Disclaimer: can be found in part one.

Carlton Decapri awoke at his usual time, 7:00 am. The only difference between today and all the other days was that he awoke with a smile on his face. A smile that had been there since the inception of his plan to get Maude Standish as his, once and for all. The simplicity of his plan was its genius. He was almost mad at himself for not thinking of it sooner, almost. At any rate, he'd finally get her. Maude Standish would be his once and for all. That is once he got that bastard son of hers. Once he had that boy he knew Maude would be at his mercy. From the start, for all her talk of her son being a pain in the ass, Carlton knew that Maude would do anything for that boy. Just so long as the boy didn't know it and she could hide it from everyone else. Yes, as soon as he got that bastard he could notify dear Maude of her son?s situation. There was not a doubt in Carlton DeCapri's mind that once he got that boy Maude would be his forever. It would be wonderful when he finally put that high-handed broad in her place.

~*~

If nothing else Ezra Standish was confused. The midmorning sunlight filled his still sleepy eyes immediately making him very awake and aware of his location. However his situation was a much harder thing to figure out.

Ezra was becoming frightened, and he loathed it. He really couldn't help it though. It was nerve racking to wake up and see no sign of the human life that surrounded you before you slept. He was especially troubled because he knew, from what Buck told him during the brief time he was conscious, that it was him, specifically, that these men were after. They were after him to bring him to his former stepfather. The thought of seeing that terrible man again made chills run down Ezra's spine.

Get a hold of yourself, Standish, Ezra chastised himself, Carlton Decapri is probably nothing but a withered old man now, and he's no harm to you or anyone else for that matter. Ezra told himself that, but he argued with himself. It is so hard to displace the demons of childhood. One gets over a fear of the dark or of monsters under the bed but getting rid of a real and worthy fear is something much more difficult. Ezra could still vividly remember the horrid beatings he had received as a child from that brute of a man. Carlton DeCapri had instilled a very real and tangible fear into his stepson. It had been exactly what he wanted to do. And he had succeeded, with flying colors. Whenever Ezra tried to displace his fear of Carlton DeCapri he would have dreams at night of the beatings and of his mothers terrified screams for help that were never answered. He dreamed of his own cries for help. He dreamed of how he would beg his stepfather to stop, and he dreamed of how when he did beg the beatings only worsened.

Ezra stopped these thoughts. This was the last thing he needed or wanted to think about. Instead he thought of his most current dilemma. He was in too much pain and was far too weak to attempt to get up and take a look around. So Ezra settled for scanning the area with just his eyes until he found some sign of human life, friendly or otherwise. At this moment, either one would be a relief to Ezra. As much as he hated himself for it, ever since Buck had mentioned DeCapri Ezra had felt unmitigated fear. It was as if everyone and everything he saw made him more nervous and more anxious. Having people around meant that he could avoid scanning the thoughts and memories in his head, but when he was alone there was no escaping them. This lack of people around him was coming close to driving Ezra insane. He continued to scan the area with his eyes in the hopes of finding some sign of life. Then, as if a gift from the heavens above, Ezra saw the dirt and blood clad figure, tied and gagged and just slightly hidden by a nearby tree. Then a terrible crossed Ezra's mind. What if it was Buck?

That singular thought was too much for Ezra to take. He just had to make sure it wasn't Buck. Ezra blamed himself for Buck's capture. How could he not blame himself? That rat bastard DeCapri was after him, not Buck. Just the idea that Buck may have been injured in any way as a result of this was too much for Ezra. He wouldn't be able to handle that. So despite his injuries Ezra forced himself up and headed toward the prone figure lying lifelessly on the ground. To his relief he found one of the miscreants that had apprehended himself and Buck. From the brief time Ezra had been conscious Ezra recalled this one to be Cordwell.

If this is Cordwell, where's Buck? Is Buck the one responsible for this? And if he is, where is he now? These and many more questions barraged Ezra?s mind. So, he decided, he would take a look around. Ezra looked around and spotted a nice long stick. He crawled over to it and picked it up. Yes, this will make a fine walking stick. Actually it will probably be more of a leaning, put-as-much-of-my-weight-on-as-possible stick. But, Ezra supposed it didn't really matter.

