I know it has been at least a couple of weeks since I last updated this story but life sort of kept me busy. Hope this was worth the wait.
"So who are we going to go see again?" Elsa asked the following mourning after the two of them packed up and hit the trail again. Elsa didn't get much sleep at all that night, at best only a couple of hours. From the sound of wild animals that Elsa was afraid was going to get them plus the uncomfortableness of having to sleep on the hard ground Elsa just couldn't get to sleep last night and was already missing the comfort of her nice warm bed.
"We are going to see a woman named Shego Murray." Jack said "She is a reformed thief who now runs a Weapons shop in a small town called Middleton just before we reach the desert. Despite the towns size it is one of the roughest towns in the county and if anybody has some dirt that we can use to track these bastards down it's her."
"How far away from here is Middleton?" Elsa asked
"About a couple of hours but if we push our horses a bit we can probably make it in a good hour and a half."
"Well OK but just don't push Snowflake to hard, she is my favorite horse and I don't want to lose her."
"Trust me Elsa I won't push them any harder the what I have too." Jack said "The faster we talk to her though the faster we find your father's killer."
The two of them then pushed there horses into a hard gallop and sure enough after about ninety minutes the two of them reached Shego's gun shop. After tying there horses to a pole and giving them some water Jack and Elsa marched inside to see a young woman in her early thirties with long black hair cleaning a shotgun off with a rag turn and look at the two with a slight smile.
"Well if it isn't Jack Frost." Shego said "I was wondering when I was going to see you again, it's been to long."
"It sure has Shego, you staying out of trouble?"
"Why wouldn't I after the way you knocked the living shit out of me the last time." Shego said before turning to face Elsa. "You know Jack may be a womanizer but he's not afraid to beat the stuffing out of a woman though. Jack damn near broke my arm the last time a pulled a robbery."
"Hey in my defense you pulled a gun on me." Jack said
"But hey no hard feelings though. He actually beat some sense into me and after I got released from prison I turned over a new leaf and now I actually make money the honest way. So what can I help you with Jack?"
"I need some information on some criminals we are after, and with you running a weapon shop in the roughest town in the county surely you know somethings about the criminals running loose in this state."
"I may know a few things or two, who are you after?"
"The Pitch Black Gang." Elsa said. Shego's eyes widened like saucers and she froze for a moment when she heard that name. Then as she sat down in her chair she starred at the two of them with a expression of concern and fear.
"If I was the two of you I would get out of the state fast, no one goes after Pitch Black and lives."
"The bastard killed my father," Elsa said "I am not going to rest until they are brought to justice."
"You do not understand though who you are up against. You know why they are the biggest and most lethal gang in Texas? It's because they manage to strike fear in the hearts of everybody they cross, people are terrified to talk to them on threat of their own lives. If I told you anything you might as well put a bullet in my head now. If you knew what they are capable of you would be just as afraid of him as I am"
"I am not afraid of them Shego, give me some names, surely a couple of them has crossed by here." Jack then put the palm of his hands on both of Shego's cheeks and talked to her quietly and calmly to try to calm her down. "Shego please, if you want these guys off the streets them you got to give me something to go on."
Shego sighed "I can give you some names and what they are up too, but that's it, anything else and I am dead."
"Any bit helps." Jack said
"Let me start by saying that it is not just the ranches these people want but the whole city of Colby. Pitch doesn't care about the money that owning a ranch brings he wants complete power and control so he can run his gang and terrorize the city folks without risk of the rangers. He already owns almost all of Colby already and a lot of the higher ups that you seem to trust, works for his in secret. Judge Frollo, jail warden Jafar, they all work for him."
"What?" Jack gasped.
"Plus nearly all of the Texas Rangers in Colby." Pitch wants control, he wants to strike fear to everyone in Colby. He is too powerful Jack, many bounty hunters like you have tried to stop him but have failed, you can't beat him."
"I have to try." Jack said.
It was there that the three of them heard the door open and a thin middle aged man walked in and put his hat on the hat rack. Jack glared at the man and studied him closely as the guy walked around the store looking at the many guns in the shop when he noticed something striking about the guy. He had the demon head tattoo on his lower wrist, he works for Pitch. Without hesitation he ran up and grabbed the guy and drug him onto the front counter and slammed his head against the counter.
"Hey what the hell are you doing man let me go?" The man yelled.
"Whoa Jack what are you doing?" Elsa asked, that's when Jack showed both Elsa and Shego the tattoo.
"He's one of them!" Jack growled.
"I have no idea what the hell you are talking about man." The guy protested as he struggled to get free from Jack's grasp to no prevail. That's when Jack took out his gun and shot it on the counter top about ten inches from the guy's head.
"OK OK, yes I do work for Pitch Black I admit it!"
"And now you are going to admit something else!" Jack growled. "Where is his headquarters I know it is in the desert but you are going to give me the exact location."
Are you crazy? Nobody spills secrets about the gang and lives. If I tell you anything I am a dead man!" Jack then shot four more bullets onto the counter top, each one getting a couple inches closer before Jack pressed the gun onto the top of the guy's head.
"Your a dead man if you don't talk," Jack said "The next one will go in your head if you don't give me what I want. WHERE IS HIS HIDEOUT? TELL ME AND I MIGHT LET YOU LIVE!
"OK OK!" The guy cried as he was shaking like a leaf. "It is on a hill Northeast of Rattlesnake canyon on the North end of the desert. You can't miss it!"
"Thank you." Jack said, still not releasing his grip from the guys head.
