11
“This is the life,” Zeke said, boots hiked up to the table top and a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He took another long pull on it and offered it to Slocum.
The whiskey was bitter and left an aftertaste in Slocum’s mouth. Or maybe it was the way Jesse James had taken over Encantado that caused the bad taste. He had seen this kind of invasion happen too many times while riding with guerrilla bands. They cowed the citizens of a town, then took whatever they wanted. It wasn’t any different from being a train robber, but Slocum felt it was dirtier somehow. It certainly left him feeling like he needed a bath—and he knew no amount of scrubbing could ever wipe away what he felt.
“Dennison seems like he’s been ready to be mayor of a town for all his life,” Slocum said.
“I’m gettin’ me one, too. Jesse promised. Not right away, but soon.”
“Where’s he going next?”
“Someplace bigger’s my guess. He didn’t tell me. He plays those cards real close to his vest.” Zeke took another drink and balanced the bottle on the edge of the table, where it teetered and then fell. He paid no attention to it but yelled, “Bartender! Bring us another bottle. This one’s empty.”
Slocum saw the suppressed fury on the barkeep’s face, but the man brought a new bottle and put it on the table, just an inch beyond Zeke’s reach.
“You and Dennison getting to be partners?” Slocum asked. “Seems like you’re admiring what he does more and more.”
“He knows what he’s doing. Him and Jesse are tight. You could do worse than to be like Charlie, too. But then you know Jesse and he’s promised you the chance to be governor of an entire state.” Zeke heaved a sigh, strained, and got the bottle into his grip. “Governor. That’s what I want to be.”
“Not president?”
“Jesse’s claimed that for himself.”
“When a country’s formed like this, a coup isn’t that unusual,” Slocum said.
“You thinkin’ on overthrowing Jesse? That’s mighty bold, Slocum.”
“Just pointing out that hitching your wagon to the wrong star might bring you crashing down to earth.”
Zeke laughed, drank a little more, and then dropped his feet to the floor with a thud. He leaned forward and tried to keep his voice down to a whisper. He didn’t succeed.
“Jesse’s the right star, and I know how to drive wagons and throw a diamond hitch on a pack mule. I never amounted to much and my pa always beat me and said I’d never amount to a hill of beans. This’ll show ’em. Why, I might end up as mayor of Taos.”
“Taos?”
“Yeah, sure, why not? I heard Jesse say he’d start you out in Santa Fe ’fore letting you work up to governor. Don’t know how he’s gonna cut out the state but maybe me and you, we can be governors of adjoining states.”
“Might happen,” Slocum said. He knew Jesse was promising all his gang positions of power and hinting that along with such titles would come the spoils. There wasn’t a one of them who knew the first thing about running a town, much less an entire state or a country. The lure of being able to steal legally was more than any of the outlaws could resist.
“Damned right. It will happen,” Zeke said.
“Hey, Slocum, stop getting drunk and come with me.”
Slocum looked up. Jesse James stood in the doorway, the bright sunlight silhouetting him. The urge to draw and fire at such an easy target faded fast when Slocum saw Charlie Dennison and Frank James behind Jesse.
“El presidente wants you,” Zeke said, a hint of envy in his voice. “Better not keep him waiting.”
“Wouldn’t want to do that,” Slocum said, heaving to his feet. He spat in the direction of the cuspidor on his way out. The taste in his mouth refused to go away. The bright sun as he stepped into the dusty main street made him squint. He was glad he had resisted cutting Jesse down when he had such an easy target. A half-dozen others from the gang were tightly bunched outside and would have blown him to bloody ribbons if he had killed their leader.
“I need you along to do a little negotiating down south.”
“Santa Fe?”
“You’ll find out. Get into the saddle.”
Dennison glowered at him and Frank tried to ignore him. The others took scant notice as he mounted and walked to a spot a few yards from where Jesse was ready to ride.
“Just you and me, Slocum. The others will be along presently. I want to have a word with you.”
