"Here take this." Greg said handing Lou a pencil and an old piece of paper. He untied her hands and forced her to sit on the ground.

"What am I supposed to do with this"? She asked.

"Write what I tell ya, and there'll be no trouble." He snorted to her in his deep gruff voice. "This is gunna be your ransom note."

Raising her eyebrows Lou looked into his eyes. "You know, I ain't pretending to know much about this kidnappin' stuff, but don't the men who usually do the kidnapping usually write the notes"?

He took two steps towards her. "Don't go asking no questions, just do like I tell you and you might just live. Get it now"? He placed his right hand on his gun and leaned into her.

"I hear you just fine." Was all she could say. Well at least now I don't have to worry about leaving something behind for Kid. She thought to herself.

"Good, now write this."

She listened carefully and took down all that he said. When she reached the end of the note she handed it to Greg and he looked at it. "Aw, now ain't that sweet. Now git over to Henry and we're going on our way."

Letting out a heavy sigh, she started over in the direction she was told and sat on a nearby stump. Jed was saddling up the horses and Bud was over digging through his saddlebags in search of some food. As for Henry, she wasn't sure where he was, and frankly she didn't care. For the first time in nearly two days Lou realized she was quite hungry. Looking around she stood up slowly and started over to the youngest of her captors. He must have heard her come towards her because he looked at her. "Hello." Was all he said.

"I was wonderin' if you had something I could eat. I haven't had anything for days. Or do you starve your prisoners"?

"Here." He said handing her a piece of jerky. "Listen, I know it probably don't mean much, but I'm sorry about sounding mean to you yesterday. I really ain't like my brothers. I like you. You're not like the other women they've kidnapped." He whispered in a shy manner. Lou tried to hide her surprised expression as she stared into the face of a young man no older than 16. His red hair gave him a soft look and somehow she felt that he might be her key to being rescued. This might be a trick, but then, what have I got to lose if it is? She asked herself.

"If that's how you feel, how come you're hangin around with them? You don't have to be doing this."

"Look I already said more than I should've. Just watch yourself." He turned from her and walked away. She stepped back to the direction of Henry's horse, feeling eyes watching her every move. Jed was probably going to be her biggest obstacle....she didn't think he'd taken his eyes off of her once. Guess this ain't going to be so easy. She sighed and sat back down.

It was close to noon when the five riders arrived at Marley River. Getting off to take a brief rest and water their horses, Jimmy found the exact opportunity he had been looking for. He began walking over to Kid who stood stroking Katy's neck.

"Hey Kid, mind if I interrupt this special moment"? He said jokingly.

Kid gave a slight smile and turned to face Jimmy. "Sure."

Jimmy took a deep breath and looked into the sky. "You know how we used to get 'feelings' in the express days"?

"We all had a lot of different types of feelings Jimmy. I don't know what you mean." Kid said looking at his friend.

"OK, I guess that was the wrong way to say it." He paused for a minute. "Last night Cody said that crack about kids, and I saw how you looked. Is there something you want to talk about"?

Kid stared into the eyes of his friend of so many years. He knew how hard that was for Jimmy to work up the courage to ask him about his personal feelings. Whenever they had ever tried to confide in one another, more often than not a disagreement came with it. He thought for a moment. "Jimmy, there's more to this than you know, but I wasn't planning on talking about it." Kid's voice sounded to Jimmy as if he was close to tears, but he cleared his throat and continued. "Lou and I had two children. Neither one of them made it."

Jimmy's stomach churned and he knew that this must be a horrible subject for Kid. He nodded for him to continue, knowing it wasn't going to have a happy ending.

"The first baby came three years ago. He was born strong and healthy, but then a few weeks later their were some cases of small pox that came through Rock Creek. Our child caught it and died within a week." Kid looked down at his hands and then rubbed his forehead. His fixed his gaze on the river. "I've never seen Lou fight so hard. She stayed up for days doing all she could to save him. There was nothing that could be done."

