3

"It was the strangest thing, Pa. The wagon was stuffed full of hay. They had crates nestled down in the hay, and huge glass bottles down in the crates. The way that thing blew, it had to be nitro, or hundred proof whiskey. I was hundreds of yards clear of it and pieces still flew by me. There wasn't one piece of that wagon left whole."

Ben shook his head. "And they shot at you...after the explosion."

"Yeah." Joe said. "I went to look to the horses. They shot the horse the first time, and then they got me after I was in the saddle hightailin' it outta there."

"Explains why you didn't duck." Adam said.

Joe made a face at him.

"About where was this?" Ben asked.

"Middle of nowhere, Pa. Out where nobody could get hurt by it, unless they were riding through. The only reason I went up that way was to make up a little time."

"Sounds almost like they were running a test." Adam said. "You say the fire started in the wheels?"

"Yeah."

"And you never saw anyone on the wagon."

"Not a soul."

"Sounds like they were testing how long or how far the wagon would go before the friction started a fire, and the fire heated up the contents of the bottles." Adam said.

"That's one possibility, but there are a hundred others." Ben cautioned.

"One way to find out." Hoss said. "We could ask anybody that lives around there if they've been hearin' a lot of explosions lately."

"We could...but we aren't the ones to investigate this. We have a ranch to run. And I have a feeling that if that suicide in Reno turns out to be murder, at least one of us will be needed there before too long." Ben insisted.

Hoss and Adam both looked at the toes of their boots.

"And your brother needs to finish getting well." Ben said. "That should happen at home I think, so that we can get out of the Tungsten's hair."

"Very, lovely hair." Adam said quietly.

Ben cast him an annoyed look then stood. "I'm going to ride back to the ranch with one of your brothers, and get a buggy so that we can get Little Joe home. Which of you would like to join me."

Adam dug into his pocket and produced a coin. He flipped it into the air and Hoss called, "Heads" while it was still airborne. Adam caught it and slapped it onto the back of his hand.

Hoss smiled pleasantly at him.

"I guess that would be me." Adam said.

"Alright, then Hoss will stay with Joe. Make sure he does as the doctor ordered until we get back. You might offer to help the Tungsten's with some of the work we're taking them from while we're here. We'll be back soon as we can."

"Yes, sir."

Adam and Ben left an hour later, heading for home.

It was Adam's idea that they take the route Joe had taken, just to see if there was debris left from the wagon explosion. They found the canyon Joe had hunkered down in, the rocks still stained with dried blood from his passing. They scoured the route from the canyon to the flat land, finding the spot where Joe would have first seen the wagon based on his description. They found nothing else.

"Adam...at this rate we won't be able to head back until morning." Ben said, annoyed. His eldest son was still on foot, picking through the bushes on the rise.

"He said pieces flew past him. That means there should be chunks of charcoal, melted glass, pieces of the wheel bearings or bolts or something. If somebody came through and picked up all the debris there should be footprints. How can there be nothing!? An explosion like that had to have left a mark out there. A big black stain on the rock...a blast crater...it's like he imagined it."

"He didn't imagine the bullet in his side." Ben growled.

"No...but he did say they hit the horse first. I'm going to look down there for blood stains."

"Adam!"

"Pa, go on ahead. I'll be fine here. I'll join you at the house in an hour."

"Don't you think we have enough irons in the fire at the moment."

Adam had stepped up into the saddle and Ben could see how badly his boy wanted to go down and make sense of things. He knew that if he refused Adam he would have to listen to his theories all the way back home and they would have to stop again on the trip back to the Tungsten ranch, come morning. Letting Adam go now and get it out of his system would, in the end, save time and energy.

Ben sighed and Adam tried not to smile. "One hour. Then I want you riding as fast as you can back home. I'll expect you by dinner."

Adam grinned at him and Ben shook his head, turning his horse. "Why couldn't I have dull sons, with no curiosity?" Ben asked himself. He knew the answer, and chided himself for even thinking it. Still..their curiosity got them in more trouble than it would a herd of cats.

