Unshown Moments for The Wreckers, S13 (1)

This is for The Well Mannered Guest

AN: Phoenix, thank you. I am honored.

"No!" Kitty glared at Matt. "This is our vacation, or have you forgotten? Why do you have to be the one to take him back to Dodge? Can't someone else take charge of Monk Wiley?"

"I wish there was someone else, Kitty." Matt shrugged. "But there isn't. He is wanted on federal charges of bank robbery and murder and that's my jurisdiction. Besides, there isn't anyone else around here who could take charge."

Kitty clamped her mouth shut but her expression said enough for Matt to fully understand her feelings on the matter.

"Look, I'll make arrangements on the next stage out." Matt sighed as he headed for the door. "If we're lucky, we can get Wiley to Dodge and then on to Hays in no time and then we can start out again after that."

"Yeah, right." She mumbled as Matt left the room and she began to repack her suitcase to return to Dodge from another interrupted vacation.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kitty sat in front of the ogre that held her tightly to him, in pain and worry and fear. Not to mention the disgust she felt as the bandit behind her, constantly rested his hand on her leg and kept trying to move it up. Each time, she would slap his hand and push it away, knowing as she did that movement would jar her ribs and hurt. But the feeling of his hands on her was worse than the pain of a broken rib or two.

As they rode, she stole several glances at Matt, thrown across a horse like a sack of potatoes. His head bobbed up and down as they loped along and she was grateful he wasn't awake to feel it. Her ruse of switching his identity with Wiley was so far working but Kitty knew all too well that would fall apart if he survived. She just prayed Matt came to before then.

"I'm gonna like having you around." The darkly bearded jerk behind her growled lowly into her ear. "You and me's gonna have some fun. Seeing as how your Marshal friends almost dead, I figure you'll be all mine."

Kitty slapped his wandering hand and again pushed it off her thigh. "Keep your hands off of me. I wouldn't be with you if I were dead."

Chuckling, he brought his hand up again, this time placing it on her left breast and squeezed hard. "That's what you think."

When they finally reached the decrepit shack the outlaws were using as their hideout, the creep dismounted first and then reached up, roughly pulling her from the horse. The pain was tremendous but she didn't allow it to show as she again slapped his away again. "Don't put your hands on me again." She warned. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep away from this man and his intentions but as long as she had breath and Matt Dillon was alive, she intended to try.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kitty sat beside Monk Wiley's bed trying hard to show concern and love for the man that had interrupted her and Matt's vacation and put them on the stage that led them here. Matt was in the other room talking with Tate Crocker while she sat beside Wiley watching the old man tend to him.

Though she hadn't enjoyed taking her blouse off and allowing the shaky old man, Eli, to touch her as he wrapped a torn sheet tightly around her waist, she did have to admit that the binding helped a little with her ribs. And she really hadn't wanted Tate Crocker to hit her again if she refused. Besides, with her pain under control she was a little more able to concentrate on the situation she and Matt were in.

That was until Jud came in.

"Hey, Red. Have a drink with me." His leer gave her no doubts that he wanted her to do more than drink with him.

Shaking her head, she looked away in disgust. "Go crawl in a hole."

Before she could think about the consequences of her words, the man reached down and grabbed her, wrapping an arm around her and trying to force the bottle to her lips.

"I said you was gonna have a drink with me." He snarled.

Despite the painful protest from her ribs, Kitty did her best to fight him off, as she clamped her mouth shut and turned her head away. "No." She cried.

"I said you was going to drink it, Lady, one way or another." He snapped again, unhappy with the fact that even though she was hurt, she was still capable of fighting him off.

"I said I didn't wa…" Kitty didn't finish as Matt burst into the room and brought a halt to the hooligan's attack. Kitty swallowed hard when she saw the fury in Matt's face and she fervently prayed that she was the only one to notice it. She was almost willing to take Jud's drink and more if it meant Matt's not being found out.

But Jud saved her the worry as he punched and challenged Matt, declaring her to be his when he killed Matt. Though Kitty was sure of Matt's skill and strength, she didn't really take a breath until it was over and Crocker's brother went to bury Jud while Matt, Frankie and Indio took the horses off to sell.

Of course that relief was short lived. Later that day, her heart beat a heavy staccato beat as she watched in horror while Monk Wiley told Tate Crocker, with his dying breath, who he really was.

"Whap" Crocker's slap rocked her head back on her shoulders as his fury worked through him. "You little liar!" He yelled.

Instantly the door opened and Luke, Reb and Eli came into the room.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"She lied!" Crocker pointed an accusing finger at a gasping Kitty. "That there's Monk Wiley. The man that rode out of here is really Dillon."

"You're kidding me." Luke shared a shocked look with Eli and Reb. "Are you sure?"

"He told me before he died." Crocker said through gritted teeth as he started again towards Kitty.

But Luke reached out and grabbed his brother's arm before he could reach the terrified woman. "Tate, you oughta think about this afore you touch her." He warned. "You kill her and you might as well kiss that money goodbye. If that man really is Dillon, he ain't gonna care much what happens to him if she's dead."

"Yeah," Reb added. "And if you kill her, she won't be able to go get that money. You know, that town won't give it to nobody else."

Crocker took a ragged breath and stepped back. His men were right. As badly as he wanted to kill the woman for fooling him, he knew he couldn't. Once again, he pointed his finger at Kitty. "I ain't gonna kill you, Red. But you ain't gonna enjoy fooling me like that neither. I promise you, you ain't gonna be one bit happy."

Taking another step backward, he looked over at his brother. "Get them cuffs off Wiley and put em on her. You two bury Wiley next to Jud then we're going to wait for Dillon."

"You figure he'll come back, do you?" Eli spoke for the first time.

Crocker looked at Kitty with an evil grin. "He'll come back. She's here. And if he's any kind of man at all, he'll come back for her."

After Luke handcuffed her to the bed and he and Reb hauled Wiley off to be buried, Kitty leaned heavily against the bed frame, struggling for breath. Her face was burning from Crocker's blow and her ribs were heavily protesting the cramped position she was sitting in. But those were minor aches compared to the pain she knew she'd bear if Crocker killed Matt when he returned.

Reaching over she tugged at the cuff around her wrist but couldn't free her hand. She wasn't sure she'd have the strength or agility to escape if she could get free but she still wished for it. She wanted more than anything to get to Matt before he came back here to this nest of vipers, waiting to kill him.

"You might as well settle down there, Red." Crocker stood in the doorway of the room glaring at her. "You ain't gonna get out a here until I send you to town for your man's ransom."

"And if the town won't come up with the money?" Kitty asked, watching him as one would a snake.

"They'd better, Red, if you want him to live. They'd better."

As Crocker walked away, Kitty took in a shuttering breath. When she got back to Dodge, she fully intended to see to it that they did.

END