A MOUNTIE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN!

Chapter 6

The Bridge

       Ben had been in the outhouse on the far edge of the clearing trying to drop a stubborn deuce for the past 15 minutes.

       He had become aware of a dull roar and ugly yelling sounds and this was only making him clench and his problem worse. Finally, he gave up and finished and cleaned up as best he could.

       He slammed out of the outhouse with an impressive noise.

       "Just WHAT the HELL is going on out here!!?" he yelled.

       When Ben yelled, people listened. The angry mob noises quiet and grew confused and then fizzled out especially when they saw Ben's face which was and dark and angry as a thundercloud.

       "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!!?" he yelled again as loud as possible.

       "Ben!!? Is that you? Ben!! Help me!!"

       "Michael!! Where are you?!"

It was then that the local shit stirrer, a lumberjack named Jacques elbowed his way through the crowd and into his face.

       "Ben! You're gonna love this! We're gonna get our pay back one way or another this time! Now we're organized! Now we've got a plan!!"

       "Jacques! So this is your idea! I should have known! What in God's name have you done!!?"

       "What have WE done! It was a group effort! And it's something that HAD to be done! You wanna get paid right?"

       "I talked to a cop on my lunch hour! He said he was working the bank robbery! There's nothing for us to do!!"

       "Oh, a cop, huh!? You mean, like this one!!?"

       Jacques pushed his way through the last of the clearing with a flourish, shoving over several men as husky as himself. This earned him more than a few dirty looks. However, it had the desired effect and Michael was shown off, tied to his tree, in a big "reveal".

       Michael was dishevelled and more scared than ever. He was stiff as a board and so tightly tied, he had gone numb. But he prayed that because of his encounter and whatever had passed between them...if anything...was enough for him to find help in this last port in this shit storm he had blundered into.

       "Ben....help me..." he said simply.

       Ben's eyes bugged out of his head and he gave a wordless cry of horror.

       Jacques was standing there with his arms crossed and a stupid, smug smile on his face like he had solved everything and saved the day. "Well, what do you think? We'll get our pay back in no time! Once Stockwell sees that we hold one of his...."

       Ben was boiling and getting madder and madder by the minute. So he did what any guy with 20" guns and a bod to match would have done...especially with a musclehead who was thinking with his smaller one. He hauled off and punched Jacques to the ground with a mighty uppercut to the jaw!

       "D'uuhhhhh! What's the idea?" Jacques complained from where he'd been laid out flat on the ground.

       "That's what I should be asking you!" yelled Ben. "What the HELL were you thinking!? Did you even have an idea in that pea brain of yours!!? This is the cop that was called in to work on our case! And you've kidnapped him! At the very least it's assault of a police officer! You...we'll all get in terrible trouble!"

       "Oh Sir!" he said, addressing Michael, "I'm so sorry for this! Please forgive these blunderheads! They think with their muscles more than their brains sometimes! Please tell me what we can do to make it up to you."

       "Untying me and letting me go would be a good start," croaked Michael.

       "Of course!" Ben raised his omnipresent axe.

       "No!" Jacques' equally heavy hand grabbed the handle as it was coming down. "You can't! This will wreck our plan! I had it all figured out!"

       Ben wrested his axe away from Jacques. "Plan? What plan? To kidnap and hold a police officer hostage! Even if that was a plan...which it isn't...it's the most cockamamie thing I've ever heard of! That's it Jacques! I'm tired of your shit stirring! You cause problems every week around here and I'm sick of it. Go chop your quota somewhere else! You're off my team!"

       "But....but...I don't mean to! I just wanted to get organized...I just wanted to get things done..."

       THUNK!!! THUNK!! Ben's axe whacked into key places on the tree and Michael was able to struggle free.

       "Thanks Ben," he said gratefully.

       "You're welcome..." Ben said, toeing the ground. Why was he all of a sudden so uncomfortably shy? "And I wish you'd let me return the favor...and say thank you...for not pressing charges on these lunkheads. They didn't seriously injure you did they?"

       "Nothing but my pride. Look Jacques," Michael said, "I understand where you're coming from....really, I do! You're just worried and afraid. Well, I'm worried and afraid too. My friend...the other Mountie who could tell me what happened to your pay...was kidnapped this morning! I found evidence suggesting they'd been knocked out and tied up! And this plan...it never would have worked! I also have eyewitness accounts that the mayor is insane and probably behind all this! If you had handed me over to him, you would have played right into his hands! He would have killed me like a fish in a barrel and then finished off by killing every last jack here!!"

