by Trevor Scott
“Long story,” he said.
“I’m just a frickin’ bee keeper,” Bobby said.
In a moment, Max heard heavy breathing and realized his cousin Britt was running down the hill toward them. He holstered his Glock.
“Over here,” Max yelled.
Britt climbed over the wall up the hill and then came down to the shooting scene. “Jesus,” she said softly and then handed Max his rifle.
Max cleared and made safe his AR-15, and then put the sling over his torso and flipped the rifle to his back.
“Is this everyone?” Britt asked.
Bobby nodded. “I think so. Who are you?”
“This is my cousin Britt Ryan,” Max said. “Boston police from my mom’s side.” Then he introduced Bobby to her.
“Cousin of my cousin is my friend,” Bobby said, his voice becoming a little more confident.
Britt got on her radio and called her brother.
“We heard the shots down here,” Mike said.
“They’re all down,” Britt said.
“And the hostage?”
“Safe,” she said.
Max pointed back up the hill toward the estate. “I found the young cook’s helper up at the edge of the main building. Stabbed like the chef.”
She shook her head. “It’s going to take all night to unravel what happened here.”
“Could you take Bobby up to the estate?” Max asked. “I need to take a leak. I’ll catch up.”
Britt smiled. “Being so wet, you could just piss your pants.”
“That’s not the way I roll, cousin,” he said.
“Good to know.” She led Bobby up the hill.
Max pretended to take a leak until they were out of view. Then he went and found the leader’s phone. He pulled out his own phone and put the two side by side. Max verified what he already knew and then deleted contacts and conversations from a few key people. Satisfied, he removed the battery from the Iranian’s phone and threw that as far as he could toward the river below. Then he put the back on the phone and did the same with it, hearing a splash in the distance.
Now Max hurried up the hill, over the stone wall, and onto the road, catching up with his cousins.
Soon, they got under the canopy at the main entrance and Max said to Bobby, “You’ll need to give them your full story. You can probably leave out the pot smoking with Frank.”
“Good idea,” Britt said.
The three of them started into the estate, when Max stopped them before entering the foyer.
“Frank,” Max yelled. “Friendly faces coming in.”
Max peered around the corner and saw Frank with his gun aimed at him from the living room. Once he saw that it was Max, he stood up and put his gun away.
Then Bobby and Frank found each other and embraced.
Pulling his cousin Britt aside, Max said, “We need to go upstairs and let the others know what’s going on. My uncle has a gun, so I better do it.”
“No problem,” she said. “I’ll wait for the local LEOs to arrive.”
“Make sure Frank and Bobby stay put in here,” Max said. “We don’t want the locals shooting them inadvertently.”
“Copy that.”
Max headed upstairs.
23
Max made it up to the second floor and hesitated to listen to the conversation coming from the room at the end of the hallway.
“Uncle Pasquale,” Max said loudly. “It’s Max. All is clear.”
He moved closer to the door but still wanted to make sure those on the other end acknowledged him.
“Robin. You in there.”
“Yeah, bro. We’re coming. Tell me an ambulance is on its way.”
“Should be,” Max said.
After some shuffling around, the door finally opened and Robin was the first to come out. She was about to give him a hug, but she stopped.
“What?” he asked. “No love for the wet guy?” He stepped into the room and glanced at the scene. Laying on the large bed was his aunt Jackie, who looked to have a bullet wound. Next to her was Martha, who had seen better times.
The doctor moved forward and said, “We were forced to give her the second Epi-Pen. But she needs to be at a hospital.”
“My cousins called for an ambulance, but there was a hostage situation for a while,” Max said.
“Hostage?” Uncle Pasquale asked.
“They caught Bobby heading down the hill for help.”
“Is he alright?” This came from Jackie, who was trying to lift herself up onto her elbows.
“Yes,” Max said. “He’s a bit shook up. But he’s fine. Thanks for calling our Boston cousins.”
Jackie smiled. “I thought you might like to meet the other side of the family.”
Robin glanced at Max. “So, the Ryan cousins are really here.”
“Britt is thirty-five and she’s downstairs,” Max said. “Her brother Mike is down the road or on his way back up to the estate with the local police and an ambulance.”
Aunt Anna now came forward. “Is Frank alright?”
“He’s fine,” Max said. “He’s been just below you this whole time, making sure nobody came in who wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Pasquale placed his hand on Max’s shoulder and said, “You kicked some ass, Max. Saved our bacon.”
He didn’t want to mention the fact at this time that these men were here because of him. Instead, he simply took the compliment.
Max finally saw some lights coming up the long driveway. He went to the window to look outside and could see that an ambulance was one of the vehicles.
Dr. Kamala Sen came up to Max and put her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, Max.”
“No problem.”
She moved around him to make sure he had no wounds. “I don’t know how you came through this without a single injury.”
“Well,” Max said. “My ears are ringing.”
Pasquale limped over and said, “Mine haven’t stopped ringing since the Army. It was either that or the Ted Nugent concerts.”
