Allison and Mal rode ahead of the posse at an easy gate. It hadn’t taken Allison long to determine that the stranger could track. The snow had covered the trail but Mal had pointed out the slight berm left by the hover. As curious as the stranger appearance in town was, he had more on his mind. Something about the robberies didn’t add up.

Mal was doing his best to try and make tracking the bandits harder than it seemed. They had done little to hide their trail, which in Mal’s mind meant, either they hadn’t been chased often, or they weren’t concerned about ending any who followed.

“This Walters gang… what’s their story?” Mal asked.

“Bout eight months ago a prison transport stopped for refueling. On takeoff they had an engine failure, went down like a rock.” Allison said shifting in the saddle “Most died, them that lived fled. The Alliance couldn’t be bothered to clean up their mess so we got stuck with them. First town they hit was called Walter, so that’s how they came named.” Allison grinned “Not a whole lot of imagination in these parts.” They rode on a few more yards, then Allison added “Walters are pretty big news round here, funny you not hearing about them.”

Mal was kicking himself for not being more careful. “Yeah…I uh…I just got moon side a couple weeks ago. Looking for work.”

“Well you found it. If we find them, there’s a pretty sizable reward involved.” Mal could feel the sheriff’s eyes on him as he spoke. “Could be more seeing as they robbed the Alliance as well. They usually steer clear of those kinda jobs.”

“That so?” Mal replied.

“Yeah my figuring was they didn’t want to ruffle the Alliance’s feather. Seeing how they pretty much got pardoned, so to speak. Guess they decided to branch out some.”

Mal nodded and decided to change the subject. “That your wife back in town? She seemed a fetching gal.”

Allison laughed. “It’s a kindness you lying. My Cora has been on the wrong side of ugly both inside and out since the day she was born. There’s a more challenging women in the