The Sage After Rain A love story

by Jaclyn Hawkes

  "Why are you ticked off at me tonight?"

  "Because you acted like you thought you were in a John Wayne movie out there today instead of using your head and getting the heck out of Dodge!"

  "What did you want me to do?"

  "Run!"

  Calmly, she said, "Matt, I'm a sheepherder. I wasn't just going to leave it there to wipe out my sheep tonight. I had to turn around and shoot it."

  He tried not to snap, "Well, you could have at least gone far enough that it couldn't have still attacked you."

  She asked him quietly, "Are you saying that I didn't shoot it the way you wanted me to?"

  More gently, he said, "I'm saying you scared the crud out of me, Taya. I thought that cat was going to jump you. You could have been killed!"

  She looked honestly penitent. "I'm sorry, Matt. I've never had to deal with a mountain lion before. I did the best I knew how. I didn't mean to scare you. I just didn't want it to tear into the sheep."

  He looked at her like she had grown horns. "That was your first time dealing with a lion?" She nodded. "And you stared it down and shot it like that?" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed and then got up and came over to her and pulled her up into a hug. "Girl, you took ten years off of my life out there today. How can you face a mountain lion but not a mouse?"

  She ducked her head. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

  Gently, he raised her face. "No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been upset with you. But Taya, next time you see a mountain lion, get further away from it before you turn around to shoot it, okay? They're dangerous. They're not just another coyote. They'll attack, even on a horse."

  She nodded and softly said, "Okay. I didn't know I was being foolish. I'm sorry."

  He hugged her tight. "You never fail to amaze me. You are quite a girl, you know that?"

  In the quietest voice he had ever heard her use, she said, "You've never been mad at me before."

  "I'm not mad anymore. I'm sorry. You just scared me."

  "I thought you'd be glad I was able to shoot it okay."

  He leaned back and said, "I am, Taya. I am. You're a ripping shot and gutty as . . . ” Pulling her close again, he continued gently, “I'm royally proud of you. Just don't take a chance like that again, okay?"

  She nodded her head against his chest, and he hugged her for a long moment. If she'd have been hurt it would have killed him.

  Chapter 24

  Because of the hilly terrain, and where she'd put the trailer, Mac was having a hard time deciding where to drop Matt. That first night after the mountain lion, he had brought him in and dropped him where it looked relatively flat, but it hadn't been a very good spot, so the next night he tried to put it down in the only other spot that looked promising. It was closer to camp than they'd ever dropped him and as Matt hopped out and the chopper lifted off, Matt heard Taya scream.

  At first it scared him and he looked around trying to locate her, wondering what was wrong. He didn't think it would be a mouse at this time of day. It took him several seconds of looking around before he realized she was in the shower and that the helicopter had almost blown the whole rig over and was, in fact, still in the process of blowing the shower curtain with all the force of it's powerful rotors.

  Before it had finished lifting off, it had completely ripped the curtain off the wire that held it and the only thing holding it was Taya herself. As Matt watched, the force of the helicopter completely ripped it away from her and blew it off like a kite into the sage. She gave another scream as it launched and Matt couldn't help himself. He turned his back to her, bent double and belly laughed. He couldn't stop laughing all the way to his tent. He'd have to make it up to her later, but right now he'd never in his life seen anything so funny.

  He had no idea why she was in the shower at this time of day, because she usually showered in the morning and left the water for him at night. Something must have happened today. He stayed in his tent for more than half an hour reading to let her make it safely back to her trailer, get dressed and calm down. He was going to have a hard time facing her tonight without busting up laughing and he didn't think that would go over all that well after what she had just been through.

  When he finally dared to come out, he got in his Jeep and bounced over the sage to where the shower curtain had landed and brought it back home. It was a little the worse for the wear and he decided buying her a new one would probably be in order after tonight.

  He finally dared to approach her table and was glad she had a great sense of humor because there was no way he could keep a straight face. Once she cracked a smile, he totally cracked up again and she joined him. They laughed together until she had tears in her eyes and even several times during their spaghetti dinner he caught himself smiling at the thought of her standing there in the sage screaming in the buff in the wind. That was the all time funniest thing he'd ever seen in his life!

  The next morning, he left her a bouquet of wildflowers and breakfast before heading out at dawn, hoping she'd know he truly was sorry even though he'd laughed so hard and that night he went to buy her another shower curtain.

  The only one he could find within fifty miles of their camp had huge bright pink and orange and green and yellow flowers on it and they laughed again just like the first time when he unveiled it. There were a lot of things about this summer he would never forget. Life with her was turning out to be an adventure. He wished he knew what she was going to do after this. He wasn't sure what he would do if she said she was going back to Washington D.C.

  ****

  September had come and gone. The nights got positively cool and the hillsides far up on the mountains turned russet and gold. Matt was working twenty hour days to wrap up his contract and Taya came to do all the cooking and rarely if ever saw him except when he stopped by before dinner. Their travel arrangements had been made and the FBI had set up security for when she was there. She had worked on her dress and had it cleaned and had decided to wait patiently for Matt to finish whatever he had to before she was going to bother him about his tux.

