Mrs Murray quickly grabbed hold of Heyes and almost dragged him out of the saloon, across the street, into the general store and over to the corner where she pushed him behind the counter, as the others followed behind in a rush, doing their best to keep up. As Heyes bent down to the safe, she leaned in and called through the door "Toby, Toby, it's alright, we're going to get you out."

Heyes looked at the safe rather doubtfully, it wasn't as big as he expected. "How old is he?" he asked.

"Five" she replied "and he's going to die" she wailed, becoming panicked once more. "Please Mr Smith, can you help him?"

Heyes looked up to see a row of faces watching him anxiously over the counter, Sam, Bill Hyde, Frank the foreman, the Doc, fear all too evident on his face, Mrs Sutton … Heyes frowned in puzzlement and looked up towards Curry, noticing that he had positioned himself by the door, behind the others. They briefly made eye contact and Curry gave him a slight nod, a reassurance in his eyes that he was doing the right thing. Heyes pursed his lips - it wasn't often his partner misunderstood his concern.

Heyes turned his attention to the safe as Mrs Murray cried "Please Mr Smith, hurry, please". Heyes knelt with his head to the door of the safe. It didn't take long and just a few minutes later, he turned the dial with what he hoped was the last number of the combination. Stealing himself, he turned the handle gently and, feeling no resistance, he pulled the door open slightly and peered inside, suddenly afraid of what he might find.

With a sudden jolt, he pulled back, as a black shadow shot out of the safe, straight towards him.

With an excited "meow" the ball of fur hurled itself towards Heyes, smacking into the side of his head and clambering across his shoulders.

"Toby!" shouted Mrs Murray, grabbing the cat and pulling it away from Heyes as she wrapped it closely in her arms.

Heyes sat back on his legs and glared at Curry.

Mrs Murray was openly crying now and holding on to the cat for dear life. For a brief moment, Heyes closed his eyes in irritation. He looked up towards the door and the clear signal from Curry was "Let's go".

Amongst all the noise and fuss, it was relatively easy for the two to slip out of the door almost un-noticed by the others. They hurried across the street, making their way by unspoken agreement towards where they'd left their horses that morning, both eager to leave town as soon as possible.

"So Toby was a cat," smiled Curry. "I thought he was a child?" Curry's tone was questioning and Heyes nodded vaguely in reply, but seemed distracted.

"I really thought Toby was their son, it was quite a surprise when that cat jumped out of the safe," Curry looked towards Heyes, waiting for a reply, but when he received none, he shrugged to himself and continued. "But I think it's OK Heyes, no-one seems to be at all suspicious."

"Hmm?" mumbled Heyes

Curry frowned slightly at Heyes' reaction but again, continued. "I think we should get out of town right now though, we can get a good distance away by sunset if we leave straight away."

"Hmm."

This time Curry stopped and turned towards Heyes, putting his hand on his shoulder to force him to stop too.

"OK Heyes, what is it?"

"Kid," Heyes looked straight at him, his face serious and concerned, "how did that cat get into the safe?"

Heyes watched Curry's expression change slightly as it dawned on him. "You're right Heyes. If the only person who knows the combination is out of town then …."

Curry was interrupted by a sudden rush of movement to his right, as everyone ran out of the store and across the road towards them, arms waving in the air, voices calling their names. Heyes and Curry exchanged a worried glance and Curry's hand moved instinctively to his side to rest close to his gun.

"Boys! Boys!" called Sam, red-faced and out of breath as he hurtled towards them, finally coming to a standstill in front of them.

"What is it, Sam?" asked Heyes cheerfully, carefully hiding his concern, concern which only increased as he watched the rest of them form a semi circle around the pair, effectively boxing them in.

"I'm glad we caught you. Just in time too. I hope you weren't planning on leaving town?"

"Well, yes," Curry replied. "That's exactly what we were planning to do."

