Gunsmoke and Spies 10

MKSMKMKSMKMKSMKMKSMKMKSMKMKSMK

Kitty came to on a hard lumpy cot, Amanda sitting beside her. "Oh, Kitty, thank God. I was so worried."

"Where are we?" Kitty asked trying to sit up, despite a headache that threatened to take her back down. She looked around but it was dark and the one small candle in the room did little to expel the darkness.

Amanda helped her up but shrugged. "I'm not sure, really. As soon as they got us to their horses, they put a blindfold on me. They wouldn't let me take it off until we were shoved in here."

Kitty watched the younger woman's face closely. "Amanda, they didn't…?" She wasn't sure how to ask the question.

Amanda gave her a confused look while she scratched the small rash on her arm. Her allergy to horses had been activated when she had been forced to ride in front of the horrible man that had grabbed her.

"Amanda," Kitty was worried about the younger woman. Kitty had been kidnapped like this before and she knew firsthand what vile men, like Saldez and his buddy, could do to a defenseless woman. "They didn't… hurt… you, did they?"

Amanda got her meaning and shook her head. "Oh! No, no" she gave Kitty a tremulous smile. "They didn't. They… they didn't touch either of us, but Kitty…" she struggled to keep from crying. "They said they were going to hurt Lee and the Marshal. They plan on using us to get to them."

Kitty took a deep breath. The situation, though not a new one to the veteran 'Lawman's Woman', was nevertheless one made more difficult by the younger woman with her. She wondered if Amanda had ever been in a situation like this before. "Well," she sighed. "I've been in tougher spots, I guess. But I sure was hoping I wouldn't end up in another one."

Amanda looked stricken. "You… you've been kidnapped before?"

Kitty nodded. "More than once." She said. "The last time… it… well, it almost killed me. Literally."

Amanda heard the pain in Kitty's voice and saw her shoulder's droop as the memory of an obviously hurtful time assailed her. "I… I'm sorry." Amanda said sincerely.

Kitty took another deep breath and shook her head. "Don't be. It happened a couple of years ago and it's in the past. What we need to be concerned with, is the present. And at present, we need to find a way out of here."

Getting to her feet, Kitty walked around the perimeter of their tight quarters, realizing they were actually in a small shed with one window on the wall opposite the cot. Looking out the window, she could see little by the dim light of the half moon. "Sure wish I knew where we were." She said wistfully.

"Well, I don't know exactly where we are," Amanda spoke up. "But I know we're about three hours west of town."

Kitty looked at her curiously. "I thought you said you were blindfolded."

"I was." Amanda shrugged. "But I kinda kept track of the time while we were riding and then just before that man shut the door, I saw which side the sun was on as it was going down and the tracks of the horses coming in from the opposite direction."

Kitty smiled at her friend. "That's pretty good thinking." She complimented. "Now let's see. Three hours west of Dodge… Hmm…" Running the information through her mind she suddenly knew where they were. "Enoch Miller's old place." She exclaimed.

"Huh?" Amanda asked crinkling her brow.

"That's where we are." Kitty told her. "It's an old ranch. The owner died some time back and the bank took it over. I don't think anyone ever bought it. So there's no maintenance on any of the buildings. Maybe we can find a weak spot in these walls."

"There aren't any," Amanda said dispiritedly. "I checked while you were unconscious. It'd take a sledge hammer to get through those walls."

Kitty started to say something, when voices were heard outside. "Cash, you keep eye on dem women." Saldez told his partner.

"They ain't goin' nowheres. That sheds solid." Cash Hayworth's nasally voice whined in protest. "Sides, I'm tired. We gotta get up early we gonna be at Benson's Crossing at ten to meet Logan."

"Jew gotta get up early." Saldez's voice held a touch of mirth. "Me, I go to town and get drunk, heh?"

"Ah, now, wait a minute, Armando!" It was apparent Hayworth wasn't too fond of the idea of being left behind. "I ain't had me no drink for some time. It ain't fair, I gotta stay here and babysit and get up early to boot."

"Cash, my friend." Saldez was chuckling. "Dem's the breaks."

Kitty looked over at Amanda as they listened to the sound of a horse galloping away. Neither one had to speak to know what the other one was thinking. Both of them began looking about the room for anything they could use as a weapon.

Lifting up the small mattress on the cot, Kitty found it. Three narrow boards were stretched across the frame to hold the thin mattress in place and were easily lifted out. Kitty picked one up and gripped it with both hands. Moving swiftly behind the door, she motioned to Amanda, who doused the candle and then immediately began yelling at the top of her lungs as she picked up another one of the slats.

Footsteps were heard, then Hayworth's angry growl. "Shut up in there, lessin' ya want me to give ya somethin' to really yell about."

"Kitty's dead!" Amanda cried out in her best most pitiful tone. "I can't wake her up. You've killed her."

Several seconds went by and neither woman dared to breathe until at last they heard a key being inserted into a lock and the door swung open.

Hayworth took a tentative step into the darkened interior, his gun in his hand and pointed straight in front of him. "Light that there candle, I left fer ya." He demanded.

"I can't." Amanda told him, putting a tremble in her voice. "I… I'm afraid."

"Dad blasted woman." Hayworth grumbled as he took another couple of steps in.

Kitty held her breath and waited until he was completely in the room before raising the wooden slat over her head and bringing it down soundly across his broad back. He stumbled forward but he didn't fall. Raising the makeshift bat again, she then brought it down across his skull and he finally succumbed, falling face forward into the little room.

"Go, Amanda." Kitty yelled as she bent over the man to grab his gun. But Amanda stayed put, slat still at the ready. She wasn't about to leave until Kitty was beside her.

Kitty cautiously knelt down and pushed against Hayworth. He didn't move. Taking a deep breath, she reached for the gun he still held in his hand. But just as she grabbed for the barrel, Hayworth rose and grabbed her arm, grappling with her for control of the weapon.

Amanda, seeing what was happening, raised her piece of wood and brought it down sharply across Hayworth's forehead and then again, catching him across his shoulder and his neck. Hayworth's grip of Kitty's arm lessened and then he completely let go as Amanda hit him one more time.

Breathing a sigh of relief she stepped back and dropped the club she had in her hand, just before the gun went off.

TBC