Strong Convictions: An Emmett Strong Western (Emmett Strong Westerns Book 1)

by GP Hutchinson

  “After they’ve had somethin’ to eat,” he said, “see to it that they get a good bath. If they look clean to you, I’ll probably be enjoyin’ their company tonight.”

  She compressed her lips and nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said softly, breaking off her gaze.

  “That’ll be all, then.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The sound of the door locking and the key being removed seemed so final to Li Xu, as though her fate were sealed. The room where she had been left was dimly lit but well appointed: one narrow bed, a dresser with a wash basin, soft carpet, and the same dark-green velvet curtains that she had seen in the big room downstairs.

  As comforting as it was to have Ping with her, she’d rather have suffered this nightmare alone if only her best friend could be free.

  Ping stood, arms folded tightly across her chest, nearly frozen by fear.

  Li took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I will not let that man have us tonight, Ping. Do you hear me? I promise you that.”

  Quivering, Ping clung to Li.

  “Did you hear me, Ping?”

  She nodded. After a few minutes’ crying, she managed to ask, “How…will you stop him?”

  Li wiped away her own tears, then took stock of the room for anything she might use as an improvised weapon. Perhaps the curtain cord. But how far would she and Ping get once she’d strangled that McIntosh beast?

  She gave Ping a squeeze, then had her sit on the bed while she checked the dresser drawers. They were empty. She looked under the bed. Nothing.

  Frustrated, she lifted her hand habitually to her head—and touched her ornamental hairpin. She could jam its sharp tip into that fat man’s neck if he tried to have her. But that still wouldn’t get her and Ping out of the house and home free.

  Suddenly another desperate thought came to her. She sat beside her friend.

  “Ping,” she whispered. “Do men want a woman when…”

  Ping tilted her head and waited. “When what?”

  “You know, when we’re having our womanly troubles.”

  Ping’s face still showed confusion. Then her eyes widened. “Oh, that…But I’m not having mine right now. Are you?”

  Li Xu shook her head. “But nobody here knows that.”

  She pulled the pin from her hair. It was about four inches long, a quarter inch in diameter, and fairly sharp at the point. As quickly as she could, she loosened her wide-legged trousers and lowered them.

  Ping grasped Li’s wrist. “Li, what in the world are you—”

  “Shhh! We need blood. We’re desperate here.” As Li slipped off her underwear, she said, “I’m sorry to do this in front of you.”

  Carefully she arranged the underwear on the bed and then sat on them. She glanced at Ping, who had put her hand to her heart and averted her eyes.

  “Don’t,” Ping hissed. She turned back and tried to grab Li’s wrists again. “It’s not worth this.”

  “Let go,” Li said. “It’s not what you think.”

  Her friend at last sat still, though she looked at Li dubiously.

  Li grasped a pinch of flesh midway up her inner thigh, drew a deep breath, and then pushed the hairpin deep into it and all the way through.

  Ping gasped and gripped Li’s sleeve.

  Tears came to Li’s eyes. She bit her lip, refusing to cry out.

  The blood that came out from the two pencil-thick holes ran down onto the underwear she was sitting on—right where it might have gone had she been caught unprepared for the onset of her monthly troubles. Just a little more, she thought. Then she clamped her hand onto her thigh to trap the flow.

  “Ping, quick,” she said, “give me your underwear, too. Hurry.”

  Even in the dim candlelight her friend’s face was pale. But she followed Li Xu’s instructions.

  “Now,” Li said, “pull the waist cord out of my underwear, so I can tie it around where I’m bleeding.”

  Ping hurriedly extracted not only Li’s waist tape but also her own, and tied both snugly around the wounds.

  Once both women’s undergarments had been stained with Li’s blood, they hastily pulled them and their trousers back on.

  Li swallowed. She felt woozy.

  “What happens if they see the punctures?” Ping asked.

  “This is all I could think of to do. Don’t ask me how I even thought to do this.”

  Ping hugged her. “Thank you, Li-Li. I would have died already if not for you.”

  Several minutes later, the key rattled in the lock and the door eased open. The attractive woman in men’s clothing let herself in.

