Lone Star 03 (6 page)

It was on this base that Starbuck had built his business empire, which by the time of his death had grown to span the globe. The success of the little store led to his first major expansion from Oriental goods to general merchandise, and from that point the growth that multiplied the Starbuck enterprises had begun. Other retail stores had followed the first one, and led him into dealing as a wholesaler. Then, securing transportation for his goods had gotten him involved in railroads and ocean shipping.

When he saw that he'd need financing for his railroads and shipping lines, Alex had bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and later added banking to his other enterprises. To secure the raw materials needed to build tracks and coaches, locomotives and steel-hulled steamships; he'd moved into mining and foundries.

Soon the Starbuck enterprises spilled into Europe, and his expansion there resulted in a series of collisions with a tight, unscrupulous international cartel, which Alex out-maneuvered in deal after deal. As the cartel's losses from the competition of the aggressive American increased, its masters set out to eliminate Alex, and ultimately succeeded in bringing about his assassination.

After the death of Jessica's mother, Alex Starbuck had never considered remarriage. He'd brought up Jessie himself, training her as he would have trained a son to take over the Starbuck enterprises after his death. Neither of them had anticipated that death would take Alex so early, nor that it would be at the hands of a team of killers hired by the international cabal.

Sitting in her father's deep leather-upholstered chair, the fragrance of his cherry-flavored pipe tobacco still clinging to the well-worn cushions, Jessie closed her eyes and leaned back for a moment as memories, glad and sad, flowed through her mind. Then she straightened up and rolled the top of the desk open. Reaching into the pigeonhole that only she and Ki knew held the latch of the secret drawer built into the desk, Jessie opened the concealed drawer. Lying on top of a small stack of confidential reports and notes was Alex's small black notebook containing the data his agents had uncovered regarding the histories and habits of the cartel's top members.

Jessie thumbed through the dog-eared pages until she found the entry she was seeking. Her memory had been correct. There, in a condensed version of her father's flowing script, she read:

Jessie read the entry twice, trying to read into it more than Alex's often-cryptic abbreviations revealed. She went to the entries covering Duclos of Belgium and Schertz of Germany. These two had crossed swords with Alex more than once over the years, but Farnam's name was not mentioned in connection with other clashes between her father and the cartel.

After rereading the Farnam entry, Jessica restored Alex's notebook to its hiding place and closed the secret drawer. She leaned back in the big leather chair and closed her eyes, trying to think of any possible connection that could be made between the cartel and the rustling of Brad Close's market herd. She was on the point of falling asleep when the scattered factors came together and brought her awake with a start.

Jessica stood up and glanced at the Vienna pendulum clock that hung on the wall over Alex's desk. Even though it was past midnight, she ran up the stairs and tapped on Ki's door. When he opened it, she whispered, “We've got to talk tonight about the Box B herd being rustled, Ki.”

“Tonight? Can't it wait until tomorrow?”

“No. We need to go over my idea right now.”

Ki nodded. “You wouldn't be in such a hurry if it weren't important. I'll be right down.”

“In Alex's study. I'll start some water boiling. We'll both want tea.”

By the time Ki came into the study, water was boiling in the miniature two-cup kettle over the flame of the spirit-burner that was always kept ready on its stand in a corner of the room. Jessie had just opened a tin of tea, and its subtle aroma was stealing through the air.

Ki sniffed appreciatively. “Ah, Cloud Mist. Perfect for a late-night conference.”

“That's what I thought, too.”

Jessie put a pinch of the tea into the cups she'd gotten out and poured the boiling water into them. The fragrance of the steeping tea rose from the cups. She handed one to Ki and took the other to the desk, where she sat down in the big leather chair. Ki took his cup to the sofa and sat down facing her.

“What is this idea you have, Jessie?”

“It may be farfetched, Ki, but it's the only thing I can think of that makes sense. If I'm right, rustling the Box B herd is just the start of something much, much bigger.”

“There's more to it than just a gang of bandits from Mexico starting the old Laredo Loop again, then?”

“Perhaps. That's what we'll have to find out. But I've gotten very suspicious of coincidences.”

Quickly, Jessie outlined for Ki what she'd found concerning the Farnam family in her father's notebook. When she'd finished, Ki shook his head.

“I still don't see what you're driving at, Jessie.”

“I don't think it's a coincidence that a young lieutenant named Joe Farnam was suddenly placed in command at Fort Chaplin, Ki. Especially at the same time the army changed its policy of helping ranchers along the border to deal with rustlers who come across the Rio Grande from Mexico.”

Ki said thoughtfully, “Policy is made in Washington, of course. That would mean that Farnam's father could have had a hand in it, I suppose.”

“He had enough influence to get his son accepted at West Point. And it's no secret that the army's very vulnerable to political influence right now. Besides, the senior Joseph Farnam can use not only his own political strength, he can call on the other cartel members in this country as well.”

“But for what purpose, Jessie?”

“Something you said earlier today gave me the idea, Ki.”

Ki thought for a moment, then shook his head, frowning. “It must have been some remark I've forgotten, then.”

“When we were first talking about the rustlers, you said the Lazy G or the Circle Star might be next on their list.”

“Even if they stole one of our market herds, they couldn't hurt the Circle Star, Jessie. Not the way losing a herd hurts Brad Close's Box B.”

