Kitty and Matt swallowed their coffee, while trying to swallow their dread. Matt couldn't help but notice the tremble in Kitty's hands, as she set the tin cup on the ground. He leaned closer, "Kitty, there's hope in any situation." She gave the tiniest of nods, trying to believe his words were true.

John Taylor walked to the center of the camp and clapped his hands for attention. He pointed to Kitty and Matt. "Our guests are here, so I want you men to go cover our tracks, hide the entrance, make sure we're hard to find. As soon as that gets done we'll start the show. Dillon's been a thorn in our sides, but Marlene has suffered most. Because of Dillon her two dear brothers, were unjustly taken from this world. That's why I'm gonna let her take the lead in what's about to happen.

With eager nods all around, the men deftly moved rocks and bushes to camouflage the camp's location. Marlene looked up at John. "This is gonna be entertaining, real entertaining."

Dodge City

Outside Delmonico's Restaurant, Sam Noonan bent to peek in the window. He spotted Festus and Doc having breakfast, and hurried inside. The jingling bell above the door made Doc look up, and he waved the bartender over, "Come join us." Sam hurried over, looking grim. Doc frowned. "What's wrong?" Leaning over the table, Sam shook his head. "It's Miss Kitty. She was supposed to meet with the whiskey drummer this morning at 9:00 to make a change to her order. She didn't show. After waiting 20 minutes I went upstairs to knock on her door. She didn't answer so I knocked harder and called her name real loud. I didn't hear a peep from inside, so I got worried, and used the master key to open the door. Miss Kitty wasn't there, and her bed was made, like she hadn't slept in it all night."

Festus swallowed a piece of sausage and wiped his mouth. "Now Sam, the three o' us saw Miss Kitty late last night. She can't just o' gone and disappeared."

"I know." Sam nodded, "She went up stairs last night, just as I was locking up. But she's not there now, and she missed an appointment, and her bed looks like it hasn't been slept in."

"Hold on Sam." Doc ran a hand across his mustache. "Just because the bed was made doesn't mean it wasn't slept in. Kitty could have got up early this morning and made the bed. Here's my thinking – we were talking about Matt last night. That probably set Kitty to worrying, and it's likely she didn't sleep well. She was probably up early and didn't want to sit around, so decided to get out and do some errands. As for missing the whiskey drummer, I admit that's not like Kitty, but if she was distracted thinking about Matt, or got busy doing errands, she could have plain forgot. Sam, that kind of thing has happened to every one of us, on occasion."

Festus nodded eagerly. "Golly Bill Doc, fur once ya makin' a lot of sense. Ya see, Sam thar ain't no cause ta be frettin' about Miss Kitty. Take a seat an' have some breakfast. I guarantee Miss Kitty will be in the Long Branch by the time the free lunch crowd starts comin' in."

"I-I guess you're right. What you're saying does make sense. Miss Kitty could have lost track of time, or just forgot that the appointment was today." He sat down with a sigh of relief. "Thanks, I feel a lot better. Breakfast sounds good."

The Taylor Camp

"All right everyone gather around. Let's get started." Marlene stood on a mound of dirt, hands on her hips, long dark braid hanging over one shoulder. "You three men, drag Dillon over here, tie him up and strip off his shirt. John's got his horse whip ready. You two man grab Kitty and hold her still, so she has to watch."

Laughing out loud, the men moved swiftly and gleefully. They hated all lawmen, and Dillon more than most. Watching him suffer would be a pleasure, and making his woman watch a juicy bonus. Marlene's smile was wide, as she watched the men follow her directions. "Ok boys, everything's set. How many lashes?"

"10" "100" "15" "30" "200" The men laughed harder and harder, yelling out numbers.

John Taylor held up the whip. "Hold on there. We don't want to kill him, at least not yet. This is only the first part. I'll give him a dozen lashes. It will hurt like the dickens, but he'll survive."

Kitty struggled to pull away from the two men gripping her arms. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. They tightened their hold, and of them grabbed her face, so she couldn't turn her head away.

