| By Aussie Lass. J.D. and Buck were the last to collect in the Sheriff’s office some minutes later. "I thought Snedden was gonna have a cow right there in the middle of the room!" J.D. exclaimed laughing. "Did you see the look on his face when Vin revealed his cards? It was fantastic!" Ezra winked at the boy. "Mr. Snedden will now focus his attention on ‘how’ I defeated him, rather than on ‘what’ I am doing. He will be follow me around begging for a rematch. Until that happens, he will be unable to think of anything else." "So now what?" Chris demanded. "Now it is important for you to provide me with an opportunity to study how these men react in different situations." "Hey that reminds me..." Buck explained his suspicions concerning Alistair, Vin, Chris and the gunfighters. Ezra nodded. He had suspected as much. If he had been planning the downfall of his team mates he too would have gone after Chris through Vin. Larabee was almost as protective of the young tracker as Buck was of J.D., though in a completely different way and for very different reasons. Besides, if anyone wanted to bring the Seven down, they had to eliminate Larabee. Chris was the group’s leader and Ezra knew that he and his companions would follow Chris Larabee to hell and back if the gunfighter ever asked them to. No doubt their enemy knew that too. Josiah, who was at the window, grunted. The others glanced at him. "Josiah?" The big preacher turned, his face shadowed with concern. "Looks like a sharpshooter just rode into town. Got a real fancy rifle. Saw him nod to one of them two gunfighters." J.D. started for the window, but Nathan grabbed a handful of his shirt. "Whoa, J.D. You’ll get your head shot off." "I just want to get a look at him." "So there are nine of them," Buck muttered. "And seven of us." "It would appear that they have studied us very carefully," Ezra mused thoughtfully. Their enemy had recognized that Vin had a duel role in the team and thus had needed two men to counter the tracking and sharpshooting positions that the young Texan performed. "Sit down my friends, I need to inform you of what you are required to do tomorrow." As there were not enough chairs, the men settled themselves on the floor, Ezra frowning at the indignation and only joining his associates after he had used a handkerchief to brush a clean spot for his derriere. "Tonight we scored a small victory against our enemy and we did it by using one of my strengths." "What strength?" Nathan demanded. Ezra’s self-centered, egocentric arrogance and high opinion of himself sometimes grated very badly on the ex-slave. Ezra’s face became serious, almost embarrassed. "As I said earlier, Mr. Snedden shares my weakness but not my strength, for he does not have associates like all of you." Ezra swallowed, licked his lips nervously and then continued. "I could not defeat my mark on my own, but with Vin’s help, my victory was assured. We are each others’ strength and if we remember that, we will not be beaten." The group became quiet. Ezra did not usually open up so completely.
Nathan Jackson shook his head, a huge smile on his face. He and Ezra would always agree to disagree on a lot of things, but when push came to shove they would give their lives for one another. "This evening, we changed the dynamics that our enemy was expecting. Tomorrow, we must do the same thing - for two reasons. First, for our safety, for now it would appear that their team is complete and thus they may be ready to attack. Secondly, we must alter the way we do things so that I can watch their responses." "I don’t understand," J.D. murmured. "Change how we do things?" "For example, Mr. Tanner rises every morning about 5 am and sets off to do the morning patrol. Tomorrow, he will not do so. Instead, Buck and Josiah will. Am I correct in assuming that Alistair rises early?" Ezra asked Vin. "Yep, bastard’s always hangin’ around watchin’ me." "Well, tomorrow, you will sleep in. Mr. Wilmington’s mark and Mr. Sanchez’s mark will not be expecting them to rise at that time. I want to study how they react when something unexpected takes place. J.D., tomorrow, you will not spend your day around the sheriff’s office. Mr. Larabee and Mr. Tanner will take your place. Mr. Dunne, you and Mr. Jackson will do Mr. Tanner’s afternoon patrol..." Ezra continued to allocate his friends’ roles for the next day. "By remaining in pairs, we will ensure one another’s safety and by changing our daily routine, I will be able to study how our opposition cope when things don’t go as planned." "Everyone’s in a pair except you Ezra," J.D. pointed out with concern. The gambler smiled. "You forget, my mark will be following me around enticing me to enter into another game. He will not end my life until he has conquered me. That I can promise you." "I don’t like it," Vin muttered. "I reckon you should join one of the pairs and make it a three." "A trio will be a little too obvious. I assure you, I will be fine, but I do appreciate your concern."
