THE NIGHT OF THE ICE COLD DEATH

By Andamogirl

WWW

ACT TWO

Part two

Old River Town, later

Finally, James West halted the exhausted horses in front of the sheriff's office and saw an old man wearing a silver star head toward him. "Sheriff, I need your help."

The lawman immediately noticed that the other man was in his underwear only and had shackles with the broken chains around his bloodied wrists.

Un-holstering his gun in a flash, the sheriff pointed it at Jim. "Raise your hands, and don't move! You have escaped from Yuma's state prison, right son?" Then he noticed there was a body at the back of the buckboard. He could see a hand coming out from under tarpaulin covering the corpse. "Who is he? What happened to him? Did you kill him?"

Jim shook his head. "I'm not a fugitive, sheriff. My name is James James West; I'm working for the Government. My partner and I were attacked… and he's dead. It's a long story. I need to use the telegraph to contact my commanding officer in Washington immediately."

Rubbing his stubbled chin with his free hand the sheriff said, "You seem to be honest man and telling the truth and I know how to recognize liars. I met a lot of them in my long career as a sheriff. You're not one of them." He holstered his Colt, frowned then moved closer to the buckboard. "Are you sure your partner's dead Mr. West? Because I just saw his hand move."

Stunned Jim blinked twice. "What?"

Then, in one jump Jim found himself at the back of the buckboard. He removed the tarpaulin covering Artie's body and touched his skin. It wasn't ice cold anymore but warm. Artie's skin had turned pink instead of the terrible frozen white. He noticed too that his lips were not blue anymore, but had a normal color and his bruises and cuts were all colors.

He blinked, stunned. "But he was dead when I carried him out of that glass box…"

He touched Artie's throat, taking his pulse and found one, barely perceptible, but it existed. He stared at his best friend's chest for a few seconds until he saw the gentle rise and fall. "YES!" he said. He grinned his heart hammering with joy and relief in his chest. "Artemus is alive! That's incredible! He was dead." Still grinning, he shook Artemus's shoulders in an attempt to wake him up. "Artie wake up, pal! Wake up!" But Artemus still didn't move or show any signs of regaining consciousness. He looked back at the sheriff. "A doctor! He needs to see a doctor. Do you have a doctor here, sheriff?"

The sheriff nodded. "Sure, we have Peter Brown. His office is located at the end of the street son, you can't miss it."

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Five minutes later Artemus's limp body was lying on the doctor's examination table. Jim rapidly described to the physician what had happened, from Artie's exposure to extreme cold to his 'miraculous resurrection' a few minutes ago then anxiously asked. "What can you do for him?"

Dr. Brown placed the stethoscope's diaphragm against Artemus's chest. Eventually he removed the earpieces and smiled at him, "Pulse is steady, breathing regular. We need to maintain his body as warm as possible. His heart rhythm is a bit slow but regular." He examined his patient thoroughly then he took a pile of blankets from the back of an old cupboard and started wrapping Artie in them. "We have to let his body warm up by itself, slowly. The heat of the desert you went through did a good job. Don't worry; he's going to make it."

Relieved far beyond the word, Jim slumped in the closest chair, burying his face in his trembling hands, hiding his tears. "Thank God," he whispered. Then, with red-rimmed eyes, he looked up at the doctor. "Then he wasn't dead? But I took his pulse and there was none."

The physician shook his head. "He wasn't dead but was in a coma due to a severe case of hypothermia and he had a pulse, but it was so weak you didn't feel it. I encountered a case like your friend once when I was in Montana Territory. That man survived too. Don't worry young man; your friend here is now out of danger. But he's not going to be in good shape for weeks. He took quite of a beating… and he was flogged too. But he's not cut, just burnt where the whip hit his skin. He won't have permanent scars. They will heal. Who the hell did this and why? If your friend is anything like you he seems to be a nice man."

James gritted his teeth. "He is." 'Loveless and Vautrain and the others had escaped but one day I will make them pay for what they did', he thought.

Dr. Brown soaked a cloth with disinfectant and touched the first wound with it. "It's a good thing he's deeply unconscious. It probably hurts like hell." He gently cleaned all the wounds, stitched the deeper ones then taped Artemus with white bandages where it was needed. "There, now for the bruises…" The doctor picked up a jar and plunged his fingers into the thick material contained inside. "I prepare this salve myself, it smells awful but it's very efficient. Your friend's bruises should vanish quickly." He then started to cover all the bruises with it. After I'm done with your friend, we'll carry him to the cot in the room attached to my office. Then I will take care of the abrasions on your wrists."

