The Ranch

“It’s all going to become clear in a bit, Uncle,” he answered as he pulled on a pair of boots and tucked the bottom of the pants inside them. He then tightened the laces and tucked them inside the boots as well. “Or, maybe I shouldn’t call you ‘uncle’ since you aren’t really my uncle. Then again, ‘step uncle’ is a bit of a mouthful.”

A knock came at the door and Jake opened it. A woman stood there that Roy had seen around the ranch and more often in the kitchen helping Sarah with the cooking for the strange men that had showed up at the place within the week following the arrival of the man he thought was John Turlow. She carried a tray and was followed by a couple of the men that had been around also laden with trays.

“Ah,” Jeremiah exclaimed. “Lunch is here. Thank you, Specialist Cross.”

“You’re welcome, Sargent.” She took little time to set the meals before the four men and pushed the other two out the door in front of her.

“Let me guess,” Roy started. “You’re all some kind of paramilitary group thinking that the government is corrupt and needs to be taken out.”

“No. We work for the government in the real military. U.S. Army, to be exact,” Jeremiah answered pointing to the band above his left pocket where it read U.S. Army before taking a bite of the food.

“U.S. Army?” The incredulity was evident in Roy’s voice.

Jeremiah nodded as chewed his food.

“We’re part of CID,” Jake inserted.

“CID?” This time, the voice was inquisitive.

“It stands for Criminal Investigation Division,” Jake added.

“You’re investigating someone in Mt. Ayr?”

“Not one,” Jeremiah jumped back in. “A gang.”

“That motorcycle freak, right? He’s the leader of some gang that he’s bringing in to the area? What’s the army want with a guy like that? Is he a deserter?”

“No,” Jeremiah gave a small laugh. That’s Johnson. He’s with the gang right now, but we’ll pull him out tonight before the real action begins.”

“He’s one of you?”

“Yes. He went in undercover so we could get all the evidence we needed.”

“The warehouse?”

“Britney and Julien Evans plus others.”

“I don’t understand,” the sheriff said. “Those two may not be exactly my favorite people, but I never thought they were up to that level of no good.”

“There is a lot that is going to have to be discussed here, Roy. Including the secrets you’ve been keeping.”

“Secrets?”

“We’ll get back to that,” Jeremiah declared. “First, I need to let you in on what’s been going on and why my team and I are here.”

“Your team. In otherwards, you’re all Army?”

“Well, not Halsey here. He’s FBI.”

“FBI?! It’s really that bad?”

“Very bad,” Jake addressed the sheriff.

“A certain soldier was caught doing some rather bad things. In return for leniency in the sentencing, he divulged the fact that weapons meant for the Army were being rerouted from the supplier. He gave us a few names, and an investigation was started.

“Part of that investigation led us to a unit in Afghanistan. There, I learned about a Supply Sargent that was part of the operation, though only on a very small scale. He was able to give us the higher ups involved, though, including the name of the town through which the weapons were funneling and the warehouse that was being used.

“It seems that the owner of the warehouse had the help of some local law enforcement. You can imagine my surprise when MT. Ayr was mentioned.

“It was not a big leap to know where to go from there. The fact that Mom was selling the ranch made things easy. We moved Johnson into a place where he could make contact with Julien and perhaps get an in with the gang while the rest of us came here to investigate the fringes of the town and the people here.

“I was happy to learn that none of my immediate family was actually involved directly, especially you, as that was one of the things that was heavily suspected. During the course of the investigation, there were some other things that came to light. I had no idea that Sean Evans was my biological father. And I hadn’t heard a thing about his body being in the fire. That was something else that your name had to be cleared of. The fact that you were at the country club preparing for the fundraiser that night took care of that. As for your character, you might want to send your ex-wife a thank you note. She made sure that we knew that you would step down as sheriff before you let anything compromise your position.

“It all comes down to this. The Evans’ are involved in illegally running firearms through their warehouse, intent on selling those weapons to persons that have no business having them. To protect that operation, they have killed two men and attempted to frame others for one of those murders through arson. Tonight, we are going to close down that operation and gather all the participants in the net. And you get to put the cuffs on the person who killed your brother.”

Roy sat there with his mouth hanging open. He was having a bit of a hard time processing what he had just heard. There had been two cases that he couldn’t have anything to do with investigating: the arson of the stable, and the death of Mark Nelson. Both were off limits to him because he was too close to those involved. He had had to hand both over to his second, Deputy Skinner.

“There is more, Roy,” Jeremiah continued. “You have a leak in your department. You will have to take care of that a little later. But for now, you will have to let him seem to be unknown.”

“Who?” Roy finally found his voice.

“Skinner,” came the simple answer. “First, we need to go over what we’re going to do tonight. Agent Halsey. Have you got people ready to raid the dock in Louisiana where Akbar took the weapons?”

“Yes. We have everyone we need in place for that. Just give us the go and it’s done. They’re not happy about having to wait, either. They want to be sure those things don’t get out of the country.”

“They will be able to move in once tonight’s operation is started. I suppose you have other agents that you can use here?”

“Affirmative.”

“I want you and your team to take the meeting site. Johnson has determined that they use the same place every time. It belongs to the senator.”

“Senator?” asked Roy.

“Senator Myers is deeply involved,” Jeremiah answered. “That’s why Mark was killed.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Mark was blackmailing a lot of people. That’s how he was able to hold onto the ranch after he sent me away. One of the people he was blackmailing was Senator Myers. He didn’t know about her relationship to the Evans’, but she used them to get rid of the threat.”

“He what?!”

“I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s true. He had a lot of DVDs of the people he was blackmailing doing things they wouldn’t want people to know about, and a ledger where he kept up with their payments. We have all that evidence and it will be processed properly. For now, forget about it and let’s focus on our mission tonight.

“You, my team and I are going to be taking the convoy as they cross the field on the way out. I’ll have some of my people set up the ambush site this afternoon.” Jeremiah then went on to explain his plan to the three others in the room. Once everything was thought out and agreed upon, he had Jake go to set up the ambush and let Agent Halsey leave to take care of his part, suggesting that his men should be in place and well-hidden long before the senator and Akbar showed up. Roy wasn’t to leave the ranch until it was time to go.

“Roy, this family is full of secrets,” Jeremiah said as the other two left. “That needs to end today.”

“You mean you want me to tell Sarah about Sean and Mark?”

“Not just Mom,” he answered. “Lisa needs to know, too. And I mean everything. All of it.”

