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Axler, James - Deathlands 22 - Rider, Reaper
"We all will."
"You can't see us."
Jak's voice said, "I see all nine of you. Big man holding Dean got check shirt
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and long hair tied at back with ribbon. Want to know more?"
Something was muttered in Navaho, drawing a swift, angry reply from the man
who gripped Dean.
Ryan spoke again. "You think this is a standoff, but it's not. Worst happens
to us is that you slit the throat of my son. That'd be a bad thing, but I
guess that one day
I'd manage to get over it. Do that and every one of you dies. Make sure the
bodies get mutilated and blinded. Give you all a triple-bad time to crawl
throughout eternity."
"Boy says you after General. Tell me."
Dean kept still, knowing that there was nothing he could do to help his father
and the others. The only consolation he was able to find was the fact that not
many people actually wanted to get themselves chilled.
Ryan was calm, his voice unhurried. "Friend of ours the one sees in the
night had a spread up north. Fine wife and baby there. Another young man was
staying with them while the rest of us went hunt-ing."
"What is the name of the young one who can see so well in the dark?"
"Apaches called me Eyes Of Wolf," Jak replied. "I nearly married Steps Lightly
Moon." He paused. "Name among Anglos is Jak Lauren."
The Navaho hesitated a few moments. "You are the one with the hair like snow?"
"Yeah."
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Axler, James - Deathlands 22 - Rider, Reaper
"My people know about you. A friend to us. It is said that your woman and baby
and friend were all sent into the beyond by the General."
Ryan answered him. "That's right. We figured that you and your people might
also have a grudge. Be chasing him. Might even know where the cold-heart son
of a bitch has his headquarters. Could be we could ride together on this."
"Let me speak awhile with my brothers on this. What is your name?"
"Ryan Cawdor. Apaches called me One Eye Chills. Let the boy go before you
start talking."
"He is our only card."
Dean could almost see his father's grim, lopsided smile. "Not even the two of
clubs, mister. Not when we got a fistful of aces back here."
The Navaho let go of Dean's mouth. "How many? The truth? How many of them?"
"Six. Got scatterguns and an Uzi automatic. Steyr rifle with a night scope.
True what Dad says. You can chill me and nobody could stop you. But then& "
"A threat from a child." The Navaho laughed and repeated what Dean had said to
the others.
"Not a threat. It's a promise," Dean insisted. "Best you believe me."
The knife disappeared, and he was pushed firmly in the direction of his
father.
"They let Dean go," Jak called, the albino's excel-lent night vision helping
again.
"Here," Ryan said.
The boy's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could make out the group of
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Axler, James - Deathlands 22 - Rider, Reaper six friends, standing or kneeling
in a loose semicircle, about thirty paces away from the whispering Indians.
The brightest point of light came glowing from Jak's hair.
Behind him, they could all hear the Navaho in deep conversation, their voices
rising.
"It sounds as though our putative allies are a little undecided," Doc said.
"Which reminds me of the time I stood astride the Continental Divide, on one
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of my camping trips of yesteryear. There was a sign that said that it was the
place for the undecided raindrop."
"How's that again, Doc?" Krysty asked, fascinated with the old man's peculiar
story, despite the danger-ous tenseness of the moment.
"Well, my dear madam, it is simple. It was one of the points in the old United
States where a drop of rain might be carried either to the east or the west.
To the
Pacific or to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf."
"What if it fell " Dean began, but a shout from the leader of the Navaho
interrupted him.
"We have spoken."
"And?"
"We will come and talk more."
"That's good," Ryan said.
THE GENERAL WAS better known among the isolated communities of the
Native Americans than among the flea-pit villes of the Anglos.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 22 - Rider, Reaper
The leader of the Navaho, whose name was Sleeps In Day, told Ryan and the rest
of the group about the at-tacks by the heavily armed band of killers.
"General is not a stupe. He knows that to tackle any baron in the Southwest
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