The girl turned to Buck with a still unsure smile on her face, “Ok, so what are we going to do?”.  Ike came up and gave her a big hug.

“You are going to have a big change of heart.”

“What do you mean?” Rick replied.

 “Remember, these guys are dangerous, but they are also stupid.  We will be arriving in Sweetwater sometime tomorrow.  You will take us in just as if you still considered us your prisoners.  You take us to Teaspoon at the jail, and he locks us up just for show.  When those two are certain you are alone with no one left to help you, they will try to get that map again.  The two of us will be waiting for them.”

=If we ride into that town chained up and captured by a girl, we will never hear the end of it, you realize that don’t you?=
Buck smiled, “Oh come on Ike, I swallowed my pride, now it’s your turn.”

“I can’t, I can’t do this,” Rick cut them off. “You two have done so much for me, I can’t let you risk your lives again.  It’s my job, I will catch them.”  She turned and ran back off into the trees.

Ike moved to follow her, but Buck stopped him.  “Let me talk to her for a minute.”  Ike nodded.

“Rick.”  The girl did not look up, “Rick.”  Still she did not answer.  “Marie?”

The girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes.  “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you two keep protecting me?  I don’t understand.  Why are you putting your lives on the line for someone you barely know.  Why does Ike open his heart to me when I have already hurt him?”

“He trusts you.”

“Why?”

“Because he loves you.”

Her tears shut off and her mask slipped back into place.  “I didn’t ask him to love me.”

Buck smiled, “It’s not something you can ask for, and it’s certainly not something he can help.”

“I don’t want him to love me.”  These were her words, but Buck could hear the lies behind them. So he stayed quiet until she turned back to face him.  “I wont let him get hurt, I am leaving tonight.  I will take this map to stone creek and give it to the marshal there.”

“If you leave tonight you will hurt him worse than if you shot him.”  She didn’t answer she turned so he could no longer see her face.  But he continued.

“He loves you, that means he would get more joy out of protecting you than watching a thousand sunsets, and besides that you love him.”

She turned back to face him, tears were streaming down her cheeks.  “I don’t want to hurt him.”

Buck smiled, “I know that, that’s why I trust you.”

The girl ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders sobbing.
 
 

When her tears were under control, Buck helped her back to the camp.  As soon as Ike saw her he rushed to her, Rick collapsed in his arms, she felt safe and loved for the first time in a long time.

“I’m going to go see if I can find any signs of the bandits, I want to make sure they don’t find out about our plans for tomorrow.”  Buck smiled when he realized that neither one of them was listening to him.  He grabbed his guns out of the wagon and as an afterthought picked up his bedroll.  They deserve some privacy, he thought, as he headed off into the trees.
Ike wasn’t sure what had caused the change in her but whatever it was that Buck had said, he was glad.  She seemed even closer to him than when they were watching the sunset, not physically closer, but she was finally letting him close.  The funny thing was, he hadn’t even realized she had been distant.  She looked up at him with eyes full of love and trust.  No one had ever looked at him that way before.  His eyes glowed back at her with the same emotion echoing a thousand times off their hearts.

Not surprisingly, neither of them noticed that Buck was gone until they awoke the next morning.  About the time they were starting to get worried, Buck came back with the message that he had breakfast ready if they wanted to join him.  He didn’t appear to be the least bit upset that they had forgotten all about him the night before, if fact he seemed to find it all very amusing.

While they were eating, Buck told them that he had found the men’s camp a mile or so away.  “They are planning to get the map from you in Sweetwater, this works fine with our plans.”

=About those plans, I have no problem with them, except one slight change.=

“What might that be Ike?” Buck replied.

=I think I should stay with Rick, them some time after you sneak out of the jail, I will come up with some excuse to leave her alone and we will wait for the men to make their move.  This way she will be protected until we are ready for them.=

“You just don’t want your friends to think I caught you.” Rick teased.

Ike turned red with embarrassment, and quickly denied it. =No, I want to protect you.=

The girl smiled and they kissed again.

Buck cleared his throat, “All right, I’m on my own then, you two just be careful.  Now we’ve got to set up a time and place for this to come together and I think we might need some of the other riders to help…..”