The doctor shifted her attention toward Pasquale. “You need to set up an appointment with me. I can fix that knee. I even have privileges at your hospital in Bennington.”
“I’m not sure if I can have someone like you fix me,” Pasquale said.
“Because I’m Indian?” she asked.
“Jesus, no,” Pasquale said.
“Oh. Because I’m a woman,” the doctor asked, smiling.
“No. Because you’re too damn beautiful.”
Now the doctor demurred before giving Pasquale a hug. “You’re too kind.”
Robin came over and said, “What now, brother?”
“I could use a shower and a good sleep,” Max said.
“There’s no power or cell service or internet,” Robin said.
“Now you’re making my point,” he said. “Sounds like heaven to me. You don’t need lights to sleep.”
“He has a point,” Kamala said. “I just wonder how you turn off your mind long enough to fall asleep.”
“I sleep like a drugged baby after nights like this,” Max said.
“He doesn’t have kids, does he,” Kamala said.
“Not yet,” Robin said.
Max noticed his cousin Christina standing back against a wall with her arms crossed over her chest. He went to her and gave her a wanted hug. “Are you alright?” he asked.
Christina hugged him back. “I am now, Max. Thank you for keeping us all safe.”
“This is all my fault,” Max said, shaking his head slightly.
“Nonsense,” his cousin said. “We were attacked. You responded. The world needs more people like you.”
“I thought you weren’t too keen on guns,” Max said.
“Normally,” Christina said. “But in your hands, I’m perfectly happy.”
“Guns are a tool,” Max said. “They’re always bad in the wrong hands. That’s why we need people like us with guns. Like your father and your cousin
Frank.”
Christina glanced around Max, her eyes on their Aunt Anna. “I’m concerned about her husband, Francesco, and his men. We all thought the gunmen had something to do with Anna’s people. Are you sure that’s not the case?”
“Positive,” Max said. “This followed me all the way from the west coast. A prior case of mine.”
Soon the ambulance EMTs showed up and put Martha on one stretcher, hauling her off. Luckily, cousin Mike had made sure they sent a second ambulance for Aunt Jackie. Once the injured were hauled away, they all made it downstairs to the living room. Bobby had put a couple of logs on the fire already, and he was sitting by himself on a sofa. Pasquale and Christina went to him and embraced him for comfort. Anna and Kamala found a glass of wine and sat in a couple of chairs near the fire. Robin stood in front of the fireplace, trying to rub some heat into her hands.
Cousin Frank came over to Max and said, “I’m pretty sure I can get the generator running in short order.”
“Not a good idea,” Max said. “The body of the young cook’s helper is over that way. They’ll have this whole place locked down for a while.”
“By the way, the cops must have found the cell phone scrambler,” Frank said. “Because my phone is working now.”
“Could you check on your dad and see where he might be?” Max asked.
“That’s how I knew my phone was back on. My dad texted. He’s still in New Hampshire.”
“Did you tell him what happened here?”
Frank shook his head. “Are you serious? He’d have his associates come over here pronto.”
Max saw that his cousins from Boston wanted to talk, so he left Frank and went over toward the foyer. “What’s up?”
“The sheriff wants a statement,” Mike said. “If you don’t mind, we’ll sit in on it with you.”
“No problem,” Max said.
The sheriff sat at the front desk in the foyer, a large flashlight for illumination. He was an old, gray-haired fellow with a few extra pounds on his thick structure.
Reaching out his thick paw for Max, the sheriff shook his hand and said, “Sorry about sitting down. I threw my back out yesterday wrestling with one of my steers.”
“Did your deputies secure all of the bodies?” Max asked.
“I don’t know. Your Boston cousins relayed where they were, but let’s hear it from you.”
Max told him about the chef in the kitchen and his helper out around the east side of the building under the junipers. “I’m sure you found the two men down by the sedan and the other two off the road on the hill leading to the river.”
“Got those,” the sheriff said, looking at his notebook.
“And, of course, the man behind the wheel in the van,” Max said.
“Got him. We also found the cell jammer and shut that down. Let’s see, I wasn’t good at math, but that’s four, five bad guys and two good guys.”
“You need to investigate the chefs,” Max said. “They could have intentionally given Martha peanuts, since she said she told the chef about her allergy to them.”
“We’ll look into their background,” the sheriff agreed. “Is that it?”
Max thought and almost said yes. Then he remembered one more. “Did you find the guy out west of the parking lot? He’s back behind the tall trees. He was taking potshots at the living room until I found this.” Max patted his AR-15.
“No, we missed him.” The sheriff lifted his chin to the young pre-pubescent deputy hanging around, who took that as a sign to go look for the body.
“You can’t miss him,” Max said to the departing deputy. Then, to nobody in general, he mumbled, “He’s the dead guy.”
The exasperated sheriff shook his head and said, “Let me get this straight. You drove all the way out here from Nevada and brought your AR-15, handgun, and your night vision goggles?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Max asked, his arms out for the sheriff to see all of this equipment. “I’m a former federal agent with Air Force OSI. Obviously, I made the right choice.”
