John Riley Bounty Hunter : The Vengeance Trail

By: Ronnie Ashmore

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A Western Adventure by Ronnie Ashmore

"Ashmore creates fierce characters with confidence and authority. A fresh and welcome Western narrative." -Best-Selling Author Ralph Cotton

The Vengeance Trail
The past year and a half have been a test of wills and hard lessons learned for the bounty hunter John Riley. Now feeling he needs to set things right by capturing the one outlaw he let get away, he rides into the town he last saw the outlaw. He soon finds he has ridden into a race war involving his friends and a dangerous group of men. He’s not the same unsure boy he was when he was last in this town. He has been tested by fire and fear and proven he has the nerve and skill to walk along the path he has chosen. It’s going to take lots of both if he wants to ride the vengeance trail.

Excerpt
“Your dead son. You either knew about it and did nothing, or you are a part of it. Either way, if anything else happens to the Sherman’s, I will come to you to settle accounts.”
Burnacle stood watching, trying to hide a smile. Nathan Crawford approached the group. Looking from one to the other he settled on Nichols,
“What’s the matter, Silas? Find someone you can’t intimidate? Looks to me like there’s three of us right here that don’t cotton to you too much.”
Nichols stared at Crawford, then looked at Burnacle,
“I supported your run for Sheriff. When the government wanted a new man, I threw your name in the hat.”
“Doesn’t mean you own me. I thought for a long time it did. But I ain’t beholden to any one person,” Burnacle said.
Nichols stood silent for a moment, then his shoulders sagged. He gathered himself, turned and walked away.
Riley looked at Crawford, who then followed Nichols across the street. Riley and Burnacle went into the office. The Sheriff handed Riley a piece of paper with a list of names. There were seven names on the list. Riley read it, then looked up.
“I didn’t list Billy Nichols, seeing as how you already took care of him. The rest are the other riders.”
One name on the list stood out, Riley read it again.
“I thought you and Matson were friends?” Riley asked.
“Bill Matson or Lem Jenkins or whoever the hell he is, is no friend of mine. I visited his house a few times.” He looked straight at Riley, “but I was not there to see him. You know?”
Riley did. It was Claira he went to see. How did Jenkins fit into this? Why?
“Guess you ain’t gonna arrest anyone for trying to lynch Sherman?”
“I am not touching any of those men on that list. There’s a banker, a storekeeper and other prominent people on there.”
“I can handle it. But how much room do I have to operate?” Riley said.
“I won’t interfere,” Burnacle said.
“If I apprehend Jenkins, will you hold him in jail?”
“Yeah. I feel I ought to do that. But I want something understood between us. You finish your business here, don’t ever come back to this county chasing outlaws as long as I am Sheriff.”
Riley nodded in agreement.
“Where are you starting?” Burnacle asked, pointing at the list.
Riley thought about that for a moment. Where do you start when confronted with a list of men who want to see your friend dead. Men who hate him for being a black man and want to kill him for owning a profitable business. They would have swindled George out of the livery and his house if he had not known how to read.
There would be a lot of nervous people in town today once the story of Nichols night visitor made its rounds. The men on this list might be on their guard, making it harder to get to them.
Riley did not want to kill anyone else. He was determined to take Jenkins alive and make him face the hangman that was waiting for him.
“Where are you going to start?” Burnacle asked again, unsure if Riley had heard him the first time.
“Church,” Riley replied.
Burnacle was staring at him as he left the office.

Good Western

It was a good story without the excessive violence found in many current westerns. I’m not a big fan of virtual voice, but the performance was acceptable.