Rachel couldn't believe how quickly life could change in a matter of hours. As she sat in the buckboard next to Charlotte and Travis, racing towards St. Joe, she could only hope they'd find Teaspoon and the boys in time.

It had only taken an hour for Teaspoon, Jimmy and Buck to be ready to move out. They hoped to make St. Joe by sun-up if they only took short breaks for the horses and didn't make camp for the night. Rachel had argued and pleaded to go with them, hating the idea of being left alone, but Teaspoon was insistent that she stay in Rock Creek. They'd grown closer in the past months as the Express closed and their family fought to stay together and he'd whispered that he didn't want to have to worry about her too. One of his girls missing was enough for him.

She only let the tears born in fear fall once the riders were out of sight. If Lou had disappeared it could only mean something terrible had happened. She worried that there had been an accident and Lou was injured or worse, or maybe a lowly bandit had kidnapped her. No matter what the cause, it couldn't be good. Dropping to the top step, Rachel sat and rocked herself as she prayed for them all.

Rachel was still steadily rocking when Charlotte Rowan McKay and her new husband Travis McKay pulled up at the old station. Charlotte was off the buckboard and rushing to Rachel before Travis could reach up to help her down. "Rachel! We're finally home and I just had to race right over and see all of you. We had such a wonderful time; New Orleans is an amazing city, so lively! It's awfully quiet around here today. Where is everyone, Rachel?" Charlotte finally stopped for a breath and realized that her friend wasn't saying anything and in fact, looked as if she was crying. "Rachel, what is it?"

Rachel looked up at Charlotte, almost confused to see her standing there. "You're home. Did you have a nice honeymoon trip?" she asked in a monotone.

"Never mind that, Rachel. Have you been cryin'? What's going on here?" Charlotte could see it was beyond quiet at the station, it was almost like a ghost town.

Rachel got to her feet and started to pace. "It's Louise."

"Louise? What happened to her? She's not." Charlotte couldn't allow the thought that something had befallen her old friend.

"No. I don't know. No." Rachel shook her head in an effort to force her brain to work and help her form coherent sentences. "I mean that I don't think so. She was fine up until a few days ago and now she's missing. I don't know what happened to her."

"Are Kid and Teaspoon and Jimmy out lookin' for her?" asked Travis. "Maybe I should go help them."

"Actually Teaspoon and Jimmy left with Buck over an hour ago. They're ridin' to St. Joe right now to help Kid look for her."

"St. Joe?"

Rachel and Travis looked at Charlotte curiously. Her hand covering her heart, she was deathly pale and looked as if she might faint.

Travis stepped to his wife's side and helped her to the porch swing so she could sit down. "Are you okay, sweetheart? You don't look so good."

Charlotte didn't want to ask, but had to know. "Rachel, what is Louise doing in St. Joe?"

"She and Kid went there to do some shopping and go get Teresa and Jeremiah. After you two left for your trip a letter arrived from Sam and Emma. They gave them the deed to the station in Sweetwater as a weddin' present and Kid and Lou decided to use the money you gave them to start a ranch. They've talked about it forever. They knew they couldn't go without the children and they decided to get some things for their home while they were there. What's wrong, Charlotte? They weren't gonna leave without sayin' goodbye. They were due back here in a few days and then they were leavin' for Sweetwater in about a weeks time. Well, at least they were before this."

"It doesn't make sense what happened." Travis clutched Charlotte's hand in his and patted it to calm her. "How is Louise missing?"

"I don't have any specifics, but we got a telegram from Kid this mornin' that said Lou was missing and to come to St. Joe as quick as possible. I'm guessing she had an accident. Maybe she bumped her head and doesn't know where she is. Kid must be frantic."

Charlotte brushed off Travis and stood to pace the porch. She knew it was more than an accident that had Louise waylaid. It was something Louise would remember very well and the older woman knew if she didn't do something, it might be the last thing she remembered. "We have to go to St. Joe."

Rachel looked over at Charlotte like she had suddenly grown another head. "I promised Teaspoon I'd wait here. The boys'll find her."

"I know where she is. Well, where she most likely is."

"What are you talkin' about, Charlotte? How can you tell that? We ain't been nowhere near Missouri." Travis looked at Rachel. "We came home through Independence so we could see my cousins. That's why we're back so late."

Listening to Rachel and Travis talk about the ride through Oklahoma to Kansas was enough to make Charlotte's head ache. "What are you two blabbering about? I said, we have to go to St. Joe!"

"I'm not following you, Charlotte. How do you know where Louise is?"

"Because that's where I know her from, not St. Louis like we told you." Charlotte agonized over telling Louise's past. Travis knew all about her own, though they'd spoken little about the details, but she knew Louise had never told Rachel or anyone else in her Express family about her yearlong employment at the saloon and then the final harrowing month before she'd escaped. Charlotte knew it might cause permanent damage to their renewed friendship, but she also knew if there was to be a friendship at all, first Louise would have to survive.

