Jailbreak

by Giles Tippette

Jack looked at me in surprise. “You wouldn’t do that to your own brother.”

  “Listen,” I said, looking sideways at him, “I didn’t get Norris in this mess. And if he’d followed orders he wouldn’t be in it. One of us in a mess is enough. I’m not going to lose the most valuable thing in my life to keep him from having a couple of rough weeks.”

  Jack said, “What most valuable thang?”

  “Never mind,” I said.

  3

  I guess what really startled the hell out of the bunch of us was just how different Mexican law was from the United States. I’d known it was some peculiar from what I was used to, but until we’d talked to Obregon I hadn’t had no idea how severe it was. Seemed it was based on the Napoleonic Code, held over back from the days when the French operated Mexico. For instance, Norris hadn’t even been charged with anything and didn’t have to be charged for a hundred and eighty days. They could hold him that long just for the hell of it before any formal proceedings had to commence. Worse, there was no bail and no trial by jury. If ever there was an opportunity for a corrupt judicial system, Mexico was all set up and ready to operate.

  When I told Ben and Hays they naturally got mad as hell. Of course getting mad wasn’t going to do us a damn bit of good so I just told them to shut up and let me think. Jack didn’t have much to say. He’d known in advance what a fix Norris was in.

  We went out and ate supper about seven o’clock. After that we went into a couple of cantinas and Jack asked about the general conditions in the particular jail. It wasn’t too heartening. Seems they didn’t believe in wasting a whole lot of money on feeding and caring for their prisoners. They more or less took the position that it was their job to keep the prisoner confined, and if he wanted to eat or drink, why, it was up to him. I figured Norris had had plenty of money on him to see to his wants, but Jack said they more than likely had confiscated it.

  “Generally they do,” he said. “And it’s hell to get it back. They figure a prisoner’s family or friends will see to him. What money he’s got on him they take as a reward for his capture. Least that’s the way they look at it.”

  When we got back to the hotel room Ben said he was mad as hell. He said, “I’m going over and have a look at that jail in the morning. By God, I ain’t gonna stand for this.”

  “Then you better sit down,” I said. “You’ll stand for what you have to. Ain’t nobody, including me, going anywhere near that jail house until we get a handle on this matter. I don’t want them to be able to recognize a one of us.”

  Hays said, “You thankin’ about breakin’ him out, boss?”

  I said, “I ain’t thinking about anything right now, Hays. I’m waiting to get a better feel for the lay of the land. And I don’t want anybody getting a wild hair up their ass and doing something that might cut me off from any plans I need to make. The two of you got that?”

  I glared at them hard until Ben finally nodded. Hays followed suit. I said to Hays, “Ray, you are responsible for Ben. Jack and I will be with that lawyer tomorrow morning and if you let him go anywhere near that jail, or do any other dumb thing, I’m gonna fire you on the spot.”

  Hays said, “Aw, hell, boss.”

  And Ben said, “That ain’t hardly fair, Justa. Hays works for me. He can’t give me orders.”

  “Yeah, and you both work for me. I can’t fire you, Ben, because you’re family. But I’ll damn fire your good buddy if you go to messing around where I’ve told you to stay out of.”

  “Shit!” Ben said. “That is pretty poor.”

  I said, grimly, “Well, consider you ain’t the easiest in the flock to handle. And you have gone off on your own before. This time I can’t take the chance.”

  I’d actually pulled the same stunt before. Ben could get awful hardheaded sometimes, but he and Hays were tight and he knew I’d fire Hays if he screwed up.

  After that we had a few more drinks and then everybody went to bed. I reckon we was all a little disgusted.

  Next morning Señor Obregon kept us cooling our heels for a solid hour before he saw us. He looked grave when we got shown in his office. We sat down and, without much fanfare, he said, “Es mucho trouble. Es malo. Es bad.”

  Jack whispered, “He’s settin’ you up for another bite.”