Rubbing the skin of his raw wrists, Jim smiled. "Thank you, doctor."

Dr. Brown smiled. "I'm going to find you some clothes too. We're about the same size."

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Moaning, Artemus stirred, blinking his eyes open to sunlight streaming into the room as he slowly regained consciousness, cocooned in a comfortable nest of warm wool blankets. "Owww…"

Immediately, Jim, who hadn't left his best friend's side since he brought him to Doctor Brown's office, left his chair to sit on the edge of the bed.

He took his best friend's hand in his and asked, "Are you okay Artie?"

Hazy chocolate eyes puffed up and swollen with sleep locked on Jim's face staring at him blankly. "Jim? That… you? What hap'ed?" Artie asked his vision blurred with fatigue, clearly confused and disoriented. He ran one hand over his strained features then in his messy and tousled hair. "Oh boy! How drunk did I get last night?" he demanded his head buzzing. "Help me to sit up please?"

Complying, Jim slipped an arm beneath Artie's and eased him up to a sitting position. He pulled his best friend into an embrace and held him there, hugging him tight for long minutes. Then he pulled back, holding the older man by his shoulders and said, "You're back." He grinned. "Yes, you're back! My God, Artemus, I thought I had lost you for good this time."

Artie nodded groggily and feeling sluggish he rested his head on his partner's bare shoulder. "I'm back? From where? Did I go somewhere? What happened? I don't remember... Everything's all fuzzy…You lost me? He closed his eyes unable to keep them open and wrinkled his nose. "It smells awful, you kind of stink buddy. You need a bath… maybe two…"

Maneuvering Artie on his back, Jim chuckled. "No, I don't, that's you pal. Well, it's Doctor Brown's homemade salve actually. Awful stuff but very efficacious. Your bruises are going to fade in no time and the cuts will heal without a trace." Seeing the fatigue written in every line of the other man's face, Jim said, "You're worn out Artie. Get some sleep. We can talk more, later."

Closing his eyes, Artemus whispered, "I had a dream… no, it was a nightmare. I was so cold, so dead…" and drifted off to sleep.

WWW

The next morning

Artemus opened his eyes groggily smelling coffee and blinked seeing a blurred face not far from his. He blinked twice and the blur solidified… "Jim?"

Jim smiled broadly. "Ah, you're finally awake. Do you want some coffee?"

Artemus tried to ease himself into a better position, and then feeling his whole body aching, he chose to stay where he was, buried in the bed. "He raised his hand and took the cup. "Yes, thanks." He gasped and the blood drained from his face. "I remember everything, Loveless, Vautrain, the glass box, the cold, I was so cold… then blackness. It's all there, Jim." He suddenly clutched his hand to his chest. His heart was beating. "I'm alive!" He frowned, puzzled. "Why am I not dead? I won't say I'm disappointed but I could have sworn I was dead. But I'm still alive…"

Smiling Jim sat on the edge of the bed. "You didn't die, but it was really close. You were not dead but in a comatose state. In hypothermia the doctor said." He placed another pillow behind Artie's back and watched him sip a little of the hot coffee. "It's a long story."

Frowning, Artie touched the younger man's shoulder. "Then you're real?"

Jim chuckled. "Yes I am." He patted his best friend's hand. "Welcome back Artie. Are you in shape to eat breakfast?"

Moving into a sitting position, wincing, Artie said, "Of course. Did you prepare it?"

Smiling Jim shook his head. "No, I didn't. Martha Brown, the doctor's wife prepared it and everything looks delicious." He pointed at a pile of clothes and a pair of boots placed on a chair beside the window. "The doctor found these for you."

Suddenly the door was brutally opened and two armed men entered the doctor's office and pointed their guns art the two agents.

The tallest one said, "Dr. Loveless wants to see you."

Smiling, the smallest used his free hand to pull out a syringe from the pocket of his jacket and uncapped the needle. "Dr. Loveless wishes you a good night."

Raising his hand Artie said, "I'd like to get dressed before, if you don't mind. I don't want to die in my underwear, you understand."

Jim smiled. "Artie you're naked."

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Loveless's hideout, much later

Miguelito Loveless chuckled when he saw the two special agents walk into his office, framed by his two henchmen, guns in hand. "Mr. Gordon! Why am I not surprised to see that you're alive?" He looked at Vautrain, sitting in his wheelchair next to him, his 'torturers' standing behind him… seeing total surprise written on their faces. "But my new friend here, is, and his men too. He doesn't know how many times I thought I had killed you and… and you survived. You have as many lives as a dozen cats put together... but you are not immortal, Mr. Gordon. I saw your grave."

