David Robbins: Nevada Run

Blade stared at the matron. What were they going to do? If they tied her up and left her at the diner, someone was bound to come along, find her, and let her loose. Taking her with them wasn’t feasible either. One of them would need to watch her at all times, and he couldn’t spare anyone for the job.

The matter was suddenly taken out of his hands.

Helen absently lowered her carbine to her side, gazing at the matron with a slight grin on her face. “Now I want you to tell me something,” she said.

“What’s that, dearie?” Ma responded.

Helen smiled sweetly. “I’d like to know what’s in that apron of yours?”

Ma stiffened. “There’s nothing in my apron.”

“Prove it,” Helen stated.

Blade saw Ma sweep her right hand from under her apron, and he detected the metallic glint of a gun even as he brought the Commando up.

But before he could squeeze the trigger, Helen fired. Her slugs slammed into the matron’s neck and face, and Ma was hurled backwards to tumble over a chair.

Ma wound up on her right side, crimson spurting from her throat and mouth, a derringer clutched in her lifeless right hand.

Helen walked over to the matron and nudged the body with her right boot. “She got what she deserved!” she snapped.

“Nice shootin’,” Hickok said. “I was going to plug her myself, but I figured you should have the honor.”

Helen looked at Blade. “Can we take off now?”

“In a minute,” Blade told her. “We must settle some things first.” He paused. “Who’s in charge here?”

“You are,” Helen replied promptly.

“Who decides when we will fight and when we won’t?” Blade asked.

“You do,” Helen said.

“Then why did you start this?” Blade demanded. “You didn’t even believe this was a trap when we suggested it.”

Helen gazed at Ma’s corpse. “I got to thinking about the things Hickok and you said. I realized you were right. And the more watched Ma, the more convinced I became that she knew something about Mindy. When she mentioned Don Pucci, that clinched it. I’m sorry. I was way out of line.

I should have waited for your signal. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Blade cautioned. He surveyed the diner. “Let’s head for Vegas before someone else shows up. They’ll never know who did this if they’re aren’t any witnesses.”

Helen hefted her Carbine. “I should be honest with you.”

“How so?” Blade responded.

“I’ll try to follow your orders at all times,” Helen said. “But when we get to Vegas, if we find Mindy has been hurt or been forced to become a… a prostitute, then I intend to kill everyone responsible. With or without your permission.” She stalked toward the front door.

Blade sighed in annoyance. He should have expected this attitude.

Helen was too emotionally involved with the mission to function effectively. He should never have agreed to bring her along.

Hickok was reloading the spent rounds in his Pythons, smiling impishly.

“What’s so funny?” Blade asked.

“Helen,” Hickok replied.

“What about her?”

Hickok watched her walk out the door. “I never realized it before, but the lady is a lot like me.”

“As if I didn’t have enough to worry about,” Blade muttered.

“Here he comes,” Hickok announced.

Blade saw him too. Geronimo was 500 yards off, jogging up the hill toward the stand of trees and brush in which the SEAL was concealed.

“I don’t know how wise it is to leave the SEAL here when we go into Vegas,” Helen commented from the giant’s left.

Blade glanced at her. “There you go again.”

“But we’d be safer in the SEAL,” Helen said. “It’s bulletproof.”

“It would also stand out like a sore thumb,” Blade told her. “We’ve seen over a hundred cars and trucks enter Vegas since we pulled into these trees. But the SEAL is unique. There’s nothing else like it. We’d attract too much attention if we take it into Vegas. So we’ll go in on foot.” He stared at the buildings to the southwest. Only an hour ago they had driven over a rise and spied the city approximately a mile distant. He had continued on until he’d spotted a suitable site to camouflage the transport, then wheeled off the road after checking to guarantee no one was coming from either direction. Now, as he waited for Geronimo to reach them, he double-checked the makeshift latticework of branches and brush they had used to hide the SEAL.

“Las Vegas is huge,” Helen remarked with a touch of trepidation. “How will we ever find Mindy in there?”

Blade adjusted a large limb over the SEAL’S grill. “We’ll find her,” he vowed.

“Do you have a plan?” Helen asked hopefully.

“We’ll play it by ear,” Blade said.

“That’s a plan?” Helen retorted.

Blade gazed at her. “Do you have a better idea?”

“I sure do,” Helen stated. “You said Mindy will be at the Golden Crown Casino, right?”

“That’s what Ted was told,” Blade confirmed.

“Then I say we march right into the Golden Crown Casino and get her back!” Helen declared.

“No,” Blade said.

“Why not?” Helen demanded.

“Will you think with your head instead of your heart?” Blade responded. “They will be expecting us to do exactly like you propose.

They’ll be waiting for us. And what good can we do Mindy if we walk into a trap?”

“We can’t leave her in their hands!” Helen objected.

“I don’t intend to leave Mindy in their hands a second more than is absolutely necessary,” Blade said. “But we’ll take it slow at first. We’ll mingle, walk around, act like everybody else, blend right in. Hopefully, we can discover the extent of our opposition.”

“Whatever you say,” Helen commented halfheartedly.

Blade moved around the transport, carefully inspecting the camouflage.

Helen’s shoulders slumped as she faced Las Vegas. She noticed Hickok was to her right, leaning against a tree, staring at her. “What are you looking at?” she snapped.

“I’m admirin’ your fortitude,” the gunfighter said.

Helen studied him for a moment, trying to determine if the gunman was serious. He was.

“I also wanted to apologize for the crack I made about your husband,” Hickok said sincerely. “It was a bone-headed thing to say, but you did get me all riled up.”

“I guess I had it coming,” Helen said.

“I had no right to comment on your personal life,” Hickok mentioned.

“I was just fed up with your gripin’.”

Helen looked up at the blue morning sky. “I can’t believe how I’m acting on this trip!” she remarked pensively. “I pride myself on my self-control, but I certainly haven’t exhibited any.”

“Who can blame you?” Hickok said. “If my son was down there, I’d go crazy.”

Helen sighed. “Mindy is all I have left in this world. My parents died about six years ago. Then Andy left me for another woman. Talk about creating a scandal! We were the talk of the Home for months! Divorces are extremely rare in the Family. You know that. I’m sure you heard all the gossip.”

“I heard it,” Hickok said softly.

“I was heartbroken,” Helen divulged. “I loved Andy. Truly loved him. I was stunned when he told me he wanted a divorce. He claimed I was stifling his manhood. Can you imagine that?” She laughed bitterly. “We appeared before the Elders, and he stood there and read a list of reasons for our marital failure, as he called it. I was too bossy. I was a dictator. I couldn’t relate to him as a woman. I was immature. I was spiritually stagnant.” She stopped and closed her eyes. “According to him, I was the worst woman imaginable. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when the Elders granted his divorce petition, but I was.”