The thought couldn't have been more true, Ben came to realize, when an hour, then two, then four passed without Adam returning. Ben ate supper, tied his horse behind the buggy then took the rig out with lanterns lit, heading back along the path he and Adam had taken home.

He was exhausted, but his worry kept him awake, if jumpy. He encountered coyotes and jackrabbits, startled a meadow of deer and a handful of owls. He talked to Buck who wanted nothing to do with being back out on the trail so soon. Every half a mile Ben would step down to look for tracks, finding only Buck's. The further away from the Ponderosa that he rode the more worried he became.

He had second guessed his decision to go this route, and his decision to leave the Ponderosa in the middle of the night at least a dozen times before he reached the rise where he had left his son. The plateau below was empty but for a small dark shadow that hadn't been there before. Unable to take the buggy down the rise, Ben grabbed his rifle and stepped carefully down onto the plateau, looking at tracks in the gloom, his ears trained to everything around him.

The dark shape was Adam's hat. Ben poked a finger through the hole in the crown that Sarah Tungsten had made, then through a second hole to the right of it. This hole had blood on it. Ben straightened and shouted his son's name. He turned a full circle, shouting again before he searched the ground. He picked up tracks and followed them, crossing the plateau at a stumbling run until the horse tracks inexplicably disappeared and wagon tracks began.

It was the four foot long, narrow line in the dirt that made him think of Jigger Thurman's bull. The cart Hoss had brought him in.

"They...they took his horse and...loaded it into a wagon?" Ben asked the rocks and brush. "Why..?"

Ben called for his son, circling wider and wider from the spot where Adam's horse disappeared. He found no boot marks, no blood. No body. The wagon tracks would lead him to his son, he knew that. And judging by how many tracks there had been the day before, and how many there were now, Ben was afraid that leaving it until he had backup would mean losing Adam forever.

Against his better judgement. Against every wise hair on his head, Ben went to his horse, stepped into the saddle and took off after the wagon tracks. He left the buggy where it was and slapped the hindquarters of the horse that had pulled it once the animal was free of the traces. Two days later that's where Hoss, Sheriff Coffey and Deputy Sheriff Vince would find the buggy and horse, abandoned. With nary a track to tell them how or why.

Hoss was angry by then. Past worry, and past curiosity. He'd gone through just about every other emotion while waiting for Pa at the Tungsten ranch, then getting his horse and Joe's and putting his brother into the saddle for the hard ride to the Ponderosa. With Joe settled and Hop Sing looking after him, Hoss had gone to Virginia City. Coffey had wired Reno, they'd put together a posse, and near a hundred men were out between the two cities scouring the country side for Adam and Ben Cartwright. They found the buggy but nothing else.

"How!?" Hoss wanted to know, pacing in front of his father's desk. "How can they be gone without a trace? How can anyone sweep tracks and blood clean of that much ground? How?"

"I...I just don't know, Hoss. I saw it myself and none of what you've been saying makes sense to me. I've wired up to Fort Bidwell. They got an indian tracker that's said to be the best in this part of the world. He'll be here in a day or so. In the meantime...supposing this is some sort of kidnapping, I think it's best you stay here."

"To do what, Roy? Stew?"

"In case they try to get word to ya. What's the point of kidnappin' somebody if you never get word to the family for the pay off?"

Hoss growled and spun away from the sheriff in frustration. "I guess it makes sense that somebody would try to kidnap one or two of us for ransom. But it ain't like they'da known Pa and Adam would'a been out there. Adam had to have done some mighty sweet talkin' to get Pa to go that way. Fifty fifty chance at best that they would'a both been out there...in that same spot. It just don't make sense..ain't none of this makes sense. The...the explodin' wagon, the suicide that ain't a suicide in Reno, the saddle bags goin' missin'."

"You said there was nothing of value stolen?" Roy said, pointing an arthritic finger.

"Nothin!" Hoss said. "Extry shirts, clean socks. My pa had a shavin' kit my ma give him, and maybe twenty dollars in cash money. We give half that much to the kid that got hung, and it was still in his pocket when they cut him down."

