Jake sighed as he too dismounted. “Any man who sneaks up on me gets shot, Brad. I can’t afford to wait and see what a sneak thief wants. And I didn’t miss that he had a gun lifted to fire.”
“You got eyes in the sides and the back of your head?”
Jake rummaged in his saddlebag, the cigarette still at the corner of his mouth. “A man like me learns to see everything if he wants to stay healthy.”
Jeff could hear Lloyd charging around inside the house, searching for anyone else who might be there. Finally he called down from an upstairs window. “There’s nobody else in here, Pa.”
Jake brought some papers to the porch and handed them to Jessie. “The death certificates.”
The woman wouldn’t meet his eyes. She just yanked the papers from his hand. “Get out of my sight.”
“Not until you or Brad tells us what’s going on at the Bryant place. How many men are they rounding up, and why? Is Marty there?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Brad mocked.
Jake turned his attention to Brad. “Yeah, I would. And you can either tell me or wish you had.”
“I’m half-crippled. You ain’t gonna do nothin’, and I don’t have to tell you a damn thing. I know my rights.”
In an instant, Jake had the young man by the throat. He slammed him against the doorjamb, and Brad screamed with pain. “And I have my rights! You just never learn, do you?” Jake growled. “I don’t have time for your fucking games, Brad!”
Jessie started to reach for her rifle.
“Don’t do it, ma’am,” Lloyd told her, coming around the side of the house, his six-gun trained in her direction. “Woman or not, I’ll pull this trigger.”
“I’m not sure how many,” Brad choked out, trying with both hands to pry Jake’s away from his throat—to no avail. “I just know Hash Bryant said he was gonna”—his face turned redder—“get some men together and figure out a way…to get you…for killin’ Ted and…Gordy…and my pa and my…brother…and sendin’ Marty…to prison.”
“Justice was rightfully served,” Jake sneered. “And if you don’t want me to punch you right in that breastbone again, you’ll tell me how many men Marty has!” he roared. “Have you seen him, or anyone he’s riding with?”
“Eight or ten, somethin’ around that many,” Jessie answered for Brad. “And no, we ain’t seen Marty Bryant, but we heard he was the one makin’ all the plans. Now leave my son alone.”
Jake let go of Brad and grabbed Jessie’s rifle out of her hands. “What are they planning?”
“I don’t think they even know. It’s just all talk.” She finally looked up at Jake, glaring at him through eyes narrowed from hatred. “I’m thinkin’ Marty might have gone to that no-name town north of here to look for help.”
“Hell’s Nest?”
“Maybe. I didn’t think it had a name at all, but that’s a good enough one.”
“Who’s back there in the woods?” Jake asked her.
“Just an old black man who’s been helpin’ me out, and my brother, who came to live with us a few weeks back. They ain’t no danger. They was just out there gatherin’ wood.”
“They had rifles.”
“Everybody carries rifles out here when they go into the woods. There’s always a need for meat, and you never know when you’ll see a deer or a rabbit. They ain’t gonna go up against the likes of the great and mighty Jake Harkner!”
Jake walked off the porch. He mounted Prince, and Lloyd remounted his own horse beside Jake.
“Those two extra men can help you bury Luke Cummings,” Jake told Jessie. “I’ll leave your rifle a few yards out as we leave. I don’t trust you any more than I trusted your husband, Jessie. I don’t intend to get shot in the back.”
He turned his horse and rode past Jeff. “Put that six-gun away,” he told him without looking at him. “You don’t need it.” He rode on down the entrance road that led to the woods.
Reluctantly, Jeff put his gun back in its holster as Lloyd rode up beside him. “Let’s go.”
They left, with Luke Cummings lying dead with a hole in his chest.
Jake stayed ahead of them until they came across the two men working in the woods. The men stood still as Jake approached.
“Hand those rifles to the men behind me,” Jake told them.
Eyeing the marshal’s badge and intimidated by all of Jake’s weapons, they handed the rifles to Jeff and Lloyd as they rode closer.