There ended up being twelve of them in the posse.  Men and horses all waited impatiently outside the law office as final preparations were made for what would be a long, tiresome day.  There was no triumphant sense of justice among them, no assurance that they were doing the right thing for the greater good, no feeling that they were out to bring in a "bad" person.  No, most of them had known Laura, been graced by her smile in greeting, heard her read the scripture occasionally on a Sunday morning during Sweetwater's church services.  None of them would ever have predicted that they'd one day be hunting her down for the crime of which she stood accused -- murder.  Murderers were outsiders who came to their peaceful town to cause trouble.  They didn't live among them as one of them only to snap one day and brutally murder another human being, did they?

"Alright, men," Teaspon said, mounting his horse.  "You all know who we're looking for.  We'll split up into three groups I'm guessin' and search in different directions.  Buck, Kid, and me'll head up the groups and the rest of ya can divvy yerselves up between them."

There was a round of murmurs as the men decided among themselves who would go where.

"Remember, Laura Wilson's a sick woman.  She's unpredictable, so I want ya'll to be on your guard.  If you find her, don't go after her alone.  Send someone to find the rest of us and we'll take her together.  I don't want no one takin' any chances, so no heroics," Hunter said firmly, looking specifically at his boys.  "With that said, ride safe."

They were all just about to pull away from the office when Jimmy suddenly dismounted and purposely stalked toward the corner of the building.  He'd caught a flash of something moving near the corner that sent his instincts blaring.

"Hickok, what the hell are you doin'?" Noah asked, marking his friend's strange behavior.

Jimmy paused at the corner, his back to the wall and merely lifted a finger to his lips.  A moment later, he'd reached around the corner and dragged a form towards him, forceably tossing the man unceremoniously onto his backside in the street.

Tom Anderson spluttered in outrage as he tried to get up, but stopped moving altogether when Jimmy's Colt flashed in the early morning light.  Anderson found himself staring directly down the barrel of the gun, unable to breathe because of the hard look in the wielder's eyes.

Teaspoon pulled his horse up and dismounted.  "Jimmy, what're you doin'?"

"Found a little mouse listenin' in on our plans, Teaspoon," Jimmy replied coldly.  "You plannin' to warn your girlfriend so she can get away scott free, Anderson?"

"N-no I came to help," Anderson said quickly, licking his suddenly dry lips as he continued to stare at the weapon in his face.  "It wasn't supposed to be like this.  No one was supposed to get hurt."

"But they did," Buck spoke up from atop his horse.  "An innocent woman died and nothing's going to bring her back."

Anderson looked ill for a moment.  "I know that.  Don't you think I know that?  But hunting down Laura won't bring her back either.  She's a woman, not a gunslinger, for God's sake!"

The Colt clicked ominously.  "You've got five seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you here and now," Jimmy said.  "One....Two...."

"Anderson, this had better be good, 'cause right now, I'm of half a mind to let 'im do it," Teaspoon advised.

The man in the street's eyes glanced around until he met Kid's.  When he spoke it was to Kid and Kid alone.  "I know where she's been hiding.  I'll tell you everything if you'll just not hurt her or the baby," Anderson said quickly.  "I don't want nobody else gettin' hurt."

Kid looked into Anderson's eyes, having always believed that the eyes were the windows of the soul.  If that were true then the soul he glimpsed was tortured.  He swung down from Katy's back and approached the three on the ground.  His eyes never broke contact with Anderson's as he reached out a hand to push Jimmy's gun down.  "Start talkin'," Kid said in a low voice that warned of the consequences of treachery.

Anderson looked down then and began his sordid tale.  He told them everything -- about the treasure, the plot to scare Louise off her land, the affair between himself and Laura, how one night everything had gone hopelessly wrong, even where she was hiding.  He hadn't known what to do that night, he'd been so shocked that Laura had shot Louise.  He'd tried to stay and make sure she was alright, but, shamefully he admitted, he hadn't tried hard enough.  Laura had become a different person that night, hearing and talking to unseen voices, exhibiting violent mood swings and erratic behavior.  Some moments she was almost like the old Laura and then the next minute she was this strange mirrored version of herself.

"She's like some kind of possessed person.  It's like someone else is inside her sometimes and is making all the decisions and the Laura I knew is trapped inside," he said quietly.  "She scares me and I don't scare that easy."  He knew they were probably staring at him as if he'd lost his mind too, but they couldn't know what it was like to look into her eyes and see nothing there.

"And how's my son involved in all this?" Kid asked in a tight voice.

Startled, Tom looked up at Kid for the first time since he'd started his tale.  "What?"  Oh, God, she couldn't be so far gone that she'd actually do what she'd talked about, could she?

Kid's movements were so quick, so unexpected that all the men around him did was watch as he suddenly lunged for Anderson, his temper showing for the first time that day.  "What the hell does this have to do with my son?" he ground out.  His grip on the man's collar tightened and he shook him slightly.  "Damn it, man, she walked right into the bunkhouse yesterday and tried to take my son away now I want to know why or so help me God...."

Anderson's eyes widened and his face began to redden in Kid's grasp.  When he began waving a hand in front of his face, trying to bat away Kid's hands, that was when the others realized the gravity of the situation and stepped in.

"Kid...."

"Kid let go, you're gonna kill 'im, son!"

Jimmy, Teaspoon, and Noah and Buck -- who'd dismounted in a flurry -- all rushed over to drag Kid away from the choking man.  It took all four of them to hold him back as he struggled angrily in their grasp.

