"Rachel, we'll be back in a couple days." Buck and Cody were preparing to ride out. "Don't worry. I'm sure she's okay."

"I'm sure you're right, Buck. And I promise I won't worry too much." She smiled. "Or, I'll try not to anyway."

"Are you sure you can spare both of us?" Cody asked.

"Noah will be back this evening. There aren't any more runs scheduled until tomorrow afternoon. Kid and Jimmy should be back before then too, so one of them can take it."

"If you can keep Kid from going after Lou." Cody laughed.

"Ride safe boys."

"See you in a few days Rachel."

Logan stood out on the porch, his eyes scanning the landscape. Those express riders could show up any minute.

"Hey Logan." Giles came out to stand beside him. "What're you gonna do when those boys show up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they probably don't have any money for us to steal, and we've already got the horse; so what are we gonna do with them?"

"Well, they may not have anything we want, but if they find us we really can't let them get away. They'd have the law on us faster than we could blink."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"What's the matter Giles? Are you getting soft on us?"

"No...its just that....well why do we have to kill them?"

"They're in our way. Do you want us to get caught?"

"No, but..."

"What else do you propose we do? Just leave them tied up so they can get free and come after us again? Maybe with a posse?

"No, I guess not. But killing them doesn't seem right. We always just stuck to robbing until now. We never killed anyone before."

"We never had to before. The Carter gang had a reputation that made people give us what we asked for without any trouble. But something tells me those express riders aren't gonna be like that. If they come around here, we'll have to kill them."



Cody and Buck rode into Cottonwood just as it was getting dark. "Where do we start looking?" Cody asked.

"Let's try the hotel. If she was in town overnight, she probably would have stayed there."

"If Lou just decided to take some time off, I'm gonna kill her." Cody complained.

"You know Lou better than that. She would never decide to just take some time off. Something's happened to her. I have a bad feeling."

"Well, Buck. I hope you're wrong. 'Cause if anything's happened to Lou, Kid will kill her."

"Yeah, then he'll kill us."

"So, let's go find her."

"How can I help you boys?" The desk clerk asked as they walked into the hotel lobby.

"We're looking for a friend of ours. A pony express rider. He might have stayed here a couple nights ago."

"Sorry, no express riders have been here lately."

"Well, he was supposed to meet his sister here. Did a Louise Macloud stay here?"

"Miss Macloud? Yes, she was here. Actually, she left yesterday without checking out. She owes me $3 for her room."

"Was she with anyone?"

"I don't recall..."

Buck took the money to pay for Lou's room out of his pocket. He silently handed it to the desk clerk.

"She ate dinner with two other girls the other night. I heard them talking about meeting for breakfast the next morning."

"Yesterday morning?"

"Yeah."

"Did she ever meet them?"

"I don't know. Probably. The maid found her things in her room yesterday afternoon, but we haven't seen her at all."

"Thanks. Come on Cody, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"To the livery stable. To see if Lou took Lightning with her."



"I don't like it Jimmy! Going back to town will take too long!"

"Kid, its our only choice. If we try to atack them, Lou will probably get hurt, or worse. You head back to Cottonwood and get the Marshall to round up a posse. In the meantime, I'll keep watch and make sure nothing happens to Lou." Jimmy held up his hand to cut off Kid's protest. "You are not staying here Kid. You'd probably rush them and get yourself and Lou killed in the process. I'll keep and eye on things here."

"Jimmy..."

"Don't worry Kid," Jimmy said quietly. "I won't let anything happen to her."

Kid nodded as he headed toward his horse. Jimmy was right. The two of them were no match for the five gang members, especially since they had Lou. It just irritated him that Jimmy was right about his not staying. Any hint of a threat to Lou and he probably wouldn't be able to control himself. He just had to get to Cottonwood as fast as he could.

Chapter Seven

A couple hours later, Kid rode into Cottonwood and headed straight for the Marshal's office. He was shocked to hear familiar voices coming from inside.

"Marshal, we know she isn't here. Her horse is at the livery and her things are still at the hotel! All of them. She is missing."

"Now look here Mr. Cody. Just because you can't find the girl, Miss Macloud was it? Well just because you can't find her does not mean she is missing. Maybe she went off somewhere with those two friends the hotel clerk was telling you about. I don't know. But there's nothing I can do without some real evidence."