“You want her to know that you are her half-brother?”

“I mean all of it, Roy. Including how she was conceived.”

Roy paled. “How did you learn about that?”

“I’m glad you aren’t trying to deny it.”

“She doesn’t need to know,” Roy declared in a voice that harbored no negotiation.”

“I disagree. And you will tell her. I’m going to have to go in there and spill all the secrets I’ve been keeping for the last few weeks, too. But it all needs to come out. And there’s no time like the present to get on it. Let’s go to the main house and face the music.”

Roy wanted to put up a fight, but saw that the Army man had a determined eye and wasn’t going to be denied. He led the way to the house.

As the two entered the house, Specialist Megan Cross looked up from the vegetables she was chopping. “Specialist Cross, go ahead and change into BDUs and help Specialist Shelby put up the two five four.”

“Yes, Sargent,” the woman replied and set the knife down to exit the house.

“Sarah?” Roy yelled.

“In here,” came a voice from the great room.

“Come to the dining room, please.”

Sarah made her way to the dining room where the two men waited. “What’s –”

The moment she saw Jeremiah in uniform, she stopped mid-sentence. “Jeremiah?” She ran to the man she recognized as her son and grabbed him in a hug. “How did you find him, Roy?”

“He found us,” Roy amended.

“It’s so good to see you. What are you wearing?”

“I enlisted in the Army, Mom,” Jeremiah said.

“Oh my. Are you able to stay for a while?”

“I’m not going much of anywhere.”

“Welcome home, baby. I’m sorry to say that we lost the ranch. I had to sell it to a man named John Turlow. He’s around here somewhere. He’s not a bad guy. He even gave me a job as cook and housekeeper.”

“You better sit down, Sarah,” Roy interrupted. “There’s a lot to talk about. Where’s Lisa?”

“In her room getting ready for work. It’s her first day back after taking that vacation time.”

“She’ll have to call in and tell them that a family matter came up,” Jeremiah suggested.

“What? Why? What’s going on?”

“Lisa?” Roy yelled down the hall.

Lisa came out wearing the diner’s uniform. She saw the three of them standing in the dining room and looked from one to the other. Then she looked closer at Jeremiah, tilting her head to one side. “I gotta say, bro. You look a lot better without the beard, although it was growing on me. Are you going to keep it off?”

“You knew?” he asked.

“You had a bad dream one night out there when we were riding the line. I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. Are you going to tell us what’s going on?”

“First, you need to call your boss and tell him that something has come up and you won’t be able to come in. Then we’ll sit down and discuss everything. And, by the way. The beard was actually growing on me.”

“What beard?” Sarah asked. Then she looked hard at Jeremiah. “You had a beard. You are John Turlow!” She was angry now instead of deliriously happy as she was when she first recognized her son.

The family were finally seated around the table in the dining room. Jeremiah knew this wasn’t going to be a marvelous time, but it had to be done. Roy explained that Jeremiah had declared that the secrets that had been going on had to be revealed, and that meant all of them. Sarah paled when she heard that, but she knew that it was the right thing to do.

“I think you should start off, Mom,” Jeremiah said. “You can more clearly tell us what went on when you were seventeen.”

Sarah nodded. “You know,” she started. “So, I suppose you want this for Lisa’s sake?”

“Yes. She deserves to know the truth, too.”

She lowered her head before she began. “I don’t like talking about this, but I suppose it would be better.” She gave a sigh and thought about how she wanted to begin

“When I was seventeen, Britney Evans asked me to babysit for her. Julien was less than two years old and slept the whole night, so I was doing my homework. She had to go do something at the warehouse that now belongs to her. At the time, it belonged to her in-laws. Sean, her husband, was out drinking. He got home about an hour after I was left alone. When he found that I was the only one there, he-” She paused again. “He forced himself on me. I was a virgin and he ripped that away from me and im-” Another pause. “He got me pregnant.”

“I am the product of that pregnancy, Lis,” Jeremiah added. He could see the effect the story was having on her. She sat there with her mouth agape and tears on her cheeks.

“Mark and I were already planning on marrying, so we moved things up and when Jeremiah was born, we gave him our last name. At that time, Mark was into ranching. It was only after Jeremiah was born that he started drinking. I think it was the only way he could deal with knowing that the boy we had wasn’t his. At least he waited until he was old enough to withstand it to start really beating on you. I didn’t know what to do.”

“And two years later?” Jeremiah reminded her.

“What about two years later?”

“No more secrets, Mom. Everything comes out.”

Sarah looked at him her face again going pale, then lowered her head.

“Almost every night, Roy was bringing Mark home. He would be so drunk there was no way he could drive himself. One night, we got him tucked into bed and left him passed out. I had been holding on to my emotions over the last two years, but just barely. That night, they finally burst to the surface. Roy was still here and he let me cry on his shoulder. One thing led to another, and we ended up having sex on the couch in the living room. You are the result of that union, Lisa. He is your real father. How did you know about that?” she asked Jeremiah.”

“Sylvia saw you. She reported it to Marie and tried to use her to force you out of the family. Marie wouldn’t have it and told her to keep it to herself. I don’t think she ever told anyone else.”

“She did,” Roy declared. “Or at least I think she did. A few months before he died, Mark and I got into a big argument and he said if I had been taking care of my own family instead of trying to look to the needs of someone that I wasn’t married to, Marie probably wouldn’t have left me. He then told me to leave and stay away from him and his family. I don’t think he had put it together that you were mine, though, Lisa.”

“I think he had,” Lisa interjected. There were so many times that he said that I wasn’t his daughter. I thought it was just him being mad at me that made him say it.”

Sarah started crying. “He wasn’t a bad man, you know. Even knowing that both my children weren’t his, he still made sure that they were cared for. Even if it did mean sending you away, Jeremiah.”

“He wasn’t an angel, Mom.”

“I know, sweetie. But he wasn’t evil, either.”

“There were things that you didn’t know about that were going on,” Jeremiah announced. “As I said, the secrets all stop today, and all must be revealed. I told Roy about this earlier, but you’re going to need to know as well. Mark was blackmailing people. He was using that money to keep the ranch.”

“Surely you’re not serious?” Sarah wondered.

“I’m afraid he is, Sarah,” Roy answered. “It seems that he had been doing it for quite a while, according to what he says.

“There’s more,” Jeremiah added.

“I’m not sure that I can take anymore,” Sarah shook her head.

