Not Exactly According to Plan - Part Two
Not Exactly According to Plan
Part One
Chapter Five
The next morning, the day's argument starts while they're saddling the horses. It starts with Adam making a little comment about how Nevada's relatively new statehood by comparing it to Nebraska. As if this weren't bad enough, then he brings up the fact that California has been a state for seventeen years. Adam's a born and raised Californian, and never misses an opportunity to brag on his home state.
James, on the other hand, was born and raised in Nebraska territory, and has never taken kindly to Adam's constantly lording California's statehood over him. Besides, he's pretty sure Adam is wrong about Nevada anyway. Nevada's been a state almost as long as California.
It turns into an argument that lasts the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon, before they're tired of talking about it and stop speaking. James takes the lead and Adam falls back with Matt and Mickey and sulks. Everyone else is so glad to have peace and quiet finally they all just ride in silence until the sun starts to set and they set up camp for the night.
Jesse, having learned his lesson about the food, catches up to them pretty quickly after they start setting up camp. Adam's sitting, watching Blake set up a spit on the campfire to cook the bird he shot earlier in the day, and Jesse sits down next to him. "Someone's following us. They're staying pretty far back, but I saw them yesterday, and they were back there all day today too."
"Fuck," Adam says. "Any idea who?"
Jesse shakes his head. "Couldn't get a close enough look."
"Well, maybe they're just heading in the same direction as us." Blake offers.
Adam looks skeptical. "Sure. Sure, that could happen."
James knows better than to believe that's really what's happening. Jesse wouldn't have brought it up unless he thought it might be a problem. When they pack up and head out the next morning, Matt keeps a hand on one of his rifles and he and James take opposites side to watch. James is too occupied with keeping an eye out to bother arguing with Adam. Jesse even sticks close by.
They're heading east, away from the river, when the gunshots start. That gets everyone's attention pretty quickly. A bullet whips past James head close enough to hear the hiss. It's Jesse that spots a dry arroyo ahead of them, and it's low enough that they can hit the ground and take cover.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Adam asks once they're on the ground, against the side of the arroyo.
"Maybe two." Matt says. He still has his rifle ready, like he's expecting someone to come over the edge of the bank at any moment. "No more than that."
"There was only one rider yesterday." Jesse says. He's helping Mickey hold the horses at the deeper end of the wash.
"That was a hell of a lot of shooting for one guy." Blake says.
Adam snorts. "You're telling me, buddy."
Now that they're out of sight, the shooting tapers down and stops. They wait for another half an hour or so. "What do you think?" Adam asks quietly. James grabs a medium sized stone from the dry riverbed and stands up enough to toss it about thirty feet away from them. It hits the ground once and bounces into a patch of scraggly brush. Less than three seconds later, a bullet hits the ground in front of the bush.
"Shit." James says, ducking back down. That kind of shooting just confirms what James already suspected. James only knows one guy who can shoot like that. Conveniently, it's a guy who also wants to kill Adam.
"Well," Adam announces. "This is a real fucking fine situation we're in here. Anyone's got ideas, now's the time to throw them out there."
"We wait." Matt says.
"He's up on the side of that ridge." Jesse says, pointing at the narrow ridge that runs perpendicular to their location. "I can see the sun reflecting off his rifle sight."
"He'd have to be a damn good shot to hit us from up there." Blake says.
"He is." James confirms. "He's a really good shot."
"Stop saying that." Adam says automatically, confirming that he's on the same page as James.
"He just hit that rock from up there." James says. "I'm a pretty decent long distance shot, and I can't do that."
Blake settles in on the ground. "Mickey, you got any of that tequila left? I think we're gonna be here for a while."
"He's not gonna sit up there forever." Matt says.
Adam's not good at waiting. It takes about twenty minutes before he gets fidgety. "You think we could split up, ambush him, maybe?"
"No." Matt says. "Not a chance."
Adam doesn't like this answer. James isn't sure if it's because he thinks they could actually ambush the shooter, or because he's just tired of sitting still. They wait another half hour or so, even though it seems three times as long, and finally even James can't take the boredom of half-lying in the dirt any longer. "I don't know why you'd think Nevada hasn't been a state for very long. It seems like someone as up on California history as you would know when your own neighboring state joined the union."
Behind him, he hears Blake mutter something about "You've got to be kidding me, this again?" but Adam seems relieved to have something to do, and really, that's what James was going for. Bored Adam turns into twitchy, irritated Adam, and that's when he usually does something impulsive and stupid.
"Jesse, when did Nevada become a state?" Adam asks.
Jesse is lying flat on the ground with the weird Chinese straw hat he wears to keep off the sun pulled down over his face. "I don't know. What does that have to do with anything?"
"It has a lot to do with a lot of things." Adam says indignantly.
"It has a lot to do with Adam being wrong about things." James interjects.
"Maybe I'm wrong sometimes, but I'm not fucking wrong about this one." Adam retorts.
"Oh my god, I can't take this anymore." Matt announces. "Just shut up! Shut up! Nevada became a state in 1864!"
Adam and James' heads swivel in unison to look at him. "Really?" James says skeptically. Matt doesn't seem like an expert on Nevada state history. James wouldn't trust Matt as an expert on anything, except maybe the best way to shoot a bear, or how much dynamite to use to blow something up.
"Yes, really!" Matt says. "I was a hired gun for a mine in Carson City when Nevada became a state. It was 1864."
"I told you it was after California." Adam says to James.
James frowns. "But it was before Nebraska. So we were both right."
"No!" Matt shouts. "You were both wrong! There's a difference!"
They settle in for the night in the arroyo. Worried something will happen in the dark, Adam assigns watch shifts, Matt and Jesse at first, Adam and Mickey, and then James and Blake to finish out the night.
Matt and Jesse are sitting a little ways up the wash from them. "Look how many stars there are." Jesse says. "They're so beautiful."
James almost laughs out loud, because this is the most ridiculous conversation he can imagine anyone having with Matt, and Jesse doesn't even care.
"How many do you think there are?" Jesse asks. "I don't think you could even count them." He doesn't let this stop him though, and starts counting out loud.
He's up into the thirties when Matt interrupts. "Stop it."
"Thirty six." Jesse says. "Thirty seven."
"Knock it off, or I'm gonna shoot you." Matt says sternly.
Jesse pauses for a moment. "Thirty eight."
This is followed by the sound of Matt cocking his pistol, and then Jesse laughing. Next to James, Adam is laughing too.
"Poor Matt." James says. "Why did you do that to him?"
Mickey wakes James up for his watch shift by kicking him in the ribs. James can think of any number of more pleasant ways to wake someone up, so he punches Mickey in the knee, hard. "James... ow! Stop that!" Mickey kicks him again, harder this time, and that gets James up off the ground real fast.
"That hurt!" Mickey says.
"You fucking kicking me in the ribs hurt too." James retorts, picking up his hat and rifle off the ground. "Come on, Blake."
Blake looks barely awake, but he picks up his rifle and follows James down the wash to where Adam is sitting. Adam has his rifle across his knees. "It's been a real fucking exciting time." He says in greeting.
