Saving Sidewinder: Brotherhood Protectors World

by Kate McKeever

  “See, Mom? If I’m going to learn how to ride a horse, I need these. And a hat.”

  Even as the words came out of her mouth, Charlie pled, “Please don’t say we’ll see. We’ll be on a ranch for at least a month, maybe longer. It’s the perfect time to learn to ride.”

  Alana stopped in the middle of reaching for socks. “How do you know how long we’ll be at the ranch? Snooping again?” Her son was notorious for finding birthday and Christmas presents well in advance, thanks to his never-ending curiosity.

  “Just when I went to get a drink of water last night. I heard you talking on the phone and you said something about not being available for a month.”

  And he put two and two together. The short talk with her mother in New Jersey had ended with Alana agreeing to call every couple of days, something she hadn’t done since she left her birth state to go to college then law school. She looked down at her son, no longer a little boy but it was too soon to make him grow up. “You’re one smart cookie, aren’t you?”

  He grinned, “If it’ll get me these spurs and a hat, I promise not to sneak anymore.”

  Thirty minutes later, Alana, Hannah, and Charlie left the department store with enough warm clothes to do them for a while, forgotten items and a new hat and spurs for her son. Alana glanced down the outdoor mall’s façade and spied the grocery store. “Can we stop in there a few minutes? I need to pick up some groceries.”

  Hannah frowned at her. “I figured you, Sam, and Charlie would join us at the main house. The patients and families that visit are great for conversation.”

  Alana didn’t like being paired with her bodyguard, no matter how firmly packed and handsome he was. “We’ll be able to do some meals with you, but I need some essentials like coffee for the morning and cereal for Charlie. He doesn’t really get moving until he’s eaten.”

  They walked to the store with Sam strolling behind them, silent and stoic. Alana mused if she’d overreacted when she agreed to a bodyguard. Nothing had happened in the hours after the tire incident. Maybe it had been a hunter with terrible gun skills. Or someone intent on killing her the easiest way possible. Now, she’d be forced to stay in small town Montana for a month, homeschool her son, and have to work online to keep her position in the law office. To make matters worse, Samuel Jameson was a jerk. Baby sit indeed! She’d show him who needed babysitting!

  “Sam, would you mind taking this to the car while I shop for a few groceries?” She held the large bag of clothes out to him. He surveyed the bag then her. “Yes.”

  “Yes? Yes, what?”

  “Yes, I’d mind. My assignment is to stick with you and Charlie. Taking that bag to the SUV isn’t the best use of my time.” He reached out and tugged the bag from her hand. “But I’ll carry it for you.”

  “Big of you,” she griped and turned to walk on to the store. Her shadows followed, her son who wanted to make sure he sneaked a sweet treat in the grocery cart and her giant, tanned ex-soldier, who cleared a path for her buggy without saying a word.

  She veered into the feminine products aisle. She didn’t need anything but wanted to make Sam as uncomfortable as she was at the moment. She spent ten minutes eyeing then fondling and inspecting the products before settling on a feminine wash she’d been wanted to try anyway. Charlie had drifted to the end of the aisle to look at razors on an end counter. Sam stationed himself midway down the aisle but couldn’t miss the products. Alana glanced out of the corner of her eye at him. No change of expression, no reddened cheeks under his tan. Nothing. Time to bump up the pressure. She sidled to the marital aids counter and began inspecting lubricants, condoms and other items she’d normally never think of using. After a minute of glancing at him without the satisfaction of seeing him blush or shift his stance, she laid the tube of lubricant down. She didn’t move when a breath wafted over her neck, exposed by her upswept brown hair. “Try this one. It works pretty well,” his voice thrummed through her, landing in her belly.

  “How would you know?” She blurted and swiped the offered tube from him.

  “Experience,” He turned and taking hold of the buggy handles, pushed it toward Charlie, who’d lost interest in the razors and stood with his arms folded across his chest. Alana tossed the lubricant tube back onto the shelf and slouched behind them. Darn him! Now she felt the heat of a blush on her cheeks. Where had she lost control of the prank?

