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© Becca, Dana Simmons and Starbright 2001 The Young Riders is an Ogiens/Kane Production, created by Ed Spielman.
We only borrow his characters for fun. No infringement of copyright intended. There is absolutely no financial gain for the authors. We survive on the feedback, and we need plenty of it.


2313
Chapter 32

In just three weeks the first hints of fall had crept into the air. A crispness foreign to them all, the air seeming high and light. This morning was different though, it had the air of Indian summer, a last lingering almost suffocating heat in the air. A bittersweet taste of a new beginning and a summer left behind. So much had changed in three weeks, life had somehow returned to normal, Rachel was recuperating, Noah was not the only doctor any longer, he had help from the new doctor, Barnes, in town. An old geezer that thrived on visiting the far away settlers. Noah spent more and more time with Rachel, setting up a small hospital of sorts, hiring nurses and overseeing transportation of the more urgent cases. Kid spent more and more time with Lou, combining the veterinary business with the HuRec assignments. Buck and Ike were occupied with establishing the new communicationcenters for the increasing population. Buck spent all his free evenings in town, chasing the new nurse he had cast his eye on. Jimmy had spotted yet another romance in it's beginning. Ike spent all his evenings talking with Emily, planning for the future. Emma and Sam busy with overseeing the constructions for the newcomers. Everybody had a plan, except him.

Teaspoon had taken over the role as coordinator of the town. He, James Butler Hickok, was assigned as the protor of Sweetwater, with an office and all. But he never went there, it was Amanda's old office and he couldn't stand to be there more than ten minutes. He hadn't heard a word of her since she left, nada. The story of his life.

He walked his usual route over the yard, feeling the weight of the gun on his thigh. Like a comfort. He walked over to the corral, lately he had found solace in watching the horses. Sometimes he envied the animals, they had no choices to make. They just existed here and now, no questions asked. Leaning up against the railing he whistled and waited. The golden horse lifted his head and watched. Jimmy whistled again and Sundancer followed his master's command and picked up a trot. Jimmy smiled, mostly to himself. Lately he had started to understand more and more of Kid's affection for these majestic animals. Who would have ever thought that?

"Watch out," he grunted when the horse poked him with the head, eager to find the goodies he knew Jimmy had brought. It had become a daily ritual. The horse was poking his shoulder, showering chewed grass all over him. Jimmy would have rather died than admitted he truly liked this horse and looked forward to the rides. "It's in my pocket you fool," his hand tugged at the white mane while his other fished the apple up. Sundancer bowed his neck and took the offering.

"You're spoiling him rotten Jimmy."

He knew the voice without even turning around. "Just bribing him, Lou."

Lou laughed and walked up to stand by his side. For a moment they stood there in comfortable silence, looking over the plain. The sun was showering them in hotness. It was like it had regained strength and decided to bestow them with yet another hot summer's day. Lightning spotted Lou and walked up to them, just as greedy as Sundancer. Jimmy and Lou shared a guilty smile as she fished up another apple and offered the horses.

"Just bribing him Jimmy," Lou grinned at him. "You're a bad influence."

"So where'ya off to?" Jimmy asked, noticing the two halters hanging over Lou's arm.

"Kid and me's gonna go to the swimming-hole, won't be long before this summer's over. Wanna come?"

Jimmy peered at her, for a moment contemplating to take her up on the offer. Then he chuckled knowingly. "And disappoint Kid? Don't think so, he'll just put me on hog feeding duty for a week if I do. Where is the sod at?"

"He had a call about something from Willowbury's up the creek, nothing urgent. And no, he wouldn't."

"Of course not," Jimmy smirked, "he's tagging after you like he's on a leash. The best watchdog I've ever seen."

"He would, wouldn't he," Lou admitted with a guilty smile. Her eyes twinkling in the light, the soft smile that didn't quite cover her content. She was loving the effect she had on Kid, having him under her thumb. Jimmy couldn't help but snicker at her astuteness. But she was beautiful, and he couldn't blame Kid.

"Yeah, and he would have every right to," Jimmy remarked, leaning in on her. Watching her intently with overt appraisal. Smiling while Lou's cheeks turned pink. "Come on Lou, I'll help you get the horses ready."

The heat was making waves in the air. It was almost hard to breathe it in. Or maybe that was just because Lou was riding by his side, glancing at him briefly, throwing him a teasing grin before she spurred Lightning and took off in a breakneck speed. He hollered a warning but, of course, Lou didn't care. She just urged Lightning on faster. He had no other alternative than following her.

She was already taking her blouse off when he dismounted, her laughter and mocking of him having him shake his head. She laughed while he tied the horses to the tree and removed the towels from the saddle bag. Jumping on one foot she freed herself of the boots on her way to the cooling water. He smiled at her hurry, walking up to the sandy part of the bank, remaining to watch her as she stepped up on the small stone and shed the last of her clothing. Then she looked over her shoulder at him, smiling ruefully before turning back to face the water. Standing on her toes, rising her arms over her head and describing a perfect curve in the air before she dove into the water.

