The Striped Bandit

It was a dusty, warm day in the cactus filled west. Sheriff Willey was opening up the town jail early in the morning, when he realized it was already unlocked. “This ers suspicious,” he said to himself as he slowly opened the door with an eerie creek.
“Frank?”
No answer.
The door, now completely open, revealed a bloody gore. The sheriff walked in, to get a better look and discovered it was Frank the bodyguard. Shaking, the sheriff pulls out his gun.
“Who’s there?” he said trying to control his voice as he looked at each cell with smirking inmates inside them.
“Which ones of yous imbeciles did it? Who killed Frank?!”
He reaches the very end of the jail and sees that the door from the last cell is no longer attached. “No!” he shrieks, as he gets closer shaking even more but maintains his macho facade. The Striped Bandit was gone. He was the most cruel and inhumane people to roam the whole world, according to the people of the west at least. Bill Danes runs in with no idea about anything going on and yells, “Sheriff you gotta help! You gotta! My wife, Mary Lou, she’s gone missin’!” The sheriff just looks at Bill as if he’s given up hope and stared past Bill at a spot on the ground. Bill, confused, looked behind himself and realizes why Sheriff Willey didn’t just to help right away like he always did. Bill saw Franks body.
“What happened Sheriff?”
At first Willey has no reply but after collecting himself he tries to talk as if it wasn’t anything major, saying, “Well, I went ter open up and check on these dog gon inmates and found Frank lyin’ there just like that. I was checkin’ to see who got loose and found out it was the Striped Bandit.”
“Striped Bandit! I bet that’s who took my Mary Lou away from me!”
“What happened to Mary Lou?” The Sheriff was still in shock when Dan told the news.
“I told you Sheriff! She’s been taken!”
“Right. Well what do you suppose we do now?”
“Did you look in the cell for a clue?”
“No, er, I were just about to when you barged in.”
“Well, go do it now,” Dan said frantically “before it’s to late for Mary Lou!”
“Fine. Let’s look.”
They both went in, to find a message carved into the wall. It said: I got him, I got her, and next is you because you’ll never see me coming. As the Dan read it out loud Sheriff Will had an epiphany.
“When I was pretendin’ to be sleepin’ I over heard the inmates talking about how there was a hidden place in the Orange Mountain 3 miles away.”
“Brilliant Sheriff! I bet he won’t get to far up the mountain before we catch ‘im.”
“The passage in the mountain is more complex than that.” The sheriff’s eyes shift, “I’ll show you when we get there. Wouldn’t want these troublemakers to get any more ideas than they already got in their twisted brains.”
Sheriff Willey and Dan loaded themselves with rifles and started out on their fastest horses while wishing Jimmy, the new bodyguard, luck. They reached the mountains in the evening.
“Watch out for inmates. They come from all over.”
“I will.”
“OK. Follow me.” The sheriff motioned his arm in the right direction. They both quiet as could be, when all the sudden they heard yelling.
“HELP!” The two rushed towards the noise and discovered a hidden passageway, just like the sheriff said there would be.
HAHA. They both jumped from the sinister laugh of the Stripped Bandit and his many outlaw pals.
“OK,” the sheriff started, “Brought net, so I can set up a trap and when I say go you tell ’em to come out and put their arms up. They’ll think there’s one person and come out after you thinking they are all big and bad and I’ll let the net go and it’ll fall on top of those trouble doers, trapping them.”
“Why do I have to be the bait?”
“Do you know how to work a trap?”
“No.”
“OK. I think you answered your own question.” The sheriff snarled. The sheriff worked and, sooner than Dan thought, was done.
“You ready Dan?”
Not quite sure of himself Dan answered, “Yes.”
Sheriff gave the sign.
“Come out where I can see you!” Dan shouted scared. The voices from inside got quieter. There was someone saying “Did you hear that?”
“Come out where I can see you!” Dan repeated. Sure enough as the sheriff predicted all the inmates came out at once. Dan was getting scared, by now they were a foot away when THUMP! The sheriff let the trap go and all four escapees were trapped. Dan ran into the passage there was Mary Lou.
“Mary Lou!”
“Dan!” She was fine and told them that she was only being help for ransom. Soon the backup came and took away the Striped Bandit and the other three.
Ever since, they’ve been locked up and didn’t escape again.