Brother's Keeper by Robert J. Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

box and I won’t say it again.”
That riled the man who was probably in his early forties and not used to being talked to by a young man who didn’t even look like he was past twenty yet, but he did, however, sit back down in the chair.
“Now see here,” protested Newcomb, “this is my office and I’m the Sheriff of this town unless you’ve forgotten that already.”
Jess walked up and shoved Newcomb’s feet off the desk, his boot heels slamming on the wood floor. “You’re no sheriff. You’re just another hired gun with a tainted badge pinned on you by a mayor who works for a man who thinks he owns the town. If you think for one minute that I’ll respect that badge as long as it’s pinned on you, you’re making a bad assumption and one that could cost you your life. I don’t give a shit about you, your badge, the mayor who pinned it on you, or the piece of crap paying you both.”
When Jess had walked over to the desk, he had partially turned away from Carter’s man in the chair. He could still see him out of the corner of his eye. He heard, more than saw, the man reaching for his gun. Jess pulled his gun, squeezing the trigger as he brought it across his belly and fanned a shot that hit the man in the chest. The barrel of Jess’ gun was only a few inches past his left elbow and Jess could feel the heat from the blast. The man fell back onto the chair, breaking one of chair’s legs and sending him to the floor. The chair could probably be fixed with a little work but the man, however, could not. He was dead when he hit the floor. Newcomb stood up and Jess took his left hand and slapped Newcomb so hard it put him against the wall. Not a punch, but open handed, which was much more insulting and exactly why Jess did it. Newcomb never tried to reach for his gun, he knew better after seeing Jess draw. Jess grabbed Newcomb by the neck with his left hand and rammed him into the wall. Jess put his pistol back in its holster and pulled Newcomb’s gun out. Newcomb froze in absolute terror. “Oh…God, you’re not going to shoot me are you?”
“Not yet. But I will guarantee you this. If you ever go within one hundred feet of Jim and Sara Smythe or their store, you’ll need an undertaker instead of something for the pain.”
“I won’t ever bother them again. You have my word. But, what did you say about pain?”
Jess didn’t bother to explain what he meant. He took Newcomb’s gun and cracked him hard across the nose with the butt of the pistol. Jess could hear the bone snap in his nose and the blood came gushing out of Newcomb’s nose so fast that Jess had to quickly step back so as not to get any blood on his shirt. Newcomb grabbed a white cloth out of his front pocket and held it to his nose with both hands. The cloth quickly turned red from the blood. “Damn it! You broke my nose! You’re a crazy man!”
“Maybe I am, but when you need something for the pain, you be sure to go to the new general store to get it, understand? If I so much as see you walk in front of Smythe’s General Store you’ll be seeing the front end of my pistol instead of the butt end of yours and don’t give me a reason to warn you again. If I have to, it’ll be your last day on Carter’s payroll and your first day in hell.”
Jess turned and walked out leaving Newcomb cussing and hollering about his nose and saying something about how Carter was coming to town tomorrow. He had blood all over his face and his shirt. That sure was messy, Jess thought to himself. He still had Newcomb’s gun in his hand. He unloaded it and threw it in the dirt. It hit the dirt about a second before a bullet hit the dirt not more than two inches from Jess’ left foot. Jess reacted with pure instinct. He knew that the bullet came from high up and to his left from the way the dirt sprayed up from the impact. He quickly moved to his right a step and as he did he saw two figures on a roof across the street about ten feet apart. Jess fanned two