Free Sins of the Father by Robert J. Thomas Page A

trouble’s coming to town, and soon.”
Rance Madden headed straight for his ranch. One of his men grabbed the reins of his horse and as soon as Madden’s feet hit the ground he asked, “Did my new men show up yet?”
“Yes sir, they are in the bunkhouse right now. Do you want me to send them into the house?”
“Give me enough time to take a hot bath and get the cook to prepare a big meal. We’ve got plans to figure out and I want all the best men at the table.”
About an hour or so later, Rance Madden was sitting at a large dining table when Mike Winters walked into the large room with Quentin Unger, Gregory Timmons, Vernon Foster and Leonard Sands following behind him. “Boss, this here is Quentin Unger and this here is Gregory Timmons.”
Rance Madden stood up, shook hands with both men, and motioned for them to take a seat. “So, are you two as good as Winters told me?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Madden,” replied Quentin Unger, “Gregory and me have worked together for a long time now. We started out working on bounty hunting and still do some of that, but mostly we hire our guns out to whoever is paying the most. We have no problem with killing whoever you want killed, and that includes a sheriff.”
“Can we assume that the offer of one thousand dollars is still the price for killing the sheriff?” asked Gregory Timmons.
“Yes,” replied Madden, “but there is a new complication. Sheriff Steele sent for a U.S. marshal and he showed up today with two deputies.”
“Do you know who the U.S. marshal is?” asked Quentin.
“Said his name was Frank Reedy.”
Quentin looked over at his partner and then back to Madden. “Reedy is one tough hombre and not one to go messing around with. He doesn’t take any shit and he won’t hesitate to do whatever is necessary to get a job done. That does complicate things a little.”
“Does that mean that you won’t take the job?”
“No, but the price will have to be double,” said Quentin.
“I don’t care. I’ll pay you two thousand dollars each, I just want the son of a bitch dead,” replied Madden.
“What about Frank Reedy?”
Madden thought about it for a moment. “Take care of the sheriff first and if Frank Reedy becomes a problem, I’ll pay you to kill him and his deputies too.”
“Frank Reedy will cost you triple what you’re paying for a sheriff. Killing a U.S. marshal is big trouble. If we did that, we would have to leave the country and head for southern Mexico and hide out for quite a while and maybe never come back,” added Timmons.
“How are you going to go after Steele?” asked Madden.
Quentin looked over at his partner and never said a word. They had worked together long enough to have an unwritten language between the two of them.
“We’ll have to ambush him at night and ride straight out of town and fast. We’ll need two extra horses so we can switch back and forth. That should give us a lead on the posse that I’m sure Frank Reedy will put together within ten minutes of us killing Steele. You’ll have to pay us up front because we can’t stop back here to get paid.”
Madden stood up and shook hands again with both men. “I guess we have a deal. Mike, pick them out two of our best horses and I’ll have the money ready for you in a few minutes. I suppose you are going to do the deed tonight?”
“No sense putting off the inevitable is what I say,” replied Unger.

S
    heriff Mark Steele was sitting in the jail with his two deputies along with Frank Reedy and his two deputies. They were talking small talk and just passing away the time waiting for something to happen. It had been quiet for the last few hours since Rance Madden had stormed out of the jail.
    “Well, Sheriff,” asked Reedy, “do you think maybe Madden has changed his mind about this whole matter after seeing this U.S. marshal’s badge?”
    Steele shook his head negatively. “After seeing his reaction today after we let him out of jail, I don’t see a chance of that.