"Answer me, goddamn you!"

"She thinks she's saving him," Anderson gasped.  "She thinks if she takes him from Louise that you and she will be together and will raise Lexi and her baby as a family.  She thinks Louise is a fallen woman and a witch and that's why you're with her.  Laura thought that Louise was using the baby to keep you and that if Laura took the baby away, then you'd be free to be with her the way she thinks it was supposed to be.  But, I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you raise my child Travis!"

"Fine time for jealousy, Anderson," Noah spat.  "Nobody'll be raisin' any babies if we don't find Laura and bring her into custody."

Teaspoon stepped towards the men still mounted.  "Noah's right.  We'll stick with the three groups, but we'll approach the cabin from three different directions.  That way she's less likely to bolt seein' twelve armed men."

Teaspoon continued telling the men more about the plan.  While the others' attentions were focused on the marshal, Anderson took the moment to scurry away unnoticed.

Well, almost unnoticed.  Jimmy caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.  "Anderson!" he bellowed, raising his gun to take aim.

"Hickok!" Teaspoon yelled at his protege.  "Let 'im go."

Jimmy looked at Teaspoon like he'd suddenly grown an arm out of his head.  "But he'll warn her and she'll get away!"

"There ain't no way he'll get to her fast enough to give her enough time to get clean away," the older man assured him.  "Us standin' here jawin' about it is just gonna make us lose valuable time.  So, mount up and let's get goin'."

Hickok sighed and settled into his saddle.  As they all headed toward Anderson's land, Jimmy had a gut feeling that the man would be back and that it had been a mistake not to shoot him in the first place.

He dashed away to his horse and headed out of town in the opposite direction the posse would go.  He knew what happened when those Express riders went after fugitives from the law -- most of them ended up dead.  There was a shortcut to his land that he was sure the marshal didn't know and now it was his only chance to save his unborn child and its mother.

They were gonna bring Laura in like a common criminal!  If he'd known that, he wouldn't have told them anything.  He'd just have warned Laura and let her get away.  Now he had to beat them to the shack and warn her before it was too late.  Yes, Laura scared him, but he had a feeling the old Laura lay beneath the woman who'd killed Maria Casalas.  He couldn't help it, but he already loved the child she carried.  "And like you, Travis, I'll do anything to see that baby isn't hurt even by you," he vowed, spurring his horse harder.

Ten minutes later, he was in sight of the small, rickety cabin Laura was staying.  Anderson pulled up in front of the shack and nearly vaulted off his horse as he bellowed for Laura who was already emerging from the shadows of the doorway.

Laura had heard the hoofbeats of the horse before Anderson had ever appeared between the trees.  She'd automatically grabbed the pistol when she heard the horse, and when she saw horse and rider, she clutched it even tighter as she walked out into the sunshine.  For a moment, she'd thought it was Louise coming to exact her revenge and her heart had quickened deliciously at the prospect of conflict.  It would be so nice to get it all over in one final conflict.  However, she calmed seeing it was her ally.  "What are you doing here, Tom?" she asked in a curiously guarded fashion.

"Warning you," he said breathlessly.  "You gotta get outta here, Laura.  You got about five minutes before the marshal and a posse shows up to bring you in."  Even as he spoke he'd turned to his own horse, cinching up the stirrups and double checking the saddlebags for the supplies he'd bought in town.

"A posse?" Laura laughed.  "And why would a posse be looking for me?"

Anderson turned to look at her, real fear striking his heart at the heartless sound in her laugh.  The look in her eyes was piercing as she stared back at him unblinkingly.  "Y-you...you killed Maria, Laura.  How or why don't matter right now.  They say it was murder.  All that posse knows, all Hunter knows is that you killed a woman and he's gonna bring you in.  I won't let them treat you like just some old outlaw.  You gotta leave now.  Get as far as you can and I'll stall 'em."

Laura's face crumbled into that of a puzzled child.  "I had to, Tommy, you know that," she said.  She paused a second and then tilted her head quizzically, her features hardening again as she took a step toward Anderson.  "How does the posse know where to find me, Tommy?"

"They cornered me, Laura.  I was tryin' to find out where they were looking and warn you when Hickok caught me.  He had a gun on me," Tom said, his voice becoming slightly more desperate as he pleaded with her.  His heart hammered as she said nothing, but merely walked closer to him.  "I thought if I asked, they'd be careful with you because of the baby.  I just didn't want either of you hurt.  They lied to me and so I came to warn you so you could get away."

She was now a mere several inches from him, a smile on her face.  Reaching out a hand, her smile grew as Anderson flinched slightly.  He thought she was going to hurt him, like she'd hide behind a smile if she wanted to.  No, not yet.  When the moment came, he'd know she was going to hurt him.  He'd know it for sure and for truth.

Her raised hand ran through the hair at the side of his head, stroking as if he were a child.  "Shh, shh," Laura soothed.  "I forgive you, Tommy, I do."  Her eyes shifted to look away over his shoulder for a moment and she cocked her head as if listening.  When her eyes returned to his, they were hard again.  "But forgiveness doesn't erase what you did.  It doesn't make it all better and punishment must be meted out."
 

The gunshot echoed over the treetops spooking the horses into rearing and causing the riders to struggle to control their mounts.  As one the posse spurred their horses on into a full gallop racing towards the small cabin.
 

Chapter 28...coming soon