The Cagon Mines
Ch. 4
Come daylight, Moses turned out to be a huge, 7ft, 200+ pound man as black as a starless midnight sky. Resting a giant miner's hammer on his shoulder as he lead his cell's occupants down the platform to their assigned tunnel, he reminded Reno of the song "Big John." The Cavalier just hoped this story ended better than the song. He had had just enough time with Moses to know one thing about the man: this big, big man deserved a lot more than being buried down in this pit of hell.
"Keep close, Reno." Moses hissed as they passed the guards stationed at the entrance of their tunnel.
One guard eyed Reno, unhidded hatred giving his eyes a glowing intensity. It took only a breath to recognize him as the man Reno had walloped in his escape attempt. He wore the angry bruise as proof. And he had the look about him that he was going to give as good, if not better, than he had received.
But Moses stepped between the guard and Reno, his huge frame blocking out any sign that the Cavalier was even in the vicinity. The big man glanced at the guard with a warning glare, mumbling words that just didn't seem to fit him: "'scuse me, suh. Me an' ma boys are needin' ta get a piece of work done that a ways."
Despite having heavily armed companions ready to back him up, the guard stepped back and away. No longer able to see the source of his hate he could no longer lean on it for courage. And one needed a lot of courage to stand before a man as big as Moses... prisoner or no prisoner.
Moses bowed his head in proper slave fashion, then continued on, keeping himself between Reno and the guard at all times. When they had passed, Moses turned and grinned down at the Cavalier. "That man hates you."
Reno frowned. "You sound pleased with that fact."
Moses laughed, patting the smaller man on the back with a surprisingly gentle hand. "Anything that bugs them pleases me greatly."
He considered continuing the topic, but thought better of it. He was not entirely sure he wanted to know what else pleased the big man. Instead, Reno asked "What's with all that `suh' and `me boys'? Slavery was abolished a few years back, you know."
Moses' grin faltered, but remained in place. "These are ignorant people, Reno Nevada. What they see is what they demand. Else, someone pays." He shrugged. "Let them think I'm nothing more than a slave. Let them get used to the idea that they can bully us around. Let them think that we are subhuman. And when the time is right, we will prove to them that ignorance is not a defense of the law. Hell, the only thing ignorance can fend off is enlightenment." His grin returned to full strength. "And, I have a feeling, you just might be one to prove me wrong. Tell me, Mr. Reno Nevada, can you teach a lesson or two to these uncivilized coots?"
Reno returned the grin. "If I can't, I know a fellow or two who most certainly can."
There was a shout from somewhere else in the pit, followed by a crash and some rather colorful, not to mention multi-lingual, curses.
"Ah." Reno mumbled, recognizing the voice. "Sounds like a lesson has just begun."
Moses frowned, but, hearing the variety of curses, the grin quickly returned.
**********
Perfect Tommy slid under the table and up on the other side.
The engineers quickly scattered out of the way as the guards slowly, much more cautiously this time, approached. "Just do your job, boy, and we'll all be happy." one said softly, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm him.
Perfect Tommy smiled. "And I said I'm not touching a damn thing until I see Reno Nevada." he answered cheerfully. Jail had turned out much more entertaining than he remembered. 'Course, the Egyptians were not in the least bit interested in whether or not he survived, muchless conscious. These idiots needed him and needed him with unswollen eyes, movable fingers, and a head that worked properly enough. That gave him quite an advantage: he could smack them around, but they had to be gentle on him.
Unfortunately, they weren't quite smart enough to count their fingers, muchless figure out what their newly aquire prisoner was talking about.
"Sure, sure, kid." answered another guard. "But, hey, why Reno? I hear Vegas is a hell of lot better. Hey, Disney Land's nice this time of year."
Perfect Tommy sighed. He wasn't known for patients, particularly patients in light of stupidity. "Reno Nevada is a man, you idiotic twit!" A few more brilliant swear words came to mind, but Tommy filed them away for later. Obviously, this required single syllable words, and those in red neck english. Taking a deep breath, he chose his words carefully. "Now, ye all perk yer ears up: ah ain't doin' nottin' fer ya 'til ah see ma friend here 'efore me, all nice an' peaceful like. Got it?"
