HELL HATH NO FURY (A Jess Williams western novel) (20 page)

             
Jess finally relaxed a little, but his guard was still up. “Thanks Owen,” he said taking a sip of the whiskey. “Have you seen a man by the name of Cliff Hunt here in town recently?”

             
“As recently as yesterday when three men beat him to the edge of death for what he did. He raped and killed one of the better looking whores a few days ago. Her name was Betty Wilson. Then three cowboys came through looking for Betty and when they found out what had happened and who did it, they came in here when that Hunt fellow was all liquored up and they gave him the thrashing of his life. They put him on his horse and chased him out of town. I don’t think he’ll be back this way for a long time.”

             
“Do you know which way he went?” asked Jess.

             
“Well, he was headed in the direction of Buford when he ran out of here, but he could have changed directions once he was out of town,” replied Hughes. Hughes looked at the shotgun on the bar. “I think you can put that thing away now. There ain’t no one in the saloon right now that you have to worry too much about. I’ll give you the nod if someone comes in that might be a problem for you.”

             
“Thanks Owen, I appreciate the information,” replied Jess, as he put the other shotgun into the back of his holster.

             
Annie looked disappointed at the fact that Cliff Hunt had been here yesterday and now he was gone. “Well, now what do we do?” asked Annie.

             
“Finish your coffee and we’ll head for Buford at first light and hope that’s where he’ll be. That’s where I’d go if I were him,” replied Jess.

             
“Why?”

             
“Because there ain’t no law in Buford and men like Hunt try to stay out of town’s with any lawmen since he’d probably get himself caught,” replied Jess.

             
“Well, then I agree with your thinking,” said Annie.

             
Jess finished up with his whiskey and Annie took another swallow of her coffee. Just as she swallowed it, two surely looking men walked into the saloon and noticed a woman standing at the end of the bar and they especially noticed that she was wearing a six-shooter around her waist and tied down low. Their names were Joe Bass and Fred Bates and while Jess didn’t know who they were, Owen did and they were nothing but trouble. Hughes gave Jess the nod to let him know. The two men walked up to the bar and ordered two whiskeys and all the while they kept staring at Annie who was now standing directly behind Jess. Jess felt Annie carefully removing one of the cut down shotguns from the back of his holster and Jess didn’t move a muscle. His eyes were fixed on the two men at the bar.

             
“What are you two staring at?” asked Jess.

             
Joe Bass was the first to speak. “Well, were looking at that fine looking woman hiding behind you over there. I’d sure like to have a little of that,” replied Bass.

             
“Yeah, and I’d like to have some after he’s finished with her,” added Fred Bates, licking his lips with his tongue.

             
Annie stepped out from behind Jess at that comment and she was holding the cut-down double-barreled shotgun in her right hand. “Neither of you two worthless asses is getting anything from me except the buckshot from this here shotgun,” exclaimed Annie.

             
“Whoa, take it easy there woman. That thing might go off and you’ll take half of the saloon out with it,” said Bass.

             
“Yeah, put that damn thing away,” added Bates.

             
“I’m not putting it away until the two of you get the hell out of here and I mean now,” retorted Annie, glaring at the two men.

             
“We’re not going anywhere until we finish up with some whiskey and maybe take one of the whores upstairs for a little fun if you get my drift woman,” replied Bates.

             
Annie started to say something, but Jess used his left arm to slowly push her back behind him, hoping all the while that the shotgun didn’t go off because he could feel her whole body shaking when he did it. Jess’ left hand brushed one of her breasts and she didn’t object or even try to move his hand away. He could not be distracted right now, he still had to deal with the two men.

             
“You two are right about that, except for the part about you two having some fun with one of the whores in here,” said Jess.

             
“What do you mean by that Mister?” asked Bates.

             
“I mean you’re definitely not leaving this saloon and neither of you two are having any fun with any of the whores in here,” replied Jess.

             
Bass and Bates both had a confused look on their faces. Jess kept his eyes fixed on the two of them when he asked the barkeep a question. “Owen, who are these two men and what do you know about them?”

             
Owen poured Jess another glass of whiskey. “That’s Joe Bass and that one next to him is Fred Bates and they ain’t nothing but trouble. They’ve both been in gunfights in here and they come into town from time to time to spend time with the whores working in here. About a month ago they beat one of my best whores up pretty bad. She’s still too afraid to come back in here and I’ve been losing money ever since,” Owen explained.

             
Jess glared at the two men. “Is that right? Did the two of you beat up one of the women working in the saloon here?”

             
“What the hell is it to you?” retorted Bass.

             
“I’ll tell you what it is to me. I’ve ran completely out of tolerance for the likes of men who beat up women,” replied Jess.

             
“I don’t see what business it is of yours anyway,” replied Bass.

             
“Well, I guess I’m making it my business now,” replied Jess.

             
“What the hell are you going to do about it,” replied Bass.

             
“Yeah,” added Bates. “Are you planning on trying to run us out of here like your woman?”

             
“Like I said earlier, you two ain’t leaving this saloon breathing the same air,” replied Jess.

             
Bates and Bass looked at each other and then they finally caught on to what Jess meant. “Oh, so you mean to take the both of us on?” asked Bates.

