The Lone Texan

CHAPTER 11

ROAK LOADED THE LAST OF SAGE'S MEDICAL equipment and headed back to the hotel. He had one quick stop to make at the Ranger station before grabbing a few hours' sleep then setting off at dawn. He wanted to check with the captain to see if there was any word of relatives who might be claiming the boys or leads about who killed their father and mother.

He'd be glad to get out of Galveston. The dull rain this time of year made him feel cold down to the bone. He decided to order a bath at the hotel after everyone else had bedded down for the night. He knew he wouldn't sleep soundly until they were on Whispering Mountain property.

Stepping into the station, Roak's senses heightened at the stillness. This time of night, Rangers usually checked in to pass the evening over coffee. He'd hung around in the shadows a few times to listen to the stories the old guys told of trouble in the early days, when Texas was little more than a settlement of three hundred. In a strange way, the tales gave him a sense of the history of the place.

He hadn't been born when Houston and his men won independence from Mexico, but the battles were in his blood, a part of him as they were everyone who grew up on Lone Star soil. He wasn't around when the Alamo fell or the men were shot at Goliad, but a few of the Rangers still yelled the battle cries of "Remember the Alamo" when they rode in, fighting.

Roak made it through the main office with one wall lined with rifles and the other with shelves of coffee mugs. He was well into the bunk area before he heard a sound. A dog's yelp and a cat's hiss. Then, the laughter of a child.

Drum's tired muscles relaxed. Nothing could be too bad if the boys were laughing.

"Look, Mr. Roak," Andy shouted. "Bullet's trying to box Mutt”

Turning full into the room, he spotted Daniel Torry playing checkers with Andy Smith. Will was curled up on one of the bunks, trying to read a book Sage bought him. All three were watching Bonnie's cat and Mutt fighting out round one.

"My money's on the cat." Daniel laughed. "That dog's been pestering her all afternoon."

"Anything else going on?" Roak kept his voice low, conversational.

Daniel did the same. "There was some trouble down at one of the lowlife poker houses on the dock. A robbery turned murder. The captain and everyone else hanging around decided to go have a look” Daniel leaned back in his chair. "I decided beating this little fellow at checkers was far more fun than going sloshing through the rain and mud."

"You drew the short straw?"

Daniel smiled. "Something like that."

Drum sat down on an empty chair. "Any idea where the ladies are?" If the boys were here, they had to be out somewhere.

"Captain said they had an errand to run before dark. Must have got to talking. They said something about visiting the doctor's brother-in-law."

Roak leaned forward on the edge of his chair. "Happen to catch his name?"

Daniel shook his head. "Might have been the fellow with them when I met them at the hotel the night we brought the boys' mother in. I think he said his name was Shelley something."

Standing slowly, Roak asked. "It wouldn't have been Shelley Lander, a lowlife who passes himself off as a gentleman from time to time. Wears a light-colored suit that doesn't look like it's been cleaned in years. Hair combed back like he thinks he's a peacock.”

Daniel nodded and met Roak's stare. They didn't have to say more. They were both thinking the same thing: Shelley Lander owned a gambling place down by the docks.

"Go.” Daniel whispered. "I'll watch these two until you get back.”

Roak didn't have to ask the Ranger to swear; he had his word. Drum grabbed his new hat from the peg and was through the office to his horse before he let out a breath. He rode straight to the coastline, where he knew Shelley Lander's place stood far out on a neglected dock.

He tied Satan to a pole and almost knocked men down as he ran. The place was in chaos.

Drum pushed his way through the front door and down the hall. The first room he came to had four bodies. Only one looked like he'd had time to pull his weapon from leather. The rest were still holding their cards when they fell.

He moved to the next room. A sailor and a barmaid were dead.

Drum rushed to the third room, an office. Shelley Lander lay on a ratty couch, holding a towel against his head. Blood stained his shirt along his shoulder.

