Texas kill of the mounta.., p.1
Texas Kill of the Mountain Man, page 1
Look for these exciting Western series from
bestselling authors
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
and J. A. JOHNSTONE
The Mountain Man
Preacher: The First Mountain Man
Luke Jensen, Bounty Hunter
Those Jensen Boys!
The Jensen Brand
Matt Jensen
MacCallister
The Red Ryan Westerns
Perley Gates
Have Brides, Will Travel
The Hank Fallon Westerns
Will Tanner, Deputy U.S. Marshal
Shotgun Johnny
The Chuckwagon Trail
The Jackals
The Slash and Pecos Westerns
The Texas Moonshiners
AVAILABLE FROM PINNACLE BOOKS
TEXAS KILL OF THE MOUNTAIN MAN
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE and J. A. Johnstone
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
THE JENSEN FAMILY FIRST FAMILY OF THE AMERICAN FRONTIER
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Teaser chapter
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 J. A. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like The Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
PINNACLE BOOKS, the Pinnacle logo, and the WWJ steer head logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7860-4061-2
Electronic edition:
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-4062-9
ISBN-10: 0-7860-4062-9
THE JENSEN FAMILY FIRST FAMILY OF THE AMERICAN FRONTIER
Smoke Jensen—The Mountain Man
The youngest of three children and orphaned as a young boy, Smoke Jensen is considered one of the fastest draws in the West. His quest to tame the lawless West has become the stuff of legend. Smoke owns the Sugarloaf Ranch in Colorado. Married to Sally Jensen, father to Denise (“Denny”) and Louis.
Preacher—The First Mountain Man
Though not a blood relative, grizzled frontiersman Preacher became a father figure to the young Smoke Jensen, teaching him how to survive in the brutal, often deadly Rocky Mountains. Fought the battles that forged his destiny. Armed with a long gun, Preacher is as fierce as the land itself.
Matt Jensen—The Last Mountain Man
Orphaned but taken in by Smoke Jensen, Matt Jensen has become like a younger brother to Smoke and even took the Jensen name. And like Smoke, Matt has carved out his destiny on the American frontier. He lives by the gun and surrenders to no man.
Luke Jensen—Bounty Hunter
Mountain Man Smoke Jensen’s long-lost brother Luke Jensen is scarred by war and a dead shot—the right qualities to be a bounty hunter. And he’s cunning, and fierce enough, to bring down the deadliest outlaws of his day.
Ace Jensen and Chance Jensen—Those Jensen Boys! Smoke Jensen’s long-lost nephews, Ace and Chance, are a pair of young-gun twins as reckless and wild as the frontier itself . . . Their father is Luke Jensen, thought killed in the Civil War. Their uncle Smoke Jensen is one of the fiercest gunfighters the West has ever known. It’s no surprise that the inseparable Ace and Chance Jensen have a knack for taking risks—even if they have to blast their way out of them.
CHAPTER ONE
Laramie County, Wyoming Territory
Emma was hanging up her wash when she saw a rider approaching. At first she felt a sense of joy, thinking perhaps her husband was returning from his trip, but as that rider came closer, her joy turned to dread.
“My husband isn’t here,” she said, when her unwelcome visitor rode right up to her and dismounted.
“That’s good, because I didn’t come to see him. I came to see you.”
“What do you want, Marvin?”
“You know what I want, Emma. I want you. I’ve always wanted you. Come with me now. We can start a new life somewhere else, just you and me.”
“No, Marvin. I made my choice a long time ago.”
“How can I convince you that you made the wrong choice?”
“You can’t convince me. I didn’t make the wrong choice.”
“All right, then, at least invite me in for a cup of coffee. I’ve come a long way today, and you owe me that much.”
“What do you mean, I owe you? Why would I owe you anything?”
“Let’s just say it’s for the memory of the way it once was between us.”
“There was never anything real between us, Marvin,” Emma said. “Except in your imagination.”
“But I thought we were enga—Well, at least let me leave with some dignity. A cup of coffee together? Would that hurt?”
