A/N: Here goes. (takes a breath)

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Loretta I

When you're little, guns don't really make a whole hill of beans difference. You learned that if you put what came out of a gun into sombBODY (but most of the time into a deer) whatever it was didn't come back. You were too little to use them for a long time. Then somebody handed you a Daisy air rifle or a .22 handy-rifle and you went a-hunting. You were observed for a long time, but if you proved that you could follow the rules, you could carry one.

That rule only went for long guns though. Loretta had never purposely carried a pistol before. Knowing what she was going to do, and knowing what she was walking in to did not make one hill of beans difference. The piece still wobbled in her hands when she brought it to bear down the hallway. And it wobbled like her heart when she made phone calls and told lies: they were nice people. She wished she didn't have to lie to'em. There were just some things that had to be done.

She hoped Lincoln Moseby wasn't any where near the Bennett House. Not that she had ever liked him, but he was far too stupid to die just because she had to set some things straight. Too much book learnin', that one.

The dirt road stretched out long in front of her. Loretta put one foot in front of the other.

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Kate I

"Raylan? Raylan, pick up your damn phone."

She was cussing into the voice mail when he answered.

"WHAT."

"Stay out of Harlan."

"Too late. I'm already here."

"Turn around. Raylan turn that car around and go back to Lexington and Winona."

"Kate…." The tone was warning.

"Raylan DAMMIT listen to me! It's about to go down!"

"What, Kate? What exactly? Or can't you tell me?"

"You know I can't." The pause was savage.

"Are you still there?" He was almost casual, and Kate wished she had known all of this sooner. Or had never known it at all.

"I know pieces. I don't WANT to know it all. But Raylan, there's….there's war brewing down here."

'Tell me somethin' I don't know. You ever heard of Loretta McCready?"

"Yes."

"Keep your eyes peeled for her at school, okay? Call me if you see her."

"Raylan don't!"

The line was dead. Kate was afraid. She didn't know whether she should go ahead and call Boyd about Lincoln or talk to the boy first. She didn't know whether to call in sick to work that day and go hold Winona's hand or get her butt down to the school house because that would be the safest place for her to be on a day like today. She…she didn't know. She didn't know what she was doing. And that frightened her more than anything in the world.