Chapter 2 – Danny Mills, To Be Continued

"What?" I wasn't sure I'd heard her. Retrieve her best friend from Wyoming State Prison? Did that mean break him out? Something about Harper Parish told me that wasn't quite right. Then just what did she mean? And who was Danny Mills?

"Well, maybe retrieve ain't the right word. I need you to go to the prison and see to it that Danny gets back here in one piece."

That didn't seem to be a whole lot clearer. I still wasn't sure exactly what she meant. "You don't mean break him out, do you? Cause I don't do prison breaks."

Harper laughed so hard she almost spit coffee at me. "No, no, no. It's a long story how he got there, but Danny's bein' released and he could need some help gettin' home. I'm goin' up to get him, but I don't wanna go alone. All you have to do is ride along with me up there, and come back with the two of us. That's all. And I can pay you almost four hundred dollars. Should take about a week to get there and back. Interested?"

No. I'm not interested. I have no desire to spend more time in the saddle. For what? To babysit somebody gettin' outta prison? Besides, I had a feeling there was gonna be more required than just playin' escort up and back. Harper wanted somebody that could use a gun; that much was obvious from the questions she'd asked me earlier. So just what was it she wasn't telling me?

"Who is this Danny Mills? And why is he in prison?"

No lopsided grin this time, Harper got totally serious. "Danny and I grew up together. We was always best friends, till he got hooked up with an older fella that led him . . . the wrong way. Danny's spent the last year in prison payin' for his mistake. Now he just wants to come back here and start over. This fella lost somethin' an thinks Danny knows where it is."

The picture began to clear up some. "And you want somebody along that can handle a gun . . . just in case."

"More or less. Danny wants to come back to Wilsons Corners. And I miss him somethin' fierce. Won't do nobody no good . . . "

"If he comes back dead?"

"See? That's another reason I want you to go with me. You're quick. Nothin' but dumb cowboys around here. An kids that don't know nothin'. I knew you was different. You're . . . mature. Smart."

"And you figured all that out in five minutes this morning?"

The grin came back, followed by a full-blown smile. "Yep."

I did not want to be involved in the care and feeding of Danny Mills. But there was something about Harper Parish that fascinated me. And, to be honest, my poker playing had been less than stellar lately. If I didn't win some money soon . . . let's just say that four hundred dollars sounded pretty good. "When does he get released?"

"On Monday. You takin' the job?" She looked as hopeful as she sounded.

No. Absolutely not. Not in this life or any other. "I'll let you know in the morning." I was surprised when the words came out of my mouth. My mind was already made up; despite Harper's flattery I had no intention of going with her further north into Wyoming. To do what, exactly? Play bodyguard and try not to get myself killed? So why hadn't I just told her no? Like I said before, there was something about her that intrigued me. Something not at all romantic; but some desire to protect her, to keep her safe from harm. Some of the things I've always felt for my 'sister,' Jody.

"Alright, that's fair. I'll be at the livery at seven."

I paid for my coffee and we walked out together. She headed up the street, I headed down it. The lights were bright in the Black Nugget Saloon, and it was loud and noisy. Laughter and music filled the air, and smoke drifted out through the batwing doors. My kind of place.

XXXXXXXX

By seven the next morning my decision had been made for me. If I was really careful, I had just enough money to get me through until Monday. No sense putting off the inevitable; I headed up the street towards the livery. At least I could make one person happy this morning.

Harper was there, mucking out a stall. She gave me that little grin when she saw me, and stopped what she was doing. "Well good mornin', Mr. Maverick. How's the world treatin' you this beautiful day?"

Such unbridled enthusiasm for the day this early in the morning was almost too much to bear, and I think my only response was a grunt. Her response was to do her best to suppress the laughter threatening to burst forth from her lips. "I see your card playin' didn't go so well last night."

"That's putting it mildly," I muttered unenthusiastically. I had high hopes when I started playing poker last night, and the cards seemed to be agreeable at first. It didn't take long for Fate or Lady Luck or just bad poker playin' to catch up with me, and by the time I'd walked away from the tables this mornin' my fate was sealed; I was going to Wyoming to play bodyguard for two young pups. Against I-didn't-know-what.

"You had breakfast yet?" Harper asked unexpectedly.

"Uh, no." I'd come straight to the livery when I realized that circumstances insisted I accept Harper's job offer.

"Come on, let's go back down to Bonnie's. Won't be nobody here for another hour." Harper saw my hesitation. "I'm buyin'," she added. Those were the magic words.

About halfway through the meal she finally started talking about Danny Mills and their friendship – although truth be told, it sounded like way more than friendship to me. At least on Harper's part. Typical kid stuff, the kind of things that my brother Bret and I went through when we were growing up. Until the last two or three years; that's when everything started to change. I could tell from the way Harper talked about Danny just when she started to turn into a woman, and from her point of view, when he became more than her 'best friend.' She had begun to tell me the story of Danny's falling under the spell of the bad influence, Red Maxwell, when she abruptly stopped. I was drinking coffee at the time and she was sitting there staring at me, her mouth open.

She looked at my plate, then at me, then back at the plate. Finally she asked me, "Is that all you ever eat?" That was nothing new in my life. My brother's been askin' me things like that ever since we was kids. The Maverick appetite is legend in our family, with everyone except me. Never have been a big eater, I tend to subsist on coffee more than anything.

"Yep, that's about it," I responded. "Just make sure there's plenty a coffee around and I'm a happy man."

For just a moment she giggled, and I was startled. That was the first purely female sound I'd heard out of Harper since I met her. She looked just a bit embarrassed but eventually went back to telling me how Danny got involved with Red, and what led to his subsequent incarceration. Sounded to me like Danny Mills had dodged a bullet, truth be told.

We finally finished and headed back towards the livery. It was Thursday, and I needed sleep, so Harper went back to her 'temporary' job and I went back to my hotel room. My rest was fitful and full of dreams, mostly about people I didn't know and had yet to meet. If any of what I dreamt was in the least bit true, the last person I wanted to run across in reality was Red Maxwell. When I woke up later in the day I realized this 'job' I had committed myself to was full of illusions, doubts, and dread. All because of my protective instincts towards Harper Parish.