Look for These Exciting Series From
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
with J. A. Johnstone
The Mountain Man
Preacher: The First Mountain Man
Matt Jensen, the Last Mountain Man
Luke Jensen, Bounty Hunter
Those Jensen Boys!
The Family Jensen
MacCallister
Flintlock
The Brothers O’Brien
The Kerrigans: A Texas Dynasty
Sixkiller, U.S. Marshal
Hell’s Half Acre
Texas John Slaughter
Will Tanner, U.S. Deputy Marshal
Eagles
The Frontiersman
AVAILABLE FROM PINNACLE BOOKS
MACCALLISTER
THE STALKING DEATH
William W. Johnstone
with J. A. Johnstone
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Teaser chapter
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2018 J. A. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like The Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
PINNACLE BOOKS, the Pinnacle logo, and the WWJ steer head logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7860-4006-3
First electronic edition: April 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-4007-0
ISBN-10: 0-7860-4007-6
Chapter One
Wynton Miller was a fastidious dresser and a man who took pride in his personal appearance. Whereas other men who drifted sought out a saloon as soon as they entered a new town, Miller sought a bath, and if he needed a haircut or a shave, he tended to that as well. His speech was that of an educated man and in every way he presented himself as a professional.
His profession was killing. Wynton Miller was very good with a gun, some said that he was the best there was, and for three years he capitalized on that by putting his skill out for hire. Nobody knew exactly how many men he had killed; some said it was as high as twenty.
Miller made good money by selling his gun because he was seldom hired unless the one who needed killing was, in his own right, a skilled shootist. In many cases his victims were officers of the law who had gotten in the way of whatever evil schemes Miller’s employers had in mind.
Then the time came when Miller was no more. Had he been killed? Had he taken his money and gone east? Had he gone to Europe? Where was he?
The law was after him, but they had always been unsuccessful in their search. Those who lived on the opposite side of the law, men who for one reason or another might have need for Wynton Miller’s service, had always been able to find him. But even they had no idea of what had become of him.
Wynton Miller disappeared from sight, but not from legend.
Valley of the Chug, Wyoming
Although men of action who were respected by Duff MacCallister, men such as his cousin Falcon MacCallister and his friends Smoke and Matt Jensen had told him that “making the first shot count” is more important than speed, Duff felt that the time had come for him to increase his skill in the use of the pistol. There was no marksmanship instruction necessary—Duff already had the reputation of being a marksman without peer, having demonstrated that on many previous occasions.
“But it has been an observation o’ mine that the rapid extraction of a pistol from its holster is a necessary skill that is nearly equal with the accuracy of shooting,” Duff explained to his friend Elmer.
“You may be right,” Elmer agreed. “I’ve seen you drive a nail into a post from a hundred feet away, ’n I ain’t never seen no one else who could shoot nowhere as good as you can. But if you could draw faster, why, there wouldn’t be nobody who could ever come close to you.”
“Would you be for havin’ any idea how I might acquire such a skill?”
“I guess you could just practice a lot ’n . . .” Elmer started, then he stopped and smiled. “Wang,” he said.
For just a moment, Duff was surprised by the suggestion, then he smiled and nodded.
“Aye, ’tis a good suggestion, Elmer. I believe Wang would be a very good person to teach such a skill.”
Some might have thought it strange that Wang Chow, who had never fired a pistol in his life, could be helpful in assisting Duff MacCallister further develop his skills with a pistol, but both Elmer and Duff knew that Wang would be ideal for what Duff needed. That was because they were both aware of Wang’s unique background as a Shaolin priest and a man of incredible skill in the martial arts.
Wang revenged the death of his family back in China by killing the fifteen men involved. Upon hearing about the carnage caused by Wang, the Changlin Temple expelled him from their order, and the Empress Dowager Ci’an issued a