  “Talk to him,” I said. “Get the story. Let’s see what we’re up against.” In anticipation of what I’d felt was sure to come I’d taken another five hundred dollars from Ben. We’d also gone around to the Banco Nacional de Mexico and made sure our letter of credit from our bank in Blessing would be honored. They’d said they’d wire on the matter. We’d represented ourselves as cattle buyers, not wanting to arouse curiosity as to why we were packing around such a healthy sum of money. At least we didn’t want the wrong parties getting curious.

  Jack pitched in at Señor Obregon. The lawyer started shaking his head right away. He said to me, in that fumbling English of his, “Theees matter es veery grave. El Capitán Davilla es mucho angry. He feels hes honor has, how choo say, been broken.”

  I figured it would save time and effort all around if we just ran everything through Jack. It was a strain on Senor Obregon to get the words out and it was a strain on me waiting for them to arrive.

  I said to Jack, “You and him do the talking. Ask him how bad this Captain Davilla’s honor is broke and how much he figures it will take to fix it.”

  Jack said to me, “Don’t sound like no hundred-and-forty-dollar report to me. I could have tol’ you for a shot of whiskey and change that ol’ Capitán Davilla’s honor was gonna been hurt.”

  I said, “Jack, keep it going. I know what that hundred and forty went for. Just talk to the good señor.”

  They conversed for about five minutes with me looking back and forth from one to the other to try and get some sign. While they were talking, Obregon’s clerk brought us in coffee. It was already mixed with sugar and it was strong and black and sweet as hell. Jack took his down like he was used to it, but I just sipped as politely as I could.

  Occasionally, in the midst of the exchange, Senor Obregon would hold out his hands, palms upward, as if to say there was nothing else he could do.

  Finally Jack turned to me. He said, wearily, “They figure they got some big fish on the line and they gonna play you for all you worth. Right now your shyster buddy here is trying to let me try to talk him into acting as go-between.”

  Jack was leaning toward me, half whispering and speaking very fast. I said, “Can’t you get some idea out of him what it’s going to take to square this Davilla?”

  He shook his head. “We ain’t that far along yit. All’s we got done is to decide that our lawyer here might be talked into approaching Davilla for another hunnert dollars. But you can figure on more down the line when the negotiating over Davilla’s honor comes on the auction block. I reckon he’s gonna set a mighty heavy store by his honor. Most of ’em do if they figure they is any money to be made.”

  “All right,” I said. I got out another hundred dollars and pushed it across the desk to the lawyer. He took it with the same delicate touch that seemed rigged into his fat little fingers where money was concerned. “Okay?” I said.

  “Hokay,” he said, and nodded. Hell, I probably looked like the best thing he’d seen since he’d robbed his first widow.

  I said to Jack, “Now ask him when we get to see Norris. And ask him what we can take him.”

  Jack said, “You can take him just about anything you want to—if they’ll let us see him.” He commenced on Obregon again and they had at it for two or three minutes. Finally Jack said, “Our buddy is going over to the calabozo right away and make a special effort. He says he’ll get word to us as early this afternoon as he can.”

  I said, “Better tell him what hotel we’re at.”

  Jack just smiled slightly. “Oh, he knows what hotel you’re at. And I reckon he knows a good deal more by now, too.”

  We done a polite good-bye and then got up and left, leaving Señor Obr
egon looking mighty pleased with himself. Well, he might need to get a feather to tickle himself with if I didn’t get some action pretty soon. I was one well that might go dry a little sooner than he expected.

  Walking back, Jack said, “I wonder how wise we was to show that letter of credit at that bank. Mexican banks ain’t like U.S. banks. These bankers here will talk. Obregon might likely already know about that five thousand dollars. If he does he’s gonna try and bleed you fer every bit.”

  I said, “Jack, I had no choice. I had to get it wired on before I needed it. Time’s important right now.”

  We found Hays and Ben restless as hell. They’d been out walking around, but they both swore they hadn’t been anywhere near the jail.

