Renegade 36 Read online

She said, “Pooh, he has not the balls for to fight Suarez. Suarez is muy tough. Move it in me some more, for heaven’s sake. I have chosen my protector, Captain Gringo. It is you, even though you tease a girl most wickedly!”

  He didn’t want her bitching any louder, so he treated both of them right until they came together this time. Then he rolled off, got dressed fast, and told her to stay put. She giggled and asked if he was coming back to do it some more once he found out what old Nopalita wanted. He told her that was close enough. Then he rolled over the edge, dropped to the ground, and scooped up his lantern and her telltale carbine. Then he had a better idea and put the gun back where she’d left it.

  He went first to where Gaston was sleeping and woke the little Frenchman up. Gaston thought the story was très amusant as hell but agreed there’d be hell to pay if they didn’t make some hurried moves. So they shook on it, and Captain Gringo moved across the slope to the bedroll he was currently sharing with Nopalita. The little blonde had undressed again but was wide awake. That didn’t surprise him much. She asked, “Where in the devil have you been, Dick? I awoke just now to find you gone and my poor pussy feeling neglected. I could not find you anywhere, even when I called. Have you been up to something, you naughty boy?”

  He laughed easily, slipped out of his duds, and slipped into the bedding with her as he said, “Yeah, I was enjoying a peep show. I’ll tell you about it later. For some reason it makes me horny too to watch other people having all the fun.”

  She demanded to know what he was talking about as he mounted her and managed to get it in, barely. Then her body was responding to his in its own demanding way, and once he was in all the way, he was able to meet her every demand with his reinspired shaft. There was nothing like a change of surroundings to put a bit of pep in a guy after all. She moaned in pleasure as he brought her to climax again. Then she said, “Wherever you were, I can tell you were saving this for me! I cannot believe your virility, Dick. It is as if we did not make love at all, earlier tonight.”

  He said he’d noticed she was sort of warm natured too. When she offered to get on top again and show him just how hot she could get, he said, “Wait. We have to talk. We may have some trouble in camp over other hot natures.”

  She asked what he meant. He said, “I try to keep old Gaston under control, but I’m not his mother, and like me, he’d hate to have any lady consider him a sissy.”

  “Oh? You mean he is flirting with one of our adelitas, Dick?”

  “Flirting would be an understatement. They were just plain screwing the last time I saw them. He seems to have made friends indeed with a girl I think you call Lola. Is that likely to cause any trouble?”

  Nopalita laughed and said, “Not with any of the women. The slut is always flirting with all the men, and I suppose it’s about time one of them took her up on it. You say you caught her with old Gaston?”

  “I didn’t catch ’em exactly. They didn’t spot me when I heard odd noises and sort of sneaked up on ’em. Does Lola have a soldado bigger than Gaston?”

  “Bigger, fatter, but not much of a fighter. He won’t make any trouble if Gaston wants Lola. I find this hard to believe, but some of the other women say she refuses for to sleep with the man I issued her to in any case. So no matter of honor should be involved, eh?”

  He said, “Bueno,” and suggested they catch some shut-eye. But she was wide awake and, of course, curious. So he wasn’t too surprised when she giggled and said, “Show me where they are. I wish for to know if it is true what they say about Frenchmen.”

  He said, “Okay, but let’s not let them know we know, doll. They won’t put on much of a show if we make them shy, right?’’

  She agreed that sounded sensible. So he helped her get half-dressed and led her across the darkened camp toward the ammo dump. As she saw where they were going, she asked, “How is this possible? I was here just a little while ago, and I ordered one of my men for to investigate when, in fact, I did hear noises somewhere in the pile. He assured me there was nothing going on around here, Dick.’’

  He held her hand to lead her around to the far side as he whispered, “What can I tell you? Maybe he needs glasses. Maybe he was just too shy to tell a lady he saw people screwing.’’

  She giggled and whispered, “He only said, in fact, he saw no rats. Where are they, Dick?”

  He stopped her and murmured, “Somewhere near the top, I think. We can’t get any closer without them spotting us too. But just listen if you don’t believe me.”

