Bonnie & Clyde

Chapter 6

Simon Sheppard- Neal Patrick Harris Death Nail- Agent 453-21-768- played by Christoph Waltz ( Colonel Hans Landa ** Inglorious Basterds)

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Mal Remolds and Zoe Washburn had been surprised with the notion that they had just been bamboozled. Robbed of the shipment that they were supposed to bring back to Badger. Mal was really shocked.

“Isn’t there any honor among thieves?” He questioned ……….Zoë resisted a strong impulse to laugh out loud. She turned from her captain to hide a wide grin upon her face.

Mal went back to questioning Jeff. “ You know Jeff, this doesn’t look good for either of us. You, letting the shipment get stolen from under your nose, and we, letting a pair of competing thieves haul off what we were supposed to take back to Persephone.”

“Everett! Like it’s my fault?!”

Zoë had heard Lester call Mal that very name before they’d entered the general store, again she cast humorous eyes upon the captain. He shot her a stern glance.

“ Not a word to the others on the ship.” He spoke softly. He turned his attention back to the store clerk.

“ Which direction did they go?” Mal question Jeff.

“ They headed east.” He returned.

As luck would have it Jayne was waiting out in that direction with shuttle #2. Mal always made ready a back-up plan on Serenity‘s endeavors……well, sometimes. He went outside onto the general store’s covered deck. He retrieved his voice com from inside his shirt pocket.

“ Jayne!” He spoke into the communicator.

“ Yeah , Mal?”

“ Got two individuals on horseback headed your direction. Stop ‘em. They have the goods! No questions, just do it!”

“ Roger that Mal!” Jayne signed off.

The captain and Zoe then returned to the mule rover. They started the engine and headed east.

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Simon Sheppard and his co-criminal Don were on a steady gallop on their way out of the little town of Warehouse Pass. It was decided during their route that Simon would give the hold up loot to Don as they approached a split in the road . He would continue straight ahead on the path whiled Don veered left, back toward their ship. They would meet up with Alexis later. The plan was on schedule as they parted but, unknown to Simon at the time, their robbery was about to become derailed.

Jayne Cobb stood like the “Hero of Canton” statue in the middle of a dirt road outside the town of Warehouse Pass. He was waiting for the two horsemen Mal had told him about to arrive. Up ahead a short distance he noticed a cloud of dust rising and knew that they would soon be upon him. He focused on the dust cloud. Weird thing! It looked as if there were only one rider. No difference, he would stop him anyway.

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Looking up onto the road ahead Simon noticed a big man banishing a big weapon standing center lane. The fellow didn’t look like a lawman, still he didn’t look as if he were there to build sandcastles either. He meant business. Simon slowed his steed and came to a halt.

“ Down off the mount….nice and easy like!” Jayne told the other thief as he aimed the barrel of Vera right at the man’s chest.

“ Ain’t got nothing but my horse!” Simon said, holding his hands up high above his head. Having someone else caught with the stolen horse might prove beneficial, he was thinking.

“ Don’t want your horse, “ Jayne announced, “ but I do want these…..” With that the big mercenary pulled the two weighty rice bags that were tied across the horse’s flank, off and threw them over his shoulder. He stashed them inside a shuttle he had positioned nearby. At about that time the sound of a hovercraft could be heard in the distance and the two men looked in that direction.

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Agent Death Nail had come across the two deputies that had been sent out in search of Alexis’ story about horse thieves. The agent informed them of the robbery which had occurred back in town. With one agreeing to accompany him and the other agreeing to return to the town with their mounts, the operative, now with his group of four, headed east on the trail of the two criminals.

In thirty minutes the crew of Death Nail’s shuttle became aware of some kind of interaction up in the road ahead, two individuals.

Soon, the hovercraft was brought to a smooth and steady halt.

“ Good morning gentlemen!” Agent 453-21-768 spoke as he dismounted the vehicle. He quickly flashed his ID credentials then returned it to his pocket. He noticed one of the men had the other at gunpoint. Death Nail’s men, and the deputy of Warehouse Pass had their weapons trained on both of them.

“ So, what’s the problem here?” Agent 453-21-768 requested an answer. Although Jayne had relaxed his grip on Vera he still held the weapon that the ready.

“ I don’t know Sheriff!” Simon Sheppard announced to the men who’d just arrived.

“ I’m not the Sheriff,” Agent Death Nail proclaimed, “ But this man here is a deputy of the town.” He pointed to lawman Bunker.

“ Well, sir,” Simon continued, “ Like I was saying, I don’t know what is going on. I was just riding down the road here when this man stopped me with that big gun aimed at my gut. What would you make of that?”

“ Now wait one rotten minute……..!” Jayne began to proclaim his innocence when the sound of another hovercraft came to the ears of the six men standing there.

In less than a minute another hover vehicle came to a rest alongside the others.

“ Pete, Eddie, Lattimer?” Deputy Bunker voiced in surprise, “ What are your fellas doing here?”