Leaning heavily on the stick, Ezra made his way over to where he could see the only half picked up camp sight. Good Lord, this just gets more and more odd. Something must have truly gone wrong for these, err...gentlemen. Then again, one can only hope. Ezra took stock of the scene around him.

It was not the disaster area one would suspect seeing after a fight had taken place. Despite the fact that things were only half picked up, everything looked like it was still in perfect order. Sleeping mats still lay on the ground, place settings with dishes, knives, forks, and cups still sat out, completely unhampered. Several cups of coffee sat with nothing amiss except for the fact that they were no longer hot. So, Ezra concluded, a fight probably did not take place. Ezra did however notice an opened satchel, he could see eating utensils and other trail items within it. He hobbled over to it, leaning heavily on his stick, reached down and grabbed the bag. There was nothing in it that was out of the ordinary so Ezra simply dropped it back onto the ground. A perfectly plain handless tin cup rolled from the satchel and followed what seemed to Ezra like a perfectly charted path. His eyes followed the little cup. The emerald orbs followed that cup on its journey down the sloping hill next to the camp all the way down until its journey ended with an abrupt halt hitting against the still unconscious form of Will Stevens.

"Mr. Stevens!" Ezra called, rather loudly from his positions atop the slope. "Hey you down there!" Ezra tried again. After a few more minutes of calling to the obviously unconscious man Ezra gave up. He decided to continue looking for, first and foremost Buck. However, if misfortune should happen to strike Ezra yet again (which Ezra figured was quite probable), he might run into the loathsome "Mac".

So Ezra continued looking around. He heard a faint neigh of horses and immediately thought to look there, assuming it only made sense that there would be someone there, preferably Buck, that is Buck fully awake and functioning.

"Hey guys, Buck and Ezra back yet?" JD Dunne exuberantly greeted, in much the way he had for the past four hours that he had been awake.

"They ain't back yet kid." Vin tiredly answered. He had decided that it wears on a person, being asked the same question upwards of ten thousand times.

"Sorry, Brother" Josiah answered, feeling much of the same tiredness and frayed patience that Vin felt. "Why don't you sit down here and play some cards with us." Josiah suggested offering, not because he really wanted the boy to join them, in truth JD was driving both he and Vin nuts but he also knew that JD was pestering Chris in much the same way he was pestering Vin and himself. Josiah knew Chris liked the boy. On the other end of Chris' somewhat unstable psyche was his lack of patience, especially when it came to things of this nature.

"Sorry guys, gonna go find Chris" JD was out the door before either Vin or Josiah could comment.

"Well Josiah, I figure I'll go find Nathan."

"Well now Vin, why would that be?" Josiah asked, despite the fact that he had some idea where Vin was going with this.

"Figure I'll tell him to get some bandages ready," Vin gave a wry grin, then continued, "Cause, if JD keeps up the way he's goin' either Chris or me are gonna shoot 'im."

~*~

Buck Wilmington feared he was being pulled awake. He didn't like it. He also didn't have a choice. He could feel the burning pain in the right side of his chest and in the middle of his back as he struggled just to take in breath.

The sudden sound of twigs and leaves breaking under someone's feet immediately got Buck's undivided attention. Since he could already feel the pain he saw no point in continuing to keep his eyes closed. If his worst suspicions were correct Mac was regaining consciousness and if that bastard was going to kill an already wounded (more then likely dying man, Buck inwardly thought) then he was gonna have to look Buck straight in the eyes while he finished it.

When Ezra reached the horses what he saw almost literally tore his heart out. He saw Buck Wilmington lying on the ground in a puddle of dark crimson liquid. His eyes shifted just slightly to Mac, who was lying in his own puddle of blood. The metallic stench was nauseating. The gambler moved quickly, much more so then seemed possible with his injuries.

When Ezra reached the rogue ladies man he dropped to his knees without thinking, causing immense pain to shoot throughout his body like a bolt of white-hot lightening. But Ezra didn't care.

"Buck, Buck!"

~*~

With that thought of total elation, Buck snapped his eyes open. He did indeed see Ezra. Ezra with a very concerned look on his face. On the upside, Ezra was looking significantly better then the last time Buck had seen him.

"Buck"

"Ezra, that really you?"

