A/N: Well, here it is, my first "original" episode. I hinted at this premise all the way back in To Die in Darkness, but adjusted the reasons behind it a little. The villain is entirely made up and any resemblance to anyone you may know is coincidental, etc. I did the split POV again, but used Ben this time since we got Joe's take in that previous episode. Warning, it is the longest one yet. I hope all the reactions/actions ring true to the characters we all know and love.
I don't own Bonanza, only my OC and this plot. Now, sit back and join the Cartwrights in Paid in Full.
Fixed line breaks 2-20-21
"I can't believe you didn't see that mud hole." Annie laughed. "I'm not sure it was just mud either. Candy, you stink."
"My horse tripped. And I do not." They rode into the yard and stopped at the hitch rail. Candy swung down first. "I bet Hop Sing won't let me in the house."
"He's made the boys bathe out back before."
"Thanks a lot." Candy inspected his shirt. "I hope I can salvage this, it's my favorite."
"How can you tell? They all look alike."
"They're not." He looked down at himself and sighed. "Might as well get the yelling over with."
"At least Joe didn't see it," she said with a grin.
"Oh, believe me, I'm very glad the rest of your family is in town for the day." Annie laughed again and took Scout's reins.
"I'll clean him up."
"Thanks. And if you hear a bunch of screeching and hollering, don't worry. It's just Hop Sing tearing into my hide for giving him more work." Candy trudged into the house and Annie took the horses to the barn.
Thankfully, the mud had dried and it was fairly simple to brush it all out of the chestnut's coat. After taking care of Reno, too, she put both horses in their stalls and latched the barn door before heading for the house.
She walked inside and laid her hat on the old sideboard. "Candy, did you survive Hop Sing?" She rounded the corner and found Hop Sing sitting at the dining table, hands folded, a stranger standing behind him with a gun pointed at his back. "Who are you and what do you want?" Her hand inched to her gun, halted by the click of a hammer cocking behind her.
"Unless you want a dead friend, you'll take your hand off that six gun, Ms. Cartwright." Annie turned slowly, keeping her hands out to her sides, and found Candy seated in front of Ben's desk, another three armed strangers guarding him. The one behind the desk stood, fingers running over his dark mustache as he rounded the desk. "Who I am doesn't matter much to you, but what we want does involve you." He waved his gun at Candy. "And him by extension." He advanced and plucked her pistol from its holster.
"What are you talking about?" Her gaze darted to Candy who shrugged after a careful glance up at the men beside him. She looked back to Hop Sing. "What is this?" Her heart kicked. Classic ambush tactics, but what did they want – for her to open the safe? She knew the combination, but it wouldn't do them much good, cash money on hand was short until after the drive.
"Well, to be honest, I'd hoped to get you and your brother instead, but I suppose his foreman is worth something to old Ben Cartwright. Not near as much as you and Joe would have brought us, of course, but as long as I have two of you, we'll make it work." He smiled and stroked his mustache again. "Just so we're clear, Ms. Cartwright, if one of you tries to escape, we'll shoot the other one. And while I need both of you alive for the time being, there are many places for a bullet that won't immediately prove fatal."
"Just how much are you expecting Pa to turn over?" She swallowed. "And when?" If they wanted it now, there wasn't much chance of that.
"A hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We wanted a quarter of a million for two Cartwrights, but old Ben won't pay half of that for a cow hand, foreman or not. So, I figure, him being a friend and all, we might get twenty five out of him." Candy snorted and leaned back in his chair.
"They won't pay a cent for me." The leader whipped around.
"You better hope you're wrong, friend."
"Pa will pay. For both of us." He turned back around, dark eyes gleaming.
"You sure about that?" She nodded and he smiled. "That's good." He glanced over her shoulder. "Your Chinaman understand English?"
"Hop Sing is our cook."
"I don't care what he is, I asked does he understand English."
"Yes." The leader stormed past her and leveled Hop Sing with a glare.
"When old Ben comes home, you tell him Aaron McKnight wants a hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash for the safe return of his daughter and his foreman. Since it's such a large amount, he has one week to scrape it together, then he's to take it to the Cattleman's Hotel in Reno. There will be a message at the front desk with further instructions. You get that?" Their cook glanced sideways at her and swallowed hard.
"Hop Sing understand." The leader – Aaron McKnight unless she missed her guess – turned away without a word and motioned to her.
"Drop the gun belt. You too, Candy," he sneered. Annie swallowed hard and unbuckled the belt, letting it fall to the floor. A soft thump behind her indicated Candy had listened. For once. Probably only because they'd take it out on her. Another man came up and tied her hands. She glanced over her shoulder and found Candy in a similar predicament, a disgusted look on his face. "Outside. And remember what I said."
"I haven't forgotten." Candy's voice was hard. They walked outside, surrounded by the four men, and found another two waiting in the yard, holding six horses by the reins.
"Get on." Annie bit her lip and climbed on the worn down gray they pointed her to. Candy's mount looked just as old and she figured that wasn't a coincidence.
They rode in the middle of the group for hours, winding their way across the Ponderosa and up into the mountains, backtracking and cutting through streams and over rocky ground at every opportunity. Annie swallowed hard. Even Hoss might have trouble tracking them now. The sun was setting as they finally stopped in front of a remote cabin tucked away in a small clearing.
"Link, take care of the horses. The rest of you, keep an eye on these two." The leader dismounted and drew his gun. "Inside. Slowly." Annie bit her lip again and climbed down, feeling the barrel aimed at Candy like an itch she couldn't scratch.
The cabin was empty, bare of furniture save an old table with one rickety chair and a sagging settee. An old wood stove lurked in the corner and a single door led to what she assumed was the bedroom. Aaron McKnight pointed at the far wall with his pistol. "Sit down, both of you. Ricardo, finish tying them up." Annie put her back to the wall and slid down it, Candy scant inches to her left. A man approached and tied their ankles, starting with Candy. When he got to hers, he tied the knot so tight she hid a wince.
McKnight turned the chair around and straddled it backwards, watching them, gun still drawn, free hand stroking his mustache. "Someone get a fire going in that tin stove and whip up some supper." He smiled at them. "I'm sure our guests are hungry, too."
She was, but she'd never admit that to the likes of him. Candy shrugged and studied the scuffed floorboards near his boots. McKnight chuckled and ran his finger along the barrel of his Colt.
"I bet your pa is losing his mind right about now. Can't find you, can't find his foreman … and that Chinaman babbling about like a crazy man. It almost makes it all worth it." His face darkened for a moment. "It's funny how much a man can find out just by listening in saloons."
"You're going to tell us anyway so you might as well get started," Candy said as he stretched his legs out in front of him.
"You got a smart mouth, boy."
"So I've been told."
"Get too smart and she won't like you as much."
"How do you know she does in the first place?" McKnight chuckled again.
"The same way I know all about old Ben Cartwright and his precious family: people talk, boy. And you know what they talk about most? No?" An evil smile touched his mouth. "They whisper about how close Cartwright's only daughter is to his foreman." Annie's face burned.
"We're friends, you sidewinder," she spit out. "Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to mind their own business."
"Friends who spent a month alone together."
"We were trapped in a mine shaft by a crazy man with a grudge against Mr. Cartwright, that's not Annie's fault."
"I never said it was, Candy." He sneered. "But people still talk." He studied his pistol. "That's why I think we can get twenty-five for you. If there's even a grain of truth to the rumors I heard, old Ben will pay up."