Roy shook his head sitting back in Ben's chair. "Worse of it is, I'm going to have to pull my deputies outta this mess and send 'em back to town. We got the governor coming into Virginia City in two days. I tried wirin' his entourage and askin' that they skip it, given that members of the town council has been kidnapped. They refused. Said it wouldn't look right. Said the governor insisted on stoppin' in Virginia City, come hell or high water."

"Foolish. Downright foolish." Hoss said. "Everybody in town knows Pa and Adam are missin', and for some of them it don't take much to get them chompin' at the bit. Add a government official to that mix...I got all the more reason not to go into town for a couple of days."

"I'm glad you see it my way." Roy said, forcing himself to his feet with a groan. The time in the saddle hadn't been kind to him. "I wish I could put every man in the state on this, Hoss, but for the moment, I've done all I can. I'm sorry."

"That tracker will be a big help. Soon as he gets to town you send him out here. We'll put him up and pay for his services."

"I'll do that." Roy said, walking with the middle Cartwright son to the door. "You hear or see anything, you send one of your hands to Virginia City. I'll put a few prayers in for your pa and brother in the meantime."

"Thank you, Roy."

"Take care, son."

"Adam!"

"Hmm?"

"How's your head, son?"

Adam groaned. "Either I've gone blind, or we're back in the cold cellar."

"Cold cellar...I hope." Ben said. "Needless to say our attempted escape failed."

Ben heard Adam shift, and winced at the pained groans.

"I wish they'd swing at some other part of my body." Adam mumbled.

"How's your jaw?"

"How's yours?" Adam countered.

Ben chose not to answer but he heard his son chuckle.

"How long was I out?" Adam asked.

"About as long as I was, plus half an hour."

"I see they've tied us up this time." Adam said, tugging at what felt like rope holding his hands behind his back.

"Yeah...if we can get back to back we can undo the knots I think." Ben said.

They worked together in the cramped space until Adam felt his father's shoulders hit his.

"Did you get a count?" Ben asked.

"At least ten men. I suppose the fact that they keep their faces hidden is a good thing. Whatever they have planned, they intend for us to live through it." Adam said.

"Either as bait, ransom or hostages." Ben said.

"Or all three."

"That's it, that's it!" With a gasp of pain Ben was able to bring his hands around in front of him and he rubbed feeling into them before he turned to free his eldest.

Once his hands were free, Adam touched the bloodied groove on the side of his head carefully, making sure the wound was still closed, before he felt along his jaw.

He heard his father working at the ropes around his ankles in the pitch darkness, then felt the tail end of a rope slap against his thigh. Adam went after his own ropes before he leaned his back and his aching head against the cool, hard surface of the wall. He heard his father's knees crackle as he stood.

"I suppose they've covered the door with something this time." Ben said, feeling along the low ceiling until he reached the hatch. "And the ladder is gone."

"Heaven forbid they should make it easy." Adam said.

"Yeah...tell me again..what did you find that night?"

"Sand." Adam said, wishing he had a gallon of whiskey to drown his aching head in. "Piles of sand. The same color and texture as the sand on that plateau. I don't know what kind of contraption they use to distribute it, but that's how they cover the tracks."

"And when I came after you...I must have gotten there before they could cover up your disappearance." Ben said.

"Once I knew that the debris had been buried, and not picked up, I went back up onto that rise to dig for it. I found plenty before they bushwhacked me."

"They might have left you alone if you hadn't found evidence of...whatever it is they're planning." Ben said, doing his best to keep all accusations out of his tone.

Adam didn't respond and Ben bent at the waist, feeling around for his son before he sat beside him.

"At least we're in this together." He said.

"Hate to think what Hoss and Joe are going through." Adam said.

Ben shook his head, easily able to imagine. "I'm certain that...by now they've involved Coffey, maybe even the sheriff in Reno. Probably had a posse out looking for us."

"Wait a minute…"

"What…"

"Oh no."

"Adam?"

"Pa, that's it."

"What-"

"The wagon, the explosives. The cover up. Shooting Joe, shooting me. Doing everything they can to hide what's been going on out in the middle of nowhere."