  She paid for the groceries and followed Sam and Charlie who pushed the buggy. She’d let her son do the same when they went shopping, but he’d quickly outgrown the task in favor of striding ahead with the car keys and chirping open the locks. Today, however, Charlie was content to walk alongside Sam and push the heavy buggy across the parking lot.

  Seated beside Sam in the front seat, Alana stared out at the surrounding landscape. Dry pasture land surrounded them, giving way to rocks and scrub brush trying hard to stay erect against the Montana elements. She sighed in appreciation of its stark beauty then became aware of Sam’s gaze falling on her every so often. Tired of ignoring him, she turned to him with a questioning gaze.

  “You from around here?” He returned his gaze to the small two-lane road.

  “No, New Jersey. I moved to Helena about seven years ago.” As far away as she could get from her husband and the divorce that devastated her.

  “Why Montana?” he pressed.

  “I wanted to practice in a smaller city than the one I was in and the job seemed ideal. So Charlie and I moved out here.”

  “And met me.” Hannah piped in from the back seat. Alana turned to smile at her. “And met you. Hannah and I became friends so when I needed a break, I thought I’d come to visit her on her ranch.”

  “You a ranch kinda girl?” His tone belied the question but Alana couldn’t deny she looked less than a ranch girl could look in her neat khaki pants and lightweight sweater. No boots or cowgirl hat in sight and she definitely didn’t have the outdoorsy glow Hannah sported.

  “No, but Charlie loves horses and all things rodeo, so I thought it’d be a nice change for him. What about you? Are you from Montana?”

  Sam laughed, “No. I grew up on Chicago’s south side. Not a horse or cow in sight.”

  “And you’re here because--?” She pressed, feeling somewhat vindicated that she could give him a run for his money.

  “Same as you, a job.” His curt answer closed down her curiosity and she subsided into watching the scenery go by while Charlie questioned Hannah about her The Brighter Days Ranch, just a few years old. The setting sun took with it the moderate temperatures and Alana shivered a bit, surprised at the cool air. Hannah led the way to the bungalow that would be home for the next month.

  “I put you and Charlie in one of my small cabins for families.” She unlocked the door and handed over a single key to Alana. “It isn’t fancy, but it has everything you need, including kitchen stuff and linens. I have internet hooked up for the cabins but it’s sketchy at best and probably much slower than you’re used to.”

  Alana hid her disappointment. A functioning internet package would keep her abreast of the Shepherd brothers’ movements but if she had to check in every day by phone she’d do it.

  “What about cell phone coverage?” She set the department store bag on the small sofa and peered around the house. It was an attractive little cabin, with a couple bedrooms and a living room/kitchen combo. It’d serve her for the month she had to be away from Helena.

  “Not great service here, either. If you need to phone anyone use the landline,” Hannah gestured toward the phone, “or you can use my satellite phone. It’s pretty reliable.”

  Alana nodded in response, watching as Sam and Charlie carried in the groceries. She gestured toward the small kitchen table situated between a galley kitchen and the living room, then started unpacking the staples she had purchased. Hannah showed Charlie his room, the smaller of the two bedrooms. Alana looked at Sam in surprise when he started removing items from the bags and placing them on the table for her to org
anize and put away.

  “Don’t you have to go?” She picked up two cans of chili and put them in a cabinet beside the stove.

  “I don’t know where I’m staying yet.” He handed her a couple more cans, these canned pasta that her son insisted were “way better than homemade”.

  “You don’t live in town?” Surprised, she turned to face him, only to be surprised at how close he was. Both held cans of food between them, so the distance wasn’t such that she felt intimidated. But she did feel—what? Attraction? No, she didn’t even know this man and good looks and a fine body didn’t make for relationships.

  “I’m staying on the ranch, too.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know how she felt about this. He obviously didn’t think much of her, but she couldn’t let that interfere with Charlie’s safety. She’d have to deal with the man for the next few weeks. Just remember Charlie.

  Charlie yelled at the top of his lungs when he saw the pasture filled with horses of all colors and sizes. Sam hid a smile at the kid’s enthusiasm but put a restraining hand on his shoulder to tamp down the volume. “I don’t think horses like unexpected noises, kid.”