"I just told you that all her things are still here. Her horse is still here! You don't call that real evidence?!"

"No, I don't. And if you don't get out of my office right now, I'll lock you up for causing a disturbance!"

"Marshal," Kid could hear Buck's calm voice. "We're not trying to tell you how to do your job, but we know Miss Macloud very well, and she would never just go off with her friends and leave everything behind."

"I understand that boy, but like I said before, its not enough evidence to point towards her missing."

"How about this?" Kid walked in.

"Kid, what are you doing here?" Cody asked, glancing at Buck. Kid was really going to hurt them now.

"I came to talk to the Marshal. I know where Lou is, and she is in trouble!"

"Suppose you just sit down and tell me the whole story son."



Jimmy was getting worried. He had managed to find a hiding place closer to the cabin, and now he could hear everything the gang members were saying. It didn't sound good.

"Logan, we can't keep three hostages for very long. We only planned on having two, and only for a few days. Now we have three, and probably for at least a month. And what if the girl has friends that come after us?"

"Calm down Shawn! We're only keeping the girl, Louise, in case those pony express riders show up. If they aren't here by dawn, we'll get rid of her. If the aren't here by then, they probably aren't coming anyway. And if they do show up, we can handle them without needing a hostage. The girl just provides extra insurance."

"Kid, please hurry," Jimmy whispered to himself. Lou was in real danger, and at that moment Jimmy was relieved he had made Kid leave. It was all he could do to keep himself from charging at the two men. If Kid were the one who stayed, Jimmy would probably return with the Marshal and his posse, only to find Kid and Lou's bodies left behind by the gang. They would figure that one of the riders went to get the Marshal and flee to a new hideout after they killed Lou and the Kid....

Jimmy shook his head, trying to stop his morbid imaginations. He had to focus on formulating some kind of plan. Hopefully Kid would be back soon, and he had to have a plan. It looked like they wouldn't have much time.

"Louise, what are we going to do? I'm not just going to sit here and let them kill us." Lou smiled at Elizabeth's whispered message. Lizzy had always had more courage than most girls. Anna too, and they proved they still did once the shock of being held hostage had worn off. That was probably why the three girls were such good friends.

"Kid and Jimmy will be coming after the gang, I'm sure. Kid would never let anyone get away with stealing his horse. When they get here, just try to stay out of the gunfire as much as possible. There's not really anything else we can do."



"So you're sayin' the whole Carter gang is camped out in a cabin only two hours from here?"

Kid nodded grimly.

"And they are holding that lady friend of yours hostage?"

"Look Marshal, I would love to stay and repeat the story, but that's my girlfriend they've got. I'd appreciate it if you would round up a posse so we could go after them before its too late?"

"Of course, son. You boys wait here, and I'll be back in just a few minutes." He headed out the door.

"Kid, do you have a plan? I mean, we can't just charge in there with a posse if they have a hostage," Cody asked.

"I don't know, Cody. Me coming back here for the Marshal was Jimmy's idea. I would rather be back there watching out for Lou. But as soon as I saw they had her, my brain shut down. This is Jimmy's plan. I can't even think right now."

"Well, then we have to trust Jimmy to have a plan when we get there," Buck smiled at Kid. "And don't worry Kid, he will."



Jimmy had been sitting in the woods watching the cabin ever since he had returend to his original hiding place two hours ago. There was a lot of activity going on, and he desparately wished he could have remained closer to the cabin, where he could hear what was going on. But there was a bigger chance he would be caught there and that wouldn't help Lou at all. Besides, Kid had to know where to find him.

So for two hours he had been watching the activity of the gang; the whole time trying to formulate some kind of plan to get Lou and the other two hostages out of there.

The only thing he could come up with was to use the posse to distract the gang so he and Kid could sneak into their camp and rescue Lou and everyone else. The only problem was, anyway he could figure out for him and Kid to get down there without being seen required more than two people.

Buck and Kid could sneak around behing the cabin, and Cody could get range on anyone on the porch from that rock. I could sneak around from the other side....

It was no use. Buck and Cody were in Rock Creek. It was up to just him and Kid. It looked like they needed a miracle.