“Of course not.” Jessie raised her teacup to her lips, and found it empty. She picked up Ki's cup, which was empty too, and went to the stand. As she refilled the miniature teapot and relighted the spirit lamp, she went on talking. “We could survive, as you said this afternoon, Ki. And you were right about the Lazy G, too. The syndicate got three million acres of land in ten counties for building the Texas capital, and the Lazy G's just a little part of those three million acres.”

“Then what's your point?”

“This is our headquarters, Ki.”

“Jessie,” Ki said patiently, “even if we lost the Circle Star as a headquarters, we have others we can use.”

Before he'd finished speaking, the look in Jessie's emerald-green eyes told Ki he'd said the wrong thing. In spite of the angry gleam her eyes showed, Jessie held her temper.

She said, “I know as well as you do that we can work out of the other bases we have. But they aren't the same as the Circle Star, Ki. This is more than a base or a headquarters to work from. This is home!”

“I'm sorry, Jessie. I know you feel just the way Alex did about the ranch. And you're right, of course. But what I said about our not having to worry over the loss of one market herd still makes sense, doesn't it?”

Jessie came back with the cups of freshly brewed tea. She said, “In one way it does, but if you carry that thought a step further, it can be really alarming.”

“Carry it further in what direction?”

“In a ring around the Circle Star. Our neighbors, the ones that touch our range.”

“That means the Box B, the Lazy G, the Lightning Fork, and the X Slash X,” Ki frowned. “But I still don't see what you're trying to tell me.”

“Think, Ki!” Jessie urged. “What would our situation be if we couldn't drive a market herd from the Circle Star across the range that belongs to any of those four ranches?”

“Why, we wouldn't be able to get our cattle off Circle Star land, of course,” Ki replied promptly.

“Suppose the rustlers who stole the Box B herd never took a single steer off the Circle Star range, but came back and stripped the Lazy G and the Lightning Fork and the X Slash X, not all at once, but one at a time?”

Ki frowned thoughtfully. “Well, we've both agreed the Lazy G wouldn't be hurt much. From what I last heard, the Lightning Fork's in good condition. The X Slash X is in about the same shape as the Box B, though. Shaky.”

“Now suppose the rustlers came back every few months, not just when the market herds are formed.”

“Jessie, you know that if that happened, every hand on all these ranches would join forces and wipe out the rustlers. And we'd be right with them, leading the Circle Star men.”

“How long do you think a cattle ranch can survive if it has to fight a constant war with rustlers, Ki? How long would Brad Close or the X Slash X last under those conditions?”

“Brad might hold on another year. The X Slash X—well, two years, maybe three.”

“And how long do you think it would take the capital syndicate to decide they'd better get rid of the Lazy G?”

“They're Eastern promoters, not Texas cattlemen. They'd sell out to anybody who made them an offer.”

“Where would the Circle Star be then?”

“Surrounded by strangers.”

“Or the cartel.”

Ki stared at her, his mouth open. Then he said slowly, “Do you really think—”

“Yes I do. As long as there's a Starbuck here, the Circle Star will be one of their prime targets.”

“I suppose the cartel could have gotten the idea of starting the old Laredo Loop up again,” Ki frowned. “It wouldn't be too hard for them to get a bunch of rustlers together in Mexico, outlaws who'd know how the Loop works.”

“Remember what Brad said this evening. There are plenty of men in Mexico with guns for hire.”

“But doing what you've dreamed up would take them years!”

“You know how the cartel works, Ki. They don't count time and costs, as long as they see a chance to win in the end.”

Ki nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. They've already proved that by the years and the money they spent fighting your father.”

“And if I can imagine a plan like the one I've just told you about, they can too. They're not stupid.”

“No. They're not. It wouldn't take them long, either, if they really are working on the kind of scheme you described.”

“Even if it cost them a fortune, they'd wind up owning a spread bigger than the capital syndicate got,” Jessie pointed out. “They'd make money, in the long run.”

“And they'd have—” Ki stopped short.

“They'd have eliminated the Starbucks,” Jessie finished for him, her voice bitter.

“Yes. But I can't see you just letting them get away with it. ”

“Oh, we're going to fight. Even if everything I've talked about is just a wild dream, something I've imagined could happen, we'll fight.”

“That's hardly a surprise, Jessie. The question is how.”

“We'll have to find out who and what we're fighting, first.”

“A trip to Mexico?”

“Yes. But first, a visit to Fort Chaplin.”

“To investigate Lieutenant Joseph Farnam?”

“I'm sure that when we do, we'll find out there's a ‘Junior' after his name.”

“Brad might be able to tell us that,” Ki suggested.

“Perhaps. But I don't want Brad to know anything about our plans. Or what we've been talking about tonight.”

Ki nodded. “There'd be no way of stopping him, if he found out what we're planning.”

“He's not in any condition to go back to Mexico, Ki. A trip like that would more than likely kill him.”

“When do we leave?”

“It'll take us most of tomorrow to get ready. We can't even begin to make any plans until Brad starts back to the Box B.”

“Fort Chaplin's a long day's ride from here, Jessie,” Ki reminded her.

Jessie shrugged. “We've made long day's rides before. And will again, I'm sure.”

“Day after tomorrow, then?”