"I'm Stephen and this is my girlfriend, Mary."
"Let me rephrase his question. Why are you here." Buck asked, looking them up and down.
"Well since you guys are bringing me away from my family, I thought I could bring them with me. My wife is still working so I brought my son and Mary wanted to come too." explained Travis.
"Wait, she get's to go!" whined Casey.
"But why? This is serious business, they'd be in the way!" moaned JD.
"JD, that's rude. They can come if they want to. Travis is nice enough to take us so he decides who goes or not." Inez reprimanded.
The rest of the boys held their tongues and just got into the van.
"You children behave." called Nettie as the doors closed to the van.
The van was crowded with two more bodies that the kids didn't expect.
Vin, Buck and Ezra sat together with Mary. JD on Buck's lap. Josiah sat in the front. Inez, Nathan sat with Stephen. The bags taking up the rest of the space.
"I don't think I can keep JD on my lap the entire trip. I won't have any feeling in my legs." groaned Buck.
JD had gotten bigger since the jungle and heavier. All the boys had had a growth spurt in the last year. Ezra had finally got some height to him. Vin was still taller than him, but Vin was finally starting to fill out more.
For the first twenty minutes none of the children spoke. Vin and Buck looked suspiciously at Mary while Ezra busied himself with reading over Chris's letters again.
Nathan had fallen asleep while Inez stared out the window. Stephen was looking over a newspaper with great interest and Josiah stared straight ahead at the road.
"So guys, I told the local police to hold Chris if they find him." said Travis, breaking the silence.
"What! Why would you do that?" sputtered Ezra, alarming everyone by his lack of formality and the fact that he raised his voice.
"So we won't lose him. If they catch him then it will save us the trouble of looking for him."
"Chris was in contact with whoever this officer was. If he knows that you want him arrested then he might just get scared off."
"I'm sure he can't escape a city full of police no matter how good he is."
"How do you think I escaped the police for four years." muttered Vin.
Something in the back fell on Nathan, waking him up.
"What was that for?" he frowned at Inez.
"I didn't do anything." she bit back.
Nathan shifted and threw the bag back in the back.
A cry came from the back and a head popped from the back.
"Casey! What are you doing here?" asked Inez.
The others in front of them turned around and Travis looked in his rearview mirror.
"I wanted to come along too. I don't see why she gets to go when she doesn't know Chris."
"You don't know 'em either." JD was more than glad to point out.
"Yeah but listening to all the letters he sent you I feel like I know him. Plus I know you guys. They don't know you guys at all. They're complete strangers." she pouted.
"Casey, sweetie, that still doesn't mean you can sneak into the car and not tell anyone." said Travis from the front.
"Please let me come. I won't cause you any trouble I swear." she begged.
"Please let her come." begged JD.
Vin and Ezra both rose an eyebrow at him.
Travis sighed, "I guess you'll have to. We'll have to tell your aunt where you are once we make it."
Casey squeaked with excitement and Nathan helped her into an actual seat between him and Inez.
Vin continued to stare at JD.
"What?" asked the younger boy.
"You wanted Casey to stay with us?"
"If she couldn't then we would have to turn around."
"Of course we all believe that excuse, JD." Ezra smirked.
Buck just sat there and laughed, not being able to do anything else because the boy's hair kept getting in his mouth.
"Leave me alone." muttered JD, crossing his arms.
Vin and Ezra both smiled and shook their heads.
Chris met up with Ella and her friends back at the car. Ella and Jack were smiling at some unknown secret while Cletus and Sledge eagerly pressed the others for information about what happened.
After all the stories were told that could be shared they took a vote whether or not they liked it or not.
"Well I enjoyed it, but the satisfaction of actually doing something other than being a pretty face on the couch makes me question if there's anything that would make me want to do this again." started Jack.
"You were the one who suggested getting others to do the throwing." frowned Chris.
"Well I didn't want to take a chance on getting dirty. You said the kids that Anderson targets could be the replacement."
"Well I think it was a pretty good first job." smiled Ella encouragingly.
"Don't let your love for the boy make you forget that we need to be getting money." Sledge growled.
Chris frowned at this. That wasn't ever a good thing to hear.
"Like I said we were going to do a test first. We also got Anderson on being an accomplice in the drug business. When we busted the bar the police inspected the police and discovered the drugs."
"Yeah we know." Cletus gave an evil grin.
Chris looked at him suspiciously.