"Yes Buck, who else would it be?" Ezra teased gently and smiled broadly glad that his friend had woken up. "Buck, can you, perhaps, inform me of the situation? The only life I have found has been the unconscious kind. Meanwhile I will attempt, with my minimal skills, to tend to your injuries."

"Well," Buck was tired and his voice was shaky because of his severe fatigue. "Ya see, after ya told me 'bout yer stepfather and after ya fell back asleep. I figured I didn't wanna meet this guy an' you wouldn't wanna see 'im, so I decided to try to take out these fellas. Well, it worked up until this last fella. He musta heard me commin' cause he pulled 'is gun an' fired just as I nailed 'im in the head. Ya should check if he's still alive. When I hit 'im I heard bone crunch."

"I will indeed, check him. That is, after I have completed the task I currently have at hand."

"Naw, Ez Check 'im now. I wanna no if I killed 'im or not."

"Alright, Mr. Wilmington. If that is what you insist." Ezra once again forced his bruised and battered body up and half walked half stumbled over to Mac's unmoving body. He felt no need to reach down and check the man for a pulse. For when he reached the man he saw the monstrous gaping wound in his forehead, which was so massive that torn brain matter was visible within the man's head. Despite all this Ezra leaned forward and checked the man's pulse while doing his best not to look at the seen before him, it was sickening. "Well, Mr. Wilmington this man is most definitely out of the land of the living."

"So, what yer sayin' is he's dead?" Buck tiredly asked.

"That is correct Mr. Wilmington." Ezra nodded in the affirmative.

"Good." Buck simply stated as pain began to overtake him once more and it became difficult for him to breathe. "After what I watch 'im do to you, he deserved to die. Ez, stop pokin' at me. Yer as bad as Nathan. 'Sides I'm real tired, I wanna go ta sleep."

"No, Buck you cannot go to sleep."

"But, Ez, it hurts like hell, an' I'm real tired, jus' lemme go to sleep," sounding nothing like a grown man but more like a small pleading child.

"Buck, are you listening to me? No. Do not go to sleep."

"But-"

"Don't argue. You will not go to sleep. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Buck attempted to joke, however the effect was lost with the pain much more evident in his voice then the joke.

"Buck, I am certainly-"

"Well we sure do hate to break up this little party," Cordwell spoke, making his presence known while he and Steven's pointed their guns directly in Ezra and Buck's direction. "But we got to git you fellas to Mr. DeCapri so we can git the money. Hell, iffin it weren't for the money we'd jus' hightail it outta hear. After what ya done to us an' Mac that is. But that money's jus' too damn good. So you two jus' git yer hands up, so's we can git a move on." Cordwell spoke not sounding nearly as perturbed as one would think, after what Buck had done to him, Mac, and Stevens.

"Yeah," Stevens continued, "We was damn mad at ya, that is 'til we saw what ya done to Mac. Ya done killed 'im an' we figure that's the best thing that ever happened ta us. Ain't that right?" He addressed Cordwell.

"Shut up, you moron."

"What, I didn't say nothin'"

"Yes, you did you asshole, now they know we wanted Mac dead. Now they know they did us a favor killin' him."

Ezra just continued to kneel over Buck wondering how it could be that two men so completely and utterly stupid, and there was indeed no other way to accurately describe the two morons that were now in his and Buck's presence, could have managed to get into a position of superiority over himself and Buck.

"Alright," Cordwell, the new leader, began. "Standish, git on yer horse, now, or we'll finish of yer little friend here." Ezra could tell by looking into to the morons somewhat bizarre eyes that despite all his obvious loss of valuable brain cells he was dead serious and would have no trouble killing Buck. So Ezra walked over to Chaucer and mounted the beautiful chestnut, thankful that at least his horse was still in good health. "Stevens, tie 'im to the horse, make sure it's real tight too. I'll git this one tied to another horse an' ready to go." Cordwell gestured toward Buck.

Buck inwardly cringed at the thought of that man pulling him onto a horse. He knew the pain would be exruciating. But, Buck could think of no way to get around his misfortune.

As it turned out Buck was right in both aspects. He did not manage to escape his situation. He also did expirience excruciating pain when Cordwell pulled him up off of the ground and forced him to do most of the work and expend the last energy he had in pulling himself onto Lady's back. Futhermore, Buck now feared what the ride ahead would do to both him and Ezra. He also prepared himself for the shockwaves that would come when they got to Ezra's once stepfather, DeCapri.

