Jailbreak

by Giles Tippette

  His face lit up. He said, “Aaah, yes. A good man.”

  “In some ways a very good man.”

  “A leetle hard to handle, perhaps?”

  “Yes, but we reached an agreement.”

  “That is good.”

  “Perhaps we will see you this afternoon.”

  “At seis? Perdone usted. Six?”

  “Earlier, I think. Maybe siesta?”

  “Aaah,” he said, understanding. “Yes.”

  “You will be ready?”

  “But of course.”

  “Will you do as I ask?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Must you ask?”

  “No. But I wonder which way do you ride from here.”

  “Which way do you suggest?”

  “We will go northwest. If you went the other way it might confuse our enemy.”

  The caballero smiled. He said, “Yes, it is hard to chase two coyotes at the same time.”

  I said, “That’s what I was thinking.”

  The guards were making motions at me. I gave the caballero the pack of cigarillos and the remains of my matches and said, “Until later.”

  He said, “Yes. And tell Benito I will kill him if he doesn’t do as you direct.”

  “I already did.”

  After I got out of the jail I sauntered over to lawyer Obregon’s office. Luís was on duty at his accustomed post in the outer office. It was going on for ten o’clock, but I wasn’t certain the señor would be in. By a lucky chance he was, and by the slick transfer of a fifty-peso note from my hand to Luís’s I was able to get in to see him right away.

  He was about the same—sitting behind his desk, looking well satisfied with himself and eyeing his pigeon with relish. He bade me sit down and offered me coffee. I said that I reckoned I was about coffeed out and sat down across from him. Luís stayed in the room to translate. I brought out the title to the land in Laredo and explained, as best I could, what the problem was. I asked if there was anything he could do about it that might be handled quickly. I didn’t have much hope but he surprised me by laughing and saying that it was a matter of the slightest effort. In fact his clerk could bring me the necessary document from the courthouse.

  Well, I wasn’t that surprised. I asked him what he reckoned the cost would be. He pulled a face and said, through Luís, that he would gladly do it for me as a favor, but, unfortunately, the people at the courthouse were not quite so generously disposed and if I wanted the matter handled quickly and with dispatch he thought a small fee—for the clerks, of course—might speed matters along. I asked how much and he said he thought about five hundred pesos would do the job. I done a little quick arithmetic in my head, knowing the peso was running about eight to the dollar, and come up with about fifty-five dollars. That was pretty good pay for a small favor from some clerk who probably never saw that much money in two months.

  But I outed with my wad and slid the money across to him. Then I sat back in my chair and waited to see what he’d do with it. On a past occasion, just as we’d been leaving the office, I’d chanced to glance back to see him turning toward a little curtain that hung down in the corner. He’d had my wad of bills in his hand and had been bending over as I passed through the door and lost sight of him.

  Now he did nothing, just let the bills lay there. He said, through Luís, that if I cared to come back in an hour he would have the Spanish grant title all ready for me. I got up. I said, “No, I don’t reckon. I’ve got some business around town. How about if I return around two o’clock?”

  He rose, formally, with me and came around his desk to shake my hand. He said that the hour would suit him perfectly and he also wished to add that he was very sorry about the difficulty about my brother but he was sure I, a man of the world, understood and he hoped I realized he was doing everything in his power.

  Luís said, formally, “Señor Obregon is much troubled by this business and regrets with extreme the sorrow it has caused you. But he hopes that you have been somewhat comforted by the freedom of access to your brother that he has personally arranged.”

  I said, just as seriously, “Yes. Tell Senor Obregon that I am in his debt but expect not to be for too much longer.”

  They bowed me out formally, Senor Obregon even going so far as to pat me on the shoulder. He assured me once again that the document would be ready at two o’clock.

  I left there cursing Obregon and cursing Norris. I had no doubt the clear title would be ready by that afternoon. Hell, that was a very small bone to throw to a dog you were trying to take the hind leg off of. He’d do that little favor just to keep me well hooked, keep the cow up at the trough for milking. And if that damn Norris hadn’t been so pigheaded the matter could have been handled with just as much ease.