"He'll pay, but not for what you're thinking about," she snarled. "Candy's family. To all of us."
"You'd better hope so, Ms. Cartwright. If Ben won't pay, this one has one week." The pistol swung towards Candy. "And I'll kill him."
"I said he will." Her heart kicked in her chest. How were they going to get out of this? She carried a map of the Ponderosa in her head, giving her a pretty good idea as to where they were – and they were actually still on the ranch. All that backtracking hadn't taken them as far as McKnight perhaps hoped. Or maybe he just didn't know the exact boundaries of the property, which, at over six hundred thousand acres, would be easy to do. If they could just get loose and make it into the trees, they'd have a chance.
If they didn't get shot in the process.
Supper turned out to be jerky and cold biscuits, since no one had an ax to split wood for the stove and there wasn't any laying around. Annie didn't want to, but she ate what she was given. McKnight claimed the single bedroom, leaving his men to lay their bedrolls around the main room. All but one, Ricardo, who sat in the chair, his rifle across his lap, staring at them with beady dark eyes that didn't seem to blink.
Candy shifted his weight and leaned over until his mouth was right next to her ear. "I don't like the way he's looking at you." She didn't take her eyes off the guard, who either couldn't hear that well, or didn't care that he was being discussed.
"He's looking at you," she breathed on a whisper. "Or maybe both of us."
"Maybe our reputations proceed us." She hummed agreement. "You know, it wasn't that long ago I was teasing Hoss about sleeping on the ground and look at us now."
"Any ideas yet?" Candy grimaced, barely visible in the growing darkness, the single lamp on the table not doing much to chase it away. His throat worked.
"I'm afraid I'm fresh out."
"We could always hope this one falls asleep and hop out the door." Candy chuckled under his breath and lifted his arms up so she could snuggle against his side. His arm settled against her side, the warmth comforting against the growing chill coming up through the floor. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.
They had to be going crazy right now. She knew she would be if it had been Joe. One thing was for sure: they'd be coming loaded for bear.
"You're sure he said his name was Aaron McKnight?" Ben held up a hand to wave off the questions from his sons, focusing solely on his distraught cook. Hop Sing nodded so hard his pigtail bounced.
"That what he said, Mistah Ben. Take Missy Annie and Mistah Candy, head West. One week in Reno, Cattleman's Hotel. Message at desk. Want a hundred fifty thousand."
"Dollars?" Hoss' voice shot up an octave and Ben shushed him again, his heart pounding in dread.
"Of course, dollars, Hoss." Joe said, his voice shaking. "Pa, what do we do?" His youngest worked his hands around Annie's abandoned gun belt. Ben sat down hard on the porch, head in hands.
"He say he want two Cartwrights for quarter of a million, but foreman would have to do." Hop Sing wrung his hands on a limp dishtowel. "Sound like man with a grudge."
"But for what?" Joe exploded. "What have we ever done to this McKnight fellow? And why Annie?"
"I don't know, Joe. I've never heard of an Aaron McKnight." Ben stood and began to pace. "We've got to get word to Roy. Hop Sing, could you describe those men?"
"Yes. No one wear bandana." Ben froze.
"They didn't cover their faces?" Hop Sing shook his head. "They left you alive to deliver the message, but why keep Annie and Candy alive after they get the money? If they're even alive now. Let's get back to town." He grabbed Buck's reins and swung into the saddle. "Don't hold supper, Hop Sing, and don't wait up for us." They rode out of the yard in a cloud of dust, tearing back into Virginia City as fast as their horses could run.
An hour later, they pulled up in front of Roy's office and jumped down. Ben shoved the door open. "Roy, we've got trouble." The sheriff got to his feet and came around his desk.
"What sort of –"
"Someone named Aaron McKnight is holding Annie and Candy for ransom. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I have a week to deliver it to the Cattleman's Hotel in Reno." Roy whistled softly and perched on the edge of his desk.
"What do you need, Ben?"
"Men to search, and telegrams sent to every town within … oh, say two hundred miles to start with, asking about this Aaron McKnight. If we don't hear anything back, spread out to cover the surrounding states. Someone has to know who he is and why he'd target my family."
"You got it." Roy snatched up his hat and brushed past them. "I'll spread the word. We'll have a posse ready to head out at first light."
"But, Roy –"
"Now, Ben, I know how you feel but trying to search in the dark ain't gonna do no good and you know it." The sheriff came back and laid his hand on his old friend's shoulder. "If anyone can get out of this without help it's those two."
"That's what we're afraid of," Joe said. "They might try, but Hop Sing said there was at least six men. They can't outrun that many, not without one of them catching a bullet. And then they'll be out there alone." Roy's throat worked and he turned around.
"Don't borrow trouble, son. We'll find them, you'll see." Ben swallowed hard, his own heart racing like a wild stallion.
But would they find them in time?
He took rooms for them at the hotel and spent the evening pacing back and forth in front of the window, every sound dragging him back to the curtains, hoping against hope he would see them riding down the street.
"Don't do this to yourself, Pa." Hoss came up behind him. "They'll be alright. We thought we lost 'em before."
"And we only found them in time because Postley had an attack of conscience," Joe said from his spot on the sofa. "I don't think this fellow is going to have that problem." He worked his hands around the worn leather of his twin's gun belt and Ben's heart clenched.
He'd been afraid this would happen for years. Somehow, she'd managed to evade the more serious trouble her more impetuous twin could always find, but of course, being a Cartwright, her luck couldn't last. He could only pray her cool head would win out over the recent slips into her brother's usual territory. Or was it Candy's? He found it hard to believe that a year and a few odd months around the man would do what twenty-seven years around her brother hadn't.
Then again, they had grown much closer recently, especially after Postley.
"We can't think like that, Joe." He left the window and sat beside his youngest son, laying his hand over Joe's. "Your sister can handle herself. And we all know what Candy is capable of." Joe shrugged him off and shot to his feet.
"What chance have they got, Pa? You heard Hop Sing, if one tries to run, they'll shoot the other one. We all know this McKnight fellow isn't going to give them back alive, not after they've seen him. He even told them his name!" His son choked, his eyes misting. "I can't lose 'em, Pa, I just can't."
"I'm praying we won't, boys. That's why I'm going to the bank in the morning. I'll scrape it together if I have to liquidate half our holdings to do it."
"What if you can't raise it all?" Hoss questioned tentatively, crushing his hat in his giant hands.
"I've got to." He could never look his daughter in the face again if he didn't get both of them back. His middle son nodded slowly and sat down.
"Pa … do you think … they's more than friends?" Hoss cleared his throat. "I mean … we all saw how they acted when we ran into that army detail." Ben sat down slowly, staring at the still full glasses of whiskey on the parlor table in front of them.
"I honestly don't know." He rubbed his hands over his face. Joe sat down, too, Annie's gun belt dangling from his hands.
"When he was courting Laura, I confronted her in the barn about why she was acting funny." Joe swallowed hard. "I told her she was jealous because he loved Laura and not her." Hoss cracked a grin.
"How you came out of that one with your head still attached is a plumb miracle, little brother."
"She denied it. Part of it," he amended. "She said she was jealous alright, but not because Candy loved Laura."
"Then why?" Hoss frowned.