When all the plans were finished, they packed up the gear from the two camps and were ready to leave.  Buck placed his gun and knife into his saddlebag, and picked up the chains from the back of the wagon.  He turned to Ike and smiled, “Want to do the honors?”

Rick seemed startled, “Is this really necessary?” she paused, “I mean, they might be no where near us the whole trip.”

“True, but they could also be watching us and its safer this way.  I trust you,” Buck replied.

Ike gave a sinister smile and bent down to shackle Bucks ankles.  Buck noticed this, “See Ike doesn’t mind.”

“I think this is just Ike’s way of saying thank you for that bruise you gave him the other day.”  Rick told him with a teasing grin.

Ike stood and placed the chains on Bucks wrist, =Too tight?= he signed.

Buck grumbled but gave Ike a smile to show he was kidding him.

Ike helped Buck into the back of the wagon and they were ready to go.

“My goodness, that girl will never trust that half breed will she.”

 “This could be very good for us, she still only has one protector, and it will be easier to catch her when she drops her guard in Sweetwater.”

 “Yep, then we can get the map and get that money.”

 “Gee, I never thought of that.”  He replied sarchastically, slapping his friend on the back of the head.  “How’d you get to be so stupid.”

 “Just lucky I guess” he replied with a smile.
 

The trip back to Sweetwater was typical until they got to the edge of town.  When the townspeople spotted Buck in the back of the wagon there was a mixed reaction.  Some seemed angry, some confused, some seemed relieved, some seemed happy.  Jimmy and Cody spotted them as they got near the jail.

Oh great, Buck thought, Cody saw this.  Now I’ll never hear the end of it.  Ike glanced over his shoulder with a very apologetic look.

“Teaspoon,” Cody shouted, “you better get out here now!”

Jimmy was giving Rick a very hard look, his fingers resting on the edge of his belt, a little too close to his colts for comfort.  Ike stepped down from the wagon as Teaspoon came out of his office.

“Ok Cody what is it this….” His words were cut short as he saw Buck in the back of the wagon.  “Ummm Ike, would you care to explain why you have Buck chained up?”

Ike shook his head and motioned toward Rick.

Rick, for her part played her act very well, she reverted back to her initial reaction to the two men and told Teaspoon how she suspected Buck had killed her father.  She produced her evidence, being careful to point out that she was keeping the map safely stowed in her shirt pocket.  She loudly told Teaspoon that she wanted Buck locked up until his trial.  Cody and Jimmy could not believe their ears, they kept looking at Ike waiting for him to come to Buck’s defense.

Teaspoon was equally confused.  He started to defend Buck but Ike quickly signed, =Let’s take this inside.=
Jimmy went around and helped Buck out of the back of the wagon.  With some difficulty Buck managed to make it inside the jailhouse.  Rick made a big show out of shoving Buck into a cell and removing the chains before shutting the door heavily.
 

The riders were so busy watching this show with pure hatred for the girl’s callousness, they hadn’t even realized that Ike was missing until he came back inside and signed to Rick, =They went into the saloon.=

“Good,” she replied with a sigh of relief.

Buck, who until that moment had been silent and sullen, came up to the front of the cell with a smile on his face.

Teaspoon was even more confused, “Ok you three, one of you better tell me what is going on around here.”

Surprisingly it was Buck who spoke up first.  He leaned against the bars and said, “this is a trick, she doesn’t really think I killed her father anymore.”

“Well gee, that clears everything up doesn’t it Cody, lets just head back to the station now,” Jimmy said sarcastically.
The girl broke in then and explained the whole situation.  She started with what happened to her father and how she had tracked the killers only to run across Buck and Ike at the end of the tracks.  She told them all how they had the map and note and how she had arrested them.  She started to confess how cruel she had been to both Buck and Ike, but Ike cut her off to finish the story.  He told them about the real killers and how they had already been attacked more than once.  He signed =The real killers don’t know that Rick knows that Buck didn’t do it=.

Then Buck cut him off to explain the plans for the night.  “My plan is for you, Teaspoon, to keep me locked up here.  Ike and Rick will go over to the saloon for a while, then at a planned time when the street is nearly deserted, they will leave together.  Ike will pretend he forgot something and go back inside, this will leave Rick alone outside.  The bandits will try to get their map back and Cody and Jimmy will be hiding nearby waiting for them to make their move.”