Jimmy's face fell and there was a long moment of silence between them. "Kid, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry." Hicock suddenly felt very awkward. He thought that he would rather be facing a whole line of bounty hunters and gunfighters than trying to find words of comfort for the man that stood in front of him now.

Kid continued, "Then a year ago we had another child. Lou was so excited." He paused and closed his eyes biting his lip. "When the time came for the baby to arrive, Lou became sick. She fought as hard as she could, but she wasn't strong enough to have the baby and our second child died in birth. I almost lost Louise too. She was in bed for two weeks, skinnier than ever and as pale as could be. The doctor warned me that women in her condition usually didn't make it. I did all I could for her, and finally after being in bed she began to get stronger." Kid wiped his brow and turned to Jimmy. "I can't lose her. I came so close. I won't let it happen this time. She's everything in the world to me, Jimmy."

Jimmy found that a lump had formed in his throat and he had to swallow before he regained his voice. This was a lot for him to take in. He always knew they were close, but seeing his face and the love for Lou that was permanently fixed in his eyes made him realize it all the more. Placing his hand on his friend's shoulder he looked into Kid's weary eyes. "You won't lose her this time Kid, we're going to get her back....I promise."

Her thoughts drifted from one thing to the next and she wondered what the first thing she would do when....no, if she made it back. She smiled to herself, I guess for starters I have a date with Kid. Lou thought back over the past few years and times that they had experience together. We lost our two first children. But at least I got to hold them and look into their tiny faces and see their father's eyes. Sensing her tears start to swell again, as they had so many times since her babies died, Lou forced herself to think of other things....their home, their hopes, and their dreams. They had so much planned, and she knew that it would take four lifetimes to do all that they wanted. There had been good and bad times, but through it all she was with the man that she loved. Louise knew that if she died that day, she would have lived the life of the happiest woman....her only regret would be that she couldn't see Kid one last time.

"This way." Buck said as they approached the Crawfords camp sight. "Looks like they stopped here last night."

They all looked around for some sign that Lou had actually been there. It wasn't until Cody spoke that the silence was broken.

"What's that over there"? He pointed to a red bandana that was tied to a tree branch.

Kid beat them all to dismounting and ran over to pull it down. Carefully he opened the note that was tied inside. He immediately recognized Lou's handwriting, and for one brief moment he felt some peace. Unfortunately, hat relief quickly faded once he began reading, and realized again the danger she was in. You are to head to Carley Point across the river, where the exchange will be made. They will make the trade for me there. You are to come alone, or they will kill me.

Kid clenched his jaw and both fists tightened. He had forgotten about the others who had been watching him carefully.

"Well Kid, what's it say"? Jimmy finally asked. Kid walked over and reached up to hand it to him.

"See for yourself."

Jimmy carefully took the note and read it outloud. Kid went back over and mounted his horse. " I guess this is where you guys get off. From here on I'm on my own."

"Now hold on son, we're going to have to think of a way to back you up." Teaspoon said.

"Yeah, but Teaspoon they're going to kill her if I don't come alone!" Kid exclaimed.

Teaspoon looked down at the reins in his hand. "Kid, they're gunna try to kill her no matter what."

Deep down Kid had known that, but he kept forcing himself not to believe it. He knew the outlaw type from the Express days. Somehow he just wanted to believe things would be different in this situation.

"They didn't say how much they wanted." Buck stated trying to bring their thoughts to another issue.

"I guess they're just going to take what they can get." Cody replied.

"I think that's the least of our worries right now. We need to make a plan. Teaspoon turned to face Kid who was behind him. "What happened to the marshal in Rock Creek"?

"When I went into see him he said he was going to form a posse, but I didn't give him the chance to catch up with me. No telling where he's at now."

"OK then, I suggest we ride as far as the Muskgee River and then we'll split up there. I'd suspect that they'll have Lou tied up somewhere in the open. So be careful before any of you go shooting." Teaspoon said to each of them.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get goin'!" Cody took off and slowed just long enough for the others to catch up with him. Within moments all the riders had left behind was a trail of dust.

On to Chapter Five !!