Heyes gave Sam one of his best smiles. "We only came here to deliver the letter, which we've done, so now we'll be on our way. We have another letter to deliver you see."

"I see" Sam sounded a little doubtful and Heyes wasn't sure he'd believed him.

"Like I said, I'm glad," he paused and indicated towards the others "we're glad we caught you. We just may have a better proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?" It was Heyes' turn to sound doubtful.

"We all saw you open that safe in there and …"

"Sam," Curry interrupted him sternly. "You may have witnessed my partner's skills with a safe in there, but I can assure you we don't use those skills for anything illegal or underhand, just in case that's what you had in mind."

"Oh goodness no, no. No." Sam assured him immediately with a smile. "We realise you wouldn't do anything illegal and we wouldn't ask you to. This is perfectly legal and above board as you'll see, if you'd just give us the chance to explain?" He looked around him at the others who were generally nodding their agreement and looking expectantly at the pair.

"As I said," Sam continued "it is perfectly legal, but it would resolve what has been a very big problem for all of us for a couple of years now. And we would pay you too - a lot more than your delivery job."

Heyes' eyes narrowed. "Now how would you know how much our delivery job paid?"

"Mr Smith? Mr Jones?" Mrs Sutton stepped forward. "If you don't think you can help us, you're free to leave, you're not under any threat here, but I must admit, I was really hoping that you might be the ones who were finally able to help us after all this time. Would you please consider it, Mr Smith? Mr Jones?" She looked at them earnestly.

"How about we discuss it in a little more detail in the saloon?" suggested Sam, smiling good-naturedly. "Surely that can do no harm? And if you don't like the job, you don't have to take it. As Mrs Sutton said, you're free to leave town whenever you want. If you really have to be somewhere else, we understand and we won't bother you any further, but I'll be honest, like Mrs Sutton, I was hoping you'd see your way clear to helping us - in return for a generous payment of course."

Heyes and Curry glanced at each other- it was becoming harder to say no, especially surrounded by these people. Sam saw their look and tried once more.

"Boys, how about if I prove to you that there's no threat in this and if we discuss the job, you're free to say yes or no?" With that, he held up his right hand and with his left hand, reached across into his vest pocket and with two fingers, pulled out the small derringer he had there and dropped it to the ground. He nodded across to Frank who did the same thing with the six shooter strapped to his leg.

Again, Heyes and Curry glanced at each other. There really didn't appear to be any threat and the prospect of being paid well was an attractive one. Silently, they agreed that it could do no harm to listen to the proposition.

Turning back to Sam, Heyes smiled at him. "Lead the way to the saloon, Sam."

* * * * *

Ten minutes later, the group were all settled in the saloon, everyone crowding around one small table as Sam placed beers in front of each of the men. Heyes noted that no-one seemed at all surprised or concerned to see Mrs Sutton and Mrs Murray sitting at the table with them, though neither of them were drinking.

As Sam made one last trip from the bar with two more glasses of beer in his hands, Bill called to him "Sam, bring the newspaper." Nodding, Sam put down the beers and then turned back to the bar and, after rummaging for a few seconds, returned to the table with a newspaper which he placed on the table in front of him.

"This used to be a thriving town," he began. "Back in the days when the mines were big business. There was work for everyone. It was a good sized town too, oh no-where near as big as Howardsville of course, but it was a good place to live back then. We had everything we needed, there was a well-stocked general store, the saloon was busy, there was a café, a hotel …"

"And a bank," stated Mrs Sutton, her tone bitter and angry. Curry looked up at her, a little surprised.

"Ah, yes," nodded Sam. "The bank. And that's where it all went wrong."

Heyes and Curry glanced at each other, once again uncomfortable at this turn in the conversation.

"Like I said," continued Sam "it was a busy town. Many of us made money and we put it in the bank. Under the shrewd management of one Mr Jacob Hammond."

"Shrewd?" Mrs Sutton interrupted again, almost spitting the word in disgust.

