The Reinvention Of Rudd Carter. A Western Action Adventure Novel (16 page)

Sui Yen’s position at the Carter Bank of Hong Kong involved public relations. On behalf of the bank, he had, on occasion, visited many of the more prominent businesses in town, and because he dealt with secretaries, he had the opportunity to meet many women. Of course, he kept in mind the more attractive ones he encountered, so that if he was organizing a social event, he had a roster of available women to invite as unaccompanied guests. This ensured a good turnout for the male business executives.

Sui Yen held a dinner party with Rudd as the guest of honor. However, Rudd had no idea that he was the guest of honor when he arrived at the hotel restaurant that evening. Seated with his friend, he was surprised when two women, one Asian and the other Caucasian, approached their table.

Sui Yen rose from his chair, greeted them and turned to Rudd. “I would like to introduce our lovely guests for tonight, Miss Leslie Townsend and Miss Zwi Zwi Chung.” Pleased, Rudd rose to his feet. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leslie and Zwi Zwi. Won’t you please join us for dinner?” He pulled a chair back on his side of the table and without hesitation, Zwi Zwi sat next to him.

Sui Yen pulled the empty chair out on his side of the table for Leslie. She hesitated and locked eyes with Rudd then smiled sweetly, shrugging in disappointment before sitting down.

Rudd glanced at Zwi Zwi, an Asian beauty in her prime, and then across the table at Leslie. Even with her honey blonde hair, large wide-set blue eyes and seductive smile, he felt nothing. He shot a glance at Sui Yen, the magician, who seemed to have the power to pull people out of a hat at will as he needed them.
They’re both beauties, but tonight is not the night, my friend.

“Leslie, what brings you to Hong Kong?” asked Rudd in an attempt to make polite conversation.

“I work at the Canadian legation,” she answered with a slight Scottish brogue.

He smiled. “Where were you raised?”

“In Toronto,” she answered cheerfully.

Feelings for Elizabeth surfaced for a moment, but he suppressed them. Not wanting Zwi Zwi to feel left out, he turned his attention to her. “Where in China are you from?”

Apparently encouraged by his interest, she placed her hand on his thigh. “I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and I work with Leslie at the Canadian legation.” She squeezed gently.

Rudd made small talk with the two women for the next hour. Yawning, he said, “Please don’t think me rude, as I’ve really enjoyed your company this evening. But it’s been a long day. I hope we can do this again. I’ll keep in touch through Sui Yen. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. Please excuse me as I have an early appointment in the morning.” He slid his chair back, stood, and left the table.

Back in his room, he sat on a chair near the window, gazing down at the people hustling back and forth in the street below. It was a never-ending river of humanity, each person dealing with his or her separate reality as it unfolded before them daily. Would it ever be possible to live like that again, to live happily in a state of illusion, a dream world?
I’m not part of this living process anymore. I was, with Ming Li. I lived happily in a state of illusion. I lived in a dream world created by forces outside my own consciousness, and I have been awakened by the reality of my own existence. Being free of my father’s control is really just allowing myself to be weaned off the Carter family teat and giving up the illusion of being covered by a magical security umbrella. Ming Li understood that and knew it was time for me to grow up. Somewhere out there in the future, I’ll have to find my own woman, based on my own merits.

At that moment, a knock came at the door.

“Come in,” he yelled. “It’s open.”

“Well?” Sui Yen asked from the open doorway.

“Well, what?”

“Did you like my surprise?”

“Of course, they were fabulous, both of them.” He laughed and then paused. “I know why you did this. It worked. Thank you, my friend.”

“Are you going to see either one of them again?”

“Probably, but not just yet,” he answered. “Believe me, I appreciate everything you tried to do for me tonight. I needed a jolt to bring me back to my senses after the shock of losing Ming Li. Although it will be some time before I call on either of them, this evening woke me up to the fact that life goes on and that there’s plenty to look forward to. I felt that all was lost and that my life was over when Ming Li left. I need some time to mourn her loss and then I’ll be able to regroup and start to live again.” Rudd thought for a moment. “It was rough. I’ll never forget Ming Li. I’ll always love her. I hope she knows that her sacrifice is not in vain. I miss her terribly, but I know that I have to move on. Thank you for standing by me and seeing me through these last weeks. You’ve been a real friend.” They shook hands and bid one another good night. Rudd turned down the lights and was alone for the first time in weeks. Although he continued to enjoy the company of women, it would be twenty years before he once again found someone with whom he could feel real closeness and intimacy.