"Because she doesn't think any man will ever love her for who she is and not the quarter share of an empire she'd bring him." Joe set the gun belt aside and buried his face in his hands. "And I believed that. Up until we ran into the other Anne. I heard them in the middle of the night, I guess Annie couldn't sleep either. If you'd heard her tear into that woman …" He looked up. "I don't know if she knows it, but she loves him, Pa. She has to. She wouldn't have sounded like that if he was just a friend."
"You sure about that, little brother? Are you sure you're not upset that she's closer to Candy than you now?"
"Why would I care about that?"
"Because, until Postley set that trap, you and her was thick as thieves, have been since you was born. But then you weren't there for her and he was, if only because he was unlucky enough to be at supper when Postley come calling." Hoss' brow furrowed. "Kinda like them soldiers on the battlefields back in the war, when a man goes through something like they did, they's always gonna be closer than they was before. It don't mean she's in love with him, little brother, she just considers him family, and family is to be protected at all costs, right, Pa?"
Ben searched his heart, trying to figure out an answer, but he came up empty. "I think you're both right, in a way," he began. "But, as to whether there is anything there –"
A horse snorted out on the street and he darted to the window, hopes deflating when he recognized Clem's bay. His shoulders sagged. He sensed a presence on either side and glanced up to see both of his sons standing in silence with determined faces. Hoss laid a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll get 'em back, Pa. Don't you worry."
"Get up." A boot kicked her leg and Annie woke with a start, forgetting for a moment where she was. Her gaze landed on Candy's bound hands in front of her and it all came flooding back. She slipped out of his hold and sat up. "Awful cozy, ain't you?" McKnight sneered under his mustache. "If I were to guess, I'd say this ain't the first time you've held the boss' daughter. Our odds of getting paid for you keep going up." He walked away and dug around in the saddlebags. "Anyone got some food besides jerky?"
"I could go into town and get some supplies," one of them offered.
"Why didn't you do that in the first place?"
"But you said don't show our faces."
"I didn't say to go without food," McKnight snarled. "Do I have to do everything around here?" The others looked at each other with veiled expressions. Could they dare hope for division in the ranks? Annie bit her lip. They were already down one day. "Get into town and bring back some grub! And get an ax while you're there." One of them nodded and disappeared outside. A few minutes later, she heard a horse riding out and she tried to gauge the sun through the window. If she could figure out how long it took him to get back, she'd have a better idea where exactly they were.
The shadows slowly inched across the floorboards in front of them, and the man still wasn't back. They must be farther up the mountains than she'd thought; either that or he'd lingered in town.
"You know what," Candy remarked out of the blue. "I always thought I'd like to sit around all day and do nothing." He paused, like he was expecting a reply he didn't get, then went on. "But I'm bored already. Is there at least a deck of cards or something?" No one said anything and he shrugged. "I tried." He tugged his hat down over his eyes and settled back against the wall.
McKnight snorted, but said nothing. Annie checked the sun again. Virginia City, Carson City, and Reno were the closest, but which one had he picked? She knew which one he should have picked based on proximity, but what if he'd gone out of his way?
"You expecting something, Ms. Cartwright?" McKnight stood and ambled over, making a show of checking the window. "Ain't nothing out there if you're hoping for the cavalry to show up."
"Your friend has been gone a long time, you sure he didn't have second thoughts?" She clicked her tongue. "You are messing with Ben Cartwright, after all. He gets through with you, there won't be enough left for the scavengers." McKnight turned the chair around and straddled it, a smirk on his face.
"I'm betting he'll be too busy grieving to bother with us."
"I wouldn't." She leaned back against Candy with a smirk of her own. "You're not the first man who thought he could make a quick buck by kidnapping a Cartwright. I'd offer to introduce you, but most of them are dead."
"You've got a smart mouth, girl."
"Maybe." She shrugged. "But I wouldn't bet against me." McKnight snorted.
"After we get that money, girl, old Ben Cartwright is going to be out of his mind and chasing his own tail down the false trails we have set up. He'll never find us." A cruel smile touched his mouth. "He don't deserve no better, not after what he done to me." Candy raised his head.
"How about I save you the trouble and just ask: what did he do? You know you're going to tell us and we know you want us to ask, so let's get right down to it." McKnight took a beat to study them.
"You two aren't what I was expecting."
"Because we aren't begging to be let go?" Candy shrugged. "It ain't the first time I've been held hostage, hers neither. All that listening in saloons would have told you that."
"How about you shut your mouth before I shut it for you?" He raised his gun and Annie's heart skipped a beat. He'd come close to that line before, some times she knew about and others she could only guess at, but this time, he was pushing it. One look at McKnight's face told her they couldn't bait this one. Whatever grudge he held against her pa, it was deeper than Postley's, and considering what he'd done, that was saying something. "I shouldn't have to tell you, it's common knowledge."
Her brow furrowed. It was? She studied the man, but still couldn't fit him into any town or cattle drive for at least the last decade. Before that, she and Joe hadn't always ridden along.
"Not to us," she said slowly. "I've never heard your name before in my life." McKnight shot off his chair, overturning it, and stomped across the room, swearing violently. He whipped back around, that gun aimed at her chest.
"I shouldn't be surprised." He swore again, the pistol shaking in his hand. "Big man like him, it figures he thought he could erase it, but I pledged on my father's grave Ben Cartwright would pay for what he'd done. I may have only gotten one Cartwright, but I think I got the right one. Losing you may well prove to be his undoing." That cruel smile covered his face again. "I heard what he was like after you disappeared before. Aged a decade overnight, they said. How do you figure he'd handle having to bury you, huh? But not until he's utterly destroyed. You'll –"
A horse neighed outside and he ran to the window. Candy leaned in close and hissed in her ear, "He's insane." She nodded, not daring to whisper back. What in the world did he think her pa had done? Why would he think that? The door opened and his friend walked inside.
"About time you got back."
"You said to be careful."
"Were you?"
"Of course." He dumped out the contents of his saddle bags on the scuffed table. "Canned beans, some bacon and other assorted staples. The ax is behind my saddle. I also got something you forgot."
"And what's that?"
"Paper and ink. She can't write a tearful, begging letter to her father without it, can she?" McKnight's face froze.
"After twenty years, you think I'd forget one of the most important parts?" His thumb caressed the hammer on his pistol, a blank mask descending over his face. His friend took a step back, seeming to realize he'd somehow erred. Annie held her breath; beside her, Candy tensed.
"You didn't say you brought any and I was trying to be helpful, no need to ride back into Carson again if I could get it all in one trip. Aaron … what did I do wrong?"
A gunshot was the only reply he'd ever get. Annie bit her tongue as his body hit the floor. McKnight holstered his pistol and jerked his chin at the rest of his men standing around in shock. "If he had to ask, he's too dumb to keep around. Get him out of here." He turned to them. "If you have any plans of trying to escape, just remember how easy that was. And I liked Sam, I don't like you," he added menacingly as he began to sort through the food on the table. Her gaze slid sideways, meeting Candy's suddenly frantic eyes, his message loud and clear.
Whatever you do, sweetheart, don't act like Joe.
I hadn't planned on it.
Despite what he'd said about writing a message, the afternoon passed without another mention of it. But that was fine, it gave her more time to figure out how to pass a message within the message that would hopefully slip past McKnight and tell her family where they were.
Sam's mistake – she was fairly sure – had nothing to do with buying paper, and everything to do with mentioning Carson City. By focusing on the paper, had he hoped to overshadow that one little comment?
