A Symphony in Blue

 

Chapter 7

 

 

“Now what do we do?”

After having called Destiny at the St-Maurice Hotel to inform her of the latest developments, Captain Scarlet and Symphony had immediately begun the search for Captain Blue.  They first went to the small store which doubled as the town’s bus station, to find out if he had bought a ticket for Las Vegas.  The employee there told them that the store was closed between ten last night and six in the morning, and that there wasn’t a bus during the night anyway…  Since the sheriff had said to Symphony that Blue was released around midnight, there was no possible way for him to have taken the bus.

Then, the two Spectrum agents visited the town’s hotel again, to see if there weren’t, by any chance, any other places where Blue could have spent the night.  As far as the owner knew, his was the only place that rented rooms to visitors.

He told them that he hadn’t gone to bed before three the night before, that he got caught up in some late night show on the television…  If Blue had shown up, he would have seen him.  Of course, according to the hotel owner, there also was the possibility that Blue could have found a good Samaritan to take him into his home…  Unless he had fallen asleep in some murky alley, or one of the dark corners of the local bar…  Which Scarlet and Symphony couldn’t see him doing.

Since neither of these steps proved fruitful, Symphony and Scarlet went to the cantina.  Upon seeing the girl enter, the owner, the round Hispanic woman Symphony had seen the day before, gave her and her companion a mean look.  Symphony feigned not to notice the flash of worry in her eyes, while Scarlet was ordering two rounds of breakfast.

“Where could he be?” Symphony sighed, sitting at the table.  “And why didn’t he contact us?”

“That’s one of the main reasons I called Juliette,” Scarlet said in turn, taking the other seat.  “To see if she’d had a call from Adam…  I thought that he could have tried to reach us while we were on the road.  It seems not.”

“So he didn’t even TRY to reach us,” Symphony said.

“I wonder why the sheriff suggested that Adam take the bus last night?” Scarlet noted thoughtfully.  “Surely he knows about the bus schedule…”

“That’s a good question,” Symphony remarked, eyeing her companion.  “My guess is, that sheriff is an idiot… or he knows something he’s not telling us.”

“Could Adam have hitchhiked his way out of here?” Scarlet mused again.  “Frankly, I don’t see him doing that, all the way to Vegas, but…”

“Paul, he would still have called us.”

“Unless the phones lines were still down until this morning.”

“In which case he would have STAYED HERE,” Symphony insisted with conviction.  “Knowing we would come for him, he would have waited for us.”

“Then WHERE is he?”  Scarlet asked, frowning.  “It’s not like him to disappear like that!”

“Certainly not!” Symphony agreed.  “I don’t like it, Paul.  I don’t like it at all.”

The owner of the place came to put two plates of eggs and bacon in front of her and Scarlet.  The young woman looked down at her meal, and sighed, pushing it away.  “I’m not hungry,” she declared, as the owner went her way.

“YOU?  Not hungry?” Scarlet replied, rolling surprised eyes.  “Now I’ve heard everything!”

“Please, Paul, don’t tease me.  I’m not in the mood.”

“I can see that.  Would you please calm down?  There’s no reason for you to worry!”

“How can I believe that?” Symphony replied impatiently.  “There’s no trace of Adam, he doesn’t seem to be anywhere!  How can I not think he’s having problems with Captain Black, or that Network that kidnapped the colonel?”

“Karen, you mustn’t think that.  We have no indication that it could have happened!”  Scarlet reached for the young woman’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly.  “Please, calm down,” he murmured.  “You don’t want to draw attention to us, do you?”

Symphony hesitated a second.  Then she sighed deeply.  “I’m sorry, Paul,” she murmured.  “I guess I’m really worried about Adam.”

“Yes, so am I.  But we still have to stay rational about this.  We’ll find him, Karen.”

She nodded thoughtfully, seemingly agreeing with her companion.  Scarlet patted her hand reassuringly.  “Don’t worry… I’m sure he can’t be that far.  He’ll reappear.”

She responded with the faintest of smiles.  “What would we do without you?” she murmured.

He grinned back at her.  “Well, I suppose you’d all have very boring lives!” he teased her.

“I can do with boring right now,” Symphony mumbled dully.  “With Adam not being where he’s supposed to be… and the colonel being where HE shouldn’t…”

Scarlet cleared his throat.  “Oh, yes, the colonel…  Now THAT’S another problem, isn’t it?”

“I sure wish I knew exactly why he came to Las Vegas yesterday.  What did he tell you when he showed up on your doorstep?”