  She'd been moving the trailer more frequently in order to find feed for the sheep, but she thought that would be a good thing as far as not being able to be located. They hadn't seen or heard another thing from John Channing or anyone else from Maryland. She had begun to think maybe they were going to let her and the past go, so she was doubly surprised one evening a week or two into October. After moving the trailer and setting things back up, she had walked back across the flat to get Matt's Jeep and bring it around. She didn't realize until she was almost right into camp that another vehicle had pulled in in her absence. Hesitantly she got out of the Jeep hoping that whoever this was, it wasn't someone from back east.

  It was. It was one of the same men who had come the last time. She decided to try to make him think it wasn't her camp as he calmly walked up to her and said, "Hello, Taya. It's been a long time. You've been hard to locate."

  "That would be because I didn't want to be located. Is anyone here in camp yet?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Is the guy who lives here, back yet?"

  "I just got here but, you're who I came to see. I'm to take you back with me. There are some people back east that miss you. And the diamond you walked with."

  She could see her rifle sitting there under the edge of the trailer, but she didn't think she could get to it and pull it out in time to pin this guy down with it. She was still racking her brain for ideas of how to get away when she heard the approaching chopper.

  She wasn't out of the woods, and maybe she had just gotten Matt into a lot of trouble, but she was still more relieved than she could even say. Somehow he would help her. She knew it. "I'm not going back. I live here now. John doesn't order me around like he thinks he does."

  He gave her a smile that made her skin crawl and said softly, “It wasn’t John that sent me.”

  Almost wanting to panic, she glanced up as Matt hopped out of the helicopter and she knew he
instantly saw that there was a problem as he came striding across the sage flat. He walked into camp with a gun in his hand that Taya hadn't even known he possessed, but she was incredibly grateful for his second amendment rights just then. He held the gun on her visitor as he asked, "Is he a friend of yours, Tay?"

  In disgust, she said, "No, he's no friend of mine." She went across and got out the rifle and held it on him too. "Can I borrow your rifle for a second, Matt?"

  He glanced at her and then said, "Sure, make yourself at home."

  She looked at him pointedly and asked, "You wouldn't have any nails in your trailer would you, that I can borrow?"

  He'd caught on that she didn't want this guy to think it was her camp, but he wasn't sure what she wanted him to do. "I don't know. Do you need nails?"

  "Yup. I need to borrow some nails. I'll bet there's some in your trailer in a drawer or a bottle or something. Would you mind checking while I keep a gun on this guy?"

  Inside the trailer she could hear him digging through drawers and cupboards. He came out of the trailer with the peanut butter jar of nails and asked, "Will these do? These are the only nails I think I have."

  Without even glancing up, she said, "Perfect. Can I ask you a favor? This guy is going to want to follow me. I'm sorry to do this to you, but make him sit there for about ten minutes and don't let him contact anyone while he does. Sorry I can't take time to visit. See ya around." She took the nails and Matt sat down in her chair and cocked the gun as she jumped back into his Jeep and sped away.

  Just before she hit the highway, she got out and quickly put a thick layer of nails across the track behind the Jeep and kicked dirt and sand over it. She got back in and drove like a mad woman until she was out of sight of their camp or anyone on the highway and then she quickly pulled the Jeep back off the road and down into the stream bottom and hid it deep behind the brush and willows. Pulling out her secure cell phone, she tried to call the FBI and was stunned when no one would answer. Great. Just great. So much for taxpayer funded high technology.

  She sat in the driver's seat for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. Part of her brain wanted her to think she had fooled him and that he would believe it wasn't her camp and look elsewhere, and another part of her brain was telling her that her days as a sheepherder were over a couple of weeks earlier than she'd thought and that she needed to truly get way away this time. She'd never planned where she would go other than away from wherever they found her. And now that she had gotten close to Matt, she had hesitated to plan anything because she had been hoping to go in the same general direction he was headed in the next couple of weeks. Wherever that was.

  In a way that was foolish and might be putting him in danger, but she wanted to be with him if she could. She'd been hoping that was what he wanted too. She should have simply come out and asked him what his plans were, but she hadn't dared.

  As darkness fell around her, she locked the Jeep and began the two or three mile walk back up the valley to the trailer. When she got close, Zeus materialized out of the darkness and came up to her and she whispered, "Where were you when I needed you an hour ago, huh?" She petted the shaggy white head and kept on up the bank toward camp. Near the rim, she paused and listened. All was quiet except the sheep in the valley and the tiny, odd click of Matt's key board where he sat at her table working. He lifted his head to listen, put out the lantern and then sat back in her chair and she came up into the camp.

  Standing, he came over and hugged her tightly to him. "Are you okay? Where did you go? Where's the Jeep?"

  "It's down the valley a couple of miles hidden in the willows. Sorry I took it without asking. I had just gone and brought it over and didn't realize he was here until I was right into camp. Did he give you any trouble?"