James looks up towards the ridge he assumes the shots were coming from. There's no moon, and it's darker than he would prefer. Dark enough that they could probably head out if there weren't seven horses. That's hard to hide, even under the cover of darkness. It's so dark he can barely see Adam, never mind if someone was going to come up on them.
"Well, have fun." Adam stands and yawns. He starts back towards the rest of the guys, then pauses. "James..."
"I know." James says. He knows that's why Adam put him on the shift right before dawn too.
"Okay." Adam says, yawning again.
Blake settles in on the ground, stretching his legs out in front of him, and looks over towards James. "You know what?" he asks, confused over the part of that conversation Adam and James didn't say out loud.
"If they're going to try something, it'll probably be right before dawn." James says, sitting down next to Blake.
"Oh." Blake says, thinking it over. "Hey, that's smart. If I was going to sneak up on someone, that's when I'd do it too."
James doesn't have anything else to add to that, so they sit in silence for a while.
"So," Blake says finally. "Still don't care for me much, huh?"
"Nope." James says.
"Why not?" Blake asks. "I'm a pretty good guy, overall. I don't lie much. I don't cheat at cards. I've never murdered anyone. Maybe I drink too much, but hell, you can't hold that against a fella."
James thinks that's a perfectly reasonable thing to hold against a guy, especially if their drinking is going to get someone else in trouble, but he's not in the mood for arguing about it. He supposes he doesn't really mind Blake that much, but he doesn't exactly like him either. Then again, like Mickey said, James doesn't much like anyone.
"Shoulda asked Mickey if there was any tequila left." Blake says under his breath.
"It's probably better if we do this sober." James points out.
"Maybe." Blake allows. "But it's cold and the ground is hard and you ain't much of a conversationalist, so I think a little tequila would help the situation."
It's still a couple hours before dawn when James hears movement over where the rest of the guys are sleeping. Whoever it is is quiet, which tells James it's not Matt or Mickey, and then he can see Jesse's white tunic moving towards them.
"Jess, what are you doing?" he asks, keeping his voice low so the rest of the group doesn't wake up.
Jesse just appears next to James' right arm, which is a little creepy since James didn't hear him approach. "I'm going up to look around. Even if he stayed around all night, he'll never get a bead on me while it's still dark."
"I.. don't know if that's a good idea." James says hesitantly.
"I'll be back in an hour." Jesse says. "If he's still there, I think we can take him before dawn."
"Yeah." James says, still skeptical. "Maybe you should talk to Adam about this first."
"This isn't a battle." Jesse says, annoyed. "Adam's not in charge anymore."
"Maybe someone should go with you." James says. "Take Matt. Someone should be able to shoot back."
"Are you kidding me?" Jesse says. "Matt's too loud."
"Jesse, you know who it is, right?" James says. "I don't think you should go out by yourself."
"We know who we think it is." Jesse argues.
"I know for sure." James says firmly. "There's only one guy I know who can shoot long distance like that."
"It'll be fine." Jesse says. "If I'm not back before dawn, you guys'll make it to Kelly's place today. I'll catch up to you guys there." And with that he climbs up out of the wash and disappears.
"Great." James says. "Adam's gonna love that."
"You guys must have been a well oiled machine in the war." Blake says. "Did anyone do ever what Adam said?"
"That was different." James says.
James is right about one thing. When the rest of the guys wake up, Adam isn't very happy. "You just let him go?" He says to James, disbelievingly.
"What was I supposed to do, shoot him?" James asks.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Adam asks.
"I told him to talk to you first!" James is yelling now. "And he said you're not in charge anymore, and then I said maybe Matt should go with him, and he said no, and then he left. What the fuck did you want me to do, Adam?"
"You could have gone with him." Adam points out.
James pauses and stares at Adam. That's the stupidest thing he's ever heard. "Really?"
Adam waves his hand dismissively. "No, you're right, both of you gone would have been a terrible idea."
"What happened to he's a free spirit, you can't clip his wings, don't worry, he always comes back?" Matt asks Adam.
Adam glares at Matt and then walks off towards the horses without a response.
"What is wrong with you?" Mickey asks Matt.
"What?" Matt asks. "What did I say?"
When the rocks James throws up out of the wash don't elicit a response, they argue for ten minutes over who should leave the wash first. In the end, Adam pulls rank and goes first. Nothing happens, and they head out. Everyone relaxes a little when they're back out in the flat, far enough away from any hill or ridge to get ambushed again.
"You figure he left and went after Jesse?" Blake asks James.
James frowns. He's been thinking the same thing, but doesn't want to say it out loud. "Jesse knows what he's doing," he says finally. He really hopes he not wrong about that.
They reach Kelly's trading post by midday. Kelly Clarkson knows pretty much everyone who comes through on their way to or from Salt Lake City, and is always up on the latest news and gossip.
"Blake Shelton." She says when Blake and Adam and James walk in the door. "I hear you're missing a wife."
"Yeah." Blake says. "You seen her around?"
"Hasn't been in here, but if she's after Justin like everyone says, she's probably somewhere up by Wyoming. Heard he robbed the Union line outside of Cheyenne a couple days ago."
"Aw, hell." Blake says. "Wyoming? That's a long ways."
Adam frowns at Blake. "How do you know Kelly?"
"Oh, Blake and I go way back." Kelly says cheerfully. "Back to his Rangering days, when I was down in Texas."
"You were a Texas Ranger?" James says, surprised.
"Yeah, I was a Ranger." Blake says, annoyed. "Don't look so damn surprised. It was before I started my current drinking regimen."
"I've been hearing some things about you too, mister." Kelly says to Adam.
"Oh yeah?" Adam raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"Oh, like there's a bounty hunter after you."
Adam snorts. "For what? I don't have a bounty on my head."
Kelly leans her elbows on her counter. "I don't know if you do or not, but John Mayer was in here two days ago asking about you, so I'd take that pretty serious."
Adam turns and looks at James. James shrugs. "Told you. He's a really good shot."
"Stop saying that." Adam says.
Chapter Six
"I may be drunk, but I'm not stupid." Blake says as they're sitting around the table in back of Kelly's that night. "Well, I might be stupid too, but I'm smart enough to know that was John Mayer shooting at us yesterday. Y'all want to tell me why John Mayer's shooting at you?"
"Because he's a fucking psychopath." Adam says shortly. He's been nervous all evening, and James knows it's because Jesse hasn't come back yet. He's not exactly happy about this development either.
"And he's just coming after you for no reason?" Even Blake is skeptical of this as an explanation. "That don't exactly add up. You sure you didn't piss him off somehow? Shoot him in the arm?"
"Will you fucking shut up about me shooting people in the arm?" Adam snaps. On the other side of the table, Matt and Mickey are both smart enough to hide their smiles at Blake's comment. "You want to know why he's after us? I'll tell you. It's not that exciting of a story. After the war, we robbed some trains in Indiana. John Mayer was the Pinkerton agent that was supposed to bring us in."
"Wait." Blake says slowly. "You're train robbing outlaws? I'm out trying to find my bounty hunter wife with a bunch of outlaws?"
