The Other Brother

by Janis Reams Hudson

  “I’m sorry, Daddy, but we couldn’t leave those people there. That leaves you in a bad spot with Bruno.”

  “Well, I’m not going to just lie down for him, now, am I?” He reached behind the sofa and hefted a shotgun. “I owe him the money, and I should pay him. But I should never have agreed to this. I won’t have my family threatened and held hostage. I won’t have my ranch used this way. I thought it would be stereos or computers or something, and that would have been bad enough. But people, no way.”

  “You were coerced,” Melanie said.

  “Threatened,” Caleb added. “Got another shotgun?”

  “Oh, Lord.” Fayrene started fanning herself. “I think I might faint.”

  “Faint, my aunt Fanny.” Ralph chuckled at her. “You’re the one who drugged the fellow with the gun.”

  “Why, Ralphie.” Fayrene patted his arm. “You say that like you’re almost proud of me.”

  “Of course I’m proud of you, darlin’.” He patted the hand she’d left on his arm and kissed her cheek. Then he passed a pistol to her and another to Melanie. “Now, we better be figuring out what we’re gonna do.”

  After several minutes of discussion, during which they more or less decided they didn’t know what they were going to do, Ralph proclaimed that he was in charge. It was his house, his ranch and his debt. Therefore, his problem.

  “While Sleeping Beauty here is still snoring away, I want the rest of you to sneak out the back, like the two of you did earlier, and stay away from the house until Bruno and his crew have come and gone.”

  “And leave you here alone?” Fayrene cried.

  “Shh,” he warned. “You’ll wake up George.”

  “We’re not leaving you,” Melanie stated firmly.

  “We can signal for help whenever we need it,” Caleb told him. “If you can talk the ladies into leaving, power to you, but I’m staying. You can’t take on George, Little Donnie, Bruno and whoever else he brings with him.”

  Melanie narrowed her eyes. “Did I hear you just suggest—”

  “That we all stay,” Caleb said in a rush.

  Melanie beamed. “Smart man.”

  “I’m learning.”

  Ralph glanced across the room toward the kitchen. “Looks like talking time’s up. Here comes somebody.”

  They rushed to the kitchen in time to see two pickups, each with a camper shell, drive past the barn and head toward the pasture.

  “Well,” Caleb said. “Shouldn’t be long now.” If he said he wasn’t worried, he’d be lying. He pulled out his grandmother’s cell phone and called Sloan with the prearranged signal. It was time to line up the reinforcements.

  Sloan and Justin had said they would head to the PR, by way of the back woods, as soon as they got their new guests back to the house. The signal was to let them know to hurry, in case they hadn’t left home yet. The plan was for them to slip into the house by way of the same window Caleb and Melanie had used, the window Caleb had left open.

  Caleb’s brothers would come armed, but they knew to come quietly, stealthily, and not barge in without knowing what was going on. The last thing anyone wanted was for someone to get hurt, and with the number of guns already in the house, not to mention those that soon would be, someone getting hurt was an all too likely possibility.

  Still, Ralph was right to have the guns ready. When a rattlesnake slithered into your house you didn’t wait to see what his intentions were before protecting yourself.

  Having already taken George’s gun away from him, Ralph now walked over and kicked the man’s foot. “Wake up, George. Wake up. Bruno’s here.”

  George blinked his eyes open and looked around, clearly confused. Slowly he pushed away from the back of the sofa until he was sitting upright on the edge. “What happened?” He scrubbed his face with both hands.

  Ralph stood facing him on the opposite side of the coffee table. “You fell asleep.”

  George stared up at him blankly. “I what?”

  “Here.” Fayrene brought in a fresh mug. “Have some coffee. It’ll wake you up.”

  When everybody chuckled, George frowned. He took the mug from Fayrene and stared at it. “Did I…? Never mind.” He took a sip, then nearly dropped the mug when he spotted the shotgun dangling from Ralph’s hand. “What the hell?” He looked this way and that, from his lap to the sofa to the floor, moving and jerking so fast he sloshed coffee over the back of his hand and yelped.

