The Loner: Crossfire (9 page)

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Authors: J.A. Johnstone

BOOK: The Loner: Crossfire
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Chapter 16
 
“Let her go, Morelli,” Conrad ordered.
The bodyguard’s bushy eyebrows rose. “But, sir, a girl like this ain’t for the likes of you! I’m not sure how she even got into the hotel. Usually the staff don’t let such tramps get anywhere near the guests.”
“I know her,” Conrad said, not caring whether he shocked Morelli. “Now let her go.” The flat, hard tone of his voice left no room for argument.
Morelli lowered Carmen until her feet were on the floor, then released her, stepping back with a frown of deep disapproval on his face.
“What you do in your personal life is none o’ my concern, sir—” he began.
“That’s right, it’s not,” Conrad cut in. He took hold of Carmen’s arm. She looked like a terrified doe about to bolt. In a steady, calming voice, he went on. “Come with me. You’ll be safe here. I give you my word on that.”
Her dark eyes were big with fear. “Hans and Ulrich may have followed me. I tried to get away from them, but I don’t know if I did.”
“I’m not afraid of Hans and Ulrich, and I’ll wager that Morelli here isn’t, either.”
“No, sir,” Morelli chimed in without hesitation. “I don’t know who those lads are, but I ain’t afraid of anybody that draws breath.”
Conrad managed to steer Carmen toward the door of the suite without making it seem like he was forcing her. As they went inside, Morelli started to follow, but a hard look from Conrad made him stop. Conrad closed the door behind them, leaving the bodyguard in the hallway.
“All right, Carmen,” he said gently. “Can I get you anything?”
“Maybe a drink, señor?”
Conrad hesitated, unsure whether he should be giving liquor to someone as young as she was, but considering where she worked and what she did for a living, he supposed it was a little late to be worrying about things like that. He poured a little brandy into a glass and handed it to her. She clutched it with both hands, which were trembling slightly, and drank down the brandy.
That seemed to steady her nerves. She took a deep breath. “
Gracias
, Señor Browning.”
“How do you know my name? How did you know you could find me here?”
“After the big fight at Spanish Charley’s ... after Ling Yuan came in to help you get away ... I followed you. It was Dutchy’s idea.”
Conrad hadn’t realized anyone had followed him away from the dive that night, but he supposed a slender young girl like Carmen could have slipped through the shadows behind him without him noticing.
“Why did Dutchy want you to follow me?”
“I think he wanted to take revenge on you for starting trouble. He would have sent Hans and Ulrich to kill you later. But when I told him I followed you all the way here to the Palace ... he seemed to change his mind about that.”
Conrad wasn’t surprised. Dutchy must have realized there was more to his troublesome visitor than met the eye.
“I thought you must work here, maybe as a bellboy. I-I have a cousin who works in the hotel as a maid. Dutchy told me to talk to her, to tell her what you look like, and find out if she knew you. She told me there was no one working here who looks like you, Señor Browning. Then she told me about one of the guests ... about
you
.”
“And you told Dutchy,” Conrad guessed.
“I had to! He would have killed me if I tried to lie to him.”
Conrad didn’t know if that was true or not, but Carmen believed it was.
“When you told him, he was even more interested than he was before, right?”
Carmen’s head bobbed up and down. “
Sí.
”
Dutchy probably sensed a possibility for blackmail. A man wealthy enough to stay in one of the Palace Hotel’s finest suites who prowled around squalid saloons and taverns like Spanish Charley’s ... usually had secrets he would be willing to pay to keep quiet.
“I know you didn’t have any choice in what you did,” Conrad told Carmen as she looked down at the richly carpeted floor in shame. “I’m not upset with you.”
“Truly, señor?” she murmured.
“Truly.”
She moved closer and reached up to throw her arms around his neck before he could stop her. “Oh,
gracias, señor, gracias
! I thought you would be angry with me for betraying your secret. I-I will do anything to earn your forgiveness.”
“There’s nothing to forgive”—Conrad untangled her arms from his neck—“and even if there was, all you’d have to do to earn it is ask. But there’s not, so you don’t have to worry.” He held her hands to keep her from grabbing him again. “Now what’s all this about Hans and Ulrich threatening to kill you?”
“Dutchy said he knew someone who would pay him a great deal of money if he told them about you. But he and I were the only ones who knew, and I think he was worried I might try to reach this person, whoever it is, and sell the information first. So he decided to get rid of me, even though I work for him and killing me would cost him money.” She pouted. “I am only a cheap Mex whore. Dutchy can make more by selling the truth about you than he can from me.”