********** "So, they knew what was going on?" Judge Travis confirmed, staring across at his daughter-in-law who was trying to explain why Chris Larabee had ‘murdered’ his best friend. "Yes. They knew they were being set up. And everything was working beautifully. They had everything under control." ********** Ezra Standish was not usually an early riser, but this morning he had a very good reason to drag himself out of bed. He stood at his second floor window watching Alistair leaning against the post outside of Potter’s store. On the other side of the street was Four Corners’ newest guest. Both the visiting tracker and sharpshooter had their attention focused firmly on Vin’s silent wagon. The minutes dragged by. Ezra’s eyes narrowed as he watched Buck and Josiah appear and head for the livery. Alistair watched them. Ezra’s brow creased nervously and he raised his rifle. What would Vin’s two marks do? If they looked like endangering any of Ezra’s companions then they would pay dearly. Buck and Josiah rode out of the stable and headed out of town just as the sun was rising. Neither Alistair nor the nameless sharpshooter moved. Ezra Standish smiled. Perfect. Just the response the gambler had been hoping for. ********** It was dusk when the Seven collected in the sheriff’s office. While Ezra appeared relaxed, calm and pleased with what he had achieved over the course of the day, Chris Larabee was not a happy man. For one thing, the Seven’s leader had been confined to this small room all day, watching through the window as the two gunfighters marking him prowled the streets arrogantly. Not even Vin appeared to be able to settle the older man’s temper. Buck knew that Chris’ dark mood had less to do with having been confined while watching the two men marking him throw down a silent challenge and everything to do with the fact that Chris hated standing back when he knew his men were threatened. Chris had an almost obsessive need to protect those he cared about. And today, his surrogate family had been more than threatened. First, Pete had ‘accidentally’ spooked J.D.’s horse. The animal reared up, but thankfully J.D. was a fine horseman and had stayed in the saddle. However, the attack - for that was what it was - had been reported to Chris and the Seven’s leader had begun to seethe. Second, Dr Merrit had started commenting on Nathan’s methods, causing two unhappy past patients to shout abuse at the healer. The shouted abuse became physical. On Ezra’s advice, Josiah had been close by and broke up the fight, but not before copping a fist in the face that blackened his right eye - and Larabee continued to stew. The straw that had almost broken the camel’s back was when the huge sharpshooter, outweighing Vin by more than eighty pounds, had shouldered Four Corner’s slight tracker as he had walked by him - elbowed him so forcefully that Vin had lost his footing. Buck had rushed to the tracker’s side and helped him up, coaxing the man to relax. The mountain of a sharpshooter had simply smiled and muttered, "Ooops. Sorry." As the newcomer had turned, Vin had uncoiled, but Buck was strong enough to hold the smaller man firmly. His long arms wrapped tightly around Vin’s chest as his friend struggled to get his hands on his attacker. "Settle down! Come on, he’s bigger than Josiah, you wouldn’t have a chance." Buck had pointed out dragging his companion toward the sheriff’s office. To Buck’s dismay, Chris had witnessed this third attack from afar and by the time he and Vin had arrived, Larabee was loading his gun. It had taken some pretty skillful talking from both the scoundrel and the tracker to convince their leader to wait until they could talk to Ezra. "Okay, Ezra, you’ve done your watching. Now what?" Chris hissed. "Please, Mr. Larabee, I know that you..." "J.D. could have been hurt today. He could have been killed while we’re all waiting for you to come up with some fancy plan!" "Chris," Vin murmured, stepping up beside his enraged friend. "Shut-up, Vin! I’m angry and I want to stay that way! That Dr. Merrit was having a go at Nathan and that caused a brawl... and that *&$#ing sharpshooter is just pushing for a fight." "I know," Vin agreed in his soft Texan drawl. "And I wanted to rip him apart. Thankfully, Buck stopped me." Chris glared at his best friend. "If I had attacked, them two gunfighters would have reacted and so would you and..." "And one by one we would have been drawn into the battle which I fear is their plan," Ezra agreed calmly. "Today was important, for I have discovered something about our opponents. While I am sure they understand they each have an important role to play in our downfall, they are not truly working together." "What do you mean?" "Well, this morning, Alistair and that huge sharpshooter watched Buck and Josiah ride out, but neither made any attempt to go and warn their associates that their marks were leaving town. Thus Ed and Father Bob wandered around lost for the first few hours today because they could not find Mr. Wilmington or Mr. Sanchez." "So that’s good?" J.D. asked puzzled. Ezra smiled. "Yes, Mr. Dunne. That is good." "Okay, I’ll bite. Why?" Buck demanded. "Because they are not communicating