* * *

Sui Yen stepped out onto the street and walked slowly toward his home.
It is so sad to see two close friends that have loved each other so deeply part ways. There is no way back if Rudd is to realize his true destiny. The course has been set and all we can do is honor and respect the path forward.
He walked along and a smile came to his face.
Ming Li will be happy when I tell her that her beloved is well.

The Outcome

April 20, 1923, Mexicali

At the end of April, Rudd’s men began arriving in Mexicali eight to ten at a time. They were taken out to Don Hoff’s ranch where they were to be housed and trained in the use of the new weapons.

In the first week of June, Günter arrived, and he would be second in command of the operation. Though he didn’t care much for him personally, Rudd had great respect for Günter as a first rate professional, and so he put him in charge of training.

The training sessions rolled along smoothly for the next couple of weeks. Rudd and Kathryn lived happily together in their love nest at El Matador. Rudd visited the ranch every other day to check on how the training was progressing. As each group of ten men completed their new weaponry orientation, they were rotated into Mexicali and put up in hotels. Three weeks before the battle, Günter moved into town. Rudd made sure that Len got him a large comfortable room at El Coyote.

Even though Günter was not his drinking partner of first choice, every night when he escorted Kathryn to the restaurant, Rudd went into the bar and drank with him. He was after all a brother at arms.

One evening at the bar, Gunter told him, “I fought with the French Foreign Legion in North Africa during the big war.” He proudly thrust his jaw forward and asked, “How about you, what did you do?”

Rudd shook his head, smiling humbly. “Nothing nearly as exciting as the French Foreign Legion. I organized and trained small covert raiding groups for the Canadians.” He gave Günter a long cool stare. “So what was it like in North Africa?”

“Pretty tame really, but the women were something. I had a good time while I was there.”

“I’ll bet you did. As I remember, you always did like the girls,” Rudd said, drawing an arrogant smirk from the German.

Several evenings later while at the bar, Rudd offered to show Günter around Mexicali. After walking a few blocks, they came to an area of over-crowded nightclubs and bars with boisterous young men yelling and fights spilling out onto the sidewalks.

A half dozen drunk, Mexican men stumbled out of a dive and saw Rudd and Günter on the sidewalk not twenty feet away. An excited cry went up. “Gringos!”

The six men charged only to be met with a barrage of well-placed kicks and punches intended to disable them. Günter and Rudd weaved and bobbed around every strike against them, inflicting maximum pain and damage to the attackers. After the first rush, only three of the attackers were left standing. The men backed away, drew knives, and came at the two of them again. One of the Mexicans who went down on the first charge rose to his knees and received a kick in the head from Günter.

Rudd shot a quick glance at his partner and could see murderous rage on his face as he met another assault from a man thrusting a knife at him. Günter reached out, caught the knife hand of his assailant by the wrist, and drove the knife through the startled man’s throat. In the same motion, the German slammed the dying man’s face into the wall next to him, where he crumpled to the sidewalk.

Rudd hit the man closest to him at the base of the nose with the heel of his right hand, spreading his nose all over his face and rendering him unconscious. Turning his attention to the last man, he found that he and Günter both had hold of the same person. Dropping his knife, the man let out a scream. Günter pushed him to the ground and motioned for him to stay. The whole fight had taken less than two minutes.

A crowd formed, and as if on cue, Chief Ernie Fuentes appeared with three armed deputies.

“I saw the entire fight from across the street. These six characters sure picked the wrong two guys to tangle with,” Fuentes said, shaking his head. “It was complete self-defense on your part.” He glanced at one of the bodies on the sidewalk. “The one lying there is dead. I saw you kill him with his own knife.” Fuentes pointed to the rest of the men still down. “The rest of you who were lucky enough to survive are going to do some serious time for attempted murder.” A broad grin formed on his face as he said to Rudd, “I can’t wait to have my police force backed up with a militia of men like you.”

