Over the Border

By Ed Alto

Jesse grew up in an interesting time in American history. In this western thriller Jesse's life will lead him in a different direction than he had planned. But, plans are just that, plans. It is the peolpe he'd meet and those he thought he knew that would alter his plans. Love, friendship and necessity would control Jesse's direction in a place aptly called the "Wild West".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ed Alto
• Release date: Oct 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466121829

Ed Alto

Ed, after retiring as a Civil Engineer, has tapped his creative side. He is currently working as an artist, a singer/songwriter/musician and has discovered that he can tell stories not only through his music but also by writing books. “Over the Border” is the result of that discovery and is Ed’s first novel. His passion for history and his talent for writing has been combined to bring this historical western thriller to life.Ed has a reputation as a true Renaissance man with his recently released CD “Every Ordinary Day” and the success of his artwork. His paintings have been accepted into several fine art competitions and Starbucks has his art on permanent display.Ed has said that writing “Over the Border” has opened up an exciting new creative venue for him. As a result he has written a follow up book “Deception Factor” which is in the editing stages and will available in the near future. Watch for its release.Ed is an avid outdoorsman and lives in the Northwest near Seattle. How he finds the time to combine all his passions is a mystery in itself. You can view Ed’s art, listen to his music, and contact him by visiting his website.

Book preview

Over the Border

By: Ed Alto

Copyright 2011 Ed Alto

Revised 2022

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

Forward by the Author:

No matter how hard one tries, events take strange courses. Courses we don’t plan on, and sometimes can’t control. The fact that I wrote this story is one of those courses which led me in a direction I hadn’t planned on. I wrote this story as the result of a song I had written called Over the Border. As I was writing the song an entire story developed. My choice was either to write the story or create a 45 minute song. Writing the book seemed like the wisest choice.

History has always been a passion of mine so being able to research historical data and use it to formulate the plot was both educational and exhilarating. This novel, aptly called Over the Border takes place at an interesting time in American history. The events that helped build the United States of America were many, forceful and rapid. In 1776 the United States of America gained its independence from the British Empire. By the mid 1800’s the country had gone from the original thirteen colonies to the area of the 48 contiguous states. In writing this book I attempted to fit the fictitious characters into the history of the time. The timeframe of the story ranges from 1860 to 1882. Historical events were used in building the foundation of the story, but the facts were often altered for the sake of the story. The story, though it presents some factual historical information, is still a work of fiction. The reader should research the history because the factual history is quite fascinating.

My main objective in writing this novel is to entertain. In addition, I find excitement in informing the reader to the history of the time that I wasn’t aware of. I hope that you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Ed Alto

Chapter 1:

No matter how hard one tries to control his destiny, events can take strange courses. Courses we don’t plan on, and courses we often can’t control.

It was March 17, 1882 in the desert of southern Arizona. Jesse Kane, 22 years of age, was heading home to his wife and son, who lived in Buenaventura, Mexico, after being away for nearly a year when a strange and unwelcome event occurred. Was it an occurrence of fate? Or was it the serpent currently in the back of Jesse’s mind that made him unaware of the serpent on the ground?

It happened in a split second. Jesse was deep in thought and wasn’t paying attention when his horse accidently stepped on the serpent that was crossing the same path that Jesse was traveling? The snake objected and promptly sunk his teeth into the leg of Jesse’s horse. His horse felt the sting and reared suddenly. Jesse who was caught off guard fell backwards off his horse. His head hit a rock.

When Jesse regained his senses, he could hear the rattling of a snake. He rolled over and saw a snake no more than a few feet from his head. Fortunately for Jesse his horse had fallen on top of the snake and the snake couldn’t escape. The snake was continuously sinking its fangs into Jesse’s horse.

Jesse backed away from the reach of the snake, drew his gun and shot. The snake fell motionless. Jesse rose to one knee. He felt a little dizzy. He also felt a pain in his shoulder and his head. He felt the back of his head where a knot had developed and it was moist. When he looked at his hand he noticed some blood. Jesse rose to his feet. He felt a little disoriented and unsteady. It took a few minutes to gain his balance. He dusted himself off and looked around the desert trying to focus as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his brain.

