Same Old Song

Jimmy and Kid slowly made their way to the streets…the latter probably dragging a little more behind than the other. The sidewalks were barren and the few people that were out seemed to be running to wherever their destinations may have been. Kid stumbled off of the last step and with his quick reaction, Jimmy managed to help catch him before he ended up face first in the dirt.

"You okay, Kid?" Jimmy said, a bit concerned that his friend might be in worse shape that he had originally thought.

Kid shook his head, embarrassed that he was not able to stand up on his own two feet, but not ashamed to admit that he wasn't feeling quite himself. After all, the evening had not exactly been full of his favorite social activities. There were many things he could think of that he would rather have done than hear a lousy singer, and pull a nail filled board out of Lou's leg. "Yeah, I'm all right, considering."

Stepping back, Jimmy pointed a finger at Kid, "Don't you start on me too, you're beginning to sound like Lou." Smirking, Jimmy couldn't resist, "But you got to admit, she was lovely."

Not taking much pleasure in the thought at the moment, Kid merely nodded. His head ached too terribly to picture faces of girls. He just wanted the little white spots to go away whenever he glanced towards light.

They rounded the corner of the hotel and headed towards the Treasury Building. Both of their hands rested near their guns…just in case. The trickiest part was going to be finding the Marshal. It was quite interesting how in all of this mess, they hadn't even seen any local law enforcement. Surely a large city like Denver had its fair share of crime…

Flames still engulfed the wooden boards that were sprawled out across the street. For every three steps that they took, Jimmy and Kid had to take four steps around a burning obstacle. It was difficult to figure out where exactly they should start investigating…or why they were here in the first place.

"Is that who I think it is?" Jimmy nudged Kid, who glanced over in time to see a familiar lady crossing the street. She had lifted her fancy skirts up nearly above her knees and walked briskly as if she had a particular destination. Another young woman was tagging along behind, pleading her to turn around.

"I'm going to see what is going on!" She wheeled around, her friend nearly running into her at the sudden halt. "Don't you realize what this could mean?"

Grabbing her by the arm, the girl used all of her might to pull her back towards the theatre. "Yes, which is why we must go back! Please, this isn't our job, we're singers, remember."

"Excuse me," Jimmy said, walking up behind the girls, and causing the youngest to jump in fear. Looking carefully, and not really believing that he was this close to a "celebrity", Jimmy grinned, "You're the singer, aren't you?"

The girl's green eyes lit up briefly at being recognized. There were many advantages to being a star…and her favorite was probably being noticed by handsome men…such as the one before her now. "Yes, I am."

Jimmy looked back at Kid and pointed at the girl, "The singer!" He nearly tripped over his own tongue in excitement. She was even more beautiful in person than on the stage with the lights and make-up.

"Ma'am," Kid tipped his hat and slapped Jimmy's arm. He wasn't about to let his friend forget why it was that they were out here in the early hours of the morning. Sleep was something that he wanted to experience tonight. "Jimmy, come on, we've got to be going." He turned his attention to the two ladies, "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Extending her hand to Kid, he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with it.

"You haven't met me yet," she said flirtatiously, finding the young man extremely attractive. Kid raised his eyebrows in response and she grinned, "My name is Layla…so now we've met." She pointed to the girl behind her, "And this is Alana." The pretty blonde with the blue gray eyes nodded shyly.

Jimmy stepped forward, "And my name is Hickok, James Hickok…actually, it's Jimmy."

Kid would have rolled his eyes under normal circumstances, but instead he tipped his hat to the ladies, "Jimmy, if we're going to find out anything, we best be going."

At the possible meaning of the phrase "find out anything", Layla's ears perked up, "Are you boys trying to find out what happened here tonight?"

"Yes," Jimmy began, but was hastily cut off.

"Wonderful, then I can go with you…that's what I was doing before Alana here tried to stop me. Where do we start?"

Jimmy cleared his throat and looked to Kid for support. Kid, however, shrugged his shoulders and through his eyes told Jimmy that this was his "baby" to deal with and that he would take great pleasure in watching. Jimmy threw back a murderous glare. "Listen, miss…"

"Layla, just call me Layla."

"Yes, well…I really think it would be better if you two ladies went back to your hotel. This could turn out to be dangerous."

Trying her best not to roll her eyes, Layla figured that arguing with such a man would get her nowhere. She smiled charmingly and curtsied to the gentlemen. "Perhaps you're right. It is, after all, rather late, and I've had a busy evening. I should rest. Goodnight."

