Chapter 3 – Kill or Be Killed

"You lookin' for me?" Ben asked as he put his hand on Beau's shoulder.

"I was. Who found you?"

A small chuckle escaped the younger brother. "Well, to tell you the truth, I found them."

"Doesn't surprise me. Come take a walk with me, would ya?"

That could only mean one thing as far as Ben was concerned. Vic was, indeed, going to be trouble. "Sure." Beauregard left the saloon and went outside, Ben following him. The brothers walked fifteen or twenty feet down the boardwalk before Beau lit a cigar and passed it on to Ben, then lit another for himself.

"They didn't follow us, did they?" Beauregard was referring to his sons; he didn't want them to know he was aware of their presence.

"Only to the doors of the saloon. Vic?"

"Yeah, Vic. You were right about him, Ben. He's determined to have his revenge, but he has no intention of takin' it out on me or you. He's goin' after the boys."

"The boys. All three of 'em?"

"He says he ain't made up his mind about Beau yet. So far he's only decided to kill Bret and Bart."

"Sounds like he blames you more than me."

Beauregard nodded. "Sounded like that to me, too. Where is Beau, by the way?"

Ben stopped to relight his cigar. "In Louisiana, with Lily Mae. They went to visit her sister."

"Good. He should be safe for a while. We gotta figure out what to do."

"I think we better go see John Law, don't you?"

A long drag on his cigar preceded Beau's answer. "What good would that do? Marshal ain't gonna do a damn thing with nothin' but a verbal threat."

"Then it looks like Vic Hansboro is our problem."

Beau stopped dead in his tracks. "I guess he always was, wasn't he? Sounds like we better go back and sit the boys down. It's time they heard what got us into this mess. I sure ain't gonna let Hansboro shoot 'em, without tryin' to protect 'em."

"Who's Hansboro?" Bret asked, having finally caught up with his father and his uncle.

"And who's he tryin' to shoot?" was Bart's question.

"Let's go back to the hotel room," Ben suggested.

"Our hotel room," Beauregard insisted.

Once upstairs behind closed and locked doors, Ben and Beau determined it necessary to tell the whole story. Starting with Isabelle's death and the agony that followed it, Ben painted an incomplete but compelling picture. Incomplete only because there were certain things about those weeks that he omitted; primarily the depths of Beauregard's despair and what he attempted to do about it. He acquainted the boys with Vic and Tyler and the part they played in trying to change Beau's state of mind; then told them about the ill-fated trip to Dallas and the ambush along the way.

Beau took over the tale at that point, including the wild night of drinking and Vic's hair-brained plot to rob the bank. From there he detailed the foursome's split into two different factions – Vic and Tyler went ahead with the robbery and were caught soon afterwards; he and Ben declined to participate and packed their bags for home. They'd traveled about halfway back to Little Bend when they were overtaken by the posse and arrested. Not as participants, but as material witnesses.

The Mavericks refused to cooperate and were soon being threatened with all sorts of consequences, the worst of which was the state of Texas assuming parental control over all three boys. Beau immediately agreed to testify against Vic and Tyler; he would do nothing that could possibly jeopardize his fatherly privileges with Bret and Bart. Ben quickly followed suit. Vic Hansboro and Beau Maverick had one last meeting before the trial, with Beau attempting to explain his change of heart regarding his testimony. Vic had no children, and he couldn't fathom Beauregard's devotion to his.

Vic and Tyler were found guilty of attempted bank robbery and sentenced to ten years each in Texas State Prison. The Mavericks were released to return home, and that was the end of it, or so they thought. Beauregard and Bentley went on with their lives, playing poker and raising their boys. And then they'd come to Abilene for a celebration of sorts and seemed to have resurrected a long-forgotten nightmare.

"Vic Hansboro's here, and he's been followin' us," Beau explained. "After you two went upstairs this mornin', he stopped in the dining room for a bit – with a message for me."

"What does he want, Pappy?" Bret asked solemnly.

"He wants revenge; he blames me and your Uncle Ben for the ten years he spent in prison."

"But . . . you said they got caught robbin' the bank," Bart pointed out.

"They did, son."

"Then how could they blame you for the ten-year sentence?"

"Without us as material witnesses, they probably would've only been sentenced to two or three years. 'Spur of the Moment' their lawyer called it. But we proved planning and forethought."

"Is it just Hansboro that's followin' you? What about Tyler?"

Ben spoke up. "Tyler's dead."

"Pappy . . . Hansboro's revenge? Is he tryin' to kill you?" Bret wanted an answer to his previous question.

Beauregard shook his head. "No, son. I wish it was that easy. He's not out to kill me. He intends to kill . . . you."

"Me?" Bret asked incredulously. "Me?"

"And your brother."

"Why us? We didn't have anything to do with it," Bart reminded his father needlessly.

"That seems to be his point."

"Just for . . . "

"The fun of it? What about Cousin Beau?"

"He hasn't decided about Beau yet," Ben explained. "I've no doubt he'll get around to him if we don't stop Vic first."

"So it's kill or be killed?" Bart asked bluntly.

"It appears that way."

Bart turned to his brother with all the audacity he could muster. "I cast my vote for kill."

Bret wore a slightly stunned look on his face but nodded his head, the same audacious tone in his voice. "I agree with you. I don't see any other way out of this. Kill."

"Boys . . . " Beau pleaded. "You can't do this."

"We won't, Pappy," Bart promised. "Unless there's no other way around it."