Old Town Road

"Give 'em hell, Jace!"

Somewhere behind Edward, the room exploded. Not a huge boom, not enough to kill. Just enough to blow a nice hole in that pretty little safe Edward and his gang had their eyes on the past three months.

The safe was a thing of beauty: big as three men and thrice as wide. Too heavy to haul by horse and too big to fit through a door. A true challenge for the Cullens. But there was never a challenge Edward couldn't meet, never a puzzle he couldn't solve or a solution he couldn't whip out as a Hail Mary when things went south. That was his contribution to the gang. After all, everyone had their uses.

"Eddie, get back here boy," Carlisle beckoned him back, hat slung low over his forehead.

Edward knew better than to argue with Carlisle. As gang leader, Carlisle's word was law. Talking back would at best earn him a smack across the face and at worst a week with no rations. Theirs was a hard life, but it had huge pay offs.

Like this one.

So Edward abandoned his post at the front door, confident no one would be striding in any time soon, and sidled up to his adopted father. No one would think they were kin, what with Carlisle's blond hair and blue eyes next to Edward's ruddy red hair and green eyes. Edward didn't even know how old Carlisle was. The man could have had a whole life somewhere that he left behind, just like the rest of them.

The family had gathered round the safe to stare at its glittering guts, admiring the view of a job well done.

Edward didn't see this as thieving. He saw this as an opportunity.

It wasn't his fault it was Sunday, the Lord's Day, and all good folks were out to church instead of collecting their wages so no one could see them sneak inside. It wasn't his fault the guard outside was woefully unarmed. It wasn't his fault they sprung for the cheaper metal instead of cold hard steel to protect their precious green and gold.

So much gold.

Jasper whooped, his hands still full of dynamite sticks and wire. Alice beamed at Jasper and wrapped her arms around his waist, her white smile disarming. Carlisle leaned down and pulled his wife, Esme, to his hip and kissed her full on the lips. A celebration.

"We're rich!" Emmett crooned, sinking his fat fists into the pile to bring some to his nose. He breathed in deep, like a man in ecstasy. And maybe he was. It wasn't like his woman gave into his antics when they were on a job.

Speaking of -

"Y'all better haul ass!" Rosalie shouted from her perch on the rooftop, blonde curls all they could see from the open skylight above. "Sheriff'll be here any minute!"

Celebrating was over.

As quick as switch, each one of them grabbed a burlap sack and started stuffing the gold and money inside. It didn't matter what was in each handful, just as long as they didn't stop stuffing. There were an extra two horses tacked at the barn next door to carry the load.

One by one, they moved their bounty from the bank to their horses. It took time, but service wasn't due to get out for another hour yet. They would be long gone from Fork's borders by then, and no one would be any the wiser.

Perhaps they would tell stories about this day. The good folks of Forks would tuck their children into bed and huddle round a candle as they recollected the renegades who stormed their precious bank and took off with their livelihood. Forks wouldn't be the first town to do it. Edward and his family lived in the shadows and nightmares of all who crossed them. It was how they survived.

"Hurry up with that gold, boy!" Carlisle snapped. Not at Edward, but at Emmett who couldn't keep his paws off it.

Still, the whip-strong command had Edward moving faster. His back ached and his arms went numb under the weight. The horses kicked and whined in the heat, though he tried to calm them. That was Alice's job; she was best at it, but she was busy watering them. Jasper's horse, in particular, needed special attention. Fickle bastard would refuse to ride if he wasn't treated like a prince.

One last tug of his pouch straps and Edward was done with his load. Around him, his family were putting the finishing touches on their own hauls. Rosalie pulled her hair back and fanned herself with her hat, sweating under the hot sun like they all were. Esme walked over and offered her some jerky. It was all fairly domestic. Like this was a normal family on a normal outing and not a robbery.

Edward went back inside to get Emmett and do one last sweep when he noticed the bank was no longer empty.

"Now where are you goin' with all that gold, handsome?"

Edward cursed.

This was the part that evaded him. He could plan and plan until his fingers fell off and his brain stopped working, but there was no accounting for Fate's intervention.

Today, Fate looked like a woman. Or maybe a girl. Hard to tell with her hair done in braids, her hat down low, and a cloth tied around her face obscuring all but a pair of deep brown eyes darker than anything else in this miserable terrain. The desert was so flat and red, muted with browns. Even the greens were brown here. But not the same brown as those eyes. No, she was suited for the forest, her movements as nimble and graceful as a spirit.