"We weren't bad outlaws or anything." Adam says. "We didn't kill anyone. We just stole some money."
"Stealing money's still against the law!" Blake points out.
Adam rolls his eyes. "Oh, and you've never broken a law?"
"No!" Blake says emphatically, then thinks about it for a minute. "Not the kind like robbing a train!"
"It's not what it sounds like." Mickey explains. "We weren't very good at it. We only netted a couple hundred dollars, total."
"He's not a Pinkerton anymore." Matt adds. "They fired him because he kept killing people he wasn't supposed to kill."
Mickey kicks Matt under the table. "What?" Matt asks. "Oh."
"Oh, I'm aware John Mayer doesn't have any problem shooting people." Blake says. "That's mostly why I'm concerned about this."
"I'll tell you one thing." Adam says. He's got that off look in his eyes that he gets when he's angry. James isn't fond of that look. It's usually a precursor to his impulsively pulling his gun. "I see John Mayer, I'm putting a bullet between his eyes." With that, Adam stands up and walks outside.
Mickey frowns and looks down at his empty shot glass. Matt finally has the good sense to keep his mouth shut, and Blake is watching them all like he realizes he's not getting the whole story, but knows better than to ask more questions. Fairly perceptive move for a man who's brain is semi-permanently pickled by whiskey.
"I wish Jesse was here." Mickey says quietly. It's the same thing he always says when Jesse takes off, and James wishes the same thing, even though he'd never say it out loud. If Jesse was here right now, he could explain about Ryan, and he could go talk Adam down from crazy. When Jesse's not there, that job falls to James, and he's not any good at it.
When he walks outside, Adam is sitting on the porch steps, looking out at the dark road to the south. "You got a bad feeling about this?" He asks without looking up at James.
James sits down next to Adam. "Not yet. He was on foot. He'll probably come in tomorrow morning."
Adam leans over and rest his head against James' shoulder. He isn't angry anymore, and James is grateful for that. "He would have come back by now."
"Maybe." James says. "I bet he comes in tomorrow." There's a good chance if Jesse's late it means he had to go to ground to avoid Mayer. Adam probably knows this, but neither of them want to acknowledge it by saying it out loud.
"Did he really say I'm not in charge anymore?" Adam asks.
"Yeah, he did."
Adam laughs. "He's such an asshole sometimes."
Chapter Seven
After breakfast the next morning, Jesse still hasn't made an appearance, and Blake can tell from the looks Mickey and James keep exchanging, this isn't a good sign. When they head outside, Adam already has the horses ready to go.
"Exactly what are you planning on doing?" James asks him.
"We're going back to get Jesse." Adam says.
"Oh." Matt says, shaking his head. "Adam. I don't think that's a good idea."
Adam turns and glares at him. "Shut up, Matt. it's not your call."
Matt looks over at James and shrugs.
"Exactly how are we going back to get Jesse?" James asks. "That's exactly what John Mayer wants us to do. We're going to ride back, he's going to ambush us, and even if we know it's coming we won't be able to do anything about it because he's a fucking good shot."
Adam rolls his eyes. "Stop saying that. He's not that great of a shot."
"Yes, he is!" James says. "I'm a pretty good shot, and John Mayer is way better than I am."
"James is right." Mickey says. "Adam, we can't just ride back. That's what he wants us to do."
"Exactly." James says.
"Then what the fuck do you think we should do instead?" Adam is angry and yelling at this point. "You got a better fucking plan, James? I want to hear it. If you don't, keep your goddamn mouth shut."
"I'm not going to keep my mouth shut if you're going to do something stupid that's going to get us all killed!" James is yelling now too.
It turns into a full out screaming argument after that. Not the kind that Blake and Mickey can drink through until they Adam and James get bored and move on to something else. Matt actually looks surprised by what's happening, so Blake figures maybe this isn't how they usually make big decisions. Mickey just looks miserable.
It takes Adam about five minutes before he attempts to punch James in the face, which is when Matt jumps in and pulls him off. Adam lands a glancing blow on Matt's face instead, before pulling himself out of Matt's grip and walking away.
"You okay?" Mickey asks Matt.
Matt shrugs. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Adam's not much of a fighter. Barely hit me."
Mickey turns to James. "What is wrong with you?"
James stares at Mickey, offended. "Wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me! I'm not the one planning on riding off into an ambush!"
Mickey rolls his eyes. "Just go apologize."
"Apologize?" James says incredulously. "I didn't do anything I need to apologize for! I'm not going to apologize for making sense! He's the one who took a fucking swing at me! Maybe he should apologize to me."
"He's worried!" Mickey is raising his voice now too, and Matt looks even more surprised than he did earlier. "Come on, James, none of this has anything to do with whether we go back for Jesse! This is about Ryan."
James starts to say something, but then changes his mind. Blake's pretty sure he's missing a crucial piece of the story at this point, since he has no idea who Ryan is. It seems like a bad time to point that out though, so he stays quiet.
"Just go apologize." Mickey repeats. "I'm sick and tired of you two fighting all the time."
"Fine." James says, sounding like he's not happy about it at all. "And then what? He's still going to go back for Jesse."
"We'll come up with a plan." Mickey says.
"You're pretty badass." Blake says to Mickey once James walks away. "I wasn't expecting that out of you."
"No one does." Matt says. "I never expect you to be that badass either."
"I got a question." Blake says. "Who's Ryan?"
"You think we're really going to ride out today?" Matt asks, looking over at the horses.
"No." Mickey says. "I think we should wait another day."
"Then I'm going to start unsaddling." Matt says, and leaves them alone.
"Ryan was a guy we grew up with." Mickey says. "Adam and Jesse and me. He was killed in the war."
"What does that have to do with this?" Blake asks.
Mickey shrugs. "Nothing in particular. Adam just gets..." He pauses to think about how to phrase it. "I guess he considers himself responsible, maybe."
"Was he in charge?" Blake asks.
Mickey shrugs again. "Yeah, he was Captain of our unit, but that doesn't mean anything. It was war. He couldn't have stopped it."
Chapter Eight
Mickey and Blake come up with a plan by the time Adam and James return. They wait one more day, just in case, they see if anyone else coming in off the trail has any news about either Jesse or John Mayer, and if not, the next morning, they head back towards the wash. Very carefully. Neither Adam or James look pleased with this plan, for wildly different reasons, but when Mickey calls for a vote, they both agree to do it.
Waiting another day doesn't pay off. Jesse doesn't come back, and no one else comes through with any news about him, or more recent news about John Mayer either. Plenty of people have seen him around the area, but no one has a recent location.
"He's going to be in the hills above the river." James says the next morning as they're heading out. "So he can pick us off before we even know he's there."
The first part of the ride is easy. It's flat and open and they'll be able to see anything approaching them. It's when they get closer to the bluffs by the river that they'll have to be more concerned. In the afternoon, Blake spots rabbits in the grass and points them out to Adam. "Rabbit for dinner sounds a hell of a lot better than burned beans and cornbread."
Adam glances back at Matt and Mickey. "Just do it away from Mickey."