  Charlie looked at Sam. “You know a lot about horses?”

  “No, just about loud noises,” Sam retorted and Charlie grinned at him. “But it stands to reason if these horses weren’t treated well they’ll be kinda—“

  “Skittish? That’s what Hannah called ‘em. Does skittish mean nervous?” Charlie inched closer to the fence line and Sam forced himself to follow. He didn’t like horses, or rather, he didn’t know enough about them to like or dislike them. There were at least eight horses in this pasture and Hannah mentioned she had more in the stable, ones that needed to be separated from the general population until they were more socialized. The animals before him ranged in size and color, some with coats as smooth as patent leather shoes and others with rough patches on their coats that looked suspiciously like old scars. Whatever Hannah did with these guys, he admired her determination to rehab the large animals as well as the men and women he’d seen on the tour.

  A tall rangy young man rounded the corner of the stable connecting to the pasture and Sam relaxed. Kid carried a couple buckets full of something. Hopefully not manure, Sam thought as he saw the former light footed young man trip over his own shadow.

  “Hey, Sidewinder! Hannah said you might be out here.” Kid’s wide smile told Sam he’d made the right decision in sending him to Brighter Days. Kid arrived a week before Sam and the time he’d been here had obviously been well spent. The shadows in his eyes didn’t appear as dark and he held his head erect and proud once more.

  “Hey, Kid. You doing okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m working hard and gonna start PT in a couple of days. Gotta get back in shape, you know.” Kid came to a stop at Sam’s side and released the buckets with a thud on the ground, a bit of their contents sloshing over the brims. Sam looked down and say dirty water, but no manure smell emanated from it.

  “What’s PT?” Charlie asked.

  Kid smiled down at Charlie and introduced himself. Sam watched as the two kids, one a couple feet taller than the other grinned and shook hands. Kid leaned one elbow on the fence just like Hank had done the day before. “PT is physical training. Every soldier has to do it every day. If you don’t keep up with it, you get soft and can’t be in the army anymore.”

  “You’re in the army?” Charlie’s eyes widened slightly and Kid’s jovial mood darkened before Sam’s eyes. Kid shook his head, “Not any more. I got kicked out.”

  “You didn’t get kicked out. You got honorably discharged because you were injured.” Sam corrected his friend.

  “Still let me loose,” Kid mumbled and started to pick up the buckets only to be interrupted by Charlie.

  “Do you work with the horses?”

  “Yeah, the ones in the stables. I got a good voice for them’s what Hannah says. I can calm down the rowdy ones.” Kid’s smile returned, if a little dimmer.

  “Can I help? I like horses.” Charlie reached over and picked up the lesser full bucket and then eyed both Sam and Kid.

  Kid shook his head, “We’ll have to ask Hannah. She’s the one in charge. But if she says it’s okay, I could use another pair of hands.”

  “Great! Let’s go ask her now,” Charlie spun around and headed toward the main house, water sloshing in time with his speed.

  “Not so fast, kid.” Sam pulled Charlie to a stop and gestured toward Kid who was tossing his water over a small plot of weeds. He gestured toward the bucket. “I think you need to get rid of that before you tramp into anyone’s house.”

  Charlie did so, remarking, “You call both Kid and me kid. How are we going to tell which one you’re yelling at?”

  Sam quirked a quick smile then stopped himself. This boy wasn’t his responsibility beyond being a bodyguard. He wasn’t going to get attached. “I guess I’ll have to call you something else. What about squirt?”

  “No, sounds too little.” Charlie’s expression implied he was thinking seriously. “Why do you call Kid, Kid?”

  “I didn’t give him the name. The unit commander did.” Charlie didn’t seem to understand so Sam explained. “In the army, well almost all military, you get nicknames after you start working with your first unit. Kid was really young when he finished Ranger school, so the CO started calling him Kid and it stuck.”

  “What’s your nickname?” Charlie swung the now empty bucket back and forth, occasionally bumping his blue jeaned leg.

  “Sidewinder.”