The older boy pulled out a bag where he presented the group a pack of at least twenty packs of drugs.
"I think we'll still be making that money, guys."
"Where did you get that?" Chris demanded.
"After we led him to the building where Ella and Jack were waiting, we went back to the bar to wait for you. We saw some guys leaving through the back and we hustled some drugs from them. I think they were too scared about the cops that were pulling up in the front to care too much if we took them or not."
"We need to turn that into the police. That's evidence to put Anderson away as well as those other guys."
"They already have enough. This is our cut. Stop being such a saint."
"Don't worry about it, Chris." Ella said as she laid a hand on his shoulder.
Chris shrugged it off and stepped away from her.
"What do you guys plan on doing with the drugs?"
"Sell them of course and make some money."
Chris shook his head, "No, if you guys are going to sell them then I'm done."
Ella tried to calm Chris down, "Maybe we can reach some kind of arrangement?"
"It's not just that. You guys have no intention to do anything without getting something out of it. It's not always about that."
"Ugh, shut him up." Cletus groaned.
Jack watched Ella struggle to pacify the younger boy. He knew that she really liked him, but could tell that she was quickly losing him.
He personally didn't like the guy, but that was because the boy couldn't be controlled. He didn't seem to be intimidated by Cletus or Sledge.
If it came down to it, it would be Ella being the scary one. Love after all can make a person do scary things.
Chris grabbed his bag and walked away towards the street.
Cletus grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop.
"I don't think you understand that you can't leave."
Chris had prepared himself for a situation like this. His free hand curled into a fist and he readied himself for the fight that was about to happen. But it never came.
A police car pulled up and Cletus let go and backed away.
It was Riley and Chris smiled to himself knowing that he was about to be rid of them.
Riley pulled out some handcuffs and came to stand in front of them.
"You're under arrest. Please do not try and resist."
To Chris's surprise, the handcuffs went on him.
"What?"
Cletus didn't say anything but backed away.
Once Chris was in the back of the car and Captain Riley was in the driver's seat Chris began demanding what was going on.
"Why are you arresting me? You were supposed to arrest them. He was right there. You could've had him!"
"My instructions were to contain you. I figured that since you were also trying to get away from them that this would work the same."
"No, no it's not. I was supposed to be free so I can get away. That was the whole point of this. I thought we had an agreement. I'd help you get rid of Anderson and you'd help me get rid of those guys." Chris growled.
"But I was also told to bring you in. Now I don't know why Travis wants you contained until he gets here, but I'm guessing you're on the run from something."
Riley looked into the rearview mirror and saw a glaring Chris staring back at him.
"Did you do something in particular? You asked him to do this job as a favor which you had to know would have him come after you."
"The only thing I ever did was not submitting to his authority."
"His authority?" pressed Riley, trying for clarification but Chris didn't want to talk aymore.
Chris was put in a jail cell where he was told he was going to have to wait for Mr Travis to come and get him.
He became restless and stalked the length of the cell, glancing to the front. He needed to get out here before it was too late.
"I'm here for Chris, I heard he was brought in a while ago."
Chris stopped his pacing and glanced at the clock towards the front of the building. It had been an hour already.
Looking again to the desk, his heart stopped beating and he froze.
"No." he shook his head and backed away from the door.
When the children and Travis arrived in Dodge City they drove to the police station.
Everyone but Ezra went inside. Still not convinced that Chris would be there.
"Chris isn't in there." he told himself.
A girl who was walking passed him stopped and addressed him which startled Ezra.
"How do you know Chris?"
Ezra looked the girl over. She was a whole lot older than himself. Pretty dark hair fell dwon her shoulders and she wore a questioning face.
"I could aask you the same thing." he finally said.
She then looked at Ezra and her eyes seemed to hover over his hand.
Looking down at his hand, he saw that she was looking at Chris's latest letter that he'd been reading.
"He said he was writing a girl. Was he writing to you?"
Ezra had a feeling that this girl was the one Chris had written about. Which meant she was no good. He had to be careful what he chose to say next. If she was holding Chris somewhere then she could take him to him.
"Yes he was," which was true, "Some people think that Ezra is a girl's name but I can see the misunderstanding and won't hate you for it as long as you tell me where Chris is."
Meanwhile Mr Travis and the rest of the kids were in the police office anxiously waiting for Captain Riley who was busy yelling at a police officer.
"Is there a problem?" Travis questioned the man when he finally approached the group.
