HELL HATH NO FURY (A Jess Williams western novel) by Robert J. Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

went for his gun, which he actually got out of his holster, but not far enough to level it with Jess before two slugs from Jess’ pistol slammed into Wales’s chest, one of the slugs tearing straight through his heart. Wales fell back onto the table and knocked the good bottle of whiskey off the table, breaking it when it hit the floor.
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
                  “Damn, that sure was a waste,” said Jess, as he reloaded his two spent cartridges in his pistol.
                  Hayes, who had watched the dance of death from behind the bar, looked over at Jess. “Yeah, I have to agree with you because he seemed like such a right nice fellow,” replied Hayes.
                  Jess looked over at Walter as he holstered his pistol. “Huh?” said Jess, looking at Hayes and then back at Wales’s dead body. “Oh, I didn’t mean him. I meant it was a waste of that fine bottle of whiskey there broken on the floor.”
                  Just then Annie came running into the saloon to see Jess standing at the bar sipping whiskey and a dead man on the floor. Walter started to say something about a woman coming into his saloon, but Jess shot him a look that made him change his mind.
                  “Well, it looks like you’ve dispatched one more man to his maker,” said Annie.
                  “It would seem so, but I’m not sure where they really go after they take their last breath,” replied Jess.
                  “You don’t believe in the good book?” asked Annie.
                  “Let’s just say that I wonder about it a lot,” replied Jess. “I sure hope there is something after death, but I’m just not sure. Maybe one day I’ll sit down and read the bible, but for now, I have a mission in life and it doesn’t exactly go along with what most people have told me about the good book.”
                  Sheriff Davies came into the saloon with his two deputies. The sheriff checked Harney Wales and told one of his deputies to go and get the undertaker. The sheriff walked over to Jess and ordered a whiskey. “Does the grim reaper follow you around like a shadow or something?” asked the Sheriff.
                  “I don’t rightly know, Sheriff, but maybe that’s true because he seems to keep me pretty busy,” replied Jess.
                  The sheriff looked over at the woman standing next to Jess. What stood out to him wasn’t the fact that she was a woman in a saloon, but instead, it was the fact that she was wearing a six-shooter tied down low like any other gunslinger.
                  “And who the hell is this?” asked Sheriff Davies, nodding at the woman next to Jess.
                  “I can speak for myself Sheriff,” retorted Annie, a smart tone in her voice. “My name is Annie McCracken.”
                  “Well, Annie McCracken, that don’t exactly explain why you’ve got a six-shooter strapped around your waist,” replied Sheriff Davies.
                  “I’m wearing it because I’m looking for the two men who raped me and my mother and murdered my father,” replied Annie.
                  “I sure hope you know how to use that thing because if not, it might get you killed just for wearing it,” replied Sheriff Davies.
                  “Don’t you worry yourself on that matter, Sheriff. I know how to use it quite well and Jess here said that he was going to teach me how to shoot better—starting today,” replied Annie, shooting a look at Jess and he knew what it meant.
                  “I think that will have to wait until tomorrow,” replied Jess.
                  “But you said that we would start today,” insisted Annie.
                  “I know, but I didn’t exactly think I’d be in a gun fight today and it is getting late