“Who’s Rick?” Cody demanded as if this was the only flaw in Buck’s plan.

“I’m Rick, Rick Carson.”

“Rick? What’s that short for Rickelle?”

She was startled that this dense man had noticed so quickly that she was a girl.  She supposed that her emotional outburst had made that obvious.  She only slightly realized just how feminine she had become since the last time she had posed as a boy.  She was also confused as to why he thought Rick had to be short for something.  “Ummm it’s not short for anything, my real name is Marie, but I am deputy Rick Carson”

“Carson….Carson, as in Mitch Carson?”  Teaspoon questioned.

“Yes, he was my father.” Rick replied, a note of sadness in her voice this lie just kept growing.

“He was a good man,” Teaspoon shook his head sadly, “I assume he was the one who deputized you.”

She simply nodded.

“Alright,” Teaspoon started, “If he thought you were up to being a deputy who am I to argue.  Now I have no problem with your plans, but you sure you’re alright with this Buck, if those bandits don’t turn up tonight you could have a long wait in that cell.”

“I understand that Teaspoon it was my idea.”

“Oh,” Teaspoon seemed startled.

At the side of the jailhouse Jimmy was smiling and Cody was trying to stifle a laugh as they both seemed to realize what this meant at the same time.

Ike sent them a glaring look, =what’s with you two?” he signed.

“The two of you,” Jimmy started. “You got yourselves captured by a girl.”

“She came up on us in the dark, we were asleep,” Buck defended.

=Besides, she not only a girl, she’s a deputy what did you want us to do shoot her?=

Cody could not hold it in any longer, and let out a loud gaffaw, only to find the barrel of a colt held tightly under his chin.  He immediately cut off his laugh.  Rick had a serious look in her eye, “I don’t know just who you think you are, but these two men are the most noble and kind men I have ever met.  They are also two of the bravest.  If you think I am going to let you laugh at them for something stupid that I did you are sadly mistaken.  How dare you call yourself a friend, one of them is locked up for heaven’s sake.  I am going to put my gun away now, but if you ever mention this to either one of them again, you will have to explain to everyone just how you ended up with a bullet in your big toe. Got it?”

“Umm got it sir…..I mean….. Maam” Cody stammered.

Both Jimmy and Teaspoon were stunned with the girl’s actions.  This time it was Ike and Buck’s turn to laugh.

“My names James Hickok,” Jimmy started, “but everyone calls me Jimmy.  You’re pretty fast with that gun.”

“I have to be,” Rick smiled and shook Jimmy’s out stretched hand.

Cody was still standing shocked where the girl had left him so Ike introduced him.  =That there is William F. Cody, speechless for the first time in his life.=  Ike was positively beaming.

“Nice to meet you maam,” Cody said after finally finding his voice he made no move to shake her hand, he was still keeping what he felt was a safe distance from her colt.
 

“You already know Teaspoon,” Buck said as he continued the introductions from his cell.

“Well I haven’t met you officially, I saw you last a couple years ago when my father sent me with a message for you.  You didn’t hardly look at me twice though,” she stuck out her hand and Teaspoon responded with a hearty handshake.

“I’m sure I would have remembered if I’d met you before.”

“Well I’ve grown up a bit since then, my boy cover doesn’t work as well as it used to it seems.”

“It certainly doesn’t,” Jimmy stated without thinking, when he realized what he said he blushed a light pink, and gave a small embarrassed smile.

Ike stepped forward and put a defensive arm over Rick’s shoulders as if to say ‘back off Jimmy’.

Rick smiled up at Ike and said, “Now that we are all acquainted, Ike and I should be getting over to that saloon to make our presence known.”

“Swift, Swift, you were right, they are planning something.  They are going to ambush us when we try and get that map back tonight, they were setting us up!!!”

“Quiet down now, so they have an ambush set up around the girl huh?  Well then we will get everyone but the girl.”

“Everyone?”

“No, of course I don’t mean everyone, but we can get Buck.  He will be a sitting duck alone in that jail.  Once we get him, we can use him to get Ike, between the two of them we should have enough leverage to get that map back.”

“When do we leave?”

