The Lawman Read online

  “How much do you have?” Decker asked.

  Silvio counted again.

  “Forty-four.”

  “That’s the bet,” Decker said. He reached into the pot and took six dollars back.

  “I’ll call,” Jose said. “What do you have, señor?”

  “Three kings,” Decker said.

  They both looked at Silvio, who mournfully turned over his cards to show two pair, aces and eights.

  “I have three fives, señor,” Jose said. “You are the winner.”

  “Thank you.”

  Decker raked in his money and Silvio stood up to leave. He had just lost in one hand what it had taken him two hours to win.

  “Shall we continue?” Jose said, looking self-satisfied.

  “I’m game,” Decker said.

  The third man, whose name Decker had not yet heard, nodded, and Decker picked up the cards to deal.

  Chapter Six

  Decker didn’t take another hand in the next five, losing almost all of what he had won, and the girl came out to tell him that his food was ready.

  “Would you gentlemen excuse me?”

  “Of course,” Jose said.

  The excitement of that single hand of poker had quickly died and the mood in the place was once again sleepy.

  Decker moved to an empty table and the girl brought out his food. The two men left at the table continued to play two-handed.

  “Could I have another beer, please, Juanita?”

  “Si, señor.”

  Up close he saw that she was very pretty indeed, in spite of her plumpness. She had smooth skin, large breasts, strong legs and she smelled clean. Decker remembered Miss Milly’s stock in Pemberton, and thought that this girl would do very well there.

  She brought him another beer and then went back to her table, where she had been sitting when he arrived, and took up her former position.

  The sound of an approaching horse was oddly loud and everyone looked up when they heard it. Decker thought he saw a hint of fear in the bartender’s eyes.

  The horse stopped right in front of the cantina and a man entered moments later. He looked around, his eyes pausing for a moment on Decker, then walked to the bar.

  “Gilberto is coming,” he said to the bartender, who now did look frightened, as did most of the other men in the place. The only people who didn’t seem to be affected by the news were Jose, the girl and Decker. “When he gets here he, his sister and the rest of the men will be hungry.”

  “Juanita!” the bartender shouted, his voice sounding abnormally high. “Did you hear? Gilberto and his sister are coming.”

  The girl very deliberately leaned over and spat on the floor.

  The bartender said something to her in rapid Spanish and she finally stood up.

  “Juanita,” Decker called.

  She looked at him and then came over to his table.

  “Who is Gilberto?”

  “The dog who thinks he owns this town,” the girl said with distaste.

  “Is that why the town has no name, and why the streets are empty?”

  “They are all afraid of him,” Juanita said.

  “I see.”

  “I must prepare some food. Perhaps I will grind some glass into it, as well.”

  “Well, I guess I’m lucky I got mine already, eh?”

  She smiled at that, and her face became almost beautiful because of it.

  “Señor, if I was you,” she said, becoming serious, “I would finish eating and leave this town. Gilberto does not like gringos.”

  Decker looked down into his plate, which was still generously full, and decided he’d probably have to gulp his food down to do that.

  “Your cooking is much too good to rush eating it, Juanita.”

  She grinned again, and stroked his face.

  “You are a gringo fool, señor. I wish Gilberto was not coming, but—” she took her hand from his face regretfully and went into the kitchen.

  “Ramon!”

  The voice was Jose’s, Decker saw, calling out to the man who had just entered.

  “Si, Jose?”

  “What kind of mood is the great Gilberto in? Should we hide our women and children?”

  “You would be well advised to hold a civil tongue in your head, Jose. Gilberto is in a very bad mood.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Someone killed two of our men, and Gilberto wants blood for blood.”

  Decker, chewed his food slowly and listened carefully.

  “How did that happen?”

  “Someone gunned them down with a shotgun before they could touch their guns,” Ramon explained, “and then finished them with a rifle.”

  Decker washed down his mouthful with a swig of beer and wondered how many men this Gilberto had? He was obviously the leader of the bandit band that the two men he had killed belonged to.

  “Is his sister with him?” Jose asked.

  “Of course.”

  Jose looked over at Decker and said, “You are in for treat, señor. Raquel Diaz is the most beautiful woman in all Mexico.”

  “How interesting.”

  Ramon looked suspiciously from Jose to Decker, and then back again. It was time to leave.

  “You will be very impressed—that is, if you stay long enough.”

  “Well,” Decker said, looking regretfully at his plate, “I’m afraid I really have to be moving on.”

  Decker, not a man to frighten easily, knew that it would be prudent to be gone when Gilberto and his band arrived. He had started to stand when suddenly Ramon pulled his gun and pointed it at him.

  “Stand very still, señor.”

  Decker did as he was told, cursing himself for not having been prepared for this. The man called Ramon had clearly seen that he was a stranger, but Decker had hoped to be able to leave before the man realized that that meant he was a good bet to be the man who killed the two bandits.

  “That is a shotgun in your holster, is it not?” Ramon asked.

  “That it is.”

  “I would ask you to keep your hand away from it, por favor.”

  “Whatever you say”

  “I think Gilberto will be very happy that you are here, señor.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Please, take your gun out with your left hand and drop it to the floor.”

