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

by Robert J. Thomas

  She had just returned from a quick trip to the little town of Ranklin, looking for any signs of Rubin. She had been to dozens of little towns over the last few weeks looking for him. He was the only person who could clear her name and prove that she killed Jethro in self-defense. She wasn’t even sure if he would tell the truth about what happened; but, in her mind, it was the only option she had left.

  She seen the wanted posters with her face on it tacked up around the towns she had visited already. She kept her face hidden as much as possible. She cut her hair short and bought a hat that was two sizes too big for her head so that she could keep it lowered over her face as much as possible. She was pretty sure that the store owner in one of the towns she had visited recognized her when she had purchased some supplies from him, but she made it out of that town before anyone caught up with her.

  The cave opening was small and covered with some brush she gathered up in the hills. She had a good water supply available from the small stream that meandered through the hills, finally dumping into a large river to the east. She made a fire and began to cook up a mixture of beans and salt pork with the last can of beans she had. After that, she used the last of her coffee to brew a pot to help take some of the chill from her bones from the driving rain she had spent the last two hours riding in.

  After she ate, she unsaddled her horse and fed him some grain she bought from the livery in Ranklin. She took the bucket she found in the cave and put it outside to catch the rain water that was still drenching the landscape so she could water the horse.

  She sat down on a large rock just inside the cave opening and watched the rain spattering off the edges of the wooden bucket. She thought about her dead husband and then her mind wandered back to the day she was raped and forced to leave her home. She started to cry again, which was something she seemed to do several times a day now. She looked at the rifle leaning up against the wall and wondered if she should just end it by swallowing a bullet, but something in her had prevented her from doing it so far. She was alone, being hunted by gunslingers and bounty hunters and she was almost out of what little money she had.

  ***

  The heavens opened up about an hour after Jess rode out of Defiance. He had been riding through the downpour for almost two hours now and his body was getting cold and stiff. He kept looking around for somewhere to hole up from the rainstorm, but he wasn’t having much luck with it so far. Then, through the sleeting rain he saw the outline of hills off to his left. He turned Gray toward them.

  “Maybe we can find some cover in those hills,” said Jess, rubbing Gray on his neck.

  Jess rode over the first hill and saw the stream. He saw some clumps of pine trees, but none of them were large enough to provide any real cover. He was thinking about making a lean-to for cover when he rode Gray over a second hill. He rode down toward the stream that meandered through the hills. He turned in the saddle looking around at the territory and the rain started to lessen a little.

  That’s when he spotted it. The dead brush around a small opening in the one hillside. It stuck out because it just didn’t look natural against the rest of the terrain, which was covered in lush bushes and pine trees. Jess pulled his Winchester rifle out of its scabbard as a precaution and rode toward the opening. He was about two hundred feet from it when the sound of a rifle cracked and a bullet sizzled past him just above his head.

  “What the hell…” Jess exclaimed, as he slid from the saddle and crouched behind a large pine tree.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Don’t come any closer!” a voice shouted out from the opening.

  “Why in the hell are you shooting at me?” Jess hollered back as he racked a shell into his Winchester.

  “Did Walt Mercer send you to find me?” the voice hollered back. Jess looked through the branches of the pine tree, but he couldn’t see anything, but the opening.

  “Are you Jane Lacey?” Jess hollered up to the opening. Another shot rang out and clipped a branch on the tree and Jess ducked down a little more.

  “You’ll never make it in here!” the voice hollered back.

  “You didn’t answer my question!”

  “And you didn’t answer mine!”

  “No, Mercer didn’t send me!”

  “Then how did you find me?”

  “You might have a hard time believing it, but it was by accident!”

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Jess Williams!” Two more shots rang out, slamming into the pine tree; shaking it and dumping more water on Jess. He put his back to the trunk of the tree.

  “What the hell was that for?” demanded Jess.

  “I know who you are!” the voice bellowed back. “You’re a bounty hunter! I’ve read about you in those dime novels!”

  “Then you should know that I ain’t hunting you!”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “Because you’re wanted alive, and I only hunt men who are wanted dead or alive! If you’ve read about me, you should know that!” there was a long pause.

  “Just go away and leave me alone!” the voice hollered back. Jess watched the rain rolling off his hat and splattering down onto his rain slicker. His legs from the knee down were saturated and he could feel the water squishing between his toes in his boots.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s raining like hell out here!” Jess argued. “I need to get out of this shit and get dried out!”

  “Go find another cave!”

  “You still haven’t answered my question!”

  “I don’t have to!”

  “Sheriff Burch thinks you killed that fellow in self-defense!” there was another long pause.

  “Maybe, but he still works for Walt Mercer!”

  “So you are Jane Lacey!” confirmed Jess.

  “Yeah, but you still ain’t coming in here!” Jess felt his back straining against the cold and the rain seemed to purposefully come down even harder.

  “I’m coming up there, so don’t shoot me!” Jess hollered up.

  “I’ll shoot you!”

  “I don’t think so!”

  “I will, I mean it!”

  “I’m betting you won’t!”