"One of my officers let your boy get away when a girl came in trying to bail him out."
"What?" said Travis louder than he intended, making the kids nervous. "When did this happen?"
"About an hour ago. I have my men out looking for them and the girl. They shouldn't be far."
"Travis raked his hair and looked at the worried children behind him.
"I'm sorry, guys, he's gone."
"Ezra didn't think he'd be here." muttered Vin. "I don't think he even came inside."
"Well it doesn't look like he ran away but was taken." said Buck. "So he isn't technically running."
Travis nodded and looked around his collection of kids under his guardianship. Vin and Buck were bummed out. JD and Casey were pretty tired so they were still quiet. Inez stood with her arms hugging herself with Nathan's arm over her shoulder in a half embrace. Josiah stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor. Stephen and Mary stood to the side, not really sure how to feel. They looked worrired, but because they knew that this Chris was important to the others. Ezra was-
Travis frowned and looked over his group again and then counted.
He turned to Vin who was looking towards the door, half-lid.
"Vin, did you say Ezra was outside?"
"Yeah."
Travis walked hurriedly to the door and flung it open. He looked around the front but didn't see him. Running to the car he checked the front and back, thinking that the boy didn't get out. Nothing.
He began to panic.
The others came out of the station and looked around.
"What's wrong?" asked Buck.
"Is Ez not out here anymore?" asked Vin.
Nathan frowned, "Ezra was out here by himself and you didn't tell him to come inside?"
"I just figured he was doing it because he was trying to make a point because he didn't think Chris was in the police station." Vin shrugged.
"Boys, it's important that we all stay together." sighed Travis.
They all nodded their heads.
Travis went back into the station to inform the captain of the situation.
"What do you think happened to him?" frowned Buck.
"I don't know. I could see him through the door when we were inside, but then he moved to the right and I couldn't see him anymore. He was looking inside, but then he looked away as if he saw something." Vin said as he pointed to the door and the direction he thought Ezra went in.
"Do you think he saw Chris?" yawned JD.
"I would think he'd tell somebody." said Inez, beginning to worry.
"Ez, ain't always the one to call for back up. His instincts are to assess the situation and act accordingly." said Nathan.
"Well I hope he didn't try to go after them by himself if he did. It's dangerous if Chris can't even get away." Mary said from her position by her boyfriend.
Buck frowned at her, "Don't you underestimate Chris, or Ezra. If Ezra is with him, then he knows what he's doing, and Chris isn't some weak kid who'd go without a fight."
Chris woke up with his mouth gagged and his hands and feet tied. He squirmed, trying to get out and heard a grunt.
Pushing himself up a little to be able to turn around, he saw Ezra!
What's Ezra doing here? he wondered, trying to remember what had happened but his brain was all jumbled.
Rolling over till his face almost touched the younger boy, he nudged the other boy with his head.
He received another grunt as a reply.
Ezra's head was dirty with hints of blood which made Chris's blood boil.
A pair of green eyes looked up at him and Chris was torn at how the other boy looked. He looked like he was trying say something, but his eyes closed again.
Chris pushed himself into a sitting position and drew Ezra closer to him in a hug.
The gag prevented him from actually saying anything, but really he didn't know what he would say because he didn't consider himself a comforter.
Ezra's opened his eyes which were struggling to stay open. His body ached and he knew he reinjured his left shoulder again. He felt something wrap around him and opened one eye. It was Chris trying to hug him. He wasn't a hugger, but this would be an exception.
Good, I found you. This makes the pain durable.
When Ezra was taken by the girl to see Chris, he felt that she would try something. What he didn't take into account or technically he forgot about the twin towers that was mentioned in the letter.
The girl took him around the back of a building where he was shown into a room that was pitch black. Ezra tuerned around but it was too late and was punched in the face by an unseen fist.
He staggered back, dazed as he tried to regain his senses, but as soon as he was able to focus again, another fist knocked him out cold and his body crumpled to the floor uncerimoniously.
The last thing he heard was a slamming noise.
A/N: So I was debating whether or not to have Chris finally meet up with the others, and then if weren't if I should have someone go with him. I took a vote with friends and they said the chase must go on! (sort of) Hopefully this way I can satisfy everyone's wishes. Also I asked a few friends if they thought Ezra was a girl or boys name. Believe it or not some people think it's a girl's name. I took advantage of that fact and used it. Yes we all know better.