From The Grave

Chapter 21

They reached the house and pressed flat against the wall, Gretta holding out a steadying hand and then waving them forward. She stepped up onto the small porch and stopped again. The front door was open behind the screen and she could see the body on the floor in the hall.

"We've got a body in the hall."

She opened the door and stepped in, pausing to listen and then she bent down to check the wounded man. Hunter rolled frightened eyes toward her and gurgled something that released a flow of blood from his mouth.

"Shit! There's an arm over here, Gretta!"

"Yeah, I'm with the owner. She stared down at him. Sorry pal, you're finished." She stood up and looked around as Hunter gurgled once more at her feet.

"There must be someone else otherwise why blow a hole in wall." She went back outside and rounded the corner of the house, listening and immediately heard the roar of the shotgun and a flash from the barrel.

"Down there, Arny. Stay back."

"Don't worry."

Gretta scrambled through the dark and down the slope, stopping as she saw the large man with the gun standing over a kneeling man who was clutching his side.

"Put it down, Tomambou." She called, aiming her own at him.

He turned and stared back up at her then raised one foot and gave the wounded man a violent shove. Arlo rolled over and down the increasing slope, yelling out as he reached the end of the grass and flipped out into space high above the rocky base of the cliffs. Gretta yelled again, angry that she hadn't been able to stop him.

Tomambou spun around and fired the big shotgun toward her. She dropped and rolled to her knees off to one side, firing her own weapon as she did. Two bullets hit Tomambou high in the chest and he grunted with surprise, staggering back and following Arlo over the cliff and down to the ocean below.

Arny came up behind her and put a hand on her back.

"Was that Tomambou?"

"Yeah. It wasn't the outcome I wanted but he didn't give me a choice." She looked at the gouge out of the grass beside where she stood and blew out her breath, fluttering her lips.

"Too close, Gretta. Just too damn close."

"Horseshoes and hand grenades, Arny. Let's check our other body for some ID." On the way back they came across Cecil's body at the side of the house.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Not sure. You check him out; I'll do the one inside."

Gretta was leaning on the wall reading the contents of a wallet when Arny came inside.

"That was the guy that spoke to us in the hotel. His was named Cecil Teacher and he has a key to the front door here so I think maybe he worked for Tomambou."

"This one is Jubal Hunter, the hired muscle I told you about. My guess is that the other guy over the cliff was Arlo Beck, and that solves the mystery of the incident at the hotel. Humboldt was the third man. He must have been killed in the hotel and these two came after Tomambou."

"Okay, so Gravestone's little group of mercenaries come down here to get the stamp. Things go south and they all start a shooting war, which you just finished, and now the stamp is someplace waiting to be found. What about the dame we found earlier, where does she fit in?"

"Obviously she was down here to get us at first. I don't know what changed her mind and sent her after Tomambou all of a sudden."

"Maybe whoever hired her told her to get the stamp before the other gang, then take us out."