by Herb Hughes
“Jonathan, you haven’t given me enough time…”
“TIME? How much more blood must flow on our streets? How many more innocent lives have to be lost? You want more time? Okay. Arrest Jack Wheat right now. The people in the streets are screaming for his cheating neck. And so am I! If you get Andropov to arrest him and that little freak he hangs around with, I’ll give you three more days. Otherwise, I have a legal right to challenge your handling of this policy of yours. With the mood in Lisbon, you know damned well how a special election will turn out.”
Davis looked down at his desk briefly, then back up at Jonathan McGurke. “Wheat is gone. He’s no longer in Lisbon. We don’t know where he is.”
“You let him get away? You incompetent, bungling fool! That’s it, Davis. I am filing for a special election this morning. And as of right now, Lowell Johnston is the Commander of the Rangers. Andropov needs to go back to his little one-horse town.”
“I can’t…”
“You can and you will. Or I’ll take over Ranger HQ myself. You have failed, Davis. FAILED! It is time to honor your agreement.”
Chapter 45
“He’s going to be fine,” the doctor said. “At least, his leg will be fine. It missed the main artery by a couple of centimeters. Otherwise, he might not have made it.”
“What do you mean ‘at least his leg will be fine’?” Dokie asked. “There’s nothing wrong with the rest of him.”
The Doctor wrinkled his nose and tilted his head then said, “Oh, ah, the rangers are in the lobby. They’re looking for someone with a gunshot wound. I’m afraid your friend is going to have to answer some questions.”
“But I shot myself accidentally,” Teddy said.
“I’m sorry. They want to talk to you regardless. They will be here momentarily.”
“We gotta get out of here,” Dokie said. He jumped out of his bedside chair and lifted the window. “Teddy, can you walk.”
“I don’t know,” Teddy answered. “Maybe.”
“What are you doing?” the doctor said. “This man has been shot. He can’t go anywhere.”
“You don’t understand, Doc,” Dokie said as he went to Teddy’s side and began helping him out of bed. “It’s a frame-up. We’re innocent. Jonathan McGurke is the villain here.”
“The doc’s gone,” Teddy said. “He didn’t even hear you.”
Dokie whirled around to see the doctor’s back rushing down the hall. “Shit! He’s gone to get the rangers. We’ve got to get out of here now!”
He helped Teddy hobble over to the window and lifted Teddy’s bandaged leg.
“Damn!” Teddy shouted. “Careful with the leg, dude. That hurt.”
“Hurt or no hurt, we gotta go,” Dokie said as he shoved the bandaged leg through the open window.
Teddy Cheng screamed as he jumped half a meter to the flower bed below the window, but he managed to land on his good leg and was able to limp through the shrub bushes to the grassed yard. Dokie flew through the window a second later, landing right on top of a sturdy bush, scratching his face and arms in the process. He leaped off the bush and rushed over to Teddy’s side.
“Satin’s tied in the back. This way! We can ride together till we get to Avery’s house. We’ll get another horse when we get there.”
“For what? Where are we going?”
“Wilsey. Jack said there was a smithy there, Lobie something. We’ve got to get the rifle to him so he can make more. A lot more.”
“Ride all the way to Wilsey? With you? Dokie, I’m a clerk. Hanging with you is getting me deeper and deeper in trouble. I don’t think I need to go to Wilsey. And I don’t think I can ride to Wilsey. I don’t feel so good.”
“We’ve got to. We’ve got to help Jack.”
As they rounded the back corner of the hospital, Lowell Johnston stood directly in front of them, three uniformed rangers at his side. The pair stopped in their tracks. Teddy stood there, frozen. Dokie almost stumbled when he stopped and turned to run in another direction. Two more rangers were trotting up behind them. There was nowhere to go, no way to escape. Dokie turned back around and stared at Lowell.
“Constantine Keyworth Edwards,” Lowell said, “You are under arrest for breaking and entering and for theft of property.”