"Yes, well," Sam placed his hand on her forearm in a calming gesture. "We weren't to know my dear."

"Know what?" asked Curry.

It was Mrs Sutton who took up the story. "Mr Hammond was the one who persuaded us all to put our money into his bank. He explained how safe it would be, he told us he had the newest, most modern safe - the best there was and that he would look after our money for us. Like fools we believed him, we trusted him. But how were we to know?"

"Know what, Mrs Sutton?" Heyes was becoming more intrigued and more than a little impatient to know the full details.

"The first we knew that anything was wrong, was when two gentlemen arrived and spent two days at the bank with Hammond. We still don't know who they were or why there were here, but Hammond sure acted strange around them, seemed a little nervous."

"There were rumours, of course," the Doc put in. "The story was that they were investigating some dogdy business dealings at the bank, that they were accusing Hammond of corrupt dealings."

"We didn't believe the stories though," Mrs Sutton added. "We had no reason to. Mr Hammond seemed like a nice man and, like I said, we trusted him."

"Until," explained Sam "that day more than a year ago now, when we woke one morning to find the bank all locked up and no sign of Jacob Hammond. We assumed he'd be back, of course, and we waited and waited."

"And waited and waited. Like fools." Mrs. Sutton's tone became harsh once again.

Sam nodded, patted her arm and continued the story. "It seems he was in some kind of trouble and one night he just ran out on the bank and never returned. We've been trying to trace him ever since, the law was involved and we even hired a private investigator."

"Private investigator?" asked Curry, a little confused.

"Our money you see," explained the Doc.

"He took your money?" asked Curry.

"Oh no, he didn't take it," replied Mrs Sutton. "He left it right here for us, in a nice safe place where no-one can get at it. Including us."

"In the safe," stated Heyes, suddenly understanding their dilemma.

"Exactly Mr Smith. And that's why we need your help. It's our money you see, but it's stuck in that safe and we can't get the safe open to get to it." Mrs Sutton continued. "Show him the newspaper, Sam."

Sam pushed the newspaper across the table for the two of them to see and there it was, in black and white, confirming how the townspeople had lost everything they had when the bank manager had made a run for it in the night, leaving the townsfolk's money locked in a safe they couldn't get into. The article went on to describe how most had eventually upped and left the area, looking for work elsewhere, though a few hardy souls had remained, trying to eke a living out of what was left of the once prosperous town. The article also told of their various attempts to trace Jacob Hammond and to recover their money.

Curry looked up at them, puzzled. "Why didn't you just blow it up with dynamite?" he asked.

"Oh we tried," laughed Sam. "Several times. You probably won't believe this, but for some reason, we couldn't blow it up, just didn't work"

"And don't suggest we should have used more dynamite," smiled Doc Murray. "If what we used that last time didn't blow it, nothing will."

They all laughed out loud, obviously at some private memory and Curry could picture these people who knew nothing about dynamite struggling to use it to open the safe.

"So, Mr Smith? Mr Jones?" Mrs Sutton suddenly turned very serious, looking from one to the other. "Will you help us?"

"Well now, that depends" Heyes replied easily. "How much does the job pay?"

They all shifted a little uncomfortably and looked at Sam.

Heyes eyed them suspiciously. "You said you'd pay us?"

"Yes, yes," nodded Sam, a little nervously. "There is a small problem though."

"What small problem?" Curry's voice was hard, not threatening, but enough for them to know he wasn't going to be messed around.

"Well," Sam glanced around him quickly at the others before continuing. "If you manage to get that safe open, then we can pay you - we'll have the money you see. If you can't open it though, we'll have nothing to pay you with. As it is right now, we're struggling just to survive."

Heyes pursed his lips, considering. "That sounds reasonable" he replied after a moment. "How much does the job pay if we get the safe open?"

"A thousand dollars,"

Heyes raised his eyebrows and leaned forward in his seat. "A thousand dollars? Sam, how much money is in that safe?"

