Death Rattle (The Guns of Samuel Pritchard, Band 1) - Softcover

Lynch, Sean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786044934 ISBN 13: 9780786044931

Verlag: Pinnacle, 2019

Inhaltsangabe

From acclaimed author Sean Lynch comes the epic saga of Samuel Pritchard, a young man coming of age in the Civil War, riding tall with the Texas Rangers, and becoming one of the greatest gunfighters of his time . . .

THE LEGEND BEGINS

In 1863, a teenaged boy fled his home in Atherton, Missouri, to escape the power-hungry men who murdered his father and stole his family’s land. He joined the Confederacy under an assumed name and led guerilla raids in the Civil War. Then came a decade as a Texas Ranger. Now, after ten blood-soaked years, he is finally coming home. Finally using his real name. And finally getting revenge against the cold-hearted devils who destroyed his family and his life . . .

This is the story of Samuel Pritchard. Now a small town sheriff with a long history of violence, a deep sense of honor, and wild streak of justice as dangerous as the guns that made him famous . . .

“A riveting thriller that bristles with hard-boiled authenticity.”
—bestselling author Mark Greaney on Thy Partner’s Wife

“Sean Lynch spins a tale that is fast, fun and realistic.”
—Bestselling author James O. Born on Like Hell

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sean Lynch grew up in Iowa, served in the army as an enlisted infantryman, and spent almost three decades as a municipal police officer in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his law enforcement career, he’s been a motorcycle officer, firearms instructor, S.W.A.T. team member, sex crimes investigator, and homicide detective. Learn more about Sean at seanlynchbooks.com.

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Death Rattle

The Guns of Samuel Pritchard

By Sean Lynch

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

Copyright © 2019 Sean Lynch
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7860-4493-1

CHAPTER 1

Atherton, Missouri, October 1863

Samuel Pritchard quietly eased back the hammer of the Hawken rifle. He didn't want the telltale click to spook the flock only thirty yards from where he and his friend David "Ditch" Clemson lay concealed behind a fallen tree.

The rifle belonged to Ditch's father. The Pritchard family owned a similar weapon, but Samuel was rarely allowed to take it out, and never on a school day. Thomas Pritchard was a practical, hardworking, and devoutly religious man. He was also a man who didn't like guns and believed his son's time was better spent working at the family's sawmill or devoted to his studies at Atherton's only schoolhouse. Had he known seventeen-year-old Samuel cut class with Ditch to go hunting along the Missouri River, he'd have been more than displeased.

The boys were in the mile-long stretch of woods between their families' properties, the Clemsons' humble cabin and horse ranch, and the Pritchards' prestigious, two-story home. Thomas Pritchard was known in Jackson County as a wealthy man.

Young Thomas Pritchard started out cutting and freighting wood along the Missouri River by himself, shipping it to Kansas City by barge. Before long he had a crew of local men working for him and was able to provide a solid living for his beautiful wife, Dovie, and their two small children, Samuel and Idelle.

But as the children grew, and the Terre Haute & Richmond, and Madison & Indianapolis railroads began pushing west, lumber was needed like never before. Thomas invested in a steam-driven saw, and then another, and soon his modest business was booming. When the war started, the Pritchard Lumber Company added government contracts to its burgeoning list of clients. That's when the money really began rolling in.

Pritchard placed the rifle's front sight on the neck of a large tom, intending for a head shot. A .54 caliber ball could do a lot of damage. He wanted a clean kill and as much of the bird's meat intact as possible.

Though only a few days shy of his eighteenth birthday, Samuel Pritchard was very big, like his father. He stood well over six feet and, also like his father, possessed a powerful physique born from a lifetime of cutting, loading, and hauling lumber. Thomas Pritchard took pride in the fact that his son was one of the strongest youths in Jackson County. Had he known Samuel was also one of the best rifle shots, which he didn't, he'd have been furious. Skill with a gun was something the elder Pritchard frowned upon.

Most of the men in the county, some even as young as Samuel, had already volunteered and gone off to fight on one side or the other. Ditch's older brother Paul was a Confederate volunteer, and last anyone heard was serving with Shelby's Missouri Iron Brigade somewhere in Arkansas.