She had been right about where they were, now all they had to was get into a position to take advantage of that knowledge. That cool head she'd been lauded for was everything in this situation.
It had to be a case of mistaken identity or he just didn't have all the facts – whatever they happened to be. Normally, they could point that out and making their getaway would be somewhat easier.
But not this time. No explanations would change this man's mind; not if he could shoot a friend that easily over a tiny slip.
What did he think had happened? Twenty years, he'd said. Adam would be the only one old enough to possibly remember anything, and he was long gone. She wanted to ask, to glean more useful information from his rants, but now was probably not the best time to pull his attention back to them.
And how in the world was she going to slip clues into that message without arousing suspicion from McKnight in such a way that someone actually understood what she was really saying?
As long as it appeared that the money was being gathered, they should be safe until it was delivered. By what McKnight had said, she figured he wouldn't kill them until then, ensuring that … discovery … would stall the rest of the Cartwrights long enough to secure their escape.
At least, Annie hoped that was how she was reading him. If not … she didn't want to think about it right now. She leaned against Candy; McKnight chuckled and leaned back in his chair, pistol resting on his lap.
"Look at 'em, Link. I'm betting he ain't no mere foreman." He scoffed. "Far from it."
"Shut up," Candy said tersely. "Say one more –" The pistol came up, and McKnight sneered.
"Or what? I can say whatever I like, boy, and neither one of you can do a thing. Matter of fact, you invited all this talk when you didn't get hitched after coming out of that mine."
"We're just friends," Annie said through her teeth. "Why ruin two lives when nothing happened to warrant it?"
"Just because you don't admit it, doesn't mean it didn't happen." That cruel smile was back. "Take your pa for instance. He killed a man in cold blood and covered it up." His face hardened and those eyes went dark with pure hate. "But I know what he did. And he'll pay for it." McKnight jumped off the chair and stalked across the room. "Write that message and tell him his only daughter will be dead unless he gets me that money." He yanked her off the floor and practically threw her into the chair. She stumbled, almost falling as the rope around her ankles threw off her balance, and caught herself against the table. "Try it boy, and I'll put a bullet in her." Annie turned and found Candy's face twisted in disgust, a vein in his jaw standing out. She pleaded with her eyes for him to keep out of it.
"I can't write with my hands tied," she said as calmly as she could manage.
"You will." A pen and paper landed in front of her. "Write." She gritted her teeth and fumbled with the pen until she got it in her hand. She didn't know how to say what had to be said. There was no doubt he'd pay for both of them as long as he could raise the money. He had to know from previous experience that they were dead even if he did pay, but he'd make the effort anyway, just in case.
Annie bit her lip, said a silent prayer that her wits wouldn't fail them, and began to write.
"Who brought this?" Ben stared down at the message scrawled in Annie's elegant hand, one of the few feminine pursuits he'd managed to teach her over the years. He looked up at Rudy in stunned silence. The telegraph operator shook his head.
"Someone left it on my desk while I was out to supper. I didn't see no one hanging around when I come back. I figured you wouldn't want me to wait till morning."
"Thank you, Rudy."
"I wish I'd have gotten a look at whoever it was."
"And you might have been killed for it." Ben clapped a hand on Rudy's shoulder. "Anything else comes in, anything at all, bring it right over, no matter how late."
"You got it, Mr. Cartwright." The telegrapher left the suite and Ben sank to the couch, his hands shaking, making the paper quiver. His sons crowded around to read over his shoulder.
As bad as Endicott was, this man is worse. He killed one of his own men today for buying paper when he didn't expressly tell him to. We have five sundowns left unless you get the money. No amount of Cartwright tricks will work this time, not like before.
We're fine, for now, but that can change depending on any number of things: the cold nights, no hot food, or McKnight wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. You know how Candy is, I'm afraid he'll get himself killed.
"I'm surprised he let that stay in there," Hoss commented. Ben shushed him with an upraised hand and kept reading, his heart pounding.
Get the money, please. We've been through this before and we don't want to die.
It ended there and all he wanted to do was ride out and rescue his youngest child. The letter fell to his lap and he buried his face in his hands, drawing in a shaky breath. Hands touched his shoulders.
"It'll be all right, Pa. We'll get 'em back. You'll see."
"I wish I could share your optimism, big brother, but I can't." Joe exploded. "Did you read something different than me? Cause all I heard is –"
"She's telling us something, little brother. If you'd look past that fear that's got you by the throat, you'd see it, too." Ben's head jerked up.
"What do you mean?" Hoss nodded at the letter.
"Read it again. Something just don't sit right." Ben did, but he still didn't see what his middle son was getting at.
"Of course it doesn't sit right, have you ever heard Annie beg for anything?" Joe seethed. He stood and paced the room, hands fisted at his sides. "She's always been –" He cut off and whipped around. "Pa, the letter." He held out his hand. Ben handed him the page in confusion. "That's it."
"What's it?"
"If he did kill one of his men today for buying something he wasn't told to, and she wrote the letter after that, they have to be close enough to a town for two trips in one day."
"We need to see if a stranger was in town buying paper today." Ben retrieved the letter from Joe and studied it closer. She must have left more than the one clue, but what was it? "Hoss, run down to the mercantile, apologize for waking them up at this hour if you have to, but do it. If they didn't sell a stranger paper today, we'll have to send someone to Carson and Reno in the morning." He glanced out the window. If he could stand to wait that long.
He'd raised her to weather any storm if the need arose; he could only pray his lessons had been enough.
At least she wasn't out there alone. Their foreman was more than capable of getting out of trouble; together, they should be nigh unstoppable. They'd done it before, back when Bingham had captured them to get his hands on that blasted horse. And they'd kept each other sane through a month trapped in Postley's mine. Privately, he thought if they could survive that, they could survive anything.
The next morning came early, Ben up and dressed before the sun was over the horizon. His sons woke up not long after he did, and they headed downstairs and out the door to the livery stable, Hoss' trek last night proving Virginia City hadn't sold paper to any strangers.
They saddled their horses in grim silence. Ben swung into his saddle and reined Buck around. Reno or Carson?
The Cattleman's Hotel in one week …
His head came up as another piece of the puzzle clicked. Worse than Endicott, she'd said, but Endicott killed his own man, too. The events of a year ago came drifting back. The crooked man had taken up residence in that same hotel to await the convention. "We're going to Carson first."
"Why Carson City? Reno's just as likely."
"She mentioned Endicott for a reason. And they want the money delivered to the Cattleman's Hotel, so why wouldn't they get supplies there?" Hoss frowned.
"You could be right, Pa."
"Ben!" Roy hurried over and paused to catch his breath. "Heading out?"
"We're going to check Carson City, see if anyone sold paper to a stranger yesterday." He quickly explained the message Rudy had brought last night.
"I'll wire Reno, then. And Ben, we've still got men out searching, but they ain't found nothing yet." He laid a hand on Buck's shoulder. "We'll find 'em, Ben, I promise you that. This Aaron McKnight won't get away with it."
"Thank you, Roy." Ben blinked past the sting of tears. "Tell Ralph at the hotel we might be moving to Carson City for the duration."
"I'll do that. And I'll send a wire if something comes up. There's still nothing on McKnight, by the way."
"Thanks." Roy stepped back and they rode out at a gallop. Every minute that passed without his daughter safe at home felt like one minute closer to a funeral. There was nothing more he could do in Virginia City until the bank gathered the money.