Turning away from them, she walked back across the street and watched Kid and Jimmy out of the corner of her eye. Inwardly she laughed at the naiveté of these men…like they were going to stop her from doing what she wanted!

Looking relieved that she had agreed to go back to her room, Alana released the air that she had been holding in her lungs, "Oh Layla, I'm so happy to hear that you've come to your senses! This isn't the sort of thing we need to get involved with. Let the men do it. You've got to stop playing hero…remember what happened in Kansas City?"

Layla did not hear what her friend was saying, and instead ducked into the shadows, "Shhhh! I want to see where they're going."

"No, you aren't going to follow them! I won't let…"

Putting her hand across the girl's mouth, Layla ordered her to be quiet.

"See, Kid, that wasn't so bad. All you have to do is tell them that it is too dangerous and then kindly ask them to go home." Jimmy smiled in pride at his earlier success, and could not help but rub it in that he could get two strangers to do what he asked…while Kid could not even get his own girlfriend to listen to him.

"Yeah, they listened to you because they are young, stupid, and don't know any better," Kid returned, amazed at his own quick wit.

Jimmy stopped and faced his friend, "What's that's supposed to mean!?"

Just then, Kid could have sworn that he heard a rustling sound. "Listen," he said, looking around for the source of the noise. "Hear that…there it goes again."

Jimmy strained his ears. He looked up and down the street, but saw nothing…that is until one of the shop doors flew open by a sudden burst of wind. Glancing at each other briefly, they headed towards it.

Stepping through the doorway, they scanned the room and saw nothing. In the darkness it was hard to see what type of shop it was.

"Hello?" Jimmy called out, before turning to Kid and shrugging. Walking towards the back of the room, they heard low voices emanating from somewhere in the building.

Slowly and deftly creeping closer to hear what they were saying, Jimmy and Kid were still not able to make out distinct words or phrases. It sounded as if three men were carrying on a conversation…and obviously did not want anyone else to hear precisely what was being discussed.

"You sure…I thought we nailed that place too?" One of them said, causing Kid to glance at Jimmy with wide-eyes.

"Listen, I'm not going to stick my neck out again this time…it's not worth it! Remember what happened in Texas when we blew up the…."

"Shut up, you imbecile!" The first man stated, "You want somebody to hear you!?"

Jimmy signaled for them to head outside, and Kid nodded, not wanting to become mixed up in any form of chaos. The sooner they could get out of there without being caught, the sooner they could try to find the Marshal, and apprehend these men….that is if they were the ones responsible. And from what they were hearing, it certainly sounded as if that were the case.

Layla crept through the shadows and trailed Jimmy and Kid. She was not about to be left out of any of the excitement. Gracefully she ducked behind one of the crates on the floor and waited to see what would happen next. She heard the faint voices and watched as Jimmy and Kid signaled each other to head outside.

Just then, the door slammed shut, and she heard a gasp as Alana jumped out of the way. One of the men from the back room shouted and instantly the store was in an uproar, "CLOSE THAT DOOR!" He barked.

The startling depth to those words caused Jimmy and Kid to make a break from the shop before the order was carried out.

After panicking, Layla leapt to her feet and without paying attention to her surroundings she jumped back into a pile of stacked cans…which fell to the ground in a hideous clamor. Panicking at the revelation of what would befall upon them next, Jimmy instinctively grabbed Kid's arm and headed off towards the door as quickly as he could.

Then, as a perfect illustration of the "domino effect", Jimmy slipped on the rubble beneath his feet (which had been caused by Layla) and tripped…sending them both face first to the ground.

Being a little more fortunate than the other two, Layla was able to make a run for it, and tugged at the jammed door. With one swift jerk, she was able to jar it loose and escape.

Kid groaned…realizing their fate as he heard the rapid pattering of footsteps coming towards them. He tried to stand up…making one last attempt to run for it, but he looked over at Jimmy who was ostensibly unconscious on the floor. Knowing there was no way they would get away now, and refusing to leave his friend, Kid let his head fall onto his arms and felt pain through his stomach as a sharp piece of metal dug into his skin.

Before taking his tumble, Kid had seen a bright flash of silver…a good indication that Layla had been the cause of this entire disaster. "Yep, Jimmy, the girls sure listen to you all right," he mumbled…spitefully.

