Piccadilly Publishing

 

   

BANNERMAN THE ENFORCER by KIRK HAMILTON

Kirk Hamilton is the pseudonym for Keith Hetherington. As "Kirk Hamilton" he was one of the most popular writers in the Cleveland Publishing stable.
Piccadilly Publishing is proud to publish the Bannerman series in digital form, along with the original cover artwork and adapted for our house style. They are forty-eight books in the series and we intend to bring them out on a monthly basis. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.



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Published November 01, 2020
   
48: THE LOBO LINE

To avert a bloody range war, Lester Dukes, the governor of Texas, dispatched his two top Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, to Wolf Creek Valley. Cattleman Clint Garrett wanted all that land for himself and was in no mood to share it with homesteaders, much less a sheepman.

Yancey and Johnny bought into the situation posing as gunmen-for-hire, but quickly discovered that there were other forces at work, most notably the gunfighter Hondo Rhodes, whose gang inhabited the land just the other side of Wolf Creek itself.

Few people had ever dared to cross that stretch of water, and those who did rarely came back. But the Enforcers didn't intend to let a simple creek stop their investigation, even though it was known locally as … the Lobo Line.

Last in the Series


Published October 01, 2020
   
47: HIRE A GUN

It should have been an arrest like any other for Yancey Bannerman. But when the whole thing blew up in Yancey's face, the big, gun-swift governor's Enforcer found himself on a deadly manhunt.

The body-littered trail eventually led him to a town called Socorro, and the murder of a good man that looked like going unpunished … until Yancey bought into it.

Then, with one two brave townsmen to back him, he went against the Block L's tough crew … and the very man he had come all this way to find – and kill.


Published September 01, 2020
   
46: CALL ME TEXAS

The girl saved Yancey Bannerman's life when he got involved in a shootout with bank robbers. Afterwards, when he asked her for her name, her only reply was, "Call me Texas!"

She had the look of a killer about her, and as it turned out she was indeed on a killing trail, determined to find and kill five men who had committed a truly dreadful crime. Every other thought and feeling had been burned right out of her. Now she only existed to ride and kill.

Against his better judgment, Yancey decided to join her and guide her through her manhunt. She was tough, and she was good with a gun, but she could be better, faster, so Yancey took it upon himself to refine her skills … and when they finally reached trail's end, he was right there beside her, allowing the girl called Texas to take her revenge in full …


Published August 01, 2020
   
45: DEATH RIDES TALL

"Yancey Bannerman is a homicidal maniac!" said the Texas Ranger. "He’s killed two of my men, slugged a couple, and another man was wounded at the stables. He's also stolen horses, not to mention taking hostage the daughter of one of your top-ranking senators. Hell, the man has to be stopped at all costs."

The truth of it was that Governor Dukes' top Enforcer was a sick man, suffering from headaches caused by an old scalp wound. But that didn't change the facts.


Published July 01, 2020
   
44: KING IRON

Nothing hurts like betrayal. And when Yancey Bannerman was forced to kill a man he had once called friend, a man who had deliberately led him into an ambush, it left a sour taste in his mouth.

He needed time away from his job as Governor Dukes' top Enforcer – but ended up riding straight into a whole new passel of trouble.

His name was Nathan King, but everyone called him King Iron because he was tough and gun-handy. He ruled the town of Calico Wells and his lust for land was such that sooner or later he clashed with any would-be settler.

When he tried to ride roughshod over young Will Benbow and Benbow's pregnant wife, Mary, however, Yancey couldn't help himself – he had to buy into it.

That's when the war began.

Published June 01, 2020
   

43: TEXAS EMPIRE

Business tycoon C. B. Bannerman – father of Governor Dukes' top Enforcer Yancey Bannerman – was sick with lung fever. He could stay in the damp, foggy atmosphere of San Francisco and die, or move out to a drier, warmer climate for a while, in hopes that his health might improve.

C.B. decided to travel west to Texas, where he had a ranch and the biggest bank in Dallas. But someone was determined that he should never reach his destination.

Fortunately, Yancey was around to fight off the bushwhackers, but there was still a mystery to be solved. Who were the would-be killers, and why did they want C.B. dead?

In the end there was no shortage of suspects, but to get to the bottom of it all, Yancey needed help. And when Yancey needed help, the gun-swift Johnny Cato and his awesome Manstopper were only a call away …


Published May 01, 2020
   

42: TAME THE TALL HOMBRE

Big John Early was getting married, and he wanted Yancey Bannerman to act as his best man. The bride-to-be was Conchita Morales, beautiful daughter of a Mexican cattle baron. Things looked good for Big John.