“The same as he told you.  He’d decided to take a few days off.  And he expressed the desire to spend some time with us.”

“Excuse me, but I find that strange.”

“The fact that he wants to get some rest?  You know he needs it more than any of us, Karen.”

“Well, at least as much as YOURSELF, Paul.”

“He HAS been working very hard these past few months,” Scarlet continued thoughtfully.  “And his last holiday having been something of a nightmare…”

“Yes, on that we agree.  But what I find strange is his idea of spending his vacation with us.  I mean… has he ever done that before?”

“Yes.  Sort of.  We spent an evening together once, him, Adam, Seymour and me.”  He grinned slightly.  “As a matter of fact, it was in a casino…”

“I don’t think THAT’S what brought the colonel to Vegas,” Symphony replied, smiling.  “He’s not a gambling man.  I remember that occasion you’re talking about.  It was after that mission where you pretended to lose a bundle at roulette, so the colonel could pretend he had kicked you out of Spectrum…  How Adam could EVER have thought you were REALLY gambling that time is beyond me!”

“YOU didn’t buy it?”

“Well… I had my doubts.  It was so unlike you.”  Symphony gave a faint smile.  “So… the colonel didn’t come here to keep his eye on you, in case you were gambling.”

“I think we can safely rule that out, yes,” Scarlet grinned mischievously.

“So why is he here, then?”  A worrying thought then crossed the young woman’s mind and she became suddenly gloomy.  “Do you think he could… know about Adam and me?”

“About your plans to get married?”  Scarlet shook his head.  “I doubt it very much.  How could he have found out about that?”

“I don’t know, Paul…  I mean, we were careful, but you know him.  There’s not much that gets by him.”

The owner of the restaurant came back again, this time bringing two glasses of orange juice.  Scarlet noticed the sideways look she was giving them – him in particular.  He watched intently as the woman returned to her counter.

“Why is that woman looking at us like that?” he mused, frowning with curiosity.

Symphony shrugged.  “Must be a little worried, I guess.  Since you’re with me, maybe she wonders if you’re going to get into a fight and destroy this place.”

“You mean, the fight with Adam and that other guy – what’s his name…”

“Grover.”

“It happened here?”

Symphony nodded quietly.  “That’s right, just here.  You should have seen Adam.  He was out of control.  He was literally tearing into that man.  It was pretty clear he hated him.”

“And he never told you WHY?”

“He promised he’d tell me when he got out of prison.”

Scarlet rubbed his chin thoughtfully, turning his attention toward the cantina’s owner.  “I wonder why the charges against Adam were dropped,” he murmured.

“Because the bail was paid?” Symphony suggested.

“There’s more to it that just that, Karen.  But, since we’re at it…  WHO paid that bail, the speeding ticket, and the damages to this restaurant?”

Symphony was following Scarlet’s line of thought; she looked toward the woman too.  “Maybe we should ask her that…”

Scarlet nodded, looking thoughtfully at the woman.  Yes, maybe she would be able to provide them with some useful information.  HOW that could lead them to Blue, however, was another matter entirely.

Scarlet saw a little Hispanic boy running by the woman, flying a model plane with an extended arm, and making sounds with his mouth that sounded roughly like an interceptor jet.  Her son, perhaps, Scarlet thought with an amused smile, as he heard her shouting to him to go play outside.  The boy shrugged his shoulders and ran toward the exit; absent-mindedly, the captain looked on as the boy passed by the table where he sat with Symphony.

The boy was pushing the door when Scarlet suddenly jumped to his feet, startling the young pilot.

“Hey, kid!  Come here a minute!”

The boy ran out, without even acknowledging him.  Scarlet pushed back his chair and quickly walked toward the door.  His call had drawn the attention of the boy’s mother, who had raised her head.  Symphony was staring at him with a puzzled expression.

“Paul, what’s going on?”

“Go and talk to the woman, Karen,” Scarlet answered urgently.  “I need to have a word with that boy.”

“What do you want with him?”

“I’ll explain when I come back.”

While Symphony was leaving her place to go see the cantina’s owner – who seemed rather distraught that Scarlet would go after her son – the Spectrum captain left the restaurant.  He looked around for the boy and saw him on his right, running in the empty street, still flying his plane.  Scarlet called again to him: “Hey, boy!  I want to talk to you!”

The kid looked over his shoulder at him, and then ran into an alley.  Grumbling, Scarlet broke into a run and followed.  I don’t think his mother would be reassured, he thought.  It looks like I’m after her kid.