"Well, I… I don't …don't know," he stammered.

"And it's only worth a thousand dollars to you all to retrieve it?" asked Heyes, considering. "Sam, you said we were free to accept the job or not?

"That's right.” Sam nodded. "We really do want you to do this though."

Slowly, Bill leaned forward in his seat opposite them and rested his elbows on the table, the chair creeking loudly as he did so. He cupped his hands underneath his chin. There was a long pause, the air suddenly filling with tension at his slow and exaggerated movements. "Now," he began eventually, "You boys have some reason for not helping us here? We know you can open safes, and we know you've got the time to do it. Like Sam said, we're serious about wanting you to do this - I can't see no reason why you wouldn't help us?" He looked from one to the other, his eyes momentarily cold and hard. Very slowly, he reached under the table, and when his hand reappeared, it held a gun, which he turned over gently, almost reverently in his hands, before placing it very carefully and very deliberately on the table in front of him. "There wouldn't be any reason we don't know about, now would there?" he asked.

Heyes and Curry looked at each other for only a brief second and came to a decision.

Curry smiled broadly, raising his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Now gentlemen, we didn't say we weren't going to help you. It’s going to cost you more than a thousand dollars, is all."

"How much?" asked the Doc.

"Five thousand dollars," replied Heyes instantly.

"Deal," the Doc replied, just as quickly.

"Gentlemen," smiled Curry, nodding in agreement.

Smiles of relief broke out around the table and there was a general buzz as everyone thanked them profusely and shook their hands across the table. As the hubbub died down, Mrs Sutton was left standing. She shrugged as everyone looked at her. "Might as well do it now," she said.

Heyes nodded in agreement and stood up quickly. "I know you don't believe us," he said, looking at Sam "but we really do have another delivery job and I figure that we can open this safe for you and then be on our way to our delivery job without too much delay."

Sam looked him straight in the eye, nodded and then smiled at him. Heyes decided that Sam still didn't believe him.

As everyone stood and made to leave, Heyes held back until he found himself alone with Sam, the last two in the saloon.

"Sam?" he asked casually as they walked towards the door. "You know where the mining supplies office used to be in this town?"

"No, I'm sorry, I don't." replied Sam absently, opening the door and hurrying down the street to catch up with the others.

Heyes paused in the doorway, watching him and frowning. "You don't know?" he repeated to himself under his breath, surprised.

His train of thought was interrupted by Curry's laughing voice just outside the door. "The mining supplies office, Heyes?"

Heyes smiled at him, a genuine smile which reached his eyes, the smile he reserved for Curry alone. "The only safe I know of Kid that can't be blown with dynamite!"

* * * * *

Five minutes later they were all standing in what was just about recognisable as the bank. Curry looked around him and smiled to himself. The wooden counter was in pieces all around the room and the floor was littered with debris, clearly, decided Curry, the results of a series of larger and larger explosions as these people tried to blow the safe with dynamite.

Curry looked towards where Heyes was standing next to the safe, patting it, almost lovingly. Another smile crossed Curry's features, he knew how Heyes felt about a legal safebreak. Heyes had been right, of course, it was indeed a Pierce and Hamilton 1878.

"Well?" asked Sam, moving to stand next to Heyes. "How long do you think it will take?"

"Longer than I thought actually Sam. This is a Pierce and Hamilton 78. The manufacturers made the tumblers so quiet you can't open them by manipulation. It also explains why you couldn't blow it with dynamite, you can't open them that way either."

"But I don't understand," started Mrs Sutton, her voice raised a little. "What about the one you opened in… " she stopped abruptly and looked nervously at Sam who glared back at her. "What about… what about the ones… the ones you opened here in town? Aren't they all the same?" she filled in, suddenly and quickly.

"No, they're not," answered Heyes. "And I'm not saying I can't open it, only that I can't open it using that method."

