*****
CHAPTER FIVE.
Tile was out near the stables when the house phone started to ring.
‘Look after her Weiser,’ he said to the huge bulk of the mountain horse.
‘Where going Tile?’
Tile peered down between Weiser’s front legs at the little two year old girl.
‘Phone’s a ringing Gracie-girl.’
‘I come,’ Grace said pushing herself to her feet.
‘Okay then little lady,’ Tile replied and he bent down to pick Grace up.
When he had Grace safely in his arms she kissed his stubbled cheek.
‘Love you Uncky Tile.’
Tile swallowed the lump in his throat and he wiped a hand across his eyes to wipe away the tears.
‘I love you too pumpkin, with all my heart.’
Tile looked around to see if anyone had seen him wiping his eyes but everyone was too busy with their work to pay him any attention.
Weiser snorted.
‘You don’t count Weiser, you’re just a horse.’
‘Dada’s orse,’ Grace said.
‘That’s right pumpkin, dada’s horse.’
Tile headed across the dusty yard and climbed the porch steps. Grace clung to him as he walked in to the house.
Tile picked up the handset in the kitchen and answered the call.
‘Hello?’
‘Tile, it’s me.’
Tile smiled at the familiar voice.
‘Well how’s my little lady doing?’
‘I’m fine Tile, how’s Grace?’
‘She’s good.’
‘I’m good,’ Grace echoed.
Chloe’s laughter filtered down the line.
‘She’s with you?’
‘Yeah, Beth had an emergency call out so I get to spend the day with my second favourite little lady.’
‘I’m not your little lady, I’m your pumpkin,’ Grace giggled.
Tile chuckled and he adjusted his arm so that Grace could sit better against his hip.
‘Can you speakerphone it Tile, Dan’s here.’
‘Sure.’
Tile lowered the handset from his ear and he thumbed the speaker button.
‘Grace?’ came Dan’s voice. Tile could hear the trepidation in his friend’s voice and he felt the damn tears coming again.
‘Dada, dada, Unky Tile is taking me orse ridin’ in a bit.’
Tile laughed and he could hear Dan and Chloe laughing. Like them, a part of him had feared that Grace wouldn’t recognise Dan’s voice or that if she did she wouldn’t see Dan as her daddy but that fear was ungrounded.
Those videotapes were a clever fucking idea, Tile thought to himself.
‘Are you hurted dada?’
‘No,’ Dan replied.
‘Then why you crying?’ Grace turned her stunning blue eyes up to Tile as if the answer could be found on his cracked and weathered face.
‘They’re happy tears sweetpie,’ Dan said.
‘Happy becuz you’re talking to me?’
‘Yes, daddy is very happy because I’m talking to you.’
‘I miss you dada.’
‘I miss you too.’
‘Pom-iss?’
‘Yes I promise.’
‘That damn orse misses you too,’ Grace said.
‘Grace Constantine!’ Chloe chided loudly through a stifled laugh.
‘What momma? It’s what Uncky Tile calls him,’ Grace giggled. ‘Uncky Tile is always saying “that damn orse this, that damn orse that”.’
‘Well, hey now,’ Tile spluttered. He’d have to be more careful with what he said around the little lady in future.
‘Well, than damn horse has a name,’ Chloe laughed.
‘Why-sir I knows momma. Are you staying with dada for a while?’
Tile could hear the sudden intake of breath as Grace’s statement caught Chloe off guard.
‘Mmm, maybe, yes, how did you know Grace?’
‘Uncky Archie said you might be gone a while.’
Tile’s head snapped around and he stared at Grace.
‘Grace? Wha-when did you see Archie?’ Dan asked.
‘Last night in-a my dreams, he said that I had to be bur-rave.’
‘He did did he?’
‘Yes momma.’
‘You weren’t afraid or nothing were you?’ Chloe asked.
Grace giggled. ‘Course not momma, Archie’s not scary, he’s silly.’
Tile had walked back out on to the porch and he lowered himself down on to one of the many seats.
Grace rolled in to his lap, her elbow caught him squarely between the legs and he exhaled a loud groan of pain.
‘Sorry Uncky Tile.’
‘That’s okay pumpkin,’ Tile gasped through clenched teeth.
‘What happened?’ Chloe asked with concern.
Before Tile could answer Grace said, ‘I caught him a good ‘un in the nuts.’
‘Grace!’ everyone said.
Grace giggled.
‘It’s what Uncky Tile called them, when you was sparring with Michael, I herded him, he said, get ‘im in the nuts Chloe.’
‘Jesus!’ Tile groaned. ‘You have ears like a hawk.’
‘Gracie, can we talk to Uncky Tile alone for a few minutes.’
‘Corse momma,’ Grace said and she scampered down from Tile’s lap.
‘Love you dada, love you momma,’ Grace yelled out and she jumped down from the porch. She landed heavily and grazed her knee and elbow.
‘Fuckitall,’ Grace muttered as she pushed herself to her feet and brushed the dirt from her knees and hands.
Tile heard Grace’s curse but he decided that he was already in enough hot water with Dan and Chloe so he didn’t relay her cursing.
