The Prisoner Exchange

PT.3

Riding along for several hours, it was becoming increasingly warmer. Kitty was happy she had remembered to grab her parasol from her things before leaving the stage back at the site. Matt saw to it that they had plenty of water for the trip and the way station owner had packed them some food for along the way, so they knew they'd be ok. Matt was used to these rides. It was Kitty he was concerned about...

Martin and Barbar, along with their prisoners, were traveling at an exhausting speed wearing down their horses. Kate wasn't handling the trip well. Mel had made several attempts to get them free but to no avail, which left him in pretty poor condition.

Kate was becoming extremely ill, yet none of the men could figure what was the cause, other than fever. This was making Barbar very unhappy. If something were to happen , all he saw was a loss of five thousand dollars.

Once again, Mel devised a plan to wait for them to fall asleep to try and overpower one of them. Making an attempt on Martin, he underestimated him. The two scuffled with Martin's gun. A shot rang out and Mel was dead.

Barbar was now freaking out. "What in the world were you thinking? You just cost us..."

"Hey, wait, Al. That crazy man jumped me. He went for my gun. What would you do? Besides, we still have the broad."

Shaking his head, Barbar said, "Okay, okay. Let me think here a minute."

Before long, Matt and Kitty were coming up on Martin and Barbar's camp. Matt noticed the fire. "Kit, looks like some campers up ahead. Maybe it's a good place for us to stop for the night. I'll check it out."

As they pulled closer, Matt called out. "Hello in there."

Just then, Martin stepped out from the trees with a shotgun. "Who's there?"

"Easy, Fella." Matt held up a hand. "Just passing through. Names Matt Dillon and this is Kitty Russell. We're headed to Dodge. Just thought we'd stop and make camp for the night." Matt was watching Martin closely.

"Oh sure, Fella. Can't be too careful, ya know. The woman? She know anything bout taking care of women?"

Quickly, Kitty responded. "What's the problem?"

"We have a woman here, she's feeling poorly. Fevered a bit. Sorry, don't know much bout these things."

"Let me have a look at her." Kitty said, stepping down from the wagon.

As she approached Kate, she could see she was indeed running a high fever. Looking at the men, she said, "I'm gonna need some cool water."

Martin looked to Barbar then Matt. "Yes, Ma'am." Quickly, he rushed to get her water. Then suddenly, Kitty noticed, as she moved the blanket, that Kate was cuffed. "What on earth?"

This got Matt's attention. "Kit? Something wrong?"

"Matt, this girl's cuffed."

"She's what?"

"Matt, she's cuffed, like a prisoner."

Matt quickly turned to Barbar. "What's going on here?"

"This is no concern of yours, Dillon. This woman is our prisoner. She and..." Then he stopped talking.

"Wait. And, what? Or should I say 'who'? Now, who are you two?"

"Names Al Barbar and he's Wes Martin. We are... Well, I'm... as I said, she's our prisoner. There's a five thousand dollar price on her head."

As they were talking, Kitty was tending to Kate. She was delirious. She kept calling out for Mel. Kitty turned to Matt. "Cowboy, she keeps calling for a Mel. Must be someone special."

Martin spit out, "Ah, just the loser she was with. He's dead."

"Dead?" Kitty repeated. "How?"

"He tried jumping me and my gun went off. We buried him over there, lost another five thou..."

"You two bounty hunters?" Kitty asked.

"Would it matter much, lady?"

"How do you sleep at night?" She asked staring right thru him. Just how much is a life worth to you?"

Snickering, "Oh, about five thou sounds good."

"You disgust me." Kitty looked to Matt. "Cowboy, she's pretty bad off. I'm not sure there's much I can do for her without any supplies. I have no idea how long she's been this way, don't know when she's eaten last or had anything to drink." Kitty sat by Kate's side, knowing she probably wouldn't see morning but she didn't want her to be alone.

Martin and Barbar sat huddled together. Martin was rubbing his head. "Now what are we gonna do, Al? We come all this way, spent all this time tracking and trailing these two just to kiss ten thousand dollars goodbye. That poster didn't say Dead or Alive. It wanted them brought in alive. We blew it! Mel, Downy's dead and Kate Ross… well, it looks like that Miss Russell woman said she'll most likely not see the morning. So, now what?"

TBC