“And that’s why he’s in hell?” Flintlock said.
Barnabas said, “Yeah, that and something to do with burning some holy man or other. But what you say is true, boy.” He nodded and the helmet visor clanged shut. He opened it again. “Boris’s corner of hell is reserved for them as You-know-who calls naughty noblemen, including that little puke the Marquis de Sade. Spends all his time talking about his female conquests, like anybody cares.” Barnabas lifted the helmet off his head. “Damn, this thing is heavy and hot. Of course, in hell it’s red hot, but Boris doesn’t seem to mind.”
“Barnabas, why are you here?” Flintlock said.
The old mountain man looked over his shoulder and then his voice dropped to a confidential whisper. “You-know-who has advice for you about them uppity females. He says you should tip the wagon over again and then set it on fire. Burn them four harridans alive and you’ll be rid of them.”
“Yeah, that’s the kind of advice he would give. Tell him it’s not going to happen.”
Barnabas polished the helmet with his buckskin sleeve. “Well, Sam’l, he’s smart and you’re a dunderhead, but suit yourself. Now I got to go. Hey, you ever hear of a bird they call a kingfisher?”
“Can’t say as I have,” Flintlock said.
“You will,” Barnabas said.
He vanished in a puff of smoke that smelled of brimstone. Only the sound of his cackle lingered and then it too was gone.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE was the author of over 220 USA Today and New York Times bestselling books, including The First Mountain Man, MacCallister, Eagles, Savage Texas, Matt Jensen, The Last Mountain Man, The Family Jensen, and The Kerrigans: A Texas Dynasty, as well as the stand-alone thrillers Suicide Mission, The Bleeding Edge, Home Invasion, Stand Your Ground, and Tyranny.
Visit his website at www.williamjohnstone.net.
NEW YORK TIMES AND
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHORS
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
with J. A. Johnstone
BLACK FRIDAY
From the bestselling authors of Tyranny and Stand Your Ground comes the explosively charged story of a full-scale terrorist attack on American soil—on the biggest shopping day of the year ...
DAY OF RECKONING
Black Friday. The American Way Mall is packed with holiday shoppers and bargain seekers. Machine-gun fire rings out, and within minutes hundreds are dead and dying. Others are taken hostage by an army of fanatical Middle Eastern terrorists ready to blast the American Way Mall into a pile of rubble. But one man—Iraq War vet Tobey Lanning—refuses to go down without a fight. Separated from his fiancée, Lanning finds himself on the frontlines of a new war against terror. The FBI and the local police are helpless. The battle is going to be lost or won inside the mall. With thousands of innocent lives at stake, Lanning assembles a makeshift platoon of Black Friday shoppers. A teenage security guard. A retired Chicago cop. A schoolteacher who’s never fired a gun. A young ex-con who has. A soccer mom. A priest. A wheelchair-bound World War II vet . . .
These brave everyday Americans will stand up and meet the enemy face to face. Defend their land, their values, their honor—and if necessary pay the ultimate price for freedom ...
Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com
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