A MOUNTIE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN!

Chapter 4

A Question of Gratitude

Last Time...

There were two soft whumps as the ropes caught fire.

Both men yelled again for help in renewed fear. The rope quickly burned up and down. The string of dynamite started and lit up in a chain reaction that led to the entire cart getting lit up just as Stockwell had fantasized.

"HELLLLLP! HEEEELLLLLLLP!!!

The rope quickly burned through and unravelled. And then....SNAP! SNAP!

And Now...

Together....The two men plunged into the void!

"YAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH - OOOFF!!"

Up above, two pairs of hands had grabbed their two ropes and halted their fall into a silent, deep and pitch dark doom...just in the nick of time!!!

Hand over hand, and what seemed torturously slow, but really as quickly as they could the captive crimefighters were hauled upwards until they were lying on the floor of the mine tunnel once again.

"Whewww, thanks fellas! We were about..." started Brian.

"There's no time for that now! Do what I say or we're all goners! Roll to the sides of the tunnel, NOW!"

The two men obeyed.

Long and surprisingly athletic legs gave a mighty kick with a "HEEEEE - YAHHH!" thrown in for good measure. The mine car, still a blazing time bomb, rolled quickly past them and plunged down into the deep mine shaft, car, explosives and all. As it rolled forward and plunged in, it made way to reveal their deliverers....Emmett and Ted!

"But...but how!?" gasped Justin.

"There's no time to explain! We're still in terrible danger with that mine car----- waiting to go off," said Emmett.

"Remember this!?" said Ted, holding up the Bowie knife in the light of their smaller torch that Emmett just relit with a match.

Wasting no more words, he bent and sliced Brian out of his bonds and then hurried to do the same to Justin. The two men helped the rescued rangers to their feet and at that moment the booby trapped mine car exploded with a great noise and a pillar of flame that reached even up to where they were. The fire filled the tunnel like a solid mass of flame and smoke. It came closer and closer with a great noise. It was as if they were trying to outrun dragon's breath. The mine tunnel quaked horribly and cracked some of the supports, starting a horrible chain reaction.

"RUN!!!!" screamed Emmett, doing just that, dragging Justin along as best he could who desperately tried to get his circulation back.

This earthquake was so intense that it was felt all the way back in Grizzly Hills. The townspeople felt it deep within their bones and wondered what it was. Debbie felt it and saw all the dishes and glasses clink and clatter on their shelves. One glass moved across the counter and smashed on the floor.

Stockwell, who was still on his way home, felt it and just rubbed his hands together and smiled evilly. He relished every tremor and then continued on his way.

Meanwhile, the firestorm continued to advance. One support cracked through completely and fell in. There was another huge rumbling as tons of rock and dirt fell in behind them.

This shot all four men full of adrenaline but it wasn't enough to get Justin completely up to speed. He still limped along like a bear with a thorn stuck in his paw.

Emmett saw the next support crack and buckle. If something wasn't done, the cave in would overtake them in no time. There was no time to lose.

Quickly, the lanky man butted Justin in the stomach and lifted him fireman carry style with surprising strength. He ran for his life.

Brian, on the other hand, felt the adrenaline rush, felt his police training kick in and pins and needles sweep the numbness away. It swept everything away except the training. And so it was he who grabbed Ted in one burly arm and ran with him over a shoulder.

CRACK! BLAM! CRACK! BLAM! CRACK! BLAM! Supports blew out one after another, coming closer and closer. Throughout, was the steady roar of the firestorm coming closer....and closer...and closer...Soon it would overtake them. They ran faster.

Emmett ran as fast as his long legs would let him letting his small torch in front of him, not to mention the firestorm in back of him, guide his way.

The fire and smoke were exploding the collapsing tunnel out of their way, hungry to overtake the desperate adventurers and devour them.

There! A light in the distance! The mouth of the tunnel.

The mine shaft was full on collapsing behind them now Support after support collapsed and caved in.

Both Emmett and Brian's lungs were bursting but they knew they had to keep going. They put on a final burst of speed with the cave in right behind them. They ran....ran...reached...and jumped out of the tunnel instants before the cave in reached them. The mouth of the tunnel was filled with tons of rock and debris seconds before they jumped out. Both men launched themselves forward, grabbed and shielded their charges and rolled to either sides of the tunnel.

FOOOOOMMMMM!!!! An explosion of fire blew out the mouth of the tunnel before it was once again covered and smothered by the continuing cave in. Finally the various rumblings faded away and it was silent.

The four men unrolled and sat up. They were dishevelled and dusty, red-eyed, parched and exhausted. Now that they had time to look, they saw that Emmett was still wearing what was left of his snooty suit. However, it was shredded. It was ripped to ribbons and dust and dirt had been so ground in, in places that it would never come out.

