Hunted
By: The Scribe
ACT TWO
JD was right. There was blood on Vin's roll.
Not enough to indicate a severe injury but enough to cause concern and it was fresh. Chris could not say just how fresh but since Ezra had seen the younger man last in the small hours of the morning, Chris had a reasonable idea of when it had been spilled. There was no evidence to say that it was Vin's blood either, no matter how overwhelming the evidence might be at present. To JD's untrained eye, the sight of blood was enough to cause concern but when Chris examined the interior of the wagon, he had every reason to believe that something took place here that was not entirely of Vin's volition.
The rest of the seven spread out across town, conducting a strenuous search for the tracker in the hopes that perhaps his injury had prevented him from seeking help. While no one was assuming the worst, they could not deny the thought had crossed their minds. With Vin having a death mark on his head, it was impossible not too. Although it had been some time since any bounty hunter had attempted to claim the bounty on Vin's head, the possibility could not be ruled out that this was precisely what happened.
While the others carried out the search across Four Corners, Chris and Ezra made their way towards the jailhouse. It was highly unlikely that Vin would seek that place as a refuge but Chris was not about to ignore the possibility. It also gave him a chance to speak to Ezra about what had been bothering the tracker to the point of sleeplessness.
"He had a nightmare," Ezra admitted uncomfortably, wishing he had not been forced into this position but considering what they had found, he had little choice but to reveal what had been said between him and the tracker. Particularly when it appeared that Vin's fears had not been so unfounded after all.
"A what?" Chris stared at him.
"A nightmare," Ezra repeated himself with a frown. "Mr. Tanner had a nightmare."
"What about?" Chris asked again, unable to fathom the possibility that Vin could be upset about a bad dream when he had seen the man take out a man from three hundred yards away in the rain, without even batting an eyelash.
"If you were man with a bounty on his head, what would you dream about?" Ezra stared at the gunslinger sarcastically. "He was having nightmares about being led to the gallows and apparently, it's a feeling that he has been experiencing quite frequently of late."
"He never said anything," Chris muttered.
"Do you two actually exchange conversation?" The gambler quipped.
Chris' sharp glare wiped the smirk off Ezra's face almost immediately.
"My point is," he adjusted his collar nervously in the face of Chris' harsh stare, "Mr. Tanner had a premonition of trouble but it was more a sensation than any real knowledge of danger."
"Seems real enough to me, considering he's gone," Chris retorted somewhat annoyed that Vin did not come to him about this. The tracker was his best friend after all, if he confided in anyone, it ought to be Chris. Then again, Chris had never given Vin reason to believe that he would be receptive to talking about something so personal.
Earlier this year, their friendship had almost been damaged irrevocably because Chris could not bring himself to tell Vin how he felt when the tracker had shot and killed Ella Gaines to save his life. After what Ella had done to him and his family, Chris felt cheated that he had been robbed of killing the woman and his subsequent anguish had almost cost his friendship with Vin and his relationship with Mary Travis.
"He claimed he felt as if someone was stalking him," Ezra continued to explain. "That he knew what it was like to track prey enough so that he could recognize it himself."
Chris said nothing because he did not know what to say. In truth, he felt a little guilty because this situation with Vin had been allowed to continue far longer than it should have. Although he was uncertain what could have been done, Chris still felt as if they should have made some effort to clear Vin's name. The murder charge was a weight around Vin's neck that kept his life in a state of limbo. Until he cleared his name, he could make no plans for his future.
"Hello, Chris," Chris heard a familiar voice when he and Ezra entered the jailhouse.
Baker Campbell was seated on a chair next to the desk, appearing as if he had been waiting for Chris for a good amount of time.
"Baker," Chris greeted.
"Mr. Campbell," Ezra tilted his hat in the man's direction, “to what do we owe this pleasure.”
Baker rose to his feet and the glint of metal on the fabric of his vest caught their eye. It was Chris who identified the tin star on his chest and realised the truth, even before he met Baker's gaze and saw the sorrow there.