  They did, crouched on the uphill side of the ammo dump, and sure enough, Gaston’s voice was clearly assuring someone up there with him that all the high-toned Spanish ladies in Madrid took it that way when they really admired a man.

  Nopalita bit her knuckles to keep from laughing as they both heard Lola protesting, “Pero Gaston, querido mio, it is too big for to fit in me that way and ... Oh, Madre de Dios! What are you doing to me?”

  Nopalita nudged Captain Gringo and asked, “Is he doing what it sounds like he is doing, Dick?” So Captain Gringo patted her little rump and said, “I guess he’s feeling more Greek than French this evening. Could I interest you in a recital of the Iliad, doll?”

  Nopalita gasped and asked, “With a man hung like you?” as, atop the pile, Lola sobbed, “Oh, for God’s sake, take it out of my poor ass and treat me right, you cruel thing!”

  From the sounds they heard next, Gaston did no such thing. Lola was pounding on the wood with her fists as he pounded her from behind. At Captain Gringo’s side, Nopalita was asking, “Can’t we sneak any closer? I want to see. I have always been most curious about such matters.”

  He warned, “They’d only stop and we’d all be embarrassed. Let’s go back to our own bedroll. You’re right about it raising one’s interest, and I’ve just raised some interest it would be a shame to waste.”

  She hugged and giggled all the way back and, sure enough, once they were in the sack together it was her idea, not his, to find out just how awful anal sex might really be. Later, she confessed that while it hadn’t been as awful as she’d been led to believe in Sunday school, she preferred the old-fashioned way better.

  He felt so good he was able to do it that way again too. For should Suarez try to take advantage of what he’d seen earlier, Suarez was likely to be in a very surprising mess.

  The day dawned clear, and because smoke rises, breakfast was served cold as well as skimpy. As Captain Gringo shared a log with Nopalita and forced himself to down the half ration of rice and beans, he noted with approval that camp discipline was still good despite the lousy grub and weak, bitter coffee. The guerrillas ate in shifts and stayed scattered so that no more than a handful at a time offered one target for a lucky, harassing round from a distant gun. He still had to take Nopalita’s figures on their total strength on faith, since he kept seeing men and women he hadn’t noticed before. Some of the women weren’t bad. But he had no complaints about the blonde, in bed at least. He doubted she could have screwed every man in her band. So they had to be letting her run things because, he had to admit, she ran things pretty good.

  Most campesinos running off to join a rebel army had no idea of tactics or logistics, even though delusions of leadership were a constant problem in any Hispanic outfit. Apparently, Nopalita had kept them fat and happy since she’d grabbed the leadership in the first confusion of the retreat. It was no mystery why she’d grabbed him, with rather indelicate directness. Despite her enthusiasm for sex, he knew she’d been as anxious to have a full-sized fighting man backing her command of the outfit.

  He didn’t care, so far. He’d have ordered cold rations and told everyone to stay spread out too. It was a lot more fun to gain some control of the situation with his cock instead of his fists or trigger finger for a change.

  When Suarez and his own adelita came for their rations, the mestizo didn’t look Captain Gringo’s way and nodded, poker-faced, when Lola greeted them from where she sat sharing a tin plate with Gaston. It was
a little early to tell, but with luck Suarez might turn out to be a natural if rustic gent of the old school. Lola still seemed a bit confused about the swap, but not too upset about it. Captain Gringo suppressed a grin as he pictured the first time Lola noticed who was climbing up on the ammo dump with her after all.

  Captain Gringo changed the subject in his head by asking Nopalita how come some of her soldados wore odds and ends of Spanish Army issue. She shrugged and said, “When a sniper sees a new shirt or good set of pants he can use, it is his, no? Aside from that, a few of them deserted to our side in the beginning. Butcher Weyler feels as free to draft Cubans to fight other Cubans as he does to grab their livestock or blow their heads off for no reason at all.’’

  The tall American knew all about desertion, since it was one of the minor items he was wanted for. But just the same, he asked, “How many former enemies are we talking about and how come guys who’ve had at least some army training haven’t put in for field-grade rank, doll?”