Colonel Vautrain raised his hand and intervened. "Maybe it has something to do with you, Doctor Loveless. Somehow you're unable to kill Mr. Gordon."

Loveless frowned, upset, and Voltaire standing beside him was too.

But Vautrain ignored their reaction and added, "If I was superstitious, and I am not, I would think that you have been cursed." He looked at Artie, his eyes cold and cruel. "But I'm not you, Doctor, and I will kill him – and he'll stay dead."

He rolled his wheelchair closer to Artemus. "You will die where and when I'm going to send you and… " He looked up at Jim. "And your friend will accompany you, of course."

Unfazed Jim nodded. "In some place deadly in the past, I suppose…"

Colonel Vautrain had a raptor grin. "It will be totally different from the time period you ended up in the last time, I promise."

Artemus nodded. "Oh I'm sure about that. But before you do, there are a few things puzzling me so I'd like some explanations, if you don't mind… first thing: Where was the… how could I say that….? The original you when you, Jim and me, ended up in the past?"

Colonel Vautrain frowned in anger remembering all that happened vividly. "I was fighting against General Grant's troops… and ended up seriously wounded, with my legs shattered." He looked up at Jim and said, "I should have died among my men, on the field, like a soldier, with honor… but you found me, helped me, saved me… and trapped me in a wheelchair."

Artie nodded. "Another man but my partner would have let you die, but for Jim all lives are precious. So you shouldn't blame him but thank him. You're still alive."

Vautrain's dark eyes flared with anger. "Being trapped in a wheelchair is not." He took a deep breath and calmed down. "What is your next question?"

Artie continued, "I didn't remember anything after I came back from the past – alive, except that I was wounded – a bullet had hit me in the chest - and dying in Jim's lap…"

His face strained at that memory, Jim added, "You died, Artie."

Glancing at his partner, Artie said, "I know." Looking down at Vautrain again, he added, "Jim told me what happened in the past. So… when you told him when he came back with me from the past, that you didn't know where he had gone… it was a lie, because you and us, on our next trip in time, ended up precisely a few hours before General Grant entered your ancestral home… Why lie to him?"

Colonel Vautrain smiled. "Why? Because I wanted to play a little with your confused partner, add confusion to his confusion… An old man has as much fun as he can. And what is your second question?"

And Artie asked, "Why send me in that precise period in time?"

Eyes twinkling with wickedness, Vautrain asked, "Did you like your life in the past Mr. Gordon?"

Still frowning Artie shook his head. "I don't know. I don't remember what happened… Jim told me I thought I was ab English gentleman called Jack Maitland living in the 1830s judging by the clothes I was wearing… wanting to duel with Jim because I took him for someone else… a man who had insulted me. As we began to fight with an épée, bandits attacked us. I was shot in the stomach… and I died in Jim's lap."

Noel Bartley Vautrain grinned. "In fact, you didn't leave the misty void which is a passage between two periods of time. I used my power to make you stay in limbo, unconscious, waiting for Mr. West to come back… Jack Maitland never left the past…"

Frowning in his turn, puzzled, Jim affirmed, "Jack Maitland was Artemus Gordon. He left, with me. I was holding him in my arms…"

The ex-confederate officer smiled. "Jack Maitland was Jack Maitland. Not Artemus Gordon. You had him in your arms, yes, at the beginning, but after a few seconds, I used my power to replace him with Mr. Gordon. That's why you ended up on that landing, with your partner, dressed in your costume de soirée and passed out." He added, "I sent you into the past, Mr. West, to a very precise time, so you could meet… your best friend's father, Jack Maitland."

Stunned, Artie blinked. "My what?" he croaked.

Colonel Vautrain continued, "I took information about each of you and your family before planning the assassination of General Grant. Jack Maitland was killed by bandits on July, 3, 1829… the next morning after he met Helena Ursula Gordon during a ball organized by his father, in Charlotte… The Gordons left there before moving to the North, to Green Hill. I found the list of the guests by doing my research."

Blanching, Jim was the first to realize, "If I took Jack Maitland for Artie it is because… he's the very image of his father…"

Colonel Vautrain chuckled. "I wanted you to meet your best friend's – real – father, Mr. West, Jack Maitland. You can see the resemblance..."