Tile switched the handset back to normal and he secured the handset between his shoulder and ear.
He found his cigarettes and sparked one up.
‘Uncky Tile, they’re bad for you!’ Grace shouted from across the yard.
Tile could hear Chloe and Dan laughing.
‘Only having the one pumpkin,’ Tile called out.
Grace studied him from across the yard. Tile took one long drag on the Marlboro, the nicotine hit his system and he breathed the smoke out through his nostrils.
Grace was still staring at him, her little hands on her hips and he finally gave up. He crushed the cigarette beneath his boot heel. Grace smiled at him in triumph before turning to climb the fence that bordered the paddock.
‘She’s gonna give me a heart attack,’ Tile said to Dan and Chloe as he watched Grace drop down in to the paddock.
Horses moved out of her way as she walked through the mass of legs until she was next to Weiser.
‘Tile?’ Dan asked.
‘Huh? Yeah, sorry.’
‘Thank you,’ Dan said.
‘For what?’
‘For everything.’
‘No problem, so, what’s going on?’
*****
Tile finished up his call with Dan and Chloe, he ended the call telling them to get home soon and they had promised that they would.
Tile had no way of knowing right then that when he next saw Dan and Chloe one of them would be dead.
He left the handset on his seat and he stood up. He stretched his aching back and he saw that Grace was over by the stables using a hose to fill a water trough.
‘That’s one remarkable two year old.’
Tile nodded his head and Michael Simms stepped up on to the patio.
‘How’s the work progressing?’ Tile asked. He cast a glance towards Grace and once he was happy that she was fully engrossed he fumbled a cigarette from its pack and sparked it up.
‘We should be done before the month is out,’ Michael replied as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
‘Was that them on the phone just now?’
Tile inhaled deeply on his cigarette and he nodded his head.
‘When does the good congressman arrive in the city?’ Micha
el asked.
‘Day after tomorrow.’
‘You think they’ll get him?’
‘Yeah, I think they’ll get him.’
Michael turned to look out in to the paddock. Tile turned his head to look at his good friend. There was a sadness on Michael’s face, a sadness that hadn’t lifted since Tile had introduced him to Dan and Chloe.
‘You look tired Michael.’
‘Haven’t been sleeping too much of late.’
‘And Beth, how’s she doing?’
‘Okay, better now than before, we’re thinking of trying for another child.’
Tile smiled.
‘That’s good Michael, real good.’
Michael and Beth had been through Hell over the last couple of years, a Hell that had been made so much worse by Beth’s miscarriage of her first child. Tile hoped that they would try again, there was so much misery in the world that Tile could do with a dose of happiness.
Michael nodded his head and then his eyes turned darker.
‘You think killing all these people will stop the war?’
Tile inhaled on his cigarette and he held the smoke in his lungs until it started to burn.
Tile looked over at Grace, he could see her laughing as she sprayed water over the fence to catch one of the contractors. The contractor, Bill, pretended to be shot and he fell to the ground rubbing his belly.
Tile nodded his head and he turned his attention back to Michael.
‘I hope so Michael because she deserves a world to grow up in.’
Michael nodded his head and he said something then that Tile didn’t quite catch.
‘What was that Michael?’
Michael started down the porch steps and he looked back up at Tile.
‘I said rather Dan than me.’
Michael slipped his hat back on to his head.
‘How Dan’s got through the last year, out there on his own, without going crazy or getting caught or killed is beyond me.’
Tile nodded his head.
‘He’s a resourceful fella, just like you.’
‘I guess.’
‘You and Beth stopping for dinner tonight.’
Michael thought about it and said that they would. Tile felt a bubbling of hope right then, his old friend almost looked human again.
‘Good, I’ll be cooking.’
‘You mean burning right?’ Michael said with a chuckle and it warmed Tile’s heart to hear the sound.
‘Uncky Tile! I see you!’ Grace shouted out at the top of her tiny little voice.
Michael was laughing hard as Tile flicked the cigarette away.
‘We going orse riding now?’ Grace called out.
Tile nodded his head and went to fetch his rifle.
*****
CHAPTER SIX.
Beth Simms stowed the tranquilizer gun in its secure box mounted in the back of the Ford F150. She stretched the aches from her neck before looking out over the rolling plains.
‘Goddamn it’s fucking beautiful out here,’ she said to the empty wilderness.
Beth snagged the bottom of her vest and she pulled the garment off in one smooth motion.
She was all alone out here and she very much doubted that the herd of buffalo grazing nearby would be interested in the sight of her naked breasts.
Beth used the vest to wipe the sweat from her face and shoulders. She tossed the vest in to the front cabin of the pick-up. She opened her small leather bag and removed a clean cotton blouse.
Beth pulled it on and she startled when her satellite phone started to trill.
The satellite phone got a signal no matter where she was and she answered the call.
‘Hey babe,’ her husband Michael said and Beth smiled.
‘Hey yourself handsome,’ she replied.
Beth leaned back against the side of the pick-up. She watched the herd of buffalo as they continued to graze. She left her blouse unbuttoned, letting the cooling breeze whisper against her hot flesh.
‘Tile’s cooking dinner tonight.’