Slocum and the outlaw rode south from Encantado, heading in the direction of Santa Fe. He took a quick look behind and saw Frank James and several others following but making no effort to overtake them. Any hope he had of finishing off Jesse and just riding away was dashed. But then, Slocum still had the hope of learning where Jesse’s gold was hidden. While he might turn the outlaw over to Audrey so she could claim a reward—Slocum knew the hell that would raise if he tried turning the outlaw in for the reward himself—there didn’t seem a good chance of doing that. What was a paltry few hundred dollars anyway, compared to the hoard Jesse had stashed in some cave in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains? Slocum could certainly do without the infamy of being the one to bring Jesse James to justice. He didn’t hanker on spending the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, waiting for somebody to shoot him in the back.
Getting revenge or gaining notoriety as the man who killed the man who had brought in Jesse James didn’t matter. Dead was dead.
“You don’t seem to be taking to the plan the way the others are, Slocum. There a reason?”
“Occupying Encantado doesn’t mean anything to me,” Slocum said.
“You want to be part of the bigger plan, don’t you? Don’t deny it. I knew right away the sort of gent you were. You think big, like me. You have big ambitions.”
“Not as big as yours, Jesse, nowhere near as big,” Slocum said. That elicited a chuckle from the outlaw.
“You’re right as rain about that. I want to be the king of a whole damned country—and I will. I can feel it getting closer by the day.”
“Where are we heading?”
“I want you along for a meeting with a merchant from Santa Fe. He’s not too inclined toward the current alcalde and wants to move up in the world,” Jesse said. “Since I figure you’re the one to be running Santa Fe for me, it’ll be a good thing for you to see what your competition is like.”
“Why give me Santa Fe when all you gave Dennison was Encantado?”
“Me and you, Slocum, we have a history. I know what you can do. You’re always thinking. I like that. It keeps me on my toes staying ahead of you, and you’re the kind of man I need for a bigger town. When you move up—I can see you as governor of an entire state, as I been telling all the boys—then maybe Charlie will be ready for running Santa Fe.”
“You want me to whip it into shape for him,” Slocum said, not trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice. If Jesse heard it, he paid no attention.
“That’s the kind of thinking I want from you,” he said. “You are going to make a fine mayor.”
“What do you want from me when you put me in as mayor?”
“See? Dennison would never ask a question like that. He’s always thinking only about himself. Well, sir, I want twenty-five percent of all the tax money you rake in. I want you to let me know about train schedules and what’s being shipped.” Jesse held up his hand to forestall Slocum’s comment. “I know, I know, why worry about robbing trains when I have an entire country at my beck and call. You see, the AT&SF will be coming in from Union country.”
“You need to be sure the Army’s not sending in reinforcements?”
“Reinforcements?” Jesse laughed. “I’ll own the army in New Mexico Territory. I want to be sure they’re not sending in an invasion force.”
Slocum rode along as Jesse detailed how he thought the United States would try to retake his country. Slocum had to interrupt him.
“What are you calling it?”
“How’s that?”
“Your country. What are you going to call your country?”
Jesse looked perplexed for a moment, then shook his head in wonderment.
“That’s another reason I want you sharing the power, Slocum. Dennison would never ask a question like that. Hell, nobody till now has. I’ve been so busy making my plans, the thought never occurred to me that I’d need a name.”
Slocum started to tell him he didn’t need to but Jesse halted suddenly and pointed ahead.
“Up there’s where we’re meeting Stringfellow.”
“The merchant?”
“He’s in the dry goods business and is worth a fortune. Now hush up and let me do the talking. He’s a right skittish fellow.” Jesse laughed. “You might call him a skittish Stringfellow.”
Slocum didn’t appreciate the joke all that much but Jesse didn’t notice. He was too consumed by his own thoughts of wealth and conquest. A quick look at the back trail showed Frank and two others still followed not a hundred yards away.
“You just watch and see how this goes. You can do the same with other merchants you’ll need to bring into the flock.” Jesse waved to the merchant.
Slocum saw how nervous Stringfellow looked meeting the notorious outlaw. He dismounted and stood to one side so he could listen to whatever was being discussed.
“Who’s that?” Stringfellow said, looking at Slocum.
“Don’t worry about him. I need to know you’re behind me when this happens.”
“You’re going to take over the whole town? How?”
“I’ll have an army behind me.”
“Why do you need me?”
“There’ll be people not liking the change in power. What would the town marshal do?”
“He’d fight. He was a sergeant in the Union Army,” Stringfellow said. He turned and partially hid himself from Slocum, but Slocum’s sharp ears overheard the question. “Is he one of us? A Knight of the Golden Circle?”
