Chapter 30

He watched the men with badges intersperse themselves amongst the trees and rocks.  And some of them were squirming their way up the slope, staying close to the ground for coverage.  He watched them stop moving then lay on their bellies, just like the low-down snakes he was sure they were for holding his son for probably no good reason.  He could just make out the blue coat through the brambles; it was the paint mare that gave his location away, having not wandered far from her owner. 

An Indian and a blonde fella scurried away from his location so he knew now was his chance.  He had to get his son out of there and fast.

Jimmy followed close behind Sam.  He pushed his worry for Kid aside for the moment; first he was too far away to clearly assess his friend's injury, and, second, he also needed to think clearly to catch Jeff Flemington and make him pay for shooting Kid.

Buck and Charlie's shots from below had drawn all the gangs' attention toward the valley below so Sam, Jimmy and the other men with them got closer than they hoped to. 

Sam hid behind a large boulder and indicated for the others to take cover.  He then pointed his weapon over the top and shouted, "This is Territorial Marshal Sam Cain, we have you surrounded.  Drop your weapons now!"

Jeff Flemington was feeling good about the situation.  He could tell his first shot had hit the right person because of the cries coming from the posse.  And he smiled, quite pleased, as his men hit a few more of the riders.  Jeff had temporarily lost sight of Cain and his sidekick on the palomino but he had a more pressing issue to worry about at the moment.

That Indian below was bugging the hell out of him by crawling all over the terrain like a slippery little snake.  As soon as Jeff would think he'd fired into the man's location, he'd get shot at from even closer range.  Damn him.

He raised his gun to fire once more, only to be stopped by a voice calling him from behind.  He froze for a moment then turned and fired toward the voice.

Jimmy noticed the movement and got a shot off before Flemington had turned fully around.  It hit the man in the leg, knocking him to the ground.  As he tried to regain his balance, Sam came out of hiding and held a gun on Joshua Flemington who was leaning against a rock next to his brother.

"Make a move and you have one less brother," Sam informed the outlaw.

Jeff trained his gun on Jimmy and vice versa.  His breathing became labored as he held his free hand over the wound in his leg; he'd gone to all this trouble to keep his brother alive, there was no way he would trust the marshal not to follow through on his threat.

Flemington glanced around and saw all his men either shot or held at gunpoint.  He cursed to himself as he saw the Indian rise off the ground, his weapon also trained on him.  Jeff slowly lowered his weapon, admitting defeat.

Jimmy came forward and kicked the man's gun out of reach.  He then kept his weapon trained on the two brothers as Sam and another deputy went about handcuffing them.

The ex-rider's mind slowly started drifting away from the arrest of the surviving gang members and wandered toward a location at the bottom of the slope where their friend was laying injured.

"Buck, how's Kid?” Jimmy finally asked.

"I don't know," the Indian admitted.  "I had to move away from him so I wouldn't get hit also.  I lost sight of him after awhile."

Jimmy didn't say anything else, he turned on his heel, heading toward the bottom of the hill, and made his way through the brush that grabbed at his coat, trying to snatch hold of him and keep him from his destination.  He pulled his coat in frustration - nothing was going to keep him from getting to the man he sought.  Buck and Charlie quickly followed after him.

Charlie pointed toward the path they'd been traveling on before the shooting started.  "He was around there, near those smaller rocks."

Jimmy quickened his pace then started running.  He stopped short as the path came into sight, causing Buck and Charlie to halt their progress or bump into the determined man's back.

All three saw the same thing:  a patch of blood on the ground and nothing else.  No body, no Kid.