  Li Xu squeezed Ping and prayed that their ruse would work.

  The woman closed the door behind her. Much to Li’s surprise, she didn’t begin with a string of cold instructions. Instead, squatting beside the bed she placed a hand on Ping’s knee and said, “I know how frightened you must be.” The corners of her mouth were downturned.

  She’s not simply acting, Li thought.

  “Nevertheless,” the woman said, “we can’t fight Mr. McIntosh…not now.”

  The woman stared at the floor for several silent moments, then said, “My name is Ettie. I’m to be sure you get cleaned up.” She finally met Li’s gaze.

  “Miss Ettie,” Li said, shaking her head and speaking softly. “That man can’t have us tonight.”

  Ettie squeezed Li’s hand. “I’m afraid he will have you, if that’s what he decides he wants. That’s the way of it.”

  Li still shook her head, “I don’t think he will want us tonight. Both Ping and I, we have started our womanly troubles, and…it’s a lot. I think it’s the fright that’s making it so much.”

  Ettie frowned. “You’re not making this up, are you?” She looked each girl full in the face. “Because if you are, it’ll only make things far worse for you both—believe me.”

  Li said, “May I stand up for a moment?”

  Ettie stood and took a step back.

  When Li Xu got up, there was blood on the bedcover. “It started when I was on the horse. I was afraid I would get some on the man’s rug downstairs. I’m sorry.”

  Ettie put her hands on her hips and glanced toward the door and back. She shook her head. “He’ll want proof.”

  Ping spoke timidly, “If you’ll turn around, I will take off my underclothes and give them for proof.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ettie said. “I can’t turn around. For me to go tell this to Mr. McIntosh…I’m very sorry, but I have to see for certain.” She bit her lip and put her hand to her forehead.

  Li and Ping looked at one another, turned back to back, and lowered their trousers. Li made sure to let one pants leg drop lower than the other. She grasped the waist of her trousers just where the drawstrings bound her pierced thigh.

  “OK,” Ettie said, “Enough. You can pull them up.”

  When Li looked at her, Ettie’s eyes were red and tear rimmed.

  “I’ll tell Mr. McIntosh,” Ettie said. “If he demands proof, I’ll have to come back for your bloomers. Meanwhile, you wait here. I’ll send Margaret with some soup for you. You should eat. And I’ll send Sarah Ann with water and towels so you can wash.”

  She turned and faced the window for several seconds. Li thought she heard a sniff before Ettie marched out of the room and locked the door behind her.

  Ping turned to Li Xu and hugged her tight.

  No sooner had Ettie gotten to the landing at the base of the stairs than a tremendous commotion arose at the front door.

  “Well, tell him I’ve got to speak to him directly,” came a man’s troubled voice. Ettie peeked into the entryway and saw that it was Charlie Blaylock.

  “I’ll get him,” she told the two gunhands in the foyer.

  She hurried to the parlor door and knocked firmly.

>   “Come!” boomed Lucian McIntosh’s voice.

  Ettie barely had the door ajar when McIntosh roared, “What the hell is all that pandemonium?”

  She looked straight at Seth. “It’s Charlie. Says he needs to talk to you immediately.”

  Seth furrowed his brows.

  McIntosh rose and glowered at Seth. “I swear! That brother of yours!”

  The men tromped out to the entryway, one behind the other.

  Before either could say a word, Charlie began sputtering. “He’s here, Seth. In Reno. Nearly shot me in the back. Right outside the Hyperion.”

  Seth opened his mouth to speak, but McIntosh growled, “Who’re you talkin’ about, Charlie?”

  “Damn Texas law dog, that’s who.”

  Just then two of McIntosh’s hands stepped in through the open front door. The shorter one with the brushy mustache said, “We combed the town for him, Mr. McIntosh. Three solid hours. Had him in our sights at the end, but he was already on his horse. Gave us the slip.”

  “Hell’s bells,” McIntosh fumed. “It’s always somethin’ with this brother of yours, Seth.”

  “Why’d you come here and disturb Mr. McIntosh like this, Charlie?” Seth asked, clearly perturbed.