Riding into Carson City later that morning, nothing looked out of place, not even the hotel, and Ben shook his head. Why he'd expected something to visibly be wrong, he didn't know. They halted at the hitch rail in front of the Cattleman's Hotel and dismounted.
"Hoss, go inside, get us rooms. Joe, check the mercantile, every store that might sell paper. I'll see if the sheriff has any news." Ben hurried down the street, forced to halt more than once as townspeople stopped him to express their shock and offer prayers and help. He thanked them all without really hearing what they said.
It was like he'd been numbed by the seeping cold of a winter storm. As long as he was moving, actively doing something to bring Annie home, it was bearable, but once he stopped, it chilled its way down to his bones.
He rushed into the sheriff's office and slammed the door harder than he'd intended. Sheriff Wilde stood and held out his hand.
"I'm sorry, Ben. Whatever you need, I'll make sure you get it."
"Thank you." He sat down blindly, surprised he found the other chair. "I just … I don't know what's happened, why he took them in the first place." A mug of coffee appeared at his right hand and he took it without conscious thought, gulping down half of it in seconds.
"You do have the most money in this part of the state, maybe all of it after Endicott went down."
"There's more to it, Wilde, there has to be. Hop Sing said it sounded like this man has a personal grudge against me for some reason."
"What for?"
"I don't know, I've never heard of him."
"Pa!" Joe's voice brought him to his feet as the door flew open and his youngest son fell into the room. "You were right, he came into town yesterday about noon. Bought the paper, some canned food, and an ax." His son caught his breath. "They said he seemed nice enough, was a little taller than me, dark hair and eyes, a few days growth of beard. Rode out on a bay horse with two hind socks, the left higher than the right."
The sheriff grabbed a rifle from the rack and checked its load. "I'll ride out, find the nearest posse and pass along the description. With any luck, we'll find some tracks or the men themselves." Ben grabbed the sheriff's arm.
"Wilde … I can't lose her."
"We'll do everything we can." The man left his office and Ben set the last of his coffee on the battered desk. He touched Joe's shoulder.
"Pa?"
"I'll get them back if I have to liquidate everything I own." He didn't really think it would come to that, but he was fully prepared if it should. There was no way on this earth he would leave Candy to die.
"What if … Pa, what if he kills them anyway?" Joe asked in a small voice he hadn't used since he was a child. Ben wanted to reassure him that wouldn't happen, but he wasn't a child anymore, he knew the world was often cruel, and men with grudges took revenge no matter the cost.
"We'll do everything we can to find them before it's too late," he finally said, the words sounding hollow to himself. For all he knew, it might already be too late. Now that he'd sent proof of life, McKnight didn't need them alive anymore. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest. "Come on, let's stop by the telegraph office and see if anyone has sent a wire about McKnight."
"You awake?" Candy's soft whisper barely reached her ears. She nodded against his chest and he relaxed against the chilly wall. Despite the ax's arrival, the cabin wasn't any warmer, McKnight having decided they couldn't risk a fire with all the posses he believed were out combing the hills. "You know he's not gonna keep us alive much longer."
"Unless he's got a second message planned."
"We can't count on that." She looked up, something in his voice ringing as odd. It was hard to make out his features in the darkness, the single lamp on the table not enough to penetrate the far corners of the room at this late hour. She glanced over at Ricardo asleep in his chair. "I've got a knife in my boot, slip it out and cut yourself free. I'll distract them long enough for you to get a head start, but that's all I can promise, sweetheart." Her heart crawled into her throat, choking her.
"Are you insane?" she finally squeaked out. "He'll kill you."
"We both know I'm dead anyway. Mr. Cartwright will be hard pressed to come up with your ransom before the drive and that contract pay out, much less mine. Twenty-five thousand," he scoffed. "I'm not worth half that."
"He took your side at Olympus, and Tin Bucket, and he didn't –"
"That's not the same as paying cash money to get me back." He swallowed hard. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea myself, but it's all I've been able to come up with."
"Then we think of something else," she hissed.
"We're running out of time, Annie. I owe your pa everything, right down to my life, at least twice over. If I can get you back to him in one piece, well, that'll be enough."
"What if I can think of a better idea?" she forced past the lump in her throat.
"Don't take too long thinking." He looked over at Ricardo himself and swallowed hard. "We're down another day."
"I've already got an idea started, but it'll take some effort to make it work," she hissed under her breath, hyper aware that Ricardo may only be feigning sleep. Candy stilled, silent acknowledgment to go ahead. Her gaze still on the man in the chair, she continued, "I know about where we are. They take us outside in the morning, we make a run for it. The timing will have to be perfect, and even then one of us may catch a bullet."
"As long as it's not you, I can live with it. I've been shot before."
"I'd rather nobody got shot, but I'd make an exception for one of them."
"Yeah, me, too." A beat of silence ticked by. "That your only plan?"
"The best one," she reluctantly admitted. They needed their feet free for anything to work and there was only one time during the day that was allowed. All they had to do was make it to the trees and they'd have the advantage. But the timing … her throat closed. If one of them was even a beat off … a shudder ran down her spine.
"You okay?"
"I will be once we're out of here." His arm slipped around her in the dark and she thought his lips brushed her hair, but she might have been wrong.
"We'll get out. Just keep working on that plan." They spent the rest of the night working on the details, talking in hushed whispers as the sky lightened. Ricardo groaned and stretched in his chair, effectively ending their discussion.
It was several minutes after that when the bedroom door opened and McKnight emerged, his hair rumpled and his eyes just as hate-filled as ever. He kicked Ricardo out of the chair and settled into it himself.
"How's it feel to be one day closer to death?" He took out his pistol and ran his thumb along the barrel. "My pa, he never saw it coming, a mercy you won't get."
"Still quicker than dying of thirst," Candy said easily. "You know, I figured you'd have told us what happened by now, especially the way you keep hinting at it."
"Dying to know, ain't you? Can't believe old Ben Cartwright would kill a man, do you?"
"I've seen him kill," Candy admitted. "But what you're talking about is murder, and there's a difference."
"He killed my pa in cold blood," McKnight hissed, his hand tightening on the gun. "I stood at that grave I dug myself and promised him that Ben Cartwright would pay for what he done."
"Just spit it out, will you?" Annie seethed. "You keep saying he killed your pa, but nothing else. How? What makes you think it was my pa that done it?"
"Cause I saw him, girl!" McKnight turned the chair over in a rush. "He rode into the yard on that big bay horse and asked for water. Pa was a neighborly person and let him use the trough. He admired the place while his horse was drinking and asked if Pa knew who he was. Of course he didn't, Pa never left home after Ma passed except to get supplies in town. The stranger said his name was Ben Cartwright and he wanted to buy our pinto stud horse. Pa said no and he shot him right then, took the pinto from the corral, and rode out."
"Someone lied, Pa would never do anything like that!"
"Where were you while he was doing all this?"
"In the barn. When you're ten years old, you hide." A muscle in his jaw twitched. "I'm not hiding any longer. The money is just extra, you see, to make up for what I lost over the years. The real payoff is gonna be killing you and seeing him crushed."
"Pa didn't even ride a bay twenty years ago, his horse then was a big, blond chestnut."
