(Revised)






With a single rifle shot, Hans Richter came back into the lives of Beth and Claudia Hunter. A serpent drew his aim, and that serpent set in motion a series of events which would be significant for both lovers and spies.

Willie Bellaire, feeling restless, rode off alone into a remote area of Waterfall Canyon Ranch, going so far north
that he was near the boundary of the mysterious Diamantina Ranch. While relaxing in a sunny area and playing
his guitar, he was startled to see a large rattlesnake coiled at his feet, jaws opening wide, ready to strike. Then the snake's head suddenly flew off as Willie heard the shot...

The rifleman who saved him turned out to be Beth's German lover, Hans Richter, who had disappeared months before, following the painful breakup with her and his brief dalliance with her sister Claudia. The grateful Willie, who had never heard of Hans and knew nothing of his past involvement with the two women, started a friendly conversation with him and learned that he was working for Florian da Silva at Diamantina.

During this conversation, Beth and Claudia suddenly rode up, worried about the shot they heard. Both of them were shocked to see Hans again, and puzzled to find him carrying a high-powered rifle and riding alone in the wilderness. He also was startled to see them. The observant Willie took all this in. Willie knew nothing about the secret SSC activities, but he could see that there was some connection between Hans and the women. He began to speculate about how their relationship might be linked to certain unusual things he had noticed about the group of actors staying at Waterfall Canyon. 

Beth was severely shaken over seeing Hans again and galloped away in turmoil; she realized then that her affair with her new lover, Sam Sackett, had not blotted out her old feelings for Hans. Claudia, who secretly had feelings for Hans too, was immediately suspicious of him
because of his admitted association with Florian da Silva, whom the SSC suspected of organized crime activity.  Since Hans himself was a known member of an organized crime ring, it seemed to confirm the SSC's suspicions about Florian. Claudia tried to get Willie to tell her everything Hans had said to him. She also had to hide Beth from the possessive Sam until Beth could recover her composure.

Willie, feeling loyal to his good friend Sam, told him the name of the rifleman who shot the snake, but left out the part about Beth's former affair with the man in order to protect her from Sam's temper. But Willie warned Claudia that if he were forced to choose between helping Beth and being honest with Sam, he would choose Sam.

In a flashback, Hans recalled the events that led up to his being at Diamantina Ranch and trapped in onerous and humiliating work for Florianda Silva. While Hans was in Dubai assisting with the crime organization's transfer of money to Switzerland, a contract had been put on his life in retaliation for his passing secrets to Alan Quickman. Hans did not realize this until he was attacked by hit men while traveling in Germany. He escaped and ran for his life through Eastern Europe, finally reaching safety in Albania, where he hid until he heard that the hit contract had been canceled.

Hans returned to Las Vegas then, where he got into a public argument with Vincent Prize, the man who had tried to kill him twice in Nevada the year before. This argument was stopped by Florian, whom Hans had known for years through the organization. Florian ordered Hans to
report to him at his ranch in Flagstaff, Arizona immediately. Hans was surprised to learn that it was Florian who had overrruled the hit contract and saved his life. In return, and as punishment for what Hans had done, Florian demanded that Hans work for him for an indefinite period of time as a member of the Diamantina Ranch elite guard unit. Florian hinted that Hans would also have to help with other, unspecified tasks forthe crime ring's local activities. Although Hans ranked far too high in the organization to do such menial work, he felt obligated to Florian and agreed to his terms. Hans was turned over to Florian's lieutenant, Faustino Carvalho, for military-style training in all aspects of rifle and handgun
shooting. Faustino hated Hans, being jealous of his rank, and took pleasure in insulting and tormenting him during the training, sometimes using the beautiful Serafina Duarte to taunt him. Hans stuck it out, however, and became an outstanding shot and a skilled sniper marksman.

While remembering how he had suffered when Beth left him, Hans realized he would have to see her again and try to get some closure, but at the same time he realized that it was Claudia who interested him now. Although Hans felt a genuine obligation to Florian, still he could not
contain his resentment and frustration. He began to make secret plans to leak a little intelligence about Florian's operations to Claudia.

Hans put his plan into action when he visited Waterfall Canyon Ranch. Soon after he arrived, he figured out t
hat Beth had a new lover, Sam. On Sam's side, it did not take him long to determine that Hans was Beth's former lover. Sam and Hans were immediately hostile and aggressive to each other. Willie tried unsuccessfully to smooth things over. Beth, caught in the middle, struggled through a short conversation with Hans, who then left abruptly to see Claudia. Sam was furious and provoked an argument with Beth. After that, he broke up with her and refused to speak to her.