“Now.”
 

One at a time, Cody and Jimmy left the jailhouse.  Jimmy found a hiding place around the alley near the saloon.  Cody climbed up onto a rooftop across the street with his rifle.  Buck was adament that Teaspoon go with them, so he finally left and found a nice spot on the opposite side of the alley from Jimmy.  The three all had their eyes on the saloon so none of them noticed two shadowy figures slip back into the jailhouse.

“I knew we’d meet again Buck Cross.”

Buck cursed himself, he should have had Teaspoon give him his gun before he sent him away, or even better he shouldn’t have sent him away at all.  Buck sat up on the bunk.

“We gave you the chance to join us, you could have gotten some good money out of the deal.  Instead you sided with those losers and wound up here in jail with your two worst enemies.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.  You’re not nearly the scariest guys I’ve had to deal with.  You can’t even get a map back from a girl.”

Tyson moved to grab his gun, but Swift was too smart for that, not by much, but still a little too smart, “If we shoot at him even if we kill him we will have half the town on our backs not to mention that marshal.  No, I think we will have much more fun if we take him and his friend Ike somewhere a little more private before we start spilling any blood.  Get the keys and unlock his cell then get him chained up.  We got to go find that Ike guy and get out of town before they notice he’s missing.”

Tyson followed his instructions.  Swift placed a note on the bunk in the cell before he dragged Buck out the back to the wagon.  They had to go the long way around the town to avoid being seen from the main street or the alleyway, but they managed to get behind the saloon in time to see Ike head back into the saloon.  As per the plan, that left the girl seemingly unattended.  Just as they had figured though, Ike soon appeared out the back exit to cover from the rear.  As soon as he got outside the door he was greeted with a view of Buck chained and gagged with a gun pressed to his temple.

“Well Ike you going to stand there all night or are you going to get in the wagon?”

Ike raised his hands and walked to the wagon.

“Aw too bad he came along quietly now I can’t hurt him,” a cruel smile crossed Swift’s face.  “Wait…I’m the bad guy, I can still hurt him.”  He laid a few quick hard punches into Ike’s stomach.  Then he hit Ike hard across the face.  The blow was so hard it knocked Ike’s head into the corner of the wagon.
 
 

“I don’t understand why we had to take both of them.” Tyson said as the wagon left the outskirts of Sweetwater. “One of them would have done to get that map back.

“Come on now, you don’t think that girl would trade the map for the life of a half breed do you? Now for her sweetheart she would.  Besides this way we won’t have any trouble with our prisoners.  Neither one of them will try anything that could get the other one shot.”

“Your right Swift, so where we going anyway?”

“I know of a cave not far from here, we’ll wait there til we are sure they have found the note, then we will simply go pick up the map.”

“What are we going to do with these two when we are done with them?”

“Well we can’t have any witnesses….”

Buck heard this last statement and turned to the unconscious form of Ike who was lying next to him.  ‘It’s all my fault,’ he thought, ‘but I will get him out of this, no matter what.’

“It can’t be” Rick stood with the note in her hands, a stricken look on her face.  “How could this have happened?”

Everyone was gathered back in the jail, they had waited 2 hours, Ike hadn’t come back and no one had showed for the girl.  They had found and read the note that was left in Buck’s cell.

“This is all my fault,” moaned Rick as she sunk down onto the bunk.

Teaspoon moved to put an arm on her shoulder, but she quickly stood up. “I am going to do just what they want.  I’ll go alone and take them the map.”

“That’s a possibility,” said Teaspoon slowly, “but you know they might kill them both anyway once they get the map, after all they wont want any witnesses.”

Rick turned away, the sudden determination in her eyes had vanished, and it was all she could do to hold back the tears.  “What do you suggest?”

“We all go. I may not be as good a tracker as Buck, but I think I can figure out where they went.  We surround the place, and we wait for an opportunity.”

They all silently agreed to this tentative plan and Kid, Jimmy, Teaspoon and Cody moved for the door.  Rick went to follow and Teaspoon stopped her, “I want you to stay here.”

Rick started to protest but Teaspoon cut her off.

“This has nothing to do with you being female.  I want you to deliver that map just as you planned.  One of them will have to go to pick it up and that may just give us our opportunity.”