Slocum didn’t hear Jesse James’s answer but it satisfied the merchant.
“Who else in town wouldn’t take kindly to someone other than the Federals calling the shots?” Jesse asked.
“There are several prominent merchants,” Stringfellow said. Slocum saw the flash of greed on the man’s face and knew he was getting ready to condemn business rivals. “You burn them out and the rest would come around fast.”
“This is the kind of information I need,” Jesse said. “It’s the kind of information I pay for.” He fumbled in his saddlebags and pulled out a heavy leather bag and tossed it to Stringfellow, who dropped it. When it hit the ground, it spilled out gleaming gold coins.
The merchant pounced on it like a dog on a bone, scooping up the coins and stuffing them into the bag. He looked up at Jesse. Slocum thought he was going to swear allegiance then and there to his new ruler but Stringfellow stood, the bag clutched in both hands.
“I’ll let you know if anybody so much as grumbles about it when you take over, Mr. James.”
“That’s the kind of cooperation I reward,” Jesse said. He slapped Stringfellow on the back, put his arm around his shoulder, and steered him away so he could speak confidentially. Slocum made no effort to overhear now. There wasn’t anything Jesse could say that could add to everything that had happened.
The two Knights of the Golden Circle spoke, exchanged odd signs and an awkward handshake. Stringfellow left, head bobbing up and down. He climbed into a buggy and drove back toward Santa Fe. Jesse watched him until he was out of sight, then returned to Slocum.
“See how easy it is? All you have to do is drop a few gold coins in front of those pigs and they’ll be your oinkers as long as you want.”
“Do you really need a spy in Santa Fe?”
“I got more ’n Stringfellow rooting around for me in town,” Jesse said. “He’s not even the one getting the most money. We’re going to have trouble with the law in town. I thought I had a deputy willing to throw in with us, but the marshal caught wind of it and fired him. Ran him out of town. Last I heard, the deputy was down in Albuquerque staying drunk at the White Elephant Saloon and shooting off his mouth about how the marshal was going to pay for running him out of town.”
“You afraid he’ll alert the cavalry about your plans?”
“Nope.” That was all Jesse said, and Slocum knew one of the gang had already been dispatched to permanently close the deputy’s mouth.
“What do you intend doing with the list Stringfellow gives you?”
“Might be necessary for you to sneak into town before we stake out claim and remove a few of them. That’ll get rid of a passel of problems. We don’t want to take too long taking over any one town. We need to grab as many as we can as fast as we can to make it harder for the Army to know where to hit us.”
“It could be they’ll have to send a telegraph back to Washington asking what to do.” Slocum watched Jesse closely. The slight flicker in the man’s eyes told him Jesse had already bought the services of the telegraph operators in the places where it would be most beneficial. The mayors or marshals or Army officers might send requests for reinforcements and the telegram would never be sent. Slocum had to hand it to Jesse. The outlaw was acting as if this were a true invasion of a foreign country and took care of what details he could before the actual occupation.
“Where’d the gold come from?” Slocum asked.
“There’s more when I need it.” Jesse turned brusque. “I got other business. You mosey on into Santa Fe and watch after Stringfellow, see what he does, who he talks to. If he’s an honest crook, he’ll stay bought.”
“But since he could be bought in the first place, he’s likely to sell out to anyone offering more,” Slocum finished.
“You do think on these things real good, Slocum. The marshal might just trump a bag of gold with threatening to put a bullet in that son of a bitch’s head. Never trust a man who can be bought so cheap.” Jesse James mounted and rode due east. Over his shoulder he shouted, “Let me know if Stringfellow is inclined to get liquored up and shoot off his mouth. I don’t want any of this getting out to the authorities before it’s time to move on into town.”
Slocum stepped up into the saddle and watched the outlaw join Frank and the others from the gang. All of them rode fast out onto the high desert, in a hurry to get somewhere.
Slocum looked down the road where Stringfellow had gone and considered how he was more interested in finding where Jesse rode than who the merchant talked to in town.
He turned his horse eastward and started after Jesse, traveling slower to keep from being spotted. Jesse—or Frank—would be watching their back trail to be certain no one tracked them.
That made Slocum all the more curious where they went and who they were so eager to meet.