Feeling suddenly weak, Artemus headed toward a chair and slumped on it, aghast. "My mom… she… Jack Maitland… and her…"

Miguelito Loveless nodded, impressed and he applauded. "Bravo! I can see that you love 'mental' torture too, Colonel. I love it!"

His eyes still cold and cruel, Vautrain continued, "Yes. Love is unpredictable. Don't blame your mother, it was love at first sight… no one can fight that kind of strong attraction and what usually happens next, but it lasted one night only. The next day, Jack Maitland was killed. But your mother was already gone to the North with her husband…" He sighed. "I wanted to tell you all this after you came back, but I forgot as I was focused on my purpose: kill General Grant. But know you know…" He moved toward Artemus who was holding his head in his hands, devastated. "Your mother kept secret that forbidden night of passion for her… and 9 months later you were born… How do you feel?"

Blood boiling, groaning like an angry bear, Artemus jumped at Vautrain's throat, pulling him out of his wheelchair and pinning him to the floor.

He wrapped his hand around the Colonel's throat, digging his nails into the flesh and squeezed. "You're lying! You're lying again! You have insulted my mother! My father! I'm gonna…"

He was stopped when one of Loveless's henchmen hit his head with the butt of his gun.

He collapsed to the floor, passed out.

Jim maneuvered Artie on the chair and held him against him, glaring at the ex-confederate officer that Loveless's goon had put back in his wheelchair. "It's a lie. A lie! You wanted to hurt Artemus and you did. It's a lie because I remember when Maitland, I mean when Artie was dying… He told me that he remembered him and me fighting together. I quote, "I have that ridiculous feeling that you and I have done all this before…" – he was talking about fighting together. Artie was Artie, but he was amnesiac, thinking that he was Jack Maitland. Perhaps he was hit on his head after you sent him into the past… and took that identity…" He snapped his fingers suddenly remembering something. "Jack Maitland… yes! Artemus used that character once in a mission. He was playing a southern gentleman… He somehow became amnesic and used Jack Maitland's identity…" He paused. 'And confused me with a man who looked exactly like me'… he added, "I don't know what happened next, what you did with the power of your mind… and why Artie ended up on that staircase at my side, in his clothes and not wearing Maitland's."

Colonel Vautrain smiled. "You will never know… Yes, it was a lie, a very elaborate lie, and I really enjoyed your partner's reaction…"

Loveless chuckled. "I too. Well done, Colonel."

Ignoring the diminutive man, Vautrain continued, "But I told you the truth when I said that I looked up information about Mr. Gordon and his family, and you and your family. I always wanted to know everything about my enemies, to manipulate them and better overcome them later. Intelligence is the life's blood of the war." He pointed his finger at a door. "You're going to enter that room…" Immediately the two armed goons pointed their guns at Jim and Artie, still passed out. Voltaire joined them. "It's time to say farewell."

Having no choice, Jim took Artie's limp body in his arms and followed Vautrain, rolling his wheelchair toward the door.

He stopped beside Vautrain and said, "We're are going to come back, and it is us who are going to send you to take a walk… in a state prison."

Miguelito Loveless joined Noel Bartley Vautrain and said, "You won't return, it's impossible. Only Colonel Vautrain can bring you back with the power of his mind."

The Colonel nodded. "And I won't. But if it can comfort you, your death will be fast, and definitive this time." And he opened the door.

Holding Artemus, still unconscious against his chest, bridal-style, Jim entered the 'room' and deep and utter blackness immediately enveloped him and his partner.

Colonel Vautrain placed his hands in front of his eyes, and they started to tremble as he used all his strength to focus on his task: sending the two agents into the past.

Like the two previous times in limbo, a sudden mist coming out from nowhere swirled around him and he felt dizzy, nauseous and gritted his teeth…

Still in Loveless's hideout, Vautrain suddenly placed his fingers around his eyes, like they formed a pair of glasses and he said, "Done!" then he collapsed back in his wheelchair, exhausted, panting.

Loveless rubbed his hands in glee. "Gone, forever!"

Jim's teeth started to chatter when he and Artie materialized in the middle of an icy no man's land with snow piled up to his knees. He had instant frostbite.

Shivering, he looked around him, his lungs burned with every breath and his face was growing numb with the ice-cold seeping through his clothes.

He was standing in the middle of a seemingly endless plain covered with snow and ice. There was nothing but white as far as he could see.

There was a line of mountains in the horizon. A pale – warmth less sun – was rising and the sky was star-studded.

It was absolutely freezing and the coming night would be ice-cold.

Tbc.