             
“Now you’re finally getting the idea,” replied Jess.

             
Bates and Bass spread apart a few feet and removed their hammer straps from their six-shooters. “Is your woman going to get involved in this too?” asked Bates.

             
“Nope, she’s just going to have another cup of coffee and watch the two of you get carried out of here after it’s over.”

             
“You think you can take the two of us all by yourself?” asked Bates.

             
“Yep,” replied Jess, cocking his head and with that cocky grin on his face.

             
Both men reached for their six-shooters. They never got to draw them or even cock them before a slug from Jess’ pistol found each of them. They both stumbled backward and Jess fanned another slug into each one of them before they hit the floor. Jess saw one of the two men who had one of the whores sitting on his lap start to lift a pistol above the table and he fanned a shot and hit the man straight in the middle of his forehead. The whore jumped up and ran upstairs as the man slumped down in his chair and then fell over onto the floor. Jess glared at the other man who was still sitting at the table and the man put both of his hands on the table.

             
“You ain’t got to worry about me, Mister. I was just playing poker against him and he was cleaning me out, but I guess the pot belongs to me now since it looks like he’s out of the game after you plugged him,” replied the man as he scraped up all the money on the table.

             
Jess glanced over at the Owen, who gave him the nod to let Jess know that the other man was not going to be a problem. Jess replaced the spent cartridges from his pistol as he looked around the saloon checking the face of everyone in it. He finally relaxed and put his pistol back in his holster leaving the hammer strap off. He picked up his glass of whiskey and took a long pull from it. Annie, who hadn’t moved a muscle during the whole event, looked at him and the strange thing was that she was smiling what could only be described as a devious smile.

             
“What are you smiling about?” asked Jess.

             
“Oh, nothing,” replied Annie, sheepishly.

             
“What, no drawn-out argument from you this time?”

             
“No, but I noticed that you didn’t say that I
wasn’t
your woman,” Annie said still smiling. “And, you do know that you touched my left breast, don’t you?”

             
“That was an accident, honest. I took no pleasure from it,” replied Jess, somewhat embarrassed now.

             
Annie smiled even more now. “Well, maybe you should have.”

             
Jess’ face got red and he looked at the Owen, who was also smiling, until Jess shot him a glare.

CHAPTER TWENTY

              Jess thanked the Owen and threw him a twenty dollar gold piece, which he gladly accepted and Jess and Annie went back behind the buildings across the street to their horses and retrieved them. It was late in the evening so Jess decided they should head in the direction of Buford and make camp off the main trail. They rode about three miles outside of Devil Ridge and then turned their horses north and rode about one mile from the main trail. They made no fire and each of them ate a cold can of beans and turned in for the night. Jess woke to the smell of beans and salt pork and saw Annie sitting on a rock stirring the mixture in a skillet. Jess stood up, yawned and stretched and then he holstered his pistol, which had spent the night lying on his chest, as always.

             
“Annie, you might want to put that fire out,” said Jess, walking over to the campfire.

             
“Why? We had to eat cold beans last night and I thought a hot meal this morning would make you happy,” replied Annie.

             
“It does and it smells really great, but we’re only about a mile from the main trail between Devil Ridge and Buford and there ain’t nothing but trouble riding on it. You never know who might see the smoke and you can be pretty sure they most likely won’t be friendly men.”

             
“Oh, alright, this stuff is hot enough already anyway,” replied Annie. She dished out two tin plates of the salt pork and beans and fetched a canteen and poured it onto the fire, dousing the flames. Jess helped by kicking in some sand with his boot to keep the smoke down to a minimum. “There, are you happy now?” asked Annie, sitting down and taking a spoonful of the warm food.

             
“Not really,” replied Jess, putting his plate of food on the ground and all the while looking out at the main trail where he had spotted some dust rising up. He knew from experience that it probably wasn’t a dust devil, but most likely something much worse.

             
“Why? What’s the matter now?” asked Annie.

             
“That’s what’s the matter,” replied Jess, nodding in the direction of the ever growing dust cloud coming straight for their camp.

             
“Oh my, it’s my fault for starting this fire isn’t it?” Annie asked.

             
“Your intentions were good, but good intentions won’t keep you safe around these here parts. It’s thick with thieves and gunslingers and men with mostly bad intentions,” replied Jess, as he removed one of the cut-down double-barreled shotguns from the back of his holster and handed it to Annie. “If anyone of them moves you let one barrel go at a time and you let me do all the talking.”

             
“Why not both barrels?”

             
“Because the kick from letting both barrels fly at the same time might just break your wrist. That thing kicks like a mule.”

             
When the riders finally came into view, Jess was actually relieved to see that there were only two of them. The two men slowed their pace and slowly walked their horses up to Jess and Annie’s camp. The two men both had shotguns lying across their laps, but they made no move for them yet. Jess looked them over and something about them told him that they might not be trouble. They were clean shaven and dressed fairly nice, which was somewhat unusual around this area.

             
“What are the two of you doing out in this godforsaken area? Especially with a woman wearing a six-shooter like some kind of gunslinger,” said the man on the right.