The guards frowned and glared and glanced at each other nervously. Already several sported bruises and more than a few cuts from the boy's quick and sharp fists. He had been kicking, swearing, fighting, and, in the most basic sense, not cooperating since the sheriff dropped him off early that morning to start work on the new drilling machine the engineers were having trouble getting to work.
"Reno Nevada." Perfect Tommy said very slowly. "Dark, mean, about so high, probably beat the crap out of a couple of you before you got him where ever..."
One of the guards began to nod.
"See!" The Cavalier shoved a finger at him. "See? He knows! Good man. Now, go fetch!"
The said guard glanced at the first. "That mex who climbed the rope yesterday."
The head guard groaned. "Should of known. Trouble generally comes in pairs."
Perfect Tommy grinned. "Actually, it comes in threes. Gives you something to look forward to, eh?"
The guard was not pleased. For that matter, none of them looked overly thrilled. But, what were they to do?
Mayor Cagon stepped between the guards. "Well, now, hello, Perfect Tommy. I see you've made yourself at home." He glanced at one of the many knuckle marked guards.
Perfect Tommy grinned. With a shrug, he answered "Was never much of one for suffering idiots."
"Neither am I." Cagon answered, and there was not a hint of friendliness, pretend or otherwise, in his tone. "You do realize that you have greatly endangered this friend of yours."
Tommy frowned.
Cagon smiled. "Try to think, boy. If he is so dear to you as to demand his presence, don't you think we would figure out that he is dear enough to hold him against you?" He chuckled. "And to think that I was considering dropping the charges against him as a mistake of justice. After all, we did get you on real charges."
His words hit Perfect Tommy like a fist in the gut. He was sure the mayor would of never let Reno go like he had said, but, if there had been a chance, he had just blown it. And that was a hell of a thing to be guilty over.
Cagon stepped forward, resting his hands flat on the table between the two men. "Let's be pleasant about his. After all, I need your expertise and you need me to keep you and your friend alive. You work and Reno Nevada may spend his nights in the engineers' quarters with you. But he must work with miners during the day!"
Perfect Tommy glared at the man. But what was he to do? His mind worked furiously, trying to figure his answer. They would stick together at night. For that, they had to keep Reno close. As long as he was close, he was within reach. he just hoped that, when Buckaroo came to get them, that would still be the case.
With a sigh, Tommy nodded.
Mayor Cagon smiled once more. "Good. Progress." He turned to leave, waving a hand at the guards "Clean this place up. It's a travesty."
"Well, it is a pit mine." Perfect Tommy pointed out. he took pride in his words. No matter how lame they were, he had gotten the last word, and, by god, that was something!
**********
Knuckles' eyes narrowed, her prey in sight.
She had almost been surprised at how fast and easy it had been to find his trail. A few hours hanging around the bar where Reno had met him, played a little cards with the buddies he had hung out with, bribed (okay, threatened) a name out of them. Linked the name to credit cards. Credit cards got her a credit report, which got her a long list of wheres and whats. From that she noted his habits, his hang outs, even his sleeping habits and what his favorite meal was. More than enough to locate the man for Pinky Carruthers.
But, after all that, Knuckles was finding it very hard not to dodge around the corner, leap across the room, and pounce on the man. All that stopped her was New Jersey's constant presence. Not only was she worried that he might get hurt trying to stop her, she worried about him worrying about her. The doc seemed a bundle of nervous energy, always concerned for one Cavalier or another. Knuckles knew well that she had not helped matters with her adding to Tommy's everyday trouble making. But, for some strange reason, New Jersey had attached himself to most of Knuckles' and Perfect Tommy's mischief. Even, on occasion, being an unwilling participant. Something that was developing into a tight friendship between the three. And she would do anything to keep that friendship intact... even resist the urge to throttle this man and smash his head against the bar until to exploded like a ripe melon.
Besides Pink carruthers had other plans for the man.
