Brother's Keeper Read Online Free PDF Page B

out the door.
“You watch your back, Jess,” said Jim, “they’ll be gunnin’ for you and before the day is through Carter will know you’re here, if he doesn’t already.” Jess looked back at Jim with a grin and replied in a very low voice, “I’m counting on it.”
Jess walked out and stayed on the boardwalk. He walked the entire length of the town on both sides of the street and behind every building in town. He checked for any ambush points including ones that he himself might be forced to use. He stopped in at Tony’s Livery. Tony was a big strapping hunk of a man. Some said he was so strong that he could bend the shoes for horses with his bare hands. Yet he was a gentle man and it was hard to rile him but once you did, you’d wish you had riled a grizzly bear watching over a new cub instead. Tony had been the one who had made the grave markers for Jess’ family and checked all the stock at the ranch the day his family was buried. Jess had worked for Tony before leaving Black Creek the last time and Tony had taught him some handto-hand fighting techniques, which Jess had not forgotten. Tony was a good man and Jess considered him a good friend and more importantly, a man you could count on when things got tough.
“Well, well, look who comes to visit me,” Tony said as he looked up and saw Jess standing in his doorway. Tony was in the middle of fitting a horse with some shoes and had been pounding out some metal and hadn’t heard Jess walk up. Jess shook his hand and Tony’s grip was like a vise.
“Hello, Tony. How have you been?”
“Just fine, but we sure have missed you, Jess. I know it’s been a while now but not a day goes by that I don’t think about…” Tony’s voice trailed off as he realized that it wasn’t all that long since that day. “I really miss your pa. He used to stop by and talk some with me whenever he came to town.”
“He told me you were the best smithy he’d ever met. He said you could do things with metal that most men couldn’t.”
“Well, I’ve heard that you can do things with that fancy pistol of yours that most men can’t,” Tony said, glancing down at Jess’ rig. “Sure is a pretty thing.”
“I’m not sure yet whether it’s a blessing or a curse though.”
“The way things are shaping up here in town, I’d call it a blessing.”
“I guess so. I trust you’ll take good care of Gray?”
“I’ll take care of him like he was my own. Jim brought him over about ten minutes ago. I already brushed him down and put him in a stall with some of my best feed. That’s one damn fine horse. I’m the one who sold him to your pa.”
Jess thanked Tony again and headed for the saloon. There had been several men who had been eyeing him up and down while he had strolled around town. He knew they were trouble and he knew that before the day ended he would be facing some of them and it wouldn’t be over a deck of cards in a friendly game of poker. He figured that he might as well get things started. He knew that most of these men wondered about his reputation and his plan was to capitalize on that. They wanted to test him and he was going to give them the chance to do exactly that. Afterwards, he would either be dead, or they would fear him more than the grim reaper himself. It might even cause some of Carter’s hired guns to just leave town rather than have to face him. It was one thing to walk away from a challenge and be labeled a coward forever. It was quite another to simply get on your horse for no particular reason and head out to the next town. Jess’ real problem though was that the best of the lot would stay. They were being paid the most and you get what you pay for. Jess figured that he would deal with that later. For now, it was time to thin out the herd.
Two men were standing across from the saloon when Jess walked through the doors. They stood there silently, watching him. Jess knew they were there and that they were watching every move that he made.