“Damn,” Dokie said. “I hate it when people use my full name.”
Chapter 46
“I didn’t expect the honor of a personal visit,” Greg Bonner said as he opened his hotel room door to see Jonathan McGurke standing in the hall.
“Lowell is busy elsewhere. Besides, I wanted to deliver this message personally.”
Bonner stared at McGurke a moment then started to grin. “This must be good,” he said. “Come on in.”
McGurke stepped through the door and closed it, but went no further into the room. “That idiot Davis let Jack Wheat leave town. He has put a wrinkle in my plans, but we have to adapt. So I am adapting. I want you to find Wheat.”
“Any idea where he went?” Bonner asked as he leaned against the door jamb. The big man was sick of hanging around in the tiny hotel room. This was exactly what he wanted to hear.
“We do not know. Some filthy old man on a mule came to The Lisbon Hotel to meet Jack. It’s possible they might be together or that Jack might have gone somewhere based on what this old man said.”
“Filthy old man on a mule? Was his name Mac?”
“I don’t know. Do you know him?”
“Yeah. He’s an old hermit who lives at an oasis in the desert. Wheat gets along with him. I’m not sure how he made it all the way to Lisbon alive. He shouldn’t have.”
“Perhaps the old man could tell you where Jack went, but it may be difficult to find him. I suspect that stupid little ingrate bitch back in Borderton knows. Go to that useless library she runs. He may even be there, but I doubt it. The rangers would find him too easily. I’m sure she knows where he is, though. Or can make a reasonable guess.”
“What if she doesn’t want to talk? She’s the mothering type. She protects him.”
“Then, Mr. Bonner, your job is to convince her to talk… by whatever means are necessary. You have proven quite effective at doing so over the years.”
Greg Bonner turned his head and spat into a flower pot on a small table by the front door. He looked back at Jonathan McGurke and said, with a smile, “I am good at it.” He hesitated a moment then added, “And when I find Wheat?”
“Let’s say it would be quite inconvenient if Mr. Wheat were to be breathing when he returned to Lisbon. You will be well paid for your, ah, work, of course.”
Bonner’s smile grew even larger. This was beyond ‘better.’ This was now ‘best.’ He’d have to make up some excuse to tell Ethan, but that would not be a problem. Ethan would be mad, but he wouldn’t do anything about it. Greg Bonner was far too good an agent. Ethan needed him. And since McGurke knew nothing about the people from space, there was no need to say anything. “Done,” was all he told Jonathan McGurke.
Chapter 47
“Come on, man, it hurts!” Teddy pleaded with the jail guard. He had summoned the guard by crying out and slapping the bars with his shoe. “I’ve been shot, dude. I’m in pain. The hospital would give me something. You’ve got to have something in this place. Doesn’t anybody here ever get headaches? I’ll take anything. If you don’t have anything, send somebody around to the hospital and tell the doctor I need something.”
“You were in the hospital,” the ranger said. “You tried to escape, remember? I’m not allowed to give you any type of medicine, or anything else. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be back here talking to you. It’s late. Be quiet and go to sleep. Orders are if you are any trouble at all, you don’t get meals.”
“What?” Dokie said. “That’s not right. What kind of place are you running here?”
“Everything’s different now. Look, I’ve got a family. I’ve got four kids to feed. I’ve got to follow orders whether I like them or not. Now, go to sleep.”
The ranger turned and walked away.
“How the hell am I supposed to sleep with my leg hurting like this?” Teddy yelled at the ranger’s back, but the man didn’t respond as he walked through the door to the office.
“I don’t understand,” Dokie said. “I’ve, uh, been in here before. More than once. Framed, of course. But it’s never been like this. They were humane if nothing else. Hell, I made friends with some of the guards. If you needed a little something for pain, they brought it to you. No questions asked. Something’s gone bad wrong.”
“They picked a hell of a time to go rogue. My leg hurts like crazy. That doctor played around in there like he was poking around inside a watermelon for seeds. I need something bad.”