"Here you are, Senors." Inez Roscios said as she put down the bottle of whiskey. She looked at the five worried faces and sincerely hoped that Ezra Standish and Buck Wilmington got back safely. Of all the seven she was closest to those two. She couldn't help but smile thinking of Ezra Standish. He had turned out to be a very good friend, not to mention attractive friend. If nothing else it was nice having him around just to look at. Besides that, she spent more time with Ezra then anyone else, since they worked together. On the other hand Buck had saved her and fought for her when Don Pualo came to get her. She could never repay him for that, but he was still a pig. She shook these thoughts off reminding herself that she had a job to do and should not be comparing those two.

All five of the seven peacekeepers that resided in Four Corners sat at the table that everyone recognized as theirs in the Standish Tavern. "Shouldn't they be back by now?" JD questioned. "I mean weren't they supposed to be back yesterday. I know they are easily distracted but it really isn't like them to be this late besides Buck has that Muffin girl in town he's been charming since she got here and he wanted to get back as soon as possible. Even Ezra wanted to get back as fast as they could because of those rich business men who came into town just before they left. It don't make sense that they ain't back yet!" JD shouted, frustrated that they hadn't already acted. However he quickly saw his mistake in yelling. "Sorry guys, guess I'm just worried."

"Ah, that's okay kid, 'sides I think ya might have a point. What-a-ya think, Cowboy?" Vin asked Chris enjoying the look that came onto Chris' face when he called him Cowboy.

"I reckon we best wire some of the towns they might have passed through and figure out the last time anybody saw them. JD why don't you go do that now."

"Okay Chris," JD said happy that at least now they were doing something.

~*~

Despair. If Ezra Standish felt nothing else, he felt despair as he continued to watch Buck Wilmington closely, despite the fact that he had lost consciousness long ago. At this point Ezra feared that Buck may have drifted off to sleep never to wake up again. That is, if the blood that continued to flow from Buck's chest and the blood that was now dripping out the side of his mouth was anything to go by. At this point Ezra had more or less forgotten his own physical pain. The emotional stress and worry he felt was far worse than any physical pain he'd ever experienced. He couldn't stop blaming himself for Buck's situation and if Buck died Ezra knew he would probably never be able to live with himself. The guilt was already eating him alive. When his mind wasn?t on Buck it drifted to thoughts of his less than stellar childhood and of Carlton DeCapri. Together these things made him feel as if some invisible force was sucking all the oxygen from his lungs and slowly but surely tearing his heart from his chest. To Ezra it felt as if the walls that were his life were now closing in on him. He felt trapped and terribly claustrophobic.

~*~

Bailey Cordwell was on top of the world.

He was very close to making a huge sum of money by bringing just one man in. In fact this sum was bigger than huge. Cordwell couldn't honestly think of the word but it was a fortune. Although he still, for the life of him couldn't figure out why the gambler was so valuable. Then again he supposed when it came down to it, that he really didn't care that much. Just so long as he got his money that was all he really cared about.

They had gotten the gambler fellow with relative ease as well. That made it that much better. That Wilmington guy had always worried Cordwell, then again Wilmington was no longer a threat. Although Mr. DeCapri had said he wanted both men alive. He surely hoped Wilmington was still alive. Cordwell hated the thought of crossing Carlton DeCapri. Cordwell had been with Mac when they made the deal with DeCapri. The man had sent chills down Cordwells spine the moment he?d laid his eyes on the man. DeCapri was not a good looking man. He was old and withered with devious, calculating olive green eyes and a misshapen, slightly cocked-to-the-right nose. He had snow white hair and was about five feet nine and shrinking rapidly. He used a maple and ivory cane to walk. However despite his withered exterior he was still a rather strong man as he had showed when, during Macs and Cordwell's meeting with the man a disgruntled employee had come in and thrown a punch at the old man. To both Macs and Cordwells surprise the old man caught the punch with his own bear hand, squeezed and Cordwell had heard the audible breaking of bone inside the mans hand. In fact, Cordwell suspected the cane was simply for show. And now they were mere hours from the drop off point and their half million dollars.