THE BOUNTY: Twentieth in a Series of Jess Williams Westerns (A Jess Williams Western Book 20)

by Robert J. Thomas

  “You came pretty close with that first shot,” argued Jess, his eyebrows raised a little. She picked up a larger rock and gave him a hard look.

  “Don’t make me throw this at you,” she threatened. He put his hands up in surrender and smiled at her.

  “Alright, but put that rock down,” demanded Jess. “The last time I got hit with a rock that big, I got knocked out and woke up in a jail. It brings back bad memories.” She threw the rock at the cave wall and it hit the wall hard and broke in half.

  “I’ll remember that,” implied Jane, a devious look on her face. “So what now?”

  “Well, I should give you some money and leave you in this cave and go about my business,” inferred Jess. She gave him a harsh look.

  “You certainly have plenty of cash in your saddlebags,” blustered Jane.

  “You went through my saddlebags?”

  “Well I sure didn’t have any food in mine,” she argued. “Who carries around thousands of dollars in their saddlebags anyway?”

  “Hell, I have over seven thousand dollars in my pockets.”

  “How do you make that much money?”

  “You’ll see,” explained Jess as he stood up and walked over to his two horses and started saddling them up. She walked over to him with a nervous look.

  “What are you doing?” she asked cautiously.

  “Take some supplies out of my oversized saddlebags there and take some money, too,” explained Jess.

  “How much?”

  “Take two thousand dollars,” replied Jess. Jane was bent over looking in the oversized saddlebags and she slowly stood back up and turned back to look at him.

  “Two thousand dollars?” she asked incredulously. “Why would I need two thousand dollars?” Jess stopped what he was doing for a moment.

  “Well, if for some reason I don’t make it back here, I’d suggest you buy a ticket on a train and head out east somewhere and change you name,” suggested Jess. “That’s enough money to get a new start.” she shook her head.

  “I don’t want to live out east,” she complained. “I just want to go back and live in the house me and my husband built. It’s the only life I’ve ever known. Besides, where are you going anyway?”

  “I’m going to meet with Walt Mercer.”

  “What?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Walt Mercer was sipping his brandy and looking across his large mahogany desk at Sheriff Jubal Burch, Callen Lauter and Lefty Gilpin. Lauter and Gilpin both had their usual cocky looks on their faces, but Burch wore a nervous frown.

  “So, you want an advance?” Walt asked guardedly.

  “Well, you see, in this business, sometimes you have to pay for information,” explained Lauter slowly for the dramatic effect.

  “And we’s real low on cash right now,” added Gilpin hastily. Walt took another sip of his brandy and looked over at Burch.

  “Was this your idea?” He asked. Burch shook his head.

  “No, these two knuckleheads came up with this idea all by themselves.” Walt gave Lauter and Gilpin both a harsh look.

  “How much do you want for this ‘purchasing of information’?” he asked sarcastically. The men exchanged quick glances before Lauter answered.

  “We need five hundred dollars,” Lauter blurted out nervously. There was a long moment of silence as Walt eyed both of the cagy bounty hunters. Then, he reached into a desk drawer and pulled out two hundred dollars and threw it on top of the desk.

  “There’s two hundred dollars,” barked Walt. “And I expect to get my money’s worth.” Lauter snatched the money before Walt could change his mind.

  “We’ll make do with this,” implied Lauter.

  All four men in the office turned their heads at the sound of something falling in the other room. Walt was waiting for his house servant to come to inform him of what had occurred and he heard footsteps walking along the hallway. The figure who appeared in the doorway wasn’t his house servant though, it was Jess, and he was holding one of his two cut-down double-barrel shotguns in his left hand. Lauter and Gilpin both reached down to the butt of their guns, but the almost comical look on Jess’ face stopped their movement.

  “What in the hell is the meaning of this?” demanded Walt.

  “I just came to have a little chat with you.”

  “Where in the hell is my house servant,” snapped Walt. “He knows better than to let people into my house uninvited.”

