Read Online And Kill Them All by J. Lee Butts - Free Book Online Page A

human manure that high.”
    I let a crude chuckle escape despite efforts to the contrary.
    â€œTell you true, Lucius, older I get, amazes me as how shit can somehow pull on boots, then get itself upright and walk around on two legs just like us regular humans.”
    â€œHe was a bad one, all right, Boz. No doubt ’bout that.”
    â€œAw, hell, bad don’t come nowheres close to describing that human gob of fanged evil. As I remember the man, and I use the term man loosely, he drank a tubful of bad liquor, then murdered his entire family. Beat all of ’em to death with a roofin’ hammer one lightnin’-spiked night.”
    â€œThere you go. Even killed his kids. Was a bloody mess we found.”
    â€œIf memory of the event still serves, he bolted from that god-awful scene, then went on a murderin’ rip the likes of which hadn’t ever been witnessed in this part of Tejas. Leastways, not since back in them days when the Co-manche used to slaughter hell and yonder out of every living thing in their path on those yearly raids of theirs down Mexico way.”
    â€œOle Pike put a bunch of folks in the ground, and that’s for damned sure.”
    â€œUh-huh. In my humble opinion, that’s a far patch of rock-strewn road worse than bad. As a consequence, by God, Jasper Pike ain’t exactly the kind of bastard I’m given to forgetting about.”
    I thumped the still-smoldering butt of my smoke into the air and watched as the sparks arched and went to ground like a Fourth of July whizbang. “Figured you’d remember the sorry stink sprayer, Boz. Got to admit, it’s most gratifying now for me to cherish the recollection of how God gave the pair of us the distinct privilege of killing the hell out of his sorry self.”
    Boz grimaced and rubbed his leg again. “Mostly you, as I recollect. You peppered his worthless, murderin’ ass pretty good, Lucius. Put a bunch of bullets in his sorry hide. Think maybe I only drilled one good ’un in him.”
    â€œWell, I ain’t so sure ’bout that.”
    â€œUh-huh. Be that as it may, personally think I could find somethin’ better to occupy my nightly dreams, if you want to know the truth of the thing, pard. You know, women like that there hot-blooded Josephina Martinez. God as my witness, done got to where I think ’bout that gal a lot when it comes on nighttime.”
    â€œJesus, Boz. Think you’ve taken to spending way too much time thinking about one willing woman or another.”
    â€œWell, you can think about whatever’n hell you want to think about, and I’ll think about bow-legged gals like Josephina. Remember her? Healthy, well-fed muchacha from over ’round Val Verde? Now, I’ll tell you, by God, don’t mind one little bit dreamin’ about that gal’s big ole ...”
    Boz abruptly stopped in mid-thought. For a second, struck me as how he bore a striking resemblance to the dog, when he tilted his head to one side. Seemed pretty certain to me he just might cock a leg up and scratch one ear with his foot—the one attached to his undamaged leg.
    â€œDamn, there it goes again,” he said. “Sounds most like pistols to me. Maybe half a dozen of ’em. What you think ’bout it, Lucius?”
    Ran the fingers of one hand through my sweat-dampened hair again, then twirled one sagging end of my moustache around a nervous finger. Right certain I appeared lost in deep thought.
    Slid the same finger into my mouth, then held it out into the barely moving air. “Not so much as a light breeze out here right now, Boz. World’s as still as a sack of flour sitting in an old maid’s pantry. Least kind of sound can travel a long way on a morning like this. I’m guessing as much as five miles or so north along the river. Maybe more, maybe less.”
    â€œUh-huh. Sounds about right to me.”
    â€œSeems as how the blasting just