C.B. decided to travel west to Texas, where he had a ranch and the biggest bank in Dallas. But someone was determined that he should never reach his destination.

But the next time Yancey and his saddle partner Johnny Cato rode into Del Rio, where Big John was sheriff, they found a town gone wild, and Big John himself little more than a washed-up drunk.

Something bad had happened in the intervening weeks, and the two Enforcers were determined to find out exactly what. But first they had to sober John Early up … and drunk or sober, Big John was now a dangerous man to be around.

That left them with only one option, and it was a whole lot tougher than it sounded. They had to tame the tall hombre!

Published April 01, 2020
   

41: THE BUCKSKINNERS

They came out of the mountains, a tight-riding bunch just like a breath from the past in their blood-stiff, stained and reeking buckskins. They all wore beaver tail caps, and their hair was shoulder-length, their features almost completely hidden behind bushy, matted beards.

They were the Buckskinners, and they robbed and often killed to get what they wanted.

But now it seemed that they'd gone into the kidnapping business, and the husband of the beautiful woman they'd abducted was very specific about what he wanted Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato to do about it.

If possible, they were to save his wife. But one way or the other, they were to kill the Buckskinners — every last one of them.

Published March 01, 2020
   

40: BRACE YARGO

The girl wanted Brace Yargo dead, and Yancey Bannerman couldn't blame her. Yargo had raped the girl and stabbed her father to death. But Bannerman worked as an Enforcer for the Governor of Texas, and Enforcers only ever got involved when it concerned the most sensitive matters of state. That being the case, his hands were tied.

So it fell to the Texas Rangers and various other law enforcement agencies to hunt the man down. When they failed, and Bannerman found himself stuck with three weeks' vacation that looked like boring him to death, he took the case on. He didn't figure he would be saddled with the girl herself every mile of the way, but that's how it worked out. Slowly, however, he began to close in on his prey, and though Yargo threw everything at him, he still kept coming.

Before the final showdown, the girl learned something about Yancey's dark side that she'd sooner not have known, and learned something about herself, too – that she wasn't as tough as she liked to think she was.

Still, she'd set her sights on revenge … and revenge meant putting a hot bullet through Brace Yargo's cold soul.

Published February 01, 2020
   

39: THE RAWHIDERS

Out in the Texas badlands, Yancey Bannerman was hunting a ruthless killer named Tallis. But his thoughts were really with his partner, Johnny Cato, who was back in Austin, undergoing multiple operations to fix his ruined gun-arm. If Johnny didn't regain the use of his arm, he was as good as finished.

In the meantime, a young brother and sister facing financial ruin embarked upon an audacious plan to get rich quick. The only trouble was, it meant crossing a psychotic killer known as The Mad Major. Once that happened, there could be no going back. They might have settled their money worries, but there was no telling when the Major and his gang of cutthroats would finally track them down and take their revenge.

Then Fate seemed to throw them a lifeline when Yancey rode into their lives. What they didn't know was that the Major and Yancey were enemies from way back, and the Major had a score to settle with him, as well …

In the end, the lives of everyone in that remote ranch relied on one man – Johnny Cato, and an all-new, completely remodeled version of his legendary Manstopper pistol!

Published January 01, 2020
   

38: LONG TRAIL TO TEXAS

The orders came straight from the President himself, so Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato had no choice but to carry them out. But the orders stunk to high heaven.

Washington had promised to supply a small army of gunfighters, plus weapons and ammunition, to an outlaw named El Condor. In return, El Condor and his rebels would then do everything they could to remove Mexico's present anti-American government from power. Cato's job was to enlist the men. Yancey's job was to train and then deliver them to El Condor's stronghold.

As soon as El Condor got what he wanted, everyone became fair game, no matter their political persuasion. He soon tore a swathe through the border country, and the Enforcers felt duty-bound to stop him.

But with Cato all but crippled in a vicious machete fight, what could they do to take down the very army they themselves had created?

Published December 01, 2019
   

37: DEALER IN DEATH

Yancey Bannerman's brother, Chuck, was the black sheep of the family. That's why their father, business magnate C. B. Bannerman sent him to Texas on a cattle-buying trip. He figured that Chuck would either come good and buy all the stock needed ... or he'd give in to the lure of wicked women and strong liquor and squander all the money C. B. had entrusted to him.

No one expected Chuck to end up bucking a ruthless syndicate and its gun-swift killers.

Yancey Bannerman, the top Enforcer for the Governor of Texas, had no great love for his brother, but blood was blood, and when Chuck reached out for help, Yancey couldn't refuse him.

