Robert B. Parker's Bull River

by Robert Knott

  “I reckon it’s the best bet,” I said.

  Virgil smiled.

  “I keep telling myself that.”

  We thought about that as we sat for a bit in the dark, drinking tequila and watching the people in the plaza.

  “What do you think about those Federales?” I said.

  “Unexpected.”

  “Was.”

  “They don’t seem to care for Alejandro.”

  “They don’t.”

  “They don’t seem to care for us none, either,” I said.

  “Don’t seem like it.”

  “The Americano law officials,” I said.

  “We are.”

  “Don’t like us Americano law officials traipsing around on their Córdoba soil.”

  “No,” Virgil said. “They don’t.”

  “Think they’re gonna be a problem for us?” I said.

  “Could be,” Virgil said.

  “The lieutenant speaks good English.”

  “He does.”

  “Might prove to be a help, though.”

  “Might.”

  “You think he’s got other ideas?” I said.

  “I do.”

  “Like what?”

  “He thinks two Americanos mean money.”

  “In exchange for the woman?”

  “First thing the lieutenant asked about,” Virgil said.

  “It was.”

  Virgil nodded.

  “You want to try and get on outta here?” I said. “Slip out tonight without them knowing?”

  “Don’t,” Virgil said. “Don’t want to get the whole Mexican police force on our ass. The fewer we got to deal with, the better.”

  We stopped talking for a bit. Virgil smoked his cigar, and we drank, thinking about the prospect of the situation.

  “Regardless,” I said. “I hope for the woman’s sake we’re not pissing in that wind you were talking about.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Can’t be too pleasant for her,” I said.

  “No,” Virgil said. “Don’t imagine it is.”

  63

  The following morning I came downstairs an hour before sunrise. The two Federales that had been left to watch us were sleeping when I entered the lobby. I figured, like Virgil said, it best not to try and slip out on them and then find ourselves in a sling with the whole force of Federales. I kicked the boot of the sergeant major a little harder than needed.

  “Wake up!” I said.

  He looked at me through his dark slits for eyes, and even though he was startled by being abruptly awakened, he showed little sign of concern.

  I spoke to him in English but made sure my tone of voice expressed what I was getting at, whether he understood me or not.

  “We’ll be leaving here in one hour. If your lieutenant and any of the Federales are interested in joining us on the journey, they should get ready right now.”

  I walked out.

  After getting our horses saddled, I brought them to the front of the hotel. Virgil came downstairs, and we drank some coffee in the lobby of the hotel as we waited on the lieutenant.

  An hour past sunup we climbed into our saddles when we saw the lieutenant with five of his Federales trotting across the plaza.

  “Lieutenant’s got him a handful,” Virgil said.

  “He does,” I said.

  “Let’s keep them in front of us, Everett,” Virgil said.

  Included in the group were the surly sergeant major, a big heavyset hombre with a few stripes on his shoulder and a grin of silver teeth, and three younger stocky privates that looked like they were brothers. All five were riding dark bay horses that looked fit.

  The lieutenant and his men pulled up next to us.

  “We don’t need to be waiting on you, Lieutenant,” Virgil said as he turned Cortez. “We won’t do so again.”

  Before the lieutenant could reply, Virgil clicked Cortez around in a circle behind the lieutenant.

  “Lead the way, Lieutenant,” Virgil said.

  With that we were off, headed for Veracruz.

  We traveled up a narrow road leaving Córdoba. It was an old, well-traveled thoroughfare with turns weaving through homes and farms in the hills. By midday we started downhill. We stopped at a small village and rested our horses some. The Federales settled on one side of the road. Virgil, Alejandro, and I settled on the other. Virgil, Alejandro, and I took shade next to an old church. We sat with our backs to the wall. Alejandro poked at some dirt with a stick as he looked to the Federales across the road under the side awning of a feed store.

  “Look at them,” Alejandro said. “They are like vultures.”

  “Who did you rob?” I said.

  “Alejandro?” he said incredulously.

  “Sí, Alejandro,” I said. “High-profile robbery, the lieutenant said.”

  “Ah,” he said. “The lieutenant is full of shit, simple exagerando.”

  “Simple exagerando enough to have him wanting your hide.”

  “I stole some supplies from one of Maximilian’s many leftover conservatives,” Alejandro said. “I only took what belong to my people.”

  “What did you steal?” I said. “What kind of supplies?”

  “Everything I could carry that was worth some value.”

  “How’d the Federales know you?” I said. “Why the warrant?”

  “I sold what I took to the wrong person,” he said. “Also a conservative.”

  “Bad move on Alejandro’s part,” I said.

  “Sí,” he said. “Alejandro did not know!”

  I looked at the Federales. They were eating jerky and drinking from canteens and paying no attention to us.

  “When you found out Jedediah was posing as a banker in San Cristóbal,” Virgil said, “how did you know to send a wire to Dalton in La Mesilla? How did you know he was there?”