       There were astonished gasps all round.

       "But...that...that can't be true!! I mean...well I mean, he's the mayor!!! He can't be crazy!" protested Jacques.

       Ben was disgusted. "ANY-one can be crazy, Jacques!" He squinted and gave him the evilest of his evil eyes. "AAAANNNY-ONE!!" he reiterated.

       Michael gave himself a shake. "This isn't solving anything! I have to get going! I have to find Brian and his friend Justin! I have a feeling they're in terrible trouble! What I could use is a guide. Someone who knows the way deeper into the forest and the way around it."

       "Well, I don't want to brag....." started Jacques.

       "Then don't," said Ben smoothly. "I'll do it. At this point, I don't think I'd trust your safety to anyone else."

       Michael was hoping he'd say something like that. But he wisely kept his mouth shut about it.

       After that, things just fell into place. Michael was slapped on the back, no hard feelings by everyone and was suddenly everyone's best friend. Michael was oblivious to the death stare Ben was giving everyone behind him but if he had, he would have realized they just didn't want to be on Ben's steadily growing shit list. He was shown where Diamond had been stored in a comfortable, fenced off paddock area. He was generously helped into the saddle by 10 huge hands and then Ben took the reins to lead Diamond out of there and Michael just enjoyed the ride. There was no way Diamond could have carried them both.

       They made their way over to the entry way to the deeper forest. Before they took the plunge into the brush, Michael turned and shouted..."If you see Stockwell...don't let on you know anything! Don't tell him about me. Just let him go! He's extremely dangerous."

       There was a rousing shout and then they were off and soon it was quiet of the deep woods once more with only the rustling trees and birds and other white noise that could be ignored if they wanted to. Neither of them did.

       "Thank you for coming with me," Michael said shyly.

       "Well, I couldn't trust you to the tender mercies of someone like Jacques, now could I?"

       Michael shuddered. "No...Certainly not."

       "It was true what I said back there. I didn't want to trust you with anyone else."

       Michael's face was pink with pleasure. "I didn't want any other guide," he said.

       "Oh!!? Suppose it had been Brian there? Can you honestly say you wouldn't want him in my place," asked Ben jealously.

       "Ben...are you...are you jealous? Are you...Are you gay too?"

       "I am...And I am...However, if you made such an outlandish claim in public...I'd denounce you as a liar of the spot!" warned Ben malevolently.

       "Same here, I'm sure. Look, Ben, I wanted to tell you earlier. You've got the wrong idea about me and Brian."

       "I don't want to get in the way...I know you're hung up on him..." Ben said forlornly.

       "That's just it!" Michael said exasperatedly, "I'm NOT hung up on him! It's complicated. You see, the thing with me and Brian is..."

       "QUIET! Do you hear that?"

       "I don't hear anything," said Michael.

       "Exactly! It's quiet! TOO quiet!! We've got to get off the trail....right now!"

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       Brian and Justin were still tied up and hanging out to dry....and die.

       The bridge was host to a proper flock of little birds now. The pecked away merrily, unaware of the doom they were causing.

       The ropes were frayed everywhere and a few had snapped sending both of them in heart jolting drops before other areas of the rope had gripped on again.

       They both screamed for help just to relief the boredom but it was all to no avail. They were just too deep in the forest. Mr. X had done his work well.  No one could hear them yell. And when they dropped and died, their disappearance would be a mystery that could and would never be solved.

       There is one more issue that needs to be addressed but for some odd reason, I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

BJBJBJBJBJBJB

       Michael jumped down off Diamond and together they led her off to the left into the brush and the thickets of the forest.

       Sure enough, before they were out of sight, they started to hear a voice and by the time they had gotten Diamond deep enough so she wouldn't be seen and they snuck back a ways to peek out from behind some trees, they could now see what was attached to the voice.

       It was a queer little man dressed all in black. He had a black top hat and a black cape and he stuck out like a sore thumb against the greenery. He had a long moustache that curled up at the ends.

       Ben gasped. "It's the mayor!"

       "That's him huh? Wait what's he saying?"

       They both listened and as strange as his appearance was, what came next was downright creepy.

