by Jake Logan
“Are you going to come home with me or should I let the sheriff toss you into a cell?” Mia asked.
Adam grumbled incoherently, but decided to stagger along beside her as she walked away from the Dusty Rose. He lost his footing for a moment, fell forward, and almost knocked a big man in a butcher’s apron into the street. The big man wheeled around and warned, “Watch where you’re goin’.”
“Or what, you fat piece of shit?” Adam snapped.
The butcher wasn’t about to wait for Mia, Slocum, or anyone else to stand in front of him before taking a swing at the drunk. A fist the size of a boiled ham pounded against the side of Adam’s face with enough force to knock him straight to the wooden slats under his feet. Slocum was content to let the drunk idiot lie there and get what was coming to him until Mia rushed over to put herself between the butcher’s fists and her brother’s face.
“Aw, hell,” Slocum growled and dove into yet another fray. When the butcher’s knuckles smashed into his jaw, he hoped he only lost one tooth instead of all of them.
By some miracle, Adam still wasn’t knocked out. He reached around Slocum’s body and jabbed the butcher with a few quick punches. Even though the chopping blows didn’t do much in the way of damage, they sure stoked the fire that had brought the butcher this far. To make matters worse, Adam’s last punch had come in at just the right angle to make it seem as if the punch had been thrown by Slocum. The big man pulled himself up to his full height and glared down at Slocum while asking, “You just hit me?”
“No,” Slocum replied. “This is all just a big mistake.”
For a moment, it seemed that was enough to cool the butcher down. He cocked his head to one side and said, “I think I know you.”
“Really? That’s nice. How about we all just shake hands and be on our way?”
“Yeah. I do know you. You’re the man who cheated my brother Nate out of all that money in a card game.”
“Nate?”
The butcher nodded. “You know who I’m talkin’ about and you’re sure as hell the man who cheated him.”
Forgetting all about Adam in the time it took for the butcher to reach for the meat hook that had been looped over his apron string, Slocum said, “I didn’t cheat anyone. Those were all fair games.”
“What about that friend of yours, Ed Triedle? Are you speakin’ for him when you say that?”
“I don’t know everything he does.”
“So they weren’t honest games?”
Slocum started to speak in his defense, but had to bite his tongue while ducking under the iron hook that sliced through the air on its way to his temple. While he was down there, he thumped a few quick punches into the butcher’s stomach. Although the man’s gut was thick and round, Slocum’s knuckles bounced off what must have been mostly muscle. He stepped to one side and twisted his body around to avoid a downward blow from the meat hook.
Since the butcher had left himself completely open by missing that swing, Slocum had a choice to make. He could either draw his Colt and put the big man down for good or he could take his chances by trading a few more punches with the man. Whichever he decided on, Slocum knew he had to pick quickly if he was going to get out of town without a hook buried somewhere in his body.
3
Slocum rode east along the trail out of Bickell. Every part of his body hurt. His clothes were filthy with dried blood and his face was swollen on one side. Even the subtle movements of shifting in his saddle sent waves of pain through him.
“Why the hell didn’t you just shoot that big bastard?” Triedle asked.
Looking over to the man who rode beside him was enough to send a jolt through Slocum’s neck, all the way down to the portions of his shoulder and chest that had been pummeled by the butcher’s fists. “And why didn’t you step in to help me when that bastard refused to drop?”
Triedle shrugged and wrapped the reins around his fist. “Thought you knew what you were doing.”
“That man was after you and the only reason he didn’t take your head off was because he couldn’t get through me.”
“For which I already thanked you. In case you missed it those other times,” Triedle said while tapping his finger against the brim of his hat, “thank you again.”
“Why are you still in my sight?”
“Because we’re both headed to New Orleans and we make a hell of a good team at the card table. Do you even know how many big poker games are played in New Orleans every night?”
“Don’t care,” Slocum replied.
“Lots. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Well, hundreds may be an exaggeration. Then again, it may not be. Either way, we could stand to make plenty in just a few days.”
“I’m not going there to play poker. I’ve got a job to do.”
“Right,” Triedle said. “That the same job you were talking about the first night you were in Bickell? The one given to you by that smug piece of work with the sweet little wife?” Slocum didn’t answer, but that didn’t slow Triedle down in the slightest. “If you were so concerned about that job, you wouldn’t have stayed in Bickell so long in the first place. I recognize something in you, John. Once you get a whiff of the money that’s to be made in New Orleans, you won’t be so quick to leave.”
“I’ve seen New Orleans.”
“Not with me as your guide!”
Slocum sighed and turned to look at the people riding to his left. For most of the day, Mia had been busy tending to her brother. That was a difficult enough task considering they were riding on two horses moving side by side, but Adam wasn’t making her job any easier by fretting like a little boy who didn’t want to put on his church clothes. He muttered and grumbled and would have done a better job of squirming away from her if every one of his actions wasn’t accompanied by the pained grimace of a man just coming out of a drunken stupor.
“Just because this idiot insists on hitching his wagon to me doesn’t mean you have to do the same,” Slocum told her.