But in taking on the syndicate alone, he was putting his own life on the line. And the syndicate gunmen always played for keeps.

Published November 01, 2019
   

36: DIE FOR TEXAS

Cooper Dutton and his bunch of butchers were cutting a wide swath of terror through the state. Anyone was fair game for Dutton's guns, but in particular the outlaw was hunting down and getting even with all the people who'd put him in prison ... and that included Yancey Bannerman.

Rather than wait for Dutton to come to him, Yancey decided to take the fight to him. Only trouble was, Yancey vanished almost immediately, not to be seen or heard from again.

Governor Dukes had no choice but to send his next best man, Johnny Cato, to find out what had become of him. And when Cato discovered a decomposed body buried beneath rocks, he hit the vengeance trail, his mission to settle with every last one of Yancey's killers!

Published October 01, 2019
   

35: ONLY THE SWIFT

Something big was in the wind - and to prove it, a small army of men who were willing to die for their cause chose one of the Lone Star State's best-loved public holidays to make an assassination attempt on Lester Dukes, the Governor of Texas.

Although the assassination was thwarted, it was only one part of an altogether bigger plan. Dukes' top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, was sent to find out what nightmares still awaited them.

Along the way, two innocent women were cold-bloodedly murdered to keep the gang's secret ... one of them a close friend of Yancey's fellow Enforcer, Johnny Cato.

By the time Yancey discovered what the gang had planned, all he could do was pray like hell that he reached Austin in time to prevent a catastrophe that would not only kill the most important man in America ... but also take out any number of innocent bystanders right alongside him!

Published September 01, 2019
   

34: THE 12:10 FROM SAN ANTONE

It began with the 12:10 to San Antone, and ended with a pitched battle in Mexico's high sierras. What linked both events was a blood-hungry outlaw called Whip Becker, who was also called the Dragoon Demon after the powerful handguns he used so ruthlessly.

What was Becker planning, with a batch of stolen bolt-action Mauser rifles and U.S. Army uniforms?

Lester Dukes, the Governor of Texas, had a bad feeling he was trying to engineer a war between Mexico and the United States. And to prove it, he put his top Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, on the case.

But by the time they found out what Becker really had in mind, there wasn't a single thing they could do to prevent it!


Published August 01, 2019
   

33: SEVEN GUNS TO MOONLIGHT

An old man named Regan turned up in town, splashing around five-dollar coins that looked brand-new ... but were in fact a quarter-century old. Where had they come from? Where had they been kept all those years?

Suspecting that they might be part of the fabled Lost Sonora lode, Yancey Bannerman decided to investigate further. Legend had it that three wagons, each filled with gold and silver coins meant as back-pay for the army at Fort Concho, had gone missing twenty-five years earlier. No one knew whatever became of the money, but Yancey knew that his boss, Governor Lester Dukes, would want to claim it as part of the Lone Star State's rich history.

Trouble was, other men were out to take the treasure for themselves—ruthless men who would kill anyone who got in their way and not give it a second thought.

Yancey and his partner, Johnny Cato, rode for Moonlight Canyon, not knowing they were heading straight into the fight of their lives!


Published July 01, 2019
   

32: HELLFIRE

Shot and left to die in the desert, Yancey Bannerman nevertheless vowed to make it back to civilization in one piece and continue to ride as Governor Dukes' top Enforcer. What he didn't see coming was an encounter with an old enemy with vengeance in mind, and a lawman who'd stop at nothing to make an arrest — any arrest — so long as it built his own legend.

From then on he was beaten up, jailed, hounded by not one but two posses ... but still he was determined to fight to the finish.

One gunfight followed another ... but when the cards were down, he discovered another enemy just waiting to finish him off ...

Published June 01, 2019
   

31: GUN MISSION

Yancey Bannerman had reached the end of the trail. For years now he had been Governor Dukes' top Enforcer, fighting outlaws and insurrectionists in every corner of the Lone Star State.

Now he'd had enough.

Governor Dukes had started treating him more like a hired assassin, and it didn't fit well with Yancey. And when he accidentally shot an innocent man during a shootout—a mistake he made because his nerves were stretched wire-tight—he decided to call it a day.

Suffering from battle fatigue, he rode off into the desert, seeking only peace and quiet and a chance to recover. Instead, he came to a town that was more like a powderkeg, just waiting to blow.

Yancey didn't know it, but a case of mistaken identity meant that he was the flame that lit the fuse ...

