by Kate Morris
“I doubt that,” he tells her. “Herb was close to figuring it out. He had some of it guessed right already. We worked on it together.”
He glances over to find her smiling smugly at him as if he is being too shy to accept the praise. Instead, he changes the subject and has her tell him in detail what happened after he left her in the building by herself. In hindsight, he wishes he would’ve taken her with him. He’d thought it was the safest option, leaving her. Derek had wholeheartedly agreed to the idea. He’d been the one to suggest it in the first place because he’d wanted Simon to get an up close and personal look at the camp. When she is done regaling him of her night’s adventures, Simon feels slightly sick to his stomach. No wonder she’d sounded so fearful on the radio when they’d finally made contact.
“How come you couldn’t hear me when I called you?” she asks when she’s done.
“Oh, that,” he says. “I couldn’t answer. I was in the middle of their camp, and you weren’t coming in very well. I think we were too far out of range or something. As a matter of fact, I was in Parker’s own tent.”
“What? Are you serious?”
He smiles remembering what he did. “Um, yes. He wasn’t there, unfortunately. I heard one of them talking about his tent. Didn’t take long to find it, either. It was the biggest one. You’d think he was some Arabian king in the desert or something.”
“Really? Why?”
“Oh, it was just over the top, ridiculous, pompous. You know, Parker style. But he wasn’t there.”
“Hm, too bad he wasn’t there.”
Simon chuckles, still thinking about it.
“What?”
He immediately states, “Nothing.”
“Simon, what? What’s so funny.”
“Not in a thousand years, Samantha Patterson.”
Sam begins realizing he’s holding something back. “Oh, no. What did you do, Simon?”
“That’s between Parker and me,” he answers firmly and doesn’t reply when she keeps hounding him to know. He could never possibly tell her, not the girl he’s in love with. He wouldn’t want her to look at him like that. He’d come across a dead raccoon in the woods and went back to carry it to Parker’s tent. He’d placed it just under the edge of the tent where his bed was located. In a few days, it ought to stink to high heaven, and it will take a while to figure out where the odor is coming from. Then, just for a backup plan, Simon ensured that even if they find the dead raccoon, there would still be an odor in his tent. Some dirty deeds like taking a leak on one’s enemy’s bed are not something a person should tell his future wife. He just hopes it dries before Parker comes back. That way, even after the dead raccoon is discovered, he won’t be able to tell why his bed still isn’t living up to his high standards or where the odd smell is coming from.
Chapter Nineteen
Reagan
“So Sam and Simon are staying at the cabin near Clarksville?” she asks his sister for confirmation as she breastfeeds her daughter at the kitchen island while Paige and Sue work on the morning food prep for tomorrow.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Paige confirms, running pork through the meat grinder clamped down on the island top. She’s going to form it into sausage patties. “I was surprised he agreed to it. I can’t imagine Sam being too happy about that.”
“Why’s that?” Sue asks.
Paige shrugs but answers, “Because, she’s always trying to get as far away from my brother as possible.”
Sue just smiles. “She’s just fighting against her feelings. She’ll come around.”
“Yeah,” Reagan agrees. “And if your brother puts the moves on her in the cabin, that should help.”
“Simon? Moves? Get real!” Paige says, laughing gaily at his expense. They do this a lot, laugh at the men’s expenses when they aren’t around to defend themselves. It’s a rather amusing pastime.
Reagan chuckles, too. “Yeah, what the hell was I thinking?”
Sue cluck-clucks to them, “I don’t know. Simon has been acting a lot differently lately, especially around Samantha. He may just have a move or two up his sleeve yet.”
“Doubtful,” Reagan says with a snort. “This is Simon we’re talking about here.”
“I don’t know about my brother’s moves or lack of, but he’d better get his crap in order. I’m tired of Sam living over there. I miss her too much.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Sue says with a nod as she punches down dough in a large, ceramic bowl, one of Grams’s favorites. “But, then again, her uncle does live there, so she’s going to want to be where her only family member is.”