Mia smiled and tucked away the handkerchief she’d been using to dab at her brother’s cheek. “We won’t trouble you for long. It just seemed like a good idea for all of us to get away when we had the chance.”
“You mean when that butcher stopped beating his ass,” Adam said.
Twisting in his saddle, Slocum faced the recovering drunk and said, “I put him down long enough for you to walk away unscathed, in case you forgot.”
“Unscathed?” Adam jabbed a finger at a nasty cut running the length of his left cheek and asked, “You call this unscathed?”
“I’d call that lucky considering how many folks in town wanted to do a hell of a lot worse!”
Triedle laughed under his breath. “No wonder his sister was so quick to get out when she had some protection.” When Mia glared at him, he added, “I’m just stating the obvious! The way that brother of yours has been shooting his mouth off, you wouldn’t have made it more than a few feet before someone walked up and blew his head off. Since John here knocked that butcher out with a little help from a frying pan . . .”
“That was a horseshoe,” Slocum corrected. “It was on the ground and I put it to use.”
Adam stood up halfway in his stirrups before Mia reached over to tug on his arm. It didn’t take much effort on her part to ease him back down, but he winced and grumbled as though she’d forcibly thrown him into his seat.
“You’re right,” she said. “We needed to get away from that town before someone killed my brother. It wouldn’t have been much longer before he was either shot or beaten so badly that he might as well be dead.” When Adam grumbled something Slocum couldn’t make out, she was quick to scold him into silence. Locking eyes with Slocum, she asked, “Is it all right if we ride with you for a while?”
“How long? I’ve got some time to make up.”
“Right,” Triedle said. “Wouldn’t want to fall off your precious schedule.”
Not responding to that comment, Mia said, “Just until we cross the Louisiana border. Like I said, we�
��ve got family there.”
“We left town in a rush,” Slocum said. “Are you ready for a ride like this?”
She winced slightly and then put a shaky smile on top of it. “Well, our place is a little farther down this trail. If we could make a little diversion, I could pick up a few things. Just some clothes and such. I can also get some of the money I’ve been pulling together to help with expenses and the like. It’s not a lot, but it should be enough to put us up in some hotels or pay for supplies and food.”
“Or a fee for our troubles,” Triedle was quick to offer. “Since you were so anxious to hitch your wagon to John and me, I’m assuming you don’t want to make this excursion on your own.”
Reluctantly, she nodded. “That’s right. My brother needs to get out of town, and in his condition, he won’t be much use to me along the way. In fact, he might be a hindrance.”
“Just like I’ve always been!” Adam bellowed. “Is that what you mean to say? ’Cause if it is, you should just say it!”
“Yes,” she spat angrily. “Just like you’ve always been. Are you satisfied?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Since you’ve uprooted us once more just when it seemed like we’d found a place to live in peace. I hope you are happy. Maybe you’ll be happier back in Louisiana.”
“You know what would make me happier?” Adam asked.
“Yes I do, but I won’t let that happen. Not after all we’ve been through to make it this far.” Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned toward Slocum as if there was the slightest chance that he hadn’t been privy to the dustup between her and Adam. “Ed’s right. I don’t want to make the trip on my own, and as you can see, even if my brother is with me, I’d still be on my own. If you could help us get to Louisiana, I’d be willing to pay. You could put that money to use however you see fit and keep a fair percentage as a fee for your services. All I ask is that we get to where we’re going without too much hardship along the way.”
“Not used to sleeping under the stars?” Slocum asked.
She showed him a genuine smile this time. “It’s been a while.”
“If I’m such a burden,” Adam said, “then maybe you should leave me behind. Or just knock me off’a my horse to rot somewhere along the side of the trail. That’ll suit me just fine!”
“I’m sure it would,” she said in a tired, exasperated voice. “But you’re my brother and you’ll stay with me.”
“You don’t think I can be trusted with yer new goddamn friends?”
“It’s not that, Adam. I just don’t think anyone else but me would be able to choke back the urge to knock you on your ass and leave you wherever you land. Since I’ve already gone through too much and sacrificed too many years of my life to keep you above ground, you’re staying with me. Is that all right with you, Mister Slocum?”
“That’s more than all right with me, ma’am.”
“Please,” she chuckled. “It’s bad enough that I have to act like my mother around Adam. I’d rather not be addressed as such by a man like you. Call me Mia.”
“Then you’ll call me John. Fair’s fair.”
“Right,” Triedle chimed in. “We’re all just one big group traveling together. Partners, even!”
“Don’t push it, Ed,” Slocum warned. “I haven’t agreed to anything like that with you. Far as I’m concerned, you’re just someone that’s taking up the same stretch of trail as me. There’s always plenty for me to do to rectify that situation.”
Triedle kept his mouth shut as Mia stifled a laugh at his expense.
“Don’t feel too good to be smacked down like a dog, does it?” Adam asked. “But judging by the condition of John’s face, I’d say he already knows all about that.”
“You’ve got a concerned sister riding with you,” Slocum told him. “But it’s a long way to New Orleans and there’ll be plenty of chances for me to finish the job that was started by all those men who drove you out of Bickell.”