“No….” Chris shook his head in disbelief. “Don't tell me what I'm thinking is true, Baker,” he said in a tautly restrained voice. “Don't tell me that you've been lying to me since you got here.”
Baker expelled a strained breath, painfully aware that there was no way he was going to avoid this scene. “I'm sorry, Chris. I truly am but I'm a Federal Marshall and I had to do my job.”
“You son of a bitch!” Chris spat fiercely and was across the floor of the jailhouse before Ezra knew what was going on. The gunslinger was on the marshal in seconds, shoving hard against the wall, with pure fury in his eyes
“WHERE IS HE?” Chris demanded and was ready to shoot his 'old friend,' if Baker did not give him an answer.
“He's already on his way to Tascosa!” Baker cried out as Ezra hurried to Chris and made some effort to pull the dark garb gunslinger away from the lawman. However, when the gambler heard those words, he froze in his tracks and suddenly became content to let Chris do what he wished because it was no less than what Ezra himself wanted to do to the marshal who had betrayed them all.
“Damn you!” Chris swore again, his hands clenching around the lapels of Baker's duster ready to kill him for serving up his best friend to a lynch mob. “I trusted you, Baker! I thought we were friends! How the hell could you do this!”
“If it wasn't me, it would have been the Texas Rangers!” Baker struggled to explain himself though he knew that there was never really going to be a way out of this for him. “They wouldn't have cared less whether they brought him in dead or alive! Chris, he murdered a man in Tascosa and they're not willing to let it go, no matter how long ago it was!”
“He didn't do it!” Chris barked, releasing Baker with a sharp push. “The murder was committed by an outlaw named Ely Joe. I know because Ely Joe was here and he admitted it just before he tried to kill Vin!”
Baker was not surprised by the revelation because he knew the character of Chris Larabee would not allow him to stand by a man who had committed such a crime. However, understanding did little to exonerate him from what he had done.
“It ain't up to me to decide whether or not he's innocent, just to bring him in,” Baker said feebly, aware that nothing he could say would salvage their friendship after this.
“You know as well as I do that the minute he arrives in Tascosa, they'll hang him!” Chris accused, wondering how he could have been so mistaken about the man whose life he had once saved. In retrospect, it made perfect sense. Baker had arrived in Four Corners to watch his prey, to watch and study Vin before moving in for the kill. Chris had to wonder if his friendship with the marshal was a part of it. Had Baker chosen this assignment because his past relationship with Chris would ensure that Vin would accept him as a friend, without fear of suspicion? Chris had to know.
“Did you come after him because of me?” He glared at Baker.
“Because of you?” Baker asked in real confusion.
“Did you pick him because knowing me made it easier?” Chris demanded, unable to be any more direct than that.
“You know better than that,” the marshal returned.
“Do I?” The gunslinger turned on him. “I don't know you, Baker, and after what you did today, we sure as hell ain't friends either.”
The statement hurt Baker more than he cared to admit but there was no denying anything that Chris had said.
“No,” Baker answered softly, “our friendship had nothing to do with this.”
“Well, that's something at least,” Chris retorted, turning his back to the marshal. “Come on, Ezra, we're going.”
“Chris, you can't go after him!” Baker exclaimed, guessing immediately what was in Chris' mind.
“You gonna stop me?” Chris shot him a menacing glare and continued out the door, with Ezra, who was giving the marshal a look of cold dislike, a very uncharacteristic expression from his usually aloof manner.
“Chris, you go after him and all you'll do is end up on the wrong side of the law, you won't help him!” Baker hurried after him.
“I AM NOT GOING TO LET HIM HANG!” Chris fairly roared.
“I'm not asking you too, but think about what you're doing!” Baker declared, almost pleading with him. It was one thing bringing in Vin Tanner to justice but quite another if he was forced to do the same. “If he's innocent maybe we can do something about it.”
The possibility that they might clear Vin's name was enough to give Chris pause, for a moment at least. Realistically, he did not think that there was any way to accomplish this miracle but Chris was reaching the point of desperation. He knew what was at stake and it was more than just Vin's life, it was the fate of all the seven, if they tried to stop the tracker from hanging. If Baker had another solution, then Chris was willing to hear him out, conditionally that is.