Reagan weighs her options and goes with the second one. “I was talking to her uncle a few weeks back, back before the attack on the Cheekwood, and he said he was thinking about moving into our town.”
“Really?” Sue asks, surprised.
“Yeah, we were talking about the town’s growth. The other woman, Dr. Brown, over there on Dave’s compound has expressed an interest in running the clinic he and Sam run. She has a friend living in a small community just east of Nashville who’s also a doctor. There are now three nurses living within Dave’s community. To serve a smaller community, two doctors and three nurses is plenty.”
“Wow, I didn’t know he was thinking about leaving,” Sue remarks. “Does Sam know this?”
Reagan pinches her mouth together and bites the inside of her cheek. “I assume he’s spoken with her about it. But I doubt she’ll want to move. He’s talking about living in our house in town full-time with her.”
“What about Dave? How’s he feel about it?” Paige asks.
“Scott said he’s fine with it. As long as he has at least one doctor, he said he’d be ok with Scott moving into Pleasant View. And for us, it would work a lot better, too. The town has grown so much that it would be nice to have a doctor there at all times to handle emergencies. And as the outlying farm communities continue to grow and expand, Grandpa, Simon, and I could treat those people doing house-calls since they’re going to be close to our farm.”
“Hm,” Paige says, contemplating everything. “I guess we’ll have to wait until everything settles down to see.”
“I think I might know why her uncle is wanting to move to our town,” Sue says slyly.
“Why?” Reagan asks as clueless as ever.
“Sam has told me that she thinks her uncle might like Melora, you know, Hardy’s sister?”
She and Paige both nod. Reagan adds, “I never noticed.”
“As if you would,” Sue chides with a smile.
“True,” she agrees, grinning. “But I really haven’t ever noticed. He’s always very professional and doesn’t even seem to be interested in the women in town.”
“He’s just shy,” Sue says.
Paige shakes her head and bites her thumbnail. “No, I don’t think that’s it.”
“What do you mean?” Sue asks.
“Her uncle…I don’t know. He’s got issues,” Paige explains. “I’ve seen him around people. He’s very guarded, doesn’t let his hair down, builds walls around himself. I’ve tried really hard to get to know him better, but he just gives me the brush off. He’s not rude, mind you. He’s just not open to making friends.”
Sue is next to comment, “Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess I really didn’t give it a lot of thought, but I’ve seen it, too. I think he’s had a bad time of it.”
“His fiancée or girlfriend- I can’t remember what Sam told me- was killed,” Reagan tells them. “Not sure how. Think it was bad. Maybe he found her or something. That probably has something to do with it. Plus, when he told Sam where all he’d been trying to stay alive, trying to find his sister- Sam’s mom- and trying then to find her, I think he had it pretty rough.”
“I’m sure he did,” Paige agrees, knowingly. Reagan can see the bad memories flooding into her mind of her own trials travelling across the country to her brother.
“Well,” Sue starts with more enthusiasm, “then we should help
him along.”
“What? No, that’s a terrible idea,” Reagan corrects quickly. “Really, really terrible, Sue.”
Her sister offers an ornery grin in return. “Hm.”
Paige just chuckles. Reagan rolls her eyes.
“I even told him he could live in your house if you guys don’t think you’re ever going to live out there again,” Reagan says. “I mean, it’s just sitting there empty most of the time.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Sue admits. “Derek doesn’t even talk about going back. I think he realizes it would be too difficult right now to even consider, so he just doesn’t bring it up.”
“I don’t mind,” Reagan says. “I like having you guys in the big house again.”
Sue reaches across the island and touches her cheek, to which Reagan doesn’t even flinch. Her sister’s fingertips against her skin isn’t something that causes her to pull away, not anymore, not with the help of her husband and his therapy and counseling her on that issue.
Outside, Shadow barks, which gets their other dog barking, as well.
“Cory must be back!” Paige says with eagerness and rounds the island, wiping her hands on her apron. Earlier she was in the med shed with Grandpa reloading ammo. With the massive expenditure of ammunition during their firefight with the highwaymen, they need to replenish their reserves. “Yes, it’s them, Reagan. They’re back.”