“ Just doin a little crime investigation Deputy Bunker!” Eddie informed them.

It wasn’t unusual in a town like Warehouse Pass on Ita moon for a group of citizens to form an independent posse. A group of regular townsfolk that got together to right the wrong that had been done to one of their own. The law authorities weren’t always around when a crime had been committed so folk out on the border planets and rim worlds sometime provided justice on their own. Although it wasn’t condoned by the authority of the core worlds, it was sometimes how things were done on the fringes.

“ Eddie, we have the situation under control……” deputy Bunker began to say…….

“ Yep, It’s my from my stable!” Lattimer claimed as he examined the only four legged creature standing in the dusty roadway. “This horse is defiantly one of mine.”

“ Well! There you go Deputy Bunker! Flint says that’s one of the horses rented by the lady in town! One that was robbed from her! What we gonna do about it?”

The Deputy was about to answer when the government agent spoke up.

“ I’ll tell you what we are going to do about it!” Death Nail voiced, “ We’re placing both of these people under arrest! Please lower your weapon sir!” He spoke to Jayne.

“ Hey wait a minute……I don’t even know this guy!” The big mercenary proclaimed. It quickly flashed through his brain that he could attempt a shootout, but Jayne was smart enough to know when the odds were stacked against him. He lowered Vera to the ground.

Just then there came the sound of a terrain rover coming from the west.

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Malcolm Reynolds, along with Zoe, had just come upon a confusing sight just outside the town limits of Warehouse Pass.

Nine men stood in the road. Two he recognized………Jayne, and Eddie, from the saloon in town. He brought the “mule” to a stop just before reaching the group of individuals. He still knew that he, and the others of his crew had committed no crime, so his pistol, and Zoe’s snub nosed Winchester, had remained holstered.

“ Is there an issue here gentlemen?” Mal said dismounting the rover.

“ Nothing that can’t be resolved sir!” Agent Death Nail told the captain. This little event had gone long enough. He decided to take total control.

“ Raise your hand up in the air sir!” Agent Death Nail spoke while aiming his weapon towards the captain. The situation was becoming a little confusing.

“ Deputy Bunker I’m placing all of these people under authorities arrest!” He said.

Everyone there looked at the commander.

“ Yes they are all to be taken back and held in lockdown at Warehouse Pass until things can be sorted out!”

This was a strange turn of events. Mal, Zoe and Jayne were to be locked up for no reason, and Simon Sheppard jailed as well?

“On what charge!” Mal spoke for the crew of Serenity.

“ Suspicion of armed robbery!” Death Nail told them. “ The innocent will be released later, if any of you are innocent!” The government man finished.

At this point there was no combating the issue…….Mal Reynolds thought. It was clearly seven against four, and those seven were already banishing their weapons. Better to surrender peacefully he surmised.

Just then there came a buzz on Death Nail’s message communicator, it read…..

“Issue in town of Warehouse Pass…..needs your immediate attention…out!”

“ Well people! Let’s wrap this up! Deputy Bunker, I’ll take this one…..” He pointed to Mal, “ ………..and head back into town. “You and Hodge are in charge of the others…do you understand?”

“Yes I do sir!” Deputy Bunker replied.

“ Take that shuttle and fly it back the holding facility. We’ll meet up with you there!”

“ Understood.” The deputy said.

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Once Jayne and Zoë were place within Serenity’s shuttle #2, deputy Bunker returned to the four men remaining outside.

“ Pete, Eddie, Lattimer……I’m leaving this fellow in your charge. I’m heading back to Warehouse Pass. See to it that justice is served gentlemen!” He said, then entered the shuttle and lifted off.

Eddie had saluted the lawman.

“Oh we will deputy Bunker,” He whispered as the craft flew out of sight. “ We will indeed.”

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Simon Sheppard faced the man who owned and operated Eddie’s Saloon in the town of Warehouse Pass.

The robber’s hands had been tied behind his back just as the other prisoners had been.

“Well, when are we going to leave Eddie?” Simon questioned him.

“ Soon, very soon.” the businessman answered. “ There is a bit of business needed to be attended to first.”

“ Oh, I figured all the paperwork would be done by the marshal after I’m behind the bars of a jail cell.” Simon concluded.

“ Normally it would be,” Eddie told him, “ But crime on Ita moon over the past couple of years has become very pestilent and costly. Myself and the other business folk of this world have created our own code of justice. A code that breaks down into several categories.”

“Really?”

“ Yeah, we’ve concluded that there can only one way for us to create a deterrent…….for law breakers.” He said.

“ Oh!” Simon questioned, “…..and what would that be?”

Eddie pointed in the direction behind the vault robber.

Simon noticed Lattimer and Pete had not been simply making ready their return trip back to the town of Warehouse Pass, No! They had been busy with other things. Simon Sheppard saw a long rope had been hoisted over the thick branch of a Live Oak tree. There was a definite loop discernable on one end.

“ Horse thievery, Capital Punishment!” The saloon owner finished.

End Part 6