"Oxymorons!"
ProRodeoCowgirl
An Alias Smith and Jones/Pirates of the Caribbean crossover
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for any plot ideas you do not recognize. Any dates/places are approximate and probably not accurate!
A/N: Hey guys…I haven't had time to edit anything yet, so I just want to acknowledge the fact that I made an error in chapters 1 and 2…despite what I had typed, I did indeed intend for it to be Christmas Eve.
Chapter 4
"Allright, eunich, out with it!"
Will sat at the hotel bar and silently downed a shotglass full of sharp whiskey. Jack stood there, fidgeting, waiting, for him to finish...Will reckoned the only reason Jack was so interested in the information he had obtained was that he wanted to get the heck out of this – what had he called it – "irritable stagecoach infested, gunslinging, P.O.ed excuse of a town" and get on with the rescue plan. Now there was a switch…for once, it was he himself, Will, who was doing the drinking and pulling the "Opportune Moment" act, while Jack had to sit there and dance around impatiently, passing the time until Will decided to oblige him. He smiled mischievously to himself. It felt immensely satisfying.
"Oh for the love of Davy Jones, Will, COME ON!" Jack nearly howled desperately.
Will grinned and turned to stare Jack in the eye. Deliberately, he slowly finished the rest of the glass's contents, knowing that every tiny sip was driving Jack crazy. Finally he swallowed and let out a happy sigh, then flipped a coin to the bartender.
"Good whiskey! Now, I will proceed to commence with the program, since you've been so kind as to wait patiently for me!"
He smirked as Jack rolled his eyes. Jack gave him an evil glare as if to say, "Get on with it or else!"
"All right, all right! Here!" Will gave in, and he slid the rolled up piece of paper over to Jack. Jack grabbed the paper and unrolled it…it was a map. He looked up at Will and asked:
"Care to explain?"
"Well, as you know, I went to Sherriff Lomm Trevors' office to check up on the Devil's Hole Gang. Turns out Trevors has been dealing with them for quite some time now and has had several personal run-ins with the ringleaders of the gang. He told me that the gang was previously run by some guys named "Heyes" and "Curry" but that Lomm had been fighting to gain the outlaws amnesty because they had never committed any serious crime except for robbing banks and trains. Said they left the gang over a year ago and have been trying to go straight ever since."
Will took a breather here and after wetting his whistle on a sip of water (he didn't want to become one hundred percent intoxicated) he continued.
"Sherriff Trevors told me that after the boys left, the gang – who always kinda took their lead from Heyes and Curry – simmered down and didn't cause no more trouble, up until about a month ago. Reports started coming in of kidnappings, robberies, gunshots up in that there valley (he pointed to an area of the map settled in between mountains and a high, cliffy forest), damage to private property in the surrounding area… Anyways, what really swiped the pot was when the elderly keeper of the General Store was found dead in his house, shot three times in the chest. That really caused a stir in the neighborhood…the Devil's Hole gang had never done any murderin' before."
Jack nodded, for once listening without interrupting. He unconsciously studied the map in his hands as well as soaked in every word Will said.
"Sherriff Trevors doesn't think it's Heyes and Curry…he thinks someone new is running the gang," Will stated. "Said that over the fall, a lot of people have been moving into Portersville, so he really doesn't have any idea who the new boss could be...as of now he just blends in with the rest of the new faces. He did mention, though, that the manager of the General Store – Andrew Hawk, I think he called him – was shot by the bullets from a Big Iron .45. Said there's this new fella that occasionally shows up at the saloons who wears one; apparently nobody likes him, he's extremely nasty tempered and pretty much everyone stays out of his way."
Will finished and Jack, who had finished perusing the map and was now slugging down a not-so-small glass of whiskey, knew by the look on Will's face that he was supposed to be registering some important fact in the speil Will had just given him. However, being the lazy pirate that he was, he just decided to take the easy route!
"What the hell are you getting at?" he asked bluntly.
"I'm getting at one, the only man in town I've seen wearing a Big Iron was the one you unfortunately had to make friends with this afternoon; two, he apparently has only shown up in town in the last month or two; and three, all this trouble started back about a month ago, almost identical to the time when the Devil's Hole gang kidnapped Elizabeth!" Will finished triumphantly.
Jack scrunched his nose and stared out the window. Then he turned back to Will and rattled off,
"So, Sherriff Lomey Trebors or whatever the hell you said his name was; I suppose he drew up there here lil' map so's we'll know exactly where to look for this gang, savvy?"
"Savvy!" Will replied. "Knew you'd get it all in the end!" he added, teasing. Jack dramatically rolled his eyes, the trinkets in his braid rattling every which way in the process.
"Well, at least we know partially what we're dealing with now," Jack mumbled under his breath.