El Paso Way (12 page)

Dutton held his gun with a steady aim and was about to pull the trigger when he heard a gunshot and looked to the base of the mountains where their Apache friends were posted. To his dismay he saw that Tall Dog lay facedown over the edge of some protruding rocks, his arms dangling and blood running from underneath him. Quick Bull rose to shoot but was quickly gunned down as well. All watched in confusion; the other renegades awoke, and then suddenly, out of the desert maze the culprit made his presence known, with Mun Lo in his grasp.

He yelled into the camp in a heckling tone. “Ah, does this mess up your plans,
amigos
?”

Valdar shot again, toward Enrique, and the shot ricocheted off the rock. “How about laying down your bow,
Papagito
, and stepping out from behind there. Of course, I could just cut this woman's throat and then we could fight it out and see who wins.” He turned to the sheriff. “You, too,
oficial
. Drop that weapon. And convince your chink friend there to keep his hands and feet to himself.”

Enrique stood slowly and laid down his bow. Pang stood grimacing and breathing hard, and Dutton dropped his gun. Baliador and the other two Apache quickly subdued them all, grabbing them by the backs of their necks and kicking the backs of their knees to buckle them to the ground. Baliador supplied enough rope to tie them all together, back to back, by the wrists.

“What an interesting bunch you are,” Valdar said, standing in front of them with a sobbing Mun Lo in his clutches. “A Chinaman who has a lot of guts, I must say, to come all this way for his women.”

He looked at the sheriff. “You must be the lawman who lost his posse.” Valdar laughed wildly and shoved Mun Lo to Baliador, then knelt down in front of Enrique. He looked at him through eyes that were bloodshot and yellow.

“But who is this
Papagito
?” They looked hard at each other. “Aye, something is familiar about you, but I do not know. Like so many, I suppose you, too, have some kind of beef with the Demon Warrior, no?”

“
Sic semper cum judicium et cruor
,” Enrique said. He wasn't sure whether Valdar knew Latin, but the expression seemed fitting.
Thus always with judgment and blood.

Valdar lost his smug grin and walked away. Baliador pulled Mun Lo along, and the Apaches followed. Pang squirmed nervously in their confinement.

“What the hell do we do now?” Dutton said.

“We are lucky we are still alive,” Enrique said.

“But for what reason?” Dutton said. “If Valdar gets the best of you, he doesn't let you live unless he needs you for something.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Enrique said. “But I can't explain it.”

“I know,” Pang said as he watched Valdar and his men subdue Mun Lo once again. “Sai Min is still free. He will use us to get her back.”

“
Sí
, that makes sense,” Enrique said. “We have to figure out a way to spoil those plans.”

“She will come back for us,” Pang said. “If we are alive, she will stay close. If we are dead, she will run.”

“I wish we could get word to her to stay away,” Dutton said.

“Sereno went free, yes?” Enrique said.

“Yes,” Pang said.

“He will not stray far. He is our hope.”

“I hope you're right,” Dutton said. “Right now we need a miracle.”

“To be alive at this point is a miracle in itself,” Enrique said.

* * *

It was almost dark again when the three men had received only the beginning of what could be the horrifying wrath of the Demon Warrior. Valdar and the Apache celebrated with tequila, wine, and opium. They laughed and cursed God, and made frequent visits to the three men. They spat and urinated on them. They kicked off their hats and stomped them to shreds. One time Baliador threatened Pang with a knife, bringing it to his face and running it underneath his nose. There was a slight sting and a little blood, which ran down the crevices of his lips and into his mouth, but the knife left only a scratch. If Baliador had wanted to hurt him, he could have done so with ease. It, like the acts of the others, was nothing but torment.

All the while, they struggled with their tied hands. Pang kept trying to work his hands loose, but many times when the visits came, they would check the knots and secure them.

There was one occasion when Valdar came and paid Pang and Dutton no mind, but sat down next to Enrique with tequila in hand. In all his drunkenness he put his arm around Enrique. The foulness of Valdar's dirty, sweaty armpit made the muscles in Enrique's throat tighten and bile rise. Valdar's breath was no better, but Enrique figured that he'd gotten used to the stench of their urine and it had helped him tolerate the rest.

