Free Hard Luck Money by J.A. Johnstone Page A

Keene, the train robber.”
    “None of the convicts in there know Keene well enough to recognize him?”
    Hughes shook his head. “We can’t rule that out entirely, of course, without checking the background of every single prisoner, but the chances of it are slim. Keene’s never been in prison. He was locked up a few times in local jails, but those are the only times he’s been behind bars. And all the men who rode with him on his holdups are dead. All the paperwork will say you’re Waco Keene, and I don’t think anyone will challenge it.”
    “Sounds like this Keene was pretty small-time, and he wasn’t even a bank robber,” The Kid said. “Not like Lupo. What makes you think the gang will find him an attractive enough target to go after?”
    “Keene was beginning to develop a reputation as a desperado. We can make it even stronger by spreading the word he was responsible for a number of robberies he really didn’t have anything to do with and inflating the amount of the rewards that were offered for him. A prison is like any other community, Mr. Morgan. To a certain extent it lives on gossip and speculation. Also, we know Lupo took part in at least one train robbery after he was broken out of prison. The gang doesn’t limit themselves to bank robberies.” Hughes shrugged. “Anyway, Waco Keene is the one who’s conveniently dead right now.”
    “It sounds like you might be able to pull off that part of it,” The Kid said. “But if I found myself in trouble, the guards wouldn’t help me. They’d believe I was Waco Keene, too.”
    “Well ...” Hughes smiled thinly. “You’d have to be able to take care of yourself, that’s certainly true. But if you found yourself in such danger the plan had to be abandoned, you could ask to see the warden. He’ll know who you are.”
    “The guards might not let me see him.”
    Hughes shrugged. “The plan has risks. I won’t deny that.”
    “So what you’re saying is it would be up to me to stay alive in there until the gang comes to bust me out,” The Kid said. “Or until you give up on the idea. How long’s that going to be? Lupo was in there for five years before they recruited him, remember?”
    “They’ve been making a move about every six months,” Hughes said. “It hasn’t been that long since Lupo escaped, but we’re hoping they’re starting to get greedy and will make their next move sooner.”
    “Owlhoots usually do get greedy,” Culhane put in.
    The Kid leaned back in his chair and cocked his right ankle on his left knee. “Let’s say it works and they break me out of there. What happens then?”
    “We’ll be keeping an eye on the prison, and with any luck we’ll be able to follow them,” Hughes said. “We wouldn’t want to close in on them just yet, though. We wouldn’t be able to charge them with anything except the breakout. To get proof of everything they’ve done, you’d have to be part of their organization for a while. Once you’ve found out as much as you can, you get word to your contact, and the Rangers will move in and grab them.”
    “What contact?”
    “We’ll have a man stationed somewhere close to the gang. He’ll signal you, so you’ll know where to look for him. After that, he’ll wait for your signal, and when he sees it, he’ll alert the other Rangers.”
    The Kid thought it all over and then slowly shook his head.
    “Sounds like there’s an awful lot that could go wrong.”
    “Of course there is,” Hughes agreed without hesitation. “And if it does, you could easily wind up dead. I won’t try to deny that. But it’s the only way we can think of to find the people who are really behind this.”
    “If you’re even right about it being some sort of gang,” The Kid said. “Maybe you’re wrong about Lupo, and his daughter is, too.”
    “In that case, nothing will happen, and in a few months we’ll pull you out of the prison.”
    “A few months,” The Kid repeated wryly.
    “I don’t think