Once into the alley, Scarlet looked around.  The boy seemed nowhere to be found.  He sighed heavily.  “Come on, now!” he shouted.  “I just want to ask you something.  I don’t have time to play hide and seek!”

He didn’t receive any kind of response.  The kid must be very good at it, he thought, walking slowly into the alley, looking to his right and to his left.  Fortunately, so am I.  He lowered his eyes to the ground, searching for clues.  It was very dry, but still he could see some footprints in the dirt.  Very few of them, and one set was very small.  He smiled.  They led toward a trash can, near the far end of the alley.  He went to it and leaned against the nearest wall.

“You can come out now,” he said quietly.  “I’m sure your mother will be annoyed with you if you come back all covered with garbage.”

The boy reared his head out of the can; Scarlet cast him an amused glance.

“How did you find me out?” the boy asked.

“Tracked you down,” Scarlet answered.  “Pretty easy when you know how.  Now you’d better get out of there.”  When he saw that the boy still hesitated, he smiled again.  “Don’t be afraid, now.  I won’t hurt you.  As I said, I just want to ask you a question.”

The boy jumped out of the can, sighing.  As soon as his feet touched the ground, he tried to make a run for it.  But Scarlet was ready for him and grabbed him by the arm.  “Oh, no, you don’t!  What are you so afraid of, anyway?  Am I that intimidating?”

“You ran after me,” the boy defended himself, a glitter of defiance in his eyes.

Scarlet nodded, thoughtfully.  “Yes, I admit that could be distressing.  I’m sorry if I frightened you.  Really.”  The boy looked up at him; his eyes weren’t reflecting any fear and he wasn’t struggling to get free.  “Now, if I let go of you, will you run out on me again?”

The boy shook his head in negation.  Scarlet let go of his arm.  The boy kept to his word and did not run away.

“What’s your name, son?” Scarlet asked him, trying to sound reassuring and friendly, so he would not frighten him again.

“Pablo,” the child answered, his black eyes gazing into Scarlet’s, obviously wondering what he wanted out of him.

“Now that’s a peculiar coincidence,” the Spectrum captain noted.  “It means ‘Paul’ in Spanish.”  He pointed to himself.  “That’s my name.”

“You pulling my leg, mister?” the boy asked suspiciously.

“I never lie, Pablo.  And certainly not to a namesake.”

The boy considered this for a second, then nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer given to him.  “What do you want?”

Scarlet crouched in front of him and pointed to an object dangling from Pablo’s belt, attached to a simple string.  “I want to know where you got that watch.”

Pablo looked down at the watch.  “Somebody gave it to me.”

He had answered too quickly, and he didn’t look Scarlet in the eyes.  He’s lying, thought the Spectrum officer.  Nevertheless, he continued to question him.  “Who gave it to you?”

“Some gringo.

Scarlet rubbed his chin, thoughtfully.  “Can you describe this… ‘gringo’ to me?”

The boy hesitated, obviously incapable of doing what was asked of him.  Scarlet smiled slightly.  “I bet your mother already told you never to accept a gift from a stranger,” he noted matter-of-factly.

Pablo was still hesitant to answer.  The captain showed him his left wrist.  “Look, I’ve got the same watch as yours.  Only mine’s got red hands and numbers on it.  I’ll take a wild guess: yours has got blue ones, hasn’t it?”

Pablo frowned.  “How’d you know that?”

“That watch happens to belong to a friend of mine.  And I’m pretty sure HE didn’t give it to you.  I’m right, aren’t I?”  The boy kept silent.  Scarlet’s voice softened even more.  He didn’t want to sound accusing, that would scare the kid away.  “How did you get that watch, Pablo?”

The boy grumbled loudly.  “I found it,” he finally admitted.  “You friend must have lost it.  See?  The wristband’s broken…  That’s why I attached it with a string.”

Pablo took the watch off his belt and showed it to Scarlet, as if he wanted to prove what he was saying.  Scarlet took the watch in his hand and looked closely at it.  It was definitely a Spectrum-issue watch, personalised for its owner; it had blue hands and numbers. As Pablo had said, the wristband was broken, as well as the glass face.

It was Captain Blue’s watch.

And there were some dark smears under the glass that made Scarlet shiver.

“Where did you find it?” he asked Pablo.

“Will you give it back to me?” the boy answered instead.

“It’s broken, Pablo,” Scarlet replied, smiling again.  “Wouldn’t you rather have something else for it?”

“YOUR watch?” Pablo asked, glancing at the object with a covetous look.

