The tall man filled the saloon door; his badge displayed predominantly on his coat, scanned the room then headed straight for his objective.

"You men the one's responsible for the Sheriff's guest?"

"You must be Marshall Raintree. Take a seat, Marshall."

Harlan stared. The man was almost as tall sitting down. His black hat had a wide silver band with a white feather at the back and his coat resembled deerskin with native symbols stitched in coloured thread around the cuffs. Harlan shifted his chair a bit to get a better view of the face, a broad, smooth, expressionless mask.

"Customs Agents Lincoln Kane and Harlan Trench at your service." Link offered.

"I've heard the prisoner's story, what's yours?"

'It's all in the paperwork," Harlan replied, finishing some food and pushing the plate away.

"Humour me."

Both the voice and the expression made that an easy decision and Link took on the honours.

"Can I assume you know about the human trafficking in Frisco?" The face stayed blank and the eyes just fixed on Link. "Right. Well we went there undercover to break up a group of rogue customs agents working for a man named Regan Hubble." Link paused again to no avail.

"Well, it turned out somebody else was running that business and Hubble was just cuttin' out a piece for himself. We stopped Hubble but this other person's men killed him and tried to kill us."

"Can I get you a drink, Marshall?" Harlan stood and started for the bar.

"Go on."

Link looked at Harlan and shrugged. "We uh- we managed to get them first, all but one and he went into custody down there." Still no reaction. Raintree looked like a totem image, totally unmovable.

Harlan returned and set a beer next to the Marshall with one for Link and himself.

"Harlan here was stayin' in a place where a young Chinese girl worked. Seems her friends were all nearby in a Tong prostitute house. She had been bought by her employer 'cause he knew her family in China." Link took a slug of his beer; Raintree didn't budge.

"Well Harlan decided he would help these girls and uh- uh- that's what we did. We got them out of the house and with Dawn, that was Harlan's friend, along with her and the others we came here by wagon."

Raintree looked at Harlan, picked up the beer and swallowed it in one gulp. "I asked about the prisoner."

"Yeah . . . well I was just- okay. We were sent by a group of customs officials from Sacramento to clear out their opposition so−"

"Oh for- Link just shut up. Nobody else knew we brought those girls back here. Nobody. That means it was the very group of officials that sent us there are the ones running the trafficking and they sent the two gunmen after us."

Raintree stared at the table for a moment then stood and looked down on the two agents.

"I'm takin' him back but it ain't gonna look like more than a cowboy argument; he likely won't spend much time in jail.You boys bein' agents are getting the benefit of the doubt. Get any solid proof that can be brought before a district judge - you get it to me."

"The only thing I'll be bringing−"

"My partner means we'll do our best on that front, Marshall." Link kicked Harlan under the table.

Raintree studied them both a moment, nodded and left. There seemed to be more air for everyone.

******

Link sat back on his haunches and fiddled with a piece of straw, scraping it flat with his thumbnail and twisting into a knot.

"Do you have any kind of plan at all?"

"Workin' on it. Backwards from when I put a bullet in his smug face."

"I think Raintree's suggestion was to bring him some proof."

"Yeah well he can suggest for many moons 'cause I already have proof."

Harlan watched link tie the piece of straw he was fiddling with and then got up. "I'm gonna have a talk with Dawn."

Link watched him go, his thoughts a mass of confusion.

******

Dawn was standing at the cookstove, her back to the door and Harlan stopped just inside and felt a sudden hesitation, a loss for words. Before he could get himself sorted, she turned around and her face showed a happy surprise.

"Harlan! I have not seen you much."

"Yeah- so well- busy." He fumbled his words out of his mouth.

"You had trouble with men, girls tell me?"

"Yeah- Link and I took care of it. Nothing more happening there."

She set down the spoon she was holding and came to his arms, unabashed. "I miss you, Harlan."

"Uhm- uh- Dawn . . ." The feel of her in his arms drained him. He couldn't concentrate and when she looked up, he thought he might actually fall into her eyes and drown.

The swinging open of the kitchen door broke the spell and one of Dawns friends skidded to a halt, stared and giggled.

"Man order steak fast done." She blinked and hurried back out.

"Guess I better let you work . . . uh, she's learning American fast."

"Yes, like steak!"

He stopped and suddenly realized she had made a joke and his smile reflected on her face. "I'll see you later?"

Dawn nodded and hurried back to work.

******

"I thought I heard a sayin' once about bringing some guy to a mountain or something."

"You know what he's talkin' about?"

Sheriff Tubbs rocked in his chair and shook his head. "Not a word, Link."

"It's the crux of my idea."

"You lame or somethin', boy; you need a crutch?"

"Crux, Sheriff, crux. Never mind, this is my plan."

"Ah, now we get to the root of the matter." Link grinned and winked at Tubbs.

"Done laughin' are we?" Harlan waited a minute then began. "Gerrard won't know that them others sent the two gunmen after us−"

"How do we know that?"

"Stands to reason. Why not use Gerrard when he's right here instead of importin' professionals?"

"Okay . . ."

"So we threaten Gerrard with- uhm- look, Sheriff, we did work for a group that was headed by a man called Lantern. I know, I know," Tubbs' face screwed out of shape. "Just leave it at that. Anyway, Link and I feel that this Lantern is really the head of the smuggling in Frisco and Gerrard is his man doing the actual work - at least his men are. Now if Lantern is bypassing Gerrard to get to us it must mean there's somethin' goin' on between them."

"Hold on, boy, that's a lot of speculatin'."

"It's the only thing that makes sense to me, Sheriff." Harlan glanced at Link who was looking at his hands.

"I think since we busted up the customs ring something has changed down there and Gerrard and Lantern are at odds."

"He's got a point, Sheriff," Link said.

"So if that's true what's the plan? You haven't said yet."

Harlan inhaled and blew out a slow breath. "Depends on you, Sheriff."

"What? What depends on me? I got no danged idea what your even−"

"Need you to take a message to Gerrard.

The only sound was the tick of the railway clock on the wall and Sheriff Tubbs wheezing, as he looked daggers at Harlan.