“Do we have to do all of this right now, Jeremiah?” Lisa queried.

“I’m sorry, but yes. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Go on, then,” Sarah sighed.

“The fire was meant to cover up a murder. The man that was killed was Sean Evans.”

“No!” Sarah reacted almost immediately. “There’s no way that you’ll get me to believe that Mark was a killer!”

“No. He wasn’t the killer. He was supposed to be the patsy.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked.

“The killer thought that if the body was discovered in the fire at our ranch, it would put him clearly in the spotlight as the number one suspect.”

“It did,” Roy revealed. “Sorry, Sarah. But I didn’t think you needed to know that there was a body found at all, let alone that Mark was being investigated for it.”

“That part doesn’t really matter at the moment,” Jeremiah went on. “His innocence was as easy to prove as mine and Roy’s was. And when the killer couldn’t get Mark arrested for the murder, the case had to come to an end without it being solved. A certain deputy made sure that that happened.”

“Is there anything to tell who it might have been?” asked Sarah.

“I have all the evidence we need to bring the culprit to justice. That will happen a little later tonight. But I have to tell you the rest.”

“There’s more to this horrible story?”

“Mark’s accident wasn’t an accident.”

“What? That can’t be right. He was always drinking. He barely drove because of that.”

“That’s exactly right,” Jeremiah agreed. “He didn’t drive much because of his drinking. He never once got any drunk driving violations, and it wasn’t because they were kept off the record by Roy. If was because he didn’t drive if he was drinking.”

“How did he die, then?”

“He was killed by the same weapon that killed Sean Evans. A weapon that isn’t legal for private citizens to own. The same person who killed Sean, also killed Mark. And the case was once again not investigated because it had to be swept under the rug to protect another illegal operation.”

“What operation?” Sarah asked.

“The Evans’ are running weapons through their warehouse illegally and selling them to persons that are considered enemies of the U.S.”

“Are you saying that one of them killed Sean and Mark?” she asked unbelievingly. “They would kill one of their own family members?”

“Remember Britney divorced the man after the trial ended,” Roy reminded her.

“Britney kept the name because she was tight with his parents who also didn’t want anything to do with him. They left her with the warehouse and scooted off somewhere to retire. She didn’t want him involved in her operation, so she killed him and had Julien put him in the stable and set fire to it.”

“That little creep!” Lisa declared. “Can we charge him with arson for it?”

“No.” Roy informed her. “The statute of limitations is only three years on arson.”

“But we can get him on conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice after the fact, as well as taking part in the gun running and treason. That last bit is thanks to a small stint that he did in the ROTC program at high school. We’ll be able to put him and his mother behind bars for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives. However, I’m sorry to tell you that one of the gang members is Lamar Westfall. He, too, will be seeing jail time.”

“Lamar? But he was always so loyal.”

“Well, he’s changed those loyalties to his new friends. He helped set up a path through our ranch to move the guns through to get them to the meeting site where they are sold. Senator Myers is also in on the deal. She was one of the people that Mark was blackmailing and the one who called for help from Britney.”

“Senator Myers? Really?”

“Yes.”

“What did she do?”

“She would hire young women, those about sixteen or seventeen, as pages. But that wasn’t all they did. She was having sex with them.”

“Is this for real?” Sarah asked. “Are you certain?”

“Yes. Why?”

Sarah looked at Lisa. “Lisa?”

The young girl looked down but answered. “Yes, mom,” she said.

“I want her charged with Statutory rape!” Sarah yelled. “I want her hung by her fingernails and flogged!”

Jeremiah paused as he realized what his siter was saying. “I understand how you feel, mom. Unfortunately, Iowa law allows for consensual sex as long as both parties are at least sixteen years of age. We can’t get her on that. But we can get her on illegal sale of weapons, conspiracy to commit murder, and since she is a senator, treason. She will never get out of prison.”

Roy sighed. “Can I go with Agent Halsey?” he asked.

“No,” Jeremy answered. “If either you or I were to take that group, we would be too tempted to make sure that she didn’t survive the take down.”

“You’re right about that,” he said as he pulled the Glock 22 he carried from its holster and rubbed it a bit. “Alright. I guess it’s a good thing that you got us where you do. But if she escapes, I’ll hunt her down with extreme prejudice!”

“Halsey and his group will do their job, Roy.”

“When are these people being arrested?” Sarah wanted to know.

“Tonight. From this point on, no one leaves the ranch until it’s over. My team and I along with Roy are going to take the Evans as they move in convoy. The FBI is handling the take down at the site where the meet takes place. It will all be over tonight.”

Roy stood in the doorway of the stable looking around at the grounds. There was the new corral, the spot where the old bunkhouse used to be and now had stakes planted to show where the new one was supposed to go, the area where Jeremiah had staked out the place for the motel, the dining facility, and the staff housing. Even the stable had been cleaned up. All of it was going to go to waste he thought. Once the case was over, Jeremiah would go back to his Army unit and leave Sarah in the lurch once more, having to find someone to buy the place. In the long run, it wouldn’t matter. Sarah and Lisa could stay with him and he wouldn’t mind a bit. But he knew that both of them loved the ranch and didn’t want to leave it. He lowered his head, depression seeping in a bit.

“Want a penny, Roy?” Jeremiah asked behind him. He and Diane Shelby had set up a table in the stable and were doing something to a bunch of radio equipment

“Why would I want a penny?”

“I don’t know. I just thought that if I gave you one, then I might be able to help with whatever’s going through your mind.”

“Ah. You mean a penny for your thoughts?”

“Exactly.”

“I was just thinking about what happens after all this is over. What happens to the ranch? You’ll be gone again, your mom will be down in the dumps because you’re not around, and she’ll have to find someone to actually buy this place. Kind of a shame, after all the work that’s gone into it.”

“None of that happens, Roy.”

“What do mean none of it happens? You can’t stay here if you’re required to be somewhere else by the Army. I suppose that they provided the money for the down payment to run this little campaign.”

“No, they didn’t. I actually bought the ranch. My enlistment is nearly up and I intend to return here and run the ranch like I was supposed to before Mark sent me away.”

“Really? How did you afford the place?”

“Investments.”

“Investments?”

“The military school the Mark sent me to was ran by a Major Mills. Once he realized I wasn’t the troublemaker that Mark said I was, he taught me how to invest my money to make more. I’ve been doing so since and have made quite a bit. Plus, I haven’t had many expenses as I have been living on the governments dime since then. So, I have the money to do what needs to be done to bring this place up to snuff and make it profitable.”

