“Ah, Kris,” Jack said slowly. “That’s something we haven’t talked about, yet.”
“Where’s Nelly? Was she damaged?”
“It doesn’t look like she was. She was under you, between you and Bobbie. But she’s not talking. Sal and Mimzy say she is active, but they can’t get her to answer any of their questions.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“We just don’t know, Kris.”
“Where is she?”
“Outside. I can get her if you want.”
Kris lay back in her bed. “Give me a while to . . . think about this. Would you?”
“Sure, Kris. I’ve got Sal getting ahold of Julie.”
A moment later a young woman’s voice came from Jack’s chest. “Hello, this is Juliet Travis. Who is this?”
“Miss Travis, this is Jack Montoya with Kris Longknife’s staff.”
“Oh, you were that cute Marine officer on her elbow at the hoedown. I met you there. How are you? How is Kris? We heard about the bomb. Thank God she saved Bobby’s life.”
“Thank you, Miss Travis. Kris asked me to call you. She thought you might know someone who could supply us with food and drinks for the three hundred people we have at the Austin Ski Lodge.”
“I thought Duke Austin was taking care of all that?”
Kris was leaning back into her pillow, apparently still trying to get a handle on the idea that Nelly wasn’t at her fingertips. “Tell her the whole story, Jack,” she said.
“What whole story?” Julie asked.
“Miss Travis, we thought the foreman for the Austin ranch was arranging all of that, but thirteen trucks drove up to the lodge today and about two hundred gunmen tried to shoot up the place. They blew up a beer truck and in general tried to wipe us out.”
“Dear God, no! Wait a second. Wait a second. Dad! Dad, you have to hear this.”
A moment later, a deep baritone voice announced, “Hi, I’m Duke Travis. What is this my daughter wants me to hear?”
Jack took a deep breath and started the story over again. “Your Grace, I’m Captain Jack Montoya of the Wardhaven Marines. I am Princess Kris Longknife’s security chief and command a company of embassy Marines.”
“We don’t mess with that ‘Your Grace,’ stuff on Texarkana, and yes, I met you and the young woman at the hoedown. I understand your security for the princess has not been going so well.”
“Yes, sir, we did have a bad day yesterday. However, you may have heard at the hoedown that Kris rented a ski lodge from Duke Austin.”
“I did hear that.”
“Arrangements were made through his ranch foreman to supply food and beverages. Today, when those supplies arrived in thirteen trucks, about two hundred gunmen jumped out and did their best to kill my Marines.”
Jack waited for a second, then went on when Duke Travis made no effort to interrupt. “My Marine company is now holding some two hundred disarmed individuals for armed assault and attempted murder. I don’t know who has jurisdiction over them. I believe that several of the people being held were also involved in the attempted murder of Princess Kris Longknife and Bobby DuVale in Denver. I suspect the Denver judiciary and Mr. Louis DuVale would be very interested in them.
“In addition to all that, sir, I have some three hundred Marines, sailors, and scientists at the lodge with little to eat and even less left to drink. Do you see my problem?”
“I do indeed, Captain. Are you saying that Duke Austin’s own foreman arranged this attack on your men?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that, sir. I can’t say at what point a decision was made to kill us rather than feed us. I suspect the local law might be interested in that, but all I know is who actually was shooting at my men, and who we have cuffed.”
“Pardon me, Captain, but how many of your people were killed?”
“None, sir. My Marines suffered four wounded.”
“And your three hundred Marines captured two hundred gunslingers.”
“No, sir, we only had about sixty or seventy Marines involved in the capture of the gunmen.”
There was a low whistle from the other end of the phone, followed by “Elli, get me Ranger Crocket on the line. Oh, and the general store. Captain Montoya, I’ll have a truckload of supplies headed for the lodge in an hour at the worst. Expect it before dark. Oh, right, it will be a five-ton truck with TRAVIS General STORE written plain for any man to read. I’ll make sure the driver knows to stop for anyone asking him to. I hope your people won’t be trigger-happy.”
“I will do my best to see that they aren’t, but your man will be doing things nice and slow-like, I hope.”
“You bet. Oh, and Ranger Crocket will be flying up, say, in about two hours. He won’t be ready to take control of your prisoners, but he will be wanting to examine the scene of the crime.”
“Colonel Cortez, are you still on the net?”
“This is Colonel Cortez. Yes, I have been monitoring your call. I am senior officer present at the lodge. I’ll get ready to receive the ranger and make sure our road guards are expecting a truck really full of chow.”
“I’d be very grateful if you would,” Duke Travis said.
“So you’re talking to one of those dukes,” came from the door. Bobby DuVale was in a wheelchair, but it was his father doing the talking as he pushed his son in the room.
“Hi, Kris, I heard that you were awake, so I had Dad push me over here.”
“Bobby, is that you?” Julie shouted from the net. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” the young man shot back, then thought better of it and added, “I’m going to be fine in a bit, the doctors promise me. But it looks like we may have to wait a month or two to plant our stake at Ft. Louis.”
“You really think we can?”
“Didn’t you hear about Kris setting up her very own First Bank of Ft. Louis.”
“I heard it, but I wasn’t sure I could believe it, then along came this bomb thing with you and her, and that was a horrible thing for you to do to a poor girl that loves you.”
“I’ll try and be a better husband than I’ve been a boyfriend,” Bobby said.
“That won’t be too hard,” Julie shot back.
Jack saw that Kris’s eyes were drooping, if not shut already. Softly, he said, “Folks, could we continue this outside and let Kris get in a bit of a nap.”
When Kris didn’t argue with him, Jack knew she was truly done in. All of them retreated to the waiting room.
Jack brought Mr. DuVale up-to-date on what was happening at the lodge and all Duke Travis was doing about it. DuVale made one quick phone call and a small squad of Denver police were ordered airborne in thirty minutes. It was agreed that they would assist Travis’s ranger in taking evidence at the scene, along with the Marine techs.
They would also take custody of the people involved in the bomb incident in Denver if they could be identified. There was a very strong hint that identifying those involved in the Denver bomb would definitely be accomplished, and any means available would be used to assure it.
Jack offered a picture of Willy Stone to help them find at least one person he wanted to talk to.
For a day that had started with such poor prospects, it was ending rather nicely.
37
When Kris woke up the next morning, the sun was already shining in her window. Her breakfast was waiting for her: oatmeal, Jell-O, and apple juice. Any other day, she would have turned up her nose at it.
This morning, she attacked it ravenously.
Jack showed up just as she was finishing, impeccable again in undress khakis. “I see someone brought you a change of clothes,” Kris said, suddenly realizing that her own clothing situation was rather precarious. Both her legs were wrapped in bandages held in place by air casts. And splayed out by wires hanging from above the bed. One of her arms, the one closest to Jack, was also hanging like a side of meat. Through the air cast, it looked like the bandages were much in need of changing.