  “You’re betting your life on it!”

  “Ain’t exactly the first time!”

  Jess slowly stood up feeling the muscles in his back strain again from the cold rain. He walked out from behind the pine tree and held his rifle up in his left hand and began to walk carefully up the hillside. A shot rang out and burned by his left side, missing him by two feet. He hesitated for a few seconds and continued to climb the slope. Another bullet whizzed over his head to the right of him and he heard it whining off a rock behind him.

  “Don’t hit my two horses!” Jess hollered out as he kept slowly working his way up to the entrance on the hillside.

  “You’d better quit walking and turn around!”

  “I’m telling you for the last time, I mean you no harm!”

  “How can I know that for sure?”

  “Because I could’ve already killed you!”

  “How can you when I’m in here and you’re out there?”

  “I’ve got a long range buffalo rifle and I could set myself up on another hillside far enough out of range for your rifle and pepper that opening with lead for hours until one of the slugs ricocheted off the walls and finally found you!”

  There was another long pause. Jess kept walking until he finally got to the opening of the cave. He cautiously walked inside holding both of his hands up, his Winchester in his left hand. He immediately sighed when he felt the warmth from the fire and his hands started shaking from the bone-chilling cold. He looked around the large cavernous room and finally a slim figure holding a rifle slowly came out from the shadows. It was Jane Lacey and she was pointing the rifle straight at him.

  “You’re a reckless and crazy man, Mr. Williams,” observed Jane.

  “Maybe, but I’m cold, wet and hungry,” replied Jess, his teeth beginning
to chatter as he walked closer to the fire. He leaned his Winchester up against the wall of the cave and he stood over the fire warming his hands, his slicker still dripping water onto the rocky floor. Jane kept the rifle aimed at him, a harsh look on her face.

  “Why don’t you put that rifle down?”

  “I still don’t trust you.”

  “You’re not going to shoot me,” Jess said confidently.

  “You sure about that?”

  “Well, either you’re the worst aim in the world or you missed me by accident with every shot and I’m betting on the latter.”

  “You’d be right about that,” confirmed Jane. “My dearly departed husband taught me how to shoot a rifle. I can pick a squirrel out of a tree at two hundred yards.”

  “Impressive,” agreed Jess, as he took his hat off and sat it on a rock by the fire. He pulled his rain slicker off and shook it and threw it onto the rocky floor, exposing all his guns, including his unique pistol and holster.

  “You really do wear all those guns,” said Jane, looking at the handles of the two cut-down double-barrel shotguns sticking out from each side along with the handle of the large bore shotgun in his back sling.

  “Yeah, they all serve a purpose,” replied Jess, rubbing his hands together. He gave Jane a keen look. “You can lower that rifle any time now.” Jane stared into his eyes as she slowly lowered the rifle. As she did, her shoulders slumped and she started to cry softly.

  “I don’t care anymore,” whimpered Jane. “Go ahead and kill me if you want to. I’ve got nothing to live for anyway.”

  “I told you already, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “But I’m worth twenty-five thousand dollars,” sobbed Jane.

  “I don’t need the money. Besides, I only hunt those who deserve it, bounty or not.” Jess walked over to a large boulder by the fire and removed his boots one at a time and took his socks off and wrung the water out of them and laid them by the fire. Jane watched him through watery eyes. “Sheriff Burch tried to convince me to hunt for you, but I declined.”

  “Why?” asked Jane, attempting to gather her composure.

  “Like I said, I don’t need the money. And there’s the little fact that I don’t think you’re guilty of murdering Jethro Mercer.”

  “I did kill him.”

  “Killing is a whole lot different than murder. I kill wanted men, but I don’t go around murdering people for no reason.”

  “Too bad Walt Mercer doesn’t see things your way.”

  “Sometimes when a man loses a son, he loses his sense,” offered Jess. “I ain’t saying it’s right, I’m just saying it happens.” Jess heard a horse snort and he looked up from the fire.

  “Your horse is in here?” asked Jess. Jane wiped her watery eyes with her sleeve.

  “Yeah, back around the corner,” replied Jane.

  “As soon as I warm up a little more, I’ll go and get my two horses and bring them in,” suggested Jess. “You got any coffee. Jane shook her head and started crying again.

  “I ran out of everything today and I’ve only got three dollars left to my name,” whispered Jane as if she didn’t care about anything anymore.

  “Well, my saddlebags are fully stocked,” offered Jess. “I’ll go and get my horses as soon as my socks dry up a little and cook us up some grub.”

  They sat there is silence for almost an hour while Jess stoked the fire and dried his socks by hanging them on a stick and holding them over the fire. He hung his boots upside down on two more sticks by the fire. He finally warmed up and put his socks and boots back on. Jane watched him, thinking about all the time she had watched her husband put his socks and boots on in the morning before working the ranch. She started crying again silently, her face turned away from Jess. He stood up and put his rain slicker and hat back on and walked out to get Gray and Sharps. The two horses were faithfully standing right where he had left them. He led them up the hillside and into the cave and they both snorted when they saw the fire.