“Why is it,
Papagito
, that I cannot place you?” Valdar said in a slur.

Enrique did not answer, but he was able to offer a slight grin.

Valdar laughed. “Ahhh, you are trying to make me guess. But I have thought long about it, and I do not know. Where do you come from?”

“Maybe I am the great Lucifer himself,” Enrique said. “I have come to check up on my children.”

Valdar laughed again. “Very good,
Papagito
. No, no, if you were him, I would not have been able to tie you up.”

“Maybe you have not yet met my wrath. Maybe this is a great foreplay to your stinking blood being swallowed by the earth.”

Valdar grabbed Enrique's chin, squeezed it hard, and stared squarely into his eyes. “Who the hell are you!”

Enrique said nothing, and Valdar slapped him with the back of his hand, and then stood and kicked him in the stomach. The smart on his face made no measure to the blunt, dull pain in his abdomen. He clenched his teeth and tried to wish the pain away.

“To hell with you,” Valdar said. “You may not tell me now, but I will find out. And when I do, your death will be one more painful than any I've ever given.
Sí
, you can count on it.”

Valdar kicked Enrique again in the thigh and then walked away.

When it was finally dark, the three men watched on, weary and cold, as the renegades continued their nightly ritual of euphoria and entertained Valdar with jokes about one another, often about their mothers. None ever took offense, until Baliador called one of the new Apaches a brainless yellow dog, and the Apache tried to avenge himself. But Baliador simply pushed him away and he landed in the fire. They all laughed heartily as he got up and rolled on the ground to put out the fire in his hair and clothes.

“We've got to get out of this,” Dutton said, squirming for comfort.

“I've been trying,” Pang said, “but your hands are below mine, and the knots are too tight. They've tied us brilliantly.”

“I just hope they don't kill us ‘brilliantly,'” Dutton said.

A noise came from the darkness, and one that Enrique did not recognize.

“What was that?” Dutton said.

“I don't know,” Enrique said. “It isn't one of Sereno's calls.”

“I know what it was,” Pang said. “It is Sai Min. She has come back for us.”

“How on earth is a China girl going to help us?” Dutton said.

“Do not underestimate the strength of our women, Sheriff. They study and learn many of the same arts as we men do.”

“All right, then. But I'll believe it when I see us clear of this hell.”

They heard nothing more from Sai, until a rock flew in to them and hit Pang in the shoulder.

“What the—” Dutton said.

“It is her!” Pang said.

“No,” Enrique said with a smile. “It is our watchman.”

“Well . . . where the hell is he?” Dutton said.

They next thing they heard was commotion in the camp, and they noticed that all the men stood and looked off into the darkness. Then Sai Min appeared, walking toward them in slow strides, dressed only in her undergarments, and the top unbuttoned midway down her chest.

“Oh, Sai, no!” Pang said.

“She is sacrificing herself for us,” Enrique said.

Pang squirmed, turned his wrists, and shouted angrily. “No, she is not!”

One thing that the men noticed was that the renegades gave her their attention quickly, but Valdar only stood and stared, and then looked at them. That is when they knew that Valdar would not fall for Sai Min's ploy. An improperly dressed woman might be a weakness to some men, but Valdar was the master of overcoming such weaknesses. His demons would not allow him to let lustful desires interfere with his reason.

Before any of the renegades laid a hand on her, Sai Min's thin, pale body took a stance that was only familiar to Pang, and in her quickness she jabbed and kicked, sending all three drunken Apaches to the ground. They staggered up in a state of stupor, but Sai was quick to send them back to the ground and, before long, unconsciousness.

Valdar would stand for no more. He pulled his revolver, but it was quickly taken from his hand by a stone. He looked around in frustration and another hit him in the forehead. He lay on the ground moaning.

“Now what do we do?” Dutton said.

Sai Min started toward them, and that was when Mun Lo made her presence known, dashing quickly toward the men as well. Both of the women slid to their knees on the desert ground near Pang.