  She swallowed some coffee and replied, “Oh, Cubans drafted into the Spanish Army are mostly given a pick and a shovel instead of a gun. Regulars from the old country do not like to dig trenches and lay roads. Cubans do not like it either, so they run away whenever they get the chance. As to why our Spanish Army men have not been promoted too often, we expect them to prove themselves first. As you know, this campaign has barely begun, and already things are going not too well, even with our old trusted leaders in command.”

  He grimaced, drained his tin cup, and set it aside to fumble for a smoke as he said, “Well, we’ve got all day to work something out.”

  She frowned and said, “Pero no, Dick. I plan for to march on as soon as everyone has eaten and packed their gear.”

  He raised an eyebrow and told her, “That makes no sense, doll. It’s broad-ass daylight and the country is pretty open around here. You march by day in woods and by night across open range, see?”

  She didn’t. She said, “It is difficult for to keep together on horseback in the dark. Some of our men and most of their adelitas have only recently been riding horses.”

  He said, “Swell. That ought to make it even easier for the other side if they catch you away from cover. Wise up, Nopalita. You saw me mow down a Spanish mounted patrol yesterday. The main force can’t be more than a few miles from here.”

  She shook her head stubbornly and said, “I know. I wish to be a long way from here with my people before more Spaniards come looking for those others. This wooded ridge is an island of cover surrounded by seas of grass and water, Dick. If they pinned us down here—”

  “We could put up a lot better fight than out in the open,” he cut in, adding, “We have automatic weapons and more ammo than you can shake a stick at. I know we couldn’t Alamo up here against more than a few companies with the guys we have. But we’re still a lot safer from the heavy patrols they’re sure to have out all around us right now. Where the hell were you planning to take your band anyway?”

  She said, “West, into the sugar and tobacco country, of course. I agree this is bad country to fight in. Aside from there being no cover, there are no plantations to raid for provisions.”

  He shook his head and pointed the other way with his thumb as he told her, “The revolution’s a few days’ march to the east, doll. You know how much you’ll be doing for your cause if you go into business for yourselves as bandits to the west? You’ll be playing right into Weyler’s hands. He’s got a lot of people convinced you’re just a bunch of bandits to begin with. Smart guerrillas do not, repeat, do not steal pigs and chickens from the campesinos!”

  She asked, “Why not? The Spanish do it all the time, and we have to eat too, no?”

  He said, “No. Not if it means turning the countryside against you. Put yourself in a poor farmer’s place, Nopalita. If you can’t do anything about the army helping themselves at your expense, you can at least cut down your losses by ratting on any guerrillas doing the same to you. It’s not in our official history books, but a guerrilla leader named Washington started out with a third of the people with him, a third against him, and another third that didn’t give a damn one way or the other until arrogant redcoats and the king’s unruly Indians convinced them the guys in the blue coats and buckskins had to be the good guys.”

  He could see from her glazed expression that he wasn’t getting through to her. This was not a new experience to him. It was not his first Latin American revolution. He said, “Never mind. Just hold your position here for now, and let me scout a little. I’ll take Gaston and a couple of the horses we got from that patrol. There’s a farm, a ranch, or some kind of settlement not far from here. If it’s not in Spanish hands, it might have some ox carts handy.”

  “For why do we need ox carts?” she asked.

  He said, “Guns and ammo are heavy. A freight wagon can carry a ton. An ox cart can maybe carry half that. Ten Conestoga wagons would be too much to hope for, but—’’

  “You are loco en la cabeza!” she cut in with a laugh. She patted his knee soothingly and said, “I told you when I signed for all those supplies that I only needed a few extra guns and perhaps a hundred or more rounds for each person in my band to carry, remember?”

  He sighed and said, “I remember. Esperanza was in no position to argue, and I wanted that schooner out of here fast. But the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a hell of a waste to abandon so much when Garcia needs it all so badly.”

  She shrugged and said, “If Garcia still lives, he is pinned down in the Sierra Maestra, surrounded by the main forces of Spain, who now control all the ways in and out. There is simply no way to get the guns to him, Dick, even if there was some way to move ten tons with a hundred human backs, half of them female.”