  “Went to your place first, Seth. But o’ course you weren’t there.”

  “How many did you say there were?” McIntosh asked Charlie.

  “I just saw the one. But he’s that damned fast gun, and he was right there in my face before I turned around good. I got myself inside the saloon, and Ted Toler grabbed his scattergun. Zeke here”—Charlie tossed his chin toward the fellow with the brushy mustache—“he come runnin’ to help, too. But he was gone by the time we got back out in the street.”

  “Looked for him a good three hours—”

  McIntosh shoved a hand in Zeke’s face. “Yes, yes, you told me. Three hours, then he got away.”

  Seth drew a breath to speak, but again McIntosh held out both arms. “Everybody just shut up!” He glared at Seth. “Take this brother of yours. Hide him at your place. And then when you go to Genoa day after tomorrow, take him with you. You, Ettie, Charlie—all three of you lay low down there a while.”

  Ettie felt a knot in her stomach. If telling McIntosh about the China girls was already going to be chancy, it might cost her skin now. She stared at Charlie—a hayseed next to McIntosh in his grand black suit and starched white shirt, and next to Seth in his new pinstriped trousers and silk vest. The thought of taking him with them down to Genoa made her cringe. Still, she could hardly wait to get away from Reno for several days.

  McIntosh turned to Seth. “Go on. Take your brother home. Now.”

  Seth settled his hat on his head and gave a simple, “Yes, sir.” He wasted no time in grabbing Charlie by the arm and pulling him out the front door.

  McIntosh told Zeke and the others in the foyer, “Tomorrow mornin’ early, let’s get some men out on the streets. See what we can find out about that Texas lawman.”

  Each man mumbled, “Yes, sir!” in response.

  By the time he turned to Ettie, McIntosh looked worn out. There were bags under his dark eyes. “Don’t tell me you got trouble, too.”

  She stepped close to her boss and whispered what she had discovered about the Chinese girls.

  His face reddened as he glared at her. He shook his head and proceeded to stomp his way up the stairs, all the while spouting about fornicating this and fornicating that.

  At the top of the stairs, he paused and roared, “I’m goin’ to try to get some sleep and put this fornicatin’ day behind me. Don’t nobody disturb me unless the fornicatin’ house is on fire. And I damn well mean it!” He slammed his bedroom door behind him, rattling the entire wall.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The whole way from Reno back to Virginia City, Sikes and Juanito grew increasingly bold in their puckish provocation of Emmett.

  He sighed and shook his head as they turned their horses onto Union Street and headed for Xu’s Golden Dragon. “Gents, we came up here to arrest Charlie Blaylock, right?”

  “Right,” Sikes said.

  “And the town where Charlie is—and those towns close by, too—have turned out to be less than hospitable, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So we’re pulling back to someplace safe.”

  Sikes was still grinning. “Makes sense. No place on earth safer than Virginia City.”

  “Except maybe Chinatown in Virginia City,” Juanito said, matching Sikes’s mischievous smile.

  Emmett cut his eyes at his brother-in-law, then at the Englishman. “You hungry, Sikes?”

  “Hungry as a Highland black bear.”

  “Have to eat somewhere. Why not Xu’s?”

  Juanito jumped back in. “Xu’s magnificent San Francisco steaks. So that’s the real reason we’re coming back here, eh, hermano?”

  “Safe place to reconsider how to take down Charlie Blaylock. Mouthwatering food. Should be answer enough. But there is one other thing.”

  Juanito leaned in his saddle so he could peer wide-eyed at Sikes. “Finally. He’s going to admit the truth now.”

  “If you’ll recall,” Emmett said, his gaze fixed on the restaurant up the street, “Yong Xu was going to ask around about Seth Blaylock for us. Remember?”

  “Right, that.” Sikes turned to Juanito and knitted his eyebrows. “What do you suppose, amigo? Yong’s going to fill us in, isn’t he? The precise time and place where we can find the Blaylock brothers unarmed and unguarded. Next Thursday night. Taking tea and cake with the Methodist Ladies’ Society.” He gave a hearty laugh.

