Chapter 10

We didn't have any trouble findin' the local whore house. Sam an' I walked inta the first cantina we came ta, an' I asked in perfect lower class Spanish where we could find it. I got the answer, an' we headed fer the place. We had two questions: did they have any American sex slaves, an', ifen that was true, was one of them Susan Hobart?

I talked ta the man what ran the whore house, an' Sam an' I both scanned him as I asked about usin' a young American. He said that he didn't have exactly what I was lookin' fer, but he did have a fresh Injun girl I would like. His mind said that he didn't have what I was lookin' fer, but there was such a girl in a house two towns over to the west.

I thanked him fer his courtesy, an' Sam an' I left ta take a look at that whore house he was thinkin' about. The town we was goin' ta was about 30 miles away. We spent the night in a cantina; thank God that my Spanish was good, so we didn't have no trouble with the management.

It was after noon afore we reached the town we had targeted. This was a big place, so there was two whore houses in town. One catered ta the average workin' stiff, but the other specialized in servicing the hidalgo class what had the money fer somethin' a little special. The second one was the more likely of the two ta be holdin' Susan Hobart, an' we went ta that one, first.

We was met at the door by a hulking monster of a bouncer. He wasn't gonna let us in 'til I flashed five Double Eagles. His eyes lit up at that, an' he stepped back out of the way. Sam an' I entered what looked ta be a very formal parlor, except that there was a bar ta one side of the room. There was a mat fer us ta use ta wipe our boot soles on afore we tracked anythin' unpleasant on the rug. We obliged the management by wipin' our boots, but I was happy ta see that we didn't leave a mark on the mat.

A man walked up to us to inquire about our preferences. He was dressed in the height of fashion fer the higher class. I almost laughed at the way his clothes contrasted with our common American work clothes, but he didn't seem concerned 'cause we wouldn't of gotten past the bouncer ifen we didn't have plenty of money.

I asked him about a young American girl, but he insisted that he didn't have that kind of stable. He assured me that all of his whores was pure blood descendents of the original Spanish conquistadors. I didn't believe that ta be the absolute truth, but he did, so I wasn't gonna argue with him over that detail. His mind said that he fully believed what he had said, so we figured that Susan wasn't here. However, he had a fleetin' thought that the other whore house in town did have several girls that fit my request. We thanked the man for his courtesy, an' left fer the other house.

The contrast between the décor of the two whore houses was somethin' ta behold. We walked in off the street without hindrance. There was a bouncer in obvious view, but this one carried knives an' guns an' looked ready ta use them. This house had a madam that was decked out like one of the workin' girls. I wondered ifen she turned a trick or two on busy nights.

Anyway, the madam agreed that she did have three girls that was young an' American. She sent them out on a little stage, an' the girls was all naked. One of the girls was definitely too old ta be called "young" in my book, but the other two looked the part. They was also scared ta death, at least that was the look in their eyes.

I asked the madam how long they had been here, an' she said that one had worked there fer two months an' one was brand new. I figured that the girls would catch hell from the madam ifen we didn't pick them, so I took the least experienced one an' had Sam take the other one. I used the mind-to-mind communication ta tell Sam what I was gonna do, an' I wanted him ta do the same.

When we got back ta the room, I told the girl that I only wanted ta talk. I told her that I had been hired ta find Susan Hobart, an' I wanted the chance ta question her. She gave her name as Agnes Jones, an' she was sold ta the whore house by her father. She said that she liked her job, an' the reason she looked scared was nothin' but stage fright. I was only her 10^th or 11^th customer, so she was still a bit fearful when she was on parade. However, she had no interest in bein' "rescued," unless I was gonna offer her a better job. She said that the madam took good care of her stable, an' the bouncer was diligent about protectin' the girls. I wished her luck an' tipped her four-bits which she appreciated.

When we got outside, Sam reported that his girl was a kidnap victim, but she was also not interested in leavin' the whore house. She had given Sam the name, Herbie Kincaid, an' a description of her kidnapper. That wasn't much, but it might be a small part ta helpin' with the solution of the Susan Hobart case.

We headed back ta the previous town. We had spent the night there, but we had not checked out the local whore house. That was a dumb mistake, an' I hoped that we wouldn't do somethin' that dumb, again. We was late in gittin' back ta the town, which was good in a way. The whore house could be expected ta be in the peak of its business hours, so we wouldn't make so much of an impression when we went in.

This place was run by a man, an' he was a real bastard, if there ever was one. He was sloppy, his house was sloppy, an' his stable was sloppy! I ain't never seen a more pitiful stable of whores. They was all old an' sagged in every place possible. A mind scan showed that he new nothing of Susan Hobart, an' he couldn't give us any sort of lead.

As we was leavin' the house, we passed a man also headin' out. The guy was drunk, but he was sober enough ta know a decent whore when he saw one. He was comparin' the women he had just seen with a batch he had seen three days ago. BINGO! This guy remembered a girl who seemed ta look a lot like Susan Hobart!

We got the information he had, an' the place he was thinkin' of sure fit the bill of the kind of place that Susan Hobart would be sold ta. By now, it was so late that we did spend the night in the cantina, but we lit out fer the place the drunk had been thinkin' about. Yeah, I know, we was gonna do what I had just sworn that we wouldn't do—we was gonna skip checkin' out the towns we passed through in pursuit of the hot lead. Oh, well, sometimes it paid ta change the rules of the game.

We covered the ground ta the prospective whore house in two days, pressin' our hosses ta move as fast as they could carry us. We rode into a two-bit town an' found the whore house we was lookin' fer. The house was on the edge of town, an' it was a big place. We went in through the front doors, just like we was an ordinary customer.

Dammit, this place was full of customers, an' there looked ta be at least three bouncers circulatin' through the crowd. They was well armed, as was most of the crowd. Ifen Susan was here, we could have a big fight when the time came ta leave with her. We could take care of ourselves. Our special abilities would let the two of us take out a lot more people than was in the buildin', but I hated ta kill anybody what wasn't directly involved with the kidnappin' an' the slavery.

We went in an' looked up the manager. He was a greasy sort what looked as crooked as a snake track. Not only that, his head was full of schemes on how ta git even more money from his women. Shit, ifen I was a woman, I think that I would kill myself, rather than live under the control of this man!

I asked my usual question, an' the guy said that he had just what I was lookin' fer. A face flashed through his mind, an' it was the spittin' image of Susan Hobart. His thought was that the girl was almost more of a problem than she was worth. He had paid top dollar fer her, based on her looks, but she was so damn full of piss an' ginger that she was a real pain in the ass. Ifen she didn't improve real fast, he was either gonna sell her or kill her!