He had to swallow at the sight. When she emerged, the droplets reflecting the sun, her dark hair in her eyes, the stretched neck and the swift moves and contented grin, he knew. He knew it like he had never known anything before. When she laughed and rolled around in the water, making a backwards somersault under the surface he pictured a daughter like her. A replica of the woman in the water, a small child he could love and shelter. A family. And she was it, the woman he wanted to marry, the woman he wanted to share everything with. Children, old age and everything in between. He wondered if the feeling was an echo of the past?

"Com'on Kid!" She hollered at him, brushing the hair out of her face, waving at him to join her.

He remain watching her, wondering if she'd ever know how much he cared?

She didn't wait for his reply. With a content sigh she stretched her arms out and bowed her back. Floating into the water, totally calm and trusting, her eyes closed and her arms stretched out, toes emerging as she laid still and floated peacefully, the water carrying her. He just looked, taking in every detail, every move and every perfect part of her. She was all he ever dreamed of, what he had been waiting for all these years. It was hard to breathe, the wind had been knocked out of him. He never knew anything to be that perfect. Who had they been in their past lives? The notion was still too much for him to handle, he didn't quite understand the ramifications. Had they been happy? Who had they been?

She moved again, looking at him, "What's wrong? Forgot your trunks?"

He smiled.

"I won't tell," she chuckled happily while swimming toward him. The tanned back moving with every stroke she made, the play of muscles making him hold his breath for a while. She rose to her feet and came walking up to him, rubbing the water from her eyes. Her toes curling into the sand on the bank.

He sank to his knees before her, laying the towel under her feet. Speechless - while his hands followed the curve of the tanned calves. The small structure, the soft skin underneath. The stillness in the air making the moment feel eternal, like he was back in some far away time, like he had known Louise McCloud forever.

He was sitting on his knees, looking at her with a peculiar face, his hands warming the pits of her knees, tickling her. "What's wrong Kid?" she asked again, bowing to take the second towel from the ground.

"Lou," he started.

"Yeah?" His voice sounded strange, hesitant. She covered herself in the towel, wiping her face dry.

"You know the fifth line in the personal file?"

"Huh?" She squinted down at him, wondering. Sometimes he really was hard to figure out. "Fifth line? What the hell..."

"Next of kin," Kid said, watching her, scooting closer to her, his hands still holding on to her. His knees framing her feet. His palms teasing her skin, sending shivers up her spine. It wasn't fair of him to expect her to actually think while he had his hands on her like that. A suspicion started to rise in Lou. But that couldn't be it now could it? He couldn't be serious!

"What about 'next of kin'? What you babbling about?"

"I'd like to be there, on that line, I mean - I'd like my name to be there..."

"WHAT?"

"Will you marry me Lou?"

She stared down at him, not believing her ears. People didn't marry these days! Had he gone mad? They had known each other six months or so, was he pulling her leg? Did he think he had to since they allegedly had been married centuries ago? If it even was true? What if everything was a lie? He looked up at her, obviously waiting for an answer. And he wasn't joking. For a moment her thoughts were a complete shamble of conflicting emotions, she had no clue how to react to this. Suddenly she went cold and logic, pushing the emotions far away from her mind. Regaining her control. Then she tilted her head and looked at him.

"And where's the ring?" she asked.

"The ring?" He looked like he had never heard the word before.

"Yeah Kid, the ring. You know, like a token of the love and such. Engagement is what it's called."

"Oh, the ring!"

She laughed, he was truly adorable in his own way. "Yeah, Kid, that's right, the ring. You see, from where I come it's essential to at least have a ring when you ask somebody to marry you." She sank down to face him, shaking her head in reply to his question. "I won't marry no fool without a ring, Kid!"

He looked at her, his face embarrassed and flushed. She laughed and draped her arms around his neck; "you're so cute Kid, Completely out of your mind, but cute all the same."

"But Lou, I'm serious..."

Pressing her lips to his she silenced him, her hands wandering in under his T-shirt, efficiently diverting his attention. His arms around her waist, pulling her closer, while kissing her deeply. She broke the kiss to take his T-shirt off, admiring the ripe muscles underneath. Her fingers working on his trouser button: "Oh my oh my Kid, you're so gonna pay for that stunt, dude."

"It wasn't..."

"Tokens Kid, never forget the tokens. You owe me a big one."

He uncovered her, laying the towel on the ground behind her, finally having gotten the implication in her demands. She laughed when he finally laid her gently onto the towel, ready to pay for his mistake.

"Show me you love me, " she whispered in his ear.

