Amelia looked over at Buck who stood at the front of the schoolroom talking with Jude. She wondered if they were discussing the ransom demands that they would hand to Ethan and the others outside.
Food, water, fresh horses would be part of what they'd want along with a clear route out of town and enough of a head start so they could escape. But it wouldn't stop there. She knew that Buck wanted revenge for what had happened to his cousins two years ago. They'd all died but one who had been hung sometime later. She knew she'd killed one of them with a gun that had been stashed behind the bar because he'd been about to shoot Ethan. Not one to let that happen, she had acted without thinking.
Then once the outlaws were all out of commission and the balance of power had shifted towards the hostages, she'd put the gun down on a table without thinking about it and had walked up to Ethan. He'd been tending to Claire and George first after he assessed the bodies on the floor. She'd handed the baby off to another person and had gone up to Ethan and touched his face, just to know that he was really standing there and she wasn't sleeping.
During the night, she'd slept fitfully because she had to be ready to spring into action if necessary to act whether they came after here or threatened the children. But in the morning, she'd known that the federal police sent by the railroad had shown up and were ready to storm the building. Only Ethan had stood in their way.
Claire sat down at the desk next to her and also watched the two men in front. The other three were standing in various places both in and out of sight. The children were busy with Ella who kept telling them an endless supply of stories. Ben and George were helping her, after all it's not like they hadn't been through this before. It'd been a fact of life from living in Paradise, in the same household as a gunslinger.
"I don't know what they want," Claire said, "I heard them talking to Uncle Ethan."
"They'll ask for food and horses and then hopefully when they get them, they'll let us go."
Claire looked troubled.
"Uncle Ethan…I heard him asking the men to let the children go but Buck just said that he'd get what he'd want if he had women and children as hostages."
Amelia knew that had been the strategy of the cousins, when they'd stormed the hotel. They'd ridden straight into town past the bank, past the other businesses gearing straight to the hotel. Claire just looked so serious.
"Buck said he'd kill the children first…if Uncle Ethan didn't do what he wanted."
Amelia knew that he meant it too…he'd certainly killed children before and women like her…whatever it took to get what they wanted. But she knew that Ethan was the best marshal and she trusted him to do right by them. Even if that meant keeping the town people at bay…after all sometimes he'd found himself between the ruthless outlaws and the ire of the townspeople even before becoming marshal. Ethan never backed down from anything not if people were in danger.
"It'll be all right Claire," Amelia said, "We'll do what we can to help him…just like we did before."
The younger woman bit her lip.
"I'll try…but I'm not sure it's the same," she said, "the others argued constantly but Buck's controlling his brothers."
Amelia had noticed that too but she had no intention of not walking out of here with the children in their charge. Ethan would handle the outside of the situation and she and Claire would have to do their best to unravel the plan of the men from the inside.
Buck left Jude and walked over to him, his boots clicking on the floor. Amelia just looked up at him.
"I talked to your marshal," he said, "He seems like a smart man. He'll prove it by giving us what we want."
"Which is…?"
"Food, horses and a way out of here," he said, "for starters…"
She had figured that, she just wanted to keep him talking in case he might get comfortable or over confident and let something slip out that might help them.
"I told them that if they didn't give us what we want, we'd kill all of you starting with the youngest."
If he thought he could get her to show fear with his pointed words, she'd show him otherwise.
"That doesn't bother you?"
She just looked at him and Claire got up to go help Ella.
"Would it do any good if it did?"
He smiled and sat down on a desk.
"No…but your lives depend entirely on whether or not your marshal gives in to our demands."
She forced a smile back at him.
"Then I know we're in good hands…he's a very good marshal."
Buck chuckled.
"You better pray that's true."
Ethan walked into the saloon with Axelrod behind him. The store keeper had said he'd help but then he'd started complaining again.
"Where we going to find fresh horses," he said, "Tiny's fresh out of them."
That didn't faze Ethan.
"Bella's got a pasture filled with them," he said, "I'll need someone to ride out and tell her that we'll need to borrow some of them."
Axelrod just shook his head.
"That won't be enough…because we still have to feed them."
Ethan nodded.
"We're going to go along with them Axelrod and everyone will have to go along," he said, "I don't intend on losing our towns people."
Axelrod sniffed.
"I don't think going along with them is going to work," he said, "We need to wire the marshals."
Ethan shook his head.
"No…not yet…that could make it more dangerous," he said, "Buck will hole up, get desperate and he might start shooting people."
Amos walked up to him.
"We can't let outlaws like that tell us what to do," he said, "Otherwise they won't stop lining up to take from us."
Axelrod nodded.
"We should get the marshals here to just storm the place," he said, "Kill all of them…"
Charles who had been standing nearby walked up to them.
"What about the children," he asked, "What about Claire?"
Axelrod just stared at them.
"We can't sacrifice them," Charles said, "I can't believe you'd consider doing that."
Axelrod scowled.
"We might not have a choice," he said, "to restore order in our town."
Charles shook his head.
"Remember what happened only months ago," he said, "Didn't you learn anything from that?"
Axelrod fell silent as Ethan knew he would because he'd been pretty brutal himself to the merchant when he'd tried to stand in the way of what Ethan needed to do. He'd better not try that right now because there was no way Ethan would surrender a single hostage. He gestured to Dakota who came over.
"Bob's on his way to the ranch," Dakota said, "What are we going to do to buy us some time?"
"That's what the horses will do. Until we come up with a much better plan…"
Dakota sighed.
"What if it's revenge he wants?"
Ethan sighed.
"We'll find that out soon enough. Buck won't keep quiet on his intentions for long."
Joseph walked up to both of them.
"What's going on at the school house? Are Claire and my brothers in there?"
Ethan nodded.
"Amelia and about a dozen children are also inside."
Joseph shook his head.
"What are we going to do to get them back?"
Ethan paused.
"Nothing right now," he said, "They want horses and food and Mary and Scotty are working in the kitchen. Bob's out to get Bella to loan us some horses for riding."
Joseph fumed.
"I can't believe that you're giving them what they want."
Ethan had clashed with his nephew on this issue before but he knew what he had to do.
"They haven't told us yet what they want," he said, "It's not what we're giving them."
Joseph looked at him.
"Why? What's going on here?"
Ethan and Dakota looked at each other.
"Buck's cousins were those robbers that took hostages in the hotel two years ago," Ethan said, "the siege that nearly tore the town apart."
Joseph remembered that and how frustrated he'd felt that they had spent most of the time standing around outside the hotel doing nothing but watching and waiting. Not his favorite pastime, he had wanted to be a man of action like his uncle.
One of the things the two of them had in common.
Amelia watched as Buck sat there eating a couple of cookies that had been left over. He had tried to make idle conversation with her and as much as she didn't like it, she wanted to keep him talking.
"So you don't cook…."
"I didn't say that," she said, "I do but I'm not very good at it."
He chuckled at that.
"What does your husband say about that?"
She looked startled.
"Saw the ring on your hand…meaning you're married."
She nodded.
"So what does he think about your cooking?"
She shrugged.
"He eats it…and doesn't complain," She said, "but we eat out a lot at the hotel."
He chuckled louder and she just looked at him.
"So you have any children?"
She sharpened her gaze at him.
"That's a bit personal don't you think?"
He folded his arms.
"Might as well answer it," he said, "Got nothing else to do here to pass the time until…"
"You decide whether or not you're going to kill us."
He just stared at her but she didn't give him any ground. Nor did she plan to give any information about herself to them.
Inside her own mind she began planning.
