Jailbreak (5 page)

Jack said, “They cut the rope three quarters of the way through figuring it would break before my neck did. It didn’t break and neither did my neck. I was pretty blue in the face before they finally figured to cut me down.”

I shook my head. “How you stay over here, Jack?”

He started to say something, then just shrugged. Finally he said, “I really ain’t got that much selection, Justa.”

I didn’t ask him anymore.

Outside the countryside rolled by, becoming even more desolate with every passing mile. The country was mostly flat, but here and there it was marked by little humps of rock and sand and slashed by severe ravines and deep canyons. Far off in the distance you could see the beginnings of the Sierras, the several lines of high mountain ranges that cut Mexico up like fenced-off pastures. About every twenty miles or so the train would come to a grinding, jolting halt and dozens of peons dressed in white britches tied at the ankles and white shirts and wide straw sombreros would stream off, their women and children following behind. There would be no apparent village, just a marker by the track, but the Mexicans would go off across the hot, flat plain, walking with that patient stride that could take them miles. Somewhere out there would be a tiny pueblo, adobe and straw huts built around the only water in the district. To live they raised corn and beans and peppers and skinny cattle. Looking at it, it was hard to understand how anyone could make a living on such land. But the peons did, and had for centuries.

As we got closer to Monterrey the land became more hilly and a little greener. But it was never going to get very green because Coahuila was about as poor a state as there was in Mexico.

Monterrey was a pretty big city. Where our hometown, Blessing, didn’t have quite a thousand souls, Jack said Monterrey had a population of near forty thousand. That was big for a city in that part of Mexico.

We come steaming into the depot about two in the afternoon. Some railroad workers brought up a ramp and we led our mounts down and then swung aboard. We rode for the center of town. Even though Monterrey was a big city it wasn’t much to look at. The streets were all dust and there were no boardwalks in front of the buildings. Most of the houses we saw were poor shanties. We finally pulled up in front of what looked to be the best hotel in town, the Mirador. Some boys came out to tend to our horses so we unslung our saddlebags and went into the lobby. It was a big, cool place with a high-beamed ceiling and a lot of that heavy Mexican furniture sitting around. I took two rooms. Hays would bunk in with me, and Ben and Jack would share a room.

We got upstairs and got settled on the second floor. Hays and I had drawn a big room with big casement windows and a big table with a couple of washbasins. The desk clerk had booked me for a bath at the end of the hall. But first we crowded into our room, sat in chairs and on the beds and talked over what we should do. I was for going straight on over to the jail and looking into matters, but Jack thought it would be better to hire a lawyer who had some pull and let him front for us. I said, “Just how are we supposed to know which lawyer has got the pull around here? I bet this town has got a hundred lawyers in it.”

He got up out of his chair. “Why don’t you get that bath and slick up a little while I go have a look around. I think I know a couple of hombres here and I figure I can find out what we need.”

I said, “My plans for today are for me and you to do the scouting around. I’m going to leave Ben and Hays here.”

He half smiled. “Just in case you and I get throwed in jail?”

“Something like that,” I said.

While he was gone I dug some clean clothes out of my saddlebags and then went on down the hall to the bath and had a shave and then a bath in cold water. When I was dressed in clean clothes I felt a deal better though I knew I’d be sweating five minutes after I left the hotel.

Jack got back a few minutes after I returned to the room. He said, “I think I found our man. Name of Julio Obregon. He’s crooked, but then they all are. But it sounds like he stands in with the
politicos,
which means he’s automatically in with the
jefes
in the courts and the police. His office ain’t but a couple of blocks from here.”

I said, “Well, you go get cleaned up and we’ll go.”

I got a couple of hundred dollars off Ben, who was carrying our bankroll. I figured I’d need at least that much for a retainer. As near as I could figure, Norris was in some serious trouble. I’d been mad as hell at him back in Matagorda when I’d first got Jack’s telegram. Now I was plenty worried. You just didn’t go around punching police captains in Mexico. It was just like Norris. He thought I solved everything with my fists or a gun. He never realized how much more thinking I did. And for a man as smart as him to use his fists was just plain foolish. He was going to come to a bad end someday if he kept on trying to prove he was as tough as Ben and me.

But that could wait. Right then I had to figure out a way to get him home before he could get into any more trouble.

