The midday sun was blazing down on the prairie and the occasional passing cloud offered little relief. They had been on the trail for what seemed like forever now, and Kitty was getting saddle sore. She ran her hand across her forehead to wipe off the sweat that was beginning to bead into her eyes as she looked over at Mason.

"You never did tell me where exactly it is we're going," she quipped.

He lazily chewed on a piece of straw before replying shortly, "You'll find out soon enough."

"Well, how long before we get there? I can't keep riding like this all day."

Mason tapped his mount's side and crossed in front of Kitty's path before yanking harshly on the poor beast's reins. "Look lady." He pulled the piece of straw out of his mouth and glared at Kitty. "I don't need you asking me twenty questions. I said we'll get there soon enough."

Kitty pulled her reins slightly to the right to maneuver around Mason and continue following the two ahead. She muttered underneath her breath as she passed him. "All right."

He placed the straw back in his mouth and rejoined her side. "Don't know what your in such a hurry for, anyway. We ain't going to hurt you. It's your man that we're after."

"I figured that much." Kitty interrupted dryly as she continued to look ahead.

"And as soon as we have what we want, we'll let you go."

"You ever going to tell me what this is all about, or is that asking too much?"

Mason looked over at Kitty. "We fell on some hard times, my brothers and I. Ran into a string of bad luck and racked up some gambling debts. We decided that we'd hold up a bank, get some quick cash. We didn't mean to hurt no one."

"Oh sure you didn't," Kitty glared.

"Well, we didn't. There were a couple of customers that tried to be a hero and wrestled with Joey and his gun went off. It was an accident. He didn't mean to kill no one."

"Oh great, so you're gamblers and bank robbers but not killers."

"Anyway," Mason spit out the straw. "Dillon tracked my brother Joey down like a rabid dog and brought him back to stand trial and the judge didn't take into account that it was an accident. Dillon took him to Hays and they hanged him. He didn't stand no chance."

"I fail to see how that's any of Matt's fault."

"Doesn't matter what you think. He brought him to hang, and so he's going to pay. We know that he'll come after you and we'll be waiting."

Kitty laughed sarcastically. "And just what do you think is going to happen to you guys after you get done killing a marshal?"

"We'll head out west, out in the middle of no where, where no one can find us."

Kitty narrowed her eyes. "Look mister, that's where you're wrong. Festus Haggen is the best tracker this side of the Mississippi. He'll hunt you down even if it takes 'til doomsday. You'll be lucky if you even make it back to Dodge. They're liable to just string you up wherever they find you."

"We'll just see about that."

It took until nightfall, but the group eventually came up onto a run down two bedroom house in the middle of nowhere.

"Well, here we are." Mason pulled up to a stop and dismounted. He went over and helped Kitty down. She dismounted and walked off a little ways to scope their surroundings and survey the situation.

"You're welcome," he called over to her.

"I didn't say thank you." Kitty replied sarcastically.

"Boy, this one's sure full of piss and vinegar, huh?" the middle brother David commented as he dismounted. All three began to laugh and Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Now you two see what you can rustle us up for dinner. Come on Red, I'll start us a fire."

GSGSGSGSGSGS

The entire way to Garden City, Matt was cursing himself under his breath. He knew he shouldn't have let her go off on her own, he thought. And now, his worst fear was reality – someone had used her to get to him. It was almost sundown when he pulled up to the Finney County jail house. He tied Buck up to the hitching post before heading inside.

Finney County Sheriff Lee Greene looked up from his desk before rising to his feet. "Well, howdy there Matt. It's nice to see you. Hate that it wasn't under different circumstances."

"Lee," Matt nodded in greeting as he removed his hat and hung it up by the door.

"Here, here, take a seat," the sheriff stated as he pulled out a chair before returning to his desk. "Care for a drink?"

"That'll be fine, thank you."

Sheriff Lee sat back behind his desk and pulled out a couple of glasses and poured them each a drink of whiskey. He handed Matt his drink.

"Sorry to hear about your friend," he mentioned as he took out three wanted posters.

"You mentioned that it was three men that held up the train and took her hostage?" Matt asked.

"I was headed back towards town after handling some business when I noticed them with your gir…" The sheriff decided to change his words. "Your friend Miss Russell. I immediately recognized them as the three brothers I'd been hunting for a while." He handed Matt the wanted posters. "Mostly petty thefts until now. They've been a real pain in my neck. I high tailed it back to town to gather up a posse, but by the time we made it back to where I last spotted them, they were long gone."

"The Andley brothers – Mason, Thomas, and David." The sheriff stated as Matt took the posters and studied their faces.

