Preacher, a full flask of whiskey in his hand, watched from where he was leaning against the small fence, as Heyes and his three companions rode into the hideout's main square, laughing, their bags loaded down with the take from the bank job at Kingston. He'd not gone with them this time, still recovering from a twisted ankle sustained during the last robbery. Not that it mattered, because as long as they were in good standing, every member got their equal share of whatever was stolen, regardless of whether they participated or not.

Heyes and the Kid had insisted on that when they'd become leaders after Big Jim's arrest. Anyone violently unwilling to accept the rule, had been quickly shown the door and any further grumblings from the rest, had been quickly silenced by sharp edge of Heyes' tongue or the business end of the Kid's colt. Now pretty much everyone agreed with the idea, especially as it had benefited all of them at one time or another in the past year. Preacher had to admit that the boys were mostly a good bunch, especially compared to some of those he'd run with.

Heyes was giving orders as he glanced round him. "All right, Lobo! Tell the bunkhouse we're gonna break out the good stuff after we get the money sorted out. Tell everyone they done good!"

"Sure thing Heyes..." Lobo waving briefly at Preacher, headed to the bunkhouse to share the good news as Heyes turned to the other two men.

"Pete, Frenchie, go sort the horses out, then you're done and we can celebrate."

Preacher could tell, Heyes' mind wasn't really on what he was saying as his eyes roamed restlessly round him, definitely looking for something, though Preacher knew very well it was actually a someone he was searching for. His gaze turned a little worried as he didn't see who he was looking for, obviously expecting to have him quickly appear on his return.

Preacher stashed his flask as Heyes dismounted and handed his horse over to Frenchie, then he limped over with a smile, as the two men led the horses to be brushed down and fed. Heyes stared at him and sensing the tension in his leader, Preacher waved behind him to the bunkhouse and attached cabin. "Kid and the rest of the boys got back 'bout an hour ago."

Preacher glancing up at Heyes, caught the look of relief cross his face, before it was quickly hidden and replaced by his usual innocent smile that didn't quite hide the slight worry still in his eyes, as he asked casually. "He...they all right, any problems?" As if he wasn't concerned about the answer, though it was clear to Preacher that it meant a lot.

Preacher knew their two leaders were as tight as brothers and he was glad to be able to reassure the man."Yeah, Wheat said there weren't no trouble. They all seemed real cheerful, cept Kid was complainin' 'bout the dust. He helped the men tend to the horses, rode out to make sure weren't no trouble comin', then said somethin' to Kyle before tellin' the rest of us not to fuss him less there's an emergency for at least thirty minutes." He paused and laughed, before adding. "Ain't like none of us was gonna argue with him."

Heyes' expression cleared totally then and the smile turned genuine. "He in the leader's cabin?"

"Sure is, Heyes, I'm figurin' he's splashin' bout in that bath I saw Kyle and Mick strugglin' with just before you got back."

"Tell the boys we'll divide the money in about an hour."

"Sure thing, Heyes."

XXX

Heyes stood outside the cabin and smiled, today had been a good day. $26,000 dollars cash and they'd got clean away. Set them up nice and easy for winter. He knocked on the door with the signal knock, he and the Kid had sneakily devised in Valpo to avoid beatings as much as possible at least, and that they still used today, often to save too many embarrassing moments, but sometimes like now, to simply signal "It's me!"

He was met by a happy Kid, almost neck deep in soapy water, enthusiastically scrubbing himself, with a huge grin on his face, and a glass of whiskey and a cigar on a small table next to him.

Water was spilling onto the wooden floor and Heyes shook his head in amusement, as his partner turned to him, with a wink, the smile still on his face, and asked. "Any problems?"

Heyes returned the grin and began to unbuckle his gun-belt. "Not a one, Kid, well whatcha expect with me in charge of the plannin'?"

Kid paused in his enthusiastic washing and laughed. "Well, you woke me up enough times addin' to it and the boys likely could recite the plan in their sleep. They were sure getting' tired of listenin' to you repeat yourself, my ears were 'bout ringin' from them complainin' 'bout how many times you made them go through what you expected them to do."

Heyes laughed. "Bet they ain't complainin' about their share of 26,000 dollars and the fact that everyone is back, safe and sound!"

Kid laughed again, as he nodded in cheerful agreement. "Guess you got a point there Heyes." He then returned to his splashing, as Heyes sat on the bed to look at the bags full of money in some pleasure. He took a handful of notes out and sniffed them with a huge smile gracing his face, before saying. "I love the feel and smell of freshly stolen money." He put the notes up to his ear as he riffled through them, "I'm sure I can hear it talkin' to me!"

Kid snorted at that, as he stopped washing his feet, to look up and meet Heyes' gaze, with a small shake of his head. "You're a little strange Heyes, you know that?"

But there was no heat in his words and Heyes couldn't help but laugh out loud. The buzz of adrenalin was fading now, slowly being replaced by the pleasure of a job well done. And as he looked into the affectionate amused expression of his partner, now with a cigar clamped between his teeth and a glass of rye in his hand, he couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be.