  “Before San Cristóbal, I was with Dalton there in La Mesilla.”

  “And you left him?” Virgil said.

  “Sí,” he said. “I did not like his shit amigos in La Mesilla.”

  “Why did you send the wire?” I said.

  “I told you,” he said. “For years Dalton was looking for Jedediah.”

  “But why send the wire?” Virgil pressed.

  “After everything, all the so many years, we were brothers,” Alejandro said. “Jedediah, Dalton, Alejandro were all brothers . . . In San Cristóbal, Jedediah did not even want to know me. This was no bueno to act as if he did not recognize me, like he was better than Alejandro.”

  “But why contact Dalton?” I said.

  Alejandro poked around in the dirt with a stick.

  “I thought it was a good idea to rob the fucking bank,” he said as he looked up to us from under his sombrero.

  “Why’d Dalton want to cut you out?” Virgil said.

  “I don’t know. He was bad to many, but not me. He turned on me.”

  “Thought you were brothers?” I said.

  “So did Alejandro. Maybe he turned on me because I left him, I guess. Maybe greed. Maybe gringo amigos, they did not care for the Mexican Alejandro . . . Maybe everything.”

  “How was it you got into a shootout with them?” Virgil said.

  “The night, Christmas, we were drinking, Dalton’s amigos point guns at me, laugh, tell me to leave saloon. I left, and they followed me.”

  “Dalton did not stop them?” I said.

  “No,” Alejandro said, without looking at us.

  “Why?” I said.

  “I don’t know,” Alejandro said with a shrug.

  “And that’s when you shot them?” Virgil said.

  “The bastards tell me to get on my horse. They shot at me. At first I think to scare me. But then they shot close. I shot back
. Alejandro is a good shot. Better. Steady. Not scared. And Alejandro hit them both.”

  “You said Dalton shot at you?”

  Alejandro nodded as he poked in the dirt.

  “He damn sure did. He come out and shot at me . . . tried to kill me. I already tell you, Dalton is most likely the Diablo himself.”

  64

  We left the small village and rode on to Veracruz. We passed farms, ranches, and homes along the road. It was dark as we neared the city. The breeze in our faces carried the salty smell of the ocean, and the air was getting cooler as we rode. We were moving slowly, approaching the city, and began to see the lights below. Alejandro rode his tall tricolored medicine-hat gelding with the one blue eye twenty feet in front of Virgil and me as we descended the narrow road and the Federales led the way.

  The lieutenant dropped back from the Federales and sidled up next to Virgil and me.

  “We will be into Veracruz central very soon,” he said.

  Virgil didn’t say anything.

  “This is a long way you have traveled,” the lieutenant said.

  “Is,” Virgil said.

  “Who are these hombres you are after?”

  Virgil said, “Abductors.”

  “And this a wealthy woman they abducted?”

  “She’s a wife,” Virgil said. “A daughter.”

  “This wife, this daughter, must be very special?”

  “She is.”

  “Worth a lot of money?”

  Virgil didn’t say anything.

  “Why did you say there is no price for her return?”

  “I told you, Lieutenant, no price. No ransom.”

  “You said that, but I’d expect you’d have mention of a reward.”

  “Hard to know what you’d expect,” Virgil said politely.

  “I’m disappointed in you, Marshal.”

  “What’s your disappointment, Lieutenant?”

  “Marshal, you should disclose all the necessary information.”

  “Told you all there is concerning this matter, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, with no mention of the money,” the lieutenant said.

  “It’s against the law to take somebody that don’t want to be took,” Virgil said. “We are here to enforce the law, to find this woman.”

  “Every woman has a price,” he said. “Every father, too.”

  Virgil didn’t reply.

  We rode in silence for a bit.

  “So you know from your prisoner,” the lieutenant said, “where we are to find these hombres and this woman?”

  “We do,” Virgil said.

  “Where?”

  “We’ll know when we get there.”

  “Tonight?”

  “No.”

  “Why not tonight?”

  “Not a good idea,” I said.

  “It’s not,” Virgil said.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t know the lay of the land,” Virgil said.

  “Would it not be wise to have the element of surprise in our favor?” the lieutenant said.

  “Need to know what we are getting into,” Virgil said. “In the light of day. You know that, Lieutenant.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  We rode for a bit before the lieutenant felt the need to apply his authority.

  “You need to know. I mean no disrespect to you, but this is my jurisdiction.”

  “Point being?” Virgil said.

  “What I say goes.”

  “What would you say?” Virgil said.

  “This is not America.”

  “We’re fully aware of where we are, Lieutenant,” Virgil said.

  “I just would not want you to get the wrong idea.”

  “Never do,” Virgil said.

  “Then we will proceed as I command.”

  “What would you command?”

  “Mañana, once I have assessed the situation, I will let you know.”

  “You do that,” Virgil said. “Just make sure you don’t get in our way of doing what we came down here to do.”