“I’m sorry, I need it myself.  Wouldn’t you prefer to have some money instead?  Say, twenty dollars?”

“I sure would!” Pablo said excitedly.

“And you will tell me where you found that watch?”

Pablo nodded quickly.  Scarlet produced a couple of ten-dollar bills from his wallet to give to the boy, who put them in his pants pocket.  “I found it in an alley,” he then said.  “It has a brick wall at the end, and I go there often to play ball.”

“Where is this alley?” Scarlet asked frowning.

“It’s near the bar,” the boy answered.  “On the other side of the street…  I can take you there if you want.”

Scarlet nodded his approval and slowly got back to his feet.  He glanced one more time at the watch he had retrieved from the young boy… thoughtfully looking at the dark reddish stains he could see on it.

It was blood, there was no doubt about it.

 

* * *

 

The little boy guided Captain Scarlet to the alley where he had said he had found the watch.  It was, as he said, by the bar, and it was a dead end, with a solid wall of bricks.  As the pair walked down it, Scarlet noted that there weren’t many doors opening onto it, and even fewer windows.  Plenty of trash cans and dark corners.  Anything could have happened here, the Spectrum captain thought grimly, and there’s a good chance NOBODY would have even noticed it…  Really nice place for an ambush.  He was pretty sure Adam would not have come into such a place of his own accord.

He would have been forced to.

Pablo showed him the exact spot where he had found the watch; near the foot of the brick wall.  Scarlet looked down at the ground, searching for further indication of Blue’s previous presence in this alley, or for anything out of the ordinary.

“What are you looking for, mister?” Pablo asked with curiosity.

Scarlet shook his head quietly.  “A clue to where my friend might be,” he answered vaguely

He was rather grim, for he had found something that wasn’t really comforting.  There were dark stains on the dirt, of a reddish shade, surrounded by a number of confused footprints.  The dirt had been heavily scuffed at that spot, as if a good number of people had been there.

There was definitely a struggle here, Scarlet reflected.  But there were too many footprints to know exactly how many people were involved.  Scarlet examined the dark stains more closely.  Somebody had fallen at that spot and apparently, he had been hurt.  He took the broken watch from his pocket and looked at it closely, comparing the stains under the glass of those on the ground.

Blood in both cases.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Scarlet thought, getting back to his feet, musing.  Blue had fallen into an ambush, he was sure of it.  But where he could be NOW…

He heard movement behind him and quickly turned around.

Three big, bulky men had entered the alley, marching slowly toward him, each wearing a suspiciously hostile expression on their faces, each staring straight at him.  Two of them had baseball bats in their hands.  Scarlet stayed where he was, watching them.  He didn’t know who these guys were, but he had the feeling they were up to no good.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said, very politely.  “May I be of service to you?”

“You can begin by telling us what you’re doing here,” one of the guys answered in a nasal voice that nearly made Scarlet wince.

“Is that any of your business?”  Scarlet cautiously asked.

“We don’t like people snooping around,” a second man replied ominously.

“We know you’ve been all over town, asking questions,” the first remarked.

“So?  Maybe you can help me, then.  I’m looking for a friend of mine…”

“We KNOW that already.  He’s not in town.  So you’d better buzz off and go your way too.”

Scarlet raised his eyebrows.  “How can you be so SURE he’s not in town?” he asked.  “There’s nothing that leads me to believe he left.”

The three men stepped closer.  Scarlet felt an insistent tug on his sleeve and looked down at Pablo, who was standing just behind him.  “Mister,” the boy whispered worriedly.  “That’s the Dawson brothers…  They’re bad… You don’t want to get into a fight with them!”

Scarlet gave a thoughtful glance at the boy, then, gently pushing him against the closest wall, moved away from him, toward the middle of the alley.  He had a feeling things would soon get ugly, and he certainly didn’t want the boy to get hurt by being too close to him.

“Last warning,” the man with the nasal voice said.  “Get out of town and don’t come back.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Scarlet replied calmly.  “Not before I find my friend.  I won’t leave without him.”

“Well, not only do you talk funny, but you have a thick head,” grumbled the third man who had kept silent until now.  “We’re telling you your friend is not here.  If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave without discussion or…”

“Or WHAT?”

“We’ll MAKE you leave.”  That was Nasal Voice again.  He raised his bat and played with it, an evil smile on his face.  “The HARD way.”

Scarlet stared at him for a second, apparently pondering the threat.  He narrowed his eyes at the three menacing men.  He nodded slowly, as a realisation took form in his mind.  “The hard way…” he said, coldly.  “That’s what you did with Adam, eh?”