"Jimmy," Kid walked up to him. "The posse is waiting just behind that clump of trees. And look who showed up in Cottonwood, looking for Lou when she didn't come back from her run."

"Cody and Buck! Well, there's my miracle."

"What?" Cody asked.

"Nothing. Listen carefully, here's the plan."



Thirty minutes later, the posse waited at the edge of the woods for Cody's signal. Jimmy had managed to sneak around to the other side of the cabin. He was joined by Buck and Kid, who were awaiting their chance to get behind the cabin.

Suddenly, Cody fired a shot in the air. The posse showed themselves as three of the gang members appeared on the porch.

"Logan Carter!" The Marshal yelled. "You and your brothers are under arrest for bank robbery! Give up now! You are surrounded; there is no escape!"

"Well Marshal, you are wrong there!" Logan Carter appeared on the porch, Lou held in front of him. "You see, if any of you come any closer or try to apprehend me or my brothers, this pretty little lady is gonna die!"

It took all of Kid's self-control, along with the help of a restraining grip on his arms by Jimmy and Buck, to keep him from rushing the man who was holding a gun to Lou's head.

"It'll be okay Kid. The posse's not gonna do anything to put Lou in danger." Jimmy tried to reassure him.

"She already is in danger!" Kid exclaimed. "Or am I only imagining this?" he asked, almost desparately wishing it was so.

"I'm sorry Kid, you're right. Lou is in danger. But the posse won't put her in any more danger. If it gets too serious, or maybe I should say, too much worse," Buck quickly corrected himself when he saw the look on Kid's face, "they will back off. They aren't going to let her get killed Kid."

"You two better get ready to go," Jimmy said. "Be careful though, there's one more inside with the other two hostages. They probably have a gun on the back door."

Their attention was diverted from the cabin as the Marshal suddenly called to Logan again.

"I'm only telling you one more time, Carter! Surrender, or we'll be forced to fire!"

"You'd force me to kill this pretty little lady? Why Marshal, you aren't much of a gentleman, putting a lady in danger unnecessarily."

"The way I look at it Carter is we have to sacrifice the one to keep you boys from hurting any more people!"

Kid, Buck and Jimmy looked at each other in shock. "That dirty little..." Kid began to mumble.

"He's only out for his own glory. He doesn't even care who gets in the way!" Buck said increduously.

"We should have known," Kid moaned.

"Why would you have known, Kid? He's a lawman!" Jimmy asked.

"Well, he didn't even want to help us when Cody and I first told him Lou was missing," Buck explained. "But when Kid walked in and told him the Carter gang was nearby and had Lou, he stopped insisting he couldn't help and practically jumped at the opportunity to catch them."

"He's gonna try to bring them in whether Lou's in danger or not," Kid said, his voice icy. "I'm going to stop this right now!" He jumped up and ran toward the porch, and Jimmy and Buck could do nothing to stop him.

Chapter Eight

The next few seconds flew by so quickly, nobody was sure of exactly what happened. At first the people on the porch didn't notice Kid running toward them. Suddenly Kid stopped short as Elizabeth burst out of the cabin with Shawn right behind her.

"Elizabeth, no!" Lou cried.

Logan's next move proved to be his fatal mistake. He saw Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye, and, as a reflex action, turned his gun toward her. Kid saw his opening, and two simultaneous gunshots rang out. Elizabeth fell against Shawn; she was killed instantly. Logan's face reflected his shock as the life drained out of him. He fell towards Lou, knocking her off the porch. Kid reached her side in three strides.

"Lou are you okay?!"

Before she could answer, gunshots began to sound across the clearing.

"We've got to find some cover Lou. Come on." They began to crawl around the side of the cabin.

"Kid, Anna's still inside."

"Is there a back door to the cabin?"

"Yeah. I don't think there's anyone guarding it now either."

They crept up to the back door and listened for sounds of anyone guarding the door.

"Lou, stay here until I get inside."

"Kid..."

"I mean it Lou. You don't have a gun." Kid's face warned her not to argue with him. "As soon as I'm sure its safe you can come in."

"Be careful Kid. If Elizabeth got loose, its pretty likely Anna did too. She's likely to attack you."

Kid looked confused. "I'm sure she'll do no such thing."

"Don't say I didn't warn you Kid," Lou smiled at him.

