Forty-three

After destroying one of Brownsville’s “famous” landmarks, Jake figured he’d better get out of town a different way than using the main crossing point. He headed west first, keeping Outlaw at a slow walk along the Rio Grande as he waited for Cole to catch up.

By midmorning, the two of them headed across the Rio Grande in a more nondescript area. One Mexican soldier stopped them, asking their business.

“Venimos aquí para las hermosas mexicanas,” Jake told him, expressing his desire to find beautiful Mexican women.

The soldier grinned broadly. “Sí, aquí tenemos las mujeres más bellas!”

Jake smiled and nodded. “Entiendo que hay un sitio por estas partes que se llama La Casa de Mujeres Celestiales. Queremos encontrar el sitio.”

“Ah, sí!” The soldier pointed to the east. “Sur de Matamoros. Es una hacienda Hermosa.” The man grabbed his privates and laughed. “Te va costar mucha lana para una de esas mujeres!”

“Pagaré lo que sea.” Jake tipped his hat and rode off.

“What was that all about?” Cole asked when he caught up.

“I told him we were looking for beautiful women and would pay whatever it cost for the best. The place we’re looking for is just south of Matamoros.” Jake removed his hat and wiped at sweat on his brow. “I’ve been living in the Colorado foothills so long I’ve forgotten how hot it can get down here. I miss the J&L already.”

“You aren’t the only one.”

“Did you take care of the tombstone?”

“Yes, sir.”

“If I don’t make it back, you make sure it’s there before you go home. Will you do that?”

“’Course I will.”

They rode silently for a good hour. “Sorry I went a little crazy yesterday,” Jake finally said.

“No apologies necessary. You did what you had to do.”

Jake halted Outlaw and lit a cigarette. “We’ll get to that brothel late afternoon. Best way to gain their confidence is to act like real customers, so you, my friend, get to roll in the hay with one of them, as long as she looks like an experienced whore. If they bring you some young thing shaking in her shoes, you ask for somebody else. Tell them you like a woman with experience. I won’t tolerate some unwilling young girl, even from you.”

“Shit, Jake, I’d never do that, and you know it. And just what the hell are you gonna do?”

Jake drew on the cigarette. “I’m going to ask for a virgin. If we’re real, real lucky, Annie’s still there and for some reason still untouched. They save girls like her for the highest-paying customer, and I’ll pay plenty. We’ll lay low for the night and take her out of there in the morning. Staying a while will help us gain their confidence, and making a run for it in the morning is better timing as far as the guards being alert. If we’re real lucky, we won’t have any trouble at all.”

“You’re gonna spend the night with her?”

Jake frowned. “Jesus, Cole, how else can I make this look real? It’s just for show—but first I have to talk them into it. I’m not touching her one way or the other, but for now I have to play the part, understand? Don’t pay any attention to anything I say. There’s no sense going into that fort of a hacienda like a lawman, which is probably what Jessie Valencia did. I’ll win their confidence as just a customer. And it’s going to take a lot of money to convince them to let me have her.” He looked at Cole and smiled. “Does this look friendly enough?”

Cole shook his head. “Jake, when you get in that dark way you have, no smile is gonna help. That’s the meanest, most murderous smile I’ve ever seen.”

A more genuine smile crossed Jake’s lips. “It’s the best I can do.”

“Well, you’d better use that special smile that makes women faint. That will work better.”

Jake actually laughed lightly and shook his head. “You just be ready tomorrow morning. Get up and get your pants on before sunup and leave with the packhorse. Wait a ways away from the place. I’m hoping they’ll let me flat-out buy her, but if I have to steal her, I’ll steal her. When I come charging out, it’ll be fast. If she comes out on her own, you grab her up and ride like hell straight for the border.”

“And you?”

“With any luck, I’ll be right behind you. Either way, it’s me they’ll be after.”

Cole turned away. “Shit.” His horse snorted and shook its mane. “Jake, if we get out of there with the girl, that’s all that matters. Why risk your life by killing Wayland?”

“Because he’ll keep doing this if I don’t. And I’ll kill Luis Estava if he’s there too. He won’t be charming any more innocent young girls into a brothel.”

“Damn it, Jake, you’re in such a bad way that you’re not thinking straight. You’re taking a big risk. You’re in Mexico, damn it! They aren’t real kind to their criminals and murderers down here, especially Americans.”

“Just do what I said and get the girl into the United States and keep going, no matter what, understand? No matter what! If they get hold of you and her, you’ll be dead, and she’ll be right back where she was. I promised Gretta I’d get her out of there.”

“And you promised your family you’d come back.”

Jake smoked quietly. “I’ll find a way.”

Cole shook his head. Jake Harkner was not in a family-man frame of mind right now. He was still hung over from his rage at his father, and he was using it to build himself up for getting Annie out of that whorehouse. He was Jake Harkner the outlaw, and no argument against anything he wanted to do would work.

Jake tossed his cigarette onto the hard ground and kicked Outlaw into a faster lope, heading east.

“Here we go, boy,” Cole said to his horse. He held on to the pack animal and jabbed spurs into his roan gelding, riding hard again to catch up.