The Loner: Inferno

Chapter 28

The Kid didn’t know whether Valdez had finished scalping the dead Apaches in the courtyard, so the Mexican was something of a wild card. But he would deal with that once he had taken care of Chess, who was in the next room with Violet Price.

Easing the door open, The Kid checked the hallway. It was empty, so he stepped out, looked back at Jess, giving her an encouraging nod, and walked quietly along the corridor to the next door.

The Kid knocked softly. An irritated-sounding Chess asked from inside, “What is it, damn it?”

Making his voice guttural and hard to recognize—he hoped—The Kid said, “El Capitán Guzman ...”

His voice trailed off into a mumble as he slipped his Colt from its holster. Quick footsteps sounded on the other side of the door. Chess jerked it open, and saw what appeared to be one of the Rurales standing there. “What the hell does Guzman—”

The Kid’s arm lashed out and the gun in his hand smacked against Chess’s skull. The scalp hunter, who was wearing only the bottom half of a pair of long underwear, folded up and hit the floor, out cold.

“Oh, my God,” Violet Price said in a dull voice as The Kid stepped over Chess’s body into the room. “Not another—”

She stopped short as he lifted his head and let her see his face under the wide brim of the sombrero.

“Mr. Morgan!”

The Kid reached down, caught hold of one of Chess’s ankles, and dragged him into the room so he could close the door. By the time he turned back to Violet, she had pulled up the sheet on the bed where she sat and wrapped it around her.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“As ... as all right as I’m going to be. But you”—anger darkened her eyes—“you took my Elsie—”

The Kid held up a hand to stop her. “Elsie’s fine. I didn’t hurt her. In fact I’m going to help all of you ladies get out of here.”

“But you ... you’re one of those awful men ...”

“I let them think that,” The Kid explained. “Really I’ve been trying to catch up with you and the others ever since the Apaches attacked the wagon camp.”

A shudder went through her at those awful memories. “My husband ... the rest of my children. . .”

“I know it’s hard, but don’t think about them right now. You and Elsie are alive, and that’s the most important thing. You can grieve later.”

Violet swallowed and managed to nod. “You’re right. I have to be strong ... for Elsie.”

“And she’ll be strong for you.” The Kid nodded toward Chess. “I’m going to tie him up and gag him so he can’t cause any trouble. As soon as I’m gone, get dressed. I’ll be back for you in a few minutes.” He inclined his head toward the next room. “Do you know if Valdez is in there with Leah yet?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything, but ... I wasn’t really paying attention. I was trying to make myself ... not be here in my mind. You know what I mean?”

The Kid nodded. “I know.” He got to work trussing up Chess.

When he was finished, he checked the hall and slipped out of the room. He went to the next door and leaned close to it, listening intently in an attempt to determine if Valdez and Leah Gabbert were in there.

He got his answer in the form of a frantic scream.

The Kid didn’t wait. His hand shot to the knob and twisted it. The door wasn’t locked. He threw it open and rushed into the room.

Valdez was on the bed with Leah. The redheaded girl was struggling frantically underneath him, swatting at him with hysterical but ineffectual blows. Valdez glanced over his shoulder, saw the uniform-clad figure coming into the room, and obviously mistook the newcomer for one of Guzman’s Rurales.

“Ah, muchacho!” Valdez said. “Give me a hand with this one. She is loco, but if you help me, you can have a turn with her, too.”

The Kid moved swiftly to the side of the bed. The leering smile on Valdez’s ugly face disappeared, replaced with a look of startled recognition. The look vanished as The Kid slammed the gun in his hand across Valdez’s face, crushing bone and cartilage and tearing flesh. Blood spurted from the man’s broken nose and welled from his mouth as he slumped on top of Leah.

The Kid grabbed Valdez’s arm and rolled him off her, onto the floor, where he landed with a solid thump. Leah screamed again. She didn’t recognize him, The Kid knew, but saw him as another menacing figure who wanted to hurt her.

He had to quiet her down and calm her, but wasn’t sure how to. At that moment Jess hurried into the room and went directly to the bed. She sat down and gathered Leah into her arms, talking softly in a crooning voice.

She glanced up at The Kid. “I thought you might have trouble with her, so I risked being spotted. There was nobody out there to see me.”

The Kid picked up Valdez’s sombrero from the chair where it sat along with the rest of the Mexican’s clothes and tossed it on the bed next to Jess. “You can tuck your hair up into that. It’s not exactly the same style as the Rurales wear, but maybe it’s close enough to get by for a little while.”

She nodded her understanding. Leah had stopped screaming and just whimpered as Jess consoled her.

“Stay here with her,” The Kid said. “I’ll fetch Mrs. Price and Elsie.”

“Then what?” Jess asked.

“We’ll try to make it to the corral and get some horses.”

“How’s that going to help us? The gates are closed, and those Rurales aren’t going to open them for us.”

“Let me worry about that,” The Kid said.

And in fact he had already been worrying about it. He had the glimmer of an idea, but so far that was all.

He left Jess and Leah and went next door. Violet Price had pulled her tattered dress back on and had Chess’s gun in her hand when The Kid came in. He motioned for her to lower the revolver.

“I know how to shoot,” she said. “My ... my husband made sure of that before we came west. I thought it would be a good idea to take this man’s gun with me when we leave.”

“It’s an excellent idea. Are you ready?”

She hefted the revolver. “I have everything I need ... except my daughter.”

“I’m going to get her right now.” The Kid checked the corridor and motioned her out. “Go next door with Jess and Leah. I’ll be right back with Elsie.”

When he opened the door into the room where he had taken Elsie earlier, he didn’t see her. Alarm went through him for a second as he whispered, “Elsie?”