Justin sat up and commented on it. But Emmett waved him off.

"Oh, don't worry about it, my sweet ray of Sunshine! Besides, I have a feeling that certain jig is up anyway!"

Brian and Ted were sitting up as well. Both were sore and felt it and they made their way over to the others slowly.

"Geez, Honeycutt, where'd you learn to do all that?" Brian asked incredulously.

"K-O-Karate training at the Hazelhurst Community Center. A must for any gay boy living in Hazelhurst Mississippi. Of course, I was the only gay boy in Hazelhurst...Anyway, it gave me a killer kick and wicked core strength to this day."

"But why didn't you tell us before this?" asked Justin. "I mean you must still practice!"

"Well, of course I do sugar! But you never asked! And besides, it's not exactly the thing that comes up in polite conversation! I mean, think of it!...More honey for your tea?...Oh thank you, what nice drapes!....Oh by the way, I'm a black belted killing machine! You see? It just isn't done!"

Brian rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. Drama queen Emmett was back with a vengeance. "What I really want to know...is how are you guys here!? I mean, thanks a lot! We were done for! But how did you find us!"

"Oh now that IS a story!" enthused Emmett. "You see it all started back at the bank after you were sedated and kidnapped. The big galoot stole you and the last sack of nickels he used to whack you with and then...."

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

Earlier that day...

It was a few moments after the thug had gone out the window with Brian and the sack full of nickels.

Ted and Emmett struggled around in their tied up and now tipped over condition.

"Did he manage to do anything over there?" called Emmett, "I can't move a muscle!"

"Yes. But only a few ropes on my wrist! I think it's enough to just...to try and..." Ted pulled and twisted struggled around his wrist and in a few moments he managed to twist free. "Got it!" He used that hand to untie his other and then his biceps and legs. But he couldn't reach around to where he'd been tied around his chest and waist. This was unfortunately, the crucial part for Emmett who was still bound up securely.

Now that his legs were free, it was a simple...well, fairly simple task to drag them over to Brian's Bowie knife that had been jolted out of his grasp earlier. Ted got the knife and sliced himself the rest of the way free and then set about freeing Emmett. Moments later they were both standing up and rubbing the circulation back into their arms and legs.

"Oh shit! Look what they've done to my office!" wailed Ted.

"Screw your office! That guy just kidnapped Brian! Which means sure as shootin' they've kidnapped Justin! We've got to follow that guy right away before the trail goes cold!"

"But he told us not to," objected Ted weakly.

"Theodore Schmidt! There are a lot of reasons I have been hesitant and dare I say it, ashamed to set foot in this town but I never thought for the life of me that one of those reasons would ever be YOU!"

Emmett strode over and ripped the spear gun arrow out of the wall. There was a crunching noise and spiderweb cracks formed all around where it had been. A sizable piece of the wall collapsed and Emmett was looking at a huge hole in the wall. Emmett sighed but soldiered on.

"This almost had your name on it!" she shouted, a bit too shrilly. He tapped the arrow against Ted's chest but only succeeded in cutting off the man's tie. "That big red musclehead saved your life and you're just going to abandon him!? Well, not on my watch! We're going to rescue them, not listen to the bad guys! They're not the boss of us!" In emphasis, Emmett threw the arrow defiantly away over his shoulder. There was a sound of glass smashing. Emmett winced.

That was something expensive, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," sighed Ted.

BJBJBJBJBJBJ

"Will you two chuckleheads stop screwing around and get to the point!" yelled Brian, "Just skip to the part on how you managed to find us!"

"Oh that's simple!" elucidated Emmett, "Once we finally got going, we went out what was left of the window and followed the guy's tracks. What with carrying you and all that coined cash, he left quite deep footprints that were as easy as pie to follow. We followed him to the edge of town where he was joined by a bunch of other prints. These led up here. We stayed in hiding around the corner until Stockwell came running out laughing like a lunatic. We ran in as fast as we could in time to save you. And the rest...is history!"

"It must be, from the way you tell it," grumbled Brian, "I've always found history stories long and boring!"

"You know, I'm detecting a distinct lack of gratitude here," huffed Emmett.

"Oh, I'm sooooo sorry! What can you expect from a musclehead?" Brian grumbled back.

By this time, Justin had made his way over to Brian. He grabbed his hand and squeezed surprisingly hard. "Emmett, Ted...Of course, we're grateful....Aren't we, Brian!?" he said squeezing again. Brian took a deep breath and nodded smiling fakely. "And Emmett...maybe musclehead was a rather harsh term. After all, Brian did save you and Ted as well."

