The site where these earlier stories were posted has been deleted from the internet. The authors of the stories here have kindly given their permission for us to post them for you to read. If you have written one of these stories or know someone who has, and would like the story posted, please send a PM to CD Roberts or Penski with contact information.


Virtual Season 3 Episodes (2004/2005)


3.1  Double Jeopardy by JoAnn Baker
https://asjbuckshot.forumotion.com/t293-double-jeopardy-by-joann-baker

Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were on horseback and had been on the trail for nearly a week. Their timetable had been tight, but their journey was ending. They'd managed a small breakfast and a shave at a  hamlet earlier that morning. It was a hot summer's day, but they felt the air cool as they came out through the mountain pass and found their way back to the open countryside.
Bean fields and strawberry fields began to dominate...

“Well, no doubt about it,” said Kid Curry. He looked up at his partner, Hannibal Heyes, and shook his head solemnly. “They’re both dead.”

“Both of them?” Heyes asked, raising his eyebrows. He sank down on the hot, sunbaked rock beside Kid, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. “I told you not to be so hard on them.”

“Yep,” said Kid, with a sigh. “Dead as doornails.” He wiped his brow, too, and glanced up at...

Curry threw his saddlebags down on the bed in frustration.

"Look on the bright side Kid," smiled Heyes "we have a free hotel room and free breakfast and dinner every day - that ought to cheer you up."

Curry glared at him. "Sure, and in return all we have to do is go to court and swear our names are Thaddeus Jones and Joshua Smith."

"You know we can't do that Kid."

"So what are you saying? We swear our names are Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry? They'd be sure to believe everything we said after that."

The dark haired man squeezed himself through the steel bars first and, after a quick scan of the darkened room, turned to take the bag from the blond who was now squeezing through the bars.

It was a tight fit, as the blond was the slightly bulkier of the two, and he shook his head, wishing that his partner would remember that. He breathed in and finally made it. He then took the bag back from his partner and made his way over to the safe in the corner of the room, hardly noticing that the other man had settled by the window to keep watch. They had been working together now for...

"Would it be stealing, Heyes?"

Heyes followed him into their hotel room and closed the door behind him. "It's our money," he replied thoughtfully.

"Hmm." Curry was quiet for a few moments. "And what about breaking into the house during the night and breaking into the safe?" he continued finally.

Heyes grinned. "Well Kid, I'm not exactly sure that part's legal."

"Me either." Curry returned the grin. "In fact, I'm downright sure it's not."

"And if it's not...

And so Jenkins had stayed silent and still for the last three hours and watched the other man pace, without uttering a word. Every time Heyes reached the bars of the cell door, he would stop, jab his finger angrily against the lock and snarl.

"If I ever lay eyes on him again ..."

He never finished the sentence, but Jenkins knew who he was referring to of course. To the man who had turned him in, the man who had collected the reward, a man whose shoes Cole Jenkins would not want to be in right now. The man who had betrayed Hannibal Heyes.

Kid Curry.

They heard the door open then and watched as the sheriff came back in and with his deputy's help, emptied the contents of their saddlebags onto his desk. He went slowly through everything, turning each item over and around and examining it in minute detail.

"What's he doing?" whispered Kid.

Heyes just frowned and shook his head, indicating he had no idea. They both watched intently as the sheriff continued. He carefully shook each item of clothing, fished into all of the pockets and then laid the item flat on the desk and ran his hands over every inch of it....

"It was there this afternoon Heyes, I saw him put it in there and lock it. It must still be in there. You're not looking properly."

Heyes stood aside as Curry pushed past him and searched through the contents of the drawer. Finally he looked up puzzled.

"It was there earlier."

Heyes just shrugged at him, as if to say, I told you.

Together they made a thorough search of the office, Curry looking through all of the papers on the desk and Heyes unlocking and checking in the other two drawers.

"It's not here"...

"We could try waiting them out"

Curry looked at him doubtfully.

"No, you're right" agreed Heyes. "We've got to do something."

"But what Heyes? There's a dozen or more men out there, all with their guns trained on us, just waiting and my guess is they'll be ready to outwait us."

Heyes frowned. He was completely stumped.

They made their way to the pile of hay in the middle of the room, slumped down and waited. And waited. They waited all day. Nothing changed.

Curry did what he always did. He watched his adversary carefully, his ability to read even the smallest sign and anticipate their movements never failed to give him an advantage. He watched the eyes especially - there weren't many he couldn't read.

Unfortunately for Curry, Heyes also did what he always did. He plastered such a cold, detached look in his eyes that they turned almost to stone and became totally unreadable, even to Curry.

The expression jolted right through the Kid. He'd seen that look before of course, had watched it used to great effect. But it...