My name is Jesse Kane, and I … he looked over toward his horse lying wide eyed, breathing heavily, lying on the motionless snake. Jesse noticed the horse’s leg was bent and knew it was broken. He pulled out his gun and put the shot where he knew it would do its deadly deed quickly.

My name is Jesse Kane he repeated as he bandaged his head. Then he gathered his belongings. He removed the saddle bag from his horse but there was no way he was going to carry it anywhere. Jesse wasn’t sure what to do.

He felt it was a good sign, after hitting his head, that he could remember his name and knew where he had been heading, but a bad sign that he often felt fatigued and faint. He scanned the desolate expanse of desert as his head continued to pound. He knew he needed to find someplace to get his head looked at, and now he was going to need another horse. There were a few hours of daylight left and Jesse didn’t want to be stranded in the desert when night settled in.

Jesse took what he thought he might need from his saddle bag and stashed it between some rocks and covered it with brush a good fifty yards from where his horse was lying motionless. He didn’t want anyone stumbling upon it and discovering the contents of the saddle bag.

He picked up his hat as he analyzed the surrounding area so he would remember what the spot looked like. He carved some marks on a nearby tree. He certainly didn’t want to forget where he was leaving his saddle bag. Jesse’s head started pounding a little harder and he realized if the injury was severe it could be fatal if not attended to. He started walking, following a trail he hoped would lead him-to civilization.

After walking for some time Jesse noticed the sky was starting to turn dark and visibility was becoming difficult. The trail was becoming hard to discern. Jesse had been walking for some time without as much as seeing a ranch house. He was tired but kept walking hoping he could eventually reach help. He kept walking as if his life may depend on it, and it just might. He kept reminding himself of home and his wife and son which kept him motivated. He didn’t know what end might be waiting out here in the desert if he gave in to his mounting exhaustion.

Jesse had been walking a few hours when he thought he noticed, off in the distance, a glow. He was hoping it was a house and that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. He knew if he didn’t get some help soon the desert could claim another victim.

With all the strength his exhausted body had left and his pounding head would allow he walked toward the glow. As he got closer he could see faint silhouetted outlines of buildings against the gunmetal blue black evening sky. As he got closer he noticed the soft flickering glow of candlelight from windows dotting the darkened walls of buildings. As he walked toward the glow he kept tripping on the desert flora. His determination gave him the strength to raise himself up and continue forward because he realized he had made it. He felt relieved and somewhat revitalized.

He had come upon this town none too soon as the sky was now nearly black over the desert. There was only a sliver of a moon and the tiny dust specks from the stars that would occasionally peek through the scattered cloud cover.

When Jesse was sure he had reached civilization he removed and stashed his gun and holster where he would pick them up later. He needed medical attention. He didn’t want anyone feeling he might be a threat. He just wanted some help.

As Jesse reached the edge of town he looked down the center of the street. There was no one in sight. It was eerily quiet. It felt strange. He knew he desperately needed to get here but in a strange way felt a little uncomfortable being here. As he slowly walked down the street, something didn’t seem right. The town was a little too quiet. There wasn’t any activity on the street which he felt was unusual.

He wanted to call out for someone but felt that might not be a good idea. Yet, he was exhausted. It had been a long day and the throbbing in his head was severe enough that he was starting to hear strange buzzing noises and every so often he would lose his balance. He almost passed out a few times. He wondered, is this the result of a serious condition or is it pure exhaustion?

As Jesse walked down the nearly deserted street he noticed a sign on the window of a building which read Tombstone Epitaph. Tombstone, Arizona? He thought. This wasn’t the direction he believed he was heading, in fact this was a place he would have preferred avoiding, but under the circumstances, any port in a storm as they say.

Hey fella… you alright?

Someone’s voice came from out of nowhere. Jesse stunned, stopped and scanned the deserted street but couldn’t see anyone. Where had the voice come from?