       "Dead....dead....dead....No one to help! No way out....Hee hehehehehe!!! No way this time! No way...no way...no way.... dead...dead... dead...Dead...dead...dead....Dead...dead...dead...!!" Repeat and remix. Over and over and the man skipped merrily like a schoolgirl down the forest path. He looked and sounded completely insane. This was, of course, because he WAS completely insane.

       They watched and listened until he was gone. Then they grabbed Diamond, hustled back to the trail. Michael grabbed the reins and kickstarted Diamond into a run down the trail. He yelled over his shoulder: "Follow as best you can! I'm sure to need your help! But I'm got to hurry and save those poor souls! It might already be too late!"

       And then Diamond was running....running...running to the rescue and Michael could only hope that Ben was keeping up.

       The trail twisted and turned, turned and twisted. Diamond jumped over roots and logs and still they went on. Just when Michael was despairing that they were just going deeper and deeper into the wilderness for nothing and that they were too late to boot, there was a break in the trees at last and a terrible sight met Michael's eyes.

       Over a deep gorge was a suspension bridge and from far off at the center hung two figures. One of them was huge and wore a scarlet tunic. There was a flurry of birds above them.

       "Dead...dead...dead....They're both dead...dead...dead...!" chanted the man in black inside his head.

       "Brian!! Is that you, Brian!?" yelled Michael, dismounting.

       Far away, so far, he seemed teeny, the man in scarlet whipped his teeny head around and yelled, "HELP! Michael?? Oh thank God, Michael, HELLLP!"

       Michael's heavy leather boots pounded on the little bridge's wooden floor. The suspension bridge swayed wildly and it swung the imperilled men back and forth sickeningly. They both yelled in terror.

       "Sorry! Sorry! "I'm coming though!" Michael yelled, not slackening his pace. He finally reached them and waved the birds away. They flurried around him but they wouldn't leave. The ropes they were working on were down to a single coil which was badly frayed. As Michael watched, one of them unravelled and snapped. Michael grabbed it with one hand before it could fall over the edge of the bridge, plunging the Mountie into the depths below.

       Then the other rope was fraying madly and Michael grabbed that one with the other hand. But as strong and true as Michael the Mountie was, he was feeling the strain. It was all he could do to just hold them there. He couldn't pull them up. And even if he could, they'd been lowered somehow so that they were below the rope railing of the bridge. There was no way to get them up without cutting the bridge in half! And then....the rope that was attached to Justin....began to slip....slowly....out of his smooth leather palms...

       "I can't hold on!!" Michael yelled.

       "You've got to!" yelled Brian.'

       "Michael? It's Michael, right? Please...just try to hold on..." begged the blond man.

       It slipped another few inches. Then the one holding Brian slipped a few inches.

       "Michael....Let me go," said Brian.

       "What!?"

       "I want you to let me go. If that's the only way you can pull Justin up, then I want you to let me go. I'll...I'll survive ...somehow."

       "And destroy me in the process!" Justin cried, "Don't you dare! Let me go! Save Brian! Grizzly Falls needs him more!"

       The rope attached to Justin slipped a few inches.

       "And I need you more than anything!" Brian yelled, "I thought we'd just gone through this! As far as I'm concerned, you're my husband!!"

       Brian's rope slipped a little. Then Justin's.

       "This is all very touching!! But it may be a moot point! Oh God! I can't help you both! I don't know if I can help either of you!!"

       Both ropes slipped a few inches.

       "God help me!! I don't know if I can do this by myself!" yelled Michael.

       The ropes slipped a few inches. Michael strained with all his might but it was no use.

       "You don't have to!" said Ben, appearing out of nowhere. He grabbed Brian's rope. "And if you keep me around...you'll never have to do anything by yourself again."

       "Ben!" Michael exclaimed happily.

       "That's my name, don't wear it out." Ben hauled Brian up a few pulls and then wrapped the extra rope around one meaty palm. He held it there and cried out as it sliced into his palm but he stoically held up Brian and his biceps flexed and bulged like apples. He grabbed Justin's rope and did the same thing with his ruined rope.

       "Hurry!" he gasped, "Get my axe and chop away the boards that are over them so I can pull them up!"

       "Right!" Michael grabbed one of them out of the double axe sheath that was attached to Ben's back somehow and did just that. Ben never felt really right unless he had two axes crossed across his back at all times.

       Michael made short work of the floorboards and soon three boards were plunging down into the gorge where the men had been headed moments before. The icy white water of the river below consumed them and carried them away.

