Unfinished Business

Ch. 5

by Alias

e-mail: [email protected]

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Aliasland-A Disclaimer: The majority of this was written between

The hours of midnight and one-thirty a.m. by a young lady who had had a

full eighty ounces of Dr. Pepper earlier that day.(I’m sure that my

brainstorm would have been very interesting to the casual observer.

The lamp was almost broke by my haste to turn it on, the covers flew

off so fast and so hard it’s a miracle they missed the CD player,

and I, of course, dove across the bed and ripped open my backpack to get

to my notebook. Afterwards, I was very relieved that I have no

sisters to share my room with.) Anyways, keep in mind the hours and

circumstances that this was written under. Ok, you can read the

story now.

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Vin looked up from the sleeping girl when he heard the door open,

relieved to see that it was Nathan. Relief quickly fled, however,

when he saw the worried look on Nathan’s, and the other man motioned

for him to come to the door.

"What is it?"

"Have you seen Laurie?"

"No, I thought she was at Mrs. Travis’s social, why?"

"She overheard me tellin’ Rain and Josiah about Allie. We thought

she might have come-" Nathan trailed off as Vin pushed past him.

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Vin traced the path from Nathan’s to the townhall, looking for any

sign that Laurie had been there. He knew that it was a longshot,

considering how many people walked along the road everyday, but he

was looking for boot prints smaller and narrower than the ones he was

seeing.

He found her prints halfway between Nathan’s and the townhall. He

also found what looked to be the imprint of her body. He bit back a

curse as he bent to examine the imprint more closely, looking for

any signs of blood.

No blood, but it was the right size to be Laurie. He started to get

up when he heard footsteps approaching, but Chris’s cold voice cut

into the chill night air before he was half up.

"Where is she, Vin?"

"I don’t know, but I’m going to find her." He started to move past

Chris towards the stables, but was stopped by Chris’s strong grasp.

"I told you I’d kill you if anything happens to her Vin, and I

will." Vin managed to pull his arm free.

"If anything’s happened to her, you’re welcome to me.

Vin moved past Chris towards the stables, not surprised when the

older man matched his stride.

"Any ideas?" Chris asked.

"Been talk of squatters lately. Maybe someone lookin’ for a place

to hide out."

"You take the west of town, I’ll take the east."

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Laurie gasped as the warm water splashed on her face, shocking her

awake.

"What the-"She winced at the ache in her jaw, and felt a scab on her

lower lip break.

"Morning." She glanced up at the sound of the voice, but already

knew who she’d find. Eric.

She didn’t respond, instead tugging at the manacles on her wrist,

realizing that they were looped through something behind her head.

"Pretty sturdy staircase, I wouldn’t be getting any ideas." He was

right.

"What do you want?"

"From you? Nothing. From Tanner? Justice."

"It was self-defense." Laurie realized that the manacle on her left

wrist was a little loose, and she tried to start slipping her wrist

out of it.

"Jim could barely stand on his own two feet, no self-defense in

killing him in that condition." He spat back at her.

"He drew on a man whose back was turned to him."

Eric glanced up and down her body, and she began to get afraid and

pulled harder at her wrist, hoping he wouldn’t notice. "You know,

maybe there is something I want from you after all."

She drove her knee into his groin as hard as she could.

He grunted in pain, but regained control over his features and his

hand began to close over her throat.

"Not just yet though. After perhaps. Yes, after."

She managed to free her hand and slashed it-nails first-across his

face.

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Vin pulled Peso to a stop a ways from the house. This was where the

tracks ended. Cautiously, he crept towards the house and looked

through the broken window. He didn’t see anyone, but someone had

been there, and recently, from the fine coat of dust on the floor. And

near the staircase, barely visible, was what looked to be blood.

He almost forgot to be careful as he went in to investigate. The

blood looked like a man’s handprint, and the wood on the staircase

was chipped and scraped. He hadn’t seen it from the window, but the

door to the kitchen was open, as was the door leading outside, and a

chair had been knocked over. A closer look revealed a clear trail

outside. He went back to Peso. At least he had a horse and, hopefully,

neither did Collins, which gave him a chance of catching up with them. He

just hoped that Laurie was all right.

*******************************

Laurie crouched down behind the rock, grateful the manacles that

Were still hanging from her wrist hadn’t banged against it. She had no

idea how she’d managed to wind up this close to the cliff, in the

only place that had rocks large enough to hide behind, but was grateful

that she had.