  “Ay, sí,” Juanito said. “So we can walk right in and join them. Offer Charlie a cordial invitation to come along with us back to Texas.”

  Emmett rolled his eyes.

  “Hermano,” Juanito said, now laughing aloud, “it just does my heart good to see you alive again.”

  They were almost to the Golden Dragon. Emmett frowned. “Strange,” he said, sniffing the air.

  “What?” Juanito asked.

  “Wind’s blowing our way, but there’s no smell of cooking. First time we came, I distinctly remember smelling the food before we even got here.”

  “Sign in the window.” Juanito pointed.

  Emmett swung down and read the heavy paper notice—at least the part in English: closed until further notice.

  He went to the window. Through the glass he saw Yong Xu and his wife alone, side by side at a table, weeping. His eyes swept the dining room for Li, but he saw no sign of her. A sense of dread came over him.

  Glancing back at Sikes and Juanito, he said, “Trouble of some kind for Yong and his wife.”

  Juanito’s demeanor was sober now. “Should we…?”

  Emmett rapped lightly on the window.

  Yong Xu looked up. Recognizing Emmett, he rose from the table, drying his eyes with his sleeve. His wife scurried away to the kitchen, head lowered.

  Juanito and Sikes swung down and tethered their horses.

  Yong Xu didn’t open the door wide. He didn’t invite the men in. His caution at the door and the pained expression on his face stood in stark contrast to the affable exuberance he had displayed the last time they’d met.

  “We hate to trouble you at a bad time,” Emmett said. “Is there anything we can do? Or should we come back another day?”

  Their Chinese friend was slow to answer. He glanced at Juanito and Sikes, then studied Emmett’s face. Drawing his sleeve across his eyes again, he said, “Yes, come in, please.” He held out a hand toward a table. “Have a seat.”

  Emmett, Juanito, and Sikes took off their hats and sat. Awkward silence followed.

  “Yong…what happened?” Emmett finally asked.

  The Chinese gentleman looked up and away, his eyes puffy and red. He sniffed and
began slowly. “The night before last…our daughters were gathered over at Zhang’s Restaurant. Just like every Tuesday night…”

  Emmett’s blood ran cold. Something had happened to Li Xu.

  “From what the girls’ mothers said,” Yong Xu continued, “it must have been twenty men. They kicked in the doors. They shot Yan Wu in the back…lovely Yan Wu.” He fought back tears.

  Emmett could now hear Mrs. Xu wailing in the kitchen. He swallowed hard and fought back his own tears.

  Once Yong Xu had regained his composure, he said, “They left Yan to die. They struck the girls’ mothers in the head and left them unconscious. And they stole…” His tears now flowed bitterly.

  Emmett couldn’t look at Juanito or Sikes. Something between fury and despair was ripping at his chest. He forced a calm, steady voice. “Take your time, Yong Xu.”

  Yong Xu nodded and through more tears at last said, “They stole Li-Li and five other girls—all beautiful, sweet young women.”

  “White men? Chinese men?”

  “White men.”

  “Any idea who?”

  Yong Xu shook his head.

  Emmett gripped the edges of the table. “They just rode in, took the girls, and rode out with them?”

  “A few of our men tried to stop them out behind Zhang’s place. The kidnappers had shotguns. There was nothing our men could do.”

  “Which way’d they go when they rode out?”

  Yong pointed toward the hills to the north.

  “What’d the city marshal have to say?” Emmett asked.

  “He listened to us.” Yong Xu kneaded a napkin and stared at the tabletop. “But he said he couldn’t offer much hope for help. I don’t think he plans to do anything.”

  Emmett pictured a cluster of Chinese men standing in the marshal’s office, hats in hand. He had to agree with Yong Xu’s supposition. They probably wouldn’t get any help from the lawmen around here.

  “And if your men do anything on their own?”

  Yong Xu’s gaze met his. “We’re not citizens. Everywhere we settle, others—especially other new immigrants—stir up opinion against us. They want us sent away. Everybody thinks we’re going to take away their jobs. There’s already a rumor that the government is about to cut off all Chinese immigration to America.”