“Oh, thank God!” The exclamation came from behind the door, then Elsie appeared around it. “I didn’t know it was you. I thought maybe I should try to hide ...” Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened. “You’re dressed like one of the Mexicans!”

“That’s going to help us get out of here,” The Kid told her. “Come on. Your mother’s waiting.”

“Is she all right?” Elsie asked anxiously.

“She is.”

The next few minutes were busy ones as The Kid gathered the four women. He gave Valdez’s revolver to Jess. The Rurales guard he had killed hadn’t been carrying a handgun, but he had a rifle, so The Kid turned that weapon over to Elsie and showed her how to shoot it. All of them stuffed as much extra ammunition as they could into their pockets.

He didn’t give Leah a gun. With the mental state she was in, she didn’t need to be armed. It was going to be difficult enough just getting her to cooperate and do as she was told, although she had calmed down considerably since Jess had comforted her.

The Kid went to the window and studied the compound. It was quiet, with most of the Rurales having already turned in. There were still guards on the walls.

He pulled one of the sheets off the bed and started tearing it into strips.

“Give me a hand,” he told Jess. “We’re going to make a rope and climb down from this window.”

“I’m not sure Leah can do that,” Jess said.

“You’ll have to talk her into it. Trying to go out the front door is too risky.”

Jess and Elsie started tearing up the other sheet. It didn’t take long for The Kid to braid and knot the strips together and fashion a makeshift rope that was sturdy enough to support them. He tied one end to the bed, then stood next to the window, holding the rope.

“I’ll climb down first,” Jess said. “Leah, you’ll come right after me, won’t you?”

Leah’s face was tear-streaked and her eyes were still wide and rolling like those of a spooked mustang, but she nodded and seemed to understand what Jess had said. Jess smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

Without hesitation, Jess swung out the window and went down the makeshift rope hand over hand. Violet and Elsie helped Leah through the opening. The Kid held his breath, but Leah managed to climb down into Jess’s welcoming arms.

Elsie went next, then Violet. Jess kept them all pressed close to the building in the shadows. When all four women were on the ground, The Kid leaned out the window and handed the rifle down, then pulled up the knotted bedsheet and left it in the room. He didn’t want the rope hanging out to attract attention. He climbed through the window, hung from his hands, and dropped the five or six feet to the ground, landing agilely.

“The corral is over there,” he whispered to Jess as he pointed out the enclosure. “The four of you head for it, and stay in the shadows as much as you can. I’m hoping that if anybody sees you, they’ll take you for one of the Rurales and think that you’re escorting the prisoners to the barracks.”

“Why would they be taking us to—Oh.”

“Yeah, it would be just like Guzman to let his men have some sport once Kelly and the others were through with you.”

“Some sport,” Jess said bitterly. “The bastards.”

“You’ll get no argument from me. I’ll join you at the corral in a few minutes.”

“Where are you going?”

“To make us a way out of here.”

She was puzzled, but didn’t ask questions. While she herded the other three women toward the corral, The Kid headed for the powder magazine.

The stone building stood next to the wall of the compound, with only a narrow gap between the two. The Kid hoped it wasn’t locked.

Luck was with him there. The door was latched but not locked. He slipped inside. The darkness was almost absolute, but he couldn’t risk striking a match with that much powder around. Working by feel, he found two kegs. He used his knife to pry the lids off both and reached inside to find the gritty, slightly greasy feel of gunpowder.

He had left the door open a crack. Looking through the gap and not seeing anyone, he moved outside with the kegs. It took only a moment to shove both kegs into the gap between the magazine and the wall.

With his background in railroad construction, he had worked in the past with dynamite and blasting powder. Gunpowder was a little different, but it would still explode. Dipping a hand into one of the kegs, he laid a trail of powder to the corner of the building. It would burn fast, so he wouldn’t have much time.

An idea occurred to him. Patting the pockets of the uniform he had taken off the dead Rurale, he found a thin black cigarillo in one of them. The Kid had put his own matches in one of the pockets. He took one out and leaned into the narrow opening behind the magazine so the sudden flare of light wouldn’t be noticed as he struck the match.

He puffed the cigar into life and quickly smoked it down to about half its length. The coal on its end glowed redly as he set it on the ground with the unlit end in the powder trail. That would give him a little more time, but he had to rely on the cigarillo not going out before it reached the powder. If that happened ...

If that happened he would think of something else, The Kid told himself. Leaving the burning cigarillo and the gunpowder behind, he hurried toward the corral.

The women were waiting beside a shed where feed and tack were stored. Jess hissed at The Kid as he came up to let him know where they were.

“Stay here,” he told them. “I’ll saddle some horses for us.”

With another glance at the guard towers and the parapet, he opened the gate and slipped into the corral. The Rurales still had their attention focused outward. The idea that there could be a threat inside the compound obviously hadn’t occurred to them.

The Kid found his own saddle in the tack room that opened into the corral. He didn’t waste any time getting it on his dun. Having somebody poking around inside the corral in the dark made the other horses a little skittish. He hoped they wouldn’t move around so much they attracted the attention of the guards.

As he worked, he wished he knew whether or not that cigarillo was still burning down toward the powder. All he could do was get some other horses saddled and wait.

When he had the dun and four other horses ready to ride, he held their reins and led them over to the gate. He handed the reins of two of the horses to Jess. “You’ll probably have to lead Leah’s horse. Can you do that?”

“If it means getting out of here, you’re damned right I can.”

The Kid grinned in the darkness. Jess’s fighting spirit had come back, and that was good.

Because they were liable to need it.

Violet and Elsie climbed onto a couple of mounts, and Jess urged Leah onto another one. She and The Kid were about to swing up into their saddles when a thunderous roar split the night and shook the ground. Jess staggered a little and exclaimed, “What was that?”

“With any luck, our way out of here,” The Kid said. “Follow me!”