  "No, he didn't give me any trouble, and I kept him fifteen minutes instead of ten, but he went out of here to find you again. They know where you are now for sure. What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know. My original plan was to go anywhere they weren't, but lately I've put off making a decision, which was a bad idea. First off, I need to talk to Zan about getting someone to watch the sheep. Then I need to go somewhere for another week until we head back east."

  She went to get out her secure phone again to call Zan, but Matt stopped her. "Don't use the cell phone right now. Most cell phones are easy to tap into and these guys are probably pretty sophisticated. If they have any electronic stuff going to intercept calls out here, they might intercept your call.”

  She stuffed it back into her pocket and said, “No one answered earlier anyway.”

  Matt gave her a sad smile. “Figures. Let's get you hidden out in the brush somewhere for the night because I'm sure he's watching to see if I leave here. Tomorrow we'll find a way to keep you hidden until we can sneak you out. Maybe we could get you onto the helicopter when Mac leaves and have him smuggle you out. In the mean time, you need to disappear out here and I need to make it look like this honestly is my camp. What would you think of going to stay with my parents until you decide what you're doing?"

  She shook her head. "No, Matt. I don't want to bring trouble to anyone else. I've already gotten you and the Bears involved."

  "Taya, if I stay here, they won't think I'm involved and my parents live behind two and sometimes three locked gates with a cop on the premises. They'll be fine. And you'll be safe and I won't worry about you."

  "But I'm sure they have your Jeep's license plate. Won't they be looking for you and then check your parents' place? You need to call and warn them.”

  “I already did. And I called the local police. They’ll be here shortly.”

  “I think I should go someplace away from everyone until this is over. These people could be bad, Matt."

  "They are bad, Taya. There's no could be about it, so let's get you away from here. Take my tent and sleeping gear and let's load up Horse and your gun and whatever you need. We’ll take you and Zeus back further into the hills for the night and tomorrow until Mac gets here and I can get you out of here. Will you be afraid in a tent all night?"

  'No. I'll be fine with Zeus and my gun as long as I can zip the mice out. Let me grab some clothes. Oh, and thanks for getting the nails."

  "Why did you want nails? Can I ask?"

  "I poured the whole jar full in a row across the track onto the highway up there to ruin his tires, so don't drive there until I get a chance to get them cleaned up. And we’d better tell the police."

  He shook his head and chuckled. "Get your things, I'll catch Horse."

  She went down across the valley on the other side of the sheep and climbed to the far side of the rim before she set up his tent. There was no way a vehicle could get to her at all as far as she knew and she even decided she could just do this for the remainder of the week if she made a trek back to the trailer at night to shower and pick up food.

  Chapter 25

  In the first light of dawn, she got up, saddled Horse and went and got the sheep and moved them further up the valley and away from the trailer before it was light out. She pushed them in the direction Matt's crew had been working so that worst case scenario, at least she would be near someone in case of an emergency. She hadn't touched base with either Matt or Zan after what Matt had said about using the cell and decided she'd try to talk to Matt sometime during the day if she could get close enough to him. No one could intercept her plans if she told them to him face to face.

  Taking the sheep as far away from the highway as she could that morning, she tried to keep them in a steep and rocky small side canyon that was almost invisible from camp and the road. It would be harder to know when she could talk to Matt, but she would be a trick for a city guy to find.

  She was just getting ready to stop and eat lunch and decided to circle the sheep one time on Horse to make sure she had them all. Three quarters of the way around them, Horse started to act fidgety again and Taya looked all around her to see if there was another lion nearby. She was relatively
out in the open this time and there didn't seem to be anywhere for a big cat to hide, but she whistled to Zeus to come to her, just in case. If there was a problem nearby, he would be aware of it before either she or Horse would. As he approached her, she could see that he began sniffing around and became increasingly cautious and she finally thought to look for something other than a mountain lion or coyote that would intimidate the dog.

  She heard the telltale rattle at the exact moment that it occurred to her to look for a snake and she spotted it just as Horse came unglued under her. Horse spooked straight sideways for three fast steps and then reared back and spun at the same time.

  Taya stayed with her up until the spin and made a wild grab for the horn as she felt herself thrown sideways out of the saddle. She was relieved that at least she was falling several feet away from the snake and she tried to catch herself as she tumbled into a pile of rocks and boulders. She was doing okay until Horse began to scramble for footing in the rocks beside her. Taya could see the hind hoof coming but there wasn't time to get out of the way. All she had time to do was duck her head so at least she didn't take the metal horseshoe in the face. She felt the solid thunk and everything went black.

  ****

  For some reason, switching into her trailer for the night after talking to the police had thrown Matt's whole system into a tailspin. The entire trailer smelled like her shampoo and he hadn't slept well. It had taken him twice as long as usual to get ready this morning and then there was a mix up with their equipment at the last minute and he had to repack all of their gear.

  They were in the air and heading out before he had made a solid decision about how they were taking Taya out of here today. He finally figured out that it was because he didn't really want her to go that he had been dragging his feet and he forced himself to remember that it had to be this way to keep her safe. He looked for her as they flew and was almost ready to panic that he couldn't find her or her sheep until he saw a few of them on the rim of a little rocky canyon.