This is hands down the weirdest thing Blake's had to deal with on the trail. The first day they were out, he made the mistake of shooting a quail as they rode, and got pulled aside by Adam, who told him they didn't shoot things in front of Mickey. Blake had assumed Adam was joking, but it turned out he was serious. They didn't shoot animals in front of Mickey. Adam had shrugged it off, like it wasn't that unusual of a request. "He doesn't like animals getting killed. Don't kill them in front of him."
The part Blake still doesn't entirely understand is what he did what Adam said, even though he still thought it was completely ridiculous. So, now he waits until Matt and Mickey are up ahead of him and then he goes after the rabbits. They're pretty easy pickings, and Blake stops and dismounts to pick up the three he shot.
When he looks up, John Mayer is standing in front of him. Mayer's right arm is bleeding through his shirt. Blake has just enough time to note the look on John Mayer's face and that Adam's word choice of psychopath to describe him was pretty accurate, before Mayer's rifle butt comes down towards Blake's head and everything goes black.
Blake wakes up to find himself on the ground with his hands and feet tied. It takes him a moment to realize the pain in his head isn't a hangover. He doesn't see anything except scrub brush and a couple scraggly trees. He manages to twist around to roll in the other way, and almost rolls into Jesse.
"Hi." Jesse says calmly.
"You're alive!" Blake says in surprise. "I figured you were probably dead and no one was willing to admit it."
"Not dead." Jesse confirms. "How's your head?"
"Oh, it hurts like hell." Blake says. Jesse doesn't look that much worse for wear, except for his right pant leg, which is covered in dried blood. "What happened to your leg?"
"John stabbed me." Jesse says matter-of-factly. "He got pretty mad when I kicked him in the head."
"You kicked him in the head?" Blake is impressed. He's kind of glad to hear Jesse's pacifism doesn't extend to head-kicking. "That's badass."
"Stabbed him in his shooting shoulder too." Jesse says. There's a certain satisfaction in his tone that Blake likes. "That's when he knocked me out."
"Hell, he knocked me out before I did anything." Blake says. "Never even saw him coming."
"Were you by yourself?" Jesse asks, lowering his voice. John Mayer is sitting about 200 feet from them, watching the plain below them with a pair of binoculars.
"Sort of." Blake says. "I was hunting. Rest of the guys were maybe half a mile ahead of me. Man, Adam's gonna be pissed when I don't come back."
"Oh, he'll get over it." Jesse says dismissively.
"Hey, they were really worried about you, man." Blake says.
"Well, they shouldn't be." Jesse says. "I'm just being held hostage by a crazy guy that wants to kill Adam, that's all."
"Why does he want to kill Adam, anyway?" Blake wonders.
"It's sort of complicated." Jesse says.
"What does that mean?"
"It kind of involved a girl."
Halfway through the afternoon, John saddles his horse and rides off, leaving Blake and Jesse tied up on the hillside.
"This just doesn't seem safe." Blake says. "Leaving us tied up here like this. What if a bear comes along?"
"I don't think there's bears in this part of the country." Jesse says.
"Maybe." Blake says. "What about snakes? There's snakes." He looks over at Jesse, who is sitting very still with his eyes closed. "What're you doing? You okay?"
"Shhh." Jesse says. "I'm visualizing removing these ropes off my hands. The mind is a very powerful weapon."
Blake isn't sure if he's supposed to laugh or not. "Okay." He says finally. "Now, if that doesn't work, I got a knife stuck down in my boot."
Jesse opens his eyes and stares at Blake reproachfully. "What? Why didn't you say something before?"
"Well, 'cause I didn't remember at first, and then I didn't want to say anything in front of Mayer." Blake says. "I don't know if you can get it out."
"Oh, I can get it out." Jesse says. Blake's surprised to see he's right. Jesse moves around awfully easily for a tied up guy with a stabbed leg. "Told you." He says once he's worked one of his hands into Blake's boot far enough to ease the knife out. "John should have tied my hands behind my back. He's an idiot."
"You got a plan, once you get those ropes off?" Blake asks.
"The plan," Jesse says, untying Blake and then pulling the rope around so he still looks tied up, "is to wait until he falls asleep and then get out of here while it's dark."
"Why when it's dark? Why not right now, before he gets back?"
"Because he won't be able to see to shoot us when it's dark." Jesse says.
Blake supposes that makes sense. It's not like they're going to get far on foot while John Mayer's on horseback anyway.
They hear Mayer returning before they see him, because he's shooting at someone. Jesse puts Blake's knife into his pocket, wraps the ropes back around his wrists, and scoots back into position next to Blake.
"Who do you figure he's shooting at?" Blake asks. "You think it's Adam?"
Jesse listens for a minute, then shakes his head. "No. It's only one person shooting at him. It's not Adam."
Mayer finally makes his way up the hill far enough to be in sight, and is lying on his stomach in the grass, looking down the hill, his back to Jesse and Blake. He must have lost track of who he was shooting at, because he's stopped firing for the moment.
Jesse looks over at Blake. "New plan." He mouths. "Follow my lead."
Blake really wishes people would stop saying that to him, because he really doesn't know what it means. This time, it means Jesse leaps and tackles John Mayer from behind, knocking John's rifle loose and making him plenty angry. Following Jesse's lead on this one is pretty obvious, and Blake pulls his ropes off and joins in, making sure Mayer's gun stays far enough away that no one's going to get shot.
It turns into a wrestling match for a while. At one point Jesse throws dirt in John's face, and Blake is impressed. He likes a guy that fights dirty. John punches Blake in the face and Blake's head hits the ground hard. He hears one gunshot after that, and when he sits up, John Mayer is on the ground, shot through the chest, and Jesse is sitting up and brushing his shirt off.
Blake looks up at the person standing in front of them with the gun. "Miranda?"
Chapter Nine
"So Miranda rides in and rescues us." Blake says.
"Rescues you again." Miranda corrects.
"Yeah, rescues me again." Blake admits. "Rescues Jesse for the first time, though."
"That's not even the crazy part of all this." Adam interrupts. Christina rolls her eyes. Adam's never been one for sitting and letting someone else tell a story. "We're riding back towards Denver, and we completely ambush Justin Timberlake. We're not even looking for him at that point, and we ride around this bend in the river, and there he is."
"So you got Justin Timberlake after all?" Mr. Green asks.
"No!" Adam says. "We didn't even come close! There's like, five of us shooting at him, and he escapes. But fucking Mickey here, he grabs one of Justin's pack horses while everyone else is trying not to get shot, and there's over $6,000 in the pack."
"Good job, Mickey." Jesse says, and Mickey acknowledges this with a little salute.
"I like that story." Mr. Green says. "That's a beautiful story."
"My favorite part of this story is how no one got shot." Matt says. Then he laughs. "No it isn't. The $6,000 is my favorite part."
"The $6,000 is everyone's favorite part." Adam agrees.
"Not mine." James says gloomily. "Now Justin Timberlake knows we have his money."
Adam reaches over and punches James' shoulder. "James! Why do you have to ruin everything?"