  “Just remember where you are, Marshal.”

  “That’s real easy, Lieutenant.”

  “Good,” the lieutenant said.

  The lieutenant pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and handed it to Virgil.

  “This wire, from a Mr. Jantz Wainwright, you may find helpful.”

  65

  “I know it is dark,” the lieutenant said. “I don’t expect you to be able to see this notice, but I know you will find it interesting. Perhaps you already know of this notice from Mr. Jantz Wainwright? It is an offer of a reward for the return of this woman, Catherine.”

  We did not reply as we rode for a bit.

  “The wire was sent to a Mexico wire service,” the lieutenant said. “It’s from her father, of course, this Mr. Jantz Wainwright, offering a generous reward for the return of his daughter. It provides her description and all the necessary information. There is more detail, something about a bank robbery. All this you, of course, know, but I thought you might want to see this, no matter. Such a crime, mis amigos, such a terrible crime, but not to worry, we will help you find her.”

  “We appreciate your help, Lieutenant,” Virgil said.

  “Mexico is here to help you.”

  The lieutenant spurred his mount and moved on. He passed Alejandro and rode to the front and led the way with the other Federales.

  Alejandro was well ahead of us and heard nothing of the exchange with the lieutenant.

  “Goddamn,” Virgil said.

  “This is not good, Virgil.”

  “No,” he said. “Don’t think it is.”

  “Not only do they think we’re carrying ransom money, now they have the prospect of a reward and potential robbery money to boot.”

  “They do.”

  “Now we know if the Federales are help or trouble,” I said.

  “Thanks to Jantz Wainwright,” Virgil said.

  “You called it,” I said.

  “Didn’t expect this, though,” Virgil said.

  “Me, neither.”

  “Wainwright fucked up.”

  “Wonder why the lieutenant went this long with us?” I said. “Not saying anything?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “He could have just carried on with Alejandro searching for her.”

  “He could.”

  “Could want to make sure we don’t know something he don’t.”

  “Could be.”

  “Maybe he’s thinking there’s too much work left to be done.”

  “Gun work?” Virgil said.

  “Yep. If there is a fight with Dalton, it makes better sense for them to wait and let us do the fighting.”

  “It does, but sense and this bunch don’t go hand in hand.”

  “One way or the other, they’ll not want us around for the tally.”

  “No,” Virgil said. “I don’t think they will.”

  “Then they don’t need us.”

  “They don’t.”

  “Won’t need Alejandro, either,” I said.

  “No, after the ball drops, they won’t,” Virgil said.

  “If by chance they were to come out on top when all this is all over, they might want to take Alejandro in for pride’s sake.”

  “Don’t think they’d go to the fucking trouble,” Virgil said.

  “Probably just kill him.”

  “Along with us,” Virgil said.

  “What do you figure we do?”

  “Don’t let ’em,” Virgil said.

  66

  When we arrived in Veracruz it was nine in the evening. Once again we boarded in a hotel; it was a small single-story wooden place by the Plaza de la Aduana on t
he docks, and the place smelled of fish. We’d had no more conversation with the lieutenant or any of his Federales. We kept a close eye on them as we boarded the horses and got squared away.

  After we got into a room, I watched the Federales from the window as they gathered across from the hotel on the porch of a dock cantina. They took seats around an oval table under a tiled awning.

  The room we settled in was not large. It was full of narrow bunks, and from the smell of the place, it most likely was a shacking room for itinerant sailors.

  In case we needed to move quickly, I let Alejandro sit on one of the bunks without being shackled to anything. Alejandro looked at me with gratitude, but I didn’t say anything to satisfy his appreciation.

  Virgil and I sat at a table near the window, where I had a clear view of the Federales at the cantina. Virgil lit a cigar, and after he got it going good, he opened up the telegram the lieutenant had handed to him. It was in Spanish. He read it a bit, then looked at me.

  “Fifty thousand,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

  “Not good,” I said.

  “Lot of money.”

  “Is.”

  Virgil slid the telegram across the table to me.

  “Your Spanish is better,” he said.

  I picked up the note and read it out loud.

  “‘Fifty-thousand-dollar reward for the return of an American woman from San Cristóbal.’”

  “What?” Alejandro said with a surprised tone of voice. “What? What’s this?”

  We looked to Alejandro.

  “This, this is no good!” Alejandro said excitedly. “This is no good at all, Virgil Cole.”

  Virgil looked at me. It was clear he agreed with Alejandro.

  “All of Mexico will kill for this,” Alejandro said.

  He gestured to the Federales.

  “Especially the fucking Federales. They will kill you, too.”

  “Nobody is killing anybody,” Virgil said. “Not at the moment they are not, so don’t go acting like it.”

  “Virgil Cole,” Alejandro said, shaking his head, “if I show Federales where to go, they will kill Alejandro un minuto después. If Alejandro does not find them, they will also kill him. Alejandro will be dead, no matter!”