Published May 01, 2019
   

30: THE LASH

It started with the chance discovery of a brand new Springfield rifle — part of a consignment that had been stolen alongside an army payroll fifteen years earlier! It fell to Yancey Bannerman to discover where it had been in the interim — and where was the rest of the shipment?

The truth led him to the tough-talking, tougher-acting Regan brothers, and his closest brush with death so far when he fell prey to a bunch of masked vigilantes and one in particular, who wielded a whip.

Meanwhile, Yancey's partner, Johnny Cato, had problems of his own. A bar fight left him with an injury that might just stop him from continuing to be an Enforcer ...

Published April 01, 2019
   
29: TRAIL TO PURGATORY

Kate Dukes' life hung in the balance — and her father, the Governor of Texas, held his top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, responsible!

When the Governor suspended him, Yancey decided - reluctantly - to strike out and go it alone.

A group of small ranchers were hoping to push their herds to a place known as Purgatory, where the best cattle prices were being paid. And it was vital that they make it - because if they didn't, they could kiss goodbye to their land, which was mortgaged to a robber baron known as Troy Gant.

Gant didn't want the cattle to reach their destination, and he was prepared to do whatever it took to make sure he got his way.

Yancey might have signed on as a trail boss, but he had to become all fighting-man in a hurry if he was to get the cattle to their destination. Luckily he had his partner, Johnny Cato along for the ride. But still — it was going to be touch and go!

Published March 01, 2019
   
28: A BULLET FOR BANNERMAN

AN ENFORCER ADVENTURE SO BIG IT COULD ONLY BE TOLD OVER TWO BULLET-FAST BOOKS!

Johnny Cato's life was hanging by a thread. At any moment, Tris Griffin, a madman obsessed with revenge, could simply snuff him out. The only way to keep Johnny alive was for his partner, Yancey Bannerman, to sacrifice himself. So Yancey rode toward a valley called Powderhorn and a showdown he knew he couldn't hope to win.

A group of small ranchers were hoping to push their herds to a place known as Purgatory, where the best cattle prices were being paid. And it was vital that they make it - because if they didn't, they could kiss goodbye to their land, which was mortgaged to a robber baron known as Troy Gant.

In the meantime, Johnny was forced to create an all-new weapon for Griffin — a weapon he intended to use on Yancey himself!

And as if things weren't already complicated enough, Governor Dukes' daughter, Kate, found herself struggling to survive a-foot, and without water, in a harsh desert.

None of them had a hope in hell of surviving — but if they were going to die, they were determined to take Griffin down with them!

Published February 01, 2019
   
27: RIO RENEGADE



AN ENFORCER ADVENTURE SO BIG IT CAN ONLY BE TOLD OVER TWO BULLET-FAST BOOKS!

Johnny Cato was south of the border, tracking a ruthless killer called Bearcat. Yancey Bannerman was up in the Indian Nations, chasing an owlhoot of his own.

For Yancey, the conclusion of his mission meant a return to Texas and the chance to repair his ailing relationship with Governor Dukes' daughter, Kate.

But Cato's troubles really began when he finally collared The Bearcat.


Published January 01, 2019
   
26: DEATH WATCH



When a man plays both ends against the middle, there's always the chance the deal might just blow up in his face. But the man who figured to turn outlaw leader Lincoln Rand in for a new identity, a ranch all paid-for and a lifetime free from prosecution himself, wasn't worried about that.

Too bad. He should have allowed for Rand's powerful reach ... even from behind the bars of a tough Texas jail.

Because even as Rand awaited the hangman's rope, his ruthless friends on the outside were aiming to silence the informer before he could testify, and only one man stood between them - the governor's top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman.

But Yancey was at a disadvantage. He played by the rules; Rand's men didn't.

And they were going to try every dirty trick in the book to save their boss ... and settle with the man whose word could easily send him to the gallows!


Published December 01, 2018
   
25: VIKING WITH A GUN

When Yancey Bannerman killed the Leverett boys, Wade and Hawkeye, their old man, Bart, swore revenge on him. It wasn't a threat Yancey was about to take lightly; he well knew that Bart was a vicious outlaw and no stranger to killing. All of which meant that he'd have to have all his wits about him at all times, and allow nothing to distract him. Then Erik Larsen came into his life.

The young Dane was a stranger in a strange land, and needed someone to ride herd on him until he learned the ways of the west. Yancey didn't want the job, but he found himself stuck with it, anyway. To make matters worse, Erik himself started causing problems. A natural with a gun, he was soon attracting trouble from all over ... which meant that Bannerman the Enforcer didn't just need to keep himself alive, he also had to make sure the Viking with a gun survived as well!