"We'll need to do a little preparation," explained Curry. "It means we can't open it right now, but we will do later."

"Later today?" asked Sam.

Curry glanced at Heyes. "Maybe, it depends. But we do need to be on our way with the delivery by Monday so we'll do it before then.

"Oh yes, of course" smiled Sam, a little too sweetly. "I keep forgetting about your other delivery."

"Well," Heyes began, pushing his hat back on his head. "We'll need to gather some equipment but I don't see why we can't do that quickly." He pursed his lips in thought. "How about we meet back here later?"

"Sounds good to me," smiled Sam, looking around at the others who were all nodding and generally agreeing with him. "Later it is."

* * * * *

The doors of the almost empty saloon burst open and the Doc almost flew in, he was in such a hurry.

"Sam?" he called. "He left town. Five minutes ago, headed towards Howardsville."

"Thanks Doc," replied Sam, following the Doc towards the door. As he was about to leave, the door swung inwards and he nearly bumped into Curry as he came into the saloon. Sam was a little flustered and mumbled an apology before returning back behind the bar.

"I'll have a beer please, Sam."

Sam seemed to calm a little, but eyed Curry suspiciously as he set his beer down in front of him.

"You worried about my partner leaving town?" asked Curry, casually but knowingly.

"No. Yes, No. No, I'm not" Curry raised an eyebrow at him and Sam laughed. "No, I'm not."

"He's not run out on you. He's gone to Howardsville to get the equipment we need. He'll be back soon."

"I didn't think he'd run out on us."

"Uh-huh." Curry nodded dubiously.

"Not once I saw you here anyway." Sam was beginning to relax a little.

"That's what we figured, and that's why I stayed here, so's you wouldn't worry," smiled Curry, taking a swig of the beer.

Again the saloon door burst open and the Doc ran back in calling "Sam? Sam? You ready?" His momentum took him halfway across the room before he spotted Curry and came to a standstill. Curry turned around, smiled at him and held up his beer to him in a gesture of greeting.

"You wanna beer Doc?" he asked.

The Doc glanced at Sam before nervously answering. "Oh yes, er, yes…" he started and paused, again looking at Sam. "Actually," he added suddenly "No. I'd better go and… and …" He didn't finish the sentence, just turned abruptly and left the saloon.

Curry turned back to the bar, a smile on his face. Heyes had been right, seeing him leave town had sure made them all nervous.

Only a few moments later, the Doc returned again, this time with Bill and Frank and they all joined Curry at the bar. Curry couldn't help but smile to himself. They were obviously here to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't go anywhere before Heyes returned. He settled down to enjoy the beer and the company, and to await Heyes' return.

* * * * *

As Heyes rode into the town of Howardsville, he noted the contrast with Kearne Junction. Howardsville was a busy, bustling place, people rushing around in the street, on foot, on horseback and in wagons. To the right he spotted the sheriff's office and mentally sighed in relief that the sheriff's name wasn't familiar to him. Almost opposite was the mining supplies office and just a block away was the saloon. For a moment he gazed at the saloon, tempted to make it his first stop, it had been a hot and dusty ride. But he also knew that the time was crucial. They had to open the safe and be out of town before the sheriff returned some time tomorrow and so he had little time to waste. Better to set to and find the supplies he needed and then, he allowed himself, then he could have a beer before leaving.

Wearily, he climbed down and stretched, arching his back a little. He tethered his horse and then made his way into the mining supplies office.

Only ten minutes later, he walked back out into the sunshine, a smile on his face, having almost secured what he needed. The Bryant pump had been no problem and he stashed it into his saddlebag. He'd expected the nitro to be the biggest problem but the kindly and not-too-bright old man in the office hadn't thought it would be too much of a problem. He'd suggested that Heyes go back in half an hour and was sure he'd have the nitro for him by then.