  Jess unsaddled them, fed and watered them and started pulling some supplies out of his oversized saddlebags. He opened a can of peaches and handed it to Jane who quickly accepted it. He went about making a large pan of beans and beef jerky along with some pan bread that he added some cooked bacon to for extra flavor. When he poured the mixture for the pan bread into the hot skillet, Jane looked up from the can of peaches.

  “You make your own bread?” Jane asked.

  “Yeah, I mix up some flour and corn meal with water and sometimes I add cooked bacon or salt pork in it,” explained Jess. “Hell, I’ve even thrown in berries or nuts or anything else I have or can find. It’s actually quite good and it’s great for sopping up beans.” Jess thought he might have seen a hint of a fleeting smile on Jane’s face.

  When they were finished with their meal, he poured them both a cup of hot coffee. Jane sat down on the floor of the cave and nursed it. Jess sat down and leaned against the large boulder by the fire, watching her and seeing the absolute look of hopelessness on her face. He finished his coffee and stuck some more wood on the fire that quickly flared up and they laid their bedrolls down on the hard ground. He took the first watch while Jane fell off to a fitful sleep, waking several times moaning and jerking her body around. He felt bad for the woman and slowly a guilty feeling began to wash over him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jess woke in a quick start, throwing the blanket off and grabbing his pistol off his stomach. He saw Jane making coffee and she almost spilled it when she was startled by his quick movement.

  “I didn’t mean to surprise you like that,” apologized Jane. Jess slowly stood up and holstered his pistol and put his large bore shotgun in the sling on and tucked his two cut-down double-barrels into the back of his holster.

  “Sorry about that,” offered Jess. “I’m not used to sharing a camp; I’m usually alone on the trail.”

  “Do you always sleep with that pistol on your stomach?”

  “Always.”

  Jess walked into the back of the cave and took care of the horses and when he came back to the fire, Jane had the food cooked and they sat on the floor and ate in silence. She kept stealing glances at him and he noticed it. When they were done eating, she took the pans out and down to the stream to clean everything up while he stood guard with his rifle. The rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing up quickly, allowing the sun to start drying up the landscape. A mist was rising up from the hillsides and the morning air was carrying it over the top of the peaks. When they got back inside the cave, Jess sat on the large boulder and looked at her with a curious gaze.

  “So, is Sheriff Burch right? Did you kill Jethro in self-defense?” Jane squirmed a little and her eyes looked around the cave nervously and then she looked straight into Jess’ eyes.

  “Jethro knocked me out and when I woke up, I realized I had been raped,” explained Jane. “He was arguing with Rubin Fisher, telling Rubin that he had to kill me to make sure I didn’t tell his father what he had done. When he took his knife out of his boot, I grabbed the pitchfork and stabbed him with it. Rubin told me I should run and that Walt wouldn’t believe that Jethro would do what he did.”

  “This Rubin fellow…did he…? Jess asked as gently as he could. She lowered her head.

  “I don’t really know for sure,” cried Jane. “I was too afraid at the time to ask. I don’t think so though. I think he was just as afraid as I was. I’ve been looking for him the last several weeks, but I haven’t been able to find him.”

  “Does Rubin have any money?”

  “No, he lived off Jethro’s money, which is why he started hanging around with him in the first place.”

  “Does Rubin have any family in the area?”

  “He talked about having an uncle who has a farm outside of Jacksonville, Texas,” said Jane, deep in thought when she said it. “He always talked about going to live with him someday.” Jess paused a moment and Jane stared at him probingly.

  “Jacksonville i
s a good ten days of riding from here.” Jess said it softly as if he was thinking out loud.

  “Are you suggesting that I ride all the way to Jacksonville to look for him?”

  “Well, Sheriff Burch said they’ve looked in dozens of towns around the area and searched all the boarding rooms and hotels,” he explained. “If Rubin doesn’t have any money, then the only logical place for him to go is his uncle’s place. Either that, or live off the land and hold up in a cave like this, but eventually he’ll need money for certain supplies.”

  “I only have three dollars left to my name,” blustered Jane. “That won’t get me to Jacksonville.” Jess studied her for a few long moments.

  “Hell, you’d never make it to Jacksonville alive anyway,” he clarified. “Mercer has a dozen bounty hunters and gunslingers looking for you right now. I met two of them in Defiance yesterday and they’re a mean pair and damn good at finding people.”

  “Then what can I do?” sobbed Jane woefully. “Am I supposed to live in this cave for the rest of my life?” Jess looked around the cave and grinned.

  “Well, it is a pretty nice cave as far as caves go,” implied Jess waving his hands around at their surroundings. Jane picked up a small rock and threw it at him, still sobbing.

  “That wasn’t funny,” sniveled Jane, almost smiling. Jess caught the rock in his left hand and studied it for a moment. Then he threw it back at her and she caught it.

  “So what now?” she asked solemnly. “Are you going to just ride out and leave me here?”

  “You did try to shoot me yesterday,” he offered sharply.

  “I thought you were here to take me back to Mercer for the money,” she snapped. “Besides, I missed you on purpose.”