The RECKONING: A Jess Williams Western (22 page)

             
“I didn’t know I had an attitude.”

             
Steel was trying to hold in a laugh although he didn’t know how he could laugh at a time like this. Here he was listening to this young man facing up to an old, tough, rich ranch baron and the kid was either toying with Mason or just didn’t care about answering his questions. Steele had never seen anyone talk to Mason like this before and he kind of liked it. Mason, however, didn’t like it one bit and his ears were beginning to turn red. He was losing what little patience he had left with Jess.

             
“Damn it kid,” yelled Mason. “You’re really starting to piss me off. Now, here’s the deal. I believe in an eye for an eye. Now, the sheriff here says he won’t stand for anything but a fair fight. If it was up to me and the sheriff wasn’t here, I’d have just shot you on sight when I found out who you were. As you can plainly see, I brought out four of my best men. Ray here is the best of the four. Grady was a good friend of Ray’s, and Ray here wants to make you answer for killing Grady. You understand what I’m saying?”

             
Jess never took his eyes off Mason. He could see Ray, who was to Mason’s right and he watched him out of the corner of his eye. But his main focus was on Paul Mason, and he stared deep into Mason’s eyes. It was the kind of stare that looked through a man, yet still allowed you to see everything else in the room. Then, after a moment of tense silence following Mason’s little speech, Jess spoke in a very low, soft and deliberate tone with no telltale signs of fear.

             
“Mr. Mason, I guess you’ve had your say and now I’ll have mine,” he said slowly. “I didn’t know Ben Grady and I sure didn’t pick a fight with him. He drew on me first and for no reason, so that meant he was nothing short of a murderer. Now, you paid him to be a hired gun, which is no different than a murderer. That, Mr. Mason, makes you a murderer too, which in my book, puts you on the wrong side of right. Now, to make matters even worse, you come to town hell bent to kill me just for defending myself. Was I supposed to just let him shoot me so you could be in a better mood today? Maybe no one ever taught you right from wrong, but more likely than that, I figure you just don’t give a shit. So, now here’s
my
deal and you listen real close because I don’t have a habit of repeating myself. You see, Mr. Mason, it really doesn’t matter if you have Ray challenge me first or if you have one of the others do it. It doesn’t even matter if you have all four of your men take me on at one time.

             
You see, the only thing that really matters here, is I’m going to put the first bullet square in your chest about a split second after anyone moves in this room including Jed behind the bar there. Do you understand
that
? No matter what happens today, you die. Maybe me, maybe the sheriff here and maybe everyone in this room will die, but make no mistake about this,
you
are going to be the first one to die here today. Now, that’s the deal. I don’t have another thing to say about it so don’t ask me any more questions. I’ve wasted enough of my time with you already.” Jess had now altered Mason’s entire game plan and Mason was not happy about it.

             
Mason was a man who hadn’t been talked to in this manner for more years than he could remember. That, along with his temper, was the only explanation for what happened next. The only thing you could hear before Mason went for his gun was; “you bastard…”

             
Mason’s hand was moving. Jess stole a glance at Ray and determined that Ray was going for Steele. Jess figured that Steele was in now like it or not and Jess would let him handle Ray and the other man. Mason’s hand never got a grip on the pearl handle of his Colt .45. Jess’s shot caught him square in the chest. The other four men were all going for their guns. Jess’ second shot hit the man to Mason’s immediate right and his third shot hit the man next to him. He had fanned the second and third shots with his left hand. Steele had caught his first man, Ray, before he got his gun leveled at Steele, but he took a shot in the left shoulder before he caught the second man. Within a few seconds, five men lay dead on the floor and the smoke was heavy in the air from the gunpowder. Steele couldn’t help but notice Jess had shot Mason and the man next to him before he got his first shot off. Jed just stood behind the bar at one end like a statue.

             
“Jesus Goddamn Christ,” he said, almost in a whisper.

             
Steele was somewhat in shock himself, partially because he had been shot, but mostly because he couldn’t believe the speed of Jess’s gun hand. He knew a lot of men that were considered fast at skinning leather; but the truth was it was mostly that they were cool headed and didn’t miss with their first shot. The ones that were considered fast were the ones who stayed cool under pressure and made their first shot count, but this was different. Jess was not only cool under pressure; he was blazingly fast and accurate. Jess had pulled off all three shots in less than a second and he made every one of them count. Jed threw the sheriff a bar towel after he finally broke himself from his trance and Steele tucked it under his shirt where the bullet had passed through his shoulder. He winced a little at the pain it caused.

             
“Jess, I thought Jed here was exaggerating a little when he told me how fast you were, but now that I’ve seen it for myself, even
I
can’t believe it,” exclaimed Sheriff Steele. “How in the hell did you ever learn to shoot that fast?”

             
“Practice, Sheriff, lots and lots of practice,” he replied as he replaced the spent cartridges and holstered his pistol. Sheriff Steele shot Jess a strange look. Jess noticed the fine bottles of whiskey on the bar. “Sheriff, how about I buy you a drink. It doesn’t look like these boys are going to finish that bottle and it sure looks like a good one at that.”

             
“That’s one of my best bottles,” offered Jed. “Mr. Mason only drinks the best and he had me order it special. It’s really good whiskey.”

             
“Well, I guess I can have a drink or maybe two before I go to the Doc’s. Hell, this doesn’t look too bad,” said Steele, as he checked his shoulder where he had taken a bullet.

