The man facing him down let out a long, sardonic laugh as he saw the obvious surprise on the face of “Wild Bill” Hickok.  His teeth crooked and stained with tobacco were fully visible as the laugh continued.  Sobering only slightly he called out, “I’m the last person you ever expected to see, ain’t I?”

Taking a step toward the young ‘legend’ he continued on, “I’ve waited a long time for this.  Now it’s time to even the score.”

There was a brief pause as both men readied themselves, and then answering to an unspoken signal each reached for their weapons.  There was only the sound of gun clearing leather, and a loud report of a shot.  Jimmy’s hand faltered, only half raised, as his brain processed the sound.  All other sounds and thoughts were drowned out by the single thought screaming through his brain, ‘how did this happen?’

All day long Jimmy felt as if he were being dogged.  Constant checks over his shoulder revealed nothing, but still he couldn’t shake the feeling he was being followed.  He wasn’t carrying any special documents or dispatches for the Army, so he tried to tell himself that nobody would follow him for miles just to try and steal a letter to somebody’s Aunt Ida.

Then it happened. A shot rang out.  His first impulse was to stand and fight, but in his head he heard Teaspoon’s voice, “Out here you do not stand and fight.  You run…”  So he ran, and used every trick Teaspoon taught him and a few he made up along the way.  Nothing helped as his unseen assailant continued to fire on him.

Finally having enough, espeically when one bullet zinged dangerously close to his ear, he reinged in his horse and took position behind a large clump of rocks.  He could not see his attacker, nor did he have an idea about how many there were, but his instincts told him there was only one, possibly two.  Only one or two shots were fired at a time, and Jimmy could only respond in their direction.  Then several minutes would pass and shots would come from a new quarter.  He felt as if he were being played with, like some doll in a child’s cruel game.  He hated that feeling about as much as not being in control of his situation.

Deciding it was time to start acting instead of reacting, he stood up and yelled at his attacker.  “What do you want?  Show yourself like a man!”

The challenge made, Jimmy stood there with his hands on his Colts.  He barely had time to throw himself behind a rock as a storm of bullets was unleashed in his direction.  He realized he must have underestimated the number of his pursuers, or the lone gunman had a virtual arsenal at his disposal.  Bullets ricocheted off rocks, flew overhead and thudded into the ground around him, sending pieces of rock and dirt swirling.  He fired at the attacker’s direction, but knew at this distance it would not matter.

When the gunfire stopped, Jimmy remained crouched with his guns drawn.  The minutes dragged on as he waited for another barrage of bullets to come.  After ten minutes he cautiously emerged, ready to take refuge again, but was greeted only with silence.  His attacker was gone, and Jimmy felt slightly foolish for cowering so long.  He retrieved his mount and slowly circled the area, searching for anything that might let him know the identity or motives of the hidden assailant.  He found nothing except footprints that appeared to be from only one person, and a bunch of empty casings. 

Not satisfied with the answers he found, but knowing he had to get to Rock Creek he turned his horse and spurred her into a gallop.  As he quickly ate away the miles and the time he lost he, had the feeling that whatever happened today wasn’t a one-time occurrence.  An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach that he just couldn’t shake.

The fourth time his unseen nemesis attacked, he was out on a run with Noah.  Jimmy had been on edge as the now-familiar feeling of being chased caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.  He urged Noah to increase his pace, garnering strange looks from his friend.  Unwilling to explain the real nature for his worry he kept his answers vague, alluding only to the fact that he felt they were being followed.

When the first shots rang through the air, close enough to spook them, but not in any real danger of hitting them, Noah looked at Jimmy questioningly.  Jimmy hunched lower in his saddle and urged his mount faster, while Noah followed suit.  Noah was surprised that Jimmy didn’t return fire, but seemed to try and outrun the attacker.  Running from a fight was not something Jimmy Hickok often did, if ever in Noah’s memory. 

Suddenly the ground in front was peppered with bullets, sending chunks of dirt flying and their horses fighting their commands.  Jimmy whirled his horse toward a copse of trees as he growled under his breath, barely loud enough for Noah to hear; “Won’t this guy ever give up?”

