Cunning of the Mountain Man (29 page)

“Never did like that damned stuff,” one hard-faced gunman remarked.

“Been more than one war fought over it,” another agreed.

“Git me down offa here,” Winkler wailed.

“Sure, but it’ll smart some.”

“You get close to that wire, and I’ll blow your head off,” came a voice from outside.

“Do something, get me off of here!” Wink Winkler wailed on the verge of hysteria.

“Reckon I could shoot you, to put you out of your misery,” the Tucker wrangler suggested.

Morning brought no change in the stalemate. It also did not provide any easy access into the hotel. Smoke Jensen left Jeff York and three Arizona Rangers to watch the back exit to the Exchange Hotel, while he scouted for ideas. He found a possible solution within a block of the two-story structure.

He also received some bad news. Simms, one of the Rangers, came upon Smoke while he was trying to drag a tall ladder out of a litter of barrels and boxes outside the back of a store. The bantam rooster of a lawman announced that he sought Jeff York.

“Jeff’s at the Exchange Hotel back door.”

“We’ve got more troubles,” Simms replied. “Durin’ the night, more of this border scum drifted into town. Seems as how they got us caught between the ones we’ve corralled and themselves.”

Smoke Jensen gave it only a moment’s thought. Using the ladder to scale to the second floor windows at the back of the hotel would have to wait. “When you’re surrounded there’s only one thing to do.”

“Surrender?” Simms asked doubtfully.

“Where’ve you been all your life? What we’re going to do is attack in both directions at once.” Smoke set off immediately to inform Jeff.

Eyes glazed with blood lust, the newcomers to Socorro sensed an easy kill. They moved in on the thin line of

Rangers with weapons in hand. Their shock was complete then, when half of the lawmen turned on them and opened fire, while the remainder yelled chillingly and charged buildings to either side of a large hotel. The rapid-fire crackle of rifles and six-guns drowned out the exclamations of consternation.

Three of the hard cases went down in a hail of bullets. Two ran toward the partial shelter of an alleyway, only to be met with the flat report of a shotgun. A scythe of buck shot kicked them off their boots. Writhing in the dirt, their multiple wounds gradually went numb.

Few among their fellow gunfighters took notice, as the downed gunhawks lost their struggle to hold onto life. After a moment of stunned inactivity, the remaining fast guns released a ragged volley of their own. By then the astonished defenders inside the buildings nearest the Exchange Hotel found themselves overwhelmed by the surprise assault. Smoke Jensen led the way into the dry goods store.

Smoke’s .44 barked with authority, as he jumped through a shattered window and pushed aside a mannequin in the display case. It bounced off a rack of dresses, and a member of Quint Stalker’s gang used its distracting motion to cover his move to get Smoke Jensen.

Rising up, he swung the muzzle of his Colt into line with Smoke, only to find himself staring down a long, black tunnel to the afterworld. Smoke Jensen fired first. Hot lead released a thunderous pain in the chest of the outlaw, who slammed backward to upend over an island of discounted women’s shoes. High-top button creations in uniform black flew in three directions.

When the powder smoke cleared Smoke Jensen saw his man lying still in death. “Put some men in place to hold this window,” Smoke told the nearest Ranger.

Numbers began to tell. Doing the unexpected had gained the Rangers the dubious shelter of two wooden frame buildings, only to be pinned down by concentrated fire from outside. Several of the lawmen gave fleeting thought to how Benton-Howell’s defenders in the hotel must have felt. Smoke Jensen took a quick mental inventory.

It didn’t look good. Not counting those who broke through the ring of guns in the hands of the newly arrived hard cases, he could account for only some seven men not wounded or dead among the Rangers. They still faced some thirty or more guns. He had to find a way into the hotel. In memory, the ladder beckoned.

“Can you hold them here?” Smoke asked of Tallpockets.

He received a curt nod. “Don’t know how long, but we’ll do our best. Jeff an’ the other boys should be hittin’ ’em from behind soon. What’er you gonna do?”

“Get in that hotel.” Not waiting for a response from the Arizona Ranger, Smoke headed for the rear of the shop.

A small loading dock behind the dry goods store could be accessed by three heavy plank steps. Smoke Jensen didn’t waste time on them. A small shock ran up his legs when his boots hit the ground. He turned right and soon located the ladder. Fighting a sense of being too late, he lugged the heavy wooden object back to the hotel. Smoke leaned it against the clapboard siding of the hotel under a window. Colt in one hand he started upward.