They wait for the men to come inside since it’s the middle of the night and cold and dark outside. Her husband walks straight to her and cups her cheek before kissing her. Reagan doesn’t pull back from this, either.
“Thank God you’re home,” Paige says as Cory crushes her to him.
“We’re fine, sweetheart,” he reassures his wife.
“How’s my Charlie girl?” John coos to their daughter, who stops suckling to gaze up at her father with big blue eyes full of wonder and joy and adoration. Reagan does the same thing most of the time. Damn this man and his charisma and loving nature and charm. He can even bewitch infants.
“She’s eating. Again. I feel like a damn milking machine,” Reagan complains, but only half-heartedly. These moments with her baby are something she treasures because being a town doctor, her time is pulled away from her daughter quite often. Plus, everyone always wants to take turns holding Charlotte when she’s awake and not in the middle of a feeding.
“How’d it go?” she asks as she rises. Then she looks at Cory. “Damn it, Cory! Do I need to sew you up again?”
“What?” he asks and looks down at his sleeve where there is an obvious smear of blood. “Oh, no. That’s not from me. I’m all one piece tonight, Little Doc.”
“Well, I guess miracles do happen,” she comments as Derek and Grandpa join the discussion.
“Why don’t we all adjourn to my office, shall we?” Grandpa suggests. “Hannah’s asleep, and I don’t want us to wake her. She wasn’t feeling well earlier.”
Reagan snorts, “Yeah, it’s called pregnancy. Nobody felt sorry for me when I had to puke every five minutes for nine months.”
“Whine, whine,” Sue teases.
“Shut it,” Reagan warns with humor and follows the group to his office. Then he shuts the doors. A low fire is still crackling in the fireplace, creating warmth and ambiance. However, the mood is heavy, and they feel it. The mission her husband and Cory took tonight was probably dangerous, and some of their family is still out there.
“What’d you find out?” Derek asks as soon as everyone finds a seat.
“Oh, it’s Parker’s camp,” Cory states.
“How do you know for sure?” Derek asks next.
John butts in to say, “Knucklehead here got into it with one of them when he was busted snooping.”
“Cory,” Kelly scolds with disappointment.
“Hey, it was an accident. Besides, I already had enough intel to know it was Parker’s camp before the dude found me.”
“How?” Derek presses again.
John goes on to explain the patrol on the ridge, Cory finding the equipment marked for Fort Knox, and overhearing a conversation where people used the word ‘President’. It’s enough for Reagan to believe it, too.
“And how do you explain getting caught?” Kelly asks. “That’s some amateur hour shit right there, Cor.”
“Yeah? And you’re awfully ballsy since your wife’s in bed,” Reagan points out, earning a flashy white smile from him.
“Exactly,” Kelly agrees. “See what I mean? I’m smarter.”
John jumps in to defend him, “It wasn’t really Cory’s fault, not totally. I was his spotter and lost visual on him.”
“So, now you’ve both gone full E-2,” Derek razzes. “Let me know when you get outta’ boot camp.”
“Better than being a ninety-day wonder,” John jokes, to which the other men laugh. She doesn’t get it, though. Must be some sort of military joke. He sends her a wink, which means he’ll explain it later.
“I got your wonder,” Derek says with a glare.
“Anyway,” John continues. “He got spotted in a shed checking out Parker’s stolen loot. Tell ‘em.”
“Here’s the best part,” Cory says with a grin. “He brought that stupid golf cart from Fort Knox. You know, the one that he had painted just for him? Total douchebaggery stuff.”
Sue looks at them with the same confusion as Reagan. Neither of them understands what he means.
“Oh, yes. I remember,” Paige says. “The one with the bird and the flag and all that?”
“Yeah,” Cory confirms. “It was supposed to look like an American flag and an eagle but mostly comes off looking like a sickly buzzard and a lame knockoff of our flag. They didn’t even fit it all on. It has eight stripes. Yeah, eight. Ugh. And don’t even get me started on the stars.”
