my word you won’t be killed.”
    “What’ll you do? Send me to prison for twenty years? No thanks. I’d rather take a chance on a bullet.”
    “If anything happens to that woman, it’ll be a hang rope, not prison,” Conrad promised. “I’ll see to that.”
    “Who in blazes
are
you, mister?”
    “My name is Conrad Browning. I own this railroad.”
    That was a stretch. He actually owned only part of it. But his father owned another block of stock, and between them they had almost a controlling interest.
    The train robber didn’t believe it. He laughed harshly as he backed onto the platform. “That’s a damned lie. You’re a gambler or a gunfighter. No damn railroad tycoon could ever handle a gun like you!”
    Conrad smiled thinly as he approached, both guns still in his hands. “It’s true.”
    “Stay back!” the robber snapped. “Send word to the engine to stop this damn train so my pards with the horses can catch up.”
    Conrad shook his head. The train was almost at the bend. “Give up now, while you’ve still got a chance.”
    A snarl curled the outlaw’s lips. He spat, “Go to hell—”
    The train hit the bend.
    At that high rate of speed, the turn was almost too much. But the engineer knew his train, knew it would stay on the rails. The sudden lurch was violent enough it threw the outlaw on the platform off balance. He yelled in surprise, staggering toward the edge. His gun fell away from thehostage as he windmilled his arm in an attempt to keep from falling off the train.
    It was what Conrad had been waiting for. His right-hand gun snapped up and blasted. His shot drilled the man’s forearm and sent the gun flying away.
    The outlaw howled in pain, let go of the woman, and stumbled backward. Conrad leaped forward, grabbed the woman, and practically threw her behind him. He reached for the wounded outlaw next, but he was too late. The man had staggered too close to the opening in the railing around the platform. With a shriek of terror, he toppled backward through it, landing on the coupling between the cars and sliding off to wind up underneath the wheels. His scream ended abruptly as those flashing wheels chopped him to pieces.
    Conrad caught hold of the woman’s shoulder as she sobbed in relief. “Are there any more of them?”
    She shook her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I … I don’t know!”
    Conrad pushed her into the car, then turned toward the second passenger car.
    It might not be over yet.

Chapter 3
     
    But it was, Conrad discovered a moment later. He met the wounded conductor and the two brakemen coming forward through the second passenger car, and they reported the surviving pair of train robbers had been left behind, along with the other outlaws who had tried to rendezvous with them.
    “We got a Winchester back there in the caboose,” one of the brakies said. “I threw some lead at those varmints as the train was pullin’ away, but I don’t know if I hit any of ’em or not.”
    “It’s all right if you didn’t,” Conrad told the man while he reloaded the round he had expended on the robber who had fallen underneath the train. “You discouraged them from coming after us, anyway.”
    “Asa’s got this thing flying,” the conductor said. He had a makeshift bandage tied around his arm. “Somebody better get up to