"I need medical attention.” he whined. "I've told all of you everything I know; now you've got to find me a real doctor."

Captain Harmon stood in front of the gambler. "You haven't told us what happened to Sage McMurray and her companion."

Drum moved in to listen.

^“I don't know. Ask Tony. He let them in. I'd only had time to say hello to Sage when the firing started, and I didn't even see the nurse. Tony would know if that beanpole of a woman was with her”

"Tony's dead” Harmon answered. "Looks like he made it to the big room just about the time a bullet went through his forehead."

"Oh. God!" Shelley yelled. "This is more than I can take. First they clean out my safe, and next they kill the only good bodyguard I've ever hired. They took everything. Everything. Not just my money but all the stuff I was keeping for people.”

"Not an answer to my question," Harmon muttered. "Where are the women, Shelley? I don't care about the safe.”

Shelley ignored the questioning and started bemoaning his fate. Drum's gaze met the captain's. He knew Cap. He wouldn't have long to wait.

Harmon raised his hand and hit Shelley hard across the face with the flat of his palm.

"What are you doing?" Shelley screamed. "You can't hit me! I'm the one who's been robbed. I'm wounded.”

The captain straightened. "You're right. I shouldn't have hit you, Mr. Lander. I need an answer to my question, and you're the only one around alive who can comment. What happened to Sage McMurray and her friend?"

Shelley snorted. "Forget about her. I'm the one who will be dead when all the people who trusted me with their valuables find out I've let them be stolen. They won't consider that I had no choice but to open the safe. No. They'll blame me”

Drum moved in front of Shelley, knowing the order would come.

Sure enough, the captain turned and said calmly. "Shoot the man. Roak. If he doesn't know what happened to Sage, he's of no use to us”

"What?" Shelley's eyes widened as he stared at Roak's weapon sliding free of leather "You're going to shoot me because I don't know what happened to the twit?"

The captain turned as if he were leaving. "Don't worry, Shelley, Roak here is my best shot. He can put the bullet through your ear so you'll still look good laid out on the board in front of the undertaker. If you're one more casualty of this robbery, no one will blame you for opening the safe.”

Harmon raised his eyebrows. "Which reminds me. Why are you still alive, Shelley, when all your men are dead?"

"They must have thought I was dead?" he said far too quickly for it to be the truth.

"You know who they are, don't you?" Harmon looked like he was piecing a puzzle together “It makes no sense you're left alive."

"No." He shook his head. "No. I never saw any of them before."

Drum grabbed the man's hair and held his head still as he shoved the barrel of his handgun against Lander's ear. "I'm only asking once, Shelley. Who took the women?"

Tears ran down the man's frightened face. "I only saw one woman. Sage. I didn't see any other woman, I swear. If they took Sage, she'll be on her way to a place called Skull Alley” Shelley's wild eyes glared at Roak. "You'd be better off thinking her dead than thinking of her there. It doesn't matter who they take in: no one except outlaws ever comes out of that place."

Drum shoved the man's head so hard he tumbled back on the couch with a thud. Shelley cried out in pain, but no one was listening.

The captain blocked Roak's path. "You know where this hideout is?"

"I know. It's a long dangerous hideout west of here. You'll never find the opening to the alley unless you've been there. Once in, the canyon walls hem you in for miles," Drum answered as he holstered his gun. "I'm going, but don't try to follow me. They have enough guards that they could pick Rangers off one at a time. They wouldn't even have to fire, just send a few rocks over once you're in, if you make it past the guards and rattlesnakes, the settlement is full of men who kill for sport."

The captain frowned. "Her brothers will all three come after her. There's nothing I could do to stop any one of them."

"Tell them I'll bring her out," Drum said. "Alone. It's the only way. If they tried to go in firing, they'd die."

Shelley laughed as if he knew a secret joke. "No one's ever come out of there."

Drum stepped around Harmon and said over his shoulder. "He's wrong, Cap. I made it out once, and I can do it again."