Pang looked up at them both with great joy. “Mun Lo, how did you get loose?”

She smiled, but suddenly covered her mouth and nose from the stench of the urine. “Sai Min untied me. Now, if I can stand it, I will untie you.”

She did so, and when they were free, Pang quickly embraced Sai Min, but suddenly Valdar appeared in front of them. His eyes revealed a frightful anger as he lunged for Pang's fiancée and tackled her to the ground. He rose again with a knife to her throat.

“I have had enough of you people! Stop or I will kill her.”

The three men stood slowly in wonder as Valdar crawfished backward with Sai Min in his clutches.

“You go!” Sai Min cried, under the pressure of the point of Valdar's knife at her neck.

“We cannot leave you!” Pang said.

“Spare your own lives! Go!”

“She is right,” Enrique said. “Besides, I think Valdar is bluffing. She is too valuable. He won't kill her.”

“I cannot take that chance,” Pang said.

“Think about it!” Enrique said. “I know it sounds cruel. But she has saved us all with her bravery. We should honor her work.”

“Enrique's right,” Dutton said, putting his hand on Pang's shoulder. “Let's make a new plan and come back for her.”

Pang stood in dismay and looked on as the Demon Warrior restrained his beloved. “We will be back for you!”

“You will be back for a dead woman!” Valdar said. “And you will die yourselves!”

They all turned and ran into the darkness. They ran as far as they could in the night, using Enrique's expert guidance. They eventually slowed as they stepped into a higher altitude. They held on to one another by gripping their belts, and Mun Lo took the rear holding on to her brother. After more than two hours they stopped, short of breath from the lower oxygen. Enrique told them to sit tight as he gathered wood for a fire.

“What if Valdar sees our fire?” Pang said.

“It won't matter,” Dutton said. “He knows we're out here, but he won't try anything until the renegades are up and healthy. He is less of a threat without Beshkah. It may not seem so, my friends, but we won the battle. It's the war that is not yet won.”

Pang embraced his sister, and she clung to him, forgiving his stench, her head resting on his shoulder.

“I would die for you,” he said.

She held him tighter and closed her eyes. “I thought I would never see you again.”

“You will never have that worry . . . ever again.”

When Enrique returned and built a fire, and they sat in silence for most of the night. They were too afraid, and too anxious, to sleep, but also too weary to move on.

Pang pushed at the glowing embers with the sole of his boot and stoked the fire. He looked at Enrique. “You know, it's amazing how our dreams change.”

They all looked at him.

“I remember when I was a child coming to America. I was only six. My father had worked out an arrangement with the railroad. They paid for our passage to California if we would work for them. I remember being hungry back in China. I would help my mother pick up the rice grains in the fields that other people had dropped, just so we could have something to eat. But there were days we did not eat at all. America would change all that. But we sacrificed our family to have it. We made a good living in Tucson, and kept trying to send for my mother, but the American laws kept us from bringing her. Mun Lo and Sai Min were smuggled here, and my father paid well to have it done. We were so close to our dream. Now my father is dead. My mother will probably never see us again. And I fight for the life of my Sai Min. What once was a dream of life is now a dream of blood.”

They all looked at the fire soberly, and Mun once again hugged her brother.

“You are right,
mi amigo
,” Enrique said. “I was too young to know how good things really were. Too young, really, to have known I was taking it all for granted. But since my family was killed, and my sister taken away, I have had only one dream, and it is that same dream for blood.”

Pang nodded, as did Dutton.

“I think we should try our attack before dawn,” Dutton said.

They all looked at him blankly.

“Valdar won't be expecting that,” Dutton said. “And the renegades will still be sore and hungover. And if you think about it, how will we get out of here without horses or mules? He has our mounts, our supplies, and our weapons. We have to get them back.”

Enrique looked at Pang for approval. The Chinaman nodded.

“But how will we attack without weapons?” Enrique said.

Pang stood. “It is not the weapon that fights, but the mind and the body. I know how we can do it.”