Just then, two ATVs entered the yard, one pulling a small trailer. Jake dismounted one of them while three others climbed out of the trailer or off the other. Jake walked towards the two in the stable. “Ambush is set, Sarge,” he announced. “We’ll raise the lights once were back out there and it gets darker.”

“Roger that,” Jeremiah answered. “The 2 5 4 is up and the commo set up in the Haulmark trailer. That will be our base.” He looked at the watch on his wrist pulling back the Velcro cover to see what time it was. “Gather them up, Sargent Reynolds. Cluster formation here at the stable at one six three zero in full field gear minus MOPP suits. That gives them half an hour.”

“Yes, Sargent,” Jake replied and turned to inform the rest of the troops what was required.

“I don’t suppose you have much protective gear in your car, do you, Roy?”

“I’ve got a Kevlar vest but that’s about it.”

“Better get it. We don’t know what their full capabilities are, although we do know that they are armed. And stop by the house to tell mom that we will need dinner ready in about an hour. It shouldn’t be anything too heavy. We’ll need to be able to move pretty quickly.”

“You got it.”

The sheriff went to his Ford Explorer first and put on his Kevlar vest. He then unlocked the lockbox in the back and withdrew the M4 carbine that was there. It had been checked when Sean had been killed since it fired the same 5.56 round which he was shot with, but had been cleared by those tests. Now, it would be used to help take down Sean’s killer. He loaded up as many magazines as he had with the rounds that were in the box, locked everything back up and headed for the house.

Jeremiah had said no more secrets. He probably would have excluded that evening’s prediction of danger, but Roy decided that he, too, was through with hiding from the family what was going on. He entered the house and found the two women talking in the great room. It seemed that they were hammering out the feelings about the fact that Roy was Lisa’s father and they hadn’t told her about it before. “I’ve got good news and bad news,” he declared. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“The bad,” Sarah answered seeing the vest and weapon and figuring the bad had to do with it. “It’s always better to start with the bad so then when you hear the good, it lightens the mood.”

“The bad news is that Jeremiah is having his troops gear up for a firefight. And ‘troops’ is the right word. It seems all of them are in the Army. Anyway, they are all changing into those camouflage uniforms like he was wearing to be ready to go out to the field to fight these guys. He says that he doesn’t know how much of a fight they might put up, but he does know they’re armed.”

“So, the two of you are going into a dangerous situation?”

“Yes, but I think we can handle it.”

“And the good news, Poppa?” Lisa asked.

“I like the sound of that,” Roy beamed. The good news is that this is Jeremiah’s last assignment for the Army and he will be getting out and running this ranch. He actually bought the place.”

“That is good news. Thanks, Roy.”

“Oh! He also wanted me to tell you to make some food for everybody and it should be ready in about forty-five minutes from now. Don’t make anything too heavy since we’ll need to be able to move quickly if necessary.”

“Okay,” Sarah announced. “We’ll get something ready.”

Roy walked back out to meet up with the others in the stable. There were still fifteen minutes to go before the meeting was to begin.

Jeremiah and Jake were in the stable when Roy got there. They had opened the secret room that they hadn’t told Roy about yet and brought down the rack of weapons that had been hidden inside since Jeremiah had been there. Other pieces of equipment also had been brought down and placed on the table that was being used earlier. All that was needed now was to wait for the rest of the people to show up.

They came in to the stable in groups of two or three. At four-thirty, everyone was present and Jake called for quiet.

“Here’s what we’re going to do, people,” Jeremiah began. “There is a path that cuts across the property that has been being used by the gun runners to move weapons out of their warehouse. We have an ambush set up at a spot along that path and that is where we are going to take them down. Here’s how it’s going to go down.

“First, the gun runners will be traveling in convoy. They will have as many as five trucks, but will likely be less. These are regular straight trucks, not the military type that you are used to dealing with. They will move into the ambush area and will be stopped by a blown tire. The idea is to take them while they’re all out of the vehicles. While they are fixing the flat, we will saturate the area with lights aimed specifically at them, making it easier for us to see our targets while still maintaining concealment by darkness. We will give them the chance to surrender, before having to take them out by violent means. Maintain weapons hold status until told otherwise. We want them alive. Any questions?”

“Do we know the likely number of human targets?” asked a soldier.

“There could be as many as ten. But remember that Johnson is in one of those trucks.” No other questions were asked and Jeremiah stepped to the table. “We have secure radios, but stay off them if you don’t need to be on them,” he added. “I’ll hand them out now and assign you a call sign. At the same time, tell us your weapon number and you will be issued that as well. I will be Tango zero one. Sargent Reynolds?”

“Weapon fife niner, Sargent!” Jake called out as he stepped up.

“Tango zero two,” Jeremiah said. Jake signed two papers that were on the table, one for the radio set up and one for the M16A3 that he retrieved from Specialist Shelby.

“Specialist Ryan Jackman”

The troops started in with a whopping sound like the blades of a helicopter splitting the air.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Jeremiah called out. “Huey?”

“Weapon tree one, Sargent!” the soldier replied.

“Tango zero tree. Specialist Susan Matthews.”

“Weapon six two, Sargent!”

“Tango base. See me after we’re done here and I’ll give you our FBI contact’s cell number. You’ll need to be sure that we coordinate our attacks. Specialist Megan Cross.”

So it went. Specialist Cross assigned the next number in the rotation followed by Specialist Diane Shelby, T-05, Specialist David Williams, T-06, Private First Class Paul Donaldson, T-07, and Private Two Andrew Turner, T-08. “Sheriff Roy Nelson.,” Jeremiah finally turned to his mother’s one time brother-in-law.

“I don’t think you really need to know my weapon number as it isn’t part of your lot, but it’s zero, zero one,” Roy offered.

“I’m going to issue you a radio just the same, Roy. Tango zero niner. Listen up,” he raised his voice a bit. “We will be moving to the field at one eight tree zero hours. I’ll be driving us out there in my truck. No exceptions. Matthews, you will have to drive it back here after dropping us off. I don’t want anything visible in the area before the convoy rolls in. Mrs. Nelson should have food up now. Don’t weigh yourselves down with too much. We might have to move quickly and I don’t want someone having to stop to throw up or anything.” The meeting broke up and people started moving off.