As they took cover and drew their weapons Noah looked at Jimmy demanding answers.  None were forthcoming as Jimmy fired for the first time and drew several shots in return.  The game never changed, and Jimmy played along for a few minutes, firing in the last direction of the assailant, drawing fire in return, but never any danger.  Noah, a novice to the rules, wondered what madness was occurring around him, but Jimmy didn’t seem bothered enough to clue him in.

After making sure his guns were fully loaded, Jimmy stepped forward to deliver his required lines.  “What is it that you want from me?  Why don’t you just show yourself and we’ll settle this like real men.”

He fell back into the protection of the trees, as the volley of shots was unleashed at him.  Noah stared at him for a moment before joining in with Jimmy as he returned fire.  They were pinned down for five minutes, until the incoming shots suddenly ceased and the only sounds were their ragged breaths.  Knowing that the attack was over, Jimmy jumped up to try and get a glimpse of the attacker.

He was surprised when the rules changed and shots flew over his head.  Dropping back down behind the fallen log he’d used as cover he swore loudly and said, “He waited this time to make sure I didn’t follow him.”

“This time?” Noah hissed.  “What exactly is going on Jimmy?  This happened to you before?”

Jimmy gave a non-commital grunt and turned his attention to making sure his guns were fully loaded and ready to fire.  After several long minutes of deafening silence, he cautiously raised himself from the ground.  No shots were fired at him and he knew that now the attacker finally had left.  He 
walked to where his horse was tied and climbed into the saddle.

“Come on,” he said, not facing Noah.  “He’s gone now, and we gotta get these dispatches to Teaspoon.”

Noah grabbed the reigns of Jimmy’s horse and looked directly at him.  “You mind filling me in on what just happened?”

“Not particularly.  The guy’s gone, he won’t bother us the rest of the trip.”

“And how exactly would you know that?”

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and tried to back his horse away from Noah.  “It don’t concern you,” he finally said.  “This only has to deal with me.”

“Don’t concern me?” Noah asked as he raised his eyebrow.  “A man shoots at me, and you’re tellin’ me it don’t concern me?  When I get shot at, I make it my business to find out why.”

“Well it ain’t your business,” Jimmy said crossly.  “It has to do with me, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I told Teaspoon to either send me alone, or to send someone else with you. I didn’t want nobody else involved in this.”

“Jimmy,” Noah began.

“Leave it be, Noah,” came Jimmy’s gruff reply.  Then he succeded in getting his horse away from Noah’s grasp and turned her to Rock Creek.  Noah followed quietly behind, biding his time until they reached the station and he could fill Teaspoon in on the day’s events.  He knew that the older man would be able to get answers from Jimmy that he hadn’t been able to elicit.

“Where are they?” Jimmy asked himself quietly, trying not to draw strange looks from the others in the room.  He gave another look at the place on the table where he swore he laid his gloves when he sat down to eat.  He remembered they were there throughout dinner, and when he went to grab them so he could head back to his hotel room, they were gone.  He’d turned his head for what seemed like seconds as a pretty girl and her family were seated in the dining room.  When he turned back to pick them up, they were missing.

He checked the pockets of his coat, wondering if he’d placed them in there, but his pockets were empty.  He looked to the side of the table, searching for them on the floor, but was unable to locate them.  Finally, ignoring the looks of the other patrons in the room, he dropped to one knee and lifted the tablecloth, looking under the table.  All he saw was a light layer of dust indicating nobody had swept underneath in a few days.

Standing up he quickly exited the room, stopping only briefly to ask the waiter if he’d found a pair of gloves.  The man told him he hadn’t, and suggested that perhaps he’d left them in his hotel room.  Anxious to leave the dining room and avoid the strange looks he was getting, Jimmy mumbled a thanks under his breath and stepped outside.

Walking down the street he had to fight the urge to talk out loud to himself, sure that would draw him even stranger looks than he’d received in the restaurant.  He felt like he was going crazy, and briefly wondered that if he was lucid enough to question his sanity maybe he wasn’t crazy after all.  Or 
maybe he really was.  These past weeks had unnerved him and he felt like he was ten feet right of center.

