The RECKONING: A Jess Williams Western (33 page)

             
“You’re an observant man, Sheriff,” he replied. “Three men down and for no real reason other than they thought they had to prove something.”

             
“Prove what?”

             
“That they were tough, but now they’re dead,” he replied matter-of-factly, as he kept walking and kept his eyes straight down the street, looking directly at Harry’s.

             
“I suppose you’re headin’ down to Harry’s?”

             
“You’re staying right up with my way of thinking, Sheriff.”

             
“Guess you know that Taggert is down there, huh?” the Sheriff asked already knowing the answer.

             
“I heard.”

             
“I guess there ain’t much chance of talking you outta this, is there?”

             
“Not a chance, Sheriff,” he replied, walking slowly and with a meaningful purpose.

             
“Well, you watch yourself,” he warned. “He’s got a friend with him and he’s a mean one. Don’t trust him. He’ll draw on you when you ain’t lookin’.”

             
Jess stopped suddenly and looked at the sheriff. “Is it the man you said left with Taggert?” asked Jess intensely. “The man you called Sloan?”

             
“No, I know this man,” replied Clancy. “His name is Winn Deets. He’s a hired killer and a no good sumbitch.”

             
“Thanks for the warning, Sheriff,” he replied. “I assume that you aren’t going to involve yourself in this?”

             
“Now you’re staying up with
my
way of thinking,” responded Sheriff Clancy. The sheriff let out a little chuckle that he quickly suppressed. “You be careful, Jess.” The Sherriff headed back toward Little’s Drinks and Jess started back toward Harry’s Place.

             
Jess reached Harry’s and stopped outside the saloon and stood in the street looking at the place. He wondered why the place was called Harry’s. He understood why Little’s Drinks was called Little’s because the owner was short and his last name was Little. He thought about calling Blake Taggert out into the street to face him, but decided instead to go ahead and walk right in. He knew they were waiting for him and might be setting him up for an ambush. Jess stepped up onto the boardwalk and before entering the saloon, he pulled the sawed off shotgun from his back sling. He used the barrel of the shotgun to push the batwing doors of the saloon open.

             
He walked into the saloon and stopped just two feet past the doorway. He noticed there was quite a crowd in the place. There were at least twenty locals sitting around at tables and standing at the bar. The half-dozen or so men at the bar were in two groups. Four of them were standing in the middle of the bar and two men were standing at the far left end of the bar. The two men at the left end of the bar were the men he had to deal with. Those two men slowly turned around to look at who had come into the saloon. Blake Taggert and Jess’s eyes locked from the instant they looked at one another. Jess couldn’t forget that face even if he had wanted to.

             
Taggert did not recognize Jess and had no idea who he was or what he wanted with him. All he knew was that someone in town was looking for him and this must be the man. Jess continued to keep an eye on everyone in the room, but his gaze never left Taggert. The place went almost silent with just a whisper here and there. Everyone had noticed the double-barreled shotgun and no one in the place wanted a taste of that. Jess very slowly worked himself around and behind several tables keeping the wall at his backside, making his way to the far right end of the bar. The barkeep walked over to Jess. The barkeep’s face was covered with thick hair. His hair hung down to his shoulders and his beard almost reached down to his waist. The only part of the barkeep’s face that showed was two openings for his eyes. Even his eyebrows were unusually bushy.
Another mystery solved,
Jess thought to himself.

             
“Welcome to Harry’s, Mr. Williams,” said the barkeep. “I own this place and I’d like to buy you your first drink. What’ll you have?” Jess carefully placed the shotgun on the top of the bar, making sure that it was still pointed in the direction of Taggert and the other man with Taggert. Jess asked for a beer, which Harry quickly poured. A few of the other locals who were close to the bar slowly moved away and that left Jess looking straight down the now empty bar at Blake Taggert and Winn Deets.

             
Jess took a few sips of his beer and stared at Blake Taggert, remembering that day they first met. Jess wondered how any man could be as evil as Taggert. He was certain in his mind that Taggert was the one responsible for the grisly murders recently in Red Rock. Taggert said nothing for several minutes. He wasn’t really worried, but he wondered who this kid was who was gunning for him with a shotgun on the bar and a strange looking pistol and holster. Taggert knew he had committed many crimes. Maybe he had done something to this kid, and the only way to find out was to ask.

             
“I understand you’ve been waiting for me,” said Taggert. “Do I know you?”

             
Jess didn’t respond right away. He wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to savor the moment now that he finally found the last of the three men who killed his family, or if he wanted Taggert to remember who he was. Here he was, his life changed forever in such a dramatic way, and Taggert couldn’t even remember him.

             
“You don’t remember me, do you?” asked Jess.

             
“I can’t say I do,” replied Taggert. “What’s your name?”

             
“Jess Williams.”

             
Taggert still had a puzzled look on his face. “Sorry, I don’t know any Jess Williams.”

             
“Maybe you remember a farm back in Black Creek, Kansas,” said Jess. Taggert’s body language changed slightly and Jess immediately picked up on it.

             
“Never been to Black Creek, Kansas,” replied Taggert, knowing he wasn’t telling the truth.

             
“Maybe you remember a woman hanging from a doorway, all cut up,” he pushed, his voice getting slightly louder.

             
“I still have no idea about what you’re talking about,” lied Taggert.