  Back at the hotel I found Ben and Hays. Jack and Lew hadn’t come back so we settled down to wait for them before making a noonday meal.

  I asked after the work they was supposed to have done that day. Ben said the horses were standing saddled, loose-cinched and ready. Hays said he’d laid in just about all the grub he figured the packhorse could handle along with about six gallons of water. He said, “It’s all done, boss. All we got to do is skedaddle.”

  About a half an hour later Lew and Jack came in looking sweaty and dusty. They sat down and we poured a drink out all around and then knocked them back “for luck.”

  I let the whiskey get settled and then looked at Lew. He shrugged, and said, “Don’t look too tough, Justa. Best sight I had of Mr. Davilla—pardon me, Capitán Davilla—was him sitting out in his front yard with his shirt off and a bottle of tequila in his hand. Didn’t see nobody about the place except a couple of peons and a few women. I figure he ought to come along pretty easy.”

  “What about his horses?”

  He made a face. “Didn’t see nothing worth bothering with. If he’s got any good stock he’s got ’em hid somewheres else.”

  “All right. That horse Ben got you, what do you think?”

  He took a moment to answer, glancing over at Ben first. He said, “Well, he wouldn’t be my first choice in horseflesh, but I ain’t seen nothing better around here. I reckon Ben knows as much about horses as anybody, and I reckon he got the best he could find.”

  “But will he last the distance?”

  Lew said, “Depends on how hard we have to push. Hell, Justa, they ain’t going to be exactly chasing us on no purebred stock, you know. You got some idea they issue racehorses to them ordinary federales?”

  I stood up. “All right,” I said. “Let’s go down and make a meal. Liable to get a little busy around here before long.”

  We made the best we could out of the poor fare in the hotel dining room. I urged everyone to just keep on chewing and swallowing. I said, “Likely to be a good little bit before the next meal and that will be out of a can.”

  After that we went back upstairs. Wasn’t too long before we were going to have to meet Benito and his men but I wanted to be sure everyone knew his job exactly. On a piece of foolscap I drew up a rough sketch of the town, where the jail was, our escape route and where I wanted each man positioned.

  The jail sat at a sort of a Y in the middle of the main street. One road ran off to its southeast. That was the road I expected Elizandro and his men to take. Directly across from the jail was a line of shops and cantinas and the usual scuffle of businesses you’ll find in most of the larger Mexican towns. I had scouted the area right across from the jail and I liked it. It wasn’t but about ten yards from the front of the buildings to the front of the jail. And there were some nice concrete columns in front of one store that would make good cover. That was where I wanted Ben to position Benito’s men. I said, “You can have them hold their horses just right around the corner here. My deal with Elizandro is that he is going to give us plenty of covering fire in return for me breaking him out. Ben, you and Jack will have the horses. You’ll both be mounted.” I pointed to a location a little behind the block of buildings that faced the
jail, back toward our hotel. I said, “Jack, here is where I want you to pull up with the horses. Just enough behind the corner of that building to be out of sight.” To save his feelings I said, “I don’t want to take a chance of any of the horses catching a stray shot. But as soon as you see me and Norris and Hays come running across the street you get there right smart with our mounts. We ain’t going to much want to hang around that area any longer than we have to.”

  Ben said, “What are you going to do about your handgun, Justa?”

  “You’ll have it,” I said. “Soon as I get near enough pitch it to me and hope like hell I catch it.”

  Lew said, “Sounds like I drawed the easy job.”

  “Not so as you’d notice,” I said. I made a mark on the paper about a block from where I’d told Jack I wanted him and the horses stationed. “I want you and the good capitán about right here. I want you to tie him on his horse. I don’t want his hands free, I want them tied down to the saddle horn. As we come by you take his horse on lead so he’s the last member of the parade. If they come after us shooting I want him to be the first one hit.” I glanced up at him and give him one of his own crooked smiles. “Of course, then, you’ll be next. You’ll be the rear guard, so to speak. Still think you got the easy end of it?”