  To kill time we all went downstairs and ate lunch in the hotel café. It was pretty poor going, but the beer was good. Apparently they were an up-to-date concern with an ice plant somewhere in town because the beer was cold. It come in bottles, too, something we didn’t see much of in Blessing. I said, “If we get to see him we ought to take Norris an iced-down bucket of a bunch of bottles of this beer.”

  Ben bristled up. He said, “What you mean, if we get to see him? By God, I’m about to get tired of this bullshit. Something don’t happen pretty damn soon I’m likely to do a little negotiating on my own.”

  I just looked at him and didn’t say anything. That was Ben; you had to let him blow off some steam ever so often or risk a major explosion.

  It was around two o’clock when Obregon’s clerk came hurrying over to tell us that we could see Norris, but that we had to come quickly. I protested that I wanted time to get some stuff together for Norris’s comfort, but the clerk insisted that we had to come immediately. I finally said, “Well, all right. We’ll come now.” Then I detailed Ben and Hays to gather up what they could in the way of food and drink and to hurry over with it. “We’ll stall as long as we can. Just hurry.”

  One look at that big block of a jail told me it wouldn’t be any easy proposition to break somebody out of. It was two stories high and built out of granite rock. The only windows to speak of were at the very front. The rest, including those on the second floor, were just slits.

  There were a good many police around. They weren’t hard to spot. They all wore kind of green uniforms and those military caps that got a bill on them. You could tell the officers from the regular police because the officers just carried a side gun in a military holster while the common troops had to lug around a carbine.

  Once we got in through the front door we were in a big kind of anteroom with a bunch of policemen sitting around and a big desk with some kind of jefe behind it. Obregon’s clerk went up and spoke to the jefe. Jack listened while they jabbered.

  I said, “How’s it going?”

  “All right,” he said. “Except they ain’t going to let him out of his cell. We’ll have to go back there and visit him through the bars of his cell.”

  I said, “Tell them we got some food and drink coming over for Norris. I want to make sure it gets through.”

  That took a few more minutes. Then Jack took a five-dollar bill out of his pocket and passed it to the officer at the desk.

  “What the hell’s that?”

  “That’s so Norris can git his food and drink. I just thought I’d save you the trouble of going in yore pocket. Mine was closer. They callin’ a jailer now to take us back.”

  “Thanks,” I said. While we waited I looked around the place. It looked mighty formidable. I didn’t see any way to jailbreak a man out of the place. I figured the stone walls were at least three feet thick, too thick to blast a hole in. And there were way too many soldiers and police around for the four of us to overwhelm. It didn’t look good at all.

  Pretty soon a guard with a big bunch of keys in his hand came for us. He passed us through a door and then down a long corridor that must have held a lot of offices. I seen one door that was marked for the chief of police, but I didn’t see any for this Davilla. We came to another door and the guard passed us through that. That put us into a block of cells. They looked to be about five along each side, open bars facing open bars. Jack whispered to me, “Better slip this monkey a ten-dollar bill to make sure he gits Norris good treatment and lets us stay a bit longer.”

  Then we came to the very end cell built against the outside wall of the building. There, slumped on a broken-down-looking cot, sat Norris. He was still in his sack suit, but it looked some the worse for wear. It was rumpled and dirty and his tie was gone. He looked up as we neared the bars. I thought he’d make some kind of smile, but he just said, “These people will regret this to their dying day. If I have to take it to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

  I said, “Well, Norris, I don’t think that will work in Mexico.”

  “You know what I mean,” he said.

  I hadn’t exactly expected to find him in good spirits, but I had thought he might have been a little sorry for the trouble he’d caused. But he apparently wasn’t of that turn of mind. I said, “How are you?”

  “I am angry,” he said. “My rights have been violated and I will see justice done before it is over. Do you know why I’m incarcerated? Do you have any idea?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You punched a policeman in the face. Wasn’t too smart, Norris.”

  He got up from the cot and came to the bars. “Punched him nothing! That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I refused to pay a petty official a bribe of one hundred dollars for something that was rightfully mine. Then I’m in here because I refused to give a corrupt policeman twenty dollars to forget the whole thing. And finally I’m in here for defending myself when they went to lay hands on me because I refused to pay yet another bribe!”