“I’m glad you got here when you did,” Rudd said, gazing around at the twenty or so spectators that had gathered. “I don’t think we would have fared so well with a mob this size. There’s nothing like a few uniformed men with pistols to calm things down.”

“Look, Rudd, I don’t want to rain on your parade,” Fuentes said growing serious, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you or your men to be seen in this neighborhood. These people don’t like Gringos. When they see you walking around on their turf, it riles them up. I know you hombres can take care of yourselves, but these young Mexicanos get a little drunk, see a couple of guys like the two of you in their territory, and right away they’ve got something to prove. All I need is a couple more fights that result in deaths and the locals are going to demand another police chief.”

“I’m sorry it turned out this way, Ernie. I’ll make sure my men stay clear of these areas from now on.” Rudd hesitated. “I almost forgot to introduce you to my first officer, Günter Schmidt. He joined our outfit a short while back. We go back almost thirty years to when we fought in campaigns in Southeastern China together. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in the next few weeks. As you saw tonight, he’s a good man to have watching my back.”

Günter stepped forward, shook Ernie’s hand, clicked his heels and said with a slightly more pronounced German accent than usual, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Chief. I’m looking forward to working with you. Thank you for your timely intervention, although as you could tell, we were having a good time. Rudd and I work well together, don’t you think?”

Ernie let out a belly laugh. “I’ll say.” He turned to his deputies and repeated in Spanish what Günter had just said. The six of them had a good chuckle.

“Do you need us to stay around, or can we go back to the hotel?” Rudd asked.

“It would probably be best if you two get out of here,” Ernie said. “By the way, has anyone ever told you that at a distance you guys look alike?”

“Over the years it’s been mentioned a few times,” Rudd answered.

Two days later, Rudd went by the police station to find Fuentes talking excitedly on the telephone. After a couple of minutes, he hung up. “That call was from the other side of town. A nine-year-old girl was raped, murdered and butchered last night, left nude with her female organs cut out of her and laid across her chest.” His voice was high-pitched.

Rudd felt the blood drain from his face. “Oh my god! Did anyone see anything? Were there any witnesses?”

“No one saw a thing. They found her early this morning, shortly after dawn. We don’t even know her name. No one has reported a missing child yet.”

“Is there any record of this kind of murder occurring in Mexicali before?”

“No, I don’t think so. I haven’t heard of anything like this, but I’ll check and see. I’m going to call the police over in Calexico and see if they’ve had something similar happen over there.”

Rudd thought for a moment. “You know, some very similar homicides occurred in Peking, China, a little over twenty years ago, right after the Boxer Rebellion was put down. There were three murders. The victims were nine or ten-year old girls. They had been raped, murdered, and mutilated just as you described this one. Their faces were smeared with rouge and lipstick. By any chance, did the little girl have lipstick and rouge on her face?”

“There was no mention of it,” answered Fuentes. “That’s a good question. I’ll call back and ask. Why? What would that mean?”

“It would mean to me that whoever murdered those girls in Peking twenty years ago might be right here in Mexicali now.” Rudd turned, walked toward the door, paused, and then looked back at Ernie. “Keep me up to date on this case. I’m going to give it some thought for a couple of days.”

About a third of Rudd’s men were now staying in Mexicali. He decided to drop by El Coyote bar and see who might be in town.

Coming into the bar, he was greeted by the Texans: Matt, Lefty, Walt and Tex, four of the best that fought with him in Juarez in 1911. They were tough men. They loved fighting, drinking, women, and in general just raising hell whenever they got the chance. But all of them were straight and honest, and Rudd knew he could trust any one of them with his life. He valued that quality above all else. In return, the four Texans had always shown him great respect as a leader and friend.

As he approached the bar, each man stepped out to shake his hand. “You look great Rudd,” Matt told him. “You haven’t changed a bit, except for a few gray hairs, and that actually makes you look a bit wiser, if that’s possible.”