Gunsmith 360 : The Mad Scientist of the West (9781101545997) by J. R. Roberts Page B

on the wagon, he knew it didn’t matter how quickly they got it fixed. This would probably keep them from reaching their destination tonight.
    He was going to have to camp on the trail with these two idiots.
    Givens and the buckboard ended up stopping for the night well before Clint, Tesla, and Miranda had discovered their dead horse.
    Roman, Donnie and Lefty were, therefore, forced to camp as well, keeping themselves well behind the buckboard so they wouldn’t be detected.
    By the time Clint and Miranda got back in the house after moving the horse, everyone on the trail had settled down...
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    Givens couldn’t stand Joe and Les. They had more muscles than brains, and when they talked, the subject was always inane. He knew that he was often judged by his size, which worked to his advantage. Men usually didn’t realize how intelligent he was.
    But these two . . . they were as stupid as they appeared to be.
    He sat off by himself to eat while the two of them chattered incessantly, food flying from their mouths. Givens was wondering about the merits of an idea. Maybe he should just kill these two and take the buckboard himself—except for the fact that they apparently knew where they were going.
    He had tried a couple of times to find out their destination, but all they would offer was that they were following some directions they’d been given. So they didn’t actually know where they were going, but they knew how to get there.
    Givens ate and tried to block them out.
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    Roman poured himself some coffee and replaced the cast-iron pot on the fire.
    â€œGivens must be going crazy,” he said. “From what he said, those two ain’t very smart.”
    â€œUsually men that big ain’t,” Donnie said.
    â€œExcept for Givens,” Lefty said. “He seems pretty smart.”
    â€œSmart enough to kill anybody who disrespected him,” Roman pointed out.
    â€œHey,” Donnie said, “I give him all the respect he deserves. He may look dumb, but he ain’t.”
    Roman put his coffee cup down and rubbed his shoulder.
    â€œThat arm hurtin’?” Donnie asked.
    â€œLike a bitch,” Roman said. “Reminds me why we’re out here.”
    â€œI hope there’s some profit in this,” Lefty said. “I mean, I know we’re out here to get your revenge, but these fellas should have some money on them, or something on those buckboards.”
    â€œWe’ll take a look, once we’ve taken care of them,” Roman said. “Hell, we walk away from this with both buckboards, we gotta be able to turn a profit.”
    Lefty and Donnie were happy that Roman was even thinking about making a profit. They were worried that his injury—and humiliation—might keep him from thinking about anything but revenge.
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    Clint left Miranda in the house with Tesla as he put the horses back in the makeshift stable.
    â€œDon’t worry, boys,” he said, stroking both their necks, “we’re not going to leave you out here alone.”
    He was taking first watch over them, even though the cat had the carcass of the dead horse to occupy it. Miranda was going to relieve him in four hours’ time.
    He built a fire in front of the lean-to, hoping that it at least would give the cat pause before it thought about approaching again.
    It seemed like, with all the trouble they’d had with the three men at the settlement—whose number had somehow swelled to four—and the mountain lion, there hadn’t been much indication that the original rumors about someone wanting to do harm to Tesla were accurate.
    They had enough to deal with without that rumor turning out to be true.
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    The big cat moved closer to the horse’s carcass. He could smell the scent of humans on the meat, but in the end his hunger got the best of him. He approached the dead horse and began to rip big chunks of meat from it, swallowing some of them