Published November 01, 2018
   
24: YESTERDAY'S GUNS

Someone was out to kill the Governor of Texas, and this time they came mighty close to doing just that. Yancey Bannerman, the Governor's top Enforcer was right beside him when it happened, and Yancey admired no man more than his boss.

From that moment forward he vowed to run the would-be assassin to ground and see that justice was served - not only on the man who'd pulled the trigger, but the men in the shadows who'd hired him.

But there was a problem. The assassin was known only as 'Saber'. He could have been short or tall, thin or fat, bearded or clean-shaven, long-haired or bald as an egg. No one seemed to know for sure.

So he was looking for a needle in a haystack. And even when he narrowed the haystack down to a faceless little town Paisano, his manhunt got no easier. For Paisano offered a whole list of suspects. Question was, which was was Saber ... and would Yancey find out before Saber made a try on his life as well?


Published October 01, 2018
   
23: THE BANNERMAN WAY

Yancey Bannerman — wanted for murder!

Now he's on the run, pursued not only by the Texas Rangers but also by his fellow Enforcers ... including Johnny Cato.

But Yancey can't afford to be caught. He's already in a desperate race against time as it is. Kate Dukes has been kidnapped, and nobody knows for sure just why. For ransom? To bring some kind of pressure to bear on his father, the Governor of Texas? Or has she simply become the latest victim of a notorious white slave ring operating out of El Paso?

Only one thing is certain. If anything happens to Kate, Yancey Bannerman will bring down the entire weight of hell on the trail-scum responsible.

That's the Bannerman way.

Published September 01, 2018
   
22: BARBARY GUNS

Governor Dukes' top enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, was called home to San Francisco to solve a tricky situation his wayward brother Chuck had created ... and "tricky" was putting it mildly. If it wasn't solved quickly—not to mention discreetly—it could mean the end of the mighty empire Bannerman's gruff father, C.B., had spent his life building!

But you can't always handle blackmail, kidnap and attempted assassination discreetly. That's why violence and sudden death spilled onto the streets of 'Frisco's notorious Barbary Coast, why the dark night was aglow with burning ships at anchor ... and why Yancey found himself in a final showdown with fast gun Clint Blaisdell ... with the life of his sister Mattie at stake!

Published August 01, 2018
   
21: BACKTRACK

When old Buffalo Vance was backshot, he figured it was time to put his affairs in order. But how could he do that when he didn't even know what had become of his estranged daughter, Laura? Was she alive or dead? And after twenty years, did she even want a relationship with him?

Vance hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to find the girl, but when they came up empty, he turned to his old friend, Lester Dukes, the governor of Texas. Dukes owed Vance big-time, so he put his top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, on the case. There was just one problem. Someone, somewhere, was determined to make sure Laura Vance stayed hidden — and were willing to kill anyone who got too close.

Meanwhile, Yancey's partner, Johnny Cato, was having a tough time of his own. Posing as a buffalo hunter, he was on the trail of a vicious political assassin — an assassin who was determined to add Johnny to his list of kills during a terrifying buffalo stampede!

Published July 01, 2018
   
20: VENGEANCE RIDES TALL

An administrative oversight meant that Buck Harlan spent more time in prison than he should have. Buck had been fifteen when he was sent away. Now he was a man of thirty, with no experience of the outside world.

To make it up to him, Governor Dukes sent his two top Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, to ride herd on Buck until he adjusted to life as a free man. But Buck had other ideas. Someone out there had sold him and his brothers out and helped himself to the gold they'd stolen from the Confederacy all those years before. His brothers had been executed for the crime, and Buck himself had suffered the worst of punishments behind bars.

Now Buck intended to find that man and make him pay — in blood.

And there wasn't a single thing the Enforcers could do to stop him!

Published June 01, 2018
   
19: GAUNTLET

They came into Big Springs, Texas, from the north ... but they might just as well have come straight out of the past. They were thirty men clad in buckskins, toting flintlocks and muzzle-loaders, and they wanted - and took - everything Big Springs had to offer.

That was their biggest mistake.

Governor Lester Dukes reckoned they were 'The Lost Ones', the last remnants of Quantrill's Raiders, a bunch of Rebel hold-outs who'd refused to surrender after Appomattox. He figured they were holed up in the Texas Breaks, an uncharted wilderness that had a nasty habit of swallowing up anyone who tried to explore it.

They could have stayed there, for all Dukes cared. But the minute they started robbing and killing innocent Texans, he made a decision to send Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato in to deal with the problem.
Two Enforcers, against a small but ruthless army.

