'She is very clever, your wife.'
Bode felt a gun barrel on the back of his head and heard a man's voice behind them. The knit cap was yanked from his head.
'Please, step inside.'
The three Americans stepped inside.
'Put your guns on the floor.'
They put their guns on the floor.
'And the rifle.'
Bode dropped the rifle to the floor.
'My, that is a big rifle. You must be a very bad hombre.'
It wasn't a compliment.
'Now kick them away.'
He did.
'Turn around.'
They did. Standing before them was a bald Mexican man dressed in a black military outfit.
'I found the phone myself,' the man said. 'Your wife, she is very beautiful. And feisty. She told me I would have to fuck a dead woman, then she kicked me in my cojones. But before I kill her, I will have her. What do you think about that, Governor?'
'I think I'm gonna kill you.'
The man smiled.
'Against the wall.'
The three men backed up to the wall. The man pointed the gun at them.
'So, we have the governor of Texas… Dr. Rincon from Colonia Angeles — I came with el jefe the day we brought the medicine and supplies-and…' He looked Ranger Roy up and down. 'My, you are a big hombre. And who are you?'
Roy stood tall. 'I'm a Texas Ranger.'
'Are you now?'
The man shot Roy in his heart. He fell to the floor, dead.
'Goddamnit!' Bode shouted. 'Why'd you kill him?'
'I hate Rangers.' He grinned. 'So, to finish the introductions, I am Hector Garcia. I had your head in my cross hairs, Governor, but your girlfriend stepped in the way. You are a very lucky man. Not so much her.'
Bode wanted to kill this man standing before him.
'Where's my wife?'
'Why?'
'I came to get her.'
'But, Governor, how do you propose to get out of this room?'
'Did you not just hear me? I told you I'm gonna kill you. So after I kill you, where do I find my wife?'
'She is upstairs, with Enrique.'
Hector now had an amused expression on his face.
'Your wife, she said you would kill me first.'
'I've disappointed her many times-but not tonight.'
Bode swung his right arm up, and just as he did, the doctor dove for their guns on the floor. Hector turned toward the doctor and fired his gun. With his left hand, Bode grabbed the Derringer riding on his right wrist and ripped it free of the rubber band. He pointed the Derringer at Hector, whose gun hand was now swinging back toward Bode. But Bode shot first. The. 41-caliber bullet from the Derringer struck Hector in his forehead. He fell backwards. But the doctor now lay on the floor. Bleeding.
'Doc!'
Bode dropped next to him. He found the wound in his upper leg.
'Why'd you do that?'
'A diversion.'
'Damnit!'
'Save her.'
The doctor passed out. Bode needed to find his wife and save her, fast, so she could save the doctor. He searched the doctor's pockets and found a handkerchief-and something else that might be useful. He stuffed the handkerchief into the open wound to slow the bleeding then took the doctor's belt and made a tourniquet. He put the Derringer in his pocket and grabbed a six-shooter and stuck it in his waistband then lifted the doctor and slung him over his shoulder. He had to find Lindsay and kill El Diablo.
Unless Eddie already had.
Eddie Jones had not confronted any more guards inside the residence. El Diablo apparently kept his soldados outside. Eddie now put his back to the wall and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Slowly. Listening for any sound. Any movement. He arrived at the fourth-floor landing. To the side that was visible from the stairs he could see an open door with a light on inside. But what was to his blind side? He stuck his head out beyond the wall and saw a flash of black.
'Damn.'
Bode had his gun drawn. He had carried the doctor down the corridor and up three flights of stairs. He had arrived at the fourth-floor landing and spotted Eddie.
His head.
His body lay on the other side of the landing; blood had oozed out onto the colorful Mexican tile floor. Neither Ranger Roy nor Eddie Jones would make it back across the river. Bode Bonner might not. But it didn't matter. What mattered-all that mattered now-was getting his wife and the doctor back across the river. Their lives were worth saving. Their lives had meaning. His did not. He was just a politician.
' Bienvenido, Governor! Welcome to Nuevo Laredo! Please, come in!'
The voice came from inside a room just off the landing. Bode carried the doctor over to the door and into a spacious office with a plate glass wall facing the lights of Laredo.
'Ah, the man who would be president.'
At the far end, a handsome Mexican man with a goatee stood against a desk holding an AK-47 pointed at Bode. A bloody machete stood against the desk. The governor's wife stood next to him. Wearing a short black dress.
'Oh, my God-is that Jesse?' she cried. 'Is he alive?'
'He's unconscious. Some hombre named Hector shot him in the leg. You El Diablo?'
' Gringos call me that. I am Enrique de la Garza. And where is Hector now?'
'Dead.' Bode turned to his wife. 'So is Roy.'
' My Ranger Roy?' Lindsay said. 'He came for me?'
'It seems that many men came for you,' El Diablo said. 'I did not expect you so soon, Governor. I took your wife, what, not twenty-four hours ago? You came quickly, and you have already killed Hector Garcia. I am impressed.'
'In a few minutes, you'll be dead.'
'Hmm. Well, perhaps you should drop your gun.'
Bode dropped the gun.
'Please kick it to me.'
He kicked the gun away then laid the doctor on the couch. He faced his wife.
'Why are you wearing a party dress?'
'Why do you have a tan?'
'Don't you think that dress is a little short for a woman your age?'
'A woman my age? Enrique thinks I have beautiful legs. Don't you?'
El Diablo seemed confused. Lindsay put her hands on her hips.
'You said I had beautiful legs. Do I or don't I?'
She pulled the dress up enough to expose her black panties. El Diablo couldn't help but look, and when he did the barrel of the AK-47 dropped slightly, which gave Bode the opening he needed. He pulled the Derringer from his