"Obviously, he didn't tell his children everything. I saw his face when he took that pinto from the corral. He's older now, and his hair's white, but it was the same man." Annie gasped as a memory surfaced.
"It was him." McKnight howled with laughter. Candy stared at her in shock. She shook her head and turned to face him. "There was a man, several years ago, he could have been Pa's twin, had everyone in town fooled and we almost lost the Ponderosa. Don't you see? It had to be him, he must have been impersonating Pa for a lot longer than anyone suspected." Why couldn't she recall his name? Or had he ever said his real name?
"You think I'm gonna fall for that crazy story?"
"It's not crazy, it's real!"
"Sure it is. And you'd say anything to save yourself." The pistol swung around, aimed at her face, and she swallowed hard. "Ain't nothing gonna do that, girl." McKnight chuckled and walked over to the window. He pulled back the ratty curtain and smirked. "Four days left, Ms. Cartwright." He dropped the curtain and walked back into the bedroom. "Link, give 'em five minutes outside, but watch 'em good. Either one so much as looks at you cross-eyed, shoot the other one."
Finally relieved of the rope around their ankles, they hobbled to the door, Annie's heart pounding double-time. One chance, that's all they'd get. It had to be perfect.
Link and Ricardo escorted them a few feet into the bushes behind the run-down cabin and waited. Annie eyed the distance they had to cover in so little time and swallowed hard. The trees didn't thicken up for a good hundred feet. She glanced back over her shoulder at Link and swallowed again.
"Can't you at least turn around … please?" she added for good measure. She'd asked every morning, but so far, the answer had always been no. Today was no different. Link scowled and raised his rifle. She sighed and took another couple steps into the bushes while pretending to fiddle with her pants. She darted a worried glance at Candy and drew in a shaky breath.
It was now or never.
His chin dipped in a tiny nod. She fixed her gaze on the distant trees and bolted, ducking low and running in a crouch as angry shouts, then gunfire, filled the air behind them.
A bullet whizzed past her head, burying itself in a tree and spraying splinters across her face. She ducked, a scream building in her throat.
Candy. Where was Candy?
She risked a frantic look around and found him running a few feet to her right, just a few paces behind.
He could run faster than that! He was making himself the target on purpose!
McKnight's enraged howl filled the air, and a rifle boomed. Something tugged at her sleeve; another bullet zipped past her head. Guess he didn't much care who was technically the "other one" right now.
Another rifle cracked, and then so did her heart.
Candy howled and stumbled, going to one knee as blood trickled down his back.
"Ben?"
"What is it?" He pushed his breakfast plate away and shot to his feet, nearly turning the chair over. Everyone else in the hotel dining room stared at him. He drew in a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "Is there any news, Sheriff?" Wilde handed over a telegram.
"From Virginia City." Ben read the message and the tightness in his chest eased, but only a little. They had the money, and the bank president was personally bringing it to Carson by stage this afternoon. He dug into his pocket and handed the sheriff a few coins.
"Tell them thank you. I'll be waiting at the stage office." He sat back down as the sheriff left, but couldn't stomach the thought of finishing his long-cold ham and eggs. He stood and tossed his napkin on the table. "I'll check at the front desk, see if our instructions are there." He hadn't wanted to check until he had the money secured, just in case they were watching and thought he was trying to trick them.
Ben made his way through the lobby and waited for the clerk. The man looked up with a grim smile. "Mr. Cartwright, how may I help you today? Is there any news?"
"None, yet. Are there any messages for me?"
"I do have one." He turned to the wall of pigeon holes behind his desk and selected a small, cream colored envelope. "Here it is. I believe it came in this morning, but no one saw it delivered."
"Thank you." Ben hurried away to find a more private place to read and ended up returning to their rooms. He took a seat on the sofa and opened the seal.
Leave the money at the lone pine near the Carson City turnoff. I'll be watching. Any tricks and they're dead. After you deliver it, return to the hotel and another message will tell you where they can be found.
Ben turned it over, but that was it. He drew in a shaky breath and bowed his head. He whispered a prayer, then reached for the message from Annie. There had to be another clue in here, she wouldn't have risked it for just one. He stared at the words until they blurred and swam before his eyes.
"Please."
"Candy!" She grabbed at his arm and fire licked across her arm. She hissed and tugged harder. "Come on!" He lurched to his feet and they all but fell into the sheltering woods. "Hurry!" She fumbled for the knife in his boot, but couldn't get her hands on it. He kicked his leg up, letting it slide out and she snatched it off the ground, forcing herself to concentrate on getting them loose, not on the bleeding wound to his back. She sawed through the rope around his wrists and it fell away. He grabbed the knife and returned the favor, his hands shaking. She tucked the blade into her boot and pulled him up. "Let's go, we've got to put some distance between us and them."
"Won't get any … any argument from me." She risked a glance and bit her lip. Still bleeding, and no exit wound in his chest. He'd have a long night with the doctor, but only if they made it out of these woods first.
They would. She refused to believe otherwise.
But first, they had to stem the bleeding, or McKnight wouldn't have any trouble locating them. She dug out the knife and cut the bottom of her shirt off, then tied the strip of fabric around his torso. He hissed when she pulled it tight, and her stomach flipped. "Candy?"
"I'm good." He swiped a hand over his face. "Keep moving." She could hear McKnight and his men thrashing around in the underbrush, and they were getting closer. Heart in her throat, she followed Candy through the trees, her gaze glued to the growing stain on the makeshift bandage.
Now and then she'd whisper directions, but for the most part, they stayed quiet, straining to keep tabs on their pursuers as they worked their way down the mountain. Candy tripped over a root and slid several feet before he managed to stop himself.
"Candy!" She skidded sideways, and slipped her way down to him. "Are you okay?" He sat up and clutched his chest with a grimace.
"Yeah. I don't … hear 'em. Do you?" She looked around and realized she couldn't. The forest had gone silent.
"Maybe they went back for their horses." Please, God, they needed the respite. "We've got to get to Carson City." There was only one problem: once they got off the mountain and onto the flat ground, there was almost no cover anywhere. They'd be sitting ducks.
"You still got the knife?" Her hand flew down to her boot and she sighed in relief.
"Not sure how, but it's there."
"You ever thrown one before?" She shook her head and Candy sighed. "Not sure I could hit anything right now." He grimaced again and panted for air. "It burns."
Until he said that, she'd managed to forget about the sting in her arm. It flared as though talking had about pain in general had made it worse. She hissed softly and checked her arm. Another couple inches and she wouldn't have been able to use it for a while. As it was, she'd seen worse grazes. Candy's eyes dropped to her arm and he drew in a breath.
"It's nothing. Just a scratch. You're the one that …"
"I reckon we didn't come out too badly." Somehow, he managed that cocky half-smile of his and her heart lightened. He couldn't be that bad off if he could still joke. "There has to be a posse somewhere out here that can help us." He staggered to his feet and trudged on, his face tight with pain. Annie got to her feet and scrambled after him, still heading down the mountainside.
McKnight had to guess they would head for Carson City. All he had to do was lay in wait somewhere along the trail and ambush them. Unless he made a mistake, they'd never know he was there until it was too late.
"He won't give up," Candy said softly, sounding like every breath hurt. "It's just a matter of when and where."
"Save it, Candy, please." She clutched his arm. "Pa and the boys will find us, I know it." He squeezed her hand without a word and kept stumbling along.
Joe, come on and listen. We're right here, and we need help.