Roy was the only one who saw it. Now that he had, he wondered why it had taken so long for him to notice. For that matter, why had no one else noticed? He thought it was probably due to the fact that they all were so preoccupied with everything else going on in their lives. That was true of him, too. He had been too caught up in trying to determine what John Turlow’s hidden angle was, that he didn’t see what was right in front of him.

Jeremiah finished talking with Susan about the FBI contact and finally made his way to the doorway where Roy stood. “Are you going to tell her?” Roy asked.

“Tell who what?” Jeremiah wondered.

“I don’t know why it never occurred to me before, but it’s obvious from all of the signs. You sent Cross out to help Shelby with the two five four, whatever that is.”

“It’s a ground-based antenna that sticks up into the air about thirty-six feet. And I didn’t want her in there listening to what we were talking about.”

“She’s been helping Sarah with the cooking since she got here.”

“So, she likes to cook. So, what?”

“It was Shelby who was helping you with the radio stuff in there,” Roy pointed to the table that had been set up in the stable.

“That’s part of her job. I still don’t see what you’re getting at.”

“In spite of Cross being more domestic oriented, and Shelby being communication oriented, you send both them out to the danger zone and have Matthews stay back. Besides that, whenever you talk to Matthews, you stand just a little taller and your face shows your true feelings even though you try very hard to hide them. It’s easier to read now without the beard. You are in love with Susan Matthews.”

Jeremiah’s face started to redden. “I’m her squad leader, Roy. Not here boyfriend.”

“I didn’t say you were her boyfriend. Only that you want to be her boyfriend. So, I just wonder if you’re going to tell her.”

“Let’s turn this around. Are you going to tell Mom that you love her?”

“She’s my sister-in-law. Such a thing would not be appropriate.”

“Your brother is no longer here. There is nothing to prevent you from telling her. I see it in the way she looks at you that she feels the same. You probably should move back to the ranch and sell your place. You can marry whenever you feel it’s right.”

“People would talk,” Roy declared quietly.

“Let them. Most probably already know anyway. Marie knew. She spoke of it.”

“What?! What did she say?”

“She said that the only area that she could find fault with you was that of love. At least in loving the right woman. She didn’t hold it against you, Roy. But she knew.”

“Well, maybe if you tell Susan Matthews how you feel, I’ll tell Sarah how I feel.”

“Squad leaders do not go around telling their squad members that they love them,” Jeremiah said as he headed back into the stable to sign for his radio equipment and weapon.

“At least you’re not denying it.”

“If you say one word to anyone about this, I’ll throttle you, Roy.”

“Not a word,” Roy answered as he looked into the eyes of Diane Shelby as she stood against the open door of the stable. “I promise.” He winked at the woman and she gave a knowing smile before moving off. He might not tell anyone, he thought, but he was sure that Susan Matthews would hear about it.

As he exited the stable, Roy saw Lisa talking to the soldier that Jeremiah had referred to as “Huey.” He altered course towards them and was soon standing with them.

“Can I ask you something, Mr. Jackman?”

“It’s Specialist Jackman, sir. But of course, you are welcome to ask anything.”

“Sargent Nelson called you ‘Huey.’ How did that name come about?”

“Well, first, there is my last name of Jackman. It’s the same as Hugh Jackman the actor. Then, I’m also a chopper pilot, although not for the Army. I keep my license current, but I don’t have access to the Army’s crafts.”

“I see. Not much use for a chopper in ranching.”

“No, sir. I don’t suppose there is.”

“We do have Life-Flight air ambulance services out of Des Moines. That’s about ninety miles from here. Not too far, but to commute ninety miles one way and then ninety back is an awful lot, don’t you think?”

“What are you doing, Uncle Roy?” Lisa cut in.

“Just re-establishing my observation skills, Lisa. Just observing.” He walked on towards the house to get something to eat.

The truck bounced over the field. Jeremiah was driving with Jake Reynolds in the passenger seat and Susan Matthews between them. Roy sat in the back seat with Megan Cross and David Williams. That left the four others, Ryan Jackman, Diane Shelby, Paul Donaldson, and Andrew Turner, scrambling for handholds in the bed of the truck. The decision of who rode where was simple to make. Jake had to be up front to navigate since he knew the exact location of the ambush site and Jeremiah wanted to be sure that they didn’t run over the light poles that were still laying on the ground. Susan was driving the truck back and needed to have knowledge of the way it drove. Jeremiah wanted Roy inside the truck because he wasn’t sure the older man could hold on in the bed. And the rest had ran a race to see who would get the last two seats inside, with the losers having to sit in the bed.

“Better begin to slow down, Sargent,” Jake announced as they neared where the site was set up.

A few seconds later and they came across the first of the six light poles lying on the ground and Jeremiah had everyone jumping out of the truck. The sun was just starting to set and the sky had that dusk effect where there was enough light to see as long as it wasn’t too far. The lights were raised within minutes and Jeremiah sent Susan back to the homestead.

“Radio when you get back to the base and contact Halsey. You will have to ensure that we coordinate the timing of the attacks.”

“Yes, Sargent,” she answered as the generator roared to life then left the scene.

A wood cover was placed over the generator to quiet the noise and Jake made sure that all that was needed was to flip the toggle switch on the light panel for the lights to blaze to life. Jeremiah made sure that Roy was near him then the group got into position to wait for the convoy to show up.

They waited. They waited while the sky went from dusk to twilight. They waited as darkness set in and the stars became visible. They waited as the warmth the sun had given the planet during the day seeped off. They waited for the rise of the moon. Then Jeremiah understood why they had waited for this particular night. There was no moon. And they waited some more.

The sound of the truck engines finally pierced the night air as the convoy got closer. They were on their way at last. “All stations stand ready,” Jeremiah said over the radio. “I will take out the tire of the front vehicle. Everyone else, weapons hold.”

The convoy came in to view. They traveled slowly as they made their way across the pasture without any lights on. It was a perfect night for making the run, and Britney was confident that everything was going great. Then everything changed.

Jermiah let off one shot. The front tire of the lead truck blew and the driver had to stop. With the explosive force of the tire, no one noticed that a weapon had been fired causing the problem that now faced the convoy. All of the trucks stopped.

“What happened?” Britney asked the driver of the first truck as she got out of the second.

“Blew a tire, ma’am,” he replied.

“Well fix it, damn it! We need to get going again.”

“Tango base, this is Tango zero one. Is second group ready to execute? Over.”