  He said, “Well, since you put it like that, I’d just as soon swap out with Hays.”

  Hays made a little gulp. “And I’d just as soon swap out. You go in that jail with the boss. Hell, I’ll get that Mex and dress him up in rope.”

  Which suddenly reminded me of something I’d forgotten. I said, “Ray, run around to that mercantile where you got that powder and get me about twenty feet of quarter-inch cord. Sash cord, if they ever heard of such a thing.”

  “What would you be wanting with that?”

  “Just go,” I said. “And be quick about it.”

  After he was gone I sat, thinking, trying to figure out what I’d forgotten. I could feel an edginess coming over me. Maybe there are those men who can go into a dangerous situation without some fear but I wasn’t one of them. I had no qualms about the necessity of what we were about to attempt, but neither did I have any illusions. It was going to be dangerous work and no mistake. We were about to attack a small fortress that was swarming with armed men. That sort of foolishness can get you killed.

  Ben said, “Justa, it’s going on for two o’clock. That’s the time we’re supposed to meet them pistoleros over at the livery stable.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I know. Let’s have one more drink. Time’s getting close.”

  I poured out all around and then we knocked them back. I said, “Ben, you and Lew and Jack go on over there and get them pistoleros lined out. If they’re drunk or troublesome let Lew handle them. But make sure they understand one damn thing. Every one of them federales they kill is one less that’s gonna be chasin’ us or them.”

  Lew laughed. He said, “Oh, I don’t reckon we have to reinforce that idea. I reckon they already thought of that they ownselves.”

  I said, “Luck.” They filed out. I called after Ben, “Be damn sure you watch yourself. Them Mexican bullets kill just the same as the ones on the other side of the Rio Grande.”

  He turned and gave me a look. “Don’t tell me. You’re the one going to be closest to the fire. If you weren’t the boss I wouldn’t let you do it.”

  Then they were gone and the wagon was in motion. All I could do was sit there and hope it didn’t run off a cliff.

  Just when I was starting to get nervous about the time Hays finally showed up. He came in carrying a coil of sash cord. He said, “This what you had in mind, boss?”

  I stood up. “Yeah,” I said. “Your saddlebags packed?”

  “Yeah.”

  I reached into mine and took out the two derringers. I handed one to him. “Here, stick that in your boot. It’s loaded. Two shots.” I shoved the other one down in my right boot. After that I took the wad of primer cord I’d cut up and shoved them down in my pocket. They were cut to different lengths, all the way from two inches to ten inches. Four seconds to twenty seconds. I shouldered my saddlebags and then looked over at Hays. “We forgetting anything?”

  He shrugged, looking nervous. “Not so that I taken notice. ’Cept the bucket.”

  I said, “Pick it up.” It was the bucket with the twelve innocent-looking beer-bottle bombs that I hoped would work. After he had it in hand I said, “Well, let’s go.”

  On the way out I stopped at the desk and paid us out. It came to a little over fifty dollars, which I considered excessive, but I wasn’t in a mood to argue. Hays and I stepped out on the street. He said, “Where we headed, boss?”

  I said, “Going over to the jail, but first we’re going to do a little bill collecting.”

  He said, “Huh?”

  I said, “Never mind. Just follow along with me.”

  When we got to Obregon’s office Luís was smiling. He said, in his accented English, “We have done the job, Senor Williams. The matter of the deed is cleared up. Senor Obregon has it ready for you. I will show you in and come along to help with the translation.”

  “Mighty good,” I said. Hays and I dumped our saddlebags by the door. The twenty foot of sash cord had been shoved down into one of the pockets of Hays’s saddlebags. We followed Luís into Obregon’s office. The little fat lawyer rose as we entered, all smiles. In Spanish he said that all was well, that he had managed to prove up our Spanish land grant. Some of it I understood; Luis translated the rest. Then Senor Obregon handed me my original title and some document in Spanish. Luís said it was proof of the land-grant title. I smiled and thanked him through Luís and took the two documents and folded them carefully and put them in my pocket. After all, they were what the whole business had been about. Then I said, casually, to Ray Hays, “Ray, put a gun on that boy so he don’t make any noise.”