Senor Obregon was a short, fat little man of some thirty years with a thick, black mustache and sleek, black, oily hair. He had just returned from siesta when we arrived, and one could see he’d changed into a clean white shirt. He was just hanging up his coat when his clerk showed us into his office. We made our howdies and then sat down. I said, “Senor Obregon, my family, the Williamses, are ranchers down in Matagorda County, Texas. That’s about three hundred miles north of here. We’re considered well-to-do business people and have some little influence in the Texas state government. Through a misunderstanding my younger brother, Norris Williams, has run afoul of your local police and is now in jail. I’ve come to you for your assistance in getting his release to get out of this trouble.” I looked at Jack.

Jack started to translate, but Obregon held up his hand. “Pleese,” he said. “Ah heeve some Anglish. An’ I know of choo brudder. Et es a very deffecult matter. He es in
mucho
trouble. The
policía
are, how choo say, very angry.”

I glanced at Jack and he shrugged as if to say, “I told you so.”

Señor Obregon said, “Choo brudder hes been telling meny, meny peoples that he es a
muy importante hombre
in
Estados Unidos.
He make meny threats to meeny peoples. He make
el jefe de policía muy
angry.”

I cussed silently under my breath. Damn Norris didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.

Señor Obregon leaned toward me. He said, “Choo
comprende,
Señor
Williams, muy importante
in
Estados Unidos
es no the same as
muy importante
in Mexico.”

“Yes,” I said. “I understand. Sometimes my brother
tiene caliente de cabeza.”

Señor Obregon looked puzzled. He said, “What means thees hot of head?”

Jack said, dryly, “Justa, I reckon you better let me handle the Mex talk.” In rapid-fire Spanish he told Señor Obregon that Norris was a man with a strong belief in right and wrong and when he felt he’d been wronged he tended to get stubborn. Also angry.

I said, “Tell him Norris doesn’t speak any Spanish and that he might have punched the captain through a misunderstanding.”

Jack whipped off a round of Mex. Obregon answered him back. Jack looked around at me, that usual half smile on his face, and said, “He wants to know if it would be all right for a Mexican to punch a sheriff in Texas just because he didn’t speak English.”

I said, “Just ask him if he can help us.”

Jack talked and then Obregon talked and then Jack talked again. Finally, Obregon leaned back in his chair, intertwined his fingers over his ample belly and pursed out his lips. After a moment he said something to Jack. Jack answered back. Señor Obregon shook his head and said something firmly to Jack.

“What?” I said.

Jack turned to me. “He says he’ll look into it to see how serious it is but that it will cost you a hunnert dollars U.S. I told him we already knowed it was serious an’ couldn’t he do a little more for that kind of money. Justa, it ain’t worth it. He knows you got money an’ he’s jus’ tryin’ to bleed you.”

“Let’s get him started,” I said. “I expect this to cost a great deal. All of which I’m going to take out of Norris’s hide.” I dug in my pocket and came out with five twenty-dollar bills. I laid them on the desk and looked at Señor Obregon. “Okay?”

He picked up the money with his fat fingers. “Hokay,” he said.

I said to Jack, “Ask him if we can see Norris.”

That brought on another exchange of that rapid-fire Spanish. Jack said to me, “He thinks that will perhaps cost another forty dollars. To use his words. Take careful not to count on it over much.”

“All right,” I said. I leafed out two more twenties. Señor Obregon picked them up. I said, “When?”

He looked at Jack and Jack said it in Spanish. Señor Obregon shrugged and said something to Jack. Jack got up. He said, “We’re to come back in the morning. He ought to know something by then.” He gave me a slight grimace. “He wants you to understand he can’t promise anything and that these matters take time.”

“Tell him I understand,” I said. “And tell him in your most flowery Spanish how much we appreciate such an upstanding gentleman as himself coming to our aid and that we are in his debt.”

Jack raised his eyebrows, but he did it. From the length of the speech, I figured he was setting Senor Obregon up to run for Congress.

We shook hands and then Jack and I left, leaving Senor Obregon to count his money and figure out just how much I was good for.

Walking back to the hotel I said, “Well, I got a problem.”

“You mean Norris has got a problem. ”

“Yeah, him too. But time is something I ain’t got a whole hell of a lot of.”

Jack said, “You ain’t forgot where we are.”

“No, I understand time is something they got a surplus of down here. But they is a date on the calendar when I got to be on my way back to Blessing. Norris just might have to do a little jail time.”

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.

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 Obregon 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?”