“Tango base. Negative. Second group is on site but targets have not yet arrived. Over,” he heard Susan replied.

“This is Tango zero one. Roger. Report when ready. Break.” There was a pause as he let up on the mic’s key then pressed it again. “All stations hold. Do not give away your positions.”

They watched as the people in the convoy worked to replace the flat tire. One of the men began to walk off the site. “I’m going to take a leak,” he told their leader. He walked away from Jeremiah’s position, but that would put him going right into the place where SPC Shelby and PFC Donaldson were lying in wait. This was confirmed a few seconds later as Shelby’s voice sounded in his ear over the radio.

“Tango zero one, this is tango zero fife, over.”

“Tango zero one, over,” Jeremiah answered.

“Tango zero fife. Uniform Charlie asset recovered, over.”

“Tango zero one, roger, over.”

“Tango zero Fife out.”

SPC Johnson was away from the targets. Now, they wouldn’t have to worry about him getting hit with friendly fire. And still they waited.

It took twenty minutes for the men to change the tire. As they got ready to go, throwing the tools back into the truck cab, Jeremiah was about to give up on Halsey and his team and just give the go ahead for his people to implement the plan of attack. Just as he was about to do so, his radio spurted back to life.

“Tango Zero one, Tango base. Foxtrot Bravo India reports targets on site and ready, over.”

“Tango zero one. Tell him to stand ready on our mark. Break. Tango zero tree, load your two zero tree and drop a four zero mike mike right in front of the lead vehicle, over.” He waited. No response was coming from the radio.

A thump sounded through the night air loud enough that the members of the convoy looked around to ask what it was. Then the explosion happened. The 40 mm grenade that Huey had launched blasted a hole ten meters in front of the lead truck. “Tango base, go, break. Tango zero two, lights,” Jeremiah yelled into his mic. The path the trucks were parked on became easily seen as the lights the team had put up came on and flooded the area with light. Jeremiah didn’t wait for an answer from Susan, but relied on her to get the message to the FBI agent to take the meeting site. At the same time, Halsey would order the dock site where the weapons were being stored to be taken as well. “Federal agents,” he called through the bull horn he had borrowed from Roy. “You are surrounded. Place your weapons on the ground and put your hands on your head.”

The one woman with the group raised her weapon as she declared that no agent was going to take her. She aimed in the direction of the sound. While not being able to see her target past the bright lights shining down on her, she knew his approximate location from the sound. She leveled the illegally obtained M16A1 she held and fired.

Jeremiah didn’t hesitate. He fired back one shot. With the advantage of the lights, he was able to see his target much easier and hit the firing shoulder of Britney Evans. “Weapons hold!” he shouted into the mic.” He again asked the group to comply with the previous order.

“Mom!” a young man screamed as he saw Britney drop her weapon and fall to her knees clutching her shoulder. He rushed toward her than stopped, unslinging his own weapon. He cursed at the unseen individual who had shot his mother and raised his M16 to fire at him as his mother had done. Before he had a chance to fire, another shot rang out and he fell backwards, his weapon flying behind him, multiple shots exiting its barrel into the air as he held the trigger for a few seconds during the fall.

“Weapons hold!” Jeremiah yelled again while keying his radio. He grabbed the bull horn a third time. “I say again. Place your weapons on the ground and put your hands on your heads.” The three men left all slowly lowered their weapons to the ground and stood up with their hands held on their heads. “Tango team move in and secure the weapons and prisoners, break” Jeremiah ordered through the radio. “Ensure that each weapon is tagged as to which person was using it, out.” The soldiers all moved into the light including Specialist Steve Johnson, who was holding an M16 that had been given to him by the gang leader. It was tagged as evidence as well.

It didn’t take long for each of the men from the convoy to be subdued with their hands zip tied behind their backs then each weapon properly tagged. Britney was still kneeling by the second vehicle when Jeremiah and Roy reached her. “Shelby,” Jeremiah called out.

“Yes, Sargent.”

“See to the wounded.”

“Yes, Sargent.” She moved to where Julien Evans lay on the ground, took a moment to look at him, then moved on to his mother. Realizing the importance of not providing any incentive for the woman to resist further, she looked back over her shoulder. “Cross, a bit of help, please.”

Megan Cross moved over to where Diane was wrapping her field bandage around the arm of her patient. “See to the other one, will you?” Diane asked a look in her eye telling her that there wasn’t really anything to do but she should act like there was anyway.

While Roy insured that all of those that were being arrested were read their rights, Jeremiah did a head count. All his team was present and accounted for with no casualties. The gun runners had three men captured, one woman wounded and captured, and one dead. He was not happy.

In the back of the Haulmark trailer, Susan sat waiting for word of what was happening in the field. She had heard Sargent Nelson’s calling for weapons hold and couldn’t help but wonder if they were taking fire. She knew that once he gave the order to move in and secure the prisoners that it was over and let out a sigh of relief knowing that he had survived the firefight, but that didn’t tell the full story of what had happened. Lisa sat across from her, her leg bouncing nervously as they waited, both worried that someone on the team might have been shot. Then the radio burst into life again.

“Tango base this is tango zero one. We will need one ambulance on site when we return to base, and the coroner, break.” Susan heard the gasp from Lisa as there was a pause in the transmission then the radio was active again. “Reporting team tango zero casualties. Evans’ gang, one wounded and one dead. Do you have Fox Bravo India’s report? Over.”

Both women gave a sigh of relief before she answered him. “Tango zero one, this is tango base. Copy. Fox Bravo India reports zero casualties and all targets in custody. Over”

“This is tango zero one. Roger. Will return to base using convoy’s vehicles, echo tango alpha five zero mikes. Out”

“You should probably go tell your mom so she won’t freak out when the ambulance and coroner get here,” Susan suggested. Lisa left immediately in a much better frame of mind now that she knew that the team were all alright.

Britney and Julien were loaded in the back of the first truck with Shelby and Cross guarding them. The other three were put in the back of the second truck with Huey and David Williams guarding while Sgt Reynolds drove with Johnson sitting in the passenger seat. The third truck had only Paul Donaldson and Andrew Turner in it. The three trucks backed up slightly and then made their way around the hole the grenade had made. They then moved in convoy with lights on making their way out of the field and to the homestead.

Susan called the nine-one-one operator and explained who she was and what was needed. The operator dispatched the ambulance and coroner right away then turned to the guy filling his mug with coffee. “You better get to the Nelson Ranch, George,” she told him. “One dead and one wounded in some kind of fire fight.”