Conrad had a hunch he knew who Dutchy intended to sell that information to: Dex Lannigan. Lannigan must have put out the word that he was interested in anything he could learn about Conrad Browning, and Dutchy would know what a powerful, important man Lannigan was in San Francisco’s underworld and would be eager to curry favor with him.
“How do you know Hans and Ulrich intended to kill you?”
Carmen made a face like she wanted to spit. “I overheard them talking in their mongrel tongue. They think I do not know what they say, but I understand a little. Enough to know Dutchy told them to kill me and dump my body in the bay. I slipped out and ran away, but I ... I didn’t know where to go. Then I thought of you.”
“You already sold me out to Dutchy, remember? What makes you think I’d be willing to help you?”
“Because I remembered how kind you were to me at Spanish Charley’s. You could have done what you paid for and then asked me your questions, but you did not.” A shrewd look appeared on her face. “And I remembered as well how you asked about the Golden Gate. Dex Lannigan owns that place, and I think Dutchy plans on telling him about you. But maybe I
could
get to Señor Lannigan first... .”
“So you’re not above a little blackmail of your own, eh?” Conrad asked with a faint smile.
“My life has been a hard one, señor.”
Conrad didn’t doubt that for a second.
“I have learned to do what I must to survive,” Carmen went on.
“How much do you want?” Conrad asked.
Carmen shook her head. “Nothing. No money.”
Conrad frowned. “Then what
do
you want?”
“I told you I have a cousin who works here in the hotel. Her father, my uncle, is a fisherman. If I could get to his boat and hide there, he could take me away from San Francisco, take me to some place safe. This is what I want.”
“Why do you need my help to do that?”
“Because Hans and Ulrich and maybe Dutchy himself will be out searching for me. I am sure if any of them see me, they will kill me on sight. But I saw the way you fought, señor. I know you could protect me from them and make sure I got away safely.
This
is what I want from you.”
Conrad studied her closely and didn’t see any sign that she was lying. Her story held together and made sense.
“We’d need to go tonight.”
“
Sí, señor,
as quickly as possible.”
As usual, Conrad didn’t take long to make up his mind. He didn’t owe the girl anything, and helping her escape from the men who wanted to kill her wouldn’t gain him anything ...
Except the knowledge that he had not only saved her life but also helped free her from a hellish existence. He couldn’t turn his back on her, even though that might be the smartest thing to do. She had already told Dutchy who he was; she couldn’t do anything else to hurt him.
“All right. Let me get my hat.” Conrad already had the shoulder rig for the Smith & Wesson in place, so he left it on and didn’t strap on his regular gunbelt.
When the two of them stepped into the corridor, Morelli got up hurriedly from the chair. “I have to go out for a while, Morelli,” Conrad said.
“Then I’m goin’ with you, sir. Beggin’ your pardon, of course, but I’ve got my orders.”
“It may turn out to be dangerous,” Conrad warned.
Morelli shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Mr. Turnbuckle said to keep my eye on you, so I’m keepin’ my eye on you.”
“Very well. The señorita will tell us where we’re going.”
“To the waterfront,” Carmen said. “Where the fishing boats are docked.”
“Lead the way,” Conrad told her.
As they went downstairs, Conrad described for Morelli the three men they were watching out for particularly. The bodyguard was intensely curious, but didn’t ask any questions. He nodded and said, “Yes, sir. If I see any of the scoundrels, I’ll be ready for ’em.”
They left the hotel through the rear entrance Conrad had used a few nights earlier. As far as he could tell, no one paid any attention to them. But he hadn’t noticed Carmen trailing him the other night, so he warned himself not to be too confident.
After they had gone a block or so, he hailed a horse-drawn cab and helped Carmen into it. Morelli jerked a thumb at the driver’s seat. “I’ll ride up top.”
As the cab rolled up and down San Francisco’s steep streets toward the waterfront, Carmen said, “I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you for your help, Señor Browning.” She sat forward. “But maybe I could
show
you.”
“That’s not necessary,” Conrad told her as he lifted a hand to stop her from moving any closer to him. “Where are you going to go, Carmen?”
“I have some cousins who live in Morellirey. They will take me in.”
Conrad held out some folded bills and pressed them into her hand. “Take this money. It’ll help you make a fresh start.”
“Oh,
gracias, señor, gracias.
I ... I cannot believe anyone can be as good as you are.”
“Far from it. I just want you to have a chance.”
The cab dropped them off in an area where the night air was thick with the smells of saltwater and rotting fish. Little slapping noises came from the docks where the waves washed against the pilings. Carmen pointed. “My uncle’s boat is down here.” She started along the wharf, flanked by Conrad and Morelli. When they came to one of the docks that extended into the water with boats tied up on both sides of it, Carmen said eagerly, “Along here.”