“All right,” Emma replied with a resigned sigh. “One cup of coffee, then I want you to please leave.” She nodded toward the clothes basket which was half-filled with just washed items she had not yet hung up to dry. “I need to finish hanging out my clothes.”
Minutes later, Marvin followed Emma into the house. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he grabbed her, then turned her around, and even as she was fighting him, he forced a kiss on her. “You want me, you know you do.”
“No, no, go away. Leave me alone!” Emma slapped him.
Marvin smiled at her, but the malevolent smile was without warmth. “All right, bitch. As you said, you have made your choice.” He pulled out his pistol and brought it down on her head.
She dropped to the floor and he fell upon her, ripping off her clothes and having his way with her. She regained consciousness in the middle of his attack and tried to fight him off, but he was too strong for her.
When he was through he stood and looked down at her naked and bruised body. “If I can’t have you, he can’t either.” Marvin pulled his pistol and shot her in the stomach, then left her moaning on the floor behind him.
The clothes on the line were flapping in the wind as he rode away.
Three months later
Smoke Jensen sat on the top rail of the corral looking at the horses that had just been brought in. These were five of the one hundred horses he had just sold. The contract not only called for the delivery of one hundred horses, it also specified that the horses be saddle broken.
Four of the horses had been broken, but so far, three riders had been unable to break the fifth. His ranch hand was about to try.
“Cal, there’s no need for you to break your neck trying to ride that horse,” Smoke said. “Turn him loose. We’ll just keep him as a stud for breeding. We can replace him with another.”
“Now, Smoke, if you order me to do that I will,” Cal replied. “But I’d like to give it a try. I don’t like to think that a horse can get the better of me.”
“Ha!” Pearlie said. “If you ask me, that horse already has the better of you. Why, I wouldn’t doubt but that he could beat you at checkers.”
“We’ll see,” Cal said a
The reaction of the horse was instantaneous and violent. The horse leaped straight up with all four legs leaving the ground. Coming down on four stiff legs jarred Cal, but it didn’t dislodge him from the saddle. On the next move, however, the horse kicked his back legs into the air so that his back formed about a sixty-degree angle pointing to the ground. The maneuver caused Cal to be tossed forward over the horse’s head, where he wound up lying on his backside.
“Cal! Are you all right?” Smoke shouted. Jumping down from the fence, he hurried over to the young man who had become more like a son than an employee. “Are you hurt anywhere? Is anything broken?”
“Nah, I’m all right,” Cal said as Smoke and Pearlie helped him to his feet. Cal put his hands, gingerly, to his backside. “I’ll tell you this, though. I don’t think that horse is going to let anyone ride him.”
“That’s because he hasn’t had anybody who knows what they’re doing try it yet,” Pearlie said.
“Are you telling me that you can ride him?” Cal asked.
Pearlie smiled. “You just watch.”
The horse was tethered by a long rope to a pylon in the middle of the paddock. The idea was to let the horse run in concentric circles, the circles decreasing as the rope wound itself up on the pylon.
Pearlie mounted the horse but he, too, was thrown from the saddle perhaps even more quickly than Cal had been.
“I’ll tell you what,” a sheepish Pearlie said as he regained his feet. “That horse just pure dee doesn’t want anyone to ride him.”
“It’s not worth someone getting a broken neck,” Smoke said. “Turn him loose and bring in a replacement.”
“All right, Punch. It looks like you’re going to get your way,” Pearlie said as he began removing the saddle. “Out you go.”
“Punch?” Cal said.
Pearlie nodded. “He punched three others out of the saddle before he took us on,” Pearlie said. “Can you think of a better name?”
“He’s Smoke’s horse,” Cal said. “It’s up to Smoke to name him.”
“Punch it is,” Smoke said.
“Are you going to try and ride him, Smoke?” Cal asked.
Smoke chuckled. “No, and I’m not likely to try and stick my hand up a bear’s butt, either. I told you. We’ve got enough horses to meet the contract, so we don’t need this one.”
“Which just goes to show how smart you are and how dumb we are,” Pearlie said.
“I’m going to check with Herman and see how he’s doing,” Smoke said, turning away from the others to complete his task.
“I hate confessing that the horse beat me.”