“Gotta be McGurke. He’s taken control of the rangers somehow. Jack should have been back by now. If they ambushed him and hurt him… Oh, God, what if they’ve killed Jack? We’re done for! We’ll rot in here.”
Teddy stared at Dokie with a blank expression. Finally, he said, “This is not helping my leg, man. In fact, I think it’s already rotting.”
Dokie felt something small hit him on the shoulder.
“Quit that!”
“Quit what?” Teddy responded.
“Throwing things at me.”
“I didn’t throw anything at you. I’m holding my leg. The damned thing hurts. You were sitting here watching me hold it, dude.”
“Psssst,” came from behind them.
“Huh…”
Dokie scrambled to the window and looked out. Jack was standing there with his finger over his lips. “Jack!” Dokie said in a whispered shout. “How did you find me?”
Jack bounced his finger against his lips a few times to quiet Dokie. “I found Stan first,” he whispered, “But it wasn’t easy. You cover your tracks well, sidekick. Stan told me you had been arrested. He showed me the repeating rifle you stole. Against my instructions, of course. You weren’t supposed to get arrested either, but, hey, good work!” Jack smiled.
“Thanks, I think.”
Jack’s smile faded quickly. “Listen carefully, Dokie. This is going to be dangerous, but I’ve got to get you out of here. Fast. Stan has interviewed a lot of people, and word on the street is that McGurke is conjuring up a reason to execute you, sooner rather than later. He knows I left Lisbon and thinks this will lure me back. It would have worked if I hadn’t already gotten back.”
“I’m glad you’re okay. I was afraid he had you killed.”
“Not yet. And I’m going to try my best to make sure he doesn’t. I hitched a team of horses and hauled Avery’s car into town. Couldn’t drive it or I would have woken everybody around, but I’ve got the fire roaring and the water boiling, so it’s ready to go. We’ll have to hurry because as soon as those pistons start moving, we’ll wake up half of Lisbon. You need to hop on quick, and we’ll try to get you out of here before the rangers figure out what hit them.”
“How am I going to hop on?” Dokie asked as he patted the thick black bars in the window. “I’m behind bars, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Stand back. Way back. I’m going to use Avery’s car as a ram. That ought to take care of the bars.”
“And the whole damned wall for that matter,” Dokie said. “Great idea!”
Jack turned and slid into the darkness. Dokie backed up against the front wall and motioned for Teddy to do likewise.
“Oh, no,” Teddy said. “This doesn’t sound like a good idea, either. In fact, it sounds like an exceptionally bad idea.”
“If it gets us out of here, it’s a fabulous idea.”
“Your ideas keep getting me in trouble, deeper and deeper.”
“Glad I could make your dull life more exciting. As soon as he crashes through the wall, we’ll hop onto the big side rail. I’ll help you. The cabin isn’t big enough for all three of us, but we can ride on the rail. Hold on tight and don’t grab the steam pipes. You’ll get burned.”
“I’ll stay here, dude.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
They both heard the sudden chugging sound of steam flowing in and out of the car’s cylinders. It was coming from a short distance down the street behind the jail.
“If it’s all the same to you,” Teddy said, “I don’t want to get on that thing. Hell, I got shot the last time I went somewhere with you, Dude. If I can’t hold on or I grab the wrong thing and get burned, I’ll fall off and get run over. I’ve seen Avery’s car before. Getting run over by that monster would be more than lethal. It would literally squish you in two. Maybe even three. And I’m tired of trying to run. I have a bullet hole in my leg, well, a cannon hole after that doctor finished digging out the ball. I don’t run so good now. I’ll take my chances here. I’ll tell them I went out to Knoll Creek for the ride, that I had no idea what you were doing.”
The sound of flowing steam was getting louder and closer. They could hear the crunch of earth as the wheels rolled ever so slightly faster and faster. The car was still some distance away, but closing at an accelerating pace.
