“Hello?”
“Hey, James. Is he there?”
There was a pause, then, “Who’s calling?”
“Really? You’re goin’ to ask me—”
“Please hold.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why does he always make things difficult? Oh yeah, because he’s him.”
I heard a connection go through and then a phone receiver being fumbled before a deep, groggy voice said, “This better be good, Billy.”
“Sorry to wake you,” I said.
“No, you’re not.”
I laughed. “You’re right. I’m not.”
There was a pause, and he finally said, “What do you need, now that I’m marginally awake?”
“I need you in New Mexico.”
“Aw hell, Billy, seriously? New fuckin’ Mexico? I told you I never wanted to—”
“I know, I know, but trust me, I have a good reason...I’ll explain when you get here.”
I heard him grunt and knew he was sitting up now. “This must be pretty big if you’re makin’ me come back there.”
“It is, pal. It really is.”
“Is this work?”
“Yeah. So...MI-4 will pay you back or I will. Just buy a train ticket and get here.”
“Damn straight someone will pay me back. Where am I headin’ into?”
“Albuquerque is best.”
“Santa Fe has better food.”
I laughed. “We’ll be headin’ to Santa Fe after you arrive. But I have to head to Las Cruces first, so Albuquerque is best. Besides, they have a great train station. Send word through the agency when you’ll arrive, and I’ll be there to pick you up.”
“I’m supposed to be on leave, you know,” he said.
“I know.”
“They can’t possibly be happy I’m comin’ in.”
“I didn’t ask. Better to get reprimanded after the fact than be told no. I need you here, no one else. They’re gonna have to suck it up.”
He whistled low. “They’re gonna be mad as hell.”
“I couldn’t care less.”
“I know. But you’re gonna owe me for this. We had a deal.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was hopin’ you’d forgotten about that.”
“No, sir.”
“Look, I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t necessary. And yes, I know the deal we made.”
He grunted a noncommittal sound. “I’ll be there by the end of the week.”
“By the thirtieth,” I countered. “Later in the day if you can.”
“Shit,” he sighed out. “That means I need to leave like, now. You best have answers for me when I get there.”
“I will.”
“Fine. The thirtieth. See you then. Bye, Billy.”
“Bye, and thanks so—” The line went dead. “I hate it when he does that.”
I hung up the phone and looked out the window at the dying light. Clouds were gathering, and I thought we might end up getting some rain tonight or tomorrow. Neither of which bothered me. Driving around in the rain was nothing like riding a horse all day in it.
I laid down to rest my eyes for a bit before dinner, and my mind went back to a long trek in the rain on horseback. It was bad. In fact, the whole trip to Agua Negra was horrible.
March, 1878
Not long after the sun rose, clouds started rolling in. Seeing this, I pulled the group together and sent them into town to find a spot for a hot breakfast. Sharing a bit of my speed with Colonel, we headed for the “black water.” When I arrived at the body of water that gave the town its name, I took the two special canteens from Zahara to the edge of the lake. Remembering what she’d told me about what would happen if I touched the water, I held the strap of each canteen and dropped them into the water.
Using my boot to help them fill all the way, I lifted them out, being careful to use a towel to dry them off and screw the tops back on. Thunder boomed above, and I slid both canteens into a bag lined with beeswax. Mounting back up onto Colonel, I felt dizzy and checked to make sure there were no black spots on me from the water. At first, I didn’t see any, but then the shade of gray showed on my hands, and I realized some of the water must’ve passed through the towel.
“Damn it,” I said, and pitched forward, my face landing on Colonel’s mane. I felt my body quickly begin to go into paralysis. Stiff like I’d done ranch work for twelve hours without stopping, I fought to reach the knife in my boot.
The tips of my fingers found the hilt, but I was becoming so stiff I wasn’t sure I’d be able to grab it. With one last push, I grasped the handle and yanked the blade out. Without hesitation, I stabbed myself in the leg, creating a blood-gushing wound. Praying that the healing powers of my gift to renew my body would also attack the poison, I pulled the knife out. With the last of my mobility, I kicked Colonel’s sides, and he headed off.
Using our mental connection, I told him where to go once we were on the road, where the wound began to heal. At first, I thought the soul magic wouldn’t attack the poison, but as Colonel trotted into town, I felt my legs come back to me, then my arms and torso. By the time we found the rest of the boys, I was still a good ten percent stiff and fought not to fall off Colonel as he stopped behind an inn.
Landing on my ass, I cursed and grabbed the stirrup to hoist myself back up. Colonel was greatly amused, as was the boy who tended the horses out back of the inn.
“It’s been a rough twenty-four hours,” I said, and as if on cue, it started to downpour. “Great. Just great.” I groaned and limped my way to the front of the inn.
Thunder rolled across the sky, and I opened the door, surprised to see the place only filled up with the Regulators. I walked over to Charlie and asked what was going on as I marched out my limbs to get rid of the stiffness.
“We walked in, and the few that were here scampered out. What in tarnation are you doin’?”
“I’m stiff. Been a long ride. We best not stay long. Did you order me some grub?”
“Sure did. Barkeep is busy fillin’ the order now. Seems they are a hand short in the kitchen.”