Kid just shook his head and moved toward the door. He paused beside it and listened for a moment before throwing it open and entering the room with his gun drawn. He barely got inside before he was hit from the side by a tremendous force.

"Ow! What the..." he cried as fists began hitting him. He struggled to get up, but the fighter was determined.

Suddenly the fists stopped hitting him. He looked up to find Lou and another young lady standing over him.

Lou smiled. "Kid meet Anna. Let me just say, I told you so."

Kid closed his eyes and groaned. "Great! Another Lou. That's all we need."

The two girls laughed. "Come on, Kid," Lou said. "Let's get out of here."

"Where's Elizabeth?" Anna asked.

Lou's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Anna. She ran into the line of gunfire."

"She was going to try to help you." Anna was crying.

"She saved my life," Lou told her, also crying.

The gunfire outside stopped. Lou and Kid led Anna out the back door of the cabin. They made their way around the side of the cabin. Kid looked around the corner to make sure it was safe. The Marshal and his posse were putting handcuffs on Giles and Shawn. The other gang members were dead, as was Elizabeth.

"Thanks for you help boys," The Marshal said to Kid, Jimmy, Buck, and Cody. "I'm sorry you had to be put into such danger Ma'am," he addressed Lou.

Something resembling a growl came from Kid. It took Jimmy and Cody to restrain from attacking the Marshal.

"Kid," Lou said soothingly. "Calm down, I'm fine. He's not worth it anyway."

"Let's just get out of here," Kid said.

The six of them, the four boys and Lou and Anna, headed toward Cottonwood to retrieve Lou and Anna's things before heading home.

The Marshal and posse stared at the fading image of the riders as they headed toward Cottonwood. The Marshal shook his head. "I sure do envy Marshal Hunter. That's one fine group of young men he has working for him." He turned his horse toward Cottonwood. "Let's get these prisoners to the jail."

Epilogue

Cottonwood, Two Days Later

"Good-bye Lizzy. I'll miss you," Lou whispered. She and Anna were standing beside Elizabeth's freshly dug grave. The preacher had just finished the short service, and now the boys were waiting at the entrance to the cemetery while Lou and Anna said good-bye to their friend.

"What are you going to do now, Anna?" Lou asked her.

"I'm leaving on the stage tomorrow. I think I'm going to go back to the orphanage for a little while. They asked Lizzy and me to come teach, but since we were supposed to be getting married, we said no. If the position is still open, I may stay there for a while. What about you?"

"I think the boys are ready to get back to Rock Creek. We'll probably leave soon, if you will be all right here. I don't want to leave you alone, but..."

"Don't worry about me, Louise. I'll be fine. You have a job to get back to," Anna smiled. "I still can't believe you ride for the Pony Express. I really guess I shouldn't be surprised though. You always had more courage than the rest of us girls."

"I don't know about that. If you ever wanted to try my job, I'm sure you could handle it."

"Sure, anytime," Anna replied. "But I doubt I'd be as good as you. You could probably show these boys up anyday. I bet you're the best rider in the whole Express."

"Now look here, Anna," Kid smiled as he put his arm around Lou's waist. "I already have to worry about her enough as it is. Please don't encourage her!"

Lou pretended to look mad as the other laughed. "Actually Kid," she said in mock sternness. "She isn't telling me anything I don't already know. I could ride better than you boys anyday."

"Is that a challenge?" Buck asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, great!" Kid groaned. "Now they're gonna force us to race all the way back to Rock Creek."

"Speaking of that," Jimmy said. "Its about time we got started."

"Good-bye, Anna. Have a safe journey," Lou hugged her friend good-bye.

"You too, Louise. Come visit me at the orphanage soon, okay?"

"You've got it. Say hi to Jeremiah and Teresa for me please. Tell them I love them, and I promise to come visit as soon as I can."

"I will. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Anna." Lou jumped on her horse. "I'm gonna show these boys up once and for all," she smiled. "Even if I am wearing a dress." With that she took off, leaving the boys in a cloud of dust.

"Hey! Wait up!" Cody yelled as they hurried to catch up with her.

Anna smiled as she watched the riders disappear in a cloud of dust. Memories of horse races at the orphanage, all of which Louise won, flashed through her mind. She shook her head as she walked toward the hotel. Some things never change!



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