  “Like the snake?”

  “Sort of. I grew up in a part of Chicago known as the south side, so a couple of guys started calling me Southie. But there were quite a few soldiers with that nickname, so they called me Side, then Sidewinder after I started doing recon.”

  “What’s recon?” Charlie continued and headed up the four steps to the house.

  Sam sighed, “I’ll fill you in on that in a little while, okay? Let’s just get this done in the house.”

  Charlie ran to his mother, who sat with Hannah at a work worn table covered with papers. She looked briefly at Sam before turning her attention on Charlie. Sam watched her interact with her son. She didn’t baby the kid but also didn’t let him take over the conversation or the decision about working with horses. Sam retreated into the shadows and watched as Alana Silver negotiated with her son and Hannah to provide as much time as she thought realistic for home schooling, which she apparently was going to do, chores, including those inside the small cabin they had, and outside recreation, the horses. Charlie, in his eagerness, agreed to any and all aspects of the plan with the exception of washing the dishes once a week. Sam grinned into his hand as Charlie negotiated an exchange of taking the garbage out to the sealed dumpster every evening in exchange for no dishwashing duties. That Alana accepted quickly led Sam to believe she’d given an out for her son on purpose.

  After Charlie was cautioned to walk, not run, into the stable to give Kid the news, Sam and Alana met gazes. A spark of something he hadn’t recognized in a while hit Sam and he realized, this woman could be trouble if he didn’t keep his wits about him. She was way too pretty and too smart to ignore.

  Alana struggled to wake. She needed coffee. Why had she thought a late night of catching up on the outstanding files was a good idea, after chasing her son around the ranch all day? Montana city life sure didn’t take it out of you like ranch life.

  “Mom? You awake?” Charlie’s irrepressible enthusiasm rang in his voice and she groaned then sat up in bed. Was that coffee she smelled? A dream remnant but it definitely smelled like wake-up time. She slid a robe Hannah left for her guests on, rubbing her hand along the plush terry before tying the belt around her waist, hiding her uniform for sleep, a tank top and sleep shorts. She opened her bedroom door and found Sam sitting on the couch, chatting with Charlie who devoured a huge bowl of oat cereal. Charlie slurped another spoonful then caught sight of Alana. “Sam made you some coffee
, Mom. I explained if you don’t have coffee first thing in the morning, you’re grumpy.”

  “Can’t have that,” she mumbled and walked past them into the kitchen. She grabbed a mug emblazoned with the ranch logo and filled it then stumbled to the refrigerator for milk. She sipped and almost coughed. “Wow. I’ll only need one cup of this.”

  Sam chuckled. “Sorry, I’m used to military coffee.”

  “What’s military coffee?” Charlie paused in tilting the cereal bowl to his mouth.

  “Coffee so strong it can do a thirty-mile hike on its own.”

  “Thirty miles? Wow. Mom and I go on hikes sometimes, but we’ve never been more than five miles. Mom, can I get another bowl?” Charlie stood to make his way back to the kitchen area.

  “Eat some fruit first, or some yogurt.” Alana pointed to the sink while Charlie inspected the fruit bowl. He plucked a banana from it.

  “Can I go outside?” He asked as he peeled the fruit then at her repeated gesture, put his bowl in the sink.

  “Not yet,” Alana sobered as the real reason for being here, for Sam being planted on the couch, sprang to mind. “Let me finish my coffee and get dressed, then we’ll explore the ranch some more.”

  Charlie started to protest but a glance from her silenced him and he headed toward his bedroom to dress. Alana turned her attention to Sam, who hadn’t moved since she came into the room. “How did you get in here?”

  “I knocked.” He eyed her over his cup rim.

  “And then barged in?” She swiped another banana from the bowl and perched on a bar stool rather than go into the living area. He stood and refilled his coffee before answering.

  “No, I waited until Charlie opened the door. I saw lights on from my cabin and assumed at least one of you were up.”

  “Charlie’s an early riser on vacation.” She peeled her fruit and bit into it. Sam eyed her mouth with an intensity that made her insides turn into warm liquid. She should have had grapes or an apple.