Jess is headed to Alger, Texas, hunting for the killer, Jim Fisk. He catches him there, but not before Fisk murders an innocent couple just outside of town.
Meanwhile, the men in the village of Fulton capture the notorious, Ned Malone, who raped and strangled the wife of a Texas supreme court justice, in Calico. They call on John Bodine to come and get him.
Ned Malone is one of Deputy United States Marshal Frank Reedy’s worst nemeses. Reedy is the one who put him in prison and Malone has escaped…yet again. Two deputy marshals from Calico travel to Stratton to pick up Malone for his hanging, but Malone’s men murder them.
Reedy is hell-bent on seeing Malone hang and decides that he and two other federal marshals will escort him to Calico.
As soon as Jess finds out about it, he rides to Stratton, hoping to catch Reedy before he leaves. But Reedy has already left.
When Jess catches up to Reedy, he finds him wounded and the two federal marshals dead. After getting Reedy’s wound taken care of, Jess and Reedy go on the hunt for Malone and his men.
It turns out to be a long and bloody hunt.