  “If you spill any more of that I’ll make you sorry,” Fayrene warned. “I’ll not have my sofa and carpet ruined by the likes of you.”

  “I’d pay attention to her if I were you.” Ralph smiled at George. “I learned a long time ago never to upset her when she’s armed.”

  From his spot in the wide doorway between the living room and kitchen, Caleb shook his head and chuckled silently. The things a man learned about his neighbors when he popped in on them uninvited.

  A few hours ago Ralph had looked like a whipped puppy. Now he was his old self again, steady and sure and not in the mood to take any crap from anyone. That was the Ralph Pruitt Caleb had known all his life. The man who’d raised Melanie into the intriguing, infuriating, marvelous woman she’d become.

  The woman in question, with pistol in hand, strolled over to his side. “What’s that look mean?”

  He smiled. “What look would that be?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Like maybe you just won the lottery.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  She smiled, then glanced out the window over the sink. Her smile faded. “We’ll discuss it later, if we’re still in one piece. Here they come. There’s three pickups now. They brought the one that was already out there.”

  “Ralph,” Caleb called. “It’s time. Where do you want us?”

  “George, you come with me. Have a seat there at the kitchen table. And keep your mouth shut.”

  “Man, are you crazy?” George jumped up and rounded the coffee table to confront Ralph. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re almost home free with Bruno. Why do you want to go and mess it up?”

  “You don’t need to worry about it.” Ralph raised the shotgun one-handed and motioned toward the kitchen. “Just get in there and sit down.”

  “Bruno’s not gonna like this, Pruitt.”

  “You think?”

  “They’re driving out to talk to Little Donnie,” Caleb said, looking out the kitchen window. “I don’t suppose we could be so lucky as to have them all just drive away. Nope. Here they come.” When the three campers parked next to Caleb’s pickup, doors popped open, men piled out. “I count three,” Caleb said. “One’s staying in the pickup. Little Donnie stayed at the driveway. We’ll need to keep an eye on them so they don’t surprise us.”

  “You people are toast,” George said with a growl. “All of you.”

  No one bothered to answer him.

  The back door burst open and in came three men. The one in the lead was the biggest, both in height and girth and hair. He stood about six foot two and weighed at least two-fifty. His carrot-orange hair stuck out around his head like a giant red afro. When he walked he rolled from side to side like a man striding the deck of a wave-tossed ship.

  This, Caleb knew, had to be Bruno McGuire. He looked every bit as Irish as his last name indicated. To go with his orange-red hair he had blue eyes, fair skin and more freckles than an Appaloosa had spots. And he was definitely the man in charge. Or rather, thought he was.

  “What the hell’s going on around here?” he demanded, gaping at the guns pointing at him.

  Melanie stood in the doorway to the living room with her pistol. Ralph stood next to the kitchen table, shotgun aimed at Bruno. Caleb leaned against the sink. He covered the two men behind Bruno. Fayrene was their backup, standing hidden in the dark pantry behind the men who had just barged in, a big honking Colt .45 held steady in her hands.

  “You look surprised, Bruno.” Ralph stared at his bookie dead on.

  “There’s no need
for guns, Pruitt.”

  “Are you going to tell me you and your men aren’t armed? You all just keep your hands in plain sight.”

  “I don’t want any trouble here,” Bruno said. “You and me had a deal, Pruitt. Are you welching?”

  “I never welch on a bet,” Ralph protested. “I owe you money, and I’ll pay it. I don’t know how, but I will. You had no call to threaten me and my family into going along with this business tonight.”

  “It was just a simple merchandise drop,” Bruno complained.

  “Your man here,” Ralph said, nodding toward George, “held a gun on my little girl.”

  “And his little girl,” Melanie said, sauntering forward, “didn’t like it. She also didn’t like what she found in the back of your pickup. She especially didn’t like your using this ranch to smuggle what amounts to slaves. I mean, stereos or computers or cigarettes I could have tolerated. But not people. Poor people desperate enough to believe the lies they were told about what waited for them here.”

  Everything would have been all right, Caleb thought, if Melanie had stopped where she stood. Instead, she took one more step, putting her within reach of George, still seated where Ralph had ordered him, at the kitchen table.