             
“Remember a man shot several times behind a plow out in a field…do you remember that?” he asked as the anger started to well up inside him. Winn Deets had not said a word up to now, but he was getting aggravated and it showed.

             
“Hey, kid,” snapped Deets. “I don’t know who you are and I don’t much give a shit. Why don’t you just haul your ass out of here while you’re still walking upright?”

             
“Mister, I’m not walking out of here until that man standing next to you is dead and if you want to die with him, that’s your decision. I don’t much care either way,” explained Jess. Jess knew Deets was pissed. He also knew Deets was ready to draw, just as soon as he felt Jess wasn’t watching him close enough. Jess turned his attention back to Taggert while keeping a close watch on Deets.

             
“Maybe you might remember a little seven-year-old girl who you raped and murdered by shooting her in the forehead,” Jess pushed further. “Do you remember her? Remember a young boy you met out on the road about an hour before you murdered an entire family? That boy was me and the family you murdered was my family. Surely any man who could commit such brutal acts would remember them. I know that I can still see it in my mind like it was yesterday.”

             
Taggert remembered very well what Jess was talking about. He just wasn’t going to admit to any of it. He especially remembered the little girl. He had enjoyed that. “You’ve got me mixed up with someone else,” refuted Taggert.

             
“You’re a damn liar, but I guess that shouldn’t surprise me,” he countered angrily. “I suppose you ain’t going to admit to murdering that family outside of town right here either. That was you, wasn’t it?”

             
“Maybe the man who murdered your family is the same man who murdered that family here in Red Rock,” replied Taggert, smiling to himself inside at the thought of the young girl he had so brutally raped and murdered.

             
“You’re finally getting it right,” said Jess. “And that same man is you.”

             
“I’m telling you, you’ve got it all wrong, kid,” contested Taggert. “I never murdered anyone, ever, especially in this town.” Taggert was getting a little nervous now as some of the men in the saloon started whispering between themselves about the murdered family.

             
“I’ve got a message from two friends of yours,” said Jess.

             
“Who might that be?” Taggert asked, quizzically.

             
“Your two friends Randy Hastings and Hank Beard.”

             
“What was the message?”

             
“That they’d see you in hell.”

             
“Hell?”

             
“Yeah, that’s where I sent them and that’s where you’re going next,” he replied bluntly.

             
“And who’s going to send me there?” asked Taggert, a contemptuous look washing across his face.

             
“You’re looking at him.”

             
“You?” he asked sarcastically.

             
“Do I have to repeat myself?”

             
“And you think you’re good enough?”

             
“You’re about to find out.”

             
“Kid, I’ve been drawing a pistol damn near as long as you’ve been breathing air,” spat Taggert. “What makes you think you can take me?”

             
“Only one way to find out for sure,” he said threateningly. Deets had been listening to all of this and he was getting more and more agitated by the moment. He finally spoke up.

             
“You might think you can take Taggert, but you can’t take the both of us at the same time,” claimed Deets boldly. Jess glanced at Deets.

             
“You throwing in with him?” asked Jess.

             
“Damn right,” he threatened.

             
“Then you’ll die right next to him.”

             
“You gonna use that damn fire breather you got on the bar?” asked Deets, nervously looking at the double barreled shotgun on the bar. Jess smiled.

             
“Naw, I don’t need it,” advised Jess, cocking his head a little and grinning a somewhat evil grin.

             
Jess knew that Deets would draw first. He watched Deets moving his right hand closer to the butt of his pistol. Jess could see a bead of sweat dripping down Deets left temple. Taggert began to move his left hand down to the butt of his pistol and he was watching Deets, trying to time it so they both drew at the same time. As soon as Taggert knew Deets was moving, Taggert’s left hand went for his gun. Jess’s first shot hit Deets in the stomach. Jess fanned his second shot and hit Taggert in the right shoulder spinning him around a full turn, throwing him down on a table flat on his back, his gun flying across the room. Jess’s third shot hit Deets in the chest, punching a hole in his heart and putting him down for good. Jess wanted Deets down and out of the picture so that he could put his full attention toward killing Taggert; slowly. Jess watched the room to make sure no one else was throwing going to be involved. He saw Taggert still lying on the table, but on his side now holding his right shoulder with his left hand. Jess noticed two things simultaneously; a little dust falling from the upstairs railing, and a gunshot going off in the direction of the swinging doors of the saloon. He quickly looked over and saw Ted Watkins and he was holding Nevada Jackson’s still smoking pistol in his hand. He heard a thud against the floor upstairs and realized that Taggert had a third man hiding in a room upstairs to ambush Jess. He nodded to Ted.

             
“Figured I owed you as much,” said Ted. “Besides, I had to try it out.”

             
Jess looked at Taggert. He was now standing upright, his buttocks leaning against the edge of the table he had fallen on. He was bleeding, but he wasn’t dying, at least not yet. Jess put a slug into Taggert’s left kneecap. Taggert fell away from the table, hit the ground and rolled over holding himself up with his left hand and his right knee facing away from Jess.

             
“Damn it! I ain’t got no gun! You can’t shoot an unarmed man!” he hollered.

             
“Is that right? Let’s see about that.” Jess fired another round, this one ripping into Taggert’s right buttock, the force rolling him over onto his back. Taggert pushed and wiggled himself up against the wall.