George Kimmel worked for the Mt. Ayr Record News and sat most nights with dispatcher Carolyn Moody. When she told him the facts that she knew, he didn’t hesitate, but was out the door before she could pick up the phone for her next duty.

Carolyn tried to call Sheriff Roy, knowing he would want to know about this. What if it were his sister-in-law or niece that were hurt? Not able to reach him, she then called his second, Harold Skinner and informed him of the situation. He left his wife sleeping in their bed and quietly dressed so that he could see who he could arrest for murder. It was a part of his job that he really enjoyed when the perpetrator started whining and begging. He would laugh at them unless there was someone else there as well. Then he just laughed on the inside. Maybe it was the new guy that bought the place that did the deed. That would make old sheriff Roy happy. It would be something that gave him an edge over the boss. It didn’t occur to him that Britney Evans and her men were moving a load of weapons to sell to the Egyptian guy and it might be them that were being brought in.

As Jeremiah pulled into the yard of the homestead, he could see that the ambulance and coroner had already arrived. There were also another two sheriff vehicles there. He was glad of that as they would be needed to move the prisoners to the jail. Then he heard Roy curse under his breath. “What?” he asked.

“Skinner’s here,” Roy answered.

“Well, that saves us a trip. Do you want me to do the arrest?”

“No. He’s my man. That makes him my responsibility. I’ll take care of it.”

Skinner recognized the trucks as soon as they entered the yard. He thought about leaving, but was too excited over the possibility of listening to some poor shmuck begging about the unfairness of the law. He was sure that neither Britney nor her stupid son would rat him out. He was too useful to them.

The convoy pulled up beside the ambulance and stopped. Roy got out of the passenger side and crossed to where Skinner was standing. As they watched, Jeremiah opened the back of the truck, his M16A3 slung on his shoulder.

“What the hell is he doing with a sixteen?” Skinner asked.

“The same thing I’m doing with my M4, Harold,” Roy replied. “Are you armed?”

“I’ve got my side arm,” he motioned to the holstered beretta 92. “Do I need something bigger?”

“I don’t think so. Let me see your weapon.”

Skinner handed the sheriff his weapon expecting him to look it over and then give it back with his recommendation. Instead, he stuffed it in the belt of his pants and reached into his pocket for another zip tie. Once in hand, he grabbed the deputy and swung him around pushing him onto the Dodge Challenger he drove. Skinner had his hands tied behind his back before He knew what hit him.

“What the hell, Roy?”

“You’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence, tampering with an investigation, being an accomplish in a gun running operation, selling classified information to leaders of said gun running operation, and I’ll probably come up with a few more once I think about it for a while. I know you have the Meranda memorized, but I’ll read them to you anyway.” He did just that before letting him speak again.

“Are you insane?! Get these off of me!”

“I asked you if you understand your rights, Harold. Please answer that question.”

“Of course, I do. You made us all memorize the whole thing and then gave an exhaustive class on them.”

While Roy was taking care of his deputy, Jermiah made sure that Britney Evans was loaded onto the ambulance. Her wound was not life threatening, but it needed to be cared for. He had Shelby go with her as guard. Before the ambulance took off, Roy stopped them. He then took his cuffs and cuffed her left arm to the post of the gurney and handed the key to Shelby. After she was gone, they moved her son’s body to the coroner’s vehicle.

“Who shot him?!” Skinner yelled. “They’re the ones who should be arrested. Not me!”

“I think you should exercise your right to remain silent” Roy told him.

“You can’t do this to me!” he shouted. “Woody, get out your knife and cut this zip tie off of me. Please, Woody.”

“Sheriff. Are you sure that he did what you said he did?” asked Deputy Victor “Woody” Woodcox.

“I’m sure, Woody. You know I don’t play around with those things.”

“I can’t go to jail, Roy,” Skinner pleaded. “Please, Roy. I can’t go to prison. They’ll eat me alive! Roy?! Roy?!”

“Roy, we have four more men to round up. I think we should do that tonight before they know what happened and make a run for it.”

“Woody, all these trucks are to be taken to the impound lot. An FBI agent named Halsey will pick them up sometime later, but see to it that they get there and the chain of evidence is protected.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sargent Reynolds?”

“Yes, Sargent?”

“Go with Deputy Woodcox and assist him with the prisoners and getting the trucks to impound. Use whoever you need to get the job done right.”

“Yes, Sargent.”

With that, the two Nelsons headed off to arrest the four men that were not with the convoy that night but were part of the gang including Lamar Westfall.

Lunch time and Lisa was back to work. She looked up from serving a customer as the bell over the door rang and saw Nancy enter. Automatically, she went to the drinks station and got her the sweetened tea that she liked. “Hey, Nancy,” she greeted as she sat the drink down in front of the woman. “Sitting at a table today? That’s different.”

“I got a call from Richard this morning. It seems that the new owner of the ranch has put him on retainer. He wants to be sure that everything is right for the transfer of ownership. As if I’d get it wrong. I don’t get it. Why would he use Richard?”

“I’m sure that he just wants to be sure that you do everything right. It’s probably not as big a deal as you are making it out to be.”

“We’ll see. So, how are you liking it at your uncle Roy’s place? Everything alright? Does he have a nice place?”

“I don’t know. I’ve not actually seen it.”

“What do you mean? He didn’t let you and your mom stay on the street, did he? I know your father wouldn’t let you go near his house, but he’s been dead a year now, so, it shouldn’t matter anymore.”

“You haven’t read the paper this morning, have you?”

“No, not yet. Why?”

“You’ll understand when you read it, but just to let you know, we never left the ranch. First, mom was offered a job as cook and housekeeper, then everything else happened.”

“What else?”

“You’ll see. Here comes Richard now. I’ll take your orders when I return with their drinks.” With that, Lisa left.

Richard Bailey and Jeremiah Nelson walked up to the table. Rishard sat next to his wife and Jeremiah directly across from her.

“Mr. Turlow. You shaved! And you got your hair cut. I must say. You look a lot different this way.”

“Yes. I got rid of the extra hair as soon as the disguise wasn’t needed anymore.”

“Disguise? Were you running from the law?” She thought that would be a reason that he would have paid Richard a retainer.

“Quite the opposite. I was disguised for the law.”