  “Well, when he wakes up you can ask him all about it,” implied Jess grinning.

  “You knocked out Leonard?”

  “I don’t know his name, but his head kind of ran into the butt of this here shotgun,” answered Jess flatly. “You know…the one in my hand that has five .45 caliber chunks of lead stuffed into each barrel. Just letting you know before anyone does anything they might regret later.” Lefty narrowed his eyes and looked into the short barrel of the shotgun and saw the white cloth stuffed into each barrel.

  “Damn if he ain’t kiddin’,” grumbled Gilpin. “Looky there, see the cloth in the barrels.”

  “That’s just mean,” added Lauter.

  “Well, don’t do anything stupid and you won’t have anything to worry about,” explained Jess with deadly intent.

  All of a sudden footsteps came running along the hallway and Leonard walked clear around Jess to the other side of the doorway. He had a lump on his forehead along with a small cut above his right eye.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Mercer,” pleaded Leonard. “I tried to stop him, but he whacked me in the head with that thing there.”

  “Just go and clean something,” snapped Walt angrily. Leonard shot Jess a nasty look and quickly shuffled into the kitchen. Jess kept watching Lauter and Gilpin closely.

  “You said you came here to talk, so talk,” demanded Walt.

  “I’d like to know something and I wanted to get it straight from you.”

  “What is it that you want to know so bad that you’d break into my house and knock my servant out?”

  “Well, the way I heard the story about Jane Lacey and your son, Jethro, is that there might have been a witness to your son’s death.”

  “You mean his murder, don’t you?” snapped Walt quickly.

  “You can’t know that for certain.”

  “Were you there?”

  “Were you?” asked Jess derisively. Jess could swear that Sheriff Burch swallowed a smile when he said it.

  “What is your point?” complained Walt.

  “My point is that there may have been a witness to your son’s death, and if I bring that witness to you, will you listen to what he has to say?”

  “Are you talking about Rubin Fisher?”

  “I am.”

  “Who told you about that, Sheriff Burch there?” derided Walt angrily.

  “Let’s just say that I heard it,” responded Jess bluntly. Lauter and Gilpin exchanged glances and then they both looked at Jess with probing eyes.

  “Like hell,” exclaimed Lauter. “He’s done found the woman already!” Walt stood up from his chair and placed both of his fists on the top of the desk and glared at Jess.

  “If you know where Jane Lacey is, you’d better tell me and I mean now,” demanded Walt harshly, pounding one of his fists on his desk. Jess simply smiled at him.

  “Mr. Mercer, you might scare some people with that kind of talk, but I’m not one of them, so sit down and shut up,” snapped Jess. Walt’s face turned apple red and he hesitated for a few moments, but he did finally sit back down.

  “You made a big mistake coming here like this,” implied Walt.

  “Just answer the question,” demanded Jess.

  “About what?” barked Walt.

  “Rubin Fisher?” repeated Jess. Walt leaned back into his chair and gave Jess a spiteful look.

  “You bring him to me and I’ll listen to what he has to say,” answered Walt haughtily. “But I’d much rather you bring me Jane Lacey.”

  “I’ll just bet you would,” re
plied Jess flatly.

  “You can’t use twenty-five thousand dollars?” asked Walt smartly.

  “I’ve got plenty of money.”

  “Tell me, just what is your stake in all of this anyway?” inquired Walt.

  “I don’t like rich and powerful people pushing little people around,” answered Jess bluntly. “I’ve seen it too many times. Men like you who use their money to buy anything they want and run roughshod over those who don’t have that kind of money and influence. I guess you could say that I like to even the odds a little sometimes.”

  “You’re going to be sorry you ever got involved in this,” advised Walt.

  “I’m already sorry,” said Jess bluntly, looking straight at Lauter and Gilpin. “And I’m giving you two fair warning. When I leave here, don’t try to follow me.”

  “How you gonna stop us?” carped Lauter smartly.