Beth laughed.
‘Don’t you mean burning?’
‘That’s what I said, how long do you think you’ll be?’
‘I’m done up here, now about to head back, I should get to you in just over an hour.’
‘I’ll be waiting.’
‘I know you will,’ Beth replied playfully.
‘Dan and Chloe called Tile.’
Beth felt herself tense up at the mention of Dan and Chloe and without realising that she was doing so her right hand dropped to the holstered Glock on her hip.
‘What did they say?’ Beth asked and she wet her suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue.
‘Chloe’s staying with him, the congressman will be arriving the day after tomorrow.’
‘How is he?’
‘Dan?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Tile thinks he’s going to be okay, I just hope he hasn’t been out there on his own for too long.’
Beth nodded her head though there was no one there to see her doing it.
‘He’s a tough bastard, he’ll be okay.’
‘I hope so.’
‘How’s the compound looking?’ Beth asked in a deliberate attempt to change the subject. She loved Dan and Chloe but they also scared the shit out of her.
‘Should be operational before the end of the month.’
‘That’s good.’
‘Yeah, but if all goes according to plan we’ll never have need of it.’
‘I love you Michael,’ Beth said.
‘I love you too.’
‘I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day,’ Beth teased, again she had deliberately changed the direction of their conversation.
‘Is that right?’ Michael teased.
‘Uh-huh, in fact I want you to pounce on me the very second I get home.’
Michael chuckled, ‘I think I can do that.’
‘I know you can,’ Beth replied. ‘Okay, let me go, the sooner I leave the sooner you’ll have your cock in me.’
Michael disconnected the call without saying goodbye. Beth laughed and she returned the phone to its cradle.
Beth started to button her blouse, she smiled at a sudden thought. Beth unbuttoned it and she took the sides of the blouse in her hands. Beth twisted the material and tied the two front panels together in a knot snug beneath her large breasts.
Beth climbed up in to the cab and she swung the door shut. She twisted the ignition key and the powerful engine roared to life.
Beth put the Ford in to gear before performing a tight turning manoeuvre on the dirt track.
Beth accelerated and in the rear-view mirror she saw that the buffalo continued to graze.
The drive back would take just over an hour and as the miles ticked by Beth thought about everything that had happened over the last two years.
Beth believed everything that she had learned from Michael and later from Dan but she still couldn’t believe it.
A war that destroys everything, a war that very few survive, and those that did survive would never know peace again.
Beth knew that Michael had survived that war, that he had been one of the lucky few.
‘Ha, lucky?’ Beth laughed with bitterness.
Everything that she had been through on that mountaintop paled in significance when she thought about all that she had learned from Michael, Dan and Archie.
At the thought of Archie Beth felt some of her fear fading away and her grip on the steering wheel (that until then had been white-knuckle) relaxed.
‘We’ll be okay, we have to be,’ Beth said to the empty cabin.
Beth turned on to a highway and the miles flew by as she headed for home.
*****
Michael raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and he smiled when he saw the dust cloud in the distance. He stepped down from the small porch and he watched as Beth’s truck grew larger as she got closer to home.
Home? Do I really think o
f this place as a home? Michael asked himself and he nodded his head.
‘Yeah, I guess it is,’ he said. ‘For now.’
He turned to look back at the small two bedroom ranch house. It had only been completed the year before and it still had that “new-look” vibe to it.
The house was situated at the far end of Dan and Chloe’s property, their ranch with its towering glass “lighthouse” was a mile up the dirt track that Beth was now coming down.
Michael turned back to watch Beth’s truck and he waved when he figured she would be able to see him. Michael smiled when he heard the truck’s horn sound out in reply.
Michael knew that Beth wasn’t entirely happy with their new short-term living arrangements but she, like the rest of their small tight group, knew that it made sense for them all to be together.
‘At least until we know we’ve stopped the shit from hitting the fan.’
Michael had agreed with Dan instantly, he’d lived through the war and he had been only too willing to help in any way that he could. Beth had taken a little more coaxing, she had still been coming to terms with everything that happened to her, but she had seen sense after everything had been laid out as plainly as possible.
‘It also helped that she finally met Archie,’ Michael now muttered as Beth pulled up in front of the porch.
Beth switched the engine off and her door swung open.
Michael arrived at the side of the truck just as his wife was closing the door.
He didn’t give Beth the chance to turn from the truck and she laughed when he pushed her up against the side of the Ford.
Beth slapped her hands against the hot metal as Michael’s hands snaked beneath her arms to grab at her breasts.
‘Can I least get a kiss?’
Michael kissed the side of her throat and Beth moaned as his lips traced a series of kisses along the line of her throat.
Michael’s hands made short work of the knot and a second later her blouse was flapping in the warm breeze. Michael’s hands closed over her large breasts and Beth moaned when his fingers violently twisted her rapidly hardening nipples.
‘Ah Jesus-fuck,’ Beth groaned as Michael twisted and stretched the twin buds.
‘What time is Tile expecting us up at the ranch?’ Beth stammered through her moans of pleasure.
‘Eight,’ Michael said.
To The Bitter End (Dan & Chloe Book 3) Page 3