Sometime later, Decker, Jose and three other men arrived at the cantina with saws and hammers in their hands.
“What are you going to do?” Paco asked, eyeing them with great concern.
“We are going to make some small adjustments to your establishment, Paco,” Decker said.
The men walked past him and went up the steps to the second floor.
“What do you mean, adjustments?”
“Nothing that will damage your cantina, Paco—at least, nothing that can’t be fixed later,” Decker said, trying to soothe the man.
Juanita came out from the kitchen and moved behind the bar, next to her father.
“Is everything ready in the kitchen, Juanita?” Decker asked.
“Everything is ready, señor Decker.”
“Aiee, I do not like this,” Paco said, putting his head in his hands.
“Please, Papa,” she said, “señor Decker knows what he is doing.”
“Perhaps,” Paco said, “but I do not think I know what I am doing.”
“You’re pouring drinks, Paco, like always,” Decker said, “just pouring drinks.”
Chapter Ten
The bandidos rode into town, their horses crowding the empty streets.
“Why do we keep coming here?” Raquel asked aloud. “This is a nothing of a town.”
“It is my town,” Gilberto said, “that is why we come.”
When they had first discovered the town it had been called Little Cross. When Gilberto saw that there was no law—and no backbone in the townspeople—he decided to adopt the town as his own. He pulled down the “Little Cross” sign and called it “his” town from then on.
That had been several months ago.
“We should find a better place to hole up,” Raquel complained. “In the mountains would be better.”
“Ah, but in the mountains there would be no Juanita,” her brother said.
“Any whore can give you what she gives you. Besides, if you like her that much you could take her with you.”
That didn’t sound like such a bad idea to Gilberto, but he didn’t tell his sister that.
Gilberto stopped in front of the canteen and shouted orders for three men to take the horses over to the livery. He said the rest of the men were free to come inside and eat or do whatever they wanted. Since there was nothing else to do in the town but eat, the men followed Gilberto and Raquel into the saloon.
Decker figured that with as many horses as the bandidos had, more that one man would have to take them to the livery. He took Jose with him and they waited there, while the rest of the men took their places as he had directed them.
A lookout had passed the word that the bandidos were coming, so when the three men showed up with the horses, it was no surprise.
Except for them.
The horses were herded into the corral behind the livery, and then the three men walked through the stable to get to the other side.
As they entered Jose clubbed one of them over the head with his gun, while Decker did the same on the other side of the door. The third man, who had been walking between the other two, froze and stared into Decker’s gun.
Jose came up behind him and put him to sleep, too.
“All right, quickly,” Decker said. “Let’s tie them up and see what’s happened in the saloon.”
What was happening in the saloon was that the bandidos had taken every table, and the men without tables were standing at the bar.
“Drinks for all my men, Paco!” Gilberto shouted, slamming his hand down on the table.
“Si, señor.”
Gilberto sat at one table with Raquel while his men crowded at the others, and the bar.
“Where is my Juanita, Paco?” he demanded, loudly.
“She is getting the food ready.”
“That’s my good girl,” Gilberto said. “She knows how to treat her man.”
Raquel made a noise and looked away.
Juanita heard the light knock on the door and opened it hurriedly. When Decker entered he saw that her hands were shaking.
“Don’t get nervous on me now, Juanita,” he said, taking her hands in his. “I need you.”
“I will be fine.”
“How’s the food coming?”
“It is almost ready.”
“Good.”
Decker could hear a man’s voice shouting from the other room.
“Is that him?”
“That is him.”
“He’s got a big mouth, hasn’t he?”
She smiled nervously and said, “Yes, he has a very big mouth.”
“Where is Ramon?” Gilberto shouted.
Behind the bar Paco froze, and wondered if he had cleaned the blood off the floor well enough.
“I sent Ramon ahead!” Gilberto yelled. “Where is he?”
Paco’s bottom lip quivered, and his hands shook…
From the kitchen Decker could feel it. He could feel Paco’s hand shaking.
“Get out there,” Decker said to Juanita, giving her a little push.
“What do I say?”
Decker told her…
“Where is Ramon?” Gilberto asked again.
At that moment Juanita came out of the kitchen, just as Paco was about to crumble.
“There is my Juanita,” Gilberto said, putting his arms out.
Juanita came over and allowed him to put his arms around her waist and rub his face in her bosom.
“Mmm,” he said, “she is always the cleanest woman I have ever smelled.”
“That’s because you always smell so dirty,” Raquel said.
“And you?” Gilberto asked.
“I,” Raquel said, giving Juanita a nasty look, “am going to the hotel to take a bath.”
Raquel got up and walked out, followed by the eyes of every man in the place, even the frightened Paco. Her jeans were so tight they showed her heart-shaped behind flow up into her thin waist.
“Ah, Juanita, did you miss me?” Gilberto asked.
“Si, Gilberto,” Juanita said without enthusiasm, “I missed you.”
“Perhaps you can tell me, eh?”
“Tell you what?”
“Where is Ramon?” Gilberto asked, his tone puzzled. “I sent him on ahead.”
“He was here,” Juanita said. “How do you think I knew to put on an extra pot of food?”
“Well then where is he?”
“He is at the hotel.”
“What is he doing there?
Juanita gave Gilberto a reproachful look and said, “Papa hired a new girl, and Ramon decided to try her out.”
“Ah, that Ramon,” Gilberto said, moving his hand down from her waist to cup her behind. “Is she very pretty, this new girl?”
“Pretty enough.”
“But not as pretty as you, eh, my Juanita?”
“No, Gilberto,” Juanita said, “not as pretty as me. Will you let me go now so I can bring out the food? Your men look hungry.”
“I will release you now,” Gilberto said, letting her go, “but after we eat will be another matter, eh?”
“ ’Yes,” Juanita said, “it will be another matter, Gilberto.”
Chapter Eleven
Juanita went back into the kitchen and collapsed against Decker’s chest. He put his arms around her, extremely conscious of her plump breasts crushed against his chest.
“You did fine, Juanita, just fine.”
“Raquel, she went to the hotel. She will know that Ramon is not there.”
“She left before you told him that,” Decker said. “Don’t worry, this will all be over soon. Come on, you’ve got to add the last ingredient to the food.”
Next to the stove, on the floor, was a pile of what looked like salt, only it wasn’t. It had taken a lot of glasses to make that particular pile of “salt.”