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. The DW entry has
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Part One
Chapter Five
The next morning, the day's argument starts while they're saddling the horses. It starts with Adam making a little comment about how Nevada's relatively new statehood by comparing it to Nebraska. As if this weren't bad enough, then he brings up the fact that California has been a state for seventeen years. Adam's a born and raised Californian, and never misses an opportunity to brag on his home state.
James, on the other hand, was born and raised in Nebraska territory, and has never taken kindly to Adam's constantly lording California's statehood over him. Besides, he's pretty sure Adam is wrong about Nevada anyway. Nevada's been a state almost as long as California.
It turns into an argument that lasts the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon, before they're tired of talking about it and stop speaking. James takes the lead and Adam falls back with Matt and Mickey and sulks. Everyone else is so glad to have peace and quiet finally they all just ride in silence until the sun starts to set and they set up camp for the night.
Jesse, having learned his lesson about the food, catches up to them pretty quickly after they start setting up camp. Adam's sitting, watching Blake set up a spit on the campfire to cook the bird he shot earlier in the day, and Jesse sits down next to him. "Someone's following us. They're staying pretty far back, but I saw them yesterday, and they were back there all day today too."
"Fuck," Adam says. "Any idea who?"
Jesse shakes his head. "Couldn't get a close enough look."
"Well, maybe they're just heading in the same direction as us." Blake offers.
Adam looks skeptical. "Sure. Sure, that could happen."
James knows better than to believe that's really what's happening. Jesse wouldn't have brought it up unless he thought it might be a problem. When they pack up and head out the next morning, Matt keeps a hand on one of his rifles and he and James take opposites side to watch. James is too occupied with keeping an eye out to bother arguing with Adam. Jesse even sticks close by.
They're heading east, away from the river, when the gunshots start. That gets everyone's attention pretty quickly. A bullet whips past James head close enough to hear the hiss. It's Jesse that spots a dry arroyo ahead of them, and it's low enough that they can hit the ground and take cover.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Adam asks once they're on the ground, against the side of the arroyo.
"Maybe two." Matt says. He still has his rifle ready, like he's expecting someone to come over the edge of the bank at any moment. "No more than that."
"There was only one rider yesterday." Jesse says. He's helping Mickey hold the horses at the deeper end of the wash.
"That was a hell of a lot of shooting for one guy." Blake says.
Adam snorts. "You're telling me, buddy."
Now that they're out of sight, the shooting tapers down and stops. They wait for another half an hour or so. "What do you think?" Adam asks quietly. James grabs a medium sized stone from the dry riverbed and stands up enough to toss it about thirty feet away from them. It hits the ground once and bounces into a patch of scraggly brush. Less than three seconds later, a bullet hits the ground in front of the bush.
"Shit." James says, ducking back down. That kind of shooting just confirms what James already suspected. James only knows one guy who can shoot like that. Conveniently, it's a guy who also wants to kill Adam.
"Well," Adam announces. "This is a real fucking fine situation we're in here. Anyone's got ideas, now's the time to throw them out there."
"We wait." Matt says.
"He's up on the side of that ridge." Jesse says, pointing at the narrow ridge that runs perpendicular to their location. "I can see the sun reflecting off his rifle sight."
"He'd have to be a damn good shot to hit us from up there." Blake says.
"He is." James confirms. "He's a really good shot."
"Stop saying that." Adam says automatically, confirming that he's on the same page as James.
"He just hit that rock from up there." James says. "I'm a pretty decent long distance shot, and I can't do that."
Blake settles in on the ground. "Mickey, you got any of that tequila left? I think we're gonna be here for a while."
"He's not gonna sit up there forever." Matt says.
Adam's not good at waiting. It takes about twenty minutes before he gets fidgety. "You think we could split up, ambush him, maybe?"
"No." Matt says. "Not a chance."
Adam doesn't like this answer. James isn't sure if it's because he thinks they could actually ambush the shooter, or because he's just tired of sitting still. They wait another half hour or so, even though it seems three times as long, and finally even James can't take the boredom of half-lying in the dirt any longer. "I don't know why you'd think Nevada hasn't been a state for very long. It seems like someone as up on California history as you would know when your own neighboring state joined the union."
Behind him, he hears Blake mutter something about "You've got to be kidding me, this again?" but Adam seems relieved to have something to do, and really, that's what James was going for. Bored Adam turns into twitchy, irritated Adam, and that's when he usually does something impulsive and stupid.
"Jesse, when did Nevada become a state?" Adam asks.
Jesse is lying flat on the ground with the weird Chinese straw hat he wears to keep off the sun pulled down over his face. "I don't know. What does that have to do with anything?"
"It has a lot to do with a lot of things." Adam says indignantly.
"It has a lot to do with Adam being wrong about things." James interjects.
"Maybe I'm wrong sometimes, but I'm not fucking wrong about this one." Adam retorts.
"Oh my god, I can't take this anymore." Matt announces. "Just shut up! Shut up! Nevada became a state in 1864!"
Adam and James' heads swivel in unison to look at him. "Really?" James says skeptically. Matt doesn't seem like an expert on Nevada state history. James wouldn't trust Matt as an expert on anything, except maybe the best way to shoot a bear, or how much dynamite to use to blow something up.
"Yes, really!" Matt says. "I was a hired gun for a mine in Carson City when Nevada became a state. It was 1864."
"I told you it was after California." Adam says to James.
James frowns. "But it was before Nebraska. So we were both right."
"No!" Matt shouts. "You were both wrong! There's a difference!"
They settle in for the night in the arroyo. Worried something will happen in the dark, Adam assigns watch shifts, Matt and Jesse at first, Adam and Mickey, and then James and Blake to finish out the night.
Matt and Jesse are sitting a little ways up the wash from them. "Look how many stars there are." Jesse says. "They're so beautiful."
James almost laughs out loud, because this is the most ridiculous conversation he can imagine anyone having with Matt, and Jesse doesn't even care.
"How many do you think there are?" Jesse asks. "I don't think you could even count them." He doesn't let this stop him though, and starts counting out loud.
He's up into the thirties when Matt interrupts. "Stop it."
"Thirty six." Jesse says. "Thirty seven."
"Knock it off, or I'm gonna shoot you." Matt says sternly.
Jesse pauses for a moment. "Thirty eight."
This is followed by the sound of Matt cocking his pistol, and then Jesse laughing. Next to James, Adam is laughing too.
"Poor Matt." James says. "Why did you do that to him?"
Mickey wakes James up for his watch shift by kicking him in the ribs. James can think of any number of more pleasant ways to wake someone up, so he punches Mickey in the knee, hard. "James... ow! Stop that!" Mickey kicks him again, harder this time, and that gets James up off the ground real fast.
"That hurt!" Mickey says.
"You fucking kicking me in the ribs hurt too." James retorts, picking up his hat and rifle off the ground. "Come on, Blake."
Blake looks barely awake, but he picks up his rifle and follows James down the wash to where Adam is sitting. Adam has his rifle across his knees. "It's been a real fucking exciting time." He says in greeting.
