what was i made for, walker

009. hostages

Hoyt, Janie, August, and Abilene run outside after hearing a gunshot. 

"Liam!" Abilene screams, finding her youngest on the ground.

"Everybody, just stay where you are." Clint orders.

"Mama!" Cordell calls. "Don't-- don't--" His voice cracks. Abilene falls to her knees, her wide eyes never leaving her child.

"No one try to be a hero, now." Clint says. "Just do exactly what I tell you. We'll get through this. Hey." He calls to Cordell. "Drop the holster. Trevor?" Cordell slowly takes his holster off. "Don't do anything stupid, now. You got a family to worry about." Trevor holds his hand out. Cordell gives him the holster, but doesn't immediately let go of it, Trevor ripping it out of his grip. "There you go."

Seeing Trevor, Janie fumes, instinctively starting to charge forward.

"Ah, ah." Hoyt mumbles, holding her back. "Not now, my little firecracker." 

"All right, let's all go inside and have a little chat." Clint states.

"Clint... let me take my brother." Cordell pleads.

"Oh, your brother, huh?" Clint asks.

"Yeah." Cordell says.

"The attorney who helped put us away?" Clint questions. "Well, don't matter. He's dead now." A sob escapes Abilene. "Let me be clear. No one else needs to get hurt if you do exactly what I say. Okay? Let's go."

The guys keep their guns aimed at the family as Stella and Cordell start to go up the stairs. Hoyt puts his hand on Stella's shoulder, letting her pass him and be next to her siblings.

"You can't leave him here like this." Abilene says.

"Mrs. Walker, your son left me for dead." Clint says. "He got my wife killed. So any notions you might have about right and wrong, lose 'em." He holds his hand out to her, but Abilene gets up by herself. "Let's go."

They go inside and the family sit around the dining table. Hoyt, Janie, and Stella are on one side with Cordell, August, and Abilene across from them.

"All right." Clint says after they all sit down. "No phones, no guns, no weapons, no sudden moves. Search the house.  They got guns." He tells one of the guys who walks off. "Trevor. Said you've been working on your rope skills. How about you show me?" He hands his son some rope. "Come on."

"All right, y'all be smart, listen up, and this will all be over soon enough." Clint promises as Trevor starts to tie them to the chairs.

"What do you want, Clint?" Cordell asks.

"I want my wife back." Clint says.

"He didn't kill her." Stella says.

"I can see how it can be confusing." Clint says. "Your daddy, a Texas Ranger, killing a man's wife, a boy's mother."

"Oh, please, he didn't kill her. You and your wife deciding to rob banks is what got her killed." Janie sneers.

"Oh, ho, ho." Clint laughs. "Little one's got a mouth on her." Janie's jaw clenches, glaring at the table, not noticing her father or Hoyt tensing up a bit as Clint walks over to her. "You're gonna wanna watch that." Clint says, pressing the gun into her head.

"Clint, stop!" Cordell yells, glancing at Janie, noticing her freeze in terror -- something he's not even sure she realizes she did.

"That's not what happened." Cordell seethes, fidgeting in his seat as he keeps his eyes on the gun pressed to his youngest's skull.

"You got their minds all twisted up just like you did me, Crystal, our family." Clint says, finally moving away from Janie. She feels a breath leave her body, not realizing she was holding it.