"Please, Charlotte. You have to try an' make sense." Rachel could see panic beginning to creep into the woman's eyes.

She started with a deep breath. "You both know I come from a less than desirable background." Seeing Travis and Rachel avert their eyes, she snorted back a tormented laugh. "Now don't get this way, you two. You both know. Well, I was workin' at the Diamond Saloon in St. Joe when Louise came to work for us."

"Louise!" Rachel and Travis exclaimed in unison.

"Oh dear, not like that," Charlotte assured them. "She was barely more than a baby, still in braids. She was hired as a laundress and the saloon girls made her life a livin' hell. They had no reason to, Louise didn't say more than three words and would jump out of her skin if you even looked at her, but I think they were jealous of her innocence and youth. Even then you could tell she was a real beauty." Charlotte smiled reflectively at the memory of her young friend.

"I made friends with her, helped take care of her, and once the other girls saw I'd taken her under my wing, they backed off. I was the main star after all and in those days nobody questioned me. Louise was fine until about a year later. One night, when I was busy, Wicks went after her. He'd been eyein' her for a while. He always liked the young ones, but he wasn't ever able to get near her when I was around. That night for the first time, I wasn't there to protect her and for the next month I could do nothing to help her."

Rachel looked at Charlotte in disbelief. "Are you saying this man Wicks had his way with Louise?" She couldn't even say the word rape aloud.

Charlotte nodded her head. "It was worse than that. He kept her for a month as his personal girl before I could help her escape. I wanted to do it sooner, but Wicks owns the saloon and he held my contract and essentially my life. I couldn't do anything for her."

Travis helped his wife sit back down as she broke into sobs. "This is all my fault," she wailed.

Travis rocked her. "Now you can't go blaming yourself."

"But I can. Louise would never have gone back to St. Joe if I hadn't told her Wicks was dead. She was terrified of him when she left. That's why we came up with the idea of her masqueradin' as a boy. I bought her a stage ticket to St. Louis and sent her on her way. Then I went back to the saloon. When Wicks found out Louise was gone he was furious and he let me know it. I was black and blue for weeks, but I never told him where I sent her. Then, when I finally left there, I took some of his money, okay a lot of his money, and came here to find Louise. I'd found out her whereabouts through the nuns at the orphanage and I knew she was here with the Pony Express. All those bad memories are why she was so upset to see me when I showed up here all those months ago. To make her feel better I told her Wicks was dead, that she didn't have to worry about him ever again. Now look what I've done."

The gravity of the situation was sinking in for Rachel and it sent a chill through her body she feared nothing would ever chase away. "Are you saying that this Wicks man is alive and he may be the reason why Louise is missin'?"

Charlotte nodded. "He still owns the saloon there, that I'm positive of and if he somehow saw her 'round town, I fear he would do anything to have her back. He was obsessed with her like I never saw any one man."

An uneasy silence settled around the trio until Travis spoke up. "Ladies, what are we sitting here for? We have to get goin'. Rachel, you said Teaspoon and the boys just left. If we ride hard, maybe we can catch them and tell them where to find Louise."

Looking up at Travis, Rachel had a new found respect for the man. He was clearly the only one with a working head and she would rely on him to get them to St. Joe in time. "We'll have to hitch two horses to make better time."

"Can we take two of yours? Ours is barely fast enough to keep ahead of this cart."

"Take two from the barn. The bay and the palomino would be best. I'll take Charlotte upstairs with me and give her some of my riding clothes. We can be ready in fifteen minutes."

"So can I."

The three parted ways, were back and ready to leave, in less than ten minutes. That had been only four hours earlier and as they crested the next hill Rachel could see the miles of trail still stretched out before them as they raced towards St. Joe. When the boys and Teaspoon first left, she'd only feared for Lou's safety, after hearing Charlotte's story of their time with Ethan Wicks, she feared for her life.

Lou heard the metal click of the key turning in the lock. Lying curled with her back to the door, she took a deep breath and prayed for the strength to go through with her plan. Lou knew she had to get away from Wicks as soon as possible if she was going to survive with her sanity. Even if she had to run through the saloon naked, she was going to do everything in her power to escape.

She could tell by the slant of the light falling through the window that it was late in the afternoon. She'd spent the better part of the day thinking of Kid, spending time alone with Wicks, ignorant to the fact that the man who led him around town was taking him on a purposely-fruitless search. Ignorant to the fact that this same man who was his father was the man who held her captive.

Weak from lack of sleep or food, her wrists and ankles screaming in pain, Lou lay still as Wicks came over to the bed. She would have to act as docile as possible, let him believe that she was willing to be his, for her plan to work. If she could make him trust her, he would untie her arms and legs and then she would strike.