“You better listen, pal,” Nasal Voice said again.  “Or you’re gonna regret it…”

Scarlet turned his attention back to the third man who had spoken earlier.  “And you said I talk funny…”

That worked as a signal.  The guy with the nasal voice lurched forward with a roar of fury and tried to club Scarlet with his bat.  The Spectrum agent avoided it by stepping quickly aside and only felt the wind of the weapon passing by his head.  He caught hold of the arm holding the club.  The two other men came in to attack too.  Scarlet stopped the first with a well-placed kick in the groin, sending him to the ground instantly, and welcomed the other by pushing the one whose arm he still held into his path.  That caught the two men off-guard and threw them off-balance.  Scarlet finished the job with the second man with a punch in the jaw.  That made it two down.  Nasal Voice was still in his grip.  He sent him kissing the brick wall behind.  The man gave a low grunt and sprawled on the ground.

“Wow!”  That was Pablo, not far from there.  He was watching with a wide-eyed expression of total amazement at the three goons slumped all over the place.  “You clobbered them good, mister!  And without breaking a sweat!”

“I would have thought you would run and hide, Pablo,” Scarlet replied sternly.  “What are you still doing here?”

“And miss the show?  No way!”

“Well, you’d better go now.  This doesn’t concern you anymore.”

“But…”

“No ‘but’s, Pablo.  Thank you for your help, but now it’s strictly between these chaps and me.  I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The kid was obviously wondering in what way he could possibly get hurt, since the three men were already incapacitated.  Only one of them was trying to get back to his feet, and it was obvious he had trouble doing so.  Pablo didn’t reply, however, and broke into a run toward the path leading out of the alley.  Scarlet leaned over the recovering man and helped him up.  He pushed him face first against the brick wall, and wrenched his right arm behind him, forcing a grunt from him.

“Hey!  You’re hurting me!” the man protested between his teeth.

“And what were you planning to do to me with your mates?” Scarlet replied rather harshly.  “The same as you did to my friend?”

“I don’t know ANYTHING about your friend!”

“That’s not what you said earlier.”

Scarlet drove the arm higher behind the man’s back.  The latter grunted in pain.  “That’s the big blond guy who picked on Grover yesterday,” he finally admitted.

“Yes, that would be him.  But the story I heard about that incident was rather different.  Now… what happened to my friend?  Where is he?”

“I don’t know!”

“On the contrary, I’ve got a feeling you DO know,” Scarlet replied between his teeth, in a very ominous tone.  “Let’s try again, shall we?”

The goon didn’t answer, which compelled Scarlet to twist his arm, forcing a loud cry from his lips.  The Spectrum officer wasn’t normally the kind to resort to brute strength and physical violence to get answers to his questions, but considering that this man was about to bash his head in, he had no compunction about it at this moment.  Besides, he was also very worried for Adam.  He was certain that this guy – and his brothers – had something to do with what happened to his best friend in this alley.  For Scarlet it was motivation enough for some ruthlessness.

“You’re breaking my arm!”

“Not yet, but I will do if you don’t answer me!” Scarlet barked.  “I’m not a very patient man, and you’d better answer quickly before I do something you’ll regret.  Again: where’s my friend?”

“I swear to you, I don’t know.”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not!  We… we were just hired last night.  We were supposed to teach him a lesson.”

“You led him here into an ambush, right?”  The man didn’t answer, but his silence was eloquent enough.  “What did you do to him?” Scarlet asked again, more insistently.

“Told you…  We just taught him a lesson.”

“Which means you beat him up.”

The man nodded nervously.  “Yeah… yeah, that’s what we did.  But I swear, we did nothing more.  He was alive when we left him.  We weren’t hired to kill him, we’re no killers, we…”

 “WHO?” Scarlet demanded savagely, the disgust and anger mounting inside him.

“Me, and Billy and Sam…”  The man nodded in a way that clearly demonstrated he was talking about his two brothers, still lying on the ground.  “And three other guys I don’t know…”

“Six of you against one?  Very courageous of you.  But that’s not what I asked: WHO hired you to do that?”

The man still didn’t answer that question.  Scarlet was really losing patience, as his fury grew.  “I HOPE for your sake that my friend IS alive…”

“He is!  But I don’t know WHERE he is!  I don’t know that!”