This gave me an idea. “I’ll be back.” I headed into the kitchen area like I’d worked there my whole life and offered to lend a helping hand.
“Voy tan rápido como puedo,” the man said, telling me he was going as fast as he could.
With a smile, I placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him in Spanish, letting him know I’d grown up helping out in kitchens and asking him to show me where things were.
With my help, food was on the table faster than it would’ve been. The owner knew after our chat that we didn’t want any trouble, so he hung a sign out front that they were closed until lunch and locked the door.
“Gracias, señor,” I said.
With an accepting nod, he disappeared into the back.
I turned my attention to the Regulators. “We need to find a way to get McSween through town without gettin’ arrested.”
“Or killed,” Charlie added.
“And how do we do that?” Big Jim asked.
“We put some fear into that man and his deputies,” someone said.
Then one of José’s Hispanic recruits, whose name I wasn’t sure of, spoke up. “We just need to be there. Show Brady we’re there to keep him honest.”
“‘Cause that worked so well for Tunstall,” Joe Smith said.
Faster than I could blink, Middleton had ahold of Smith’s shirt and was lifting him up out of his chair. “You weren’t there. You have no idea how that all went down. I suggest you leave your rude insinuations to yourself.”
It was quiet for a second while no one breathed.
Quietly, I said, “John, set him down. He didn’t mean nothin’ by it, did you, Joe?”
Eyes bugging out of his head, Joe said, “I didn’t...I meant y’all were overpowered, that’s all.”
“Put him down; it’s all right,” I said again.
This time Middleton seemed to hear me and dropped Joe into his seat
before sitting back down to finish eating his breakfast.
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. “All right then, let’s talk strategy on what to do if there are a ton of men.”
“Why can we not just threaten him?” a new man to the group, John Scroggins, asked.
José Chavez y Chavez spoke up as he filled his coffee from a carafe left on the table. “He’s not the type of man who will respond to threats, mi amigo. Just like Dolan, Brady will only respect force. We need to take Lincoln back.”
Charlie hummed in agreement and swallowed some food down with a gulp of coffee. “I’m with José on this. I say we get supplies at the store and watch and wait. McSween will have to pass us to get to The House, where Brady will likely be sitting in wait. We’ll join McSween there and surround him, and we’ll be his escort to Fort Stanton.”
“We’ll never all get into town without bein’ noticed,” Fred pointed out.
“We will if we go in small groups,” I said, since Charlie had put another bite of food in his mouth. “We send some of us to San Pat, some will position themselves at the Ellis Store, and the rest of us will be at Tunstall’s, and those in town go in shifts.”
Without Dick there to lead, MacNab stepped up to make decisions. “We’ll need no more than nine in the center of town, but less would be good. Three is too small, though.”
“Nine Anglos,” I said. “None of you Mexican boys will go.”
José bristled. “Why don’t you want the Mexicans? You know the other Americans aren’t any braver than I am.”
“Don’t be annoyed, José. It has nothin’ to do with who’s brave or a good shot. Brady is married to a Mexican woman, and everyone is always sympathetic to their own kind...and we can’t be havin’ changed minds partway through this. Besides, I’d hate to put your families in that predicament. If a fight breaks out and Brady dies, leavin’ his wife a widow, you need to have clean hands. Comprendé?”
José thought, then nodded. “You’re right. It would put my family in a tough place.”
“Let’s do this,” I said. “Charlie, me, MacNab, Middleton, Henry, and Fred will go to the Tunstall Store. The rest of you will split, four men to Ellis and the rest to San Patricio to meet with McSween.
“Ya know, I gotta ask,” Frank MacNab asked. “Why do you use everyone’s first names but mine and John’s?”
“Huh? Oh! ‘Cause I already know a man named Frank and way too many men named John. This is simpler.”
MacNab frowned. “That’s the dumbest—”
“It’s my reason. If you like, I can call you Frances,” I offered, a grin sliding across my face.
“MacNab is fine.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “Glad to hear it. Now, if we six—”
“I said we should have nine,” MacNab said, interrupting me again.
“There will be. Don’t forget, we’ve got Reverend Ealy, Robert Widenmann, and Sam Corbett in town. By droppin’ the number tryin’ to sneak into the center of town to six, our chance of being noticed drops considerably.”
MacNab agreed, and we all finished our food. I left a nice tip for the owner by the register, and we all slipped out the back, saddled up, and headed out. The San Pat group of Mexicans went one way; the Ellis group of Anglos went another, leaving the five I’d appointed with myself left to ride alone to Lincoln in the rain.
“They’ll be to San Pat by mid-day,” Charlie pointed out.
“That’s why I sent a letter for Roy with José.”
“Roy?” Henry asked at the same time Fred did.
“It’s what Isaac and Ben call that blond Regulator Network guy. No idea what his real name is. Anyway, it’ll let Reverend Ealy know we’re comin’. Let’s go the long way ‘round. That way, chances are we won’t be seen as we’ll arrive after dark. Easier to slip into town that way. Besides, if we stay off the heavily traveled roads, the mud shouldn’t be as bad.”
