THE DODGE CITY MASSACRE (A Jess Williams Novel.) by Robert J. Thomas Page B

Jess.
                  “They caught the Sheriff here and both of his deputies off guard over at the jail. They burst into the jail with shotguns and then locked these three up and then went on a shooting spree raising hell all afternoon. When they came into the store, Sara told them to get out and when they refused, she reached down under the counter where I keep that double-barrel and they grabbed it from her and proceeded to give her a beating.”
                  “Where in the hell were you, Jim. Sorry, I mean Mayor Smythe.”
                  “I was down at my other store, working.”
                  “What other store?”
                  “Well, after you took care of Carter and his hired guns, the old Carter store was returned to the bank in town and I bought it after it sat there for a few months. Hell, I’m making a whole lot more money now, but it takes both of us to run two stores. I’m hiring a clerk today to run my other store so I can stay here with Sara from now on.”
                  “So, who are these thugs you talked about?”
                  “That’s the strange thing, Jess. They don’t work for anyone and they seem to be gathering up more men every week. I think they are just a bunch of bad men who are teaming up figuring there is strength in numbers and there is a lot of truth to that. As far as we know, they are camped out the west end of town in those hills you used to play in when you was just a boy. The Sheriff here rode out there and found their camp, but he was outnumbered so there was nothing he could do. He tried to gather enough men for a posse, but he couldn’t get more than three men to join him and that just wasn’t enough men to handle it.”
                  “Sheriff Fowler, what exactly did you find out there?” asked Jess.
                  “They are holed up real good in those hills. There is only one way in and out from their camp. Last time I was out there, I counted fourteen of them, but that probably ain’t all of them. I’m sure some of them were out raising hell somewhere else. My guess is they might have added a few more since then. I also figure that they might come in to retrieve their two friends we got locked up,” replied Sheriff Fowler.
                  Jess was shaking his head. “Then why the hell don’t you have one of your deputies over there right now with the door locked?” asked Jess, a challenging tone in his voice.
                  “Don’t start telling me how to do my job,” retorted the sheriff.
                  “Well, someone obviously has to. First, you let them get the drop on all three of you and then they beat Sara up. You should always have one deputy standing guard at the jail especially with what’s going on. Hell, those men could be on their way into town right now and all three of you are sitting in here drinking coffee. Now send one of your deputies over to the jail right now and send the other one out to watch for any signs of men coming into town,” demanded Jess.
                  “Don’t you be giving me orders, I take my orders from the Mayor here and the town council,” retorted Sheriff Fowler.
                  Mayor Smythe looked at the sheriff. “You’d better listen to him,” said Mayor Smythe, “he knows what he’s talking about. If you won’t listen to him, I’ll make him the sheriff. I’m not real happy with how you’ve handled this situation so far especially with my wife taking a beating like she did.”
                  “I’m really sorry about that, Mayor,” replied the sheriff. “It won’t happen again.”
                  “Don’t be sorry about it. You just make sure you listen to Jess about how to handle this situation. He’s handled this kind of problem before and while you might not like the way