Published May 01, 2018
   
18: DAY OF THE LAWLESS

Something crooked was happening in the border town of Condor. Every Texas Ranger sent to find out what it was ended up disappearing, never to be seen again. But Governor Dukes had an idea what was behind it all — stolen guns. And if those guns fell into the wrong hands, it could spell disaster, especially for the Lone Star State.

Where the Rangers had failed in stopping the gun-runners, Dukes' top Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, might just succeed. The old politician could only hope. Because down in Mexico, El Halcon — a bandit masquerading as a patriot — was building an army to take back everything that remained of Old Spain — including Texas itself!.


Published April 01, 2018
   
17: TALL MAN'S MISSION

Governor Dukes aimed to open up the border country to white settlement as a way to stop Mexico from trying to annex the Lone Star State. But to do so, he first had to give the Kiowa Indians a place to live.

The Kiowas wanted the lush Pecos Valley. But the cattlemen in that region didn't take kindly to handing over such fine grazing land to the Indians, any more than the miners intended to let them have free run of the gold-rich hills. So they set about doing everything they could to prevent the Governor's top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, from fetching Red Dog to Austin to discuss terms.

In the meantime, Yancey's partner, Johnny Cato, was trying to track down a stolen Gatling gun. Somewhere along the corpse-littered trail their paths would cross, and then they'd be in for the fight of their lives against a cold-blooded killer known as ... Edge!

Published March 01, 2018
   
16: THE GUNS THAT NEVER WERE

Johnny Cato never could resist a damsel in distress, and that's exactly what the beautiful redhead was ... wasn't she? Johnny's fellow Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, had his doubts. But Johnny was smitten, and no amount of straight talking could make him see things the way they really were.

Yancey wasn't about to give up on him, though. They'd shared too many tight spots, saved each other's lives too many times, for that. So he kept an eye on developments, and when the lead finally started flying, as he'd known it would, he was right in the thick of it, returning fire.

That, however, was only the start of it.

Duke Early was a career criminal whose entire crooked life had been dedicated to making himself very, very rich and anyone who opposed him very, very dead. Now he had his eye on the biggest score of his life, but to carry it off he needed a gunman. Not just any gunman, though ... the very best that a fortune in stolen gold bullion could buy.

In order to stop a war between America and Mexico, the Enforcers had to track down an elusive target ... the guns that never were!

Published February 01, 2018
   
15: MANSTOPPER

Johnny Cato followed a vengeance trail with one single purpose in mind - to kill the outlaw who'd brought his entire world crashing down around his ears.

It turned the deadly custom-built handgun/shotgun they called the Manstopper into a reckless killing-machine as he tore a bloody trail right through Texas. And it put him at odds with the man one he could always rely on his partner, Yancey Bannerman.

Now, with a young child's life in the balance, Johnny faced a stark choice. If he didn't cool his kill-crazy temper pronto, he'd have face Yancey across a smoking six-gun ...

Published January 01, 2018
   
14: THE TOUGHEST MAN IN TEXAS

A king's ransom in gold had was stolen in a violent bank-raid right in the heart of San Francisco, and the President himself gave orders for Yancey Bannerman to retrieve it. That meant going up against a kill-crazy outlaw named Brad Stewart, and Stewart's own personal bodyguard, a fellow-psychopath called Catlin, who claimed to be the toughest man in Texas.

With Yancey's partner, Johnny Cato, on a mission up in Canada, Yancey would have to face the outlaws alone. But that was just fine with him ... because the bank Stewart had robbed was owned by his father, C.B. And Stewart's raid had left C.B. lung-shot and facing almost certain death, while his brother, Chuck, looked certain to face the rest of his days from a wheelchair.

For Bannerman the Enforcer it was just about as personal as it could get ... and he wouldn't rest until he saw Stewart, Catlin and their entire cutthroat gang dead.

Published December 01, 2017
   
13: THE GUILTY GUNS

It promised to be the biggest land swindle in the history of Texas … so Governor Lester Dukes sent his top Enforcer, Yancey Bannerman, to find the crook behind it and bring him to justice. But few men knew the swindler's true identity, and they weren't about to tell!

Then Yancey took a bullet-graze to the skull, and before he could recover from that, a devastating train derailment finally put him in a hospital bed. Facing an operation that could kill him as easily as it could cure him, Yancey was out of action—which left his partner, Johnny Cato, to finish what he'd started.

Nothing could have prepared Johnny for what followed—a bullet wound that came real close to killing him, a woman with whom he fell in love … and a bunch of gunswift killers who aimed to execute him before he could spoil their get-rich-quick scheme!