Deciding the saloon was as good a place to wait as any, he headed down the street. The saloon was extremely busy and the bartender clearly had no time for idle chatter. Having ordered a beer, Heyes turned around and leant back against the bar. There were four games of poker in progress, with empty seats at two of them. After watching for a few minutes, he turned back to face the bar, shaking his head in frustration that he didn't have time to join one of the games. He took a long swig of beer and as he placed it back down on the bar, his attention was taken by a newspaper. The Wheeler City Gazette it said. Heyes skimmed through it briefly.

"You seem mighty interested in what's going on over at Wheeler City," came a voice from his right. Heyes looked up to see a rough, rather grimy old cowboy smiling at him, revealing just a few crooked and blackened teeth. "Most folks here don't bother," he added.

Heyes smiled back. "It just happened to be here," he said. "I guess most folks just read the local paper huh?"

The old man snorted, which brought on a loud, hacking cough. Finally recovering, he replied "That is the local paper. I meant most folks don't bother cos most folks don't read."

"Oh, I see," smiled Heyes. "What about the Howardsville Tribune though? I thought that was the local paper?"

"Well then you know more'n me boy. I've lived here most my life and I never heard of no such thing as the Howardsville Tribune."

"No such thing?" asked Heyes, surprised and suddenly very interested.

"No such thing," the old timer replied, before being overcome with another coughing fit.

Heyes waited until he'd stopped coughing, before asking "You sure about that? I don't mean to be disrespecting, but you couldn't be mistaken on that could you?"

"I aint mistaken boy. I'm tellin' ya, there aint no newspaper in this town. Never has been, most likely never will be."

"Oh well," Heyes shrugged. "I must have remembered wrong then."

The old timer laughed and, lifting his beer glass, pointed to it with his other hand. "This stuff can do that to ya!"

Heyes smiled back. "You're right. Thanks." He lifted his own glass and swallowed the last of the beer before taking his leave of the old timer.

Back out on the street, he stood still for a few moments, watching the people milling around, thinking. After a few moments, he hurried across the road to the general store and then returned to where he'd tethered his horse, mounted and headed out of town. As he cleared the town limits, he urged his horse into a gallop as everything fell into place.

* * * * *

Curry raised an eyebrow as Mrs Sutton opened the saloon door and stepped inside. The womenfolk around here sure had no qualms about walking into a saloon.

"He's back," she announced simply, before turning and leaving.

The men put down their beers and eagerly followed her out of the door. Curry smiled and drained his glass before following them.

Heyes was just dismounting as Curry approached. "Get everything you need?" he asked.

"Yep," smiled Heyes easily. "Everything I need."

"Any problems?" asked Curry.

"No, no problems," replied Heyes seriously, knowing that Curry was asking about the law in Howardsville. Looking beyond Curry, he could see that the others were already too close for him to say anything more, so he slapped Curry enthusiastically on the back several times in a reassuring gesture as they all started down the street towards the bank.

* * * * *

Heyes had set the bag down next to the safe and he and Curry set to work, pressing putty carefully around the edge of the door. The others stood in a semi-circle around them, watching intently, not uttering a word between them. When they'd created a thorough seal with the putty, they sat back on their heels and Heyes checked his pocket watch.

"All we do now is wait," he said.

"For what?" asked the Doc, fascinated.

"For the putty to set," answered Mrs Sutton from behind him. "I assume he has to create a vacuum, to get the nitro inside the safe. When the putty has hardened, it will seal the door and he'll use the pump to pump out the air. The resulting vacuum will then suck in the nitro which will blow the safe from inside. It's ingenuis. It must have been how he did it in Denver."

Curry froze on the spot. It was a matter of public record that Hannibal Heyes was the only person to ever have opened a Pierce and Hamilton '78, back in Denver, before their amnesty quest began. The law knew that. He glanced up at Heyes but he didn't seem to be reacting to the comment at all. In fact, he had that self-satisfied, almost smug glint in his eyes as he continued to calmly check the putty around the edge of the door.