  “I’m pretty good with my buffalo rifle,” explained Jess. “If I have to, I’ll shoot both your horses out from under you.”

  “I don’t think I like you much,” blurted Gilpin.

  “The feeling is mutual,” replied Jess, as he walked out and toward the front door, keeping the short shotgun pointed at the doorway to Walt’s office. When he walked outside, he quickly put the shotgun away and slid his Winchester rifle out and racked a shell into it. He climbed up in the saddle and nudged Gray into a full gallop away from Mercer’s large house.

  Gilpin and Lauter waited until they heard the hoof beats outside before they ran out of the house. Both men went to jump up in the saddle at the same time and when they did, both of their saddles slid off their horses and they both fell into the dirt with a dusty thud.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” hollered Lauter, kicking his saddle off his leg.

  “Who the hell does that?” groused Gilpin, standing up and dusting himself off. Sheriff Burch walked over to his horse and saw that his cinch strap was also cut. He looked out to where Jess was and frowned.

  “You’ll never catch up with those horses,” offered Burch. Walt was standing on the front porch fuming. Lauter stood up and walked over to Walt.

  “If you’ve got some extra cinches in the barn, we can fix these saddles and track his ass,” Lauter offered quickly, pointing to the dust trail that Jess was quickly leaving behind.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” suggested Walt thoughtfully.

  “What idea?” asked Lauter.

  “You two go and find Rubin Fisher,” barked Walt, looking at the quickly disappearing figure way off in the distance.

  “What do we get if we bring him back here to you?” asked Lauter greedily.

  “I’ll pay you each five thousand dollars, but don’t bring him back here,” suggested Walt, a deadly tone to his voice.

  “You want us to hand him over to the Sheriff?” asked Lauter, somewhat confused.

  “No, I want you to kill him.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Jess rode north for about an hour until he came to a river. He rode his horses in the water for a good two miles and then he headed straight west until he spotted the gathering of hills where the cave was. When he got close to the cave, he slipped out of the saddle and walked his horses up the hillside to where Jane was standing in the opening of the cave with her rifle.

  “Don’t shoot,” smiled Jess smartly.

  “Just being careful,” she replied. He handed her the reins to his two horses as he untied the large rabbit he had bagged on the way in.

  “I’m going down to the stream and clean this,” he explained, sliding his Winchester rifle out and heading down to the small stream.

  “What about Walt Mercer?” she asked impatiently.

  “I’ll tell you all about it after we eat.”

  After they filled up on the fried rabbit, Jane cleaned everything up and Jess made a pot of coffee. He poured them both a cup and he sat on the large boulder, while she sat crossed legged on her bedroll.

  “Well, did you talk to Walt Mercer?”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  “He’s still pretty pissed about what happened, but he did say that if I were to bring him Rubin Fisher, he’d listen to what he has to say.”

  “But I’ve looked all over for him and can’t find him anywhere. Besides, I’m not sure he’ll come back with me anyway.”

  “Yeah, but I haven’t looked for him yet,” he said knowingly.

  “Are you’re going to ride down to Jacksonville to look for Rubin?”

  “No, we’re going to ride down to Jacksonville to find him.”

  “You’re taking me with you?”

  “It’s probably the only way to keep you alive. Mercer had those two bounty hunters I told you about in his office when I showed up. He’s still having you hunted down and he’s not going to give up until he finds you.”

  “Okay, but if we find Rubin, how can we be sure he’ll come with us?”

  “It won’t exactly be a decision he’s going to make all by himself.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “We’ll head to Ranklin first thing in the morning.”

  “Uh…why are we going to Ranklin? It’s in the opposite direction of Jacksonville.”

  “Bucktooth Brown and two thousand dollars.”

  ***

  It was late in the afternoon when they reached Ranklin. Jess pulled his spyglass out and studied the town for a minute. It was quite small with only a few large buildings. He saw a livery at one end of the town. Jess put the spyglass away and turned to look at Jane with a stern look.

