Two men were across from the saloon when Jess walked through the doors. They stood there silently, watching him. The name of the saloon was Andy's Saloon. Inside the saloon were at least a dozen men. Jess sized up the room quickly and calculated that there were about four men that he would have to deal with. Two of them were at the far right end of the bar, and two more sitting in a corner table with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses in front of them on the table. The place went silent for a moment when Jess walked in. He had pulled the shotgun out from its holster and had it in his left hand, and he had both barrels cocked. He walked up to the far left end of the bar, placed the shotgun on the bar still cocked, and ordered a beer. The chatter in the saloon slowly began to pick up again. Jess had the barrel of the shotgun pointed straight down the length of the bar towards the two men. He figured he could use his left hand to trigger the double barrel in their direction and still leave his right hand free to use his pistol on the two men at the table. The bartender, Andy, knew Jess and got him a glass of beer. Jess threw a dollar on the bar and Andy refused to take it.
   "Beer's on me, Jess. I used to serve your Pa whenever he came in. He was a damn good man. He stood up for me one time when a couple of cowboys tried to give me a beating. I don't forget things like that."
   "Thanks Andy. I appreciate it. Especially what you said about my Pa. So, how much trouble do you think I'm in here?" Andy shook his head.
   "A whole lot more trouble than I'd care to be in. Old man Carter wants you dead real bad and these thugs who work for him want a piece of that reputation you seem to be building up so early in life. I'd say that you've got at least six men in town right now who would plug you if they got the chance, and a couple of them are here right now, and at least eight or ten more out at Carter's place that will eventually come for you. If you've got a lick of sense in you, you'd get on your horse and ride out of town."
   "Can't."
   "Why not."
   "My horse is tired and he needs his beauty rest."
   "Well, I'd shoot the damn horse and get me a new one. But since you're staying, I'll back ya with my double barrel I keep down here under the bar. And if I can serve you a cup of coffee in the morning, I'll consider you a lucky man."
   "Luck's got nothing to do with it." Jess leaned towards Andy and said in a real low tone, "I'll tell you what Andy, I have the two at the end of the bar and the two over in the corner covered. If you need to use that double barrel, cover anyone else in the place that has a mind to throw in, but I don't think anyone else will."
   "You got it my friend." Jess sipped his beer and waited knowing he wouldn't have to wait long. The two men at the bar were staring at him and they were talking back and forth and laughing. Jess figured it was as good a time as any to get the show on the road and that's exactly what this was going to be, a show. He knew he had to make everyone in town understand he was here and he was someone to be reckoned with. He turned to the two men at the bar. They were both grungy looking men and neither of them looked to be real gunslingers. Jess still had the cocked double barrel lying on the bar pointed in their direction and set for his left hand to grab it and trigger it if needed.
   "You boy's sure seem to be having a good time over there. Why don't you let me in on the joke?"
   "Hell mister, you are the joke!" the larger of the two men said.
   "Really? Me? Why, whatever do you mean?" Jess replied innocently.
   "Hell," the larger man spoke again, "Carter's put up three thousand dollars on your head! Damn, my Grandma would crawl her maggot-riddled butt-ugly ass out of her grave and shoot you in the back to collect that kind of money If that ain't enough, there's a few men in town who would shoot you just for your reputation and then there's about a dozen more getting paid to shoot you and the first one to do it still gets the three thousand dollars bounty on top of that. Now, I don't know about you mister, but I find that funny. You're going to be lucky to live till tomorrow." Jess took another sip of his beer and purposely took a minute before he replied, and when he did, he put his left hand on the still cocked double barrel and looked straight at the two men.
   "The real question here is; are either of you two going to try to collect that money?" One of the two men who were sitting at the table slammed his glass down on the table. Not because he was done with it, and not because he wanted the bartenders attention, he did it to attract Jess' attention. Jess had been watching both of them out of the corner of his eyes. They didn't want to be left out of this deal. After all, three thousand dollars was a whole lot of money just to kill one man.
   "I know you two are there," said Jess not even looking directly at them, "and if you want in, you boys knock yourself out." One of the two men sitting at the table stood up. The other man stayed in his seat. He was quiet and never looked up at Jess. Jess knew that this man was the one he had to worry about if he threw in. Body language always spoke the loudest.
   "Just because you're Jess Williams you think you can take four men at once?"
   Jess could see the nervousness heighten in the two men at the bar. They could see that Jess was as calm as ever and they didn't want any part of this no matter how much money it paid. They had heard of Jess' reputation and while they weren't the smartest two men in town, they were smart enough to know that dead men couldn't spend money. Andy had his double barrel cocked under the bar. He would throw in with Jess if it came to that.
   "We ain't having anything to do with this, mister. You can count us out. We'll be leaving town soon as we finish our beers." Two more down, Jess thought to himself. That left the two men at the table. The one was still standing and the other one who was still sitting, was now looking up at Jess. He seemed a little agitated at Jess' remarks.
   "Mister," he asked, "did you just call me an asshole?" Jess took a drink of his beer and turned to face them directly.
   "I guess I did. However, if you're not trying to collect the blood money on my head, then maybe I'm wrong."
   The man slowly stood up. This man was a gunslinger for sure. He had a pistol rig, tied down tight and a low cut holster. Jess could sense this man was a killer. He spoke real quiet and sounded sure of himself. He was a confidant man and that made him a dangerous man.
   "I guess that makes me an asshole then, but I'll be one with half of three thousand dollars."
   "No, you'll be one with half of nothing," Jess replied.
   "How do you figure that?"
   "Because you'll be dead."
   "You sound awfully sure of yourself for such a young punk."
   "You're about to find out if you plan on pulling that pistol."
   "You planning on using that double barrel you got there?" asked the man who had stood up first. Jess glanced at the shotgun. He knew that Andy had cocked his double barrel. He had heard him cock it while he was talking with the other two men who were still standing at the bar.
   "No, I only use that when I'm dealing with four assholes. For two, I only need this," Jess replied as he motioned his head down towards his pistol. "So-which one of you want to be first?"
   Jess had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when both men went for their guns almost simultaneously. The one on Jess's right, the second man to stand up, was faster and Jess hit him with the first shot, square in the middle of the chest. He dropped to the floor. Jess' second shot found the other mans stomach not more that a fraction of a second later. He stumbled backward and sat himself down in a chair. He had already dropped his gun.
   "You bastard!" he yelled, "you gut-shot me! I'm going to kill you for that!"
   "You're going to need this, aren't you?" Jess picked up the man's gun, walked over to him, and handed the gun back to him. The man was literally dumb-founded by this. Jess walked a few steps backwards from the man and put his pistol back in his holster. Andy and the two men at the bar were watching this but they couldn't believe what Jess was doing. Andy raised the shotgun up above the bar just in case.
   "Well," Jess said, "I guess all you have to do is cock that hammer back and shoot me. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" The man's eyes went wild.
   "You son-of-a-bitch," the man hollered as he pulled the hammer back to shoot Jess.