"I recognize that name from somewhere.." Matt said aloud as he combed over the posters.

"Their oldest brother Joey wasn't any count either."

A light bulb went off in Matt's head. "That's right. I knew that name sounded familiar. He held up a bank and killed a couple of people. Brought him in for his trial and took him up to Hays after. So where were they last?"

"About five miles down the road west of here. Where do you suppose they're headed?" the sheriff asked.

"Not sure. They're probably not going far though, it's me they're after."

The sheriff set back in his chair and scratched his chin as he thought the situation over. "Well, if you want, we can head out now."

"No," Matt said. "I think I'll put my horse up for the night. I rode him pretty hard and I could use some rest myself. I'll head out before dawn."

The sheriff sat up. "Surely you're not wanting to go after them alone, are you? These are desperate men, Matt. They're dangerous."

Matt took a swig of his drink that he'd been nursing. "Like I said, Lee. It's me that they're after. They want to settle a score." He finished the drink and sat the glass down. "Thank you for the offer, but I've got to do this alone or they might hurt more innocent people. Now, if you'll excuse me." And he stood up, grabbed his hat, and headed out the door to get Buck and take him over to the stable.

GSGSGSGSGSGSGSG

Back at the house, Kitty was sat at the dilapidated table in front of a bowl of stew which she had barely touched.

"What's the matter, Red?" Mason asked. "Don't like our cooking?"

"Not hungry."

"Go on and eat, it's good." Thomas prodded.

"I said, I'm not hungry."

"And I said, go on and eat." Thomas insisted as he tried to assert his dominance.

Kitty looked over at him. "I'd rather go hungry than eat anything any of you had made."

Mason stood, walked over to Kitty and slapped her across the face. "Watch how you speak to us, Red."

Kitty rubbed her face for a few seconds before standing and sneering towards Mason. "Don't touch me again."

"Is that a threat?"

"Didn't say it was. Just said, don't do it again. I'm tired and I'm going to go lay down." And Kitty walked towards one of the bedrooms, slamming the door shut behind her. She went and laid down in the bed, pulling the covers up over her as she stared blankly at the ceiling. "Oh Matt, where are you? Please hurry."

GSGSGSGSGSGS

Matt was up, dressed, and ready to go well before dawn. He didn't get a wink of sleep and eventually couldn't stand it any more. He headed down to the stable where the stableboy was still fast asleep. As quietly as possible, he saddled Buck up and lead him towards the door. The boy was still fast asleep. He left some money beside him to cover the stall as well as Buck's extra food, and rode off down the street headed toward where the sheriff last saw the gang last.

The sun had just began to crest the horizon when he reached he reached the spot that the sheriff had described where the road met a line of trees. He dismounted and carefully began to look for some tracks. It hadn't rained in a while so the ground was very dusty. At first glance, there wasn't a whole lot to go off of.

He continued to look around though and saw where an area of grass had remained flattened and undisturbed. He bent down to look at the grass up closer and found faint traces of hoof prints of differing sized horseshoes.

"That's got to be them," Matt surmised to himself as he stood and looked off toward the direction that they were headed. He walked back over to Buck, mounted up, and set off following the tracks. "Hold on, Kitty. I'm on the way."

After a few hours of riding, he eventually spotted the house off in the distance. He rode up behind a few trees on the far outskirts of the property to scope out the situation. He saw a group of horses off in the corral and knew that this had to be them. What he saw next though made his heart sink.

Mason had led Kitty from around the side of the house before letting go of her arm. Matt watched as she went inside the house and the three men headed off, rifles in hand, probably off to go hunt for something to eat. Satisfied that they were far enough away that they wouldn't see him coming, he rode up to the back of the house slowly so that he wouldn't spook the other horses. He dismounted, grabbed his rifle and walked over to the back door and tried to open it, but it was locked. "Kitty?" he called out as quietly as possible. She must not have heard him because he didn't get a reply. He stood close to the house and peaked around the corner and the three men were still not in sight. He took the chance and walked around to the front door, calling out again. "Kitty, open up. It's me."

Startled and figuring she was imaging things when she heard Matt's voice, she went up to the front door and opened it. "Oh Matt!" she called out. "Shhh.." he hushed her before stepping inside and shutting the door behind him and setting the rifle down propped up against the wall. "Oh Matt," she said as the tears began to flow down her cheeks. "It's you, it's really you."

"Yes, I'm here now, and you're going to be okay." And he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.