The attacks on him had ceased after the run with Noah.  Teaspoon asked him dozens of questions to which he had no answers.  He felt frustrated that there didn’t seem to be an explanation, and he grew irritated with the others.  They’d snickered at him hiding out after being fired upon by an unseen assailant, and several claimed they thought they’d never see the day he tucked tail and ran.  Jimmy ended up leaving the bunkhouse with a growl when Teaspoon hooked his thumbs through his suspenders and said, “Weeelllll son, looks like ya got yourself a real puzzle there.”

“Like I didn’t know that already,” Jimmy said out loud as he walked into the hotel and past the desk clerk.  The clerk gave him a sidelong glance, but wisely said nothing as Jimmy took the steps two at a time up to his room.

Reaching his room, he searched everywhere and was unable to locate his gloves.  He was positive they weren’t there and was equally positive he’d had them when he went to eat.  “Then where are they?”

Falling into a fitful sleep on the bed after another maddening search of the room, he dreamed he was being chased.  He hadn’t actually been chased for several weeks, but that never stopped him from being on edge when he took a run.  Things were too quiet and Jimmy was certain that something was bound to happen sooner than later.  He wished for sooner, because his patience was being stretched to the limit the longer the waiting game went.

In the morning, Jimmy collected his belongings minus his gloves and checked out of the hotel.  He told the clerk that he was missing his gloves and asked if they were found, they were sent to the Pony Express Station in Rock Creek.  The clerk said he would look and promised to ask at the restaurant for him, since Jimmy had to leave before they opened for the day.

Soon he was back on the trail with the package he’d been waiting for and in a terribly foul mood.  Someone had taken his gloves, he was sure of it.  But why?  Why would someone steal his gloves, it made no sense.  Just as being chased and shot at, but never actually harming him made no sense either.  Teaspoon was right, it was a puzzle.  Problem was, Jimmy hated puzzles and he especially hated his life being played with.

“Package come for ya Jimmy,” Cody said as he entered the bunkhouse after his run.  He tossed the package in Jimmy’s direction who caught it with an irritated glance.  Cody sat down beside him at the table and waited for him to open it up.  When he did, he saw it was the gloves he’d lost the week before at the restaurant.  He searched the package but there was no note, just the gloves.

“Nice gloves,” Cody said with a bemused expression.  His curiosity about the strange package was overrode by his desire for sleep and he started for his bunk.

“Ain’t them the gloves you said you lost last week?” Noah asked.

“Yeah,” Jimmy replied.  “Guess somebody musta finally found them and sent them here."  He stuffed them into his pocket and picked up his hat and went outside before Cody and Noah could say anything more.  He had his gloves back, but the cold, heavy knot of dread that had formed in his stomach still wouldn’t leave.  There was no note, and Cody had just returned from a run in the opposite direction of the town Jimmy lost them in.  Nothing was adding up.

Three days later when the note arrived, the knot got tighter and Jimmy felt no closer to figuring things out.

Noah found him in a small clearing, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air.  Tin cans lay in fractures beside the fallen log and Jimmy’s black cloud looked no closer to dissipating than when he’d left the bunkhouse hours earlier.  Jimmy whirled on him, guns drawn, as Noah came closer.  He’d been on 
the business end of Hickok’s Colts before, but this was the first time Noah was actually afraid of them being fired.

“What are you doin’ here?” Jimmy growled at him and then promptly turned his back on him.

“Came to see how you was doin’,” Noah answered.  “Based on your welcome, I see your mood ain’t improved much.”

“Yeah and I don’t feel like company, so why don’t you just leave?” Jimmy hissed as he turned his attention to his guns.

Noah said nothing, but climbed off his horse and sat down on the log across from Jimmy.  Jimmy made no acknowledgement of his presence, concentrating instead on his Colts. 

Several minutes passed in a silent battle of wills.  Noah intent on not leaving, and Jimmy equally intent on ignoring him until he did.  As the minutes dragged on, Jimmy’s tenuous grasp on his patience began slipping.  Finally with a growl that was equal parts irritation and desperation, he reached into his jacket pocket and tossed the small package to Noah.  Then he got up and paced the small clearing like a caged animal.