James looks up towards the ridge he assumes the shots were coming from. There's no moon, and it's darker than he would prefer. Dark enough that they could probably head out if there weren't seven horses. That's hard to hide, even under the cover of darkness. It's so dark he can barely see Adam, never mind if someone was going to come up on them.
"Well, have fun." Adam stands and yawns. He starts back towards the rest of the guys, then pauses. "James..."
"I know." James says. He knows that's why Adam put him on the shift right before dawn too.
"Okay." Adam says, yawning again.
Blake settles in on the ground, stretching his legs out in front of him, and looks over towards James. "You know what?" he asks, confused over the part of that conversation Adam and James didn't say out loud.
"If they're going to try something, it'll probably be right before dawn." James says, sitting down next to Blake.
"Oh." Blake says, thinking it over. "Hey, that's smart. If I was going to sneak up on someone, that's when I'd do it too."
James doesn't have anything else to add to that, so they sit in silence for a while.
"So," Blake says finally. "Still don't care for me much, huh?"
"Nope." James says.
"Why not?" Blake asks. "I'm a pretty good guy, overall. I don't lie much. I don't cheat at cards. I've never murdered anyone. Maybe I drink too much, but hell, you can't hold that against a fella."
James thinks that's a perfectly reasonable thing to hold against a guy, especially if their drinking is going to get someone else in trouble, but he's not in the mood for arguing about it. He supposes he doesn't really mind Blake that much, but he doesn't exactly like him either. Then again, like Mickey said, James doesn't much like anyone.
"Shoulda asked Mickey if there was any tequila left." Blake says under his breath.
"It's probably better if we do this sober." James points out.
"Maybe." Blake allows. "But it's cold and the ground is hard and you ain't much of a conversationalist, so I think a little tequila would help the situation."
It's still a couple hours before dawn when James hears movement over where the rest of the guys are sleeping. Whoever it is is quiet, which tells James it's not Matt or Mickey, and then he can see Jesse's white tunic moving towards them.
"Jess, what are you doing?" he asks, keeping his voice low so the rest of the group doesn't wake up.
Jesse just appears next to James' right arm, which is a little creepy since James didn't hear him approach. "I'm going up to look around. Even if he stayed around all night, he'll never get a bead on me while it's still dark."
"I.. don't know if that's a good idea." James says hesitantly.
"I'll be back in an hour." Jesse says. "If he's still there, I think we can take him before dawn."
"Yeah." James says, still skeptical. "Maybe you should talk to Adam about this first."
"This isn't a battle." Jesse says, annoyed. "Adam's not in charge anymore."
"Maybe someone should go with you." James says. "Take Matt. Someone should be able to shoot back."
"Are you kidding me?" Jesse says. "Matt's too loud."
"Jesse, you know who it is, right?" James says. "I don't think you should go out by yourself."
"We know who we think it is." Jesse argues.
"I know for sure." James says firmly. "There's only one guy I know who can shoot long distance like that."
"It'll be fine." Jesse says. "If I'm not back before dawn, you guys'll make it to Kelly's place today. I'll catch up to you guys there." And with that he climbs up out of the wash and disappears.
"Great." James says. "Adam's gonna love that."
"You guys must have been a well oiled machine in the war." Blake says. "Did anyone do ever what Adam said?"
"That was different." James says.
James is right about one thing. When the rest of the guys wake up, Adam isn't very happy. "You just let him go?" He says to James, disbelievingly.
"What was I supposed to do, shoot him?" James asks.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Adam asks.
"I told him to talk to you first!" James is yelling now. "And he said you're not in charge anymore, and then I said maybe Matt should go with him, and he said no, and then he left. What the fuck did you want me to do, Adam?"
"You could have gone with him." Adam points out.
James pauses and stares at Adam. That's the stupidest thing he's ever heard. "Really?"
Adam waves his hand dismissively. "No, you're right, both of you gone would have been a terrible idea."
"What happened to he's a free spirit, you can't clip his wings, don't worry, he always comes back?" Matt asks Adam.
Adam glares at Matt and then walks off towards the horses without a response.
"What is wrong with you?" Mickey asks Matt.
"What?" Matt asks. "What did I say?"
When the rocks James throws up out of the wash don't elicit a response, they argue for ten minutes over who should leave the wash first. In the end, Adam pulls rank and goes first. Nothing happens, and they head out. Everyone relaxes a little when they're back out in the flat, far enough away from any hill or ridge to get ambushed again.
"You figure he left and went after Jesse?" Blake asks James.
James frowns. He's been thinking the same thing, but doesn't want to say it out loud. "Jesse knows what he's doing," he says finally. He really hopes he not wrong about that.
They reach Kelly's trading post by midday. Kelly Clarkson knows pretty much everyone who comes through on their way to or from Salt Lake City, and is always up on the latest news and gossip.
"Blake Shelton." She says when Blake and Adam and James walk in the door. "I hear you're missing a wife."
"Yeah." Blake says. "You seen her around?"
"Hasn't been in here, but if she's after Justin like everyone says, she's probably somewhere up by Wyoming. Heard he robbed the Union line outside of Cheyenne a couple days ago."
"Aw, hell." Blake says. "Wyoming? That's a long ways."
Adam frowns at Blake. "How do you know Kelly?"
"Oh, Blake and I go way back." Kelly says cheerfully. "Back to his Rangering days, when I was down in Texas."
"You were a Texas Ranger?" James says, surprised.
"Yeah, I was a Ranger." Blake says, annoyed. "Don't look so damn surprised. It was before I started my current drinking regimen."
"I've been hearing some things about you too, mister." Kelly says to Adam.
"Oh yeah?" Adam raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"Oh, like there's a bounty hunter after you."
Adam snorts. "For what? I don't have a bounty on my head."
Kelly leans her elbows on her counter. "I don't know if you do or not, but John Mayer was in here two days ago asking about you, so I'd take that pretty serious."
Adam turns and looks at James. James shrugs. "Told you. He's a really good shot."
"Stop saying that." Adam says.
Chapter Six
"I may be drunk, but I'm not stupid." Blake says as they're sitting around the table in back of Kelly's that night. "Well, I might be stupid too, but I'm smart enough to know that was John Mayer shooting at us yesterday. Y'all want to tell me why John Mayer's shooting at you?"
"Because he's a fucking psychopath." Adam says shortly. He's been nervous all evening, and James knows it's because Jesse hasn't come back yet. He's not exactly happy about this development either.
"And he's just coming after you for no reason?" Even Blake is skeptical of this as an explanation. "That don't exactly add up. You sure you didn't piss him off somehow? Shoot him in the arm?"
"Will you fucking shut up about me shooting people in the arm?" Adam snaps. On the other side of the table, Matt and Mickey are both smart enough to hide their smiles at Blake's comment. "You want to know why he's after us? I'll tell you. It's not that exciting of a story. After the war, we robbed some trains in Indiana. John Mayer was the Pinkerton agent that was supposed to bring us in."
"Wait." Blake says slowly. "You're train robbing outlaws? I'm out trying to find my bounty hunter wife with a bunch of outlaws?"