Rick couldn’t find her voice so she just nodded.  She must have been stronger than she thought because she managed to hold back the tears until Teaspoon was two feet out the door.
 

‘Now what,’ Buck thought as again he and Ike were approached by their captors.  He was beginning to think being Rick’s prisoner hadn’t been so bad.  Buck was still chained and Ike was tied at the wrists and ankles.  Ike had finally regained consciousness, but every time Buck tried to talk to him it earned him and Ike a fist across the mouth so he limited his question to a quiet, “Are you alright?”

  Ike nodded.

 Buck didn’t believe this for a second, he could see that Ike’s eyes could barely focus and that he was having a very hard time keeping his head up.  He wanted to keep Ike awake in case he had a concussion, but without conversation Buck was having a very hard time keeping his attention.

 The approaching man grabbed Buck by his arm and pulled him to his feet.

 “Where are we going?” Buck asked gruffly.

 “Wherever I say.” They walked a few more steps.  Buck was stopped by a sharp blow to his right leg.  Buck fell to his knees.  “Stop here,” the man said with a cruel smile.

 It turned out he had only been taken just outside the cave.  Swift unchained one of Buck’s wrists and stretched his arms way up into a tree.  He looped the chain over a very large branch and re-chained Bucks wrists.  Now Buck could barely touch his feet to the ground, the stretching of his arms caused the bracelets to cut deeply into his wrists.

 “You better hope none of your friends decide to try something, if we hear one sound out here tonight we use you for target practice.”

“What do you mean Teaspoon?” asked Cody.

“Well we can’t try anything like this.  Buck is between us and them, he would definitely be in the cross fire.  They have left their one entrance impenetrable.”

“That means we can’t get in Cody.”

“I know what impenetrable means Jimmy.”

“Will you two stop, we just have to wait til they leave to get the map.”

Cody looked back at Buck.  Buck had seemed calm at first but after several minutes of staring into the cave, he started struggling and yelling.

“Oh be quiet, please be quiet,” Teaspoon whispered to himself.

As Teaspoon had figured Buck’s yelling resulted in a visit from one of the men in the cave who beat Buck with a stick until he was hanging limp.  What Teaspoon didn’t know was the reason for Buck’s yelling.  Buck had managed to direct the men’s attention away from Ike and for that Buck was thankful.
 

Rick didn’t sleep a wink all night, she stayed at the jail staring at the clock until 9:00 am.  It was time to deliver the map.  She had hoped to get a message from Teaspoon telling her not to go, but now was the time, she left the jail and saddled her horse.  She made sure to ride past the jail on her way out of town but there was still no sign of any of them.

In the morning Swift grabbed the barely awake form of Ike off the cave floor and dragged him out to the wagon.  The two bandits always made sure that one of them was inside with a gun on Buck while the other was outside.  Swift took off in the wagon with Ike.  Buck was yelling anything that he could think of, he yelled every thing from “You’ll never get away with this” to “They’re gonna be waiting for you just wait and see.”

Tyson just smiled, he walked over to Buck and gave him a few hard punches in his unprotected stomach, until Buck was again gasping for breath.

Buck was sure Swift had broken a few of his ribs the night before and this wasn’t helping.  He was watching the wagon disappear when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  He quickly glanced back into the cave and found that Tyson was facing the other way for the moment, Buck looked closer in the direction of the movement.  Sure enough, there was Cody, who never could seem to blend in anywhere.

“Tyson,” Buck called his voice straining, “Hey Tyson.” He was quickly losing his voice from all the yelling, but if he could just get Tyson out of the cave for a moment so Cody could get a clear shot.

“What do you want?”

“I need some water.”

“Your not getting any, now shut up or Ill come out there and finish what Swift started, we only need one hostage you know.”

“Give me some water now.”

Tyson came storming out of the cave with his colt in his hand.  Just as he appeared out the cave entrance, a bullet met him square in the chest.

Buck let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and shouted to Cody, “It’s all clear.”

Cody got up from his ‘hiding place,’ and approached Buck’s helpless form. “Buck, are you ok?”

“Yes, just get me down from here.”

Cody found the keys after a little searching and released Buck.

