The Teacher (The Fast Gun Series Book 6)

The Teacher

Macon Farrell earned the name Rio Kid when he was only sixteen, after a brutal range war in the Nueces Strip revealed a talent with a gun he never asked for. Fast, deadly, and impossible to ignore, the reputation followed him through more gunfights and even into the Civil War. By the time the fighting ended, Macon wanted only one thing—to leave the Rio Kid behind for good.

Heading west to the Wyoming Territory with a wagon train of settlers, Macon hopes to build a quieter life as a rancher and a school teacher. In a place where no one knows his past, he finally begins to believe that a different future is possible. He even finds love again with Mia, ten years after losing the woman he once thought he’d never forget.

But peace doesn’t last long on the frontier. When a powerful cattle baron decides the settlers’ land belongs to him, hired gunmen ride in to force them out. The settlers need someone willing—and fast enough—to stand against them. And the only man capable of doing it is the one Macon tried to bury.

The Teacher is a classic Western adventure from Terence Newnes and the sixth book in the Fast Gun Series, where a man determined to leave violence behind must decide whether the past truly stays buried.

Start reading The Teacher today and return to the unforgiving frontier where reputation can be as dangerous as any gun.

Excerpt from the book

The glare from the coal oil lamps lay harsh across the table where six men sat playing cards. Three were locals, two were tough-looking drifters, and the sixth was a neatly dressed man, clean-shaven, with a broad face and a square jaw. He was a good-looking man with brown hair and light brown eyes. He was six feet two inches tall, with broad shoulders and a deep chest. He wore a low-slung, tied-down gun and the walnut butt was shiny from long usage. He looked capable and tough, but right now he was concentrating on his cards. The game was coming to an end and the pot in the center of the table was worth almost a thousand dollars – a large sum in 1866.

They were playing in a small saloon in a small town on the Missouri–Kansas border. The man’s name was Macon Farrell and he was joining a wagon train at first light. Settlers were setting out on the Oregon Trail to a new territory that was being carved out of land taken from the territories of Dakota, Utah, and Idaho – it was called Wyoming. He did not have a wagon, and the only reason he was allowed to join the wagon train was that the wagon boss had known him during the war and even long before that. He also knew that Macon was an excellent hunter and a fighter. It was late now and Macon wanted the game to end because he had to get some sleep before the long haul the next day.

There were only three players left now, Macon and the two drifters. One of them folded and then came the final call, and the drifter laid his cards out triumphantly and said, “Full house! Beat that!” Macon laid out his cards slowly and deliberately, one by one. There was a hush around the table as he laid out the last card – four queens – four of a kind. He stood up, stretched out his left hand to rake in the pot and said, “Lady Luck – four of them – been a while since she favored me.” The drifter, who was dressed all in black but with a white vest, slammed his fist on the table and jumped up. “That’s not possible!” he shouted. “You must have cheated!” His partner, who had long blond hair falling to his shoulders, also stood up and Macon stayed as he was with his left hand stretched out. The loser was to his right but the other drifter was on his left.