Out of the shadows, from between two buildings the silhouette of a man appeared and walked slowly towards Jesse. He seemed to be glancing nervously around. When the man noticed that Jesse wasn’t wearing a gun, he felt safer approaching him.

Jesse was weak and just stood there hoping he could find out where he could get help. As the man got closer, Jesse could see the man was neatly dressed in a tan three piece suit and didn’t appear to be threatening. In fact the man looked quite nervous himself. The gentleman had noticed from the safety of the shadows a man walking down the street with a bandaged head, looking a little unsteady.

Your head is bleeding, are you alright? the gentleman asked in a hurried tone. Jesse hardly had time to answer when the gentleman started herding him off the street and said, You shouldn’t be out here right now. I’m sure there’s going to be trouble and you don’t want to be out here and get caught up in it.

Jesse certainly didn’t want to be caught up in any trouble.

Jesse asked, Is there a doctor in town? My horse threw me in the desert and I had a nasty fall. I hit my head and need to have it checked out.

Sure…Sure there is. Come on and let me help you over to his office.

The gentleman gestured for Jesse to follow him as he hurried off the street towards the safety of the shadows on the walkway along the buildings.

Jesse followed the gentleman as quickly as he could. He was somewhat concerned about the remark the gentleman had made and asked, What kind of trouble are you expecting?

The gentleman steered Jesse closer to the buildings where they wouldn’t be in the open and his pace slowed a bit.

It seems you don’t know what’s been happening around here. Here let me help you, are you sure you’re okay?

Jesse was feeling disoriented and dizzy and it must have been obvious.

We’d better get you to the doctors quick.

The gentleman helped Jesse stay steady on his feet as they headed toward the doctor’s office.

The gentleman then explained, The Marshall and his deputies haven’t seen eye to eye with the sheriff and some of the local ranchers around here and just a day ago there was a shootout at the coral down the street and some of the ranchers were killed and some of the Marshall’s deputies were wounded. Most of the town is expecting a retaliation and soon. It’s best to stay out of sight until this confrontation ends. Especially being a stranger. Nerves around here are quite short and trigger fingers are edgy.

They reached a building with a short stairway that led up to a door. There was a wooden sign nailed next to the door with fading letters DOCTOR written across it.

Here we are. The Doc’s office is just up these stairs here. You better put your arm around my shoulder.

The gentleman helped Jesse up the stairs so he wouldn’t fall.

The gentleman asked, What did you say happened to you?

Jesse just about had enough strength left to answer My horse was spooked by a rattler out in the desert. I was thrown and hit my head on a rock. My horse took off. I had to walk for some time to get here.

Jesse was glad to have some help up the stairs because he felt a little too dizzy to have climbed the stairs himself. Exhaustion had set in and he would give anything just to lie down and sleep for a while.

As they reached the top of the stairs the gentleman knocked on the door. The doctor opened the door and asked, What happened now?

Hi doc, this stranger needs some medical assistance. He came walking into town looking a bit tipsy and told me he was thrown by his horse and hit his head.

The doctor looked Jesse over as if to see if he knew him then he helped Jesse into his office and sat him down in a chair. He turned to the gentleman, Thanks Jim…I’ll take it from here.

The doctor then turned to Jesse Okay, let me take a look at you. It’s good to see someone here without a bullet in him for a change. The doctor checked Jesse’s eyes, removed the bandage from his head and checked the knot on the back of Jesse’s head. Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?

Three.

Good, do you have a headache?

A severe one.

Okay, let me get you something for that.

The doctor mixed a concoction and told Jesse to drink it down. He cleaned the wound on Jesse’s head and put a new bandage on it. So, what’s your name?

Jesse…Jesse Kane All Jesse wanted to do right then was to lie down on the table and sleep for a while. He didn’t want to be answering anymore questions.

Being pretty observant and noticing Jesse’s exhaustion the doctor said Why don’t you lie down for a while and get some rest. The doctor pointed to a cot he kept in the corner of his office. "Looks like you had a