Renewal 6 - Cold Read Online Free PDF

ran his fingers through his long black hair.
    “We were overwhelmed, by seven men,” Gray Tucker, Sr. said.
    “Seven men? How can that be?”
    “Well, it turns out they were real smart. Led by a man from Coffee County, name of Bill Carter.”
    “How did you find out?”
    “He tangled with a bumble-headed fool from down that way. The man’s in the cell across from me.”
    “So, what are we going to do? You want me to get you out? I brought a company.”
    “No, no... That fool has an entire set of rich families down there. We can use his men to take care of Bill Carter. We’ll set that up first. Then you can get me out.”
    “They’re gonna hang you, Daddy.”
    “If there’s one thing you need to know about government, it’s that it takes them forever to get anything done. We’ve got time. Right now, you need to head down to Coffee County and find somebody from the Jenkins clan. Let them know where their head honcho is, and who put him there. Then I want you to find Bill Carter and check out his setup. If you see a clean opening, do your thing, but if not, let’s wait for the Jenkins to lose some men first. Got it?”
    “Yes, Daddy.”
    “All right then. Get moving.”
    ***
    Charlie Bell found the conversation very interesting. He knew the microphones in the visiting room would come in handy sooner or later. He buzzed his secretary. “Get Lieutenant Jackson up here.”
    Five minutes later, Jackson strode into the room.
    “Hi, Jake,” Charlie greeted the man with his usual energetic cheer.
    “Hello, Mr. Bell. What’s up?”
    “Our new best friend has trouble brewing. How many men are ready to fight?”
    “We have about twenty, all told.”
    “Take the best ten and head back down to Bill Carter’s place.” Charlie filled in the details of what he had heard.
    “We’re going to fight?” Jackson asked.
    “You’re going to do whatever Bill tells you to do, and that includes fighting. If I know the man, he has a system in place. Try not to mess that up. Take orders nicely. We owe him.” Charlie said.
    “We do, at that. We’ll head out first thing in the morning.”
    “Good man. Thanks,” Charlie said, shaking the lieutenant’s hand.
    ***
    Junior pulled up in the main square of Manchester, Tennessee when the sun was throwing long shadows through the old trees surrounding the courthouse. With eighty men and six big trucks, he felt a great sense of power in the little town. Three minutes later, he felt like a lost child. He realized it was foolish to expect people to come up and offer help to an armed convoy, but that’s exactly what he expected. The people disappeared like smoke when his trucks pulled into the square. He was about to resort to asking for directions in the courthouse when a strong looking man stepped out of the survey office.
    Dusty Baer walked up to the apparent leader of the group, and introduced himself. “Hey, Dusty’s the name. You fellows look a little lost.”
    “Yeah, hey. I’m Gary Tucker. Most folks call me Junior. My father sent me down here with a message for the Jenkins.”
    “You brought a lot of messengers,” Dusty said.
    Junior laughed like it was a joke. “Yeah, I wasn’t planning to come this way. Orders, you know?”
    “I sure do. Who’s your father?”
    “Nobody you’d know. He’s Gary Tucker Sr., from Columbia.”
    “Ah, the infamous Grand Dragon, then.”
    Junior’s face clouded over. “That’s right.”
    “So, you’d be the Junior Dragon?”
    Junior’s gun hand hovered closer to the weapon at his side.
    “Just joking, Junior,” Dusty said with a grin. “Your daddy is all the talk around here right now.”
    “Is he?”
    “Yeah. He’s the one running around burning black people, right?”
    Junior looked disgusted. “The very same.”
    “Well, if you look around, you may notice that there aren’t many black folks in Manchester. Maybe the pickings are better somewhere else.”
    “Look, Dusty. I’m not here to burn anyone. I’m just