  “We’ve got the horses too. If everyone walked and each horse packed, say, two hundred pounds—”

  “I forbid it,” she said flatly. So there it was, like a chip on her skinny shoulder, and they both knew it was her outfit, not his.

  He shrugged, lit his claro, and tried, “Okay, say you all stay here and hold the fort at least until Gaston and I can find out what’s giving off light and wood smoke just over the horizon?”

  She shook her blonde head and insisted, “We shall not be marching in that direction in any case. So what does it matter? I intend for to hug the shoreline, where there is at least some cover every few kilometers. I intend to march within the hour. Have you chosen your mount and packed your own gear, querido?”

  He blew smoke out his nose like an annoyed bull and said, “We didn’t come ashore with all that much gear. The horses that patrol came in on are mine, by right of conquest. Your guys can have their guns and ammo. Guns and ammo I got.”

  She rose to her feet and stamped one of them, saying, “Be logical, Dick. You and Gaston can only ride two horses at a time. For why are you suddenly so selfish?”

  He said, “By the same logic you’re spouting, Señorita Libertad de Cuba. If it’s every good patriot for him or herself, and fuck what the little people think about it, I’m keeping the horses. I’m staying here. Don’t ask me what the hell I mean to do next. I’m still working on that. Suffice it to say I’m not about to leave ten tons of guns and ammo behind the Spanish lines. What did the Spanish ever do for me?”

  She tried fluttering her lashes as she said, “You big silly. You are trying to get me to stay by pretending you will not come with us, eh?”

  He shook his head and said, “I don’t play kid games. I’m a professional soldier, not a part-time revolutionary who bugs out when the party starts getting rough.”

  She swore, stamped her foot again, and flounced away, calling orders to her followers in a high-pitched but no-nonsense military manner.

  Gaston had of course been listening. He came over and took the blonde’s place on the log as Lola scampered off to do whatever she was supposed to do while breaking camp. Gaston lit his own cigar and enjoyed a few drags before he observed, “Eh bien, that was quick thinking.
Obviously, they shall be jumped by the Dons on the open range, hopefully some distance from here, and in the confusion we shall of course … do what?”

  Captain Gringo said, “If you were listening, you heard me say I’m still working on it. There has to be some way to shift that otherwise useless pile a lousy hundred miles or so, right?”

  “Mais non, wrong. Even if these frightened peasants were willing to help, the blonde was right, Dick. I assumed you merely meant to get rid of them so you and I could move more freely as we haul our own adorable derrieres to safety. There must be at least a few fishing villages the Spanish are not watching too closely, and I have noticed how good you are at piracy.”

  “Hmm, do you suppose we could swipe something big enough to carry that much tonnage?”

  “Merde alors, to where? Esperanza had a devil of a time getting this far west through all those adorable patrol boats. An attempt by sea would be even more suicidal than an attempt by land, and I have certain religious reservations about any manner of suicide, hein? We have done as much as we can for Cuba Libre. More than enough, when one considers how much they have paid us so far. Just the two of us on our own have an outside chance of at least getting off this skinny island alive. It’s over, Dick. The Spanish have won again.”

  Captain Gringo rose to his feet, saying, “Not yet. Not if Garcia’s still holding out to the east. Come on. I want to make sure nobody tries to swipe those Spanish horses.” They got to the remuda rope corral just in time. A guerrilla was in the act of saddling one of the handsome bays when Captain Gringo told him not to. The mestizo said sullenly he was only carrying out orders from Nopalita. Captain Gringo drew his revolver and softly pointed out that they were not discussing any livestock Nopalita had captured. The mestizo stared reproachfully at the muzzle pointed in the general direction of his nuts and decided he’d let his superiors argue about it.

  They did. A few moments later Nopalita herself rode over, her own carbine across her thighs. Captain Gringo left his sidearm politely holstered as the blonde demanded to know why he’d threatened one of her followers. He said, “I wasn’t threatening him, doll. I just said I’d blow his balls off if he didn’t get his paws off my pony.”