Disclaimer: Oh boy it's that time again. Ok here's the boring formalities. The Young Riders is the creation of Ed Spielman, and the property of Ogiens/Kane productions in association with MGM/UA television. For entertainment purposes only, no money is being made off of this story. Feel free to post this story on your web site or send this story to a friend with disclaimers attached. (If you have your own disclaimer posted on your site, lease keep the "Thanks" part of the disclaimer and anything else that you think might help our readers to follow the story.)
Authors Notes and Thanks: Now for the other formalities (Author's Notes and Thanks). This is an Alternate Universe story, so if things don't fit into The Young Riders Universe as you know it, that's why. Hint: You might want to forget everything about Lou's past on this one -- I've changed her past. Therefore the history of Boggs, Jeremiah, and Theresa, and Mary (Lou's mother) are going to be different also. I'm going to try to keep everyone else's past like the creators of The Young Riders had it. But please forgive me if I had to change something of some one else's history for the story. Thanks to my beta readers, my two Cyber Sisters Lynn, Suzy, Greg Maja, Josh, Hanny, and Aimee. Thank you for helping and even on a few occasions giving the scene to write when I got "writers" block, for making sure I stayed "in character", and for proofreading for all my typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes. I couldn't have written this story with out you!
As he sat at the round table, looking across at his opponent, then looking back down at his cards, he was disgusted. Richard Wicks was just passing through Sweetwater looking for a runaway. The runaway was a 14-year-old girl. He had been telling the authorities that she was his daughter, when in fact she was his "employee". Her father had fallen deep in debt to Richard Wicks and had sold his daughter into Mr. Wicks’ "business" to pay off his debts. However the young girl would have no part of it and ran away her first night with Wicks. So here he was in a little town called Sweetwater looking for this girl, when someone else caught his eye. She was wearing tight fitting pants and a loose blouse and had a young man with her, possibly her brother. They didn't act like a couple. When they sat down at the Poker table, Wicks thought that he could replace the runaway with this girl. Get her brother to loose enough to buy the girl. However it was the girl teaching the boy how to play Poker. When Wicks realized the girl was the one that was going to play, he thought for sure he could get her in debt enough to make her come work for him. However, it had seemed that Lady Luck was with the lady tonight, because she was getting all of his money.
Wicks’ attention was caught by a young boy of 12 or 13 walking into the saloon. The young boy looked around the room and spotted who he was looking for. "Louise, you get on to me for betting and here you are betting."
Louise sighed and Wicks could tell that she was frustrated with this young boy. "What do you want, Jeremiah?"
"The Kid's looking for you."
Louise signed again "OK. I'll be there in a minute. Let me finish this hand." She studied her cards again. Then decided her move. "All right, Mr. Wicks, since this is my last hand, I'll give you the chance to win back all your money." She announced as she put her winnings into the center of the table.
Wicks thought that this was his chance to get her. He 'Saw" her bet and thinking that she didn't have the money, he doubled the bet. Louise looked at her cards and thought a moment. She knew she shouldn't do this, but she "saw" the bet anyway and "called" him. Wicks looked at his cards and smiled. He had 4 Aces and an eight. Of course the Ace came out of his pocket. Louise looked at her cards and said, "Well, Mr. Wicks, I do believe you have been cheating, and very badly. "Cause I've never known a deck to have two Ace of Spades."
"You trying to cheat, Miss McCloud?" a big hefty man asked as he pointed his gun to the visitor.
"Now hold on there Raymond. I said he was cheating badly." she said as she laid down a King of Spade, a Queen of Spade, a Jack of Spade, a Ten of Spade, and finally an Ace of Spade.
Wicks saw this as his chance to clear his name. "You're the one cheating. You're the one with the winning hand!"
"Mr. Wicks, I saw you pull that card from your pocket." Lee said as she took the rest of the deck and laid it all out so that you could see what the cards were.
Walter said, "The Nine of Clubs is missing."
"If you search him you'll find it in his shirt pocket." Lee informed them.
Walter searched him as Raymond held him and found the Nine of Clubs in his shirt pocket, just like Lee said. "Looks like we found the cheat!" Raymond said as he cocked the his gun.
"Ray, leave him be. He didn't win, I did. Maybe this will teach him that cheating is no way to make a living."