“And this is where you were seen by one of them?” Grandpa asks, sending their conversation back on the right track.
“Yes, sir,” Cory answers. “Dude walked in on me when I was trying to leave. I recognized him as Blake, remember him? He was one of Parker’s main dudes. I knew he was probably a total p.o.s. if he’s still alive and working with him. Parker seems to have killed off all the others, the ones who actually seemed legit. Anyway, I tried to play it cool, but he started threatening me. Wouldn’t listen. Then he drew on me. That’s when I…had to take care of it.”
John says, “But, Cory was able to get some information out of him first. The guy told him that Parker is the President and that we’re all screwed. He said the President has big plans and has told them that it won’t be long.”
Sue asks, “What won’t?”
“World domination,” Reagan jokes, sort of. It is actually what he has planned.
“Right,” Cory says with a snort. “But I was able to milk him for intel. John told me to get intel. He didn’t specify how.”
“Idiot,” John ridicules in a laughing tone. “We got all we needed to know about that camp.”
“What’d you do with the body?” Derek asks next.
“Took care of it. He won’t be found,” Cory tells him. “Not ever probably.”
“Why’d you kill someone?” Sue asks.
“It was a kill or be killed situation, Sue,” John clarifies, to which she nods with an uncertain frown.
“We don’t want to harm these people, though,” she says.
“No, we don’t. But we also don’t want to get killed by them or make a stupid move that would get us killed. We need to use caution. These people are working with Parker. I already knew that one was someone that Parker trusted, so we can only assume he’s done dirty deeds for the man.”
“Agreed,” Derek concurs. “And if that means they’re like the highwaymen, then we’ll have to deal with them accordingly. If they’re not, then we won’t bother with them.” Then he turns to John and asks, “How many? Any ideas?”
“Maybe a couple hundred. Not as many as I thought.”
“Good,” Derek says. “We’ll keep them in our peripheral for troubles
, but as far as I’m concerned, we only need to apprehend Parker.”
“Agreed,” Grandpa states. “Anyone following him is only doing so because they think he’s our President now. For whatever reason, or however he convinced them, that’s the truth of the matter.”
“Gullible,” Reagan comments quietly.
Grandpa says, “I would agree, but if you think about it, not everyone has the radio or communication capabilities that we do now. There is always a reason people fall in with dictators like Parker. History has proven this time and again. We must be diligent. We must help those who ask. We cannot turn our backs on that many people when this thing resolves itself.”
“And how is it ever going to resolve itself?” Reagan asks.
“We’re going to town in the morning to question the woman, the woman named Sofia who goes by Angelica,” Derek states.
“Probably a good idea,” Sue says.
“We hope she has the information we need to find Parker,” John explains. “If not, then we’re going to have to put people on every camp marked and watch for him to show up at one of them. Then we’d have to make a move that could put people in danger. His people and ours.”
“Right,” Derek agrees. “Enough people have been killed over all of this. Let’s just put an end to it already.”
“If she is the answer to finding him,” Grandpa says, “then we must convey to her the importance of finding him and the innocent lives that will be spared by us doing so.”
“Easier said than done,” Reagan says.
“That’s why I’m going to let you talk to her,” he returns with a grin. Reagan rolls her eyes.
“I’m not exactly winning any personality of the year awards, Grandpa. You’d be better off letting Paige or Sue talk to her.”
“No, you’ll do just fine. You’re also our town doctor. You’re a person of importance in our community. After the clinic day tomorrow, you’ll go to the sheriff’s and talk to this woman. I feel that she is the key to ending this.”
“Ok, sure,” Reagan agrees, although she still has a lot more doubt about her abilities than he does. It’s his job to be her cheerleader. He always has been. When she was scared to start college at such a young age, he’d been the one to encourage and support her. It’s been that way her whole life, especially after he and Grams took her and her sisters in and raised them. Even now, sending a smile across his desk to her, Reagan feels a boost of confidence that only her grandfather could make her feel.