Smoke heard Cal’s remark as he headed toward the toolshed that was being remodeled by Herman Nelson.
As he approached, Smoke heard sawing and knew Herman was gainfully occupied. Behind only Pearlie and Cal, Herman was the most dependable of all his permanent hands. One thing Smoke particularly appreciated was how efficiently Herman took over the ranch and ran it during the many times Smoke, Sally, Pearlie, and Cal were away.
When Herman saw Smoke approaching, he stopped sawing. “Hello, boss. Is there anyone left that’s crazy enough to try and ride that horse?”
“Did you try?” Smoke asked.
Herman laughed. “Oh, yes, I have to admit that I was the first one dumb enough to get throwed by ’im. ’N I’m tellin’ you right now, even if you ask me to, I don’t plan to try again.”
“I’m not going to ask anyone else to try,” Smoke said. “I don’t want to take a chance on anyone getting his neck broken. How are you coming in here?”
“I need some angle iron for the shelves, and I’ll have this place looking like some grand mansion somewhere,” Herman said proudly.
“How many do you need?”
“Three per shelf, four shelves, so I’ll need twelve.”
“All right. I’ll make a run into town,” Smoke said.
* * *
“Great, I would love to go into town,” Sally said enthusiastically in response to Smoke’s announcement of his plans a few minutes later. “I have so many errands to run.”
“I was just going to run into town and come right back. I hadn’t really planned on you—” Smoke stopped in midsentence.
“You hadn’t planned on me what?” Sally challenged.
“Uh, I had no idea you would be willing to go into town with me. What a pleasant surprise this is. I’ll be happy to have you go into town with me.”
“Oh, Smoke, you say the sweetest things to me,” she teased. “I can be ready right away.”
Kansas and Pacific Railroad Depot, Big Rock, Colorado
Roy J. Clemmons and Sue Martin were two of the six passengers who stepped down from the train. They stood out from the others—four men were wearing jeans and cotton shirts. Clemmons was wearing a black suit with a red vest over a white, collared shirt with a black string tie. His dark hair was perfectly coiffured, and his moustache, which didn’t extend beyond each end of his lips, was well-trimmed.
Sue stood out, not only because she was an exceptionally pretty woman with bright red hair, but also because of what she was wearing. The provocative V-neck of her dress was low enough to show the tops of her breasts.
“Our train doesn’t leave for six more hours,” Clemmons said. “There is plenty of time for us to earn a coin or two.”
As they walked away from the depot, they paid no attention to the two riders, man and woman, just coming into town on Jensen Pike, the road that came in from the west.
“I’ll go on down to Earl Cook’s place,” Smoke said. “You can do whatever it is that you have to do.
“It shouldn’t take me too long,” Sally said. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just go on back home when I’m done.”
“I may be a little later,” Smoke said.
“Tell Louis I said hello.”
“What makes you think I’ll be going to Longmont’s?”
“I don’t know. What makes me think the sun will set in the west tonight?” Sally replied with a little laugh.
CHAPTER TWO
Smoke Jensen was in Longmont’s Saloon sitting at Louis Longmont’s special table with Louis.
“What are you doing in town at this time of day, anyway, Smoke? Is there not enough to keep you busy out at Sugarloaf?” Although Louis Longmont was a longtime resident of Big Rock, he still spoke with the lilt of a French accent.
“We’re gathering some horses to take down to Texas, but Pearlie and Cal seem to have things well in hand,” Smoke answered. “Who’s your new girl?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have a new girl.”
“That one,” Smoke said, pointing to an attractive young red-haired woman who was setting drinks before the card players. Though what she was wearing was as provocative as what was worn by any of the other bar girls, even Smoke could tell that her dress was more expensively made.
He recognized only two of the players.
“Oh, non, monsieur. She isn’t working for me. She came in with the man in the suit. But you have changed the subject. What brought you to town in the middle of the day?”
“Sally had some things to do, so I volunteered to come with her, to help out.”
Louis chuckled. “Oui, one can easily see that you are being a big help.”
“I am being a big help. Sally said I would be most helpful just by staying out of her way.”