with each other. Tomorrow we begin to score some points against them. Just as I defeated my mark with the assistance of one of you, systematically we will begin doing the same to each of yours." "How?" "Well..." "Ezra, we aren’t going to sit back and wait for them to physically attack one of us again." "Chris, we’ve got to do this Ezra’s way," Vin interrupted softly. "They’re building to something. I can feel it," Chris insisted. "And I’m not going to stand around and wait when we could be doing something about it! I understand what you’re saying about them predicting how we act, but if we keep waiting, we’re just giving them time to set us up." "I agree with Chris," Buck stated quickly. "If we didn’t know we were being marked, then I can see that they’d have the upper hand. But dammit, we do know, that’s gotta give us the advantage!" "But only if we choose to use it to our benefit!" Ezra insisted. He could see he was losing his team mates’ support. "Look, I understand your frustration, but we must..." Chris grabbed Vin’s shoulder and ripped open his shirt in one movement. Vin gasped with startled pain. "That bastard broke one of Vin’s ribs today, Standish!" "What?" Shocked, the gambler eyed the bandage that Nathan had carefully wrapped around the young tracker to help support his tender chest. Vin turned and glared at his leader. He had tried to keep it from Chris but the older man had seen him wince just after the attack and before he knew what was happening, Nathan had been sent for. "That fella’s elbow connected with the rib every efficiently," the healer explained. "He knew exactly what he was doing. I’ve seen it before in the boxing ring. It wasn’t a lucky shot, it was a practiced move." "Get a good look at that," Chris growled, forcing Vin toward Ezra before the annoyed tracker ripped himself free of his leader’s vice like grip. "And have a look at Josiah’s face! I’m not standing by and letting anyone else get hurt or killed just so you can play puppet master!" "Is that what you think I’m doing? Getting some sort of pleasure out of giving the orders?" Ezra shouted. He and Chris glared at each other and then finally Larabee took a deep breath. "No, I don’t. But, Ezra, we’ve already got two men hurt. Not seriously, but these bastards have taken shots at us." Ezra nodded. "You are right. It is time for us to take some shots of our own, but we need to do it in a structured and planned way." ********** "Ezra was so sure he had everything under control," Mary explained, lowering her mug to the table. "But Chris stopped listening?" It was more a statement than a question. Mary’s eyes filled with tears, but she controlled them. "I’m not sure exactly what it was that set him off. I do know that one of the gunfighters said something to him the next morning when they were sitting in the saloon. Chris reacted very badly, but Josiah, Buck and J.D. physically restrained him.""Vin?" "Wasn’t there. He had left earlier that day with Nathan to assist in locating young Josh and Mike Doyle. They went missing and their mother came into town really distressed. Alistair and Dr. Merrit offered to go, but Mrs. Doyle wasn’t having anything to do with it. It had to be Vin and it had to be Nathan." Mary smiled. When things had become serious, the town had rallied behind the men who had never failed them. "Ezra wasn’t happy about them leaving, but what could they do?" "And the kids?" Again, Mary smiled. "Vin found them cold and alone, but alive. Nathan checked them over and made sure they were okay." The young woman sighed. "But they left early that morning, and didn’t return until around 4:00 that afternoon. By that time..." ********** The Seven had had a somewhat successful morning. J.D. had scored a hit against his mark with Buck’s assistance - Pete ending up being thrown from his horse and landing in a water trough much to the scoundrel’s very loud and public amusement. Josiah, with the help of Ezra’s slick tongue, had out-debated Father Bob in front of a large group of Four Corners’ citizens. The Seven, three, their enemy, nil. Or was it? Unfortunately, with the others carrying out Ezra’s elaborate plan and Vin and Nathan out searching for the missing children, Chris was left on his own in the saloon to reflect on the arrogant gunfighter’s words from that morning. The bastard’s message had been simple and well chosen. "You’re gonna fail your family again. They’re gonna die and it’s going to be your fault... AGAIN!" While Buck, J.D. and Josiah had stopped the gunfighter from retaliating, they could not stop his rage. Chris disappeared into himself and to the Seven’s dismay, they couldn’t stop it from happening. By the time the weary tracker and healer returned after being on the trail for almost eight hours, Chris had finished his third bottle of whisky. "Vin, thank God!" Buck cried, rushing out to meet the young man. There were a number of people waiting for Vin’s return and not just the two men marking him. The citizens of Four Corners were afraid. None of them had seen Chris Larabee drunk like this. "Thank God he’s back," Mrs. Potter commented to Dan Carter. "Mr. Larabee will listen to Vin." Mary stood watching from the porch outside