Captive Hearts 14
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Matt stomped into the jail and slammed his hat on the peg by the door. Tired and frustrated he walked over to the stove praying there was some coffee left in the pot. Cold or not wouldn't matter. For once that day, he was in luck. Not only was there coffee but it was hot and actually smelled fresh.
Doc stepped in just as he was pouring himself a cup. "I hoped you'd get here before that sat too long. Coffee's no good if it sits too long on the fire."
"You make this?" Matt asked, taking a sip and actually enjoying the taste.
"Yeah, just a little bit ago. Thought you might appreciate a cup before we head out to the ranch."
Matt ducked his head. "Well, I do appreciate the coffee, but I can't head out there this evening. I'm expecting a reply to a couple of wires I sent and I can't leave till I get them. But Newly's going to ride out there with you. He'll be here shortly."
"Wires to where?" Doc questioned.
"Well one of them, if you must know, was to Boston. Carolyn told me that was where she was from and that she had a brother still there. She asked me if I'd wire him and tell him about her. The other one was to General Thompson in Ft. Leavenworth. I was hoping he might have heard something or know something that could help me."
"You mean help you figure out who's been giving Dawson confidential information?" Doc nodded sagely.
"Yeah," Matt sighed. "It's a long shot, I know, but I don't have much else to go on. Me and Festus and Newly have pretty much scoured Dodge and the surrounding countryside and no sign of Dawson or the man who escaped with him. Getting a hold of the man helping him just might be my only chance of finding and stopping Dawson."
"Well," Doc scrubbed his mustache, "at least Kitty and Emma are safe. Everybody still thinks they're up in my office."
'Yeah and I'm glad about that." Matt leaned against his desk. "Their safety is more important than anything."
"Oh say, that reminds me." Doc stood up abruptly. "I need to go up to my office and put a light on up there. Make everyone think someone's there."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Matt told him. "I'll go up there and take care of it for you. Wouldn't hurt to have folks see me going up there anyway."
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Nathan Burke slumped against the polished bar at the Long Branch nursing a cold beer and a sore back. He had been three days sorting out and preparing a large shipment for transport, with no help and very little time in which to accomplish his task. This was his first chance to take a break and relax a little.
As he stood there, a tall army officer walked into the saloon and made his way over to the bar. "Beer, bartender." He ordered.
"Yes, sir," Floyd answered glancing at the officer curiously. Very seldom did they get the officers in. Usually only the troopers deigned to enter into such an establishment. Usually the officers did their drinking in private.
"Nice day, ain't it?" Burke asked, taking in the man's neatly trimmed uniform and the Major's insignia.
"Yes it is." The man replied. "It's obviously too early for the crowd though." He glanced meaningfully around the nearly empty barroom. "Of course, I guess most of the patrons wait until evening when the proprietress of this establishment is on hand. To be honest, that's about the only reason I'm here. I'm new to out the fort, you see, and I've heard a lot about her. I really want to see if what I've heard matches the woman."
Burke looked oddly at the soldier next to him. "Miss Hanna?" he asked. He couldn't imagine anyone wanting to see her specifically.
"Um, no," the man responded. "I don't believe that was the name I heard." The man scratched his head for a moment then smiled. "Kitty!" he said. "That's the name of the woman. I've heard she is something special."
Burke looked even more confused. "Miss Kitty? Well, she is but she hasn't been here for a year or more. Of course she did come back, but now she's gone again. I don't know if she'll ever come back, or at least come back here to the Long Branch."
The man looked at him sharply. "Oh?"
"Well, yeah." Burke turned towards the man, warming up to the gossip. I mean nothing's been said specifically, but I saw them take Miss Kitty and some other woman out of town the other night."
"You don't say?'" the man murmured. "I wonder why?" He watched Burke closely. "Perhaps she had business back east or something."
"Oh, no, Major." Burke smiled, happy to be the only one who knew something and the first to share it. "They went south west when they left here. Not sure why, only a couple of places out that way. But that's where they went."
The tall, polite officer, finished his beer, smiled at the freight agent and nodded. "Then I suppose that means the lady won't be here tonight, will she?"
Burke shook his head. "Nope, guess not."
Tossing a couple of coins on the bar, the man tipped his head to Burke. "Well, then I'll take my leave. But you have a nice day."
"Sure thing, Major. You too." Burke smiled broadly as the man turned and left.
Once the soldier left the saloon, he made his way slowly down the boardwalk, looking around him cautiously. Certain he was unobserved, he ducked quickly down the nearest alley, making his way to the edge of town.
"Well?" Wade Dawson demanded when the soldier appeared. "Is she here?"
"No," the man shook his head. "I talked to a man in the saloon that saw them take both her and the other one out of here the other day. He didn't know where they took them but said they headed southwest."
"What's southwest of here?" Dawson asked.
"As far as I know just a couple of ranches. I seldom leave the fort so I'm not really familiar with the area around here."
"What you say, we leave?" Chavez spoke up next to Dawson. "That gringo bitch is nothing. We get more like her, eh?"
Dawson glared at his partner. "I Want Her!" he said sternly.
"But she old. We get young woman, eh? Mucho pretty girls."
With one look, Chavez realized he'd said the wrong thing and shrank back from Dawson.
"We get her." Dawson snarled."She belongs to me and I want her back."
"But how do we get her back?" The soldier asked. "Like I said. We only have the direction they took her in. Besides Matt Dillon, along with his deputies, will most likely be protecting her. It would be hard to separate them in order to get to the women."
Looking back over at the soldier before him, Dawson smiled savagely. "Not if Dillon is stopped here in town, it won't."
TBC