Free [Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta by Elmer Kelton Page A

how Jayce’s wife rushed up and hugged him. He would wager a month’s pay that she stuck it inside his shirt during the moment of confusion.
    He chose not to mention it. The woman had misfortune enough just by being Jayce’s wife.
    The jailer wailed, “Are you-all goin’ to get me out of this mess?”
    Farley came dangerously near smiling. “We ain’t got the key.”
    “Look in the top desk drawer out yonder.”
    Andy rummaged around and found it. Freed, the jailer rubbed his wrist, raw from straining against the handcuff. “I think Jayce went out the back door. I heard a horse lope away. Some of his kin must’ve been waitin’ out there.”
    Farley grunted. “So now he’s took to the tulies.”
    The jailer wailed, “If the sheriff doesn’t murder me, my kinfolks will.”
    “I’ve got half a mind to do it myself. On account of you, me and Pickard made a long ride for nothin’. And that mob out yonder could’ve killed us.”
    “You got to tell them it wasn’t my fault.”
    Andy suggested, “Might be a good idea if we left town. They’re liable to think we had a hand in this.”
    “Run away?” Farley took offense at the suggestion. “Last time I ran from anybody it was the state police. I swore I’d never run again. No, we’ll stay and tell them how it was. Next time maybe they’ll hire better help.”
    Someone began beating against the front door and shouting for the jailer to open it. The jailer appeared about to wilt. “Oh God, that’s the judge.”
    Andy assumed that thwarted mob members had carried their frustration to the Hopper family leader.
    Farley said, “Just as well let him in. But nobody else. This place could get crowded in a hurry.”
    Reluctantly Andy slid back the bar and opened the door just enough for Judge Hopper to enter. Several men were with him, but Andy pushed the door shut and barred it before any of them could bully their way in. Big’un shouted threats from outside.
    Judd Hopper was a tall, angular man with gray chin whiskers and angry eyes that cut to the quick. “What are you Rangers doing here? Protecting the prisoner is the sheriff’s responsibility.”
    Farley did not waver under the tirade. “I’m glad you said that. I think your jailkeeper has got a little news for you.”
    The jailer hung his head. His voice was little more than a thin squeak. “Jayce is gone.”
    “Gone?” The judge took long strides into the back room. His face reddened as he saw the open cell door and absorbed the full import of Landon’s escape. He whirled around, jabbing an arthritic finger at Andy and Farley. “You-all turned him loose. I’ll send you both to the pen.”
    Farley gripped the jailer’s wrist so hard that the man cried out. “Tell him the rest before I twist your arm off and beat you to death with it.”
    Defensively the jailer explained that Landon had produced a pistol and forced him to unlock the cell. “Next thing I knowed he had me handcuffed to the bars. I hollered, but nobody heard me. Wasn’t nothin’ I could do.”
    The judge fumed. “I wish he’d killed you. I guess you know you’re fired. You’ll be lucky if some of my nephews don’t flay the hide off of you. How did he get ahold of a pistol?”
    Andy and Farley stood silent. The jailer spoke in a subdued voice. “We didn’t make him take his boots off. Maybe he had it in one of them.”
    The judge slammed the cell door shut and then shook it in rage, gripping the bars tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. “I’ll make somebody wish he was in the fires of hell instead of in Hopper’s Crossing.”
    Farley beckoned to Andy. “I don’t see nothin’ more for us to do here.”
    Hopper demanded, “You’re goin’ to help us hunt him down, aren’t you?”
    Farley showed his disdain. “Ain’t our fault you-all couldn’t hold him. Our assignment was to deliver him to the sheriff. We done that, so now we’re leavin’.”
    Andy slid back the bar and opened the door. As he and Farley