“Okay. Use me as the bad guy all you need to. Anything that gets you out of trouble. Hey, tell them I told you Knoll Creek was my grandmother’s house and you didn’t know any better. I told you I had to go in and tell grandma something.”
“Through the window at God knows what time of the morning?”
“Tell them the door was locked and she wouldn’t wake up. Or anything. Hell, you’ll think of something.”
The car was quite loud and quite close now.
“Good luck, Teddy.”
“You, too, dude.”
The sound of the motor became deafening as the car came up behind the jail wall. Suddenly there was a thundering crash that was so loud they reached up to cover their ears. Something large and black became visible through the bars of the small window. At the same time, huge cracks appeared in the stone back wall of the cell. With a tremendous roar, the wall surged forward in great ragged sections then crumbled onto the floor, chunks of rocks and bits of mortar flying around them.
Dust flew up from the shattered wall. At the same time, steam from the car billowed into the room. It was hard to see through all the dust and smoke, but something huge was coming toward them. There was nowhere to go in the small cell, so Dokie braced for impact.
The steam and the dust momentarily cleared. There was Avery’s great automobile, looming huge before them with thick wood side beams and pointed metal front below the large boiler. It had stopped scant centimeters from Dokie’s face. The point of the front was considerably less pointed than it had been before.
“Hop on!” Jack shouted above the sound of the car.
The steam poured back into the room as the pistons started to churn, and Dokie waved his hand to try to clear it out of the way so he could see what he was doing. He stumbled forward and felt the main wood beam on the side of the automobile then scrambled up. Reaching for a handhold, he swiped a steam pipe, burning himself bad enough to bring a scream to his mouth and tears to his eyes. He slipped back down toward the jail floor as the great automobile started moving backward, but caught himself on the big rail. He lay on top, hugging the rail tighter than he had ever hugged anybody or anything before.
Moments later the car was outside, backing toward the street. Dokie scrambled along the rail to the back of the car, careful not to grab the wrong thing a second time. He chided himself for being so stupid after he had warned Teddy.
Jack stopped the car and slammed the shifter forward. While the great car was stopped, Dokie scrambled into the small cabin. It was a tight fit with Jack in there, but Dokie was worried about falling off the rail. He had to get somewhere safer.
Dokie glanced at the steam gauge. Having spent considerable energy crashing through the wall, the needle was in the lower part of the green section. Dokie tossed another log on the fire as Jack d
rove.
When they passed through the next intersection, they could see a couple of guards come around the corner of the jail from the front of the building. One of them leveled his homebuilt. In the dark of night, there was a huge flash when the powder exploded. Sparks flew in front of them as the ball bounced off the metal boiler. A second flash from the barrel of the second guard’s homebuilt lit up the night. Jack and Dokie ducked as sparks flew out directly in front of them. The ball had bounced off the inside of the cabin, knocking the temperature gauge off the wall. Before the two rangers could reload, the car was down the street and out of sight.
The gauge hung by its wires but was still connected and still worked. Dokie threw on several more logs and had the steam into the yellow section. They needed speed. The telegraph line could reach the outskirts of town much faster than they could.
“Turn left at that next street,” Dokie said.
“Why?”
“Our only chance to outrun the telegraph is to go where the fewest rangers are, the slums. McGurke doesn’t have any money invested there, so they don’t put rangers there. And the few they do send are the bottom of the barrel, the lazy ones. Probably asleep on the job. It’s our best chance.”
“Okay,” he said, “I’ve got to get back to Mac’s room and help Avery. I’ll drop you outside town, on the road to Wilsey. Andropov has Satin with him. He’ll be there waiting for you. I got the repeating rifle from Stan. It’s in that case.” Jack nodded toward a long, leather case lying on the floor next to the metal wall. “Take it to Lobie Tate in Wilsey. Tell him we need as many as he can make as fast as he can make them.”
“Got it. Good as done, Jack.”
The mighty steam automobile lumbered through the streets of Lisbon at full speed in the predawn darkness, headed toward the poorer side of town.
