Free The Trailsman #388 by Jon Sharpe

use your help to a point. But before I tell you anything, I’ll have to get your word that you won’t kill them until I get my man.”
    Valdez paused to knock back his drink. “More important, if you manage to track them to their boss before I do, I want your solemn oath you won’t kill him, either.
That
pig’s afterbirth is mine. After I put him under, you can do whatever the hell you want to with my blessing.”
    â€œSince I don’t give my word lightly, let’s chew this a little finer. You saw what happened today—I might have to kill in self-defense.”
    â€œYou’ll never kill all three of them at once—never. What I’m asking is that at least one stays alive. That’s my best chance of finding the man I really want.”
    â€œWell,” Fargo said, “you want to kill their boss and I at least want to know who he is—something you evidently already know—so I can get to the robber baron above him. So I’ll give you my word—insofar as I can.”
    Valdez nodded. “Have you heard of Scorpion Town?”
    Fargo nodded. “Sure. It’s the roughest part of El Paso. About five square blocks in the south of the city past the slaughterhouse.”
    â€œYes. Filled with shacks, fleapit boardinghouses, grog shops, cathouses, gambling dens—a place the law seldom enters and never after dark. I’ve tracked them to the edge of the place, but I always lose them in the twisting, narrow alleys.”
    â€œYou telling me they take horses into a smoky row like that?”
    Valdez shook his head. “They board their horses on the western flank of Scorpion Town, at the livery stable on Paisano Street—place owned by an old man named Benito Gonzalez. But he’s crooked as cat shit, and you don’t want to ask him no questions.”
    â€œ ’Preciate the information. I got a pretty good look at all three of them today, so at least I know who to look for.”
    Valdez spun his empty glass around in his fingers. “I trust your word. But you’re the last man I should be helping—you’re too damn good at what you do.
Por
eso
, you might learn too much and get in my way. That would be unfortunate for you.”
    â€œHere we go again, ring-around-the-rosy,” Fargo said wearily. “I take it we’re back to the thinly veiled threats?”
    â€œI would not threaten a man like you, Fargo. Either I would kill him or I would not. But no threats. I do, however, give fair warning at times if I respect a man.”
    â€œFair enough. As for getting in your way, I won’t do it on purpose. And I won’t hesitate to kill you either if it comes to that. Let’s hope it doesn’t. Just one more question.”
    â€œQuestions don’t bother me because it’s answers that matter, and I give very few.”
    â€œWhat do you know about Rosario Velasquez back in Tierra Seca?”
    Valdez grinned. “What
any
red-blooded man would know the moment he sees her.”
    â€œYeah, she’s some looker. But why would she bother to warn me I’m a dead man if I side you? What’s it to her?”
    Valdez assumed an innocent mien and shrugged. “Can any man read sign on the breast of a woman? Better to ask what came before time began.”
    â€œIs she tied in with these three killers somehow?”
    â€œI hear that all women are weak reeds in your hands, Trailsman. Find out for yourself. Bend her to your will after you poke her.”
    â€œOnce again,” Fargo said, “I come up with nothing but the sniffles. Well, what about this commune leader, Ripley Parker? You got any skinny on him?”
    â€œThat’s two questions, but I’ll answer: All I know is that, like you, I don’t trust him. But clearly he gets a lot of pussy, and maybe that’s all he’s after.”
    â€œYou know,” Fargo said, “my life would be a lot simpler right now