Cousin Britt held back a giggle.
“You took all of these men by yourself?” the sheriff asked. He looked at his notes. “Six men?”
“It’s not a record for me,” Max said. “Prior to my stint with OSI, I spent ten years as a combat controller embedded with the Navy SEALs, Marine Corps Force Recon, and Army Special Forces.”
“Jesus,” Britt said, putting her hand on Max’s shoulder. “I didn’t know about that.”
Cousin Mike reached his hand out to Max and shook it with newfound respect. “Thank you for your service, cousin.”
Max turned back to the sheriff and said, “I’ll write up a complete, detailed report of everything that happened tonight after I get some rest.”
“I’d rather you do it now,” the sheriff said.
Slamming his fist into the desk in front of the sheriff, Max said, “Well, I would have rather had a little help out there from your deputies. But I guess we don’t always get what we want.”
The sheriff sat in his chair slack-jawed as Max wandered back to the living room.
He waved at his sister to come over.
Robin came over and smiled. “Are these our Ryan cousins?”
Max introduced his sister to Mike and Britt. They shook hands and then hugged all around.
“Thank you both for having my brother’s back,” Robin said.
Britt laughed. “He doesn’t need much backup.”
“He doesn’t think so,” Robin said. “But we all need someone. I’m so glad we found out about the two of you.”
Mike said, “We had heard stories about our aunt from our dad. He said she stood up to the Mafia families, testified against them, and he never heard from her again. That must have been tough on her.”
Robin wiped away a tear. “We just found out about all of this in the past couple of days. We had no idea we were part of the witness protect program growing up. In retrospect, I guess we should have known something.”
“She’s right,” Max said. “Sometimes I would find my mom crying alone, and I had no idea why. It was usually on certain dates.”
“We thought we had no living relatives,” Robin said.
Britt gave Robin another hug. Then she said, “Well you’ve got us now. If you have time, I’d like you to come to Boston and meet my husband and children.”
“Mine too,” Mike said.
Max didn’t commit, but Robin said she would do so.
Britt pulled out her phone and swiped through, bringing up photos of her family. Robin took the phone and asked about every one of them.
Max and Mike pulled away a little and his cousin asked a question only another cop might ask.
“Tell me about these guys who came after you,” Mike said. “Why’d they do that?”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Max told his cousin about the young woman from Portland, how he had found her for her father, but then decided not to let the father know where she was hiding in Reno.
“Is she alright?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. The guy she was supposed to marry is laying down on the hill with a bunch of bullets in him.”
“He was one of those you killed?”
“That’s what he said without saying,” Max said. “He was about the right age.”
“This is going to take a day or so to sort out,” Mike said.
“Not really. I usually don’t worry about motive in cases like this. Someone comes to kill me, and I simply react, taking them out first. We all have a God-given right to self-defense.”
“I hear you, cousin,” Mike agreed. “But you also know how law enforcement likes nice, neat paperwork.”
“I’ll write up a report that Hemingway would be proud of,” Max said. “Now, I need to take a little combat nap. You’ll still be here in a couple of hours, right?”
Mike laughed and checked his watch. “We’ll probably be here until checkout time.”
“I’ll be in
my room,” Max said, and then wandered back through the foyer to the staircase.
He got to the second floor and went down to his room, closing the door behind him. Then, without thinking, he turned the deadbolt. He set his NVGs on a small dresser. Then he pulled off his AR-15, setting it on a chaise lounge near the window. Finally, he unclipped his Glock and his extra magazine pouches from his web belt and set them on the nightstand next to the bed.
He stripped off his wet clothes until he was naked and stepped into the shower. Luckily, the power outage had not impacted the hot water. He washed all of the gunpowder from his face and realized now that his ears were rigging more than normal.
After a quick shower, he climbed into bed naked and almost immediately fell asleep.
24
Max woke to the sound of a light knock on his door. He was still tired, like he was coming off of anesthesia, his eyes tracing the room for understanding. Finally, he realized where he was and why he was there.
“Max. Are you alive?” It was his sister.
He was naked, so he went to his bag and pulled out some boxer briefs, slipping them on. Then he opened the door wide to his sister. But she wasn’t the only one there.
Standing next to Robin was Dr. Kamala Sen, who wasn’t disturbed at all by his near nakedness. Max guessed she was used to seeing a lot of people without their clothes.
“Kamala and your Aunt Anna are heading into town to get her tires fixed, and then they’re driving back to New Hampshire.”
“You got the engine running,” he asked and then yawned.
“Frank was able to pop the hood and splice some wires,” Robin said. “Don’t ask which wires.”
“You have a lot of scars,” the doctor said.
“That’s the road map that tells me I’m still alive,” he said, repeating something an old Navy SEAL had once told him.
“I just wanted to thank you again for everything you did last night,” Kamala said. “If you ever get up our way again, please look me up.” She handed him her card.
He flipped the card over and found her private cell phone number scribbled there. “Well, now that I know I have so much family here, I’m sure we’ll both be back to visit.”