Buddie Fox

   Hal Johns held the reins of six horses as the others fanned out across the road. In the distance, he could hear the crack of a whip and the driver’s shouts as the Overland Freight stage came barreling through the pass. It came to a stop in a cloud of dust ten feet from the robbers. The guard was shot before he was able to bring his shotgun into play.

   Tomahawk walked up to the driver. "You have gold onboard. I want it."

   "I don’t know what your talking about," he stammered. "I only have passengers this run. No gold."

   "Don’t lie to me. I know you have gold."

   Tomahawk motioned to his men. Hal stood in the shadows and watched as the others pulled the passengers from the coach. All the luggage was rummaged, anything large enough to hold forty thousand dollars in gold. Once the strongbox was found, Tomahawk motioned for Hal to join them.

   "Hal Johns," one woman exclaimed. "Is that you?"

   "You got the wrong man, Lady," he said gruffly.

   "I’d know you anywhere, young man. Your mother would be rolling in her grave if she knew what you were doing," she said stepping forward.

   "I ain’t this Johns fellow you think I am. Now get back with the others."

   But the lady wouldn’t be deterred. "Your brother would be terribly disappointed too. Especially after he got you that marshal job."

   A large hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Are you a lawman?"

   "No, Tom. I’ve never seen this woman before. She must be a bit addle-brained. She thinks she knows me."

   Tom grunted, "We’ll see."

   Horace Jackson read the telegram again as if it would somehow change. Someone by the name of Tomahawk had his brother. He kept wondering at the name. Jackson had heard that name somewhere before. The message came from New Mexico. There were several of his men operating in the area. Then he realized where he had heard the name Tomahawk from. Shawna Kane had been married to a Tomahawk. Surely it wasn’t the same man.

   Another telegram from one of his deputies described the leader of the outlaws. He knew it had to be the same man. There couldn’t be two men of the size and ethnicity named Tomahawk. Now what was he going to do. His men had had no luck finding the band of outlaws. The gang was eluding them at every turn.

   "I guess I don’t have a choice now," he said pulling out another form to send another telegram.

   Shawna heard the horse long before she saw the pony flying across the hard ground. She dropped the reins of her horse and met the Indian woman as she slid from her mount and ran to her chief. Graceful Deer started shouting rapidly in Navajo. Joshua had heard the commotion and came out to investigate.

   "What’d she say," he asked, only catching a few words.

   "The kids have been kidnapped."

   Graceful Deer stopped her from mounting and handed her something. Shawna took the metal object and hurled it across the yard. She swung aboard her horse and pointed it toward town.

   "Go with her and start looking for them. I have some business to attend to first," she said before riding out.

   Joshua went over and picked up the object. He uttered a curse in Navajo before going to saddle his horse. He dropped the object back into the dirt. As if it would help, Joshua trampled the badge with the bullet hole as he rode out to find his children.

   Shawna reined in at the hotel and stormed in. The frightened clerk didn’t protest as she spun the registry around. Scanning the names, she headed for the stairs. At the second door on the right, she kicked it in and shot at the man sitting on the bed.

   "Where are they," she demanded.

   "I don’t know what you are talking about," Jackson said.

   "Wrong answer," she said placing another bullet an inch from his head.

   "Really, I don’t," he said cringing from another bullet.

   "One of the men dropped a badge at the river. You know whose it was," Shawna shouted grazing his ear with the next bullet. "Where are they?"

   "I’d say close the door, but you’ve already broken it," he said holding his ear.

   Shawna walked over to him and placed her gun on his forehead. "The next bullet goes through your head if you don’t tell me where my children are."

   "You know, I always wonder why people say such things. If you kill me now, you still won’t know where they are."

   Shawna uncocked her gun and placed it back on her hip. Horace breathed a sigh of relief just before she threw him across the room. His head bounced off the wall before he fell to the floor moaning with his hands wrapped around his face.

   "You broke my nose," he exclaimed.

   "That’s not all I’ll break," she said drawing her gun and motioning him to stand. "Let’s go."

   "You’re making a terrible mistake," he mumbled.

   "You started this, but I’ll finish it. Or you, whichever comes first."

   The town watched as Shawna led the beaten man to the livery to collect his horse. Still dazed, Jackson climbed on his mount. Shawna grabbed the reins and headed back to the ranch. He watched as the townspeople stood in the middle of the road and watched him be kidnapped.

   "What do you have over those people?"