It hadn't taken much to coax him out. Dropped a little bait here and there, letting it known that an explosive expert was in town.
Pinky leaned against the bar, complaining about the poor drink and bragging about the latest whatever he had blown up.
Their target had moved close, taking a bar stool beside Pinky. He nodded slightly with agreement to Pinky's comments of the foul tasting liquor, showed appropriate amazement at his stories of his explosive antics, and offered a word or two and pointed as a pretty waitress walked by. From a distance, the two might have seemed like age old buddies. But a trained eye could see both men move and react to each other in a very trained, practiced way.
"How long do you think this is going to go on?" New Jersey mumbled after a couple of hours of watching the men. He and Knuckles, becoming bored, sat at a table, tossing playing cards in the center in a half conscious attempt at playing War.
Knuckles stabbed at the nearly melted ice in her soda with her straw. "How ever long it takes for him to take the bait." She sighed. "I still think it would of been faster if you let me beat the crap out of him."
Jersey also sighed. "Yea, well, he'd probably be more useful if he wasn't comatose." was his answer. He tossed a card out, laying a jack of spades over her three of diamonds. With a lazy swipe, he scooped up the cards. "Besides, Buckaroo would not be happy if he had to bail us out of jail."
"Oh, come on." Knuckles tossed out a ten of hearts. "i've beaten the crap out of lots of folks and never went to jail over it."
Jersey tossed out an eight of clubs.
Knuckles huffed at the win, and booted the used cards out of the way. "I want a butter scotch rum." she grumbled.
"No drinking on duty." Jersey scolded half heartedly. He tossed out a six of something.
Knuckles tossed out a matching six of a different color. "War." they both announced, barely aware of the game. "I said I wanted one. I didn't say I was ordering it."
"Just reminding you." They laid out their cards.
But, before either of them could lay out the last card, Pinky leaned on the table between them. He looked at one, then the other and asked "Are you two ready to go? Or should I come back when you finished your game?"
Knuckles and Jersey stared at the intruder for a moment. Then Knuckles laid down the king of hearts. "Beat that!"
Jersey held up the ace of spades.
Come daylight, Moses turned out to be a huge, 7ft, 200+ pound man as black as a starless midnight sky. Resting a giant miner's hammer on his shoulder as he lead his cell's occupants down the platform to their assigned tunnel, he reminded Reno of the song "Big John." The Cavalier just hoped this story ended better than the song. He had had just enough time with Moses to know one thing about the man: this big, big man deserved a lot more than being buried down in this pit of hell.
"Keep close, Reno." Moses hissed as they passed the guards stationed at the entrance of their tunnel.
One guard eyed Reno, unhidded hatred giving his eyes a glowing intensity. It took only a breath to recognize him as the man Reno had walloped in his escape attempt. He wore the angry bruise as proof. And he had the look about him that he was going to give as good, if not better, than he had received.
But Moses stepped between the guard and Reno, his huge frame blocking out any sign that the Cavalier was even in the vicinity. The big man glanced at the guard with a warning glare, mumbling words that just didn't seem to fit him: "'scuse me, suh. Me an' ma boys are needin' ta get a piece of work done that a ways."
Despite having heavily armed companions ready to back him up, the guard stepped back and away. No longer able to see the source of his hate he could no longer lean on it for courage. And one needed a lot of courage to stand before a man as big as Moses... prisoner or no prisoner.
Moses bowed his head in proper slave fashion, then continued on, keeping himself between Reno and the guard at all times. When they had passed, Moses turned and grinned down at the Cavalier. "That man hates you."
Reno frowned. "You sound pleased with that fact."
Moses laughed, patting the smaller man on the back with a surprisingly gentle hand. "Anything that bugs them pleases me greatly."
He considered continuing the topic, but thought better of it. He was not entirely sure he wanted to know what else pleased the big man. Instead, Reno asked "What's with all that `suh' and `me boys'? Slavery was abolished a few years back, you know."