“Like what?” Chris asked sceptically.
Baker thought quickly because nothing less than the possibility of Vin's exoneration was going to satisfy Chris Larabee enough to keep him from riding to his friend's rescue. The truth was, Baker was well aware of small town justice and usually murder charges were usually laid on the sole recommendation of the lawman in charge. The territorial judges usually ruled in favour of his recommendation and if Vin had left without speaking for himself, who was to refute the possibility of his innocence? It was a case that should have been argued by a lawyer before it ever came to that.
“He should be going up before a judge,” the marshal said quickly. “For running out of town before the sentence could be carried out, there's likely to be more charges.”
“More charges?” Ezra snorted. “I doubt that they can impose a greater sentence on Mr. Tanner beyond a hanging.'
“It's a formality that most lawmen don't choose to exercise but since I'm marshal I can insist on it. We can get a judge to review the case, Chris. We can use the argument that he ran because he's innocent and try to prove it.”
“That is not much of an alternative,” Ezra pointed out. He was familiar with legal trickery and such tactics only went so far without any real evidence to support it. “We have scant information to prove that he's innocent to begin with.”
“We don't know that,” Chris mused. “Vin ran so fast out of Tascosa, it was easier for folk to believe that he was guilty. There was never any thought given to the possibility of who else could be responsible if he wasn't.”
“Mr. Larabee,” Ezra replied firmly, “as much as I may loathe to say this, what our deceptive Mr. Baker here is suggesting is a gamble and the odds are not at all favourable.”
Chris stared at him and Ezra knew that he was aware of what a long shot this was.
“I know but is a chance,” Chris answered after a moment. The chance for Vin to clear his name was something that Chris could not deny his friend, even if at the moment it appeared fleeting and dangerous. Vin had never made his case before a judge and before Chris set on a course that would ensure that none of the seven would ever be considered respectable again, Vin had to try even if it was doomed to failure.
Besides, there was no way on God's green earth that Chris was going to let him hang.
Whatever the judge decided.
*************
If Ezra was restrained in his response then Buck was a contrasting opposite.
“Have you lost your mind!” Buck Wilmington exploded after Chris had explained the situation to the rest of the seven within the confines of the Standish Tavern.
Chris could not blame his reaction even if he was the most verbal of them. Next to him, Josiah's expression had shifted from usual stoicism to plain stony. Nathan was silent but that usually meant the healer was controlling his anger at what had happened. JD shared Buck's anger and had expressed it in exclamations of astonishment during Chris' revelation of events. The kid was staring at the gunslinger as if perplexed by how Chris could be going along with the idea of Vin facing judgement in Tascosa.
“Look,” Chris let out of a sigh, trying to be the voice of reason even though he was just as furious about this whole situation as the rest of his friends. “This bounty on Vin's head has gone on longer than it should have. Part of it was our fault; we got too caught up in things happening here, we forgot all about how it is for Vin in Tascosa. I ain't happy about letting him go there, not when they're waiting to hang him, but if we save him, then what? He'll still have that damn bounty on his head and they'll be after him worse. Baker told me that if he hadn't been the one to come after Vin, it would have been the Texas Rangers, and they don't care too much whether they bring him in dead or alive.”
“This be the same Baker who's been lying to us the last few months while he spied on Vin so he could ambush him?” Buck retorted archly.
“He's given me his word that he'll insist on a judge hearing Vin out,” Chris answered, thinking himself that the argument sounded weak.
“His word?” Buck stared at Chris in astonishment unable to believe that Chris could accept anything that Baker said after lying to them for so long. Not to mention being the instrument that would most likely see Vin hanging on the end of a rope.
“Maybe Chris is right,” Nathan added his voice to the mix. “Maybe a judge ought to hear Vin out. If we stand by him and let them know the man who's been protecting this town the past three years can't be a murderer, maybe he might see his way to believing Vin could be innocent.”