He bit her neck slightly, making her writhe under him, his skin hot on hers. His eyes filling her view, a silent plea in them, the blueness turning darker, the shade of passion. The color of her power over him, the color of need. Her hands nestling themselves into his hair, bringing him closer to her. Lips meeting hungrily, driving his embarrassment away. Her kiss forgiving but greedy. The coolness of the water disappearing fast as he touched her, the sweet tension growing instantly in her. The now so known need for him filling her. The sand was hot under her back. Closing her eyes she whispered his name.

"Boys!"

Ike and Buck stopped their stride.

"Get on over here!" Teaspoon was hollering at them from his office, the door always ajar, his feet up on the desk.

"I hate it when he spots us like this," Buck sighed, "we gotta switch bar!"

Ike threw him a crooked grin, "Teaspoon ain't no fool!"

"It's damned evil of him to set up office in front of the only bar in town," Buck sighed. "Couldn't he at least have been asleep?"

Ike chuckled when they stepped into the office Teaspoon occupied. They wouldn't get their beer today either, something always came up. They chuckled as they filed into the sparsely furnished room. The expression on Teaspoon's face had them alert at once.

"Get your gear together boys, Jimmy'll pick you up in half an hour."

"What's up Teaspoon?" Buck asked.

"I wish I knew, son, I wish I knew," the man muttered.

"All right, let me rephrase it, where are we going? And why?" Buck tried again.

"Farmers have been attached in Blue Creek, I want the three of you to check it out for yourselves. Leave no rock unturned. I want first hand information about this."

Ike Scratched his head through the red bandanna. "Attached?"

"Killed son, five entire families has been wiped out, butchered!"

Buck drew a sharp breath of air, Ike's hand sank to his side. Both stunned to silence. Disbelievingly they just stood there, looking at the man before them, hoping he'd start laughing and tell them it was just a cruel joke. Everything had been so calm for so long in this place, why now? What was going on?

Teaspoon nodded bitterly, "yes, butchered. And I want you to do the utmost to find out by whom. Get to the platform!"

They turned on their heels, the joyous mood gone. A dread filling them, it was like a nightmare. Ike threw Buck a glance as if to ask him what they were about to see? Buck shrugged.

"And that trip to the convention is in a week boys, I'm sending Ike with Kid and Lou. You better keep an eye on them." Teaspoon hollered after them. "That is if he can keep his off that fiancée´of his of course," the raggedy man muttered. "Seems I can't send Buck there, too busy chasing skirts here. Like we wouldn't have better things to do than travel to hold lectures, like HuRec wouldn't have better things to do than lure more innocent people into this mess."

Buck threw Teaspoon a warning glance over his shoulder, the man was talking loud enough to wake the dead.

The news about being able to meet with Emily didn't quite have the effect on Ike it normally would have. He looked at the vessel landing at the end of the street, his composure tense and determined.

Ike was all business.

The darkness was setting outside, sending the lamps inside the room to brighten automatically. Jimmy looked up from the report at hand. It just didn't make sense, why would three farms be attached like this? No robbery, no kidnapping, nothing but death. Pure and simple. Three farms in one day? And the marks on the victims? Why? They had all been shot dead from a distance, why probe? Buck was right back there, it did seem like they knew what they were after, like they were on a mission. And why Blue Creek? Did those families have something in common? Something that tied them together to these hideous crimes? Was it random killings? A mad man or woman? No, the modus operandi was too similar, the perpetrator or perpetrators were the same, Jimmy was sure of that. All the rest seemed inexplicable to him. But as far as he knew there was usually two major themes behind any crime, passion or money. Without any linkage between the families or any of the victims money was the most likely motive in the case. But settlers? What does distinguish settlers? Usually there was no mayor financial gain for the settlers, and most certainly no criminal would have been chosen. Or if one or two slipped through the scanning it wasn't likely that a member of each and every of the five settlers ad their families would somehow be involved in any criminal activity.

So what else was there? He leaned back, pushing the chair away from the desk. Putting his feet to rest on it. Looking out through the window he pondered on the case, he would have to make the evacuating plans really, but this seemed more interesting. Settlers, he thought, who are they? Well, he answered himself, they are all well schooled, totally out of their minds, romantics but certifiably healthy.....the thought hit him like a ton of bricks. Health! The most valuable asset in this day and age. That and the ability to breed. He looked back o the files, stretching to get to them. There it was, each of the families had two or more children. One of the women that had been killed was pregnant, one had had her latest child less than a year ago.
"Amanda was right!" He groaned out loud while staring down at the noppo, "them bastards!"


"Amanda was right about what?" Lou asked from the door,

He turned to look at her, he hadn't heard her approach. She walked right to him, inching herself to sit on the corner of his desk.

"What's up Jimmy? I heard about the murders, what's happening here?"

"Thought you were to busy with lover boy to care about anything else," Jimmy muttered.