“Root beer for you, Richard,” Lisa said as she placed a glass in front him with a straw in it. “And you get the cola.” She lowered another glass sans straw in front of Jeremiah. “Ready to order?” The three placed their orders. “You look like you really need to get some rest, bro,” she declared. “I know there’s still a ton of stuff that has to be handled, but you better not overdo it.”

“You’re right. There is a lot to do. Most importantly is keeping Turner busy until we can get him to a counselor. But I’ll find some time to rest.” When he had awoken at his usual time of six o’ clock, he had found that Private E-2 Andrew Turner was also awake and having trouble sleeping. Jeremiah knew why and set out to solve his problem as best he could. It was Turner that had fired the shot that hit Julien Evans, and his first time in killing a man.

“Bro?” asked Nancy as Lisa went to put in their orders.

“I know it’s been seven years, Nance,” Richard started. “But don’t you recognize him? It’s Jeremiah.”

Nancy looked at him a little harder. “My goodness,” she exclaimed. “It is you, isn’t it? So, why the disguise?”

Richard slid the copy of the Mt. Ayr Record News that he had been holding towards her. There in bold thirty-six-point type was the headline “1 Wounded, 1 Dead in Firefight with U.S. Military.” Under that was a picture of sheriff Roy Nelson pushing deputy Harold Skinner towards one of the county’s three Dodge Challengers while Skinner was obviously yelling something. Under the picture was a paragraph about the photo. “Sheriff Roy Nelson arrests Deputy Harold Skinner on multiple counts of criminal activity.” Below that was the story with George Kimmel’s byline. “Members of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) in conjunction with the FBI ended a months long investigation and information gathering operation with the arrest of several people involved in gun-running. While the FBI arrested the people that were set to buy the illegal firearms, Sheriff Roy Nelson joined the CID to take down the leaders of the gang. The arrests made by the FBI met with no resistance while the Army personnel faced a firefight in which the leader of the gang, Britney Evans, was wounded, and her son, Julien killed. U.S. Army Staff Sargent Jeremiah Nelson and his team moved into the area some time ago, setting themselves up on the Nelson Ranch. SSG Nelson, who is the nephew of Sheriff Roy, portrayed himself as ranch buyer John Turlow to ensure that his family had nothing to do with the crime before revealing himself. He had been estranged from the family for seven years before that. Sargent E-5 Jacob Reynolds said that the firefight was brief and the outcome was not what they had intended. He also confirmed that FBI agents had arrested the buyer, a man names Akbar Solvina, along with a truck driver he had hired to move the weapons, and a third party believed to have been the go between. Britney Evans faces several charges including two counts of murder as well as illegal sell of firearms.”

Nancy sat there with her mouth agape. “Wow,” she finally said.

“Yeah,” agreed her husband.

“So, what happens with the ranch?” she asked thinking that she was going to lose the ninety-thousand-dollar commission. Thankfully, she hadn’t used it for anything. “Do I need to put it back on the market?”

“No. I’m keeping the ranch. I’ll be leaving the Army in a couple of weeks and coming back here to run it. That’s what this meeting is about. I want to be sure that everything is done right to transfer it from John Turlow to Jeremiah Nelson.”

“Well, you could just have me cancel out the sell and if you pay the taxes, just let your mom sign it over to you.”

“That would mean that you would lose your commission. That’s not what I want.”

“In that case, I could arrange for you to sell it to yourself. You being John Turlow the seller and yourself being Jeremiah Nelson the buyer.”

“That way you get double the commission, huh?”

“I didn’t say how much you would have to sell it for. I get fifteen percent, but you don’t have to buy it for the same price you paid for it before. Maybe you sell it for one hundred dollars. I would get fifteen. I’m sure you can come up with fifteen dollars, can’t you?”

Jeremiah didn’t answer right away. He was busy watching Susan Matthews and Ryan Jackman as they talked with Lisa. After some talking, Lisa went into the back. “Yeah, I could come up with that much,” he finally answered.

“Good. Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Lisa came back out and handed the two Specialists a box with sacks in it. Money changed hands and the two went away. But Jeremiah wasn’t blind to the way Huey and Lisa looked at each other. She then delivered their order and the three sat and talked about inconsequential things while they ate.

“That news report didn’t tell the whole story, did it?” Nancy asked as they got ready to leave.

“No,” admitted Jeremiah. “We’ve kept several things quiet for now. It will all come out eventually, though. It’s not a big secret, but there were still some arrests to be made. Mostly some Army officers who stepped out of bounds. I’ll say this, though. You’ll need to find a new senator.” He gave a yawn. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Long day and a short night last night. And a lot to get done yet. I haven’t even started cleaning my weapon yet. I better get back to the ranch and get started.”

Jeremiah was once again dressed in the Battle Dress Uniform of the U.S. Army as were the rest of his squad. They were going to travel in convoy most of the way down to Fort Leonard Wood Mo. Since the trip was only about 350 miles, they would be there that evening and be able to turn in all the weapons and equipment. Because he had those items, he wanted to be sure that they were well identified. His truck had the same Haulmark trailer that he had brought with him when he first showed up at the ranch and all those items were in it. The only thing that wasn’t in it was the ammunition. Those would go back in SGT. Reynold’s truck.

There was also the issue of getting all the horses and trailers back to the right places. Sgt Reynolds had one of the Coachman trailers while SPC Jackman had the other. SPC Shelby had the Travalong horse trailer loaded with the five horses they had borrowed from a ranch near the fort, while SPC Williams had one of the bumper-pull horse trailers with two horses in it. SPC Cross and SPC Matthews both had their own vehicles, Susan’s being a blue Dodge 3500 Limited Longhorn crew cab with an 8-foot box. In the back of it was the Harley Fat Boy that SPC Johnson rode. Although he could have made the 350 miles on the bike, he felt better about having it in the truck bed and riding along with her instead. PFC Donaldson was riding back with SPC Shelby and would help unloading the horses at the other end, and PV2 Turner was riding with Huey to help with turning in the rental trailers.

In looking at it all, Jeremiah noticed something wasn’t in place. He walked up to Susan Matthews who was making sure that the bike was properly tied down a third time. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Specialist?”

“I don’t think so, Sargent,” she replied. “I got all my stuff out of the trailer we were sleeping in so I think I’m good.”

“What about your horse?”

“Oh, I’m leaving her here.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving her here?”

“I figured it was sort of counter-productive to take her all the way down there just to haul her back up two months later. Lisa will take care of him ’til I get back.”