Adam went silent and Ben resisted the urge to let his anger get the better of him. He took a deep breath and counted to ten. He had reached eight when Adam asked, "Well don't you get it?"

"Get what?" Ben asked, tightly.

"Who is due in town on the 15th?"

"Why the gov-"

Adam's hand slapped his arm and Ben said, "Oh no."

"Now you get it." Adam confirmed.

"Oh no!" Ben said.

"And that...answers why they've kept us alive." Adam said. "And I bet I know exactly where our...branded, highly identifiable saddle bags with our personal items in them...have gone."

"Oh NO!" Ben near shouted.

"If they succeed…" Adam said, enunciating. "We will soon be standing trial for assassinating the governor of Nevada."

"Oh no." Ben moaned. "I should never have let you satisfy your curiosity."

"Be that as it may...I think there's plenty more curiosity to be satisfied."

"Which question would you most like to have answered, son? How do we get out of here? How do we stop the assassination of the governor? Or how do we avoid hanging when this is all said and done?"

"You're awful churlish when your life is being threatened." Adam commented carefully.

"Ha!" Ben retorted.

"I was wondering what day it is today?"

"The fourteenth...I suspect."

"Do you then, also suspect that our friends will return for their scape goats before or after they've tried to blow up the governor?"

Both of them fell silent when they heard footsteps on the floor above them, affectively satisfying their curiosity. They heard something heavy drag across the floor, then were speckled with rays of light coming through the cracks above them. Ben and Adam got themselves as ready as they could as the trap swung up. Adam sprang out of the four-foot hole, grabbed the pair of legs closest to him and yanked, knocking the man off his feet. He scrambled out of the hole and onto his feet, bending for the gun in the man's holster.

His father barked a warning in time for Adam to avoid being clobbered over the back of the head. Adam fell to his side, kicking his feet out and jabbing a heel at the side of the second man's knee. By then the first man had a pair of silver in-laid pistols in both hands that looked like toys compared to the size of his fists.

"Come on...fight like a man." Adam goaded, and to his surprise the man put the guns away and raised his fists. Adam couldn't see his face, but he had a good idea were to swing for. He feinted at the man's head, used the blinding affect of the mask, and threw some uppercuts into his belly before reaching from the floor to the sky and catching the man's chin in between.

As his man went down Adam caught one of the guns, sliding it from the holster and turning it on the man still wrestling with his father.

The man backed off a step giving Ben an opening. The eldest Cartwright hit his opponent once, then twice before he went down. Ben collected the man's gun, then pointed at the second silver-laid pistol that was clearing leather. "Uh...Adam."

Adam kicked the man's wrist with the hard, pointed toe of his boot and the gun fell, the man's fingers suddenly numb. "Forgot about that one.." Adam said quietly. "In the cellar." He ordered.

"Wait!" Ben said. "Wait...he's about your size. Have him shed those clothes, and that mask."

"Why?"

"If they...whoever they are, don't see at least one of these two bringing in some prisoners, they'll know something is wrong. We may stop the assassination but we won't know who was behind all this." Ben bent down and ripped the mask off his man. "I don't recognize him and if he's anything other than a hired gun he won't talk. If he is a hired gun we might find a wanted poster on him, but that won't lead to the source of the plot." He said. "We'll tie him up, put him in the cellar. You trade clothes with that one and we'll tie him, too. Do a better job than they did. Lock them in the cellar."

"What happened to the wise, cautious, Ponderosa-first Ben Cartwright of two days ago?"

"He was replaced by Ben Cartwright, town council member of Virginia City and personal friend of the Governor of the state of Nevada. Now, ask him where they were going to take us." Ben said.

"Where were you going to take us?" Adam asked. Ben stepped over the cellar door and ripped the man's mask off, revealing another total stranger.

"We've seen your face now. We can identify you to the sheriff, or we can simply shoot you dead right here." Ben said, his voice entirely reasonable and calm. "I know which one will be easier. Which would you prefer?"

"Wilson's Livery in Virginia City. At nine." The man said.

"He prefers to live." Ben said. "For the moment I'm feeling charitable."

"You're a remarkable human being, Pa." Adam said, then ordered, "Strip."