Noah inspected the package thoroughly, looking for any clues that might assist them.  It was sent from Benton, and that name tickled the back of Noah’s mind.  Chewing on the town name, he opened the package and pulled out a note and a small box.  The box contained a simple gold locket, on a thin chain with a broken clasp.  The note was again short and cryptic.

Noah looked up to see Jimmy staring at him, paused for a moment in the inscessant pacing.  Jimmy resumed his pacing, and Noah looked back at the package, going over everything one more time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

“Jimmy?” he finally asked.  Jimmy never looked at him, but halted his angry steps.

“This make any sense to you?” Noah asked, already sensing the answer.  Jimmy didn’t look angry any more; so much as he looked anguished.

“That woman I killed in Benton.  Her name was Cora.”

And suddenly Noah understood the anguish overrivding the anger in Jimmy’s eyes.  Called out by a drifter, Jimmy shot the woman when she ran out into the street and into his line of fire.  She’d had a fight with her husband, they later found out, and it’d been over the locket now resting in Noah’s hand. 

Noah swore under his breath as he remembered the personal nightmare Jimmy put himself through as a means of penance.  He’d left the station and went to Regrets, the territory’s most lawless town.  There in a move that Noah described as riding into Hell and strapping on horns and grabbing a pitchfork, Jimmy became the town’s sheriff making sure everyone knew he was “Wild Bill” Hickok.  The woman’s husband found Jimmy there, and called him out.  Noah remembered him and the Kid thinking Jimmy might actually die that day when he made no effort to defend himself against the 
man.

“I’m goin’ there,” he suddenly heard Jimmy say.

“Come again?”

“You heard me, I’m goin’ to Benton.  I’m findin’ her husband and I’m settelin’ this once and for all.  I’m tired of being yanked around like this.  If it’s revenge he wants…”

“Whoa, Jimmy,” Noah said interrupting.  “You think it’s this woman’s husband doin’ all this stuff to you?”

“Who else would send me her necklace?” 

“I don’t know,” Noah replied.  “But I don’t think that Cora’s husband would be comin’ after you after all this time.  ‘Sides, the man broke down in the streets and couldn’t even kill you when you made yourself an easy target.”

“Well, I think it’s him and I’m goin’ to go see him,” Jimmy said with determination.

“Then I’m goin’ with you.”

“No you ain’t,” Jimmy said forcefully.

“Yes I am.  You need somebody lookin’ out for you makin’ sure you don’t get hurt.”

“You forget the last time you rode with me, you nearly got shot?”

“No,” Noah replied simply.

“Well, neither have I.  And you ain’t comin’ with me.  Nobody is.  I don’t need any one of you getting in the way of a bullet with my name on it.”

“We can argue ‘til we’re both blue in the face Hickok.  It ain’t changin’ the fact that I’m goin’ with you.”

“Are you crazy Hickok?” Noah hissed in a whisper.  “We can’t be doin’ this!”

“Noah, I know how you feel, believe me I know.  But I gotta find out and this is the only way,” Jimmy replied as he continued with his task.

“Jimmy, I know this whole thing has got you feelin’ you don’t know which way is up, but that still doesn’t mean you can dig up this man’s grave.”

“I respect how you feel and if you don’t want a part of it, that’s fine.  But I ain’t gonna believe this man is dead until I see for myself.  I’ve seen one too many so-called dead people suddenly show up again.”

Noah rocked back onto his heels and watched as Jimmy continued to dig frentically at the dirt. Jimmy had entered his own living torture the moment he rode back into Benton.  The guilt of killing Cora Martin hung heavy over him, and minute by minute Noah watched as Jimmy sank further into himself.  Now he was a man possessed as he stabbed the spade into the ground and threw chunks of dirt over to the side and onto the increasing pile.

The two riders had quietly asked around town looking for Mr. Martin after they first arrived.  Jimmy didn’t want to tip his hand to the man, but was anxious for this whole game to finally be over.  The mercantile owner was the one to finally inform them that Mr. Martin had been dead for several months, the grief over his wife’s death finally too much for him to bear.  Jimmy took the news stoicly and then checked into the hotel.  Noah couldn’t understand Jimmy’s reaction to the news until after dinner when he laid out his plan.  He planned to dig up the grave, because he was nearly certain he’d find nothing but a bunch of rocks or sand inside the coffin.