Wicks smiled at that. "Darlin', I make my livin' by owning an establishment. This is just a hobby." Yes, I can make more money with her than I ever could with that kid. He thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All right, Jeremiah. Where's Kid?"
"Right here." Kid said as he walked up behind her. "Just wanted to know if you still wanted to have a picnic tomorrow. Cody switched with me so I got the day off."
"Sure, I'll see ya around noon?"
"OK"
Jimmy and Lee were whispering something to each other when Kid caught up with them and they all rode back to the station together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Louise and Jeremiah got back home, there was two reasonably handsome man talking to their father. One was their father's age and the other around Louise's age maybe a few years older.
"Louise, I'm glad you're home. I would like you to meet Nathaniel Becket and his son Christopher. Gentleman my eldest daughter, Louise and my son Jeremiah."
"Nathaniel Christopher Becket III at your service Miss McCloud." The younger of the two men said as he took her hand and kissed it.
"I thought you could show Christopher around town tomorrow, Louise."
"I would but I just made plans for tomorrow, how about the next day?"
"Kid can wait, Louise, you will be hospitable to our guests."
Louise's face was beet red. But she nodded her head and said, "Fine. Tomorrow it is. I'll just go out to the station and let Kid know he changed rides with Cody for nothing."
"You will go up to your room right now, Louise and we will talk about your behavior later." her father demanded. She went to her room like her father asked her to cursing him under her breath the whole time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About two hours later, Boggs made his way up to Louise's room. To say that he was angry was an understatement. "What the hell were you thinking out there!?!" he practically yelled.
"What the hell was I thinking?! What the hell were you thinking?! Planning my day for me when I had something to do?!" Louise yelled back.
"Louise, you are m daughter! You will do what I say! When I say that you will show a friend of mine around town that's what I mean!"
"You had no right! Kid and I were supposed to go on a picnic tomorrow! He even switched rides with Cody."
"Louise, I'm sorry about that, I didn't know. I had already told Christopher that you would show him around while his dad helped me in the office. Look, why don't you take Christopher out to the station first thing in the morning and explain to Kid what happened, I'm sure he'll understand. And I want you in a dress and acting like a young lady, do you understand?"
"Kid won't understand, he'll kill Christopher," Louise sulked.
"Listen, Louise, I will not approve of a marriage between you and Kid." When he saw the horror on his baby girl's face, he explained why. "Now, Kid's a nice guy and all, but he can't provide for you. I don't want you to have to struggle like your mother and I did."
"But Kid is the one that I love!"
"I love you too much to see you go through what your mother and I went through."
"I won't be your pawn. I'll do what you demanded of me, but I assure you I will be me and I will not marry this man."
"Louise, please act like a lady and wear a dress."
"I'll decide tomorrow what I'll wear. And I will take him out to the station. Just in time for my picnic with Kid. I'm sure he'll enjoy the company of one of the other riders while Kid and I spend some time alone." Louise said defiantly.
"Louise..." Boggs started to warn.
"Good night father." She said as she laid back on her bed signaling that she was through talking. Boggs knew that what ever else he would say would go in one ear and out the other. She was too much like her mother. So he just left, he would talk to her tomorrow morning before Christopher came to pick her up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Louise was dressed in a dress while she was making breakfast for her family. Theresa, who knew nothing about what had happened last night, just though that she going to see Kid again. Jeremiah knew that his sister and their father had an argument last night, by the looks of it, Boggs had won the argument. When the doctor descended the stairs and entered the kitchen he said a quiet thank you prayer to God for making Louise wear a dress. He assumed that she was going to act like a lady today.
"Jeremiah and Theresa you should hurry. You over slept and you're running late. You need to get to school." Louise said sharply.
The kids ate quickly and ran out the door with their school things. The tension was so thick in the room that you couldn't cut it with a knife. Boggs knew that his daughter was mad. He was just trying to do what's best for her. He had started to tell her that, when there was a knock on the door. "That'll be, Mr. Becket " Louise said angrily. "I'll see you later." And with that, she left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Louise showed Christopher around town, they got on a first name basis. While they were walking side by side, he asked, "Surely a beautiful lady such as yourself has a beau."
"As matter of fact, I kinda do." Louise answered.
