Sheriff Jackson carefully reading through his pile of wanted posters, came to the one in the middle of the pile, read the description once, then a second time and smiled."Gotcha!"

His exclamation was loud enough that it brought his deputy to his feet a puzzled expression on his face. "Sir?"

Jackson waving the sheet of paper in his hand triumphantly, said loudly. "I knew it Jamie! That weaselly little toad who was askin' questions 'bout the robbery. He's one Edgar Tweedy, member of the Fuller Outfit." He paused and glanced down at the paper in his hand with a sigh. "I thought I knew him from somewhere, chased 'em down to the Arizona border just last month before we lost 'em. They're a real nasty bunch, got a bad habit of killin' folk who don't move quick enough." He paused and tapped the poster firmly. "I'm bettin' they hunted that kid who got away down. Elmore was sure he'd shot him in the arm, so he wouldn't have got far, especially without a horse. I thought it odd that all we found was traces of a fire, and no sign of him when we went lookin'. Now I'm figurin' this lot found him first."

Jamie looking a bit puzzled, but obviously understanding where he was going, said doubtfully. "Well, even if you're right 'bout that, ain't it likely he's dead already? That information don't help us much if he is."

Jackson frowned seeing the younger man's point, but then his face cleared as he thought of something. "Well maybe so, but if he's smart, he'd have held out on tellin' them where the money is for as long as he could."

The Deputy's face creased and he winced slightly. "Ain't that gonna be real painful for him?"

"Likely so, but he probably figured that it was better than being dead."

"Whatcha wantin' to do? "

Jackson sighed at how little imagination the young man seemed to have, but only said calmly. "I figure by now they'll have beaten the boy hard enough, that he'd give up his mother if they asked him to, so he'll have told 'em where he hid the cash. So what we do, is we get ourselves a nice little posse together and go outlaw hunting. I'm thinkin' if we're real lucky, we might recover the money and bag ourselves some of the Fuller outfit. And if the boy ain't dead, we might even get him too."

"That's a lot of ifs and maybes Sheriff."

Jackson frowned at his deputy's negativity and said irritably. "Well what we gotta lose by going looking? You want my job, when I retire you need to have a bit more get up and go in ya. Worst thing to happen is we come up empty and we ain't lost nothin, but we ain't gonna have a chance of succeedin' if we don't even try."

"Iffin you say so, Sheriff." The deputy sounded unimpressed and Jackson glared at him in frustration, maybe it was time for a change of deputy, but he'd think about that later, so with a heavy sigh he said firmly.

"I do say and if you want to keep ya job, you better listen!"

ASJ

Heyes, risked another glance over at his friend, and his stomach sank, he was out cold. He wasn't really surprised that Jed had lost that battle, because with the constant jostling on his cracked ribs and probably infected bullet wound, the pain would have been horrific. But it meant his chances of getting them away had just sunk to zero.

Heyes knew that any diversion he created would only give them minutes to escape. And with Jed unconscious, even if he could get him to come round quickly, he'd be in no state to run as fast as they'd need to. They'd be far too easy a target on a horse and if caught, he knew they were both facing a long and painful death.

With no chance of making their escape before Jed would be forced to reveal where he'd hidden the money, Heyes realised the chance of saving his friend was gone. His jaw tight he glanced over at Fuller, his gaze dark and vowed that he and his cohorts would pay, whether it was with their necks or a long prison sentence, he wasn't that fussed. As his attention twisted to how best to achieve that, his horse nervous of the scent of blood from Jed's wounds moved away from the other animals seeking a more familiar smell.

Heyes' attention was suddenly caught by the pounding of hooves from behind them. He swirled round to see a gathering cloud of dust rapidly approaching. Fuller also hearing the noise, twisted in his saddle and loosed his grip on Jed's horse in preparation for whatever he'd need to do, as his arm dropped to his weapon.

Surprising them all, instead of the crack of the bullets they'd expected, the rider in the lead of their pursuers instead threw several items in their direction.

As they landed on the ground in a blaze of noise, throwing up dust and loose stones, Heyes realised they were firecrackers. He took a moment to admire the inventiveness of that, before concentrating on what he needed to do to take advantage of the chaos and get them both away.

With a deep breath, he leaned over and grabbed the reins of the horse Jed was tied to as it attempted to flee. He managed to slide himself onto it's back and then held on for dear life as it sped away with panicked speed. He also kept a fierce grip on his unconscious friend, grateful now that he would likely feel very little of this nightmare ride.

Heyes managed to keep some control of then terrified animal, despite a bullet flying close to his ear, as it rode like the wind away from the mess behind them. Jed began to shift restlessly, though it was obvious that he wasn't fully aware. Heyes hushed him softly and tightened his grip, relieved when he slipped back into unawareness.

Finally, when Heyes was absolutely certain they were safe, he managed to convince the horse to stop by a deep flowing river. He released his hold on his friend, wincing at the cramped pain in his fingers and groaning at the ache in his back and legs as he slid carefully to the ground.