Published November 01, 2017
   
12: TEJANO

This time Yancey Bannerman's mission was just about as personal as it could get. Following a brawl in a saloon, his Danish friend Erik Larsen, also known as the Viking, was accused of being part of Matt Garrett's gang of merciless cutthroats. Yancey aimed to prove otherwise. But following an explosive jailbreak, Erik had vanished into the vast buffalo hunting grounds of the Red River country.

That was't all. Garrett and his gang also wanted Erik, because the Viking had unwittingly stumbled onto the whereabouts of a fortune in stolen bank money!

The trail was drenched in blood and piled high in spent bullet cases. But Yancey was determined to see it right to the bitter finish. And at the end, the Viking would earn himself a new warrior name … as a true Tejano!

Published October 01, 2017
   
11: DAY OF THE WOLF

The Governor of Texas had entrusted the safety of Senator Jonas Locke to his No 2 Enforcer, Johnny Cato. The mission proved to be more boring than anything else … until that last night, when Locke decided to go on a bender in the cowboy capital, Cheyenne. That was where Johnny's problems began …

With the senator abducted by a sadistic maniac called Wolf Duane, Johnny had to head up into the high country to rescue him. But Duane had a whole passel of hired gunmen to back his play, so the odds were stacked high against him.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the mountains themselves provided their own challenges—blizzards, avalanches and a pack of starved wolves that just wouldn't quit until they'd turned him into supper.

But Johnny wasn't playing a lone hand quite as much as he thought. His partner, Yancey Bannerman, was also on his trail, helped by a beautiful Indian girl who loved to take the scalps of her enemies!

Published September 01, 2017
   
10: SHADOW MESA

When Governor Dukes suffered his worst heart attack yet, the buzzards began to gather. It seemed like everyone wanted to seize power and run Texas their way, from political opponents to gunnies with their own personal scores to settle.

Keeping the governor safe until he could recover his health was the first priority for his chief Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato. But even they couldn't be everywhere at once. Sooner or later someone out there was going to finish the governor for good … and if they couldn't get to him directly, they'd do it through the only thing he loved more than Texas itself—his daughter, Kate!

Published August 01, 2017
   
9: MAD DOG HALAM

It all started with a very special gift … a gold-plated, silver-inlaid Commemorative rifle, specially made on the express orders of the Winchester Family for presentation to Lester Dukes, Governor of Texas. But when the rifle was stolen, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato set out to track down the thieves. The mission wasn't official—they were doing it as a favor to Winchester's representative, Lang Huckabee. Before it was over, however, good men and bad would die wholesale, the Governor's daughter, Kate, would find herself in the clutches of a homicidal madman, and death would claim one of the heroes who went after Mad Dog Hallam.


Published July 01, 2017
   
8: A MAN CALLED SUNDANCE

Few men deserved a bullet more than the man called Sundance. But his killer unwittingly set in motion a chain of events that few could have foreseen. A man named Brandon had been about to hire Sundance for a mystery job. When he got wind of it, Texas Governor Lester Dukes was determined to find out just what it was. So he called in Yancey Bannerman, with orders to go undercover, and posing as Sundance, blow whatever crooked scheme it was wide-open.

Yancey and his gun-swift partner Johnny Cato, met violence at every turn and almost died on the Mexican desert they called the White Hell. But the real shock was still to come … when Bannerman discovered just who Brandon really was.


Published December 01, 2016
   
1: THE ENFORCER

The Bannerman business empire spread right across the west, but Yancey Bannerman, the oldest son of magnate C.B. Bannerman, wasn't interested in all that wealth—at least, not if he had to sit behind a pile of ledgers and accounts to earn it. Yancey preferred the wide-open, adventurous life … and that was why C.B. disowned him.

To C.B.'s way of thinking, Yancey was little more than a black sheep. And anyway, he had another son, Chuck, and a daughter named Mattie, to rely on. But C.B. should have looked a little closer to home to find the real black sheep of the family. Chuck was up to his eyes in gambling debts, and that made him a desperate man … just desperate enough to try robbing the Governor of Texas himself!

Before he knew it, Yancey and his gun-swift partner, Johnny Cato, found themselves involved a plot to oust Governor Lester Dukes from power … and by the end of it, each man had himself a new job—as one of the Governor's go-anywhere, fight-anyone peacekeepers … the Enforcers.

Read Chapter One here

Published January 01, 2017
   
2: RIDE THE LAWLESS LAND

Twenty one thousand dollars … to get their hands on it, Reno Slade and his gang killed two innocent people and then high-tailed it into the Indian Territory. But they hadn't reckoned on Sven Johansen's daughter Anya, who would stop at nothing to bring her parents' killers to justice.