  “Alright, before we start this little venture together, you have to promise me a few things,” he told her firmly.

  “Like what?” she asked curiously.

  “First, you listen to what I tell you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Second, you do what I tell you?”

  “Okay.”

  “Third, repeat what I just said.”

  “Listen to what you tell me and do what you tell me to do,” she replied slowly for the effect.

  “Good, now keep that rifle within easy reach at all times with a shell racked into it and never get too far out of my sight, got it?”

  “Any more rules?” she asked smartly.

  “I’ll think of some more as we go along,” he grinned at her as he nudged Gray into a walk. She shook her head, but kept silent.

  When they rode up to the livery, a short squat man walked out and took the reins to their horses as they dismounted. Jess threw him a five dollar gold piece, which the man snapped up with his left hand.

  “Leave them saddled up and ready to ride, but feed and water them,” said Jess. The man nodded quickly. Jess pulled the wanted poster out on Bucktooth Brown and showed it to him and he quickly nodded.

  “No need to show me the poster, you can’t miss Bucktooth with them big ass beaver teeth of his,” explained the man grinning. “He’s bitten two of the whores in town already. Mean sumbitch that one. We ain’t got no law in town and some of the men been talkin’ ‘bout runnin’ him out, but most of us is afeard of him.”

  “Is his horse here?”

  “Big bay horse over there. He ain’t paid me a penny yet neither.”

  “Where does he do his drinking?”

  “Over at Shanty’s Place down there. He’s taken a room upstairs and he ain’t paid for that neither.”

  “Thanks for the info,” Jess told him as he threw the man another five dollar gold piece. Jess turned to Jane and smiled at her knowingly.

  “I know, do as you say, I get it,” she said sharply.

  “I mean it too,” he snapped as he walked down the street, slipping the hammer strap off his pistol. Jane quickly caught up to him and walked alongside.

  “So this man you call Bucktooth, he bites people?”

  “Only women mostly.”

  “That’s a strange thing to do.”

  “Trust me there are stranger men than that running around out here.”

  When they reached the little
saloon called Shanty’s, Jess pushed through the batwing doors first followed by Jane. He motioned for her to sit at the table closest to the door with the wall to her back. She laid the rifle on the table and kept her right hand on it. Jess looked around the place. There were over a dozen men, but none that looked like trouble. He walked up to the bar and waved to the barkeep, who slowly walked over while looking over at Jane.

  “She with you?” the barkeep asked sharply.

  “Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

  “We don’t serve women in here ‘cept’n the whores and then only when they’re workin’.”

  “She ain’t drinking, I am,” said Jess, placing a ten dollar gold piece on top of the bar. “And make it good whiskey.” The barkeep glanced over at Jane again and then he reached down and pulled out a bottle of good whiskey and poured him a shot of it.

  “Is Bucktooth still sleeping it off upstairs?” asked Jess. The barkeep frowned and shook his head.

  “Sumbitch owes me twenty dollars already and I can’t get him to pay up or to leave,” complained the barkeep.

  “He’ll be paying his bill today and leaving town, too.”

  “You sound pretty sure about what Bucktooth is going to do.”

  “I see things other people don’t,” replied Jess knowingly.

  Jess sipped his whiskey and watched the men in the saloon, waiting for Bucktooth to come down from his drunken stupor. He noticed two of the men in the saloon playing poker and they both kept shooting glances at Jane sitting there quietly at the table by the door. Finally one of the two men put his cards down and he stood up. The man was wearing a six shooter, but it was loosely strapped to his waist and it wasn’t tied down to his right leg. The man wore a shabby gray suit with an off-white shirt and a bow tie around his neck topped off with a black bowler hat. Jane saw him walking toward her and she snapped a look at Jess who watched intently. The man walked up to the table and smiled at Jane.

  “Have I seen you somewhere before?” the man asked inquisitively.

  “No, we’ve never met before.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “I’m sure,” she replied, her hand tightening around the rifle a little more. She noticed Jess walking closer to the table.