Moses' grin faltered, but remained in place. "These are ignorant people, Reno Nevada. What they see is what they demand. Else, someone pays." He shrugged. "Let them think I'm nothing more than a slave. Let them get used to the idea that they can bully us around. Let them think that we are subhuman. And when the time is right, we will prove to them that ignorance is not a defense of the law. Hell, the only thing ignorance can fend off is enlightenment." His grin returned to full strength. "And, I have a feeling, you just might be one to prove me wrong. Tell me, Mr. Reno Nevada, can you teach a lesson or two to these uncivilized coots?"
Reno returned the grin. "If I can't, I know a fellow or two who most certainly can."
There was a shout from somewhere else in the pit, followed by a crash and some rather colorful, not to mention multi-lingual, curses.
"Ah." Reno mumbled, recognizing the voice. "Sounds like a lesson has just begun."
Moses frowned, but, hearing the variety of curses, the grin quickly returned.
**********
Perfect Tommy slid under the table and up on the other side.
The engineers quickly scattered out of the way as the guards slowly, much more cautiously this time, approached. "Just do your job, boy, and we'll all be happy." one said softly, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm him.
Perfect Tommy smiled. "And I said I'm not touching a damn thing until I see Reno Nevada." he answered cheerfully. Jail had turned out much more entertaining than he remembered. 'Course, the Egyptians were not in the least bit interested in whether or not he survived, muchless conscious. These idiots needed him and needed him with unswollen eyes, movable fingers, and a head that worked properly enough. That gave him quite an advantage: he could smack them around, but they had to be gentle on him.
Unfortunately, they weren't quite smart enough to count their fingers, muchless figure out what their newly aquire prisoner was talking about.
"Sure, sure, kid." answered another guard. "But, hey, why Reno? I hear Vegas is a hell of lot better. Hey, Disney Land's nice this time of year."
Perfect Tommy sighed. He wasn't known for patients, particularly patients in light of stupidity. "Reno Nevada is a man, you idiotic twit!" A few more brilliant swear words came to mind, but Tommy filed them away for later. Obviously, this required single syllable words, and those in red neck english. Taking a deep breath, he chose his words carefully. "Now, ye all perk yer ears up: ah ain't doin' nottin' fer ya 'til ah see ma friend here 'efore me, all nice an' peaceful like. Got it?"
The guards frowned and glared and glanced at each other nervously. Already several sported bruises and more than a few cuts from the boy's quick and sharp fists. He had been kicking, swearing, fighting, and, in the most basic sense, not cooperating since the sheriff dropped him off early that morning to start work on the new drilling machine the engineers were having trouble getting to work.
"Reno Nevada." Perfect Tommy said very slowly. "Dark, mean, about so high, probably beat the crap out of a couple of you before you got him where ever..."
One of the guards began to nod.
"See!" The Cavalier shoved a finger at him. "See? He knows! Good man. Now, go fetch!"
The said guard glanced at the first. "That mex who climbed the rope yesterday."
The head guard groaned. "Should of known. Trouble generally comes in pairs."
Perfect Tommy grinned. "Actually, it comes in threes. Gives you something to look forward to, eh?"
The guard was not pleased. For that matter, none of them looked overly thrilled. But, what were they to do?
Mayor Cagon stepped between the guards. "Well, now, hello, Perfect Tommy. I see you've made yourself at home." He glanced at one of the many knuckle marked guards.
Perfect Tommy grinned. With a shrug, he answered "Was never much of one for suffering idiots."
"Neither am I." Cagon answered, and there was not a hint of friendliness, pretend or otherwise, in his tone. "You do realize that you have greatly endangered this friend of yours."
Tommy frowned.
Cagon smiled. "Try to think, boy. If he is so dear to you as to demand his presence, don't you think we would figure out that he is dear enough to hold him against you?" He chuckled. "And to think that I was considering dropping the charges against him as a mistake of justice. After all, we did get you on real charges."
His words hit Perfect Tommy like a fist in the gut. He was sure the mayor would of never let Reno go like he had said, but, if there had been a chance, he had just blown it. And that was a hell of a thing to be guilty over.