her shop. She had been privy to the Seven’s plans almost from the start. They had wanted her to know what was going on so that she didn’t react and place herself in danger. Mary was well known for being outspoken and had already spoken out against Dr. Merrit’s comments concerning Nathan. That was when Ezra had informed her of what was going on and asked her to remain silent. None of the Seven wanted her to get hurt. Mary watched Vin’s tired face contort with distress. "What? What’s wrong?" "It’s Chris." Vin leapt from the saddle. "What about him? Is he all right? Dammit it, Buck, tell me!" "He... he’s in the saloon, drunk." "WHAT?" Mary could tell that Vin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "Drunk! But he... why?" Buck repeated what the callus gunfighter had said early that morning - only minutes after Vin and Nathan had left. "It ain’t his fault, Vin. Chris still can’t cope with his guilt or the memory of what happened." Vin was shaking his head unsympathetically. "That’s bullshit. Dammit we need him to keep it together!! Selfish bastard!" Vin turned and started stalking toward the saloon. Buck grabbed the young tracker. "Vin, you don’t understand what it was like for him! It almost killed him when we found Sarah and Adam that morning. He lives with that memory!" Vin shrugged Buck’s arm off. "Yeah, well if he don’t take control, that’s what we’re all going to be, a *&#@in’ memory." Buck watched Vin march over to the saloon and shoulder through the batwing doors. "How much has Chris drunk?" Nathan demanded, climbing down out of the saddle and surveying the alarmed faces of Gloria Potter, Dan Carter, Mary and the rest of the people milling around. "Buck, how much as he drunk?" "Enough," Buck murmured. "Shit, this is the last thing we needed!" "Ezra was right. They know us well. Well enough to know each of our weaknesses," Nathan murmured sadly. "Come on," Buck prompted. "Vin ain’t never seen Chris like this. He could get hurt." Vin Tanner marched into the saloon and paused, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. There were only a couple of patrons this afternoon and all of them were collected on the far right. The reason for this was clearly evident. Chris Larabee was seated on the far left, a half empty bottle of whisky in his hands. Vin glared across at Dr. Merrit and the two gunfighters who were watching Larabee with looks of amusement plastered on their smug faces. The young tracker appeared about to say something, when Ezra, the only man on the left side of the room outside of Larabee, jumped up and physically grabbed Vin by the shoulders. "No, my friend. For some reason they aren’t prepared to start anything, but if we do, they will finish it." "What the hell went wrong, Ezra?" The gambler shrugged. "I didn’t count on Chris doing this." Vin nodded. "We have to get him out of here and sober him up." "We have already tried and failed, I’m afraid." Vin nodded. "Vin, he’s really drunk and he’s furious. Almost out of control. Be careful." Vin patted Ezra’s shoulder. "It’s alright, Ezra. He won’t hurt me, ‘course, I ain’t makin’ any promises about me not belting the crap out of him!" Ezra Standish swallowed. He had never seen Vin this angry before either. Buck and Josiah entered the saloon and walked up to Ezra as Vin made his way across to Chris. "What are you doin’?" Vin demanded. "You find the kids?" "Yeah. What are you doin’?" Vin repeated, inclining his head toward the bottle. "Reminiscing," Chris growled. "Go away!" "*&$#&* you, Larabee. We need you, you selfish bastard." Chris’ face came up for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair plastered to his head. Vin had never seen his friend in this sort of condition. "Hell, Chris are you alright?" Concern had pushed the anger aside. "What do you reckon? I’m plastered." "Yeah, you are. Let me help you." Vin reached for Chris’ arm, but the gunfighter shoved the offer of help away. "Leave me alone. I don’t need your help. Don’t need your pathetic sympathy." Vin glanced over his shoulder. Everyone in the room was staring. The young tracker licked his lips nervously and then lowered his voice. "Come on, Chris. Let’s get you cleaned up." Again the young man reached for his his friend’s arm. "Don’t touch me! I don’t want your &*&%#ing help! Don’t want your sympathy!" His voice was badly slurred. "What about my friendship, Cowboy? You look like you need a friend at the moment." "Don’t want that either!" "You don’t mean that, Chris," Buck whispered stepping up beside Vin. "Come on. We’re winning against the bad guys. Both J.D. and Josiah knocked their marks down a peg today." "And the town rallied behind Nathan this morning," Vin added. "Yeah, everything is going just peachy! Except we’re still being marked and none of you have got the guts to face them!" Chris yelled. "Dammit, Chris, shut-up. They’ll hear you," Vin stated quickly. "Who the hell do you think you are telling me what to do?" Chris roared. "I’m someone who cares about you, Cowboy. Now, come on. Let Buck and I help you." Without warning, Chris rose to his feet and then strode for the door, listing badly to the right.
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