       Ben handed Justin's rope over to Michael. Now that the danger was over, Michael was able to wrap it more securely around his gauntlets. He held him carefully while Ben hauled Brian up hand over hand until his feet poked over the side, then he was up to his knees and then he was lying safe on the bridge

       "Knife...in my belt..." wheezed Brian.

       Ben found it and made a few strategic cuts and without further ado Brian was struggling his way free and throwing that hated, weighted rope overboard. In the meantime, Ben had grabbed the rope from Michael again and in another impressive show of strength hauled Justin easily up hand over hand. Michael got a kind of sappy look on his face watching Ben's pecs and biceps bulge impressively. Brian watched shrewdly and smiled. Oh yeah....Mikey had it bad for a certain handsome woodcutter.

       And then Justin was up and safe and cut free and they all got the hell off of that hated bridge, taking care to avoid the gaping hole.

BJBJBJBJBJB

       They let Brian and Justin have Diamond. Brain sat in the saddle, barely holding onto the reins, almost completely letting Diamond walk back along the trail on autopilot. Justin sat the way he did the first time, on Brian's lap, on top of his twitching dick and pressed as much as he could back into Brian's broad chest. Brian wrapped his arms as possessively and protectively around him as possible.

       Ben and Michael walked a ways behind them. Ben had ripped pieces of his shirt and wrapped them around his palms to bandage the rope burns. This meant his shirt was now ripped, unbuttoned, and untucked leaving his torso and washboard abs on mouthwatering display.

       Michael tentatively reached for a hand and was thrilled when Ben didn't pull away. He pointed toward Brian and Justin.

       "You see....that's how it is between Brian and me. Absolutely nothing. Of course I'm attracted. He gorgeous. I've known him my whole life. But he's never felt the same way. At one time, I wished he did. Who knows, maybe I got on that bus because I couldn't let him go. But I was never anything more than a fly, an annoyance. At the police academy, he distanced himself from me...made sure we weren't partners...in anything...and at the same time managed to home in and bone every gay guy there. He just instinctively knew which ones to pick and no one resisted. Who knows? Maybe no one could resist? Brian's a phenomenon....a force of nature. And even here...he did it again. The first person he met was a piece of gay blond boy ass and he grabbed on tight. So I have to do the same."

       "What? Grab onto some gayboy ass?"

       "Well, that...although I have a very different type," Michael said with a wink, grabbing Ben's bubble butt. Ben gasped in pleasure. "But also...let go of him...get my own partner and lover...someone who'll...love me back...instead of always being the man on the outside...looking in and watching him be happy with someone else. Because whoever this Justin character is....it looks like the real deal. They were willing to die for each other back there."

       "Mmmmm....I heard."

       They walked along, hand in hand, in comfortable silence for a while.

       The four of them wandered down the path slowly, letting the traumatized men soak up the peacefulness of the pine forest.

       Eventually, they reached the lumberjacks' clearing where another surprise awaited them.

       "Hey Ben!" Came Jacques nerve grating voice, "No hard feelings about earlier, I hope! I've got a surprise that I hope will make up for last time!"

       "Oh God, Jacques! What have you done this time!?" lamented Ben, "Wasn't your last surprise enough of a disaster?"

       "This is different, I promise! You'll be so happy, you'll forget about my little...mistake and let me back on your crew for sure!"

       Ben sighed. "Well, let's get it over with! What is it?"

       Jacques led them over to a tree. In fact, it was the very same tree that they had tied Michael to but now, in his place and bound securely...was Stockwell!!

       "Jacques!! I specifically told you not to engage him!" scolded Michael.

       "There was hardly any other choice! He came out of the trees ranting about death and then about being rich as a king and then back to death and killing someone again. He hardly acknowledged us! It was an easy thing to grab him and tie him up. By the time he even noticed he was in trouble we had him half way tied up."

        Stockwell strained and struggled against the bonds that held him. He still wore the black outfit and the cape was smushed in behind him but he was unmasked and his eyes glinted with hate, evil, and madness. He gibbered softly to himself but he wasn't totally crazy yet.

       "They're dead....dead...dead...they must be ...must be dead. No one to help them...no one....must get...free..must see....must get free...to see...hee, hee, hee!! EVIL....must get back to EVIL...Good will pay...to EVIL....and now I'm rich...rich...RICH!!! Bwa Ha! Ha!!!!!!"