"Now you are going to let me go right, I told you what you wanted to know."
"I said I might let you live boy." Jack said pressing the gun tighter against the back of the guys head. "I never said for a fact that I would."
"Wait, no please...!" That was all the guy could say before Jack fired his gun and spilled the guy's blood all over the store's counter and floors.
Elsa and Shego both stared in shock at the dead body laying on the floor as Jack reached into his right shirt pocket and took out the thousand dollars he got for his last bounty.
"Here this should pay for repairs," Jack said handing the money to Shego "Do me a favor and bury him before anybody arrives and ask questions. Oh and thanks for the info it was very useful."
"Jack what the hell was that?" Elsa said as the two of them left and got back on their horses and started riding toward the desert. "You flat out murdered that guy."
"Oh I'm sorry," Jack said sarcastically. "I thought you wanted those bitches dead."
"I do but not like that. You flat out murdered him."
"Well Elsa, now you see why my repetition is the way it is."
"You don't have to be that way Jack, you don't always have to be cruel and heartless, you can show mercy. Why are you always so cold and heartless?!"
Jack lowered his head and his voice softened like he was recalling a bad memory. "Believe it or not Elsa there once was a time that I was more merciful to the bad guys. Early on in my career I often did bring the people in alive for the justice system to do their work. Sure I put a bullet in their arm or leg, but I would often joke around as I did it and would only kill someone if in self defense."
"So what happened, why did you change into such a heartless bastard?"
"There was this girl, she wasn't even ten yet, her whole family was murdered by these vicious gangsters. I was riding by a trail when I saw the door to their house opened and heard the little girl crying from inside. I walked in and saw her crouched in the corner crying her eyes out and I crouched down and asked what happened, she told me the situation about how the gangsters just broke in and killed her parents and older brother and how the gangsters would eventually find out about her and kill her too. I told her that wasn't going to happen on my watch and had her ride by my side as I tracked down her family's murderers so she would feel safe."
"After about a week I was starting to grow attached to that girl. She watched as her family was brutally murdered but yet as we slept on the hard grass at night when there wasn't a hotel around to lay our heads she curled up right next to me and looked up to me as if I was her own father. I never had any kids of my own Elsa and I guess in a way I cared for her as if she was my own daughter. I loved that girl Elsa, she was like the child I never had."
"Well when we were finally getting close to tracking the gangsters location the two of us got ambushed. I never saw them coming until I felt the bullet dig into my right side. It wasn't the bullet that hurt me though, it was hearing that young girl screaming my name for help. 'Don't let them take me Jack please'. I tried to get up, I tried to stop them but the next thing I knew I got struck over the head by the back of one of them bastards guns and lost consciousness. It wasn't till three hours later that I finally woke and I ran to find them bastards location and rescue that little girl. I will never forget what I saw when I finally tracked them down. Her head was laying on the floor like a toy ball, sitting in a pull of blood and their dogs was in the back yard ripping the girls body apart and eating her flesh. I snapped Elsa, lost control. Them fuckers murdered her, and tossed her to the dogs like she was a fucking bone. After I gunned down the dogs I tossed the bodies of one of them threw the window of the room they were hiding in and gunned each one of them down. I didn't kill the boss immediately though, oh no I wanted him to know just who it was that took his life that night. After I shot him in the chest I grabbed the very ax he used to murder that little girl as I put my foot on his chest. The guy had the nerve to beg for his life. 'Please don't kill me, I surrender' he shouted. I just stared him in the eyes though as I waved that ax in front of his face, he killed my girl, I was going to show him the exact same fate. As I stared blankly in his eyes I got real close to his face and said, 'humans go to prison, dogs get put down.' And I lowered that ax on his neck and beheaded him the same way he beheaded that poor girl. That's why I am hard on criminals Elsa because every time I go to sleep at night I hear that girl screaming out my name for help."
Elsa just stayed silent for a few seconds as they rode down the grassy trail, she didn't know what to say. She had know idea what this guy had seen in the past. It finally made sense though why he was so heartless and stubborn, she figured if she witness the same thing she would be the same way.
"Is that why you didn't want me to tag along at first? Because of that girl?"
"Yes Elsa, and that is also why I don't like getting close to anyone, why I never settled down and build a relationship with a woman. Because I know that if I get close to anyone, that I will just risk putting them in danger. And I don't think I could lose anyone else I care about again. I was going to adopt that girl after the mission Elsa, she grew close to me and I grew close to her."
"What was the girls name?" Elsa asked curious.
"Sophie" Jack replied, and the mere mention of her name was enough to bring tears to his eyes
"I am so sorry Jack, I had no idea."
"You cannot be in this line of work and build a relationship Elsa, it's impossible. That's why I prefer to be alone."
Elsa didn't dare to ask Jack anything else because she could tell that just talking about Sophie was hurting him. Hear she though Jack was just a grumpy loner that didn't care about anybody unless it involved some sort of payment and yet here she sees a broken emotional man who has been through so much hell.
She didn't say anything else to him the rest of the night and they rode silently till nightfall.
Well that was sort of a depressing second half of chapter, but I wanted to give Jack a reason for his anger and why he feels better off alone. I hope I wrote the back story well and shed some light on why Jack is the way he is.
Also I was originally going to have a different character for the weapon shop owner but Menatron the angel of Ideas gave me the suggestion to use Shego from Kim Possible and I was in a giving mood when I wrote this so I thought I would give my people what they wanted.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did please leave a review and hope to see you next chapter.