Fistful of Reefer

Fistful of Reefer: scene 52, 53 & 54

Jesse reloaded his mare’s legs with regular rounds as he bounced in the saddle behind Muddy, ignoring the blood oozing from his side. “Sorry about that. I knew that snake Swisher had been staking me out, but I didn’t figure he’d make the connection.”

“I’m afraid Nena was right, we’ve only brought you trouble.” Muddy and Jesse rode double in the lead, Chancho following them closely, while Nena brought up the rear.

“Nothing doing. I’ve been in trouble since you left.” Jesse finished loading his weapons and craned his neck to see behind them. “Look, I haven’t been totally honest with you.”

“I’ve never known you to be anything less than honest.”

“Well, now you have.” He winced as Tripalo barreled into a dry wash and lunged up the other side. “That shoot out was just as much about me as it was you.”

“I don’t understand.” They dodged a large prickly pear forcing Jesse to clutch tighter around Muddy’s waist. The horizon ahead of them shone with the oranges and yellows of a rising sun, but had yet to brush away the shadows of night.

Jesse shook his head. “There’s something going on along the border involving international players. It’s big.”

“Mexico’s big.”

“Nah, bigger than Mexico. Europe. Hell, the whole damn world. I’m sorry, I just haven’t put it together. Apparently there’re folk that don’t want me to.”

“Why would those folk suspect you?”

Jesse clutched his side. “Let’s just say I’ve seen some things they didn’t want me to.”

“Like what?”

“Just shut-up for a second. Damn, Nena’s usually the one with all the questions. There’s some stuff I need to tell you, and not much time for the telling.” A gunshot rang out behind them. Jesse continued, “Some fellers offered me a job a while back to help them move some guns across the border. I didn’t like the way they smelled, so I told ‘em no. I doubled back and followed them to the biggest stash of weapons I’d ever seen. Crazy stuff too. They turned out to be Germans connected somehow to the Mexican government. Obviously they got spies around here too. I knew Swisher was one, but there’s probably more.”

Gunshots echoed behind them. Muddy clutched the reins, his prayers for Nena a clot in his heart. Jesse squeezed him around the waist. “Focus, Muddy. Trust me, she’s fine. No army of rangers could bring that battle ax down. Anyway, not everything’s relevant, but there are things that can’t die with me.”

Muddy cut him off. “You won’t die.”

“That’s not for you to decide, dammit. The good Lord and I have known it was coming for a long time now. But you need to listen!” Jesse grew more urgent. “There’s an abandoned railroad tunnel and mine south of here, not far from the border. The Huns are using it as a headquarters. I haven’t had the chance to report its whereabouts. If I can, I’ll use a phone at Fort Clark. I still got some friends there, but I got enemies there too. We got enemies there. First priority is to get y’all out safely. Now you know about the hideout, so there’s two chances the knowledge’ll survive.” He lifted his hand from his side, blood still oozing from the wound, “Even if I don’t.”

“Now that I know, who’ll I tell?” Muddy was still confused.

“You’ll figure it out. The fort’s just ahead. We gotta figure a way through the fence if we’re gonna reach the airstrip.”

“I think we’ve got just the thing. Can you reach the saddle bags? I just hope no one knows we’re coming.”

Chancho cut the second gourd open with the crystal knife. Muddy rolled the putty from the first gourd into a long snake in his hands before sticking it to the chain link fence. He connected the first snake with the second and buried a fuse in the end. Nena and Jesse exchanged gunfire with the ranger at a hundred yards. With little cover and Nena firing Muddy’s Spencer with deadly accuracy, their pursuers had been forced to dismount and hit the dirt with only their pistols at long range. But even in the dim pre-dawn light they were getting close.