Slocum's Breakout by Jake Logan Read Free Book Online Page B

wearing a badge.”
    Valenzuela grumbled, but Slocum ignored him. He was too busy looking for a means to speed them along their way to the Valenzuelas’ house south of town. He slowed and then stopped when he saw a man shoved out of a carriage hitting the cobblestones hard. He stirred drunkenly on the pavement but didn’t show any other signs of life. The man who had struck him shifted over to the middle of the hard seat in the buggy and started to snap the reins, but one had fallen down in front.
    Slocum moved quickly, got beside the horse, and soothed it, then snared the errant rein and held it out to the thief.
    â€œHere you are. You should be more careful, dropping it like that.”
    The man was shabbily dressed and looked like a drowned wharf rat. He reached for the rein in Slocum’s hand like a striking snake. Slocum was quicker. He caught the thief’s wrist and yanked so hard the small man became airborne and fell heavily to the pavement beside his victim.
    â€œI’ll cut you!” the thief cried, coming to his feet with a foot-long blade in his hand. The gaslight glinted off the wicked tip as he advanced.
    Slocum gauged distances, then swung the rein still in his hand like a whip. The leather strap lashed the thief in the face. As he recoiled from the pain caused by the welt on his cheek, Slocum snapped the rein back, caught the wrist with the knife, and yanked hard.
    The thief was no knife-fighting novice. He adroitly changed hands, his left now holding the knife. But he stopped when he found himself staring down the barrel of Slocum’s six-shooter.
    â€œYou don’t hafta shoot,” the thief said.
    â€œSee if your friend has any cash on him,” Slocum said, his eyes darting to the drunk and then back.
    â€œNaw, he’s tapped out. Me and him been drinkin’ half the night. Took him forever to get that soused.”
    Slocum hated sneak thieves but said nothing. He kept the six-gun pointed at the man’s face until he backed off. With a flourish, the man returned the knife to whatever hidden sheath it had been drawn from, then backed off, hands up and palms facing Slocum.
    Slocum waited until the man turned and ran before lowering his pistol.
    â€œGet in,” he told Valenzuela. “It’s not much but it’s better than hoofing it.”
    â€œNot so much,” Valenzuela said uneasily. He held his head canted to one side as he listened. In the distance Slocum heard police whistles. “We might do better to leave it if the police are after him.”
    Slocum knew the drunk on the ground might have committed some vile crime, possibly being too free with his money, and that had drawn the Specials. They traveled in packs like feral dogs and wouldn’t be satisfied until they were adequately paid off or had killed someone.
    With a quick turn, Slocum got into the buggy and snapped the reins. The swaybacked horse snorted and began pulling.
    â€œWait, wait for me!” Valenzuela jumped aboard as Slocum pulled away. “You would not leave me! Not after you saved me from the prison. What would su novia say if you returned without me?”
    Slocum didn’t have an answer for that. He wasn’t all that sure anymore what Conchita would say when he showed up with her brother.
    He snapped the reins again and brought the horse to a canter to get the hell away from the policemen appearing like ghosts out of the fog at the far end of the street. Having a shoot-out with a platoon of them was the last thing he wanted.
    He wasn’t too sure what the first thing he wanted was, though. He would just have to find out when he delivered José Valenzuela to his dying father’s bedside.

5
    â€œI cannot wait to see her,” José Valenzuela said as they approached his home. He was shifting so much on the buggy seat that Slocum worried the carriage would tip over. Valenzuela swung out far and stared ahead. The sun was just creeping up and