  Boy, he was wound up and no mistake. I said, “Yeah, that’s a lot of money. Nearly a fourth of what I’ve already laid out trying to get you out of there.”

  He jerked back. “You better not be trying to buy me out of this. I’ll have my day in court, you can bet on that.”

  I said, “You keep forgetting you’re under Mexican law. You ain’t got no rights.”

  That made him look at the floor. He muttered, “Damn their uncivilized ways.”

  He didn’t look like they’d roughed him up over much, but I could see the remains of a bruise on one of his cheeks and one of his lips looked like it had been split. I said, grimly, “Now, look Norris, I’ve listened to you blow off and that’s all I’m going to listen to. You didn’t follow orders and consequently you’ve got yourself and us in a mess. If you weren’t so damn valuable to the family, brother or not, I’d leave you here to rot. But I’m going to be doing what I can to get you out and I want you to cooperate. With your big mouth you’ve already let them know we’ve got money, so they are going to work me for everything they can. I swear, if you’d drawed yourself up a blueprint to see how bad you could fuck up you couldn’t have done no better. So while I’m busy on the outside you sit in here and behave yourself and keep your damn mouth shut! You got that?”

  He was drawing himself up to come back at me when the door to the cell block opened and another guard brought Ben and Hays in with him. Ben was carrying a big bucket of iced beer and Hays had a tow sack full of what I figured was grub.

  Ben and Hays came up and shook hands with Norris. He seemed glad, at least, to see them. Of course I understood why he hadn’t exactly hugged my neck. He’d screwed up and he and I both knew it. My very presence must have made him feel guilty.

  The two guards made a big show of going through the goods that Ben and Hays had brought, even digging down into the ice. When they finished I gave each of them a ten-dollar bill and Jack told them we’d be grateful if Norris received special treatment.

  While Ben and Hays were visiting I looked around the double line of cells. There were five on each side and they were smaller than the Texas variety, being only about six foot wide and eight foot long. On Norris’s side the first two cells were occupied by two Mexicans each. Both of them appeared
to be peons. They were asleep, it being proper siesta time. The cell across from Norris was vacant, but the other four on that side were filled, two with two prisoners and two with one prisoner each. The men in the individual cells were much better dressed and looked much more genteel than any of the hombres enjoying double occupancy. I figured you had to pay to get a room to yourself. I looked at the two caballeros, one of whom was standing at his cell front watching us, wondering what they were in for. They looked well born and well dressed enough that they ought to have been able to buy themselves out.

  About that time one of the guards was unlocking the cell door and passing the goods into the cell to Norris. Ben said, “Goddammit, if I had a gun right now we’d have you out of there before these two jefes knew what happened.”

  Of course we’d left our gun belts back at the hotel, knowing full well we’d of just had to surrender them as soon as we’d got to the jail. Better safe back at the hotel than lost somewhere in some policeman’s pocket.

  Pretty soon the guards said we had to leave. Norris shook with Ben and Hays and thanked Jack for getting word out about his predicament. But when it came my turn he just looked at me defiantly and said, “Well, why don’t you go on and do what you think is right. Give in to these bastards. Pay ’em off. See if I care.”

  I said, disgustedly, “You sound about ten years old, Norris. I’ll do what I have to to get you out, but when I get you home you’re gonna work about twenty hours a day because you’d better plan on bringing in two dollars for every dollar I have to spend to make up for your dumbass play. And God help you if this interferes with my wedding.”

  His face suddenly fell and he once again looked like my brother. He groaned. “Oh, hell, Justa, I completely forgot about that. Oh, my God! Listen, you forget about me. Get back to Blessing. How far off is it? A week? Ten days?”

  “Eight days,” I said grimly. “And my house ain’t completed.”

  “Oh, damn!” he said. He left the bars and went back to his cot and sat down. With his head in his hands he said, “I’ll get out of here somehow. Leave Jack here with some money. You go back and tend to your business.”