The sound of metal striking wood drew Noah back to the present, and he looked down into the hole as Jimmy tossed the shovel up onto the ground beside the marker.  Noah glanced around nervously and once again tried to convince Jimmy to let well enough alone, but his pleadings fell on deaf ears 
as Jimmy reached down and pried the top off the coffin.

“What in the…pull me up Noah!” Jimmy suddenly cried out and he began scrambling at the side of the hole.  Noah reached out and grabbed hold of Jimmy’s jacket and hauled him up beside him.  Jimmy was pale, covered in a fine sweat and breathing shallow, jagged breaths.

“I never thought he’d really be in there,” Jimmy finally managed to say as he breathing regulated marginally.

“You mean he really was dead?  And you just dug him up?”

“Noah, that’s the first time I ever dug up a coffin and found a body inside.  I was postive Mr. Martin was behind all this and he’d faked his death.  We saw Pike do it.”

“I know Jimmy, but Martin’s actually dead?”

“See for yourself,” Jimmy replied and motioned to the hole.

“No thank you.  This whole situation makes my skin crawl.”

“Well, I don’t know what to do now.  If it ain’t Martin, then who’s been behind all this?”

“Ah, Hickok?” Noah asked when Jimmy stood up.  “Ain’t you forgettin’ something.  You dug him up, it’s only proper you bury him again.”

Jimmy stopped walking and looked back at the hole.  He returned to the scene of his crime and picked up the shovel.

“You’re right.  No matter what I’ve been thinkin’ of this man the past few days, I shouldn’t have done this.”

“Come on, I’ll help you out.  ‘Cause the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here.  I’ve done enough hangin’ out in graveyards to last me a lifetime.”

Walking back from the cemetery, Jimmy was lost in trying to piece together the clues when he suddenly stopped.  Noah continued a few paces until he realized Jimmy was no longer beside him.  Turning back he saw Jimmy staring intently at his surroundings and turning his head to survey the area.

“Jimmy?” Noah asked guardedly, reaching for his weapon.  “What is it?”

“This is where I shot her,” Jimmy replied in a hushed and far away voice.  Then he began pointing out locations as he continued, “I was standing here, and the man who called me out was standing over there.  I shot him and then heard a sound from behind.  There was a man hiding behind a wagon in front of that store.  His gun jammed and he cleared it and then aimed again.  I fired, and that’s right when she ran out of that little street there, right into the path of the bullet.”

Noah walked up to Jimmy and placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder.  “It wasn’t your fault you know.  No matter how much you tried to punish yourself then, or now, you couldn’t have done nothin’ different.  And beatin’ yourself up like this ain’t gonna bring Cora back.”

“I know,” Jimmy replied with the same hushed tone.  He continued to study the area, then slowly he turned and started back toward the hotel.

When they walked into the lobby, the clerk looked up, “note come for you Mr. Hickok.”

He retrieved it from behind the counter and handed it to Jimmy who took it with a certain amount of trepidation.  He was really beginning to hate receiving packages and notes.  Walking up the stairs and into his room followed by Noah, Jimmy waited until the door was closed before opening the folded paper.  He read the brief words and then dropped it on the bed where Noah picked it up.

“Feels kinda odd doesn’t it?” Noah asked Jimmy as they paused at the edge of Sweetwater.  “We lived here and now we’re just passing through.”

Jimmy didn’t reply to Noah, but his expression indicated his friend was right.  “Let’s get this over with,” he said and nudged his horse forward.

Noah merely nodded his head and silently followed Jimmy into town.  The two stopped in front of the Wildhorse Saloon, and somberly climbed down from their mounts.  A few townspeople recognized them and their expressions showed open curiosity about their return, but the dark expression on Jimmy’s face caused most to keep their questions to themselves.  They entered the saloon and headed to the bar where the barkeep looked up in surprise.

“Two sarsparillas,” Noah said and the man quickly filled the order.  Jimmy hadn’t spoken a word the entire time and barely registered the old man when the drink was placed in front of him.  Noah wondered how much longer Jimmy could be stretched until he finally snapped.  Patience was not exactly a virtue high on Jimmy’s list.