  Decker did as he was told.

  “Now, please sit and finish eating. Juanita is an excellent cook.”

  “Isn’t that a coincidence,” Decker said. “I was just telling her that.”

  Decker sat down, damning himself for a fool. His gun was on the floor and there seemed no sure way out of this short of charging the man and hoping he was a bad shot. He could upend the table, but the man was so much on edge that he might fire at a second’s notice.

  In light of the circumstances, Decker did the only thing he could.

  He continued to eat.

  Chapter Seven

  While they were waiting for Gilberto and his men—not to mention his sister—to arrive, Juanita brought out a plate of food for Ramon. As she passed Decker on the way back to the kitchen she gave him a long look. She had obviously been trying to pass him some sort of message, but he was too dense to see what it was.

  Ramon, holding his gun in his right hand, picked up a dripping tortilla and took a bite out of it. He chewed, keeping his eyes on Decker, continued to chew, with some difficulty, then swallowed…

  And gagged.

  Blood came from his mouth suddenly as he doubled over, dropping his gun. Decker was on his feet quickly, rushing towards him. He pushed Ramon away from his gun, but he needn’t have bothered. He was past worrying about that. He staggered back, clutching his throat as blood continued to pour from his mouth, and then he fell over.

  Decker picked up his gun and walked over to where Ramon was lying, Jose close behind him. Ramon was lying on his back, his eyes fluttering as blood oozed from his mouth.

  “Me Dios,” Jose whispered behind Decke
r. “What happened?”

  Decker walked over to where Ramon’s plate was and poked around in it with his finger. He came up with little bits of ground glass stuck to the tip of his index finger.

  “Looks like Juanita added something to a recipe that already had some bite.”

  The bartender leaned over and said, “Glass?”

  “Ground glass,” Decker said, looking down at Ramon. “This fella’s insides must be in pieces.”

  Ramon’s eyes had rolled up into his head by now, and he was dead.

  Juanita came out of the kitchen and walked over to Decker.

  “Is he dead?”

  “Thanks to you he’s dead and I’m alive, Juanita. I’m much obliged.”

  “What have you done, girl?” the bartender demanded, holding his head in his hands.

  “She saved my life, that’s what she did.”

  “But she has forfeited all of ours,” the man said. “The entire town.”

  “Paco is right, señor,” Jose said. “Gilberto will now take his revenge against the whole town.”

  “I see.”

  “I do not care,” Juanita said. “Señor, when you leave please take me with you.”

  “Juanita!”

  She shouted something at him in Spanish, during which Decker heard her call him “Papa.”

  In English she said, “I am ashamed of you, and ashamed of everyone in this town. You continue to let Gilberto and his bandidos frighten you. Well, he does not frighten me.”

  “Foolish girl,” her father said.

  “Señor…” she said to Decker.

  “Maybe the girl is right,” Decker said, looking at Paco, Jose and the other men in the saloon. “Maybe it’s time for this town to stand up for itself.”

  “Señor,” Jose said, “if we do that, will you stand with us?”

  Me and my big mouth, Decker thought. He had a trail to pick up, but then Juanita had done him a big favor, and maybe he owed it to her to help them.

  “All right, Jose,” Decker said. “If you can get enough men with guns who are willing to fight, I’ll stand with you.”

  Jose grinned.

  “Señor, I think I can do that.” He turned to the other men in the room, said something to them in Spanish, and they all stood up and nodded.

  “This is a start, señor, and before we are done we will have many more men, as well.”

  “Then get to it,” Decker said. “We don’t know how far behind this fella the rest of them are.”

  As Jose and the rest of the men left, dragging the dead man with them, Juanita came over and pressed her breasts against Decker’s arm.

  “Señor, how can I help?”

  “Well, I’ll tell you, Juanita,” Decker said, nudging Ramon’s plate. “Maybe you could just fix up a big batch of these here tortillas—you know, the ones with the big bite in them?”

  “It will be a pleasure, señor.”

  Chapter Eight

  Red Moran liked Mexican food almost as much as he liked Mexican women. That was why he figured that when he settled down for good, it would be down here, in Mexico.

  He was in the cantina, finishing up some chicken and rice with beans when Carmen, the big-breasted whore, entered, obviously looking for him.

  “Ah, señor Red,” she said, smiling when she saw him.

  “Carmen. Sit yourself down, sweetheart.”

  She sat opposite him. She was wearing a very low-cut peasant blouse and was giving him a good look at her swollen breasts. Her nipples were pressing against the blouse.

  “I wanted to tell you how happy I was that you are back, señor Red, but last night…well, last night Rosa was there, too.”

  “I thought you two were friends.”

  “Oh, we are friends,” she said, “very good friends, señor Red—but even with a friend one does not wish to share a man such as yourself.”

  Moran smiled.

  “I know what you mean,” he said. “You’re both beautiful, but being in bed with both of you a man doesn’t know where to look first.”

  “And so?” she said, grinning. “Now that we are alone, you would know where to look?”

  “I would know where to look,” he said, leaning forward, peering down her blouse, “and where to touch.”

  “Are you…finished eating, señor Red?”