Moments later rough hands seized him and hauled him to his feet. He noticed Jimmy was coming to as other hands did the same for him.

"Are you alone?" a man with a stubbled face and a lazy eye demanded, shaking Kid by the collar hard.

"No," Jimmy suddenly growled with his usual bravado.

"Who else is here?" Lazy Eye demanded.

"The British Royal Navy," Jimmy laughed recklessly, then his lip curled into a sneer before his captor, a huge man with a bulging stomach, brought the butt of his gun across his head, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

"I say we kill him!" Huge Belly said.

Kid tensed his muscles and struggled, ready to protect Jimmy. A sharp blow to his all ready wheeling head by Lazy Eye knocked him onto his knees.

"Didn't I teach you anything? You never kill a hostage till you know who he is and what he's worth. Go search outside…I heard the door blow closed, and it's open now, which means there was someone else in here."

Kid watched through the stars he was seeing as Huge Belly and another man ran outside. He prayed that they wouldn't find the girls.

Layla and Alana ducked into an alleyway, gasping for air in their tight stays.

"What have you done!" Alana hissed at her, "You probably just got them killed!"

"Shut up!" Layla growled back, not wanting to hear the truth, "If you wouldn't have gasped as loud as a freight train this wouldn't be happening!"

"Well if you would have just gone to back to the hotel like a normal woman we wouldn't have been out there in the first place Layla!"

"Excuse me ladies, I hate to interrupt this disagreement, but you'll kindly come with…"

With a quick look at each other they were off, flying down the alley.

Knowing it was a dead end, Huge Belly took his time lumbering after them.

"NO!" Alana shouted and pounded the high fence that impeded their flight with her fist desperately. In earnest she began shrieking at the top of her lungs, "Help! Help please!"

"Shut up!" Layla snapped at her, "We're in the shop district and there isn't anyone awake at this time of the morning. Look, I'm going to boost you over this wall, you run and get help!"

"I'm not leaving you!" her friend protested.

"There isn't much time, come on! You're our only chance!" Layla growled, and made a stirrup out of her hands.

With a sigh and a quick kiss on her friend's cheek, Alana stepped into it.

"Stop it! I'll kill you both, I swear it!" Huge Belly bellowed, starting to run toward them when he saw their plan.

With a cry of strain, Layla hoisted Alana into the air with all her might, and Alana grabbed onto the top of the high wood fence that would take her to the alley leading to the next street over. In a flurry of skirts she was gone, and Layla sighed in relief when she heard her swift footsteps on the other side.

"Get her!" Huge Belly told the man at his side, who instantly tried to jump onto the fence to go after her. With a shriek, Layla plowed into him, knocking him down, hopefully buying Alana a few extra minutes.

Huge Belly seized her by the elbow and threw her against the wall of a shop before hoisting his friend over.

Layla was on her feet again, about to bolt when he turned around and secured a deathlike grip on her elbow. Layla struggled fiercely.

"Do you have any idea who I am! My father is the Governor of New York, and he will have you killed if you lay hands on me!"

Huge Belly, quite the opposite of trembling in fear and apologizing profusely, as she'd expected him to do, laughed and began dragging her down the alley, her blows and struggles not slowing him in the least.

"The boss will love you, lady. I'd say as a hostage you'd be worth a pretty penny!"

Kid's head was whirling, but he felt he needed to stay conscious, to take notes of what happened and where they were going. What would the men do when they found out that he and Jimmy were simple pony express riders with no one in Denver to speak for them but a girl with nothing to her name but a fancy dress with nail holes in it?

Sheer exhaustion and two hard blows to the head made it increasingly hard to keep his eyes open. He turned them dully to the shop door as it opened and Layla stumbled, white lipped with furious indignation.

"My father will rip your guts out with a spoon, he'll pluck your eyeballs out and feed them to our dogs, he'll cut off your toes with …"

Her voice was as unpleasant speaking as singing, Kid thought with detached interest, and watched as she was shoved on the ground next to him, still rattling off in graphic detail what her father would do to Huge Belly.

She suddenly looked at Kid in fury, "Aren't you going to defend me?"

To his own surprise, but infinitely more to hers, a smile of sheer amusement curved his lips.

"Watch where they take us," he whispered to her, then crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Taking a look at her would be rescuer, then the other young man who'd warned her to go back earlier, Layla decided she was in big trouble, and throwing her head back, began a series of high pitched, grating sobs.

To be continued...Chapter Five