       "You see?" Jacques said, "It's been like that since he got here. Good will pay to evil...I can't make that out...but the fact that he's so rich...as a result of evil....that must mean he's responsible for the bank robbery right? And that means he's the one who stole our pay!"

       All the lumberjacks growled and shook their axes.

       "I'm not sure what it means either," said Brian, "But I can confirm that he stole from the bank. I was there when he did! That's why he was trying to kill us just now! That's who he thinks is dead!" He and Justin got down off of Diamond and approached the villain.

       Brian held a brown, gauntleted hand in front of the madman's face and snapped his fingers sharply several times to get his attention. It took a few tried but finally Stockwell focused and quieted his ranting.

       "Yooooo - hooooooo!!" Brian cooed mockingly, "Looking for us? Hoping we were out of your hair, Stocky? Well, no such luck!! Someone did free us! You failed once again! And now you are going away for a long time for attempted murder and bank robbery!"

       "What!! It's YOU! Oh NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO! How!!? How do you keep getting out!? Why won't you stay dead!!!!?"

       Incredibly, Stockwell still had no concerns for his own well being. His entire focus was wondering how Brian and Justin had survived and for several minutes he was incoherent with rage and he fought to get free not to get away but to try and kill our heroes once again. However, the lumberjacks had done their work well and he remained securely tied up. Finally, he gave up and collapsed back in his bondage, exhausted.

       "And you're going to tell us where you stashed all that money you stole!" declared Michael.

       Stockwell shook his head as if waking from a dream and stared at Michael for the first time. "Oh my God!!!" he screamed, "He's multiplying!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!"

       Brian slapped him sharply and yelled: "SHUT UP, dipshit! Tell us! Give back that bank heist money!"

       "I'll never tell!!" Stockwell smarmed with a smirk that made Brian want to punch off his face.

       "He won't tell! Any idea what we can do to....change his mind, Sunshine?" Brian asked.

       "Hmmmmmmm....." Justin pretended to think. Then: "Oh, I know....How bout we shove him in a room and gas it with ether! And then do it again...and again...and again!!!" he snarled.

       "Maybe we'll tie him to a log and slice him with a buzzsaw!!" snarled Brian.

       "Take him back to that gorge and hang him over the edge!" snarled Justin.

       "Shove dynamite down his pants!!" suggested Brian, "And I'm not sure what was going on with Ted and Emmett....But I'm sure they'll have all sorts of fantastic ideas!!"

       Stockwell gulped. He could only imagine what kind of ideas those two would come up with. But he steadfastly refused to say anything.

       Well of course, they mostly untied him and exchanged a lot of the ropes for handcuffs and hustled him back to town. They paraded him down the street in disgrace and locked him in the jail that was in the basement of the city hall he used to rule.

       He remained tight lipped until Justin and Brian showed up. Justin held up the big bottle of ether. Brian held up a bunch of dynamite. They were NOT kidding around.

       Stockwell sung like a canary and as well revealed several key players in the organization of EVIL. Among a few were Ethan, Kip, the barkeep, the head of the PTA, the head of the school board, and several key city councilmen. All these were duly arrested.

       After Brian had made his report to Vancouver, it was decided that 2 police officers were not enough to govern this sleepy little town. Michael was given leave to stay, much to his and Ben's delight. As well, four more hunky Mounties were assigned to Grizzly Hills and they arrived on the train in full uniform in due time much to the horny delight of all the townspeople.

       Brian moved in with Justin after a 2 week camping trip where they fucked like bunnies the whole time. Michael moved in with Ben. They took it a bit slower and their loved bloomed soft as sweet like a fragrant flower. They had more ups and down that Brian and Justin but that the way it is with love. Every adventure is different.

       Emmy Lou stayed with Emmett until her medication came. She hardly wanted to leave when it did, Emmett was so sweet with her but all good things must come to an end and besides it was getting kind of crowded in there with Ted living there as well.

       Stockwell stayed where he was until a prison transport could be fetched to come take him to a real jail.

       And so, for a while, they all lived happily in the quiet backwoods town of British Columbia, Canada.

Two months later:

       "Captain Brian! Captain Brian! Terrible news! It's just come across the wire!"

       "Take it easy Constable! Tell me what's wrong!"

       "The prison transport that was taking Stockwell to the Federal prison! It was found overturned and on fire! Stockwell's escaped!!" reported Oscar

THE    END ???

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TO   BE   CONTINUED....

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