Curry looked towards Sam. He had an enormous smile on his face and in his hand was a gun, pointing directly at Curry.

"Don't try anything clever," Sam threatened. Curry looked at the others and wasn't surprised to see them all holding guns on them. Dejected, he raised his hands in the air.

"Mr Heyes," the Doc addressed him. "Would you turn around please."

"You mean me?" asked Heyes easily, turning with a smile on his face. "Only my name is Smith."

"Yes, I mean you, Mr Heyes."

He too raised his hands and returned Sam's smile as the bartender removed both his and Curry's guns. "It doesn't need to be this way Sam - and the name's Smith."

"I'm afraid it does, Mr Heyes. I'm sorry to say it's not quite how we described it to you, you see."

"It's not?" Heyes feigned innocent surprise, then paused before adding. "And Sam? It's Smith."

"Frankly, the name don't matter, that's not what this is about."

"Then what is it about?" asked Heyes, his voice taking on a harder edge and his eyes narrowing slightly.

"If this is about us not getting paid again," grumbled Curry, exasperated. Heyes rolled his eyes at him.

"It's about what's in that safe. We want it and we have no intention of letting you interfere with that. Not after we've come this far."

"Ah. And just how far have you come Sam? Is your name even Sam?" asked Heyes.

Sam stepped forward, his expression changing in that moment, as he raised his gun towards Heyes and walked around him, his tone threatening, menacing.

"You talk too much Mr Heyes. My name isn't important. And like I said before, yours isn't either, at least not to us. Twenty thousand dollars is child's play compared with what's in that safe. When they closed those mines so suddenly after the accident, they had to leave all that cash behind. Oh there's been quite a few attempts to get it over the years. And now you, you are going to open it for us and the law will be looking for you, not us. Everything has worked out perfectly. You walked right into our little trap didn't you? Just too keen to prove to yourself that you could still open a safe." He came to a stop at Heyes' side and looked him in the eye, taunting him. "You just couldn't resist could you?"

Heyes didn't flinch. He looked him right back in the eye and when he spoke, his own voice was also tinged with threat. "This whole thing was a set up wasn't it? A con. This isn't your town, you've never lived here. And there's none of your money in that safe is there."

The tone in Heyes' voice shook Sam a little. He was the one who held the gun, so how could this man be so intimidating when he had a gun in his face? Sam mentally shook himself, but backed off a little, returning to where he'd been standing before, next to the others.

"You're exactly right, Mr Heyes," he smiled proudly. "You've been set up. One of the easiest cons we've ever pulled too." Even as he said the words though, the look in Heyes' eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

From the shadows at the back of the room, emerged another figure. "Enough time wasting," came the familiar voice of Lester Washington, the man who had originally offered them the delivery job. "Get that safe open," he barked.

Heyes glanced briefly at Curry as they turned back towards the safe. He checked his pocket watch and nodded to Curry, who picked up the pump and began to pump the air out of the safe. The hard physical effort was almost a relief as his mind whirled around these latest developments. He wished he knew what Heyes was thinking, but for once he hadn't been able to read his partner. Before he knew it, Heyes was putting his hand on his shoulder to tell him that it was enough.

Curry stood up and stretched slightly, but then tensed again as Heyes reached for the nitro. He'd never liked this part. His eyes cautiously followed every move as Heyes' fingers gently lifted the bottle. He sucked in a breath and held it as Heyes turned the bottle, ever so slowly. He marvelled at how steady Heyes' hands were as they moved the nitro towards the funnel and the tube …

Somehow, Curry had always known that it would happen one day. And suddenly, here it was.

The last time that Hannibal Heyes handled nitro.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, but Curry could only stare in horror as the bottle seemed to slip right through Heyes' fingers and out of his grasp. Heyes made a gallant attempt to catch it, and very nearly did, but he fumbled it and it began its long, slow descent to the floor, almost as if it was floating thought Curry.