"Pretty thing like you should mind your own business," Edward replied.

He hoped she'd be embarrassed. Good country girls liked to mind their manners. This one, however, was smiling. How could Edward tell? Her eyes crinkled and sparkled. Like she had hoped he would say something backwards like that.

"Pretty boy like you should learn to keep his hands to himself."

She palmed the twin revolvers at her hips, boots digging into the sand as she shifted her weight. Edward smiled indulgently, then went back to loading his saddle. He was calling her bluff. Those had to be toy pistols, the wooden kind children liked to play Cowboys and Indians with. There was no way a wily little thing like her was actually gonna -

The shot popped off like a stick of dynamite. His right ear rang something fierce as the wooden post behind him shattered and rained wood chips into his eyes. Through the haze of tears, he saw the silver gleam of a shell.

He touched a hand to his cheek and it came away red.

"Next one goes between those pretty green eyes."

There was no bluff. The first shot was a warning.

For the first time since he joined the Cullen Family Gang, he felt fear. The real, gut-clenching kind of fear that broke him out in a sweat. He didn't dare reach for his own pistol, knowing he wouldn't remove it from his holster in time to stop her shot. He didn't even dare to move.

As she leveled her pistol at him once more, Edward knew with deadly certainty that this bullet would meet its target.

Or it would have, had Rosalie not run forward and take the bandit down by the waist. Both pistols went skittering far from the fray.

"Run!" she shouted as she pulled at the bandit's braids, rearing her head back and away from Edward.

He did as he was told and ran. It was not a graceful run. More like a panicked flail. But he was still half-blind from the wood chips and dust, his ear still ringing like church bells on a Sunday. It was inconvenient but not life threatening.

'Get a hold of yourself boy!' he heard Carlisle chastise in his mind. Carlisle didn't care for incompetence nor weakness. If Edward died from something as pathetic as a stray bullet, Carlisle would dig up his body and kill him all over again.

"Edward!"

He turned just in time to catch the reins from Alice, his horse, Delilah, kicking as soon as he got a good hold. Damn filly never knew when to quit. Edward needed that energy now. It would be what got him out of this godforsaken town with a quickness.

One foot swung over the other and he was flying.

It felt good to be back in the saddle. The world narrowed down to whatever was in front of him, and everything else fell away. In his periphery, he saw his siblings forming up with Carlisle and Esme up ahead. The gold still jingled in the saddle bags, weighing them down.

Too damn slow.

The bandit was gaining on them, her black stallion kicking up dust as they rode fast as the Wild Hunt. She wouldn't quit.

Mother Mary, this was supposed to be an easy job!

Bullets started flying. They whizzed by Edward's head. One clipped his calf and Delilah tried to buck him, but he held firm even with blood streaming down his leg. It hurt like a rattlesnake bit mated with the venom of a mound of fire ants, but he kept moving.

Up ahead, Carlisle was shouting. The group was breaking off into two. It would be impossible to follow both. Sure, the reward would be halved as well, but it was better than nothing. It was worth their lives.

Behind him, a sand storm rolled in. No, not a sand storm: a posse. A posse large enough to stir the earth beneath them and send it flying in the air, a warning to all who may see it that danger was coming for them.

This had to be the Sheriff. Even this far off, judging by the formation and the golden star glinting off the lead rider's vest, Edward could tell.

Rosalie had caught up as well.

She took her pretty white mare and set her on a collision course with the bandit's stallion so there was nothing left to do but back off. Sure as sugar, the stallion reared his front legs high and bucked the girl right off her saddle while Rosalie rode on, unharmed. She didn't fall like a lump and lie there. No, she had to duck and roll as gracefully as she had moved.

Duck and roll and fire one last shot. One last shot which found its mark through the strap of Edward's saddle bag.

He felt the weight lessen immediately. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion: the leather tearing, straining, then slipping off Delilah's back. Through his fingers like water, leaving a river of gold coin in his wake.

"Damn it!" Edward cursed. It was too risky to turn back, not with his family forging ahead, the bandit circling like a shark, and the Sheriff's posse closing in. He would have to leave the gold behind. He had failed. "Damn it all to Hell!"

This girl would pay for what she'd cost them. Edward would make sure of it.