Just as Jimmy brought the drink to his lips the challenge was made.

“Hickok.”

The bartender nervously glanced at Jimmy and Noah, his expression indicating he hoped the two to leave before trouble started.  Jimmy sighed wearily and turned toward the door.  Noah reached out to Jimmy, causing him to pause briefly and shake his head.  Falling into step behind him, Noah followed Jimmy outside where they both stopped and blinked in the bright sunlight.

What Jimmy saw caused him to stop short.  He never would have imagined that he was behind everything happening to him.  The pieces suddenly clicked into place and Jimmy immediately saw it all in the perfectly clarity offered by hindsight.  He stepped into the street and pushed his coat 
behind his guns, freeing them from obstruction.

His shock must have registered clear on his face, because the man in front of him let out a loud laugh.  “I’m the last person you ever expected to see, ain’t I?”

Jimmy couldn’t find the words to express just how surprised he was, and so the man continued on. “I’ve waited a long time for this.  Now it’s time to even the score.”

In a moment, Jimmy snapped from his shocked state and he readied himself for the moment that had been forming since the first time the two combantants had learned of each other.  There was no turning back from this.  His whole life seemed to have lead him exactly to this point.  He made a mistake the first time he faced the man in front of him, and he vowed to not repeat it. 

By unspoken agreement, the two men drew their weapons.  Jimmy was confident in his speed, but the fear that spread through him everytime he was in this position still coursed through him.  He’d learned to rely on the fear and even welcome it.  The fear heightened his senses and even though his instincts were good, he took any extra edge he could.  His hand was only half-raised when the first shot rang out on the nearly deserted street.  His brain cried out for answers, demanding to know how he could be outdrawn by anyone, least of all him.

Even as his brain searched for meaning, instinct took over and he ducked to the side.  He hastily raised his weapon and fired off a shot, knowing it would go wide even as he did.  The man still stood before him and Jimmy wasted no time in letting fly a second shot.  This one found it’s mark and the man fell with a startled cry.  He dropped to the ground and remained motionless.

Jimmy cautiously stood and looked around slowly, his weapon still ready.  He saw Noah behind him, standing over a man lying face down in the street.  His positioning told Jimmy he’d been standing on a roof behind him.  Without any words spoken, he knew the shot had been Noah eliminating the hidden threat.  Jimmy nodded his appreciation and then slowly walked to the side of his fallen opponent.  The man was dead, no mistaking it, but Jimmy felt no satisfaction, only an emptiness inside.

“Who was he?” Noah asked walking up behind Jimmy.

“Gabe Caulder,” came the somber reply.  Jimmy holstered his gun, and looked up at the sound of the marshal coming toward them.

“What in tarnation happened here?” the lawman demanded of the duo.  “This ain’t a town where strangers can just come in here shootin’ each other up!”

Jimmy remained silent, but nodded his head and followed the marshal back to his office.

Jimmy and Noah stepped out of the office into the afternoon heat.  It had been several long hours of explaining, and re-explaining to the marshal his connection to Caulder and the events leading him here.  It was only after the return of the deputy that Jimmy began to relax a bit.

“Never thought I’d say this,” Noah said as he stood pulling on his gloves, “but thank Heavens for Barnett.”

Jimmy gave a short chuckle and nodded his head in agreement.  He reached for Sundance’s reins and tugged them loose.  He pulled himself up into the saddle and turned her head down the street.  There were several hours of daylight left and he wanted to put ground between him and Sweetwater.

“Ready?” he asked as Noah swung up into his saddle.  The reply was an almost undiscernable nod, but it was all Jimmy needed.

Leaving town, he didn’t glance back, but in his soul he knew it would be a while before he’d forget.  Mistakes from his past had caught up to him, and he’d almost paid the price with his life.  The biggest mistake had been merely wounding Caulder instead of killing him in the first standoff.  Everything fed off that, and his life had become a living nightmare because of it.  Much as he didn’t want to admit it, he knew he could never purposely leave another man standing again.  Past mistakes had taught him that painful lesson.