The rumble of hooves brought them around in horror. Annie squinted through the trees, but whoever it was wasn't visible yet. Candy pulled her down to the underbrush behind a copse of bushes and they waited.
McKnight and his men rode into view from the direction of Carson City, weapons in hand, and death on their faces. Annie held her breath, her heart slamming against her ribs so hard she was afraid they would hear it.
"They can't have made it farther than this, I know he was hit bad." McKnight yanked his horse around and the animal snorted in protest.
"She could have left him behind, Aaron." Link scanned their surroundings.
"No, not her. If she was gonna leave him, they wouldn't have run together. Spread out and find them before that posse does." They pushed their horses through the trees and up the slope. Annie stayed put until Candy raised his head.
"Slow," he breathed, and they climbed to their feet. "They gotta be close or he wouldn't be worried."
"We'll find them," she promised, wondering who she was trying to convince. In reality, she wasn't sure they could. Not in time for Candy. The wound still bled, and with the bullet lodged inside somewhere, infection would set in before too long.
A horse crashed through the brush and they dropped. Link rode back into sight, alone. He scanned the undergrowth, thankfully not in their direction. Yet. Her gaze locked on the chestnut gelding and the rifle in Link's hand. She reached down to her boot for Candy's knife.
She didn't have the weight necessary to drag him off the horse, but if she could make the horse dump him …
"Annie, don't," Candy breathed in her ear. For the first time she could remember, she ignored him. They needed that horse, or at least the rifle and pistol. Her fingers tightened on the blade and she measured the distance.
Ten feet. Six. Five. Three. Two.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Her free hand scooped up a good sized rock and she waited until he rode past them. She rose out of the bushes and flung the rock at the gelding's flank. It connected and the animal shot into the air with a shrill neigh.
Caught off guard, Link toppled to the ground, already cursing his horse and whatever had startled it. Annie steeled herself and shot out of the bushes. "Aaron!" She crashed into him and drove the knife into his chest, her stomach turning over at the gush of blood that covered her hands, and the stench of copper filling the air. He hit the ground with a choking gasp that died as quickly as the light in his eyes. Annie dropped the knife and wiped her hands on her pants, pleading the whole time with her stomach to keep what little she'd eaten the past day where it belonged.
The horse hadn't gone far, only a few feet, and it stood there, ears flicking wildly. She cooed to the animal and scooted closer. They'd never escape if it ran now. Already, McKnight and his men were closing in, their shouts growing louder with every second.
Candy lurched out of the bushes and staggered over, giving the horse one more thing to be concerned about. She lunged for the reins and the animal snorted and danced backwards. But she'd caught him.
"Can you get the rifle? He's coming." Candy bent down with a muffled groan and scooped it up, acting like it weighed a thousand pounds. She stuffed it into the scabbard and snatched Link's pistol. "Hurry and get on."
"You go." He touched her shoulder with a shaking hand. "I can't." Sweat rolled down his face and he was breathing hard. Something snapped inside and fire exploded through her veins.
"Since when do you quit, Canaday?" She grabbed his arm and pushed him at the horse. "Put your foot in the stirrup."
"Annie –"
"Do it," she spit, her heart pounding so hard she thought she might choke. "Come on! Please!" He stilled for a split second, then nodded slowly. Somehow, he made it up on the first try and she scrambled up behind him, arms wrapped around his waist, and kicked the horse into a gallop.
The first jolt doubled him over the saddle horn. "Candy, if you pass out, we both fall off." He moaned, but didn't say anything, his hands clinging to the saddle in a white-knuckled grip.
The rumble of hooves brought a scream rising to her throat, but she refused to let it escape. A bullet whizzed past her head, then another, and another. She turned, the pistol in her hand swinging up, and sighted down the barrel.
It was too far, but if she could at least make them back off a little …
She fired, but McKnight didn't topple from his mount. A second shot clipped his hat off his head and she swore under her breath.
"Look out!" Candy hollered, and she whipped back around just in time to yank the chestnut off course before he crashed into a pack of riders tearing around a bend in the trail. Where had –?
Then she recognized the pinto out front and her heart soared. "Joe!"
"Annie!"
McKnight hauled his horse up short, but it was too late. The posse had him in their sights. Gunfire rang out, but she didn't stop, not even for her twin. She dropped the pistol, then the rifle, in an effort to lighten the load, and pushed the gelding for everything he had. If she could have lost the saddle, too, she would have.
It wasn't quite an hour to Carson City. She could tell by sight and by feel that the chestnut was a top class animal, but now it was time to find out just how good he was.
She slowed the pace for a few minutes every mile or so, just to give the animal a bit of a rest, but she couldn't afford to give it much. The wound had reopened – if it had ever really closed – and was bleeding again. Her shirt stuck to her skin and her pants were sticky. Candy hadn't made a sound in several miles. Her heart pounded in time with a singular refrain:
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
How long had it been since he'd been shot? She glanced up at the sky and bit her lip. Too long; time had lost meaning beyond that. She looked ahead, and Carson City loomed out of the dusty haze at last. She could have cried for joy, but there wasn't time even for that.
Annie drove the lathered, staggering horse into town. People whipped around to stare as they shot past. She pulled up at the hotel's hitch rail and slid off. "Get the doctor!" She turned around, and those who'd run over to help drew back with sudden gasps. "Please, he needs help, now! He's been shot!"
The gasps turned into a roaring sea of shouts and rapid-fire questions. "Get the doctor!"
"What happened, Anne?"
"Someone help us get him into the hotel."
Candy moaned as he was pulled off the horse and carried inside. She turned to follow when a familiar voice froze her in her tracks.
"Dear God, Annie!" Ben rushed out of the crowd and threw his arms around her, the lumpy carpetbag in his hand landing heavily against her back. "I was afraid I'd lost you." She pulled back, but he held on tight. "Joe said he had a feeling, I shouldn't have ever doubted him." Finally, he let go and held her at arms' length, his eyes widening when he saw the blood.
"It's not mine, well, except that." She motioned to her arm. "Candy was shot, Pa, it wouldn't stop bleeding … he's …" She bit her lip. "He needs the doctor, now."
"And he'll get one." Ben swept her along into the hotel, yelling for someone to bring the doctor immediately. An unknown man hollered back that he was coming, but she barely heard it as they rushed upstairs, her thoughts consumed with only one thing.
When they got to the suite, Ben tossed the carpet bag in the other bedroom and slammed the door. He hugged her again, whispered, thank you, God, and disappeared into the bedroom where they'd taken Candy.
The suite door flew open and Carson City's doctor ran inside, his bag bouncing against his hip. "Where is he?" She pointed at the bedroom and he disappeared in seconds. Annie sank to the couch, staring down at her hands and the blood trapped under her nails and staining her skin. She shivered and jumped up, racing into the other bedroom, where a pitcher and bowl sat on the dresser. She scrubbed her hands until the water in the bowl turned pink, then pale red.
She ransacked the drawers until she found a spare shirt and some pants of Joe's and stripped off her bloody clothes. She was almost to the last button on the shirt when a low moan filtered through the door, slowly building in intensity. She froze, then bolted like a rabbit.
Ben stopped her just inside the other bedroom, blocking her from the bed. "Annie, Annie, no. The doctor's digging the bullet out, you can't get in the way."
"But he's … I can't … listen to him!"