It dawned on Chris that he was the person that she was supposed to meet. "You were supposed to meet him today, weren't you?"
"Yeah I was. My father doesn't approve of him courting me because of his job."
"What's his job?"
"He's a Pony Express rider."
"What's wrong with that?"
"The pay isn't good."
"You know it's a relief that you're already spoken for." Louise just looked at him. "Yeah, I'm kinda in the same situation you are."
"What you're in love with someone who your father doesn't approve of?"
"You could say that my father doesn't approve of my Sweetheart." Chris said smiling.
"Louise!" Kid yelled as he rode down the street as fast as Katy could run.
"Whoa! Kid, slow down, we were just on our way to get the horses to come out to the station. This is Nathaniel Christopher Becket III, Chris this is Kid."
"Please to meet ya. Louise, Jeremiah and Theresa are gone."
"What do you mean gone?!"
"Ike and Buck were returning from their ride when they saw Jeremiah and Theresa tied up in the back of a wagon and heading east. Ike is following and Buck and everybody's getting ready to ride out, Buck's going to track."
"Chris, go back and tell my father that Jeremiah and Theresa have been kidnapped and we're going after them, have him bring Lightening out to the station. I'm going with Kid. And tell him to get Sam." She said as Kid was helping her mounting up behind him.
"Sam's already at the station getting the horses ready." Kid said and they sped off.
On their way back to the station, Kid asked "So who was that guy?"
"My father's friend's son. Seems like his father doesn't like the girl he's in love with so they set us up. Pa wouldn't even let me come out to the station to explain things to you. Chris and I were going to show up and I was going to let one of the other riders show him around while went on our picnic."
"No, I wouldn't let you do that. You're father already doesn't like me, I don't want to do anything make him hate me."
"It's not that he doesn't like you, he just doesn't like what you do for a living."
"Do you have clothes to change into?"
"Yeah I keep some extra clothes at Emma's."
"Good, cause we're going to be riding pretty hard."
"I know. " she said as she got off Katy at the station. "I can keep up."
"I know you can." Kid said as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't worry, we'll get your brother and sister back safely."
Louise took a deep breath trying to keep her worries at bay, "I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Louise had changed clothes, her father was already at the station. Just as they were getting ready to ride out, a teenage boy came riding up. "Dr. McCloud, My pa said to come get you. Ma's real sick."
"Boggs, you go take care of Mrs. Harris, we'll get your kids back." Sam said.
Boggs looked at his daughter, "Louise, you look after them you here?"
"I will, Pa." She said. Boggs turned his horse the other direction and rode out with the Harris boy. Teaspoon, Sam, Louise, Kid, Lee, Jimmy, Buck, Cody, and Christopher rode east with Buck in the lead as tracker. It wasn't too hard to follow Ike's markings, but if the kidnappers saw Ike, the markings could stop and Buck was the best tracker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Since I have the kids, she'll have to come work for me."
"Do you think this will work, Boss?" asked one of the "body guards".
"If she doesn't agree to work in the brothel, then she will never see the kids again."
"How do you know she won't come for them a second time?"
"Because I'll kill them." Wicks said. Since he owned the law in St. Joe, he thought he would get away with murder everywhere else too. Truth was he didn't really own the law in St. Joe, there just was nothing but circumstantial evidence and the Marshall couldn't ever get any of the witnesses to talk.
Ike, just a few feet away from them, heard what Wicks had said. Still he had no idea of who these guys were. Close to dark, then men made camp and Ike rode back about a mile. Just as he suspected, the riders there making camp. He told them what he heard the men say about killing the children if Louise did not agree to work for him in his brothel.
Louise paled as Buck translated what Ike was saying in sign. She knew she had to get them away from that man, while still keeping her dignity. She wasn't sure how she was going to do that. She started to walk off so that the others wouldn't see her fighting tears. When Kid started to follow, Lee offered, "Kid, let me go, she might talk to me. Besides from the description of the man, it sounds like the guy we caught cheating last night."
Lee followed Louise and when she caught up with her, tried to comfort her. "Don't worry, we'll get the kids back safely."
"I know."
"You know I've been thinking, maybe you can go in and pretend to agree to work for him. Then you can get the kids out, and we'll be able to catch this guy."
"How will they know where to go?"
"Well, I can go with you and they can leave with me."