Those who hadn't volunteered had been conscripted by the Union. The Enrollment Act, passed the previous March, required all males age twenty and above to join the Federal army. Thomas Pritchard hoped the war would end before Samuel attained conscription age. Should the war still be raging, however, he had more than hope to keep his son from participating. Thomas Pritchard had a plan.

Though Samuel didn't know it, it was his father's intention to buy out his enlistment. This practice was legal, and would be carried out by paying a local family to have their son enlist in his place. There was no shortage of impoverished families with boys of eligible age in Jackson County who would welcome the cash money Thomas Pritchard would pony up to keep his own son out of harm's way. If that didn't work, Thomas had a backup plan; he could pay to have Samuel's enlistment commuted. This would be far more expensive, but could be accomplished by direct payment to the district provost marshal who headed the local Federal enlistment board.

The Federal district provost marshal, hotel and saloonkeeper Burnell Shipley, also happened to be Atherton's mayor. An easier man to bribe didn't live in Jackson County.

In the meantime, Thomas Pritchard was careful to remain neutral. He refused to publicly take sides and kept his family, especially his son, from doing the same.

Tensions were high along the Missouri River since the "War of the Rebellion," or the "War of Northern Aggression," as it was called, depending on which side you favored, began. Folks in Jackson County were split down the middle into which camp they fell, with the greater number of rural residents siding with the South, and the majority of Atherton's townsfolk aligning with the North.

There had been feuds, raids, gunfights, and even murder, sometimes between members of the same family who'd chosen different camps. Such was life in the border states during the war, and it was Thomas Pritchard's goal to remain as nonpartisan as a man could be in such volatile times. A big part of his neutral posture was keeping his son Samuel away from guns.

Before the war, it was rare to see men wearing sidearms. Though hunting rifles were common outside of town, and widely employed, a man wearing a pistol openly on his belt within town limits, who wasn't a lawman or soldier, was a peculiar sight.

Now most men sported pistols, and not just in the country. Just about every fellow walking the streets of Atherton was heeled. Consequently, the last thing Thomas Pritchard wanted was for his son to become known as a skilled shot. Such a reputation, in these hair-trigger times, could get a man, or teenage boy, killed.

Pritchard took in, and let out, a slow, easy breath. Steadying the rifle's front sight on the gobbler's head, he gently placed his finger on the trigger. He had to make the shot count. The only ball, cap, and powder the boys brought were in the gun.

He was about to squeeze when the sound of gunshots rang out. There were five or six of them, off in the distance. The flock of turkey before him spooked and scattered.

"Damn," Pritchard cursed at the missed opportunity. He lowered the rifle's hammer and the boys stood up. "Who fired off all those shots?"

"I don't know," Ditch answered, "but look yonder." He nudged Pritchard and pointed over the tree line to the east. "Smoke. It looks to be comin' from where those shots came from."

"That's our place," Pritchard said, dread creeping into his voice.

"I know," Ditch said.

The boys started running.

CHAPTER 2

Pritchard and Ditch approached the edge of the woods bordering the Pritchards' property at a full sprint. Ditch had taken the Hawken back, and both boys were out of breath from their all-out run. Pritchard was in the lead, as his much longer legs and greater strength gave him speed over his medium-sized friend. The smell of burning wood, and the increasing glow of flames as they neared, urged them onward.

Pritchard reached the woodline first and halted. Ditch skidded to a stop on his heels. Both stared in horror at the scene before them.

The Pritchard home was fully engulfed and sending a billowing trail of black smoke skyward. There were riders, six of them, wearing gray reb coats and cloth masks under their hats. All had pistols. Some wielded torches.

Pritchard was taking it in, frozen and aghast, when Ditch grabbed his arm and pointed to the big sycamore off to one side of the house. There, hanging by the neck from a rope looped over one of the big tree's stout branches, was his father. One of his boots had fallen off. He swung slowly back...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Pinnacle
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0786044934
• ISBN 13: 9780786044931
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 400
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: eucomply OÜ; hello@eucompliancepartner.com; ; Pärnu mnt. 139b - 14; Tallinn; 11317; Estland