The Peacemaker

Stay Alive

Liv headed to Valentine to see if she could find anything out about where the Pinkertons may have taken her father and his gang. She had to be careful though. If she ran into any Pinkertons, she could get captured herself. Liv went into the saloon. There was sure to be some drunk man with a loud mouth who might know something of use. 

"Yeah those Pinkertons found that gang holed up at Carmody Dell! Can you imagine, all those outlaws living so close to us? They captured a few of them but killed a lot of the others. One of them Pinkertons said something about them finding justice in Strawberry or something like that."

"Hey! You look a little young to be in here Missy!"

"Sorry sir I was looking for my dad. I thought maybe he had come in here. I'll leave now." Liv got back on Bourbon and headed to Strawberry. As she was leaving Valentine, she had the sensation that she was being followed. She turned as if to scan the horizon and saw a man following on horseback. She had Bourbon rear and fell as if she had been caught off guard. Liv laid on the ground and pretended to have been knocked unconscious by the fall. Just as she suspected, the man came up to her. He got off his horse and pulled his gun out as he approached her. Liv kicked his legs out from under him, jumped on top of him, and held her knife to his throat.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" Liv's voice was as cold as ice when she spoke. The man trembled as he told her that he had heard the Pinkertons talking about a young girl they were looking for. Apparently there was a hefty reward for her capture. Liv quickly killed the man and hid his body. She whistled for Bourbon and he trotted over. She needed to get to Strawberry before someone came looking for that man.

After a few hours, Liv arrived in the small town of Strawberry. She had never been this far west before. Liv rode up to the hotel which, coincidentally, happened to be right next to the jail. She went in and rented a room for the night. From her room she could see a small window close to the ground of the jailhouse. It looked like it led to a cell. Liv headed outside to check it out. She came up to the bars and peered inside.

Liv gasped, "Dad?" It had only been a couple of days since he had been taken, but he looked like a completely different man. He had been beaten, and Liv could tell that his spirit was defeated. Wyatt had not seemed to have heard her so she called him again. Wyatt spun around.

"Liv?!? They told me they had found you on the road and killed you! I thought I had lost you along with everyone else." Liv saw that the other cells were empty and the look on her father's face told her what had happened to the other members of the gang that had been captured.  

"I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of here. Don't worry...someone is coming I've got to go!" Liv headed back to her room in the hotel. She knew she would have to find a way to free her father and fast. She examined her guns. She might be skilled with a gun, but there was no way she could take on all of the Pinkertons and the local law enforcement. Liv went to bed but had a hard time sleeping that night.

The next morning Liv headed out to find the law and the Pinkertons quickly saddling up there horses and heading out. "What's going on?" Liv asked a bystander.

"Dakota and her gang are robbing a train so they are headed out to try and capture her before she escapes again." Liv gathered that this Dakota person and her gang had a high bounty on their heads and that the law had been chasing her down for years. 

"This is perfect!" Liv thought. With most of the law and Pinkertons after this gang, she could rescue her dad. Once most of them had cleared out, Liv headed to the jailhouse. She went in and did not see anyone around. Liv headed downstairs to the cells. After picking the lock, she and Wyatt headed upstairs. About that time, a lawman came back inside. He drew his gun and fired a shot. Liv shot him in the head. They rushed outside and climbed onto Bourbon.

Liv urged Bourbon faster and faster. She knew the law would be on them any second. Bourbon ran as fast as he could and within a couple of hours, they were back at Carmody Dell. "We made it! I don't know how we managed to pull that off but we..." Liv looked at her father and stopped. The lawman had shot him right above his heart. 'Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wouldn't have made any difference. At least now I get to die at home, with you." Tears came to both of their eyes. They spent that evening together, and when night came , Liv was alone again.