Chapter 18

"Arrogant son of a bitch," Jim muttered as they covered the last hundred yards to the Bellamy house.

Jim and Jacob had ridden tense since they hit Dixon County. The closer they came to the Flying-BR ranch the more they expected to find a sentry or an outrider. But they encountered none.

They could have strolled up the front door and walked right in. Instead Jacob took a few seconds to bar the bunkhouse door in case there were stragglers.

Ralph Bellamy and his wife were sleeping the sleep of the just. Ralph because he wanted his energy for what he hoped would be waiting for him in the morning. Emma Bellamy slept well because she was living a life of luxury. Every need — including two glasses of sherry before bed each night — was provided without question.

Jacob stopped in the doorway of the bedroom and just stared. The man weighed maybe 150 pounds and the woman easily doubled that.

"There is no accounting for taste," Jacob thought. He waited as Jim checked out the room across the hall but after a moment's pause went in to rouse the sleeping couple.

Ralph hated to be awakened until at least 9 a.m. and his workers knew well to leave him be unless it was an emergency. So he was angry as hell when water splashed on his face in the middle of a dream about what he planned to do the next morning.

His rage turned to something else entirely when he saw the pistol pointed at his face. Ralph Bellamy had never met Jacob Dunleavy so he didn't recognize him but he recognized the barrel of a pistol pointed at his head.

Mrs. Bellamy got the same treatment after her husband was bound hand and foot and tossed on the floor.

She sputtered and threatened until she realized her situation.

"We have money," were the first civil words the woman spoke. "Take what you want and we won't look for you."

The man was nodding and silently seething.

"Oh, we'll take what we want," Jim said. "Don't you worry none about that and I don't think you'll be in any shape to look for anyone."

He escorted in a pair of girls, maybe in their early teens. Both girls were defiant but not scared. Jacob guess that Ralph Bellamy's kids were too spoiled to be frightened.

"Let me introduce myself," Jacob said. "Many years ago, about 20 now I'd reckon, I was known as Jake Dunn. I think the newspapers called me 'The Baby-Faced Assassin.'"

"And I am Jim Harcourt," Jim added. "I didn't get a fancy nickname but I was a gunslinger just the same. Now he's called Jacob Dunleavy. We own the ranch you wanted to raid tonight."

"Our wives and children were the ones you planned to hurt," Jacob said. There was anger in his voice that Jim hadn't heard in two decades. It was like he was standing on the street in South Dakota again and Jacob was looking for someone, anyone, to kill.

"Well, that didn't go as you planned," Jim said. "Jake here took an immediate dislike to the sheriff from down here. So he killed him. The rest of your men died the same way."

Ralph Bellamy smirked.

"The rest of my men you know about," he said. "My men will be back as soon as they finish up with your women. If you're nice, I'll let you watch me fuck your daughters before I kill you."

The explosion that Jim's gun produced was deafening in the room. Ralph Bellamy had a neat little hole in his forehead and his brain had splattered all over his fat wife, who was almost catatonic.

Jacob recovered his senses quickly and turned to find Jim's gun leveled on the girls who looked on in stony silence. Neither of them seemed angered or hurt by their father's death.

"You, you killed him," the wife said. "You just shot him like he was a dog."

"I don't shoot dogs," Jim said. "I shot him like he was piece of vermin. Which is exactly what he is."

The older of the girls spoke now for the first time.

"She's no better than he is," she said. "What about the rest of the men? Are they coming back?"

"Unless they can find a way to return from hell they can't," Jacob answered. The menace hadn't left his voice.

"You sure?" the younger one asked.

Jacob and Jim both nodded.

The girls looked at each other and laughed.

"Hey, Emma," the older one said with tone of voice that would make Marnie proud. "Ralphie was leading the second group. Guess he's as dead as Papa."

The fat woman broke out into sobs.

"That means your entertainment is over," the older girl said. "You won't be able to watch Ralphie fuck us anymore. And he won't be able to do you anymore either."

Jacob's eyes lit on the first girl who looked at him defiantly.

"That's right," she said. "My stepmom started bringing in my older brother every night to fuck me. He started fucking Amelia last year. Soon as she was big enough. Mom just sits there and watches. Papa used to fuck us all the time, too. He started on me when I was barely this tall."

She held her hands about 3 feet off the floor. There were tears in the girl's eyes.

In that instant, Emma Bellamy became the only woman that Jacob ever felt the need to kill. His pistol barked and the woman toppled over on top of what remained of her husband.

Jacob and Jim took the girls by the hand and led them to the front room.

"Are there any other hands about?" Jim asked.

"Maybe a couple," the girl, who introduced herself as Amanda, said. "But you can bet they're dead drunk."

He sighed heavily and sat down on a chair in the front room. Amelia appeared beside him.

"Don't be upset," she said. "I was going to do it as soon as I could get Ralphie's gun."

Jacob smiled slightly as he looked up at the girls.

"What are you going to do with us?" Amanda asked. For the first time there was fear in her voice.

"Well, depends on what you want to do with this place," Jim answered.

"Don't you own it now?" Amanda asked.

"Probably if we want it," Jacob answered. "But we don't. Do we, Jim?"

"No," Jim stated. "We do not want it. But we will make sure you girls have enough hands to run it and we'll make sure that nobody gives you any trouble. I would guess you're the new owners, ladies. So you can do whatever you want to with it."

The girls exchanged glances.

"We don't want to live here anymore," Amelia said.

"Then you won't," Jacob stated. "We got girls your age at the house."

Amanda started to cry.

"Ralphie told me what he was going to do to them after Papa was done," Amanda said. "He made me suck his thing tonight."

"Mama made me lick her thingy," Amelia said.

Both girls were in tears by this point. Jacob put his arm around Amelia but she recoiled from his touch. He felt sorry for the girls but not for their parents or brother.