“But you know who hired you, that’s obvious.  Tell me that!”  The man shook his head in negation.  Obviously, reflected Scarlet, he’s more afraid of that man who hired him than of what I may do to him.  That wasn’t a very comforting thought for Blue’s safety.  “Was it that Grover character?” the Spectrum officer insisted.

The man was still hesitant to answer; Scarlet was about to ask the question again when his ears picked a sound behind him.  From the corner of his eye, he saw one of the other men up and coming quickly at him with his club high, ready to strike.  He reacted quickly, and spun around, in the same movement violently throwing the man he was questioning against his companion.  The blow meant for Scarlet was instead roughly received by the goon, who sprawled on the ground unconscious.  The man with the club felt the Brit’s fist in his stomach and fell on his knees, out of breath, panting loudly, his weapon falling from his grasp.  Scarlet looked down at him with cold anger in his eyes.

“Maybe you’ll be more co-operative than your brother,” he noted dully.  “I have questions I want answers to, right now.  I want to know where my friend Adam Svenson is… and I want to know if that man Grover is involved with what happened to him.”

Scarlet never got the chance to try to force a response out of the kneeling man.  In all the confusion, and since he was keeping his eyes on the three men already present in the alley, he failed to notice a fourth figure that had come in from behind.  Too late did he sense the presence right behind him as he felt something touching him between the shoulder blades and sending a powerful jolt throughout his nervous system.  He gave a muffled grunt as his body went stiff under the sudden pain, and then totally numb; his balance completely gone, he fell heavily to the ground.  His eyes barely caught a man wearing a police uniform, standing over him, holding some kind of a black leather stick.

A stun baton, he realised, trying to hang on to what little was left of his consciousness.  He reached to grab the man’s leg, in an attempt to get up, but was repelled roughly.  The curtain fell on the Spectrum officer’s mind and darkness surrounded him.

The man with the stun baton, deputy sheriff Harvey Ringward, glared with contempt at the man lying unconscious at his feet, and then looked at the three other men, trying, with difficulty, to get back to their feet.

“What happened here?” he barked.

“HE started it!” the last man Scarlet had manhandled responded.  He pointed accusingly toward the Brit.  “He INSULTED Billy!”

“And YOU did nothing to provoke him, right?”

“We’re lucky you arrived just then, Harvey.  He’s a real madman!  Don’t know what he would have done to us!”

“That’s right, three against one and HE got the upper hand?”  Ringward scoffed loudly.  “You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Billy – the man with the nasal voice – his nose now bleeding profusely since his encounter with the wall, made a threatening step toward the unconscious man, with the obvious intention of avenging himself.  The deputy sheriff stopped him in his tracks and pushed him away.

“That’s enough!” he barked again.

“You’re going to let him get away with this?” Billy protested.  His voice had an even more nasal sound than before.

“No, I’m taking him in.  The sheriff asked me to keep my eye on him, in case he caused trouble.  Guess he was right at that,” he mused, with a wicked smile, looking down at Scarlet.  “Assault and battery, public disorder…  I guess he’s in for a stay in a nice, warm cell!”  He stared up at the three men, now standing uneasily before him, with a grim look.  “You’re coming with me.”

“Come on, Harvey!” one of them replied.  “You’re arresting us too?”

“I need a hand to get him to the jail.  And I want you to tell the sheriff what happened.  You’re witnesses, right?”

“More like victims,” Billy grumbled with a low tone.

“Don’t make me laugh!  Likes of you are no victims.  Come on, help me get him up!”

At the entrance to the alley, a dark head was peering inside, not missing anything of what was going on in there.  The young Pablo had seen Scarlet getting rid of his adversaries without any apparent effort and trying to get answers to his questions, albeit in a rather unorthodox way.  He had witnessed as Ringward had stepped in for that cowardly attack from behind with the stun baton, and now was watching with great interest as the stranger, apparently unconscious, was roughly dragged off the ground by two of the guys that had attacked him, after the deputy had told them of his intention of taking him to jail.

That wasn’t very fair, thought Pablo, upset that the stranger who had been provoked, and only defended himself against Billy and his brothers, was to be the one to be dragged off to prison.  After all, he was only searching for his friend and these guys came bugging him…

Pablo liked the stranger.  He found him sympathetic.  And he had given him twenty bucks for a broken watch.  A watch Pablo had in his hand.  He had picked it up from the ground, after the stranger had let go of it, right after these men had came in to attack.

Pablo turned around quickly and ran toward the cantina.  He had to tell the stranger’s lady friend what had happened.

 

 

To be continued in  Chapter 8

 

Back to Chapter 6

 

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