When he reached a position below the sash, Smoke Jensen crouched and removed his hat. He held it in his left hand while he raised his head and six-gun to peer inside. The room was empty. Smoke suddenly realized that he had been holding his breath. Stale air gusted out of his lungs, and he drew in a fresh draught. He tried the window, but it had been secured by a slide latch.

No time for finesse. Smoke cracked the lower center pane of glass, and reached through to slide the bar out of place. Then he raised up the lower half of the sash. He climbed into the room without incident. He crossed the room in four long strides, and paused at the door.

Smoke strained his keen hearing to gauge the unknown surroundings outside. At first he heard nothing, yet caution urged him to open the door only a crack. His first glance of the hallway showed him some ten gunmen lounging around worried looks on their faces. Then all hell broke out on the street in front of the hotel.

Jeff York levered rounds through the Winchester in a blur of speed as he advanced on the hard cases milling in the street. One of the steadier of the band of thugs placed a round close enough to put Jeff down behind a full watering trough. He hunched forward on his elbows and took aim at one gunhawk’s left kneecap. The Winchester bucked and the man screamed as he went down.

But not out of the fight. His six-gun cracked and brought a shower of splinters from the trough. Stinging pinpricks on his face, told Jeff that the man could definitely shoot. His next round ended the contest with the border ruffian doubled over his perforated intestines. Jeff sought another target.

He had all too many, Jeff reflected on the situation. Enough that they were no longer intimidated by gunfire from the Rangers. They gathered their ranks and actually began to advance. A shirtless ruffian bounded out of the barbershop two doors down from Jeff, and raised a Smith and Wesson American to blast the life from the Arizona Ranger.

Jeff saw him first and put the last round from his Winchester through the small white button, third down on the front of the thug’s red longhandle underwear top. His mouth formed a black oval in his shaving cream-lathered face, and he did a pratfall on the boardwalk. His weapon discharged upward and shattered one square pane of glass in a streetlight. Dead already, he didn’t feel the shards that pierced his scalp and chest. Three more popped up seemingly out of nowhere.

Screams of rage reached Jeff’s ears a moment before he heard the distinctive yowl of a coyote. The voices of several desert birds joined then came the thunder of hooves. Jeff York looked behind him to see seven riders, hugging low on the necks of their horses, rumbling toward the center of the fight.

Bands of red and yellow cloth fluttered from the forestocks of three rifles, and he saw the sharp curve of a bow a moment before an arrow flashed overhead and buried its point in the stomach of a would-be gunfighter not five feet from where Jeff lay.

Cuchillo Negro and six of his warriors had come through at a crucial time. They pounded down on the suddenly disorganized outlaws, and brought swift death with them. Several of the wiser among the hirelings of Benton-Howell took off running toward the nearest empty saddle. They took flight in utter panic, leaving all possessions behind. Others chose to fight it out.

They got a poor bargain for it. Hot lead laced the street from both Ranger positions. Black Knife operated his trapdoor Spencer with cool, smooth expertise. Round after round of lethal .56 caliber slugs smacked into flesh. One gunhawk went down with two Apaches swarming over him, knives flashing silver, then crimson in the sunlight.

In that mad swirling instant, what had been certain defeat for the Arizona Rangers turned into a promise of victory.

Boot heels thumped along the carpeted upstairs hall in reaction to the rattle of gunfire. Smoke Jensen watched the retreating backs of the hard cases, as they responded to the increased fighting outside. When all but two started down the wide staircase, Smoke Jensen stepped out of the room he had entered moments before and took stock.

A pair of men stood at the door to each of two rooms. Guarding the bosses? Smoke pondered a moment. At the far end one gunhand was mostly out the door of the balcony that fronted the establishment. Another waited his turn. That meant five guns against Smoke. Six in the worst case. An arrow thudded into the wooden panel of the balcony door with enough force to wrest it from the hand of the youthful outlaw. A moment later he went to his knees, hands clutched to the shaft of the projectile that protruded from his chest.

Only five guns now. Considering who Smoke Jensen suspected had been confined behind those guarded portals, he could not simply leave well enough alone. When he opened up on the gunmen below, they would no doubt kill the hostages at once. He walked up to the Anglo pair guarding the center door.