  “I am finished, Carmen.”

  They both stood up and walked up to his room together.

  The bartender was clearing the table when Rosa came storming in.

  “Raul, have you seen Rosa?”

  “Si.”

  “Where?”

  The bartender simply looked up at Moran’s room and continued clearing the table.

  “Puta!” Rosa snapped, which was an odd thing for a whore to call a whore.

  She stormed up the stairs angrily, vowing to pull Carmen’s hair out by the roots for trying to get more of Red Moran’s money for herself.

  The bartender paused long enough to watch her climb the steps, skirt swirling around her marvellous calves, and then went into the kitchen. From there, he would not hear the noise when the two cats began to fight over the mouse.

  Gilberto Diaz, Raquel and their men were riding to Gilberto’s town at a fairly leisurely pace.

  “I hope Ramon has Juanita cook up a big batch of tortillas,” Gilberto said to Raquel.

  “That is all she is good for, that one,” Raquel said. “Cooking.”

  “That is all she is good for as far as you are concerned,” Gilberto said, smiling. “I can find other uses for little Juanita.”

  “She is fat,” Raquel spat, “like a cow.”

  “She is a comfortable woman, that one. Teats like pillows, and thighs like—”

  “I do not wish to hear this!” Raquel snapped.

  “And you?” he asked. “Will you let a man come near you and touch you?”

  “When I find a man who deserves me.”

  “Hah! With the high opinion you have of yourself, you would think you were a queen.”

  “I am a queen,” she said, raising her chin. “Queen of the bandidos.”

  “I am the king of the bandidos,” Gilberto pointed out, and you are my sister. That does not make you a queen, mi hermana.”

  “To be your queen a woman would have to be married to you,” Raquel said, “and I would not wish that on any woman.”

  Gilberto threw his sister an admiring glance. She had proud firm breasts and long legs. If she were not his sister…and perhaps, soon, that would not be enough to matter.

  But now, his thoughts were of Juanita.

  “My little Juanita will have a feast for me,” he said with a leer.

  Raquel looked at her brother and thought brutally, I hope she bits your cojones off!

  Chapter Nine

  True to his word, Jose returned with more men with guns, but as Decker counted, he saw that they were going to come up some short.

  Outside the saloon, with the men standing in the street waiting for instructions, he spoke to Jose.

  “Jose, how many men would you say Gilberto has?”

  Jose rubbed his jaw and said, “Twenty-five, señor, perhaps more.”

  “How many more?”

  “No more than thirty.”

  “We have fifteen,” Decker said, looking at the men in the street.

  Jose’s face fell.

  “We cannot do it, señor?”

  The worried look on his face was so pathetic that Decker reached out and patted the man on the shoulder reassuringly.

  “Oh, we’ll do it, Jose. We just have to figure out the right way.”

  “You will figure that out, señor, will you not?” Jose asked with a big smile.

  “I’m sure going to give it a try, Jose,” Decker said. “We’ll give it one helluva try.”

  Sometime later, Decker, Jose and three other men arrived at the cantina with saws and hammers in their hands.

  “What are you going to do?” Paco asked, eyeing them with great concern.

>   “We are going to make some small adjustments to your establishment, Paco,” Decker said.

  The men walked past him and went up the steps to the second floor.

  “What do you mean, adjustments?”

  “Nothing that will damage your cantina, Paco—at least, nothing that can’t be fixed later,” Decker said, trying to soothe the man.

  Juanita came out from the kitchen and moved behind the bar, next to her father.

  “Is everything ready in the kitchen, Juanita?” Decker asked.

  “Everything is ready, señor Decker.”

  “Aiee, I do not like this,” Paco said, putting his head in his hands.

  “Please, Papa,” she said, “señor Decker knows what he is doing.”

  “Perhaps,” Paco said, “but I do not think I know what I am doing.”

  “You’re pouring drinks, Paco, like always,” Decker said, “just pouring drinks.”

  Chapter Ten

  The bandidos rode into town, their horses crowding the empty streets.

  “Why do we keep coming here?” Raquel asked aloud. “This is a nothing of a town.”

  “It is my town,” Gilberto said, “that is why we come.”

  When they had first discovered the town it had been called Little Cross. When Gilberto saw that there was no law—and no backbone in the townspeople—he decided to adopt the town as his own. He pulled down the “Little Cross” sign and called it “his” town from then on.

  That had been several months ago.

  “We should find a better place to hole up,” Raquel complained. “In the mountains would be better.”

  “Ah, but in the mountains there would be no Juanita,” her brother said.

  “Any whore can give you what she gives you. Besides, if you like her that much you could take her with you.”

  That didn’t sound like such a bad idea to Gilberto, but he didn’t tell his sister that.

  Gilberto stopped in front of the canteen and shouted orders for three men to take the horses over to the livery. He said the rest of the men were free to come inside and eat or do whatever they wanted. Since there was nothing else to do in the town but eat, the men followed Gilberto and Raquel into the saloon.

  Decker figured that with as many horses as the bandidos had, more that one man would have to take them to the livery. He took Jose with him and they waited there, while the rest of the men took their places as he had directed them.