  Even as Caleb opened his mouth to warn her, it was too late. She put herself within inches of George.

  George gave her a hard shove directly toward Bruno. Melanie’s gun went flying, hit the refrigerator and landed on the floor. Melanie landed against Bruno.

  Not one to miss an opportunity, Bruno spun her around and twisted her arm up behind her back.

  Melanie cried out in surprise and pain.

  “Drop your guns,” Bruno ordered. “Or I’ll break her arm. Do it!”

  “Just take it easy,” Caleb said. “There’s no need to get excited.”

  “Excited? I’ve got two guns pointed at me.”

  “Now you know how we felt today,” Ralph said.

  “Put ’em down!” Bruno jerked Melanie’s arm again.

  “All right.” Caleb couldn’t stand seeing her face contort in pain. “Ralph?”

  “Yeah. Okay, we’re putting ’em down. Turn her loose.”

  “Put ’em down first.”

  Caleb and Ralph placed their shotguns on the floor. Caleb had no idea what Fayrene was doing, as the pantry was too dark.

  The instant their guns were down, the two men with Bruno pulled pistols from beneath their jackets and covered the room.

  “Okay,” Caleb said. “You’ve got control. Now let her go.”

  “First, tell me where my merchandise is.”

  “What?” George jumped up from his chair. “They’re—I mean it’s—gone? Are you sure?”

  “What do you take me for, an idiot? The camper’s empty. The lock’s broken. From the outside,” Bruno added, glaring at Ralph. “What did you do?”

  “What I did,” Ralph said, “was change my mind. Our deal’s off.”

  “Off?” Bruno bellowed. “Off? Nobody backs out of a deal with Bruno McGuire and walks away.”

  “I’ll just have to find some other way to pay you,” Ralph told him.

  “You said you didn’t have any money.”

  “I don’t,” Ralph admitted. “But I’ll find some somewhere.”

  “Where’s my merchandise?”

  “It’s gone,” Ralph said calmly.

  “Gone?” The freckles on Bruno’s face stood out in sharp relief. “What do you mean gone? Gone where?”

  “That’s not important.”

  “The hell it’s not. You better tell me.” Bruno tightened his hold on Melanie. “And I mean right this damn minute, Pruitt. I’m through being nice to you. I want my merchandise, and I want my money.”

  “You’re not getting them,” Caleb said.

  “Who the hell are you? This is between me and Pruitt.”

  Caleb clenched his fists at his sides. “Let her go.”

  “Let her go,” Ralph said, “or you get nothing.”

  “Take her, then.” Bruno shoved her away, hard.

  She stumbled.

  Caleb sprang forward and caught her. “Are you all right?”

  Panting slightly, she nodded. “Just dandy.”

  “Now, where’s my merchandise?”

  Melanie had heard all she could stand from this bully. She turned around in Caleb’s arms and faced Bruno. “They aren’t merchandise, you bloodsucker, they’re people.”

  “They’re mine. I want them back.”

  “They’re gone,” she told him. “It’s not like you’re even out any money, considering what they paid for the ride.”

  “Gone where? I want them back.”

  Melanie stepped from Caleb’s embrace. He started to hold her back but didn’t want to start a struggle just then. But when she took another step toward Bruno, he had to fight himself to keep from leaping after her.

  “You can’t have them,” Melanie hissed.

  “If you don’t tell me exactly where they are, somebody here is going to get hurt.” For the first time, Bruno himself pulled a pistol from beneath his jacket. He aimed the gun at Melanie’s head. “You wanna be first?”

  “Maybe you want to be first.” Fayrene appeared out of the darkness behind Bruno’s back, pressed the barrel of her .45 to the back of Bruno’s neck, and cocked the gun. “I don’t like men who threaten my baby. Gentlemen, your guns on the floor, please, or your boss is going have a real pain in the neck.”

  Bruno sneered at Ralph. “You let your women do your speaking and your fighting for you?”

  Ralph grinned. “Every chance I get.”

  “That’s usually enough,” came Sloan’s voice from the living-room doorway, “but every now and then his neighbors like to get in on the game. Guns on the floor, gentlemen.”

