Slocum's Breakout - Jake Logan [69]
Slocum looked across the Bay but couldn’t see San Francisco through a thin veil of fog. He considered giving up on his quest for vengeance and clearing out. Oakland wasn’t his kind of town, and San Francisco might be too hot to bear, no matter how much he wanted to put a bullet in José Valenzuela for all he had done.
He worried that his sudden concern for revenge might be tied up with wanting to see Maria again, too. Atencio had lit out like his ass was on fire. Slocum hoped he had gotten back to Murrieta’s small village, where they could hide him until the man could escape south to Mexico. Going back to find out would put him in jeopardy, though, from both Harriman and Sheriff Bernard.
“You wanna ticket or no?” the agent asked.
Slocum started to say no when he heard a whistle from out on the Bay.
“You’re in luck. That there’s the Berkeley Delight comin’ over from Frisco. Won’t be but a half hour ’fore she heads back.”
Slocum silently paid for the ticket, damning himself as a fool the entire time. He tucked the cardboard stub in his coat pocket and went to find a place to sit until the ferry unloaded and he could board. But he sat a mite straighter when he saw the first passenger off the ferry.
José Valenzuela kept his face down and almost ran, though clearly still in pain, as he tugged on the reins to keep his skittish horse moving. When he was well off the ramp leading to the ferry’s deck, he vaulted into the saddle and galloped away, scattering pedestrians and gaining their angry curses and gestures.
It took Slocum less time than that to step up into the saddle. He left his spare horse tethered as he raced after Valenzuela, getting the same gestures and curses the fleeing outlaw had. Slocum concentrated on keeping Valenzuela in sight as he wound through the Oakland streets and finally stopped at a hotel that had seen better days.
Slocum had to take a quick turn when Valenzuela stepped into the street, hand on six-gun thrust into his belt, and looked to see if anyone had followed. The wicked might flee when no man pursued, but in this case it was John Slocum pursuing the wicked. Satisfied he had evaded anyone on his trail, Valenzuela swaggered into the hotel.
Hastily dismounting and going to the boardwalk outside the open hotel door, Slocum caught the last part of Valenzuela’s argument with the clerk.
“She is my sister. Not that it matters to you.” Valenzuela drew his six-shooter and laid it on the counter. “What room is she in?”
“Mister, we got brothers and sisters stayin’ here all the time. I’m tellin’ you she ain’t in, and I ain’t lettin’ you in her room ’less she says it’s all right.”
“I will—” Valenzuela cut off his angry tirade when Conchita came from the hotel dining room, drawn by his loud voice. “¡Hermana!”
They embraced, speaking in low, rapid Spanish that Slocum could not follow. He peered around the door frame as they continued to talk. Finally Conchita pointed toward the dining room and José followed.
Slocum waited a few minutes, then entered, going straight to the clerk.
“I’m looking for friends of mine. The Valenzuelas,” he said.
The clerk gave him a sour look, then spit into a cuspidor behind the counter.
“They’re eatin’.”
“All three of them?”
“Yeah, the lady and the old coot. And the lady’s brother,” the clerk said, as if he didn’t believe José.
Slocum had heard all he needed to know. The entire Valenzuela clan was holed up here. But where was the loot they had taken from the Miramar bank and the stage?
“There they are, just now comin’ from the restaurant. Hey!” The clerk started to hail the outlaws, but Slocum was quicker.
He grabbed the clerk’s wrist and slammed the hand down hard on the counter.
“I want to surprise them. Don’t let on I know them.”
“Son of a bitch,” the clerk muttered. “They ain’t been nuthin’ but trouble, and she was so purty, too. Oughta know by now, the purty ones’re always trouble.”
“Are they looking this way?” Slocum asked.
“Naw, they went upstairs. Leastways, the brother and sister did. They left the old coot at the foot of the stairs.”
“Thanks,” Slocum