"I don't see anything, do you?"

Kid shook his head. "It doesn't mean they're not there though. It could just mean they're good."

Both men continued to survey the scene for several minutes.

"Kind of funny, that there was only one shot though, don't you think?" ventured Heyes.

Curry turned and looked further up the valley.

"An ambush?"

Heyes nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

He was still looking intently down the valley.

"Whoever...

"I don't understand what you're complaining about. It's been dry for days, we had a nice fat rabbit for breakfast and there's no posse in sight. Really Kid, you should appreciate our current situation a bit more than you're doing now." Hannibal Heyes said with mock concern.

"Heyes, we spent 2 extra days on horseback because you supposedly knew the way, last night we had to sleep on rocks and that rabbit was scrawny." was Kid's down-to-earth reply. Heyes' smile faded - how was he to counter that one?

"You know, my grandma always said…"

A train carriage. A full train carriage. The west rolled past outside. Kid Curry was stretched out in his seat, his hat tipped over his eyes. Hannibal Heyes sat across the way, reading. It was relaxed.

The train shuddered suddenly to a halt.

Curry sat up and looked across at Heyes. They were not at a station. A slight frown disturbed Heyes' features. Both men knew, from their previous life, just what this unscheduled stop meant.

It wasn't long before two men entered the carriage, guns drawn, bandannas up over their faces. Angrily, they growled at the passengers...

Ott said, “Heard there was some excitement over at the saloon yesterday, fellas. Should we start counting the silver after every meal?” He snorted loudly, amused by his own joke.

His sister slapped Ott soundly on the back of his head, “Ott! I’m surprised at you. You shouldn’t talk to our guests that way.”

“No, no. It’s all right, Mrs. Campbell,” Heyes smiled, silently wishing he could give the man a slap of his own.

Kid said, “Yeah…good one, Mr. Howard. You oughta go on the road with that comedy act."

“But you know that those notorious and incredibly...

"I don't know how you're winning so much, but I'm starting to think it ain't just luck."

"You're right. It's not luck…friend. It's good poker playing…something you don't seem to be acquainted with."

Jeremy smiled tightly, but humor was not the emotion reflected in his eyes. "That's funny. You're a funny guy. But I don't think cheating is funny and I think you're cheating."

Starring

Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes
Ben Murphy as Kid Curry


Guest Stars

4.10 Once More Into the Breach
by Kate Ashe


Abigail’s horse whinnied sharply and swung round. Almost immediately, Heyes’ and Curry’s horses began to prance and pull away, dancing nervously on their toes. The three riders struggled to control them, while trying to figure out what was upsetting them.

Heyes caught a terrifying scent – “Smoke!” he yelled. “There must be a fire up ahead!”

Curry nodded, still struggling with his animal, having also caught the smell of the smoke.

Suddenly, Abigail’s horse bolted. Heyes set off after her. Curry tried...

4.2 How I Survived Christmas
by Leah Anders


Snow and wind stinging his eyes, Heyes got off the horse as quickly as his frozen joints would allow. "Kid!" His voice, swept away by the wind, sounded far-away to his own ears. Kneeling on the white-blanketed ground, he pulled Kid's head into his lap, wiping fat, wet flakes of snow away from his face. "Kid, wake up! You hear me, Kid? Wake up!" Kid's eyelids fluttered, but his eyes remained closed. Heyes felt a panic start to build, starting deep in his midsection and blooming outward. Squinting against the...

“All you need to do is go on over to the Sheriff’s office and tell him you heard a couple of men getting into it over at the saloon. Say you heard them say they was gonna shoot it out.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, the sheriff and us are good friends, ya see. We go way back. We just want to play a little practical joke on him. Just in fun, nothing serious-like.”

“Friends, huh? What’s the sheriff’s name?”

Heyes stared down at the boy, his chocolate brown eyes narrowed with irritation. “Seventy-five cents. And you don’t ask any questions.”

"What do we do?"

"I don't know, Kid. Maybe it's just a coincidence that he's here. Maybe he's not looking for us at all." He starts to look hopeful.

As he is speaking, Kyle's face lights up with a look of sudden recognition. He has spotted Heyes and Curry and approaches. Just as Heyes finishes speaking, Kyle slaps both boys on the shoulders, gives a loud whoop, and yells, "Ain't you guys a sight for sore eyes. I been lookin' all over town fur ya. Shoulda knew you'd be holed up here."

Heyes spoke resignedly, "I've a feeling that the day is about to go downhill" as he saw a Sheriff, two deputies and a young man enter the restaurant, where Heyes and Curry were sitting at a table, alone in the place, eating breakfast.