Matt's back was towards Kitty, his skin exposed. John counted out loud. "One" The whip sliced into Matt's flesh, drawing blood. He bit down on his lower lip, trying not to cry out in pain. "TWO." The men and Marlene started counting with John, as lash after excruciating lash cut through Matt flesh. Finally, the chorus of voices called, "TWELVE," and John delivered the final stroke. He dropped the whip and ran an arm across his forehead. "That's hard work, I'll tell you that. Untie him and turn him around. It's his turn to watch." Legs trembling beneath him, Matt didn't resist as the two men turned him to face the center of camp. Marlene was shuffling a deck of cards. "Kitty here is a good looking woman, I'll admit that. Listen up men, eventually you'll each have a turn with her, singly and in groups, but let's start with a little game. Each of you will pick a card. High card goes first. Thing is you have to take the woman right out here in front of everyone. Don't worry we'll cheer you on." Marlene went from man to man. Each one eagerly drew a card from the deck. Matt looked at Kitty. Her eyes were emptying out, as if her soul was vacating.

"I've got it. I'm first." A big, blond, broad shouldered man named Spike, waved his card in the air. "Ace of Spades." Grinning through his ragged beard, he grabbed Kitty's arm with one hand, and squeezed her breast with the other. "Oh you feel good. I'm not wasting time, let's get those clothes off of you."

Standing across from Kitty and Spike, Matt let out a groan. His legs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. Marlene shook her head in annoyance. "STOP SPIKE. I didn't take Dillon for the fainting type, but he's gone and passed out. Half the fun of messing with Kitty, is having Dillon watch. John, go kick him awake."

Matt had fallen onto his stomach, face sideways. He opened his eyes just a slit. He'd pretended to faint with no plan in mind, just a hope that changing things up might create an opportunity. John walked over to Matt prone body, set his rifle on the ground, and bent to turn him over. Moving swiftly, Matt elbowed John, grabbed his rifle and fired in Spike's direction. The big man let go of Kitty, to pick up his gun. "RUN KITTY RUN." Matt scattered shots in all directions. Kitty blinked as if waking from trance, and took off into the underbrush.

Matt kept firing. One man went down. Bullets continued to rain. One caught his shoulder, he fell back.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE." Marlene's voice was firm. The shooting stopped. She looked at Matt with hate filled eyes. "Your bullet killed one of our men, but we won't kill you, at least not yet. We can't have you dying with the thought in your head, that you saved Kitty. We're gonna find her and bring her back. You're gonna watch every man here turn her inside out, and worse." Straightening up she glared at her husband. "John, that was plain stupid, putting your rifle down where Dillon could reach it. You know what a tricky bastard he is. Now your cousin Craig is dead."

"I-I, well I was just…"

"Never mind." With a look of disgust she joined the others, gathered around Craig's body. "Spike, could I please have a word."

The tall, broad, blond nodded and stepped closer. Marlene put a hand on his arm. "I'm real sorry about cousin Craig. I know you want to get to paying your respects and burying him proper. I do too. But I gotta ask you to take the men and hunt for the woman. Bring her back, and we'll punish her and Dillon like they deserve. Me and John will stay here and get Dillon bandaged up. Letting him die now would be too good for him. He's gotta suffer more than that."

Spike nodded. "OK, it's a sound plan, but remember John's the one who let Dillon near a gun. Seems to me a man who makes mistakes like that shouldn't be our leader, and maybe a women like you shouldn't be with such a fool." Spike strode off to gather the men and ride off after Kitty.

Dodge City

Festus pushed through the doors of the Long Branch. A free lunch of hard boiled eggs and ham sandwiches sounded good about now. He'd have to pay for a beer to wash it down, but all-in-all a good deal. He walked over to the bar and grabbed a sandwich from a plate, just as Sam was hurrying from the back with bowl of hard boiled eggs. "Sam bring that thar bowl right over here. I got a hankerin' for one of them eggs." Sam set the bowl in front of Festus. "I'm glad to see you Festus. I'm getting worried again. Miss Kitty is no where to be seen. She's always here for the lunch crowd unless something comes up, and when that happens she tells me or leaves a note." Festus looked at Sam for long minute while munching his sandwich. "It is kinda strange, ain't it Sam. What's the usual reason she ain't here for the lunch crowd?"

Sam though for a second. "Well, if she's off with Doc on a sick visit, or she's gone to see a friend like maybe Bess Ronniger."

"Well, she ain't with Doc. He's up in his office. If Miss Kitty's off visitin' a friend, she'd have ta ride or drive a buggy. Moss over at the stable would know 'bout that. I think I'll go an' have a word with him."

"Good idea, Festus. I'm sure there's a simple explanation for Miss Kitty not being around today, but I'd sure like to know what it is."

TBC