  Caleb’s knees nearly buckled in relief. Leave it to Sloan to have such perfect timing. Justin was with him, of course, but when their grandmother stepped up between them with her Winchester .30–.30 deer rifle, Caleb hooted.

  Seeing the new firepower aimed their way, Bruno and his men dropped their weapons to the floor.

  “And don’t expect any help from those two yahoos outside,” Justin offered with a cheesy grin. “They’re going to be tied up for a while.”

  “Welcome, neighbors,” Ralph said. “’Preciate the visit.”

  “You would do the same for us,” Rose said easily.

  “Anytime,” Ralph said. “Anyplace.”

  Before anything else happened, Caleb and Melanie gathered up all the discarded weapons: two shotguns and four pistols. Of the original two groups involved, Fayrene was the only one who managed not to be disarmed.

  “Now see what you’ve done,” Bruno said to Ralph. “All you had to do was pay your debt in the first place and none of this would have happened.”

  Ralph nodded. “You’re right, of course.”

  “Who cares if he’s right?” Melanie said fiercely. “Just because you owed him money doesn’t give him the right to send his creeps snooping around in our barn when they think no one’s around.”

  “When did this happen?” Ralph demanded.

  “Never mind that,” Melanie said.

  “Twice in the past few weeks,” Caleb supplied. “When she was here alone.”

  Ralph flushed in anger. “I’m sorry, Mel. I wish you’d told me.”

  “Forget that for now. Your debt didn’t give him the right to do that, and it didn’t give him the right to threaten you into letting him use this place to smuggle illegal aliens into the country.”

  Bruno started blustering, but Melanie cut him off.

  “Here’s how it’s going to be, Bruno. You’re going to get the money Daddy owes you, and you’re going to leave this ranch and never come back. You’re going to write off the Mexicans as a loss, even though you didn’t lose a dime, you actually made money off them. You’re not going to look for them, and if you accidentally find them you’re not going to threaten them or harm them in any way. Do you have a problem wit
h any of that?”

  “You’re damn right I do. I paid to have that merchandise brought in. It’s mine and I want it.”

  Melanie remembered the hideous condition she and Caleb had found those poor people in. She walked to the counter where they’d placed all the weapons and picked up her revolver. She aimed it at Bruno’s head and said, “If you say one more word about those people, just one more, I’m going to shoot you between your shifty little eyes. Same goes if you or anyone you know comes near this ranch or my family or those people again.”

  A trickle of sweat made its way down Bruno’s left temple, but he managed a credible sneer, looking as if his dearest dream was to get his hands around her throat. “You’re bluffing.”

  With her right thumb, Melanie cocked the hammer on her revolver. “Am I?”

  There was a taut moment of silence but for the hum of the refrigerator. Then Fayrene stepped forward and patted Melanie’s shoulder. “Heaven knows the cockroach deserves killing, baby, but think of the mess we’d have to clean up. You know how you hate to clean the kitchen.”

  Always helpful, Justin piped up. “If you’re really set on shooting him, Mel, we can take him outside. That way you wouldn’t have to clean up anything.”

  “And if you shoot him,” Sloan added, “you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  Ralph chuckled. “As much as I appreciate all the suggestions, I guess we should stop teasing these fellows and send them on their way. The sooner I’ve seen the last of them the better I’ll like it.”

  Bruno snarled. “You won’t see the last of me until I get my money and my—”

  “Ah-ah-ah,” Melanie said. “You weren’t going to mention something that as far as you’re concerned no longer exists, were you? No, of course you weren’t. You didn’t get where you are today by being stupid.”

  “Where he is right now?” Fayrene asked. “You mean, in the kitchen, being held at gunpoint by a couple of women?”

  “All right, girls,” Ralph said. “That’s enough. Let’s let these gentlemen be on their way.”

  Melanie heaved a sigh of disappointment. “Okay, Daddy, if you’re not going to let me shoot him.”

  “That’s a good girl,” Ralph told her.

  “But before they leave, wait just a minute.” Melanie dashed out of the room. She was back a moment later and handed Bruno a check.