"We weren't bad outlaws or anything." Adam says. "We didn't kill anyone. We just stole some money."
"Stealing money's still against the law!" Blake points out.
Adam rolls his eyes. "Oh, and you've never broken a law?"
"No!" Blake says emphatically, then thinks about it for a minute. "Not the kind like robbing a train!"
"It's not what it sounds like." Mickey explains. "We weren't very good at it. We only netted a couple hundred dollars, total."
"He's not a Pinkerton anymore." Matt adds. "They fired him because he kept killing people he wasn't supposed to kill."
Mickey kicks Matt under the table. "What?" Matt asks. "Oh."
"Oh, I'm aware John Mayer doesn't have any problem shooting people." Blake says. "That's mostly why I'm concerned about this."
"I'll tell you one thing." Adam says. He's got that off look in his eyes that he gets when he's angry. James isn't fond of that look. It's usually a precursor to his impulsively pulling his gun. "I see John Mayer, I'm putting a bullet between his eyes." With that, Adam stands up and walks outside.
Mickey frowns and looks down at his empty shot glass. Matt finally has the good sense to keep his mouth shut, and Blake is watching them all like he realizes he's not getting the whole story, but knows better than to ask more questions. Fairly perceptive move for a man who's brain is semi-permanently pickled by whiskey.
"I wish Jesse was here." Mickey says quietly. It's the same thing he always says when Jesse takes off, and James wishes the same thing, even though he'd never say it out loud. If Jesse was here right now, he could explain about Ryan, and he could go talk Adam down from crazy. When Jesse's not there, that job falls to James, and he's not any good at it.
When he walks outside, Adam is sitting on the porch steps, looking out at the dark road to the south. "You got a bad feeling about this?" He asks without looking up at James.
James sits down next to Adam. "Not yet. He was on foot. He'll probably come in tomorrow morning."
Adam leans over and rest his head against James' shoulder. He isn't angry anymore, and James is grateful for that. "He would have come back by now."
"Maybe." James says. "I bet he comes in tomorrow." There's a good chance if Jesse's late it means he had to go to ground to avoid Mayer. Adam probably knows this, but neither of them want to acknowledge it by saying it out loud.
"Did he really say I'm not in charge anymore?" Adam asks.
"Yeah, he did."
Adam laughs. "He's such an asshole sometimes."
Chapter Seven
After breakfast the next morning, Jesse still hasn't made an appearance, and Blake can tell from the looks Mickey and James keep exchanging, this isn't a good sign. When they head outside, Adam already has the horses ready to go.
"Exactly what are you planning on doing?" James asks him.
"We're going back to get Jesse." Adam says.
"Oh." Matt says, shaking his head. "Adam. I don't think that's a good idea."
Adam turns and glares at him. "Shut up, Matt. it's not your call."
Matt looks over at James and shrugs.
"Exactly how are we going back to get Jesse?" James asks. "That's exactly what John Mayer wants us to do. We're going to ride back, he's going to ambush us, and even if we know it's coming we won't be able to do anything about it because he's a fucking good shot."
Adam rolls his eyes. "Stop saying that. He's not that great of a shot."
"Yes, he is!" James says. "I'm a pretty good shot, and John Mayer is way better than I am."
"James is right." Mickey says. "Adam, we can't just ride back. That's what he wants us to do."
"Exactly." James says.
"Then what the fuck do you think we should do instead?" Adam is angry and yelling at this point. "You got a better fucking plan, James? I want to hear it. If you don't, keep your goddamn mouth shut."
"I'm not going to keep my mouth shut if you're going to do something stupid that's going to get us all killed!" James is yelling now too.
It turns into a full out screaming argument after that. Not the kind that Blake and Mickey can drink through until they Adam and James get bored and move on to something else. Matt actually looks surprised by what's happening, so Blake figures maybe this isn't how they usually make big decisions. Mickey just looks miserable.
It takes Adam about five minutes before he attempts to punch James in the face, which is when Matt jumps in and pulls him off. Adam lands a glancing blow on Matt's face instead, before pulling himself out of Matt's grip and walking away.
"You okay?" Mickey asks Matt.
Matt shrugs. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Adam's not much of a fighter. Barely hit me."
Mickey turns to James. "What is wrong with you?"
James stares at Mickey, offended. "Wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me! I'm not the one planning on riding off into an ambush!"
Mickey rolls his eyes. "Just go apologize."
"Apologize?" James says incredulously. "I didn't do anything I need to apologize for! I'm not going to apologize for making sense! He's the one who took a fucking swing at me! Maybe he should apologize to me."
"He's worried!" Mickey is raising his voice now too, and Matt looks even more surprised than he did earlier. "Come on, James, none of this has anything to do with whether we go back for Jesse! This is about Ryan."
James starts to say something, but then changes his mind. Blake's pretty sure he's missing a crucial piece of the story at this point, since he has no idea who Ryan is. It seems like a bad time to point that out though, so he stays quiet.
"Just go apologize." Mickey repeats. "I'm sick and tired of you two fighting all the time."
"Fine." James says, sounding like he's not happy about it at all. "And then what? He's still going to go back for Jesse."
"We'll come up with a plan." Mickey says.
"You're pretty badass." Blake says to Mickey once James walks away. "I wasn't expecting that out of you."
"No one does." Matt says. "I never expect you to be that badass either."
"I got a question." Blake says. "Who's Ryan?"
"You think we're really going to ride out today?" Matt asks, looking over at the horses.
"No." Mickey says. "I think we should wait another day."
"Then I'm going to start unsaddling." Matt says, and leaves them alone.
"Ryan was a guy we grew up with." Mickey says. "Adam and Jesse and me. He was killed in the war."
"What does that have to do with this?" Blake asks.
Mickey shrugs. "Nothing in particular. Adam just gets..." He pauses to think about how to phrase it. "I guess he considers himself responsible, maybe."
"Was he in charge?" Blake asks.
Mickey shrugs again. "Yeah, he was Captain of our unit, but that doesn't mean anything. It was war. He couldn't have stopped it."
Chapter Eight
Mickey and Blake come up with a plan by the time Adam and James return. They wait one more day, just in case, they see if anyone else coming in off the trail has any news about either Jesse or John Mayer, and if not, the next morning, they head back towards the wash. Very carefully. Neither Adam or James look pleased with this plan, for wildly different reasons, but when Mickey calls for a vote, they both agree to do it.
Waiting another day doesn't pay off. Jesse doesn't come back, and no one else comes through with any news about him, or more recent news about John Mayer either. Plenty of people have seen him around the area, but no one has a recent location.
"He's going to be in the hills above the river." James says the next morning as they're heading out. "So he can pick us off before we even know he's there."
The first part of the ride is easy. It's flat and open and they'll be able to see anything approaching them. It's when they get closer to the bluffs by the river that they'll have to be more concerned. In the afternoon, Blake spots rabbits in the grass and points them out to Adam. "Rabbit for dinner sounds a hell of a lot better than burned beans and cornbread."
Adam glances back at Matt and Mickey. "Just do it away from Mickey."