"Shut up Jimmy, " Lou retorted amicably, "what you find out?"

He looked at her, shaking his head in denial,; "It's nothing really, just a suspicion."

"Well?" Lou prompted, arching her eyebrows.

"I think they're after the genetic code," Jimmy admitted, the thought forming as he spoke. "There's nothing else that ties these victims together, nothing at all, except the simple fat that they all were families and settlers."

"And?" Lou prodded further.

"They were able to breed spontaneously Lou, all of them had children conceived naturally, without any kind of medical intervention. They were clones Lou, just like us!"

Lou leaned forward, gripping the edge of the desk, impatient. "But why go through all the procedures of cloning them to then kill them? Doesn't make sense!"

"Don't make sense if you think HuRec's behind it, but they ain't, this is the work of some other group, someone that gains information from HuRec and then uses it for its own benefit. They're selling genetic codes to people Lou, ready to be cloned. And settlers are known to be fairly healthy, A-material so to say. There are people willing to pay if they can't conceive on their own Lou. As simple as that. Cloning is illegal, only HuRec seemed to have forgotten that for a while and started it's own program. Now they have competition!"

"Jimmy, don't you think you're being a tad paranoid?"

"Better paranoid than sorry! The genetic codes are personal Lou, there are strict legislation for it's use. Nobody, but nobody has the full genetic code of anybody on record, only way you can get it is by sampling the individuals, I think they just did that. They sampled them to death."

"That means we're all at risk Jimmy!"

He looked at her, bent over at the waist, leaning in on him. "Specially you Lou," he admitted.

"What?"

"You and Kid are as good as married ain't ya?" he smiled teasingly, "as soon as the small ones are announcing their arrival I'd look behind my back every step of the way. Remember, it's destiny."

He could have sworn Lou blushed, for a brief moment she seemed to lose her countenance and sway slightly. Then she glared at him; "He told you?"

"Huh?" Jimmy peered baffled at her.

"He told you before he asked me? The low mealy-mouthed ....."

"Whoa, girl, hold on," Jimmy lifted his arms in a shielding gesture. "I was just joking! Who told whom what, who asked you what Lou?"

"I cant believe him!" Lou ranted on, banging her heels on the metallic composition of the desk, "he tells you but forgets the ring? What the hell...."

"The ring?" Jimmy's ears perked, "Lou? What are you saying?"

Lou stopped her kicking and looked at him, realizing she had jumped to conclusions. Jimmy watched her intently, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You find it amusing that someone would ask me to marry him, Jimmy?" Lou's voice was a bit unsteady.

"No, he married you last time didn't he?" Jimmy chuckled. But at Lou's naked vulnerability he shook his head, it wasn't the time for joshing around. Kid hadn't told her and neither would he. But he couldn't help wondering at the changes in Kid, the promises forgotten, the readiness to love again. "No," he admitted, "I just find it incredible that Kid would ask anybody to marry him."

"Why?" Suddenly it felt like Jimmy knew something she ought to know. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Forget it Lou," Jimmy shook his head, "well, when's the wedding?"

"There's no wedding Jimmy, I said no, at least I think I said no."

"You don't know?" Jimmy laughed out loud, "you women!"

"What you mean 'you women'?" Lou wheezed.

"You always want it all, don't you? You want us on our knees, begging and then when you use us up you just trash us, like used goods. You lie and cheat just to get us where you want us, sound familiar does it?" he chuckled at the way the world had turned. Or had it ever turned, hadn't it always been like that? On the surface the men ruled but deep down it was the women pulling the strings. Loving the victim's role, he thought bitterly.

Lou looked at him, her lips a thin white line.

"Just joking Lou," Jimmy tried.

"No you weren't," Lou snapped and slid off the desk, banging the door shut as she stepped out of the room.

Jimmy blinked twice in surprise at her hasty departure. Then he returned to the noppo, trying to get more clues out of the report. But he knew he should get in touch with Amanda and ask her. But he just couldn't bring himself to do that. It still hurt.

Outside Lou rested her hot forehead up against the cool wall. Jimmy's words ringing in her ears. The guilt making her feel slightly nauseous. She still hadn't told Sean.



TBC

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|Prologue||Chapter 1||Chapter 2||Chapter 3||Chapter 4||Chapter 5||Chapter 6||Chapter 7||Chapter 8||Chapter 9||Chapter 10|
|Chapter11||Chapter 12||Chapter 13||Chapter 14*||Chapter 15||Chapter 16||Chapter 17||Chapter 18||Chapter 19||Chapter 20*|
|Chapter 21||Chapter 22||Chapter 23||Chapter 24||Chapter 25||Chapter 26||Chapter 27||Chapter 28||Chapter 29||Chapter 30|
|Chapter 31*||Chapter 32||Chapter 33|


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