The deputies tied Curry's hands and removed his gun from its holster. After an exchange of looks with Heyes, Curry allowed himself to be led away, out of the restaurant.

Heyes looked down at his horse. Kid was right. There weren't many miles left in either animal. He reached down and tenderly caressed his animal's neck from where he sat in the saddle, genuinely sorry that he had to put her through such a test of endurance. Her coat was slick with sweat and she was still breathing rapidly from the exertion.

Heyes thought for a moment. "Kid, I think our only chance might be if we split up." Kid's eyes went wide with dismay. He didn't like the notion of splitting up at all. Before he could object, Heyes continued, "Now hear me out for a second....

Kid took off his gunbelt and began to clean his gun. Heyes began to pace the room. He did so for so long that Kid was able to finish his cleaning and undress and climb into the bed. He lay there, his arms folded behind his head, watching his partner pace the floor. Heyes’ face was set and his eyes were almost black. Yet, Kid saw no sign of any plan forming. Just the anger that Heyes had been so carefully hiding, until now, when they were alone.

Finally, Heyes stopped and looked over at the Kid, his expression dejected.

“Kid, I’m sorry. I owe Leighton. But I just can’t come...

A trail stained and weary Kid Curry rode into Twin Forks. He wanted a bed, a bath, a beer and a meal – not necessarily in that order. He also wanted to shake the nagging feeling at the back of his mind, which he’d had ever since he’s seen Heyes disappear for Lexville. It would be good to see Heyes again. On arrival, he left his horse at the livery and headed for the only hotel in the town.

At the desk, he registered and then asked for the room of Joshua Smith.

“There’s no Joshua Smith registered, Sir.”

“J. Smith? He should have arrived a couple of days ago.”

A Difficult Delivery
Written by Kate Ashe


"Gentlemen, Gentlemen, so pleased to meet you! I understand that you have come about the advert?" He shook Heyes' hand and then the Kid's as he spoke.

Heyes spoke up, causing the man to turn away from Kid to look at him. "Yes. It was somewhat vague though. Can you tell us more?"

"I require a, erm, package to be delivered. However, circumstances require that a route is taken which is, how to put it?, other than the easiest."

"What sort of package?" Curry asked....

Robbery on the Three-ten to Boulder
by JoAnn Baker

The train whistle blew long and loud, signaling the imminent departure of the 3:10 to Boulder. Passengers hurried aboard, waving goodbye to well-wishers standing alongside the tracks and hastily finding seats in the already crowded passenger car. The pandemonium of the train station was easily ignored by the two passengers who leaned lazily against the seatbacks in their private compartment.

“Heyes, why don’t...

"This can't be happening! This is unreal! It’s a nightmare! It's..,”

Hannibal Heyes stood on the sidewalk, searching for the right words.

"Well, that Reverend is a man of his principles, you gotta give him that!" Kid Curry sighed as he sank on a bench and leaned against the wall. “Too bad that ‘Feed the hungry’ isn’t one of them!”

The two former outlaws had been on horseback for a couple of days, running...

“Heyes, I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.” Kid Curry stood with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face that would have made even the most hardened of outlaws think twice before crossing him.

The two men were standing behind the livery stable trying to keep their voices low to avoid calling attention to themselves. Two horses stood beside them, saddled and packed with gear and supplies. They had intended on leaving together, but...

The two lone riders picked their way over the rocky terrain, letting their mounts choose the most convenient path through the open countryside dotted with occasional stands of tall pine trees.  Their destination – the town of Santa Clara, located in northern California.

The gunshots seemed to come from above them in the rocks. Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry spurred their horses into an all out run and leaned low across the animals' necks. Curry...

“Ossawatomie, Kansas, one mile,” Kid said, reading aloud the sign that leaned drunkenly by the side of the muddy road. The faded letters were hard to see through the drizzling autumn rain. “Ossawatomie. Who thinks up these names anyway?”

“Indians,” said Heyes, turning up his coat collar against the cold wind that blew raindrops down the back of his neck. “It means place of the buffalo hunt, or something. You know that.”

Kid Curry sat with his feet propped up on the chair strategically placed for optimum comfort in front of him, a cigar in his mouth thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of the bustling saloon. He'd finally managed to hold on to a few dollars and was having a little fun for a change. He smiled appreciatively at the pretty brunette who had just handed him another mug of beer, then glanced around the room. He assured himself that no one was paying any special...

The drifter standing in the lengthening shadows hugged the side of the building a bit closer as he waited impatiently. For his plan to succeed he needed to know the whereabouts of that deputy! A cloud of dust caught his attention and his eyes narrowed as he recognized the portly figure of the man sweeping the boardwalk in front of the sheriff's office. He ducked back just in time as the man in question raised his head and looked in his direction. Even though...