The bed groaned as Wicks sat down and the familiar squeak made Lou's toes curl. It was a sound that would always force her to think of him and she wondered if she would ever be able to let Kid into her bed again.

"How was your day, Louise?" Wicks asked as he smirked at her. It was obvious from the rumpled covers that she had spent most of her time straining and struggling against his expertly tied knots. "I hope it was as good as mine." He trailed his hand up the quilt along her side and felt her tremor under his touch.

Lou felt the bile rising and scorching her throat. She wanted him to stop. She wanted him to die. She wanted to scream and cry out, but she knew it was of no use. Sequestered in Wicks' private rooms on the third floor of the saloon, Lou knew no one would hear her cries over the music and laughter on the first floor. She also knew from previous experience that those on the floor below them didn't care what noises they heard coming from the boss' room.

He pulled back the covers and pushed Lou onto her back to leer at her naked form as he taunted her with his words. "I spent the whole day with my son. We searched all over for you and found not a clue. It's looking more and more like you just up and ran off on him. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the town Marshal is a good friend of mine and somehow he's convinced he saw a young woman fitting just your description passing him on the road headed east with a nice lookin' fellow. You two seemed so in love and the Marshal even tipped his hat to you thinkin' you might be newlyweds. Seems my boy wasn't too pleased to find out his wife was a lyin', cheatin' whore, but I wasn't surprised. I've known that all along."

Lou was dying inside with every lie - dying at the thought that the Kid believed she'd run off on him, dying at the thought that he thought she loved anyone but him. Yet she forced herself not to show any emotion. Even as Wicks' hands started to roam her body and reach for his own clothes she kept her feelings veiled. If she was to make her move, she needed him to untie her.

"You know, this might be better if you would really untie me instead of just my feet," she suggested.

Wicks raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you suggesting I untie your hands? Why would I do that? You'll only try to escape"

"To where," Lou asked in a voice she barely recognized as her own. She'd wanted to sound defeated, but it came across more as despondent. "You already said Kid thinks I'm gone. He's bound to leave here without me and then what will I do?"

"You'll stay with me, just like I planned."

"I'll likely have no choice." Lou feared this new life really would be her fate. "Will you untie me? It's so uncomfortable when I can't hold you."

He knew he shouldn't untie her, but he was getting excited at the prospect of her being an active participant this time. Finishing with her leg ropes he paused momentarily before untying her hands. "You try anything and I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

Lou was already wishing for that. "Maybe if I'm good you'll let me get cleaned up and look pretty for you?" It was all about the trust. She tried not to let him see her chest starting to heave in anticipation as he leaned down to remove the rope that was almost imbedded in the skin of her wrists.

"That you'll have to earn. Don't go gettin' none of this blood from your hands on me, you hear me?"

Lou nodded as he leaned down to kiss her. He started to settle over her body and she concentrated all of her energy into her right leg and drew up her knee quickly to catch him in the groin. She made contact, but he'd been anticipating her attack and all she hit was his thigh as he protected his manhood. The first slap was swift and the pain stunning, but it was the second blow that made the stars swarm before her eyes.

"I told you not to try anything, you bitch! Now I gotta spend time teaching you this lesson instead of enjoyin' myself!" The hits came hard and fast. He hit her face and slapped at her legs as she tried to kick out again and all the while he was getting more and more aroused.

Lou was only half conscious as he entered her. Her eyes were swelling shut and she actually thanked God for the fact that she wouldn't have to see his face as he huffed and heaved over her. The last thought she had before she faded into the darkness was that if she could die right then, Kid would never have to see her like this.

Kid sat at the table in his room pushing the food around on his plate. The restaurant downstairs had sent it up for him and although he knew he had to eat to keep his strength up, the thought of one bite of stew was enough to make him choke.

The day with Wicks had been beyond his most horrible imaginations. All day long he'd dragged Kid from store to store to talk to people. They went to the town hall, the churches, the doctors and even the undertaker. No one had seen Lou since the afternoon before and even then, everything had been fine. What Kid hated the most was the fact that his earlier suspicions were correct and almost every citizen in St. Joe either feared or despised Ethan Wicks and those who didn't, were just like him. Kid hated being in his company, hated the curious stares he got and the whispers when they walked away. He knew if he was to have any hopes of the townspeople helping him find Lou he would have to separate himself from Wicks.

The task was made harder when Wicks introduced Kid to Marshal Sherman Weston. It was obvious that the two were buddies and somehow throughout the course of the day they both came to the same conclusion that Louise was not the victim of foul play, but that Kid was the victim of a cheating wife. Ignoring their every suggestion and comment, Kid held fast to his belief that somewhere inside the city limits of St. Joe, Lou was calling for him. His only hope was that Teaspoon was already on his way.

Chapter 9