"Ok. I like it, we'll do it."
"Great!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No, you're not going to do it! You're father would kill me if something happened to any of you!" Kid yelled. "I can't let you do it."
"You're not going to *let* me? Kid, I don't recall asking your permission."
"Kid, Louise can take care of herself." Jimmy spoke up. "It's the best idea we have so far."
"Calm down, I'm in charge here." Sam said. "And I think it's a crazy idea. Going in there alone."
"She won't be going in by herself, I'll go in with her and bring the kids back here to safety."
"Like hell you will!!! It's too dangerous." Jimmy shouted not really thinking. It was just that now the tables were turned some how.
"Jimmy, Lee can take care of herself." Kid shot back with a smile on his face. Jimmy shot Kid a murderous look.
Meanwhile, Lee was sharing the feelings that Louise had when Kid got upset at her going in. This was a new side of Jimmy that she hadn't seen before, but she knew that it just proved that he cared for her.
"Well, Jimmy you're right." Sam said.
"Thank you." Jimmy said relieved.
"It's the best idea we have. We'll send the girls in."
Jimmy and Kid both looked horrified, but there was nothing short of tying them up that could be done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Wicks, we meet again. Here's the deal, you give me my brother and sister, and you live. You don't give them to me, you die." Louise said confidently. Pretending that she didn't know what he was up to was part of the plan.
"I've got a better deal for you." Wicks started. "You work for me, and the kids live."
Louise fought to keep a straight face. "What exactly would I be doing."
"You'd be working in my brothel."
"As what? A waitress?"
"Nope." Wicks said with a smile.
"Forget it!" Louise said.
"Then your brother and sister die. Chad." Chad brought out the kids, who were tied together, back to back, and pulled a gun on them. Wicks continued with his persuasion. "All it would take is one bullet, Miss McCloud."
"I do what you ask and they go with my friend, Lee, here."
"Deal."
"Fine let them go."
"Chad, tie her up. Can't risk her leaving after the children are gone."
"You can't keep me tied up forever."
"Oh I'm not, but I have to write up a contract first."
"I give you my word I will stay here, please let the kids go."
"Untie the children, Chad."
"Jeremiah and Theresa, go with Lee, you hear. And tell Pa, that I'm not coming home."
"But, Louise!"
"Now Jeremiah! Don't argue with me!"
Lee took the children to safety. Once there, Jeremiah saw Kid and ran up to him, "Kid, he's got Louise and won't let her go! He's going to make her work for him!"
"Jeremiah, we got it under control. You and Theresa are going to stay here with Chris while we go get your big sister, ok?"
"I'm going with you! She came after me, I'm going after her."
"Sam. I told you he wouldn't want to stay." Cody said.
"Chris, if he tries to follow, tie him up." Sam said.
"Yes, Marshall."
"You're kidding right, Marshall Cain! I just got untied and you're goin’ to tie me up again!?!"
"Not if you stay here, Jeremiah. I promised your Pa that I would bring you back safe, not dead. It's dangerous enough that Louise is with him right now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Louise knew she was supposed to play the helpless woman right now, but she had a hard time of it. All she wanted to do was clobber this sick man. He kept looking her up and down. And her pleas of not being tied up fell on deaf ears, although he did wait until the children were gone to tie her up. Lee had looked back and saw Chad tie her hands behind a tree. Buck who was watching from up in a tree, saw Wicks untie her hands from the tree and then tie them behind her back. When he knocked her down onto the ground and got on top of her, Buck hoped everyone was in place because he was going to give the signal anyway.
When Louise heard the crow call, she looked up and saw Buck. She hoped that everyone was ready because she really didn't want Wicks to continue with what he going to do. She didn't have to wonder long because almost immediately, she saw Kid, she laid all the way back onto the ground and Kid pulled the trigger. The bullet went though Wicks' head. Wicks lifeless body fell forward onto Louise. While she was disgusted, she rolled over to where she was on top of him. She ran to Kid and he hugged her and untied her hands. She hugged him tight and let the tears fall.
Kid could hear another gun shot behind him. Chad fell to the ground from Jimmy's bullet. The kids said that there were only two of them. So with the kidnappers dead, they headed back to Sweetwater.
Back to Ridingtall
Back to Tall Tales
On to the next chapter