             
Sheriff Steele and Jess finished the bottle without another word and Jed just looked at the both of them thinking that he had just witnessed something not too many people would ever get to see. When the bottle was empty, the sheriff went to see the Doctor and Jess sat down at a table and looked at the five dead bodies lying on the floor. He wondered if Sheriff Steele hadn’t thrown in with him if he would be lying on the floor dead right now. The sheriff had sent the undertaker and some men over to clean up and carry the bodies out. Jess watched, showing no emotion. He finally spotted Patti looking out of the back door of the saloon. He looked at her and smiled a little. So little, you could hardly tell. After the bodies were all removed and Jed had mopped up most of the blood, Patti came out and sat down next to Jess.

             
“I’ve seen a lot of shooting in my days, but nothing like that,” said Patti, a bewildered look on her face. “You’re not just any young man, are you Jess Williams? There is something very special about you. Maybe you were born to it or maybe destiny has just singled you out for something special, but you’re not like other men. I’m glad I had the chance to meet someone like you.”

             
“Thanks, Patti,” he said. “I wonder about it myself sometimes. I figure that you’re a special woman, too, and I’m glad I got to meet you.” Patti stood up and smiled down at Jess.

             
“How about something to eat?” she asked.

             
“That sounds like a great idea.”

             
Patti nodded and went back in the kitchen and fixed Jess a plate of the day’s special. A few men were starting to filter into the saloon now. They had heard about the gunfight and they were quiet and just sat around and talked amongst themselves, every once in a while they would glance over at Jess. He heard them, but he didn’t listen. He knew what they were talking about and they’d be talking about it for the rest of their lives. They’d be telling the story about how they were there the day that Jess Williams took down three men in one gunfight. Jess continued to eat his food and when he finished, he went to his room and stayed there for the remainder of the day.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

              Hank Beard left Timber about an hour after Jess had ridden out to have some coffee with River Bend Bill. Their paths never crossed even though they had just spent the night in the same hotel with only one room separating them. Here was the man Jess was looking for and he had been in a bed less than thirty feet away. Beard hadn’t talked with anyone and had no idea Jess was in town or that he was looking for him. He had other things on his mind. He was focused on the planned robbery of Mason’s money coach and he wanted to talk to Grady and finish up their plans. He knew Grady wasn’t in town because when he was, Grady’s horse was always in the same place at the stable and it hadn’t been there when Beard had arrived. And because Grady didn’t often come to town, he didn’t think this unusual. Beard knew that Grady usually stayed out at the Mason ranch and close to Mason himself since Mason had his share of enemies.

             
Hank spent most of his day checking out some hiding places within a mile or so out of town just in case. Little did he know he was at one point within half a mile from River Bend Bill’s place while Jess was having coffee with Bill. He knew about Bill’s place and he avoided it because he didn’t want anyone to know what he was up to. Hank figured the less people knew the better. He eventually arrived at the Mason ranch just about sundown. The shootout in the saloon between Steele, Jess and Mason and his four hired guns was already history and people were talking about it.

             
Word had already reached the Mason ranch and Mason’s widow was already finished with her grieving. She shed a few tears, but the truth was she had fallen out of love with Paul Mason a long time ago. He cheated on her and treated her like a tool that he had to keep around when the need struck him. She wouldn’t miss him. She would miss the young Paul Mason she fell in love with years ago, but not the Paul Mason who had become so wealthy that he paid more attention to his money than his wife. Before the end of the day, she had already started to rearrange the ranch to fit her desires and she even threw some of his things out. After Hank stabled his horse, hoping he could bed down for the night and visit with Ben Grady, he walked up to the bunkhouse and asked for a cup of coffee and if anyone knew where Ben Grady was?

             
“Didn’t you hear? Ben’s dead and so is Mr. Mason,” said a tall lanky cowhand by the name of Luke. “Hell we don’t even know if we have a job anymore.”

             
Several of the men in the bunkhouse told the story to Hank about this young bounty hunter killing Ben and then facing down Mason and four other hired guns. They talked about how Ben never cleared his gun from its holster and how Sheriff Steele had thrown in with the kid against Mason. Beard listened to the story intently, taking it all in and having a hard time believing it. He was listening especially hard when one of the men told of Jess asking Grady if he knew a man by the name of Hank Beard and that he was looking for him.

             
“Did this Williams kid say why he was looking for me?” asked Hank.

             
“Said something about you killing his family and all,” replied one of the hands.

             
“Said you killed and raped his little sister. You didn’t do none of that, did ya, Hank?” asked one of the other hands.

             
“Hell, he’s talking out his ass,” lied Grady. “I ain’t raped any women and I sure ain’t raped no little girls. I can get all the women I want, anytime I want.” Beard took another swallow of his coffee. The hands were all watching him and wondering what he was going to do about the kid who was gunning for him.

             
“You boys mind me bunking down here tonight?” asked Grady. “I don’t need much, just a spot to lay my bedroll.”

             
“Sure, that’s fine, I guess,” said one of them. “But if that kid comes gunnin' for ya here, you’re on your own. None of us are tangling with the guy that took down Ben Grady.”

             
“Don’t worry, boys,” said Grady. “I take care of my own business. I ain’t scared of no boy even if he did take down Grady. He comes in here looking for me you just let me handle him.”

             
Hank sounded pretty convincing, but the hands could tell he was worried. He knew how fast Grady was and anyone who could take him in a fair fight, had to be pretty damn good. Hank figured right then and there he would try to find the kid and ambush him. Hell, he’d blow a hole in him with his shotgun before the kid even knew what hit him. He’d do it while the kid was asleep.

             
He finished his coffee and lay down on his bedroll. He was trying to figure out who he would ask to go in with him on the stage robbery now that Grady was dead. Even with Paul Mason dead, his widow would still run the ranch and still run the money into the bank in Timber. He already had it all planned out so maybe he would cut himself in for sixty percent instead of fifty. That would leave him with enough money to last him for years.