The area was dimly lit by lanterns hanging here and there casting feeble yellow glows into the gathering fog. Something stirred inside Conrad, a sense that not everything was as it should be. No one was around. The docks shouldn’t have been completely deserted, even at that time of night.
When he heard footsteps on the damp planks behind them, he knew his hunch was right. He stopped and started to turn, then froze as he felt the sharp point of a knife in Carmen’s hand penetrate his coat and shirt, and dig into his flesh.
Chapter 17
 
“I am sorry, Señor Browning,” Carmen said. “I really am. If I had not done what they wanted, they would have killed me.”
Morelli said in alarm, “What’s this?”
“A trap,” Conrad said, “and the señorita was the bait.”
It was true. Half a dozen big men had followed them onto the dock, blocking their escape. Conrad didn’t see Dutchy, but even in the bad light he recognized two of the men as Hans and Ulrich. The others were strangers to him but equally large and dangerous-looking. Conrad had no doubt they worked for Dex Lannigan.
Morelli started to reach under his coat.
Carmen cried, “Don’t! I will kill Mr. Browning.”
“Sir?” the bodyguard said in a voice taut with tension and strain. “What do you want me to do?”
Conrad didn’t answer for a second. The wheels of his brain were spinning rapidly. It wouldn’t take much strength for Carmen to slide that blade between his ribs and pierce his heart.
Not much physical strength, that is, Conrad thought, but it would take the sort of resolve he wasn’t sure the girl possessed. The odds were against him and Morelli, but Conrad had faced long odds before. Besides, he figured the chances of them surviving if they surrendered were nonexistent.
To think was to act, where Conrad was concerned. He answered Morelli with action, twisting his body away from the knife in Carmen’s hand, planting a hand against her shoulder, and giving her a hard shove. With a startled cry, she reeled away from him and plunged off the edge of the dock into the water.
He hoped she could swim, but if she couldn’t, there were a lot of boats tied up along the dock. She could grab a mooring line to keep herself from sinking.
While the splash from Carmen falling into the water hung in the air, the six bruisers charged toward Conrad and Morelli. The bodyguard pulled a thick black leather sap from under his coat and met their attack, wading into his enemies as he struck out right and left with the shot-filled weapon.
Morelli couldn’t stop all of them, though. Conrad reached for his gun, but one of the men tackled him before he could pull the .38. The impact of the collision drove him backward, his boots slipping on the damp planks. He went down, sprawling on the dock.
Seeing a big, ham-like fist coming at his face, he jerked his head aside. The punch landed on the dock, causing the attacker to howl in pain. Conrad brought his elbow up under the man’s chin and forced his head back. A heave threw the man off to the side, and he barely caught himself before he rolled off the dock.
Conrad scrambled to his feet just in time to meet the charge of another man, who landed a hard, straight left catching Conrad in the chest with such force it seemed to paralyze him for a few seconds. A second looping punch landed on Conrad’s jaw and knocked him down again. He lay there stunned.
A few yards away, Morelli bellowed curses at the top of his lungs as he battled against three men. His sap laid out one, but another grabbed his arm and held it while the third man sunk a brutal punch in the bodyguard’s belly.
Conrad rolled aside from a kick aimed at his ribs. Reaching up, he grabbed the attacker’s foot and twisted. A heave sent the man crashing to the dock.
The first man Conrad had knocked to the dock made it back to his feet, and reached down to haul Conrad upright. A punch from behind slammed into the small of his back and sent pain shooting through him.
Conrad was a good bare-knuckles brawler, but there were just too many of them. They were all around him, and no matter which way he turned trying to escape the punishment, another man was there to smash a fist into his face or body.
The same was true for Morelli. The bodyguard put up a valiant struggle, but he was outnumbered by men who were his equal when it came to fighting. He didn’t have any more chance than Conrad did. Both were forced to their knees, driven down by blow after blow, and then the kicking and stomping started in earnest.
Deep inside, Conrad raged in disbelief. He had traveled so far, endured so much, come so close to finding his missing children. No hired killers were going to prevent him from completing his quest!
Newfound strength surged through him. As another kick thudded into his side, he grabbed hold of the man’s leg and began pulling himself up.
“Get him off me!” the attacker yelled, swinging a fist at Conrad’s head. Conrad hunched his shoulders and butted the man in the stomach. The man lost his balance and went over backward with a startled shout.
Conrad made it to his feet.
Then one of the other men stepped up behind him, holding the sap he had taken away from Morelli, who lay bleeding and motionless on the dock a few feet away. He hit Conrad in the back of the head.