She knew exactly the way to do it, too. She'd heard of Governor Dukes' two "enforcers", Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato. Though based in Texas, she knew they could flout jurisdiction and state lines, and ride the lawless land until the account with Slade was settled in blood.

She wanted that above all else. And nothing was going to stop her from being in at the kill!


Published February 01, 2017
   
3: GUNS OF TEXAS

The cold-blooded murder of rancher Abe Summers led to a surprising discovery—a long-lost treasure of Spanish reàls, escudos, doubloons and pieces of eight!

Abe's land-grabbing neighbour, Nathan Cross, wanted that treasure all to himself, and was prepared to have his hired gun, Lang Brodie, kill to get it.

But then Governor Dukes got involved, and quickly discovered that the coins were only half the story. There was something else still waiting to be unearthed, a treasure of far greater value than the coins …
So Dukes sent his two top Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, down to the Sabine River country to help Abe's college professor daughter find … The Guns of Texas!


Published March 01, 2017
   
4: A GUN FOR THE GOVERNOR

Twenty years earlier, Governor Lester Dukes had helped found the town of Rifle Ridge, Texas. The move had had him popular with many … but a hated enemy to others. Along the way, Dukes had punished the wealthy ranchers who had grabbed millions of acres illegally by raising a land tax. Now, the town was about to celebrate its anniversary, and Governor Dukes was going to be the guest of honor. But for some, Dukes' visit was an opportunity to settle old scores.

Suspecting a possible assassination attempt, the Governor sent out his best Enforcers, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato, to check out Rifle Ridge before he arrived. He didn't dream that one of them would end up being buried alive, while the other would build the very weapon that would be used to kill him!


Published April 01, 2017
   
5: ROGUE GUN

After Yancey Bannerman, Johnny Cato was the best Enforcer Governor Dukes had. Johnny might like good whiskey and bad women, but he was hell with the hide off when it came to putting away the bad guys.

But Johnny was a man with a secret. No matter the game, no matter how steep the odds, he just couldn't resist the lure of the cards. And that gambling habit got him into debt, big-time, with some mighty shady characters.

Then the unthinkable happened. Johnny and Yancey came to blows over Johnny's problem, and the one-time gunsmith quit the Enforcers about thirty seconds before Governor Dukes could fire him. Johnny warned Bannerman that the next time they met, it would be through gunsmoke. Yancey believed him. But they'd been through so much together, he felt obliged to give Johnny one more chance to come good.

Big mistake…


Published May 01, 2017
   
6: TRAIL WOLVES

Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato rode into Beaumont undercover, posing as a couple of trail-wolves fresh off a cattle drive and ready to howl. In reality, their mission was to find a mysterious mulatto whore who had been instrumental in the death of a prominent senator. The deeper they dug, the more enemies they made, and when things turned real rough, they left a trail of bodies behind them.

The senator's death had been connected to something big, and the head honcho of a gang whose specialty was blackmail and entrapment was willing to do anything to thwart Governor Dukes' two top Enforcers. But still they kept coming, and when the mission became personal, Yancey and Johnny vowed that nothing would stop them from seeing it through to its explosive climax.


Published June 01, 2017
   
7: DEAD SHOT

Lester Dukes, the Governor of Texas, felt that the time had come to expand his group of Enforcers—the go-anywhere, fight-anyone squad that maintained law and order in the Lone Star State. So he handed the chore to his two best men, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato. They came up with Ironsite, a center where new Enforcers could be trained, and then set about recruiting the best of the best from the Texas Rangers.

A fanatic named Sam Burdin was fixing to invade the town of Van Horn with his twenty-strong army of so-called 'Texas Freedom Fighters', and they planned to give Governor Dukes a bullet-welcome when he came to take part in the Texas Independence Day celebrations.

Burdin said he was a patriot, a man who only had the welfare of Texas at heart. But the truth was very different. Burdin was a psychotic killer, and a mass-murderer in the making. And all that stood between him and total anarchy were … the Enforcers.

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This website is the property of Piccadilly Publishing
All rights reserved 2012
For information, please contact the webmaster

Kirk Hamilton is better known as Keith Hetherington who has penned hundreds of westerns (the figure varies between 600 and 1000) also under the names of Hank J Kirby and Brett Waring. Keith also worked as a journalist for the Queensland Health Education Council, writing weekly articles for newspapers on health subjects and radio plays dramatising same.