The menace in Slocum’s tone shut Adam’s mouth for the time being. When he saw his sister point her horse’s nose to the south and snap her reins, he was quick to follow. She rode at a pace that steadily grew faster despite Adam’s loud petitions for her to slow down. Even after all that complaining, he managed to catch up and match her pace before she got too far ahead of him.
“So,” Triedle said as he rode beside Slocum, “you think we’ll see them again?”
“Doesn’t matter if we do or don’t. I’m headed to New Orleans either way.”
“You mean we’re headed to New Orleans.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Do you disagree with that?”
Casting only a fleeting glance in Triedle’s direction, Slocum asked, “Did I ever say anything to make you think otherwise?”
“We could make a hell of a lot of money, you and I.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Tell you what. There are plenty of saloons between here and Louisiana. Texas is full of cattle barons, cowboys, and ranchers who love their cards and are plenty eager to get a good game started up. Why don’t we see firsthand how well we work together? Personally, I think we’ve already proven that point, but if you need some more convincing . . .”
Slocum’s attention was still fixed upon Mia and Adam’s silhouettes as they slowly dwindled to the south. The two horses had taken a steady course, but Adam’s wild gesturing could be seen even from a distance. Whatever he was saying to his sister, he was giving her hell with both barrels.
“I’m not trying to swindle you, if that’s what you think,” Triedle continued. “It’s just a mutually beneficial business arrangement. Why did you even agree to deliver this package or letter or whatever it is you agreed to carry for that Jerry fellow?”
“To get the hell away from him, shut his mouth, and take some of his money to boot.”
Triedle laughed and said, “So you were listening to me after all, huh?”
“Doesn’t seem like I have much choice.”
“You do with that one.” When Slocum looked over at him, Triedle added, “You could make sure they don’t catch up to us by taking any number of other routes into Louisiana. For that matter, you could just put the spurs to that horse of yours so that lady and her squawking brother don’t even find a dust trail.”
“I could. Of course, I could do the same to you. All I need is a head start and something heavy enough for me to give you the same medicine I gave to that butcher.”
“You wouldn’t damage the man who can make you rich!” Although the expression on Slocum’s face wasn’t very promising, Triedle was confident enough to look away from him and to the two horses that were cresting a ridge to the south. “Adam Weyland is nothing but trouble. He welcomes it.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“We’d be better off without them.”
Slocum glared at him and snapped his reins.
4
There were three houses clustered together less than four miles outside of Bickell. Each sat upon a square of land belonging to a family and was fenced in to make each piece of property look more like a picture that had been situated perfectly on its patch of ground beneath a wide open Texas sky. When Mia got close enough to see her house in between the other two, she pulled back on her reins. Her brother did the same and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“You’re not slurring your words for a change. Did that ride sober you up?”
“I suppose so,” he grunted. “You expect to hear how grateful I am to you for taking me under your precious wing or should we just get what we came for?”
“You never miss a chance to dig at me,” she said. “Drunk or sober, you never let one opportunity slip by.”
“I’m through telling you I’m sorry, Mia. If you stopped to hear me say that, then forget it. I’m through saying them words to anyone.”
She looked at him with an expression that began as stern and then drifted into exasperated. When she lost the ability to maintain th
at, she turned away before he could see what came next. “That’s not why I stopped. Do you recognize those men on the Samsons’ porch?”
Adam shot a quick glance toward the houses and shook his head. “What are you talking about? I can’t see anything from here.”
“Look again.”
After a few moments, he shook his head and started to fret as if he meant to throw himself off his horse’s back. “This is ridiculous. Are we gonna fetch the money and go or are we gonna sit here looking at the damn neighbors?”
“Will and Agnes Samson are older than the hills and don’t have any children left. Take a look at those men and tell me they belong there.”
Adam looked again, but truly took the time to observe instead of simply pointing his eyes in a direction and holding them there. That little bit of effort was all it took to give him pause. “Neither one of those fellas looks like Will Samson, that’s for certain. And they sure ain’t Agnes.”
“I’m glad you think this is funny. Those men have been on and off that porch for the last week.”
“What’re they doing there?”
“Waiting for you,” she said. “That’s what they told me.”
Adam’s expression darkened before he lowered his head and gripped his reins even tighter. “They told you that?”
“Yes they did.”
“What else did they tell you?”
She maintained the straight posture that she’d had for the entire ride, but it required a lot more effort than before. “They said that if you didn’t pay them what you owed, they’d take it out of your hide. Yours and mine.”
Those last two words, more than any of the others, struck Adam like a fist in the stomach. He clenched his jaw and snarled, “We’ll just see about that.”
Grabbing on to his arm with enough force to keep him from moving away, Mia asked, “What do you owe those men? Is it money? I’ve got some money stashed away. It isn’t much, but it should be enough to get you out of this mess. If that’s what it takes, then I can pay it.”
“That money was given to you for good reason. And you’re right. It isn’t much. It’s yours, though. Not mine. That’s how it should be.”