With Claudia, Hans was much more relaxed. He flirted with her, while carefully dropping hints that he wanted
to give her some intelligence. He warned her that it would have to be done on his terms, which he did not specify. Claudia was puzzled, but was pleased with his attention and the prospect of getting something on Florian da Silva.

Hans went riding with Willie then to see the ranch's famous waterfalls. While they were there, Hans revealed enough about himself that Willie understood he had a criminal past. This did not bother Willie, since he had that kind of past himself. Hans told Willie the truth about Serafina Duarte, that she was the mistress of both Florian and Faustino. Then he spoke bitterly about his affair with Beth. Although Hans was evasive about the details, Willie got a general idea of what had happened between them.

Later, Beth was desperate to make up with Sam, and enlisted Willie to talk to Sam on her behalf. Sam was angry with Willie for concealing his knowledge of Beth's affair with Hans, but he eventually agreed to talk to Beth. During this conversation it became clear to Sam that Beth was still lying and concealing things, and he saw that Hans was still a threat. However, he had missed Beth and wanted to be with her again, so he took her back. Beth sensed that Sam was not satisfied with her explanations, but she was determined to try to make the relationship work.

Claudia felt no more need to hide her attraction to Hans after she learned that Sam and Beth had made up. When Hans sent her a message that he was coming to the Waterfall Canyon Ranch target range for a contest, Claudia readily agreed to meet him there. Willie, who had been bragging to the other cowboys about how good a shot Hans was, had arranged the contest and took bets on Hans' competition with championWaterfall shooter Mike Perez. Claudia was amazed at how fast and accurate Hans was, and wondered how he had developed such extraordinary skills. When Hans won the contest, Willie won money on his bets. For Hans the prize was a kiss from Claudia. No one noticedthat Beth was watching from a distance and looked unhappy when she saw her former lover kissing her sister.

New scenes were filmed for the Western movie Trail Ridin' Mama. In one scene, Logan Reinhardt (Sam) and Rusty Tibbets (Willie) were fired from their jobs at Sidewinder Stagecoach Lines by angry manager Elbert Jaeger (Johnny Behrans) because they had failed to stop the stagecoach robbery, and due to that incident, Clementine Carson was now suing the company. Jaeger delivered a lacerating lecture to the two men on what he considered to be their incompetence. Logan and Rusty were despondent because they were low on money and there were no other jobs available.

In another scene, Clementine (Tasha Khoury) began walking around Red Bluff asking people if they had seen her missing husband when he departed from the town on a cattle drive. She questioned the blacksmith and the livery stable boy to no avail, and continued asking others. She was so naive that she walked right into a brothel, Odette's House of Beauty, thinking that it was some kind of store. Although the proprietriss Odette DuPont (Marcia Pola) and her "soiled doves" were kind and polite to Clementine, the young woman left in embarrassment as soon as she realized what kind of place she was in.

Scenes of Clementine's court case were filmed. Her lawyer Bonaparte Sprigg (Max Montezuma) talked Tasha into paying him a retainer she really couldn't afford, so he could carry forward her case against Sidewinder Stagecoach
Lines. Shortly afterwards, Clementine's case went to trial under Judge Phinneas Quarry. The lawyer representing Sidewinder was Aurelius Spencer. Sprigg made the argument that Clementine, "this delicate and wronged creature" who had devoted her life to her children, had been victimized, brutalized and traumatized by the outlaws' assault and act of robbery, which Sidewinder had failed to prevent and thus violated their contract to provide her with
safe passage.

Aurelius Spencer countered by pointing out that Sidewinder had indeed delivered Clementine safely to her destination, and that it was her own fault she had agreed to travel alone with a group of all males, failing to engage a female companion. He further stated that Sidewinder
was not responsible for extraneous acts of terror perpetrated by outsiders. Moreover, according to the accounts of the witnesses, although Clementine had been pawed and humiliated by one of the outlaws, her womanly virtue was still intact. Spencer argued that the Sidewinder employees had acted correctly in not resisting the outlaws, thus exercising prudence which had doubtless saved the lives of all the passengers.

Judge Quarry made a bench ruling in favor of Sidewinder Stagecoach Lines and dismissed Clementine's case. In his comments, he pointed out that a sense of entitlement did not negate personal responsibility for one's own decision-making. He stated that avarice could create a
distorted sense of entitlement which would then lead to frivolous lawsuits, of which the present case was an example.