  Then I pulled out my pistol and stuck the business end right between Senor Obregon’s eyes. He’d been standing up, but with the gun in his face he slowly sank down into his chair. I just let the end of my gun follow him. His bottom jaw dropped so I took the opportunity to stick the barrel of my revolver in his mouth. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Luís, frozen stiff, Hays standing just behind him with a drawn pistol in his back. That was one of the reasons I valued Hays; he might argue from time to time, but he reacted when you needed him to without question.

  I said to Señor Obregon, “Listen, lawyer, you got seventeen hundred and forty dollars of my money which you took without doing me a damn thing. I ain’t counting that fifty-five dollars I give you this morning, but I intend on having that money back. Comprende?”

  His eyes were wide and staring and he commenced making little gurgling sounds. Hays said, “Boss, I don’t think he can talk with that pistol in his mouth.”

  I took the revolver off his tongue and shoved it back up between his eyes, but kept leaning across his desk. I figured he’d enjoyed the taste of cold steel enough to get my message. But I said, “I know you don’t speak English, but I have taken notice that you have a safe over there in that corner behind that curtain. Now I want you to open it and give me back my money, else I’m going to pull the trigger on this heavy-caliber pistol and splatter your brains all over this nice office. You comprende?”

  He just sat there shivering and shaking, his eyes still wide, his mouth still open. I said, “I reckon you better tell him, Luís. He’s got about a minute to make up his mind.” For emphasis I cocked the hammer of my revolver. The sound echoed off his tonsils in the quiet room.

  Luís let go a high, nervous torrent of Spanish at the lawyer. When he was finished Obregon started shaking his head. Luís said, “He says he has no moneys in the safe, that he has transferred them to the bank.”

  I sighed and said, “Well, tell him that’s his hard luck. I’m going to count to ten and then I’m going to shoot him. After that we’ll have to shoot you too because we can’t have no witnesses. You ready, Ray?”

  Hay
s said, “Yeah, boss.”

  I started counting. I didn’t even bother with the Spanish. I just held up my left hand and started ticking off fingers. I said, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—”

  Luís said, suddenly, “Señor, I have admittance to the safe. Please don’t shoot me.” His voice was high and hysterical. I didn’t blame him. Hell, if I’d had an unknown gun in my back and a long life ahead of me I’d of done the same.

  I said, “All right. Then open it.”

  I could see him look fearfully back at Hays before he moved cautiously around the desk and toward the corner. As he went he said, respectfully to Obregon, in Spanish, something like, “Forgive me, patrono. It is necessary. It will mean our deaths otherwise.”

  But Obregon didn’t like it one damn bit. He started to turn his head and say something to the young man but I tapped him hard across the forehead with the barrel of my pistol; he let out a little scream and collapsed across his desk. I hadn’t meant to hit him so hard, even though I was a little sick of his ways, but it seemed I’d managed to give him a pretty good cut and knock him out a little.

  Luís had drawn aside the curtain and was working the dial of an old-fashioned combination safe. He said, “It is all in here, señor. Senor Obregon does not put his money in the bank. Do you want it all?”

  “No,” I said. “Just seventeen hundred and forty dollars American. Only what I’ve give this thief. If it’s in pesos you make sure you get the right amount. I ain’t going to count it but I’ll be back if you short me.”

  I saw him swing the door open and begin to work feverishly with stacks of bank notes. When he was done he stood up and solemly held out a wad of money at me. I tilted my head toward Hays. I said, “Give them to him. Ray, stick those in one of the saddlebags out by the door and then bring that cord back in here.”

  While he was gone me and Luís stood like a couple of statues. I was sorry to be scaring the boy, but I really hadn’t had no choice. When Ray came back, carrying his saddlebag, I directed Luís to lay facedown on the floor. Obregon was making little moaning sounds. I went around the desk and jerked him out of his chair and threw him facedown on the floor. Then I said to Hays, “Take that cord and hog-tie them both. Make sure you do a good job of it.”