"I know, I know." He smoothed her hair like she was a child again and the worst problem he had to fix was other children's jealous spite. "It hurts even when it's not you."
"Is he going to be all right?" she whispered in a tiny voice she didn't even recognize, her cheek pressed against his vest, the scent of home comforting in a way that nothing else was.
"The doctor will speak with us when he's finished." Her head came up.
"But –"
"I know that's not what you asked, but that's all he said." He tried to guide her back into the main room, but Annie wasn't having it. "Annie, come on, please." She shook her head.
"No, Pa, please let me stay, I won't get in the way, I won't even say a word. Please." She blinked back the sting of tears. "He's my best friend." Ben sighed.
"All right." He stepped out of the way and she rushed to the bed. The doctor briefly looked up with a frown, then went back to his work. Her stomach flipped and she swallowed hard. Ben joined her and they silently watched, her father's arm around her shoulders.
Another moan rose from the bed and she couldn't stop herself from reaching out to touch his arm. "If you're going to do that, move to the other side so you're not in my way." Another time, she might have snapped at the doctor, but now she merely did as he asked. "I've almost got it, provided he doesn't start fighting me." Metal clinked against metal and he straightened with a sigh. "Got it." He cleaned the wound and bandaged it tightly. "Keep him quiet and still for the next week or so and he should recover, provided infection doesn't get him." The doctor sighed again. "I'll come by in the morning to check on him, send someone if you need me before then."
"We will, Doc, and thank you." Ben shook his hand and led the man out of the room. Annie sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Candy's sweaty hair.
"You're safe," she whispered. "We both are." Her hand slipped to his shoulder and her stomach twisted. A few inches to the right and … she swallowed hard. A noise in the doorway brought her head up. Ben stood there, watching her in silence.
A commotion in the hallway interrupted whatever he might have said. "Pa! Is Annie here? Pa? Pa!" The door flew open and her brothers spilled into the suite, talking over top of each other and demanding answers.
"We ran into them, but she wouldn't stop!"
"Candy looked like he was hurt."
"Pa, did they make it into town?" Ben nodded in her direction, and they piled into the bedroom, stopping in their tracks when Candy's still form registered. Joe's eyes lingered on her hand. "Annie … he's not …?" She shook her head.
"The doctor got the bullet out. All we can do is wait." Something flickered in Hoss' eyes. He strode over and engulfed her in a tight hug that threatened to crack her ribs.
"I'm sure glad to see you in one piece, little sis." He drew back and swallowed hard. "I'll sit with him, I think Pa would like some time with you right now. He was … it was a bad time for all of us." Her gaze darted to the bed and he squeezed her arm. "I'll call you if anything changes, I promise."
Joe walked her back into the main room, his arm around her back. "You took ten years off my life, sis."
"McKnight?"
"Dead," he said in a monotone. "All of them are."
"He was insane." She sat beside her pa on the couch and he wrapped her in his arms.
"I was so afraid," he whispered into her hair. Annie stared down at her hands, seeing the blood again. She didn't want to talk about what had happened, but she might as well get it over with, and then they'd never have to mention it again. She drew in a deep breath and started at the beginning, leading them through McKnight's warped scheme of revenge.
"It had to be that man who impersonated you before. But McKnight wouldn't accept any fact or possibility that didn't agree with what he insisted had happened. The money wasn't what he really wanted, he was going to kill us then lead you to our bodies. That was his revenge – watching you fall apart." Her voice broke. "So we ran, and Candy was shot. They – they were closing in, he needed a doctor … so I …" She bit her lip and tasted blood. "Pa, I've shot men before but today I …" her voice shook. "I spooked his horse to throw him and then I … that blood … not all of it was Candy's."
"Shh." Ben patted her back. "You did what you had to do."
"But I looked at him and decided he was going to die so I could take the horse and his guns."
"Oh, baby. Shh, now. They abducted you with intent to kill and they'd already shot Candy. Whatever you did was self defense, it was not murder. If they'd caught you again, they would have killed you where you stood, you know that."
"I know." A single tear slid down her cheek. "It's just … I can see his face and …"
"I'd be worried if it didn't bother you, Anne. No matter how much you can justify it, it's never easy. I'm sorry that was a choice you ever had to make."
"Annie." She looked over at Joe and he tried to smile. "Candy'll be fine, you know how stubborn he is." She nodded and he sat down on her other side. "Come here, sis." He hugged her tight and another tear slid down her cheek. "Give him a few days and he'll be grumbling about who does the most work."
It was longer than that. Annie sat back in the chair she'd pulled up to the bed. Fever had taken hold that night and still raged two days later. She'd lost track of how many hours she'd sat there a silent witness to his fever-induced incoherent ramblings. He'd called for Laura once, and then he'd called for Anne. Whether he meant her or the other Anne was a question she'd never ask.
Her sole distraction was the carpet bag now tucked under Candy's bed. At least once a day, she'd pulled it out and counted again, but the number never changed.
"Annie …" She jumped and reached for his hand. His eyelids twitched, but he didn't wake up, not totally. He mumbled something unintelligible. She squeezed his hand.
"Candy, we're safe." Did he feel cooler, or was it merely wishful thinking? She touched his face and his eyes fluttered. "Candy?" There was no answer and she sighed, then reached down with her free hand and hauled the carpet bag out. She swapped hands so she could count with her right.
Still the same.
She dumped the money back into the bag and tucked it back under the bed. Hours passed and Candy's breathing eased, scaring her for a split second until she realized what it must mean. She touched his face again and her eyes stung.
The fever was finally letting go.
It was another hour or so before his eyes opened at last. "Annie!" He struggled to rise; she pushed him back down with a hand on his back.
"I'm here, we're safe, Candy stop before you hurt yourself again." He calmed and blinked several times.
"Annie?" He looked around in confusion. "Where … where are …"
"Cattleman's Hotel, the Presidential Suite, at least that's what Pa said it was. McKnight's dead, they all are. Joe told me."
"You shouldn't have had to do that," he mumbled. She drew in a breath and let it out slowly.
"It was him or us. I didn't want it to be us." His hand found hers and squeezed gently.
"Remind me never to back you into a corner," he said with a touch of his usual humor. She choked on a laugh that became a strangled gasp. "Hey." Candy untangled his hand and carefully inched up onto his good side, his fingers brushing her cheek. "I was trying to lighten the mood, but I guess that wasn't the best way to do it."
"No."
"We survived and that's all that matters." Annie drew in a shaky breath. He was okay, he had to be okay if he was making jokes again. That meant it was time.
"Candy."
"What?" He shifted and hissed, then eased back down flat. "That's gonna hurt for a while."
"There's something you need to see." She pulled out the carpet bag and sat on the bed beside him, then upended it. Neatly banded stacks of bills spilled over the bed. His eyes widened and he looked up at her for confirmation. Annie nodded and began to count, her eyes locking on his face as the tally grew.
Ben had tried to send the money back by stage that first afternoon, but she'd insisted it stay until Candy woke up. She hadn't said why, and he hadn't asked, not that she would have told him if he had. This was something between the two of them alone.
"One hundred forty-seven thousand, one hundred forty-eight thousand, one hundred forty-nine thousand." She paused, then delicately placed the last stack back into the carpet bag. "One hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
Two ransoms, paid in full.
A/N: If you can figure out the other clues Annie left in that note, I'll give you a cameo in a future episode. One is rather vague, double points if you can name it. Please read and review. Until next time!