Buck sank to the ground grasping his bleeding wrists.  He refused to stay down though.

“Its ok, Teaspoon and the others went after Swift, they are taking the long way around to meet up with Rick, by now they should have Ike safe and sound.”

“No, I have to get to Ike.”  Buck rose to his feet, but his right leg wouldn’t hold his weight, and he fell back to the ground.
 

Rick watched the wagon come into view.  At first it looked like there was only one person in the front, but as the wagon drew closer she saw Ike hunched over, barely holding his seat.  He was conscious, that much she could tell.  He was still tied hand and foot.  His forehead was bleeding pretty badly.

Ike was trying desperately to stay awake, he was just about to lose his battle when his eyes locked into Rick’s.  With this new strength he was actually able to sit up a little straighter.

“Where is it?”

Rick didn’t hear the man at first, she was too busy trying to see if Ike was ok.

Swift pulled his gun and pushed the barrel into Ike’s temple. “Where is the MAP!” he yelled.

She pulled the map out of her pocket. “It’s right here….let him go and I’ll give it to you.”

“You think I’m stupid don’t you,” he cocked the gun, “throw it over here now or your boyfriend dies.”

Rick looked at Ike and tossed the map to Swift.  Swift heard the sound of horses approaching he looked over and saw 3 horses coming over the hill.

He  quickly shoved Ike out of the wagon and took off.

Rick pulled her gun and fired a single shot, it caught the escaping bandit in the arm.

With his arms tied behind his back Ike had no protection against the fall.  Rick rushed to his side.  “Ike are you alright?” She reached down and untied his hands.

=I’m ok= he signed. =We have to get back to Buck.=

“Your head is bleeding.”

=I’m ok=

Rick had her handkerchief out and was trying to wipe the blood off of Ike’s forehead.  She could barely hold back her tears.  “I was so afraid, I thought he was going to…”

=I know, but I’m all right now.  I’m ok.=  He pulled Rick into a tight embrace.

She never wanted him to let go.  She felt so safe in his arms, but after all the hurt she had caused she knew in her heart that Ike couldn’t be safe with her around.  In that instant she made her decision.  She broke away from Ike’s tender hold and her mask slipped back down.  “We should go now.  We may not have much time…come on.”

Ike didn’t move at first then decided it was best to go now.  He didn’t know what had suddenly changed Rick, but Buck was still in danger after all.  He climbed onto the back of Rick’s horse.  The approaching riders turned out to be Teaspoon and Jimmy.  They had left Cody to watch out for Buck.  Apparently they had ridden back to town and had just missed Rick leaving the jail.  Teaspoon and Jimmy took the wounded bandit back to the jail to await trial.  They tried to get Ike to come back too so his wounds could be tended to, but he refused to go until he was sure Buck was safe.  Ike and Rick decided to take the wagon since none of them was sure that Ike could stay on a horse.

“Buck, Teaspoon will kill me if I don’t get you back to town to the doc.”

“I have to see Ike first, what if something went wrong?”

“Nothing went wrong, look for yourself.”

While Cody was trying to get Buck calmed down, Rick and Ike had arrived.  Ike immediately rushed to Buck’s side.

 =Are you ok?= he signed.

 “I’m fine, you’re the one who was supposed to be hurt, how are you?”

=I’m fine=

“Your fine? Well that’s just great I risk myself trying to protect you from being hurt worse.  I got it worse than you did.”

These words were spoken with a smile so Ike simply answered. =Thanks=

“No problem, just remember next time we get kidnapped you get to play punching bag.”  Buck looked over Ike’s shoulder and saw that Rick was hovering in the background not quite sure what to do.  She turned to walk away.

“Rick?” said Buck, “thanks.”

Rick was speechless, she didn’t know what to say, she ran to her horse and galloped as fast as she could back to Sweetwater.  She wasn’t quite sure why she was running, all she knew was she couldn’t stay any longer.  She couldn’t face those men who had almost died because of her.  She didn’t want the pain any more.  She hated the lies.  The faster the horse moved though and the further she got from Ike the more she hurt and the less she wanted to leave him.  She owed Ike the truth. She was slowing her horse when she heard a gun shot.  Her horse reared and she fell to the ground and into silent blackness.
 
 

 Part 3