“Not all judges are fair like the esteemed Orin Travis,” Ezra warned. “There is also every reason for him to believe that Vin might be trying to absolve himself of a past discretion by doing this very thing. Redemption can be such a double edged sword at times.”
“Amen to that,” Josiah agreed to the statement but not when Vin's fate hang in the balance. “Chris, we know he's innocent but we've got no way to prove it. Letting Vin go to Tascosa to face a judge won't change that.”
“I'm not letting him go anywhere, Josiah,” Chris bristled, wishing everyone would remember that he was not doing any of this by choice. The alternative was to go up against a gang of federal lawmen and take Vin by force and he was desperately trying to find another way out of their predicament before it came to that. Chris had no difficulty making that choice for Vin Tanner but he wanted to make sure that they had explored every possibility before they embarked upon something that would have consequences for all of them. “I'm just trying to do what's best for him.”
“What's best for him is to get him out of there!” Buck declared, unable to believe that they were even debating this.
“We do that and we'll be on the wanted poster right next to him!” Nathan exclaimed. “Are you ready for that? I sure as hell know I ain't. If push comes to shove and we have to do this, I'll be right there with you boys, but before we come to it, I want to know if there's another way.”
“Maybe we should just ask Vin what he wants to do,” JD spoke for the first time.
Everyone fell silent in the wake of that simple question. With all the debate and anger flying around the room as each of them voiced their opinions on the matter, it was rather sobering to be reminded that the one person whose opinion mattered most of all, was the one person no one had bothered to ask.
“Considering Vin's on his way to be get hung kid, I'm guessing he's gonna be agreeing with me,” Buck retorted.
“I don't know, Buck,” JD shrugged. “Vin don't always do things the easy way.”
Once again, no one could refute that statement.
“Out of the mouths of babes,” Josiah sighed. “Do we know where Vin is?”
“Baker said he's on his way to Tascosa,” Chris answered, offering the young Mr. Dunne a little smile of pride. His age often made it easy for the rest of the seven to think of him as nothing more than an inexperienced youth but JD had ways of reminding them how much he had grown since coming to Four Corners. “Baker stayed in town, waiting to see what we'd do once we found out. I think he expected us to go after Vin. If we do it his way, I don't see any reason why he won't lead us to Vin and if he doesn't I'll convince him the old fashioned way.”
“At gunpoint?” Ezra asked caustically.
“I ain't wasting good bullets on him,” Chris growled before leaving the saloon to find his old 'friend'.
************
Baker had the good sense to stay in the jailhouse while Chris had been talking to the others, perfectly aware that if he came within reach of the seven following the revelation of what he had done to Vin, it would most likely end in violence. As Chris made his way to tell the marshal what they had decided, he could not even keep himself from wanting to beat nine colours of hell out of the man. He thought of Vin and what the tracker must be thinking right now and hoped Vin was smart enough to know that his friends would never abandon him. He supposed that was easier said then done because he was not the one facing an execution when he finally arrived at Tascosa.
“Chris!” He heard the voice of the only person in town who cared as much about Vin as the rest of the seven.
Mary Travis appeared on the boardwalk, having just emerged from the offices of the Clarion News. The lovely editor in chief of the local paper was wearing an expression of worry on her features, telling Chris that while good news travelled fast, bad news moved like a bullet.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Is Vin on his way to Tascosa?”
Chris met her eyes and nodded slowly, “Yeah it's true.”
“I heard it,” she shook her head in disbelief, “but I couldn't believe it and Mr Campbell, he was your friend. How could he?”
Chris' jaw tightened as he was reminded rather potently how Baker had betrayed him and not just him, but Vin as well. His anger had been crushed mercilessly into a place inside of him where it could not affect his judgement, but it was there nonetheless.
“He's a Federal Marshal,” Chris almost spat the words out like bile. “Apparently, he's been watching Vin for awhile. If he hadn't come for Vin it would have been the Texas Rangers.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked fearfully, her eyes showing that she knew his feelings on the matter and suspected that his determination to save Vin would lead him into breaking the law. Mary would never come out and tell him not to go to the tracker's aid, not when she cared so much about Vin as well. However, if Chris were to rescue Vin Tanner by stealing him from under the nose of the marshal, then she would lose them both.