Soothing his exhausted mount best he could, he encouraged the poor animal to drink his fill, as he turned his attention to Jed. He gently patted his friend's face, only realising he was holding his breath when he gulped in a huge breath of air as his friend's eyes fluttered open.

ASJ

"Hannibal, Hannibal, no you can't be dead too! It ain't fair! Hannibal!"

Heyes startled awake at Jed's hoarse shout was quickly by his side. He was exhausted, his eyes itchy and his head aching after too many nights of tending to his cousin as he fought fever induced demons. "Shh, it's all right I ain't dead..."

Jed had been more lucid the last two days, at least during daylight hours, managing to eat and drink some, but with nighttime, his temperature had risen, which had inflicted further nightmares on him.

Jed's eyes flew open as he spoke, though his gaze didn't settle on Heyes at first, instead wild eyed, he looked round the cave in some panic. Then after a few moments his breathing calmed and as his eyes rested on Heyes he gave a weak smile, and barely above a whisper said hoarsely. "Sorry, Heyes."

Heyes only shook his head and felt Jed's forehead. "Think the fever's 'bout gone. We should both get some proper rest now."

Heyes sat by his friend's side until he was sure he was in a deep, hopefully healing sleep, before lying down himself and closing his eyes. He woke to blessed silence, except for the peaceful sound of Jed's even breathing. Relieved that the crisis had seemingly passed, he smiled to himself as he stretched and slipped quietly out into the warm daylight, careful not to wake his friend.

He was tending to the horse, when he heard a noise behind him and turned quickly, his hand on his weapon. But he quickly relaxed as he looked into the tired gaze of his friend.

"Good to see ya on your feet."

Jed leant against a tree carefully with his arms folded a little awkwardly, still clearly in some discomfort from his ribs, but made no comment about it, only said. "Thinkin' we oughta be headin' into Palmer today or tomorrow at the latest." He looked up at the clear sky as he added. "I know it don't look like it, but I think the weather's about to change."

Heyes laughed softly as he remembered how their Grandpa Curry had always seemed to know when rain or snow was coming and nodded. "Well, there should be a homestead nearby, where we can buy a horse, as I think this poor creature has done its fair share of carrying the two of us." He gently stroked the placidly chomping horse, before turning back to Jed with a smile when he cleared his throat.

"Can I borrow your gun? Figure I'm up to shootin' us some breakfast. Getting kinda sick of them guinea hens that keep dyin of old age to feed us."

Heyes smile switched to a glare, offended for a moment, then catching the glint of amusement in his friend's face, felt his lips tilt up into a small smile and he replied lightly. s "Ain't never known you to be a fussy eater before."

There was an awkward pause as Heyes' comment brought up the spectre of their separation, before Jed broke it speaking softly. "You think we oughta stick together when we get to Palmer?"

It was a question that Heyes had asked himself on several occasions during the last exhausting days, on the rare occasions he'd had the time to think. "I ain't sure, I'd like to, but guess it depends on whether we both figure we can make it work between us again." He paused and added carefully. "What are your feelings' on it?"

Jed didn't answer straight away, staring at a point in the middle distance past Heyes' head. When he did speak, Heyes had to lean in to hear him as he spoke so softly. "We ain't quite the same people as we were when we split, Heyes. I got me a reputation in certain circles." He paused and met Heyes' gaze with a directness that he'd never seen there before as he added. "And the boy I grew up with wouldn't have got himself tangled up with a murdering walk-off like Fuller."

Heyes knew he was right and he wasn't really sure why he hadn't just walked away, once he'd realised just who exactly he'd got himself involved with. It was likely a question that would haunt him for some time and maybe he'd never really find an answer that satisfied him. The brutality with which they'd treated Jed had shocked him to the bone. He'd been lucky that none of the jobs he'd been involved in had ended in violence, but he knew that had been only due to blind luck, rather than as a result of anything that he'd done or not done. He also realised even with the gift of distance, that had his cousin died, he would have exacted the revenge he'd begun to plan before fate had played her hand.

As he looked and met Jed's calm gaze, he was fairly sure his friend had read every one of the thoughts that had slipped across his mind, but when he made no comment, Heyes said softly. "So where does that leave us?"

Jed grinned at him ,and though there were some new shadows in his eyes. Heyes saw no judgement or anger there. He easily answered the look with a broad smile of his own, because that told him that everything was all right between them. The feeling was confirmed as Jed replied cheerfully. "With a fresh start, Heyes, with a fresh start. "He paused before adding firmly. "I ain't fool enough to think I'd have survived without ya these last days. So I'm figuring it's worth takin' a few weeks to see how we manage. Then takin' it from there."

Heyes stuck out his hand and Jed took it firmly, grinning even broader, as Heyes said gleefully. "You got yourself a deal, partner."