“Shouldn’t is the key word in that sentence,” Charlie said, pulling his hat down to protect his face against the blowing rain.
Thunder boomed, and I smiled. “Great day for a ride, gentleman. Let’s try to enjoy it!”
“He’s your best pal,” Henry said with a chuckle.
“I never said he was normal,” Charlie replied.
I started to laugh and gave Colonel a light kick to the ribs, and we headed for Lincoln.
March, 1949
Standing out on the front porch, I smoked a cigarette and stared in awe as the sun, which had set a while back, still escaped from below the horizon.
Lois stepped out onto the porch without saying a thing and stood next to me. In the porch light, she looked younger than her years, which I’d placed around forty. Her eyes, green as the grass, appeared to be able to watch me and the horizon at the same time.
Feeling a bit uneasy at the silence, I said, “Ya know, the sun doesn’t do that everywhere.”
“What? Set?”
I chuckled. “No, come up from the ground like that. I’ve only seen that out here. It appears to light up the sky longer here. No idea how or why, but I’ve missed that.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it, as I’ve pretty much just been here in New Mexico my whole life. How long has it been since you were here?”
“Early 1940s,” I said, lying. The last time I’d enjoyed watching the land lit from below woulda been February 1898. But I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“When you were what? A teenager?” she teased.
“I’m older than I look. Good genes.”
“Uh-huh. Well, do those good genes have an appetite to go with ‘em?”
“Sure do!”
“Well then, come in and get washed up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” Without another word, she walked back into the house.
I finished my cigarette and did as she told me. By the time we were halfway through our meal, she began to talk about Fletcher.
“Nice man, he was. Kept to himself mostly but seemed to enjoy going out and being social. I take it Sally already told you he left here for Las Cruces.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, he wasn’t even considering that area until he’d spent some time over at Bobby’s Bar and Grill.”
“Oh?” I asked before eating another bite of the best mashed potatoes I’d had in a decade.
“He met someone there that tipped him in that direction. He didn’t say who, but I know it was a woman. Not surprisin’.”
“Why do ya say that?”
“Fletcher was like you. Handsome and easy goin’. He had quite a few visitors when he was here, men and women, with information for him. It was amazin’ to see how easily he could get them to tell him their life story.”
“That was Fletch all right. With that thick black hair and dark blue eyes, he was never hurtin’ for a date, and he had a way about him that put folks at ease. We used to say that if Fletcher couldn’t get a confession outta someone, no one could. Hell, there were folks who admitted to things without even realizin’ they did!”
“I can believe it,” she said, putting more butter on a roll. “He has that kinda gift where he brightens up a room. I sincerely hope no one has put that light out.”
The mood switched quickly, her somber note hitting me hard. “Me either, Lois. Me either.”
The rest of dinner she filled me in on his full stay, the day-to-day, and when I got back upstairs, I jotted all I could remember into my notebook before an idea hit me.
I headed out to the stairs and started down them as she came down the hall.
“Yes, Agent Kidwell?”
I smiled. “Any chance that bar you mentioned would be open tonight?”
“Sure, but it’s a Monday night, so they won’t be open past midnight.”
“Great. I think I’ll go check it out.”
“They’re havin’ some sorta cook-off tomorrow afternoon if you’d rather go then. Everyone will be there.”
The sliver of a moon had already set but would be
up tomorrow during the day. My safest bet was tonight. “I think maybe I’ll do both. Don’t you wait up for me now, ya hear?”
“Me? No sir, I’ll be in bed by nine.”
“Sleep well then. I’ll see you for breakfast.”
“Eight o’clock sharp, Billy.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and headed upstairs to get my dancing boots on. If I was lucky, I’d run into this woman that Lois mentioned. Maybe she could tell me why Fletcher had gone to Las Cruces. And maybe her name was Rose.
23
All Fools Day
March, 1878
Whether it was the rain/sleet/snow mix that fell all day or the path taken, we never saw a soul on our journey to Lincoln. Plus, by staying on the grass and stone areas, we weren’t as covered in mud as we could’ve been if we’d traveled the main roads. However, we were soaked to the skin and quite miserable.
Around an hour after sunset, the six of us rode into town, keeping it slow and steady so as to not draw attention. Reaching the Tunstall Store, MacNab dismounted and approached the gate, which opened easily, meaning Reverend Ealy got our message.
We all breathed a sigh of relief. Having six men show up without warning on a night like tonight, what with the tensions in town being the way they were, would’ve been disruptive, to say the least. Reverend Ealy lived with not just his wife, but his two children and a teacher by the name of Susan Gates.
MacNab led his horse through the gate, and we all rode in behind him into the corral. With no stables here, we were stuck grabbing our bags and leaving our horses outside in the rain. I sent an apology through touch to Colonel. Seeing as we might have to leave quickly, it was best if we didn’t take them to McSween’s stable or remove their saddles. I promised him a longer visit with Zahara, and that seemed to appease him.
We all headed for the back door, what’d been the entrance to Tunstall’s living quarters. I knocked once, and the door opened. The Reverend stood there, lantern in hand, his eyes flitting over each of us holding our bed rolls and bags.
The Curse of Billy the Kid: Untold Legends Volume One Page 25