“Baker thinks we can convince a judge to give Vin a hearing,” Chris answered after a moment. “If we can convince the man that Vin ran because he was innocent, maybe he might give Vin a new trial or something.”
“Can you trust him?” She looked at Chris.
“I don't know,” Chris answered honestly. “If you asked me yesterday, I would have said yes but not now.”
“Well what he suggests does make some sense,” Mary offered, conscious of how difficult this must be for him. “Orin may not have much authority in Texas but I'm sure he could put in a good word.”
“It's gonna take more than a good word,” Chris said abruptly. “It's gonna take a lawyer.”
“And that,” she agreed
“I guess you'd better contact that lawyer we got for Nathan,” Chris sighed.
“Mr. Winstanley?” Mary replied, remembering the Englishman who had defended Nathan when Bill Alderson had been killed the year before.
During a racially provoked fight instigated by Alderson, Chris Larabee had been forced to shoot the man to defend himself. Alderson was hit badly and although Nathan tried to save his life, the farmer was beyond help. This did not prevent Alderson's son Jason and the local troublemaker, Walt Simonson, from claiming that Nathan had murdered Alderson with improper medical care. The subsequent trial had divided the town and been in Mary's opinion, it was one of Four Corners' darkest moments. Fortunately, Nathan was freed thanks to the rather eloquent defence provided by Gareth Winstanley, a barrister who specialised in criminal law. Winstanley had proved that not even a trained doctor could save Alderson to which the jury agreed.
“He didn't do to badly by Nathan,” Chris pointed. “I'm hoping he'll be able to help Vin at Tascosa.”
It was worth a try and with the odds against them, Vin needed all the help he could get. “I'll get in touch with him immediately.”
“Good,” Chris nodded. “Cause we'll be riding out of here as soon as we can.”
“You're going to Tascosa?” Mary stared at him.
“I sure as hell ain't gonna leave it to those Federal boys to keep Vin from being lynched,” he said shortly.
“I should go too,” Mary suggested, wanting to be there for the tracker just as badly as Chris. “I might be able to help.”
“Mary…” Chris started to protest.
It was an old argument between them where he would dig in his heels about something she could not do and she would digs hers in even deeper and before the end of it he would relent in sheer exasperation. However, on this occasion, Chris was not going to give in, not when her life was at stake. In Four Corners, she was the leader of a community, the voice of Four Corners and sometimes, even its conscience. Hell knew, she was his and he loved her for it but he knew better than she did, that in Tascosa, she was just another woman. Her accomplishments would not make a lick of difference to people who had made up their mind about Vin's guilt.
“But, Chris, I can help!” Mary insisted.
“No,” he said firmly and meant it. “Mary, this is going to be dangerous and if things don't go our way, me and the others are gonna have to make some hard decisions about whether or not we're gonna let Vin hang. You can't be in Tascosa when that happen, you just can't.”
She looked into his eyes and understood what he was trying to tell her.
“All right,” she conceded the point this once but placed her hand on his cheek and made him look at her, not caring if it was a public display or not. She would have him know this one thing before he left town. “You give me your word that if it comes to that, you won't just ride into the sunset and forget about me. I love you, Chris, I don't care if it means I have to leave Four Corners behind. If we have to, Billy and I will find you but you're not going to leave us behind out of some misguided notion of sparing us. Do you hear me?”
He stared into her blue grey eyes and knew that she meant every word she said, that she would give up everything for him. It touched him profoundly and he planted a soft kiss in her palm, showing her that he was nowhere close to giving her up either.
”I hear you,” he offered a little smile. “Now you better get going, we'll need Winstanley in Tascosa as soon as we arrive.”
Mary nodded and started to turn when Chris called out to her.
“Mary,” he said before she drew too far away to hear him. Mary turned to him in question before Chris answered, “Incidentally, I love you too.”
The smile that crossed her face at that remark was radiance itself and reminded Chris why it was so important that they found another way to help Vin because he could not bear it if he never saw that smile again.