He remembered Heyes once mentioned the floor plan of a bank and so he wasn't surprised when for him it was the gunfights, one after another, playing out in front of him - a saloon in Wickenburg, the bully in South Bend, a dispute over the winner of a horse race, an even sillier one about who would ride atop the stagecoach, Danny Bilson, the one he'd killed, the one to protect Alex Harrington just because he looked like Heyes and finally the one that had been setup, where he'd drawn on his own partner.

Heyes' face came into his mind as the bottle neared the floor and he thought he saw a flicker of a smile on his friend's face. He tried to smile back, but he seemed to be frozen in place. Behind him he heard everyone else scurrying for cover, but he didn't care what happened to them. He watched as the bottle approached the floor, slowly, gently, finally making contact. He heard the sound of shattering glass and instinctively squeezed his eyes tightly shut, bracing himself and then …

Nothing.

* * * * *

He heard a slight rustling sound and then Heyes' voice piercing confidently as always through the silence. It seemed so right to hear the familiar voice next to him and Curry found it calming. They'd so long been partners in life that it seemed fitting that they were still together now. And yet, somehow, Heyes' words didn't seem to make any sense.

"Stay right where you are and keep your hands up."

Gingerly, Curry opened his eyes and looked around him, finally letting out the breath he realised he'd been holding. He was still standing in the same place, next to the safe. But why wasn't he dead? He looked down at the liquid pooling on the floor and then up at Heyes, who was standing there with a gun in his hand, pointing it somewhere to the left. Curry pointed at the liquid.

"It didn't...? Why?" he asked, confused and in shock.

"Didn't what?" asked Heyes, keeping his eyes focussed across the room. "Blow up? I guess I must have lost my touch." He looked at Curry intently and then very slowly, the side of his mouth twitched upwards slightly as a glint appeared in his eyes and the dimple on his cheek deepened. His lips started to curl into a smile which broadened and widened until his whole face lit up and his eyes danced as finally he laughed out loud.

* * * * *

"You thought the lamp oil was gonna blow up when it hit the floor?"

Slowly it dawned on Curry. Heyes had known - he'd known. But how?

"You gonna stand there gaping or you gonna help me tie them up?" sighed Heyes with mock exasperation.

* * * * *

Heyes and Curry stood on the vantage point halfway up the small hill, a few miles outside of town. From here they had a clear view of the road into Kearne Junction but could also remain out of sight of anyone on the road amongst the trees. A short time ago, they'd seen the sheriff of Howardsville ride into the abandoned town with a bunch of deputies. Pleased that their anonymous note had brought the response they wanted, they now watched as the group came once more into view, this time with the seven people they'd left tied up at the bank obviously under arrest.

"OK Heyes, I admit it seemed a little odd that there was no-one in town except Sam that first night. I guess we arrived a little too early for them, but how did you figure it all out?"

"I didn't really Kid, not until I got to Howardsville and discovered there was no such thing as the Howardsville Tribune."

"I guess we know how that cat got into the safe then?" Curry laughed and Heyes grinned back.

"And it explains why Sam didn't know where the mining supplies office had been in the town. And how he knew we'd opened Mrs Sutton's safe when she couldn't possibly have had time to tell him."

"When you think about it Heyes, we must have been blind not to see it."

"That was the clever part though …."

"Uh-huh," agreed Curry, nodding. "They certainly were clever …"

Heyes glanced at him but continued "… they moved everything so fast that we didn't have time to think or put anything together."

Curry looked at him. "That wasn't the clever part though was it?" he asked.

Heyes gave him a questioning look.

"The clever part," continued Curry "was that they set you up from the beginning to want to open those safes."

"Hmm." Heyes narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "You may have a point there, Kid." Then suddenly, he grinned. "I suppose we should count ourselves lucky then that there was no nitro to be had anywhere in Howardsville."

With that, he turned, mounted his horse and moved towards the rocky path which lead back down to the road, leaving Curry staring after him.