The words he chose, you're going to be okay, wasn't lost on her. She figured he didn't plan on getting away from here unscathed. "Matt," she looked up at him between sobs. "What are we going to do? They're convinced that you're to blame for their brother's death. When they come back and find you here, they're going to…" she choked back another sob. "Well, they want kill you, Matt," she managed to eek out.

All Matt could do was hold her against him with his hand on the back of her head. "I know, Kitty, I know. I'm going to figure something out."

Because they were so focused on finally being in the presence of one another, neither of them heard the three men approaching until they heard the middle boy.

"Hey look in there, it's that marshal!"

"Get down, Kitty!" he said as he pushed her away from him, grabbed his rifle, and ducked out of the way of the window as the men began wildly firing. He used the butt of his gun to break the windowpane and return fire. In between shots, Kitty ran into one of the bedrooms for safety and peaked out the doorway. After a few minutes, the two inexperienced younger brothers got skittish and retreated behind a hedge of bushes that lined the front yard. Mason, realizing that he was all alone and not making any progress in getting any closer towards the house, also retreated behind the bushes.

Matt kept an eye out the window while the brothers regrouped and figured out the next move. He thought to himself about how he was going to get the two of them out alive and sighed deeply as the realization came over him that their situation looked pretty bleak.

"Kitty," Matt said, not breaking his concentration from the window.

"Yes, Matt?" Kitty peaked her head out from the bedroom doorway.

"Listen to me carefully. I've got them pinned for now, but they're not going to stay there for very long. We're outnumbered, Kit."

A couple of tears trickled from her eyes. "What are we going to do, Matt?"

He called out the broken window. "All right, you have me. I'm going to come out and surrender. Just give me a couple of minutes to say my goodbyes."

Kitty's eyes grew wide. "Goodbyes? Matt, what are we going to do?"

"Come on Kitty," and he walked towards the back door. Kitty followed him. He took her hand and brought her outside.

"Listen to me, Kitty, and listen good." He put his arms on her shoulders to steady him. "We don't have long. One of us has a chance of making out of here alive."

"Matt, what are you talking about?" The tears began to wildly flow.

"Shh, keep it down." He pulled her to him for one last hug. "Pay close attention, Kit. This isn't going to be easy. I'm going to put you up on Buck and then I'm going to go around out front and start firing at them to distract them. When you hear me fire, you take off back that way on Buck. He'll get you home."

Kitty brought her hand up to cover her mouth. "Matt…no. No, no. They'll kill you, Matt. Get up here with me. We'll make a run for it."

He hugged her tighter. "It's the only way, Kit. If we leave together, they'll catch up to us and kill us both. Whatever you do, Kit, when you hear the firing stop… don't look back. I don't want you to see…" he said with a loud gulp. "I don't want that sight to be your last memory of me. It'll haunt you forever."

"I can't leave you, Matt. I won't. Please don't make me do this." Kitty pleaded with all her might.

"Dillon!" Mason shouted from around front. "Come out!"

"We got to go Kitty, there's no more time." He helped give her a leg up on Buck. He then unpinned the badge from his chest and reached it up towards her. "Here's something to.." he choked on his own words. "….remember me by."

"Matt, please.. no." She sobbed uncontrollably as she sat up on Buck and took his reins and Matt handed her his badge.

"Remember what we talked about. Wait until you hear me fire. Be safe, Kitty. And whatever you do, don't look back. Please." And he turned, picked up his rifle that was leaning against the back of the house, and started to turn the corner. Looking back wasn't in his nature but he had to see her one last time. He turned and flashed her as much of a smile as he could possibly muster up. "Kitty, you're my everyth..."

"DILLON!"

"Matt, I...I..." she stuttered as she so badly wanted to confess her true feelings for him but couldn't get the words out of her mouth. Before she could manage to finish her sentence, he already rounded the corner. The next few seconds slowed to an absolute crawl and went on for what seemed like an eternity. She shoved his badge down the front of her dress.

She listened.

All she could hear was the sound of her heart beating wildly in her chest and the sound of her heavy breathing as her own hot tears seemingly scorched her face.

Finally, a rifle shot.

And then a series of shots in return.

She dug her heels as far into the sides of Buck as she possibly could and shot out of there like bat out of hell.

She managed to make it just far enough out of sight before the flurry of gunshots ended and then there was a deafening silence.

She couldn't help herself but to pull Buck to a stop and turn to look back. Thankfully, the house obstructed her view of the scene that had unfolded back there but also their view of her.

Before the tears had a chance of blinding her vision, she turned Buck back around the way they were headed and urged him onward.

She had to get back to Dodge just as fast as humanely possible.

She had to seek justice. For her.

For Matt.

TBC

John 15:13 – "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."