Cagon stepped forward, resting his hands flat on the table between the two men. "Let's be pleasant about his. After all, I need your expertise and you need me to keep you and your friend alive. You work and Reno Nevada may spend his nights in the engineers' quarters with you. But he must work with miners during the day!"
Perfect Tommy glared at the man. But what was he to do? His mind worked furiously, trying to figure his answer. They would stick together at night. For that, they had to keep Reno close. As long as he was close, he was within reach. he just hoped that, when Buckaroo came to get them, that would still be the case.
With a sigh, Tommy nodded.
Mayor Cagon smiled once more. "Good. Progress." He turned to leave, waving a hand at the guards "Clean this place up. It's a travesty."
"Well, it is a pit mine." Perfect Tommy pointed out. he took pride in his words. No matter how lame they were, he had gotten the last word, and, by god, that was something!
**********
Knuckles' eyes narrowed, her prey in sight.
She had almost been surprised at how fast and easy it had been to find his trail. A few hours hanging around the bar where Reno had met him, played a little cards with the buddies he had hung out with, bribed (okay, threatened) a name out of them. Linked the name to credit cards. Credit cards got her a credit report, which got her a long list of wheres and whats. From that she noted his habits, his hang outs, even his sleeping habits and what his favorite meal was. More than enough to locate the man for Pinky Carruthers.
But, after all that, Knuckles was finding it very hard not to dodge around the corner, leap across the room, and pounce on the man. All that stopped her was New Jersey's constant presence. Not only was she worried that he might get hurt trying to stop her, she worried about him worrying about her. The doc seemed a bundle of nervous energy, always concerned for one Cavalier or another. Knuckles knew well that she had not helped matters with her adding to Tommy's everyday trouble making. But, for some strange reason, New Jersey had attached himself to most of Knuckles' and Perfect Tommy's mischief. Even, on occasion, being an unwilling participant. Something that was developing into a tight friendship between the three. And she would do anything to keep that friendship intact... even resist the urge to throttle this man and smash his head against the bar until to exploded like a ripe melon.
Besides Pink carruthers had other plans for the man.
It hadn't taken much to coax him out. Dropped a little bait here and there, letting it known that an explosive expert was in town.
Pinky leaned against the bar, complaining about the poor drink and bragging about the latest whatever he had blown up.
Their target had moved close, taking a bar stool beside Pinky. He nodded slightly with agreement to Pinky's comments of the foul tasting liquor, showed appropriate amazement at his stories of his explosive antics, and offered a word or two and pointed as a pretty waitress walked by. From a distance, the two might have seemed like age old buddies. But a trained eye could see both men move and react to each other in a very trained, practiced way.
"How long do you think this is going to go on?" New Jersey mumbled after a couple of hours of watching the men. He and Knuckles, becoming bored, sat at a table, tossing playing cards in the center in a half conscious attempt at playing War.
Knuckles stabbed at the nearly melted ice in her soda with her straw. "How ever long it takes for him to take the bait." She sighed. "I still think it would of been faster if you let me beat the crap out of him."
Jersey also sighed. "Yea, well, he'd probably be more useful if he wasn't comatose." was his answer. He tossed a card out, laying a jack of spades over her three of diamonds. With a lazy swipe, he scooped up the cards. "Besides, Buckaroo would not be happy if he had to bail us out of jail."
"Oh, come on." Knuckles tossed out a ten of hearts. "i've beaten the crap out of lots of folks and never went to jail over it."
Jersey tossed out an eight of clubs.
Knuckles huffed at the win, and booted the used cards out of the way. "I want a butter scotch rum." she grumbled.
"No drinking on duty." Jersey scolded half heartedly. He tossed out a six of something.
Knuckles tossed out a matching six of a different color. "War." they both announced, barely aware of the game. "I said I wanted one. I didn't say I was ordering it."
"Just reminding you." They laid out their cards.
But, before either of them could lay out the last card, Pinky leaned on the table between them. He looked at one, then the other and asked "Are you two ready to go? Or should I come back when you finished your game?"
Knuckles and Jersey stared at the intruder for a moment. Then Knuckles laid down the king of hearts. "Beat that!"
Jersey held up the ace of spades.