“Benton-Howell said for me to relieve you two. He needs more guns in the fight downstairs.”

Suspicion shined in the eyes of the nearer outlaw. “How'd he tell you that with you up here?”

“Don’t you know anything about this place? There’s a brass speaking from the desk connected to every room.” Smoke had noticed the device beside the door as he had exited and took the chance that everyone was aware of them. “He just blew into it, and it whistled in my room. I answered and got told what to do.”

“Yeah. I guess I did see them things. Looked like a pipe organ behind the counter.”

“That’s the one. Now go on, before those damned Rangers get inside the building.”

They turned away with a dubious look, then joined the third white man at the top of the stairs. “I ain’t gonna go out there. Damn Injuns have ridden in,” he told them. “I’ll go with you boys.”

Once the three were out of sight, Smoke turned his attention to the two sombrero-wearing bandidos at the other door. He walked up to them, displaying a casual manner. A smile and his poor and rusty Spanish should help put them off guard Smoke reckoned.

“
Oye
, my Spanish she is not so good” Smoke greeted in mixed language. “Your
jefe
, he says for me to tell you that they need more guns—
mas pistolas
—downstairs. You are to go at once.”

“Don Miguel ordered us to stay here, not to leave unless he told us,” the burlier of the pair protested in rapid-fire Spanish.

"
¿
Como?
You speak too fast for me.”

“Not too fast for me,” a heavy voice rumbled from the head of the stairs.

A sharp crack of a .44 round from his Merwin and Hulbert punctuated Quint Stalker’s statement. The bullet burned along the meaty portion of the small of Smoke Jensen’s back. Smoke sprang across the hallway, out of reach of the two Mexican bandits, and spun to face Stalker.

“I see you got out of jail.”

“Damn right, Jensen. You an’ me got a score to settle.” “Words are cheap. Let’s get to it,” Smoke grated hand on the grip of his pistol.

“I don’t think so. Ramon, Xavier, grab him.”

For all the girth of Xavier, he moved like a startled cat. As his ham hands closed on the arm of Smoke Jensen, he left his ample belly open to ready attack. Smoke did not overlook it. He drove two hard fast rights into the swell of gut before him. Xavier grunted and yanked Smoke toward him. By then, Ramon had Smoke’s other arm. Smirking, Quint Stalker advanced along the hall. The Merwin and Hulbert drooped indolently in his gun-hand but even with his victim held captive, he took no chances with Smoke Jensen.

When he reached an arm’s length from Smoke, Stalker cocked a solid left and drove knuckles into Jensen’s face. “Hold him up,” Stalker commanded. Another punch to the cheek, and Smoke Jensen went slack in their grasp.

Quint Stalker leered at the apparently dazed Smoke Jensen. “I’m gonna make this last, Jensen. Go real slow, give you a lot of pain . . . before I kill you.”

Smoke gasped as he imperceptibly tightened his muscles, positioned now with his weight supported by the Mexican outlaws. His ears caught a distinct sound from outside. “You . . . may not . . . have time, Stalker. Those Apaches still want to get their hands on you.”

The word Apaches galvanized Quint Stalker. He turned his attention away from his intended victim to listen to the war whoops that drifted through the open doorway.

Then he saw the dying hard case with the arrow in his chest. Time to move, Smoke Jensen judged. Swiftly shifting his weight, Smoke drove the pointed toe of his boot into Stalker’s groin.

A banshee shriek ripped from the throat of Quint Stalker. Following it came a wet, sucking sound as the hurting outlaw leader fought to pull air into his body and stop the misery. He doubled over until his chin touched his knees. Before the Mexican bandits could react, Smoke kicked Stalker in the face. Then, his feet planted firmly on the carpet runner in the hall, Smoke Jensen flexed powerful muscles in his shoulders and slammed Ramon and Xavier together face to face.

Their foreheads met with a klonk!, and Ramon went slack-legged to the floor. Quint Stalker lay twitching on the carpet strip. Smoke Jensen had no desire to trade punches with Quint Stalker, let alone the massive Xavier. He had his .44 halfway out of the holster when Xavier spotted the motion and still dazed by the ramming, groped for his Mendoza .45 copy. He freed it and fired too soon. The slug zipped between the legs of Smoke Jensen and ploughed into a floorboard. Vibration from the hammer blow partly revived Quint Stalker.