Gunsmoke and Spies 11

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Matt and Lee rode back into town, tired, frustrated and more than a little angry. They had spent several hours out at the fort and had gotten exactly nowhere. They did manage to catch the supply sergeant, Abe Logan, in a couple of small lies, but nothing that would conclusively prove that he was involved with Saldez in his illegal gun running business.

"Tell ya what, Matt." Lee said as they neared the jail. "I'm gonna go check on Amanda and I'll meet up with ya later."

"Alright," Matt nodded. Reining in at the hitch rail, he was just about to dismount when Newly came running up.

"Marshal." Newly was practically out of breath.

Matt heard a note of alarm in the young man's voice and gave him his complete attention. "What's wrong, Newly?"

Newly shook his head slightly. "I'm not sure anything is, Marshal." He confessed. "But I just talked to Miss Patricia over at the dress shop. She said Miss Kitty and Mrs. Stetson were in there earlier and were concerned about some man who was apparently watching them. She said they went out the back door and when she looked up next, he was gone. I was just about to head over to the Long Branch to check on them when I saw you all ride in."

With not a word between them, Lee and Matt turned their horses and raced down to the Long Branch. Neither woman was there and hadn't been since that morning. "Newly, go find Festus, will ya?" Matt growled.

"Yes, Sir," Newly said as he took off.

Lee gave him an irritated look. "We don't need a posse, Matt. We need to find my Amanda. I'll bet you anything, Saldez took her. Her and your woman too."

"I don't want a posse, either, Lee." Matt raised a hand in appeasement. "But Festus is the best there is at tracking. If there's anyone who can find tracks leading to Kitty and your Amanda, Festus can."

"Alright," Lee ran his hand raggedly through his hair. "Guess you're right. I just hope he's quick."

"I am." Festus answered, walking towards them. "I were just down the street, when ya'll come in, Matthew. Newly's gone to fetch my mule. I'm gonna check out back the dress shop, see what I kin find."

Matt nodded. "We'll meet ya back there. We're gonna stop by the jail and pick up a couple of rifles and cartridges."

"See ya directly, Matthew." Festus wasted no time in heading towards the alley.

Lee watched the scruffy hill man walk away with a semi-amused expression. "That the best you got?"

Matt nodded. "He's the best there is. Like I said, if there's a track to follow, he'll find it."

"Yeah," Lee answered unconvinced. "Guess we'd better get those rifles."

Matt said nothing as Lee walked off. He understood the man's worry. He shared it. If anything happened to Kitty…. He stopped his thoughts and trudged on over to the jail. He refused to consider that thought. It was too painful to think about.

Two hours later, Matt, Lee and Festus were riding west across the vast prairie. Although for the life of him, Lee could see nothing in the near dark of the late evening. But Festus seemed to. Several times he stopped and searched the ground, nodded to himself and then climbed back onto his mule.

A short time later he reined in and turned to look at Matt. "Matthew, they's at Enoch Miller's old place, I garontee it. They ain't no tuther place they coulda gone."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right, Festus."

"Well, if you know where they're at, then lets go." Lee urged when he noticed that neither Matt or Festus were moving forward.

"We will," Matt spoke calmly despite the ice water running through his veins at the thought of what the women could be going through. "But we need to be careful from here on. There's only a couple of ways to go in out there without being seen. If Kitty and Amanda are out there and we're seen coming in, they could get hurt. Bad."

Lee clenched his jaw in anger. He knew Dillon and this Festus character knew more about this area then he ever would and he was certain that Dillon wanted the women safe and out of there as much as he did. But he wasn't used to sitting back and waiting. And he couldn't bear the thought of his Amanda being in danger. Not if he could get her out of it.

"But it's already dark," Lee protested. "They wouldn't be able to see us."

"Maybe, maybe not." Matt said evenly. "We don't know how many men Saldez may have working with him or where they might be on that ranch. Do you want to get those women killed by charging in there like a bull?"

Taking a deep breath, he slowly shook his head. "Alright, then what we do? And don't say nothing. I am not going to sit by and let anything happen to them."

"I'm not either." Matt assured him. "But I like said, we have to be careful. Now there's a draw on the south side of that ranch that should be fairly dry this time of year. We'll have to go a little out of our way, but we can go right up that draw and get almost to the house without being seen."

"Alright, but then what?" Lee asked.

"We'll know when we get there." Matt answered. "Come on."

TBC