It was like a gigantic explosion going off inside his skull. He saw a brilliant flash and felt like his head was coming apart. The odd thing was that the devastating explosion was silent. Completely noiseless. Instead of blackness, a great white void expanded and engulfed him. He didn’t hear anything, didn’t feel anything, and didn’t know anything as he fell endlessly through nothingness.
He crashed face-first onto the dock, out cold.
 
 
The man who got off the train the next morning was tired from sitting up the whole way during his journey. He could have booked a sleeping compartment if he’d been willing to wait for a later train; certainly he could afford the cost of such a luxury. What he hadn’t been able to afford was the time.
So he had ridden sitting up in a Union Pacific passenger car from Montana to Salt Lake City, dozing when he could, then caught the next Southern Pacific westbound for San Francisco. He would have preferred to take a couple weeks and make the trip on horseback, but there was no time for that, either.
He looked out of place as he disembarked among men in expensive suits and ladies in fancy dresses. He was medium height, but the highcrowned, cream-colored Stetson he wore made him appear taller than he really was. Broad, powerfully muscled shoulders stretched the faded fabric of a blue work shirt. He wore jeans and plain, functional boots.
The Colt revolver holstered on his right hip was plain and functional, too, as was the Bowie knife sheathed on his left hip.
He carried a simple carpetbag containing a few spare clothes and several boxes of ammunition. He hadn’t brought his saddle because he hadn’t brought a horse with him, and didn’t expect to need one. He felt that lack keenly. Despite everything that had happened in the past forty years, a part of him was still the young cowboy he had been. Part of him felt that a man without a horse just wasn’t a man.
He shrugged off the feeling and walked through the lobby of the train station. When he stepped onto the street, San Francisco spread out before him. A sigh escaped from him before he could stop it. He didn’t like big cities. Never had, never would.
But it was where he was needed.
A buggy pulled up in the street outside the depot. Claudius Turnbuckle climbed out and strode hurriedly toward the newcomer. “Frank! I meant to be here when your train arrived, but I was delayed at my office.” He added grimly, “By the police.”
“What’s wrong?” Frank Morgan asked as he shook hands with Turnbuckle.
“It’s Conrad,” Turnbuckle said. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but ... he’s missing.”
Frank’s rugged face was set in tense lines as he repeated, “Missing?”
“I’m afraid so. If you’ll come back to the office with me, I’ll tell you everything we know.”
Frank Morgan, The Drifter, the man some called the last true gunfighter, hadn’t been aware he had a son until a few years earlier. Now that he had gotten to know Conrad Browning, now that they had fought alongside each other against common enemies on several occasions, Frank would move heaven and earth to help the young man if Conrad needed his help.
The lawyer motioned Frank toward the buggy. Before they reached it, a voice called from behind them, “Mr. Turnbuckle! Mr. Turnbuckle, sir!”
They stopped and looked back to see a tall, slender man in a brown suit and hat coming toward them, also from the direction of the train station. He was moving deliberately, even gingerly, as if he were injured and didn’t want to make it worse. He was determined, though. That much was evident from the set of his narrow face.
“Arturo!” Turnbuckle exclaimed. “The two of you were on the same train?”
“The two of who?” the man called Arturo asked as he came up to them.
“You and Frank here.”
Arturo looked at Frank. “You’re Mr. Morgan, sir?”
“That’s right.” Frank nodded. “I reckon you must be that Italian fella I’ve heard about.”
“Arturo Vincenzo. I had no idea we were on the same train, or I would have sought you out and introduced myself after I boarded in Carson City.” They shook hands. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. Mr. Browning has spoken a great deal about you, always in the most glowing terms.”
Frank chuckled. “That wasn’t always the way he talked about me, and you can bet a hat on that.”
“Bet my headgear?” Arturo said with a puzzled frown. “Why would I want to—”
“Never mind that,” Turnbuckle broke in. “Something’s happened that you don’t know about, Arturo. Conrad has disappeared.”
“Good Lord! Tell me about it.”
“Frank and I were on our way to my office. I was going to fill him in there. You look pretty tired, though, and I know you’re still recuperating from that bullet wound, so perhaps we should drop you at the hotel—”
“Nonsense,” Arturo said. “No offense, sir, but I’m coming with you and Mr. Morgan. Dr. Taggart said I was fit to travel, and I can’t possibly rest until I know what’s happened to Mr. Browning.”
“That’s just it,” Turnbuckle muttered. “We don’t know. But come along, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.”
“I hope so,” Frank said, “because I haven’t followed much of this so far. I don’t even know what Conrad was doing here in San Francisco.”
“It’s not a pretty story,” Turnbuckle said with a sigh.
“It never is,” Frank said.

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