"Well...I guess it was..." Emmett huffed, "Sorry. It just slipped out in the heat of the moment I guess."

"Good....now that that's settled...Let's get out of here and go home," said Justin.

And they did.

BJBJBJBJBJ

The next morning...

Justin jolted awake and found he could not go back to sleep.

This was rather odd because they had only gotten a few hours sleep. After the four of them had made their way back to Justin's they skulked around and hid out like they were the criminals. When it was apparent that no one was watching the house and/or coming after them, Emmett said he needed to go home to Candy Boy and Ted decided to go with him. Emmett's house was nice and secluded which was perfect since they were both supposed to be...well, dead. Also, they had talked out most of their issues and once Ted found out why Emmett was dressing up, he could understand. They found themselves talking about other things and soon Ted was more than willing to take it back to Emmett's to continue....talking... more in private. (Yeah right! )

And of course, after they had left, the gloves came off (and the boots and the pants and the shirts) and they began another marathon of mind-blowing survivor sex and bondage. This continued long into the night.

And so it was, that Justin was awake and turning around to find a new warm spot deeper into the bed and Brian's arms when he realized the brown pair of eyes that didn't know they were soulful were open and looking at him hungrily.

"Good morning," said Justin. It was the rosiest pink of the crack of dawn.

"It will be once I'm balls deep in your hot ass!" said Brian incorrigibly, "Are you ready for round...what are we on now?"

"Eight, I think. I've lost count. And I'd love to oblige but....mmmpppphhhhhh...mmmmmmmmm....."

But Brian didn't want any buts except the sweet cheek he grabbed in one meaty palm to pull them closer together to grind their cocks together and shove his tongue down Justin's willing throat. He kneaded the sweet ass and loved the second groan that resulted.

Justin allowed this for a little while since this was quickly becoming his favourite spot in the whole world. Well, second favourite but it was a close second to having Brian's dick shoved balls deep into his horny ass.

Finally though, he broke apart and murmured, "Something woke me up, I think."

"It's the crack of dawn. What could it be?"

"I don't know. I just feel....something."

"Well don't worry. Stockwell thinks we're dead for the time being and even super criminals need their beauty sleep. It must be anxiety. But trust me, nothing's out there. Besides, I'm here to protect you."

"God, that's hot," Justin moaned.

"Just like you. Now don't worry! We're fine. Absolutely nothing's going to go wrong!"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Justin sat bolt upright in bed. "I knew I felt like something was going to happen!" He looked over wryly. "You were saying?"

"Oh, whatever!" Brian said, rolling over and pulling the covers over his head, "It's too early! Tell whoever to come back next week."

"Hey!!! What happened to ‘I'm here to protect you?"

Brian's only response was a pretended snore.

Justin rolled his eyes and poked him. "That wouldn't fool anybody! Now put on some pants and follow me!"

Brian sighed hugely but obeyed.

The plaintive knock came again.

Justin pulled on some pants commando style and for good measure pulled on his robe for good measure. Brian pulled on a shirt but left it unbuttoned and also his pants and they went to investigate. On the way, Brian grabbed the poker.

"Uhhh....coming!" called Justin.

Brian set up shop behind the door and Justin cautiously answered it. They both recoiled in horror.

They were faced with a most unusual and spectacularly ugly creature.

Dear Reader, I call it a creature because what was now standing on Justin's doorstep defied description. So here goes: It was not man. It was not a woman. It was...human. That much was sure. The rounded head and pointy chin resembled an egg exactly. The head was perfectly bald except for growing out of the back in a semicircle, were thin ringlets of blond...ish hair that hung down past the shoulders. The ears were pierced. The face. Oh dear. There was a womanly button nose but other than that...the mouth was too large, the chin too sharp and the cheeks and forehead too wide to be a woman's. He...surely, it was a he...had deep, also dirty blond, five o clock shadow. And yet...the eyes were too dainty and sky blue to be called anything else except a woman's. And the body was only 5'8" or so, definitely not tall or wide enough to be a man's.

The...thing...wore black rain boots, a dress, but as if it had been thrown on in a hurry. And somehow...the curves...didn't quite fit. The chest was too flat. Over this was a large over coat and it wore a woman's Sunday hat. It carried a large carpet bag suitcase.

"Hello Justin. Hello Brian. Good morning. I'm sorry to call so early but I need your help. May I come in?" the voice was cultured, very polite but deep like a man's.

"I'm sorry but who -"

"...Or what..."

"Do we know you?" finished Justin politely, jabbing Brian in the stomach with his elbow.

"Oh, of course. I know I look a fright. Justin...Brian...it's me...I'm Emmy Lou."

TBC