Nearby, she heard Eric calling her name.

"I won’t hurt you Laurie, I promise!" Yeah, right, she’d hate to see

what he considered to be not hurting her. Her jaw hurt like hell,

her feet were killing her, and it felt like she had scraped her wrist

raw. Okay, so he hadn’t done that himself, but it was still his fault.

"I just wa-" the rest of what he was going to say was cut off by

gunshots from above. Squinting, she managed to make out a figure

above them, but couldn’t see who it was. The man’s voice, however,

made her heart soar.

"Leave her alone Collins!" Vin! She almost called to him, but knew

that Eric would reach her long before Vin could.

Eric’s answer was a volley of shots. She saw Vin duck, and after

That couldn’t hear or see anything from where he had been. She was about

to go and check it out, but someone pulled her back down from

behind, clamping one hand over her mouth, the other around her waist. She

struggled, but stopped the moment a soft voice whispered in her ear.

"Sshh, calm down, it’s me."

She stopped struggling and twisted around, twining her arms around

Vin’s neck in relief, barely keeping herself from shouting with joy.

After a moment, he returned her hug.

Too soon, however, he pulled back.

"Come on, we need to get out of here."

"Ok, what do I-You’re bleeding!" She gasped out when she saw the

blood on his jacket sleeve.

"It’s nothing just a scratch." He started to pull her up. "Now

let’s-" A fist connected with his jaw before he could finish, and

Eric pulled Laurie up and away from Vin before he could recover.

Laurie stomped on Eric’s foot but it didn’t do any good, and only

caused the arm around her shoulder to tighten painfully.

"Stop that!"

"NO!" She bit the arm around her shoulders and he cursed, flinging

away from him and into the rocks.

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Vin picked himself up, keeping one eye on the gun that was trained

on him, and one on Laurie’s slumped form. He wanted to rush to her,

to make sure she was all right, but knew he’d most likely be shot if

he did, and wouldn’t be much good to her dead.

"Leave her alone, she didn’t do anything to you."

"Oh? And what makes you think she has anything to do with this

except get you where I wanted you? Granted," He gestured at their

surroundings with his free hand. "This isn’t quite the setting I

would have chosen, but it’ll do."

"Then lets take this somewhere away from her."

"I don’t think so." Eric moved towards Vin forcing him to back up.

"You see, that would give you a chance to come up with a plan, and

we wouldn’t want that now would we? Besides, Laurie and I have

some…unfinished business."

Vin swallowed his anger, realizing that Collins was forcing him

Closer to the cliff’s edge.

"I never meant to kill your cousin."

"Oh, I know that. Didn’t at first, then I didn’t care. Still

don’t. But I decided, why waste the trip? Watch your step now."

Vin hadn’t realized just how close to the edge he was. Collins was

right, a few more steps and he’d go over.

He saw the flash of dark red hair less than an instant before Laurie

slammed into Collins, far too late his shouted "NO!!!" to have any

effect.

He dove for Laurie as she went over the edge, somehow managing to

grasp one of her wrists, hitting the ground hard. Unfortunately,

Collins had grabbed her ankle. Vin felt beside him on the cliffs

edge, his hand closing over cold metal. Collins’s gun. He grasped

it, pulling it forward and firing a shot into Collins’s shoulder.

Laurie cried out as the bullet went so close by her body that she

could feel the air part around it, and Vin tossed the gun behind him

and pulled Laurie up the moment the man’s weight was gone, clutching

her to him.

"Is he…"

Vin looked down. Collins wasn’t dead yet, he had managed to grasp

An outcropping of rock with the arm that hadn’t been shot. But a

Moment later, he was gone.

"Yeah, he’s gone."

He pushed her back a bit, tilting her head to look at where it had

Hit the rock when Collins had thrown her. No blood at least, but it was

swelling, she definitely needed to have Nathan look at it.

"Are you all right? He wasn’t talking about her being physically

all right, and she knew that.

She shook her head and buried her face against his chest.

"No, I’m not. Not yet. But I will be. Someday." She tilted her

head up to look at him for a moment. "Thanks to you." He felt his

arms go around her, and this time had no intentions of pulling back

as he gently rocked her. Someday. Maybe, just maybe, that could be

enough. Someday.