This is hands down the weirdest thing Blake's had to deal with on the trail. The first day they were out, he made the mistake of shooting a quail as they rode, and got pulled aside by Adam, who told him they didn't shoot things in front of Mickey. Blake had assumed Adam was joking, but it turned out he was serious. They didn't shoot animals in front of Mickey. Adam had shrugged it off, like it wasn't that unusual of a request. "He doesn't like animals getting killed. Don't kill them in front of him."
The part Blake still doesn't entirely understand is what he did what Adam said, even though he still thought it was completely ridiculous. So, now he waits until Matt and Mickey are up ahead of him and then he goes after the rabbits. They're pretty easy pickings, and Blake stops and dismounts to pick up the three he shot.
When he looks up, John Mayer is standing in front of him. Mayer's right arm is bleeding through his shirt. Blake has just enough time to note the look on John Mayer's face and that Adam's word choice of psychopath to describe him was pretty accurate, before Mayer's rifle butt comes down towards Blake's head and everything goes black.
Blake wakes up to find himself on the ground with his hands and feet tied. It takes him a moment to realize the pain in his head isn't a hangover. He doesn't see anything except scrub brush and a couple scraggly trees. He manages to twist around to roll in the other way, and almost rolls into Jesse.
"Hi." Jesse says calmly.
"You're alive!" Blake says in surprise. "I figured you were probably dead and no one was willing to admit it."
"Not dead." Jesse confirms. "How's your head?"
"Oh, it hurts like hell." Blake says. Jesse doesn't look that much worse for wear, except for his right pant leg, which is covered in dried blood. "What happened to your leg?"
"John stabbed me." Jesse says matter-of-factly. "He got pretty mad when I kicked him in the head."
"You kicked him in the head?" Blake is impressed. He's kind of glad to hear Jesse's pacifism doesn't extend to head-kicking. "That's badass."
"Stabbed him in his shooting shoulder too." Jesse says. There's a certain satisfaction in his tone that Blake likes. "That's when he knocked me out."
"Hell, he knocked me out before I did anything." Blake says. "Never even saw him coming."
"Were you by yourself?" Jesse asks, lowering his voice. John Mayer is sitting about 200 feet from them, watching the plain below them with a pair of binoculars.
"Sort of." Blake says. "I was hunting. Rest of the guys were maybe half a mile ahead of me. Man, Adam's gonna be pissed when I don't come back."
"Oh, he'll get over it." Jesse says dismissively.
"Hey, they were really worried about you, man." Blake says.
"Well, they shouldn't be." Jesse says. "I'm just being held hostage by a crazy guy that wants to kill Adam, that's all."
"Why does he want to kill Adam, anyway?" Blake wonders.
"It's sort of complicated." Jesse says.
"What does that mean?"
"It kind of involved a girl."
Halfway through the afternoon, John saddles his horse and rides off, leaving Blake and Jesse tied up on the hillside.
"This just doesn't seem safe." Blake says. "Leaving us tied up here like this. What if a bear comes along?"
"I don't think there's bears in this part of the country." Jesse says.
"Maybe." Blake says. "What about snakes? There's snakes." He looks over at Jesse, who is sitting very still with his eyes closed. "What're you doing? You okay?"
"Shhh." Jesse says. "I'm visualizing removing these ropes off my hands. The mind is a very powerful weapon."
Blake isn't sure if he's supposed to laugh or not. "Okay." He says finally. "Now, if that doesn't work, I got a knife stuck down in my boot."
Jesse opens his eyes and stares at Blake reproachfully. "What? Why didn't you say something before?"
"Well, 'cause I didn't remember at first, and then I didn't want to say anything in front of Mayer." Blake says. "I don't know if you can get it out."
"Oh, I can get it out." Jesse says. Blake's surprised to see he's right. Jesse moves around awfully easily for a tied up guy with a stabbed leg. "Told you." He says once he's worked one of his hands into Blake's boot far enough to ease the knife out. "John should have tied my hands behind my back. He's an idiot."
"You got a plan, once you get those ropes off?" Blake asks.
"The plan," Jesse says, untying Blake and then pulling the rope around so he still looks tied up, "is to wait until he falls asleep and then get out of here while it's dark."
"Why when it's dark? Why not right now, before he gets back?"
"Because he won't be able to see to shoot us when it's dark." Jesse says.
Blake supposes that makes sense. It's not like they're going to get far on foot while John Mayer's on horseback anyway.
They hear Mayer returning before they see him, because he's shooting at someone. Jesse puts Blake's knife into his pocket, wraps the ropes back around his wrists, and scoots back into position next to Blake.
"Who do you figure he's shooting at?" Blake asks. "You think it's Adam?"
Jesse listens for a minute, then shakes his head. "No. It's only one person shooting at him. It's not Adam."
Mayer finally makes his way up the hill far enough to be in sight, and is lying on his stomach in the grass, looking down the hill, his back to Jesse and Blake. He must have lost track of who he was shooting at, because he's stopped firing for the moment.
Jesse looks over at Blake. "New plan." He mouths. "Follow my lead."
Blake really wishes people would stop saying that to him, because he really doesn't know what it means. This time, it means Jesse leaps and tackles John Mayer from behind, knocking John's rifle loose and making him plenty angry. Following Jesse's lead on this one is pretty obvious, and Blake pulls his ropes off and joins in, making sure Mayer's gun stays far enough away that no one's going to get shot.
It turns into a wrestling match for a while. At one point Jesse throws dirt in John's face, and Blake is impressed. He likes a guy that fights dirty. John punches Blake in the face and Blake's head hits the ground hard. He hears one gunshot after that, and when he sits up, John Mayer is on the ground, shot through the chest, and Jesse is sitting up and brushing his shirt off.
Blake looks up at the person standing in front of them with the gun. "Miranda?"
Chapter Nine
"So Miranda rides in and rescues us." Blake says.
"Rescues you again." Miranda corrects.
"Yeah, rescues me again." Blake admits. "Rescues Jesse for the first time, though."
"That's not even the crazy part of all this." Adam interrupts. Christina rolls her eyes. Adam's never been one for sitting and letting someone else tell a story. "We're riding back towards Denver, and we completely ambush Justin Timberlake. We're not even looking for him at that point, and we ride around this bend in the river, and there he is."
"So you got Justin Timberlake after all?" Mr. Green asks.
"No!" Adam says. "We didn't even come close! There's like, five of us shooting at him, and he escapes. But fucking Mickey here, he grabs one of Justin's pack horses while everyone else is trying not to get shot, and there's over $6,000 in the pack."
"Good job, Mickey." Jesse says, and Mickey acknowledges this with a little salute.
"I like that story." Mr. Green says. "That's a beautiful story."
"My favorite part of this story is how no one got shot." Matt says. Then he laughs. "No it isn't. The $6,000 is my favorite part."
"The $6,000 is everyone's favorite part." Adam agrees.
"Not mine." James says gloomily. "Now Justin Timberlake knows we have his money."
Adam reaches over and punches James' shoulder. "James! Why do you have to ruin everything?"
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. The DW entry has
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