by David Archer
He had fallen in love with her, and then been injured in a purely coincidental encounter with a bear. Gabriella had nursed him back to health, but then Oscar had sent people to deal with all of them. Chance had been forced to kill again to save Gabriella and her children, and then decided to take the battle back to Kentucky.
He had contacted the boss man, and learned that Oscar had left his employ to work for the rival faction. Their goal was to take over completely, eliminating Chance's former boss. When the old man agreed to ensure that Gabriella would always be safe in return for Chance's help, Chance agreed. He had tracked down and killed Oscar, and then killed the leader of the rival group. By a strange twisting of the cartel rules, that made Chance the leader of that faction, but he immediately handed it over to his former boss. In return, the general agreed to keep the worst drugs out of Chance's little home town, the best deal Chance could make.
And then he had gone home to Gabriella, taking his grandmother along. There was nothing for them back in Kentucky anymore, and the old woman absolutely doted on Gabriella's two young sons. Chance and Gabriella were married only a month later, and the cartel's wedding gift of three million dollars—the very money that Oscar, not Benito, had stolen and forced Benito to hide for him—had enabled Chance to make some serious improvements to the ranch Gabriella had inherited when Benito had died.
Unfortunately, Chance had been left with a deep-rooted need for justice. His grandmother, who was something of an old Bible fanatic, often told him that he had been touched by the Angel of Justice, and Chance allowed her to have her opinion even if he didn't quite share it. All he knew was that it tore him up to see anyone suffer unjustly, and he had already come to the conclusion that he was not able to simply let it go when he heard about such a situation.
There was something about feeling that sense of delivering justice that he craved, and he came to realize that he needed that feeling. As a result, he was always sympathetic to people who needed someone to fight for them, and had already gone to deliver justice for one young woman.
It was right after he had gotten back to the ranch that he learned about it. The girl was the granddaughter of a local doctor who had been murdered by the cartel soldiers who were looking for Chance, and a neighbor had heard about it and told him. She had been raped and left for dead, but survived, only to watch her abusers go free on a technicality. The men had since let it be known that they were hoping to catch her alone again, and she was terrified of even leaving her home.
Chance, in disguise, visited her and got her to tell him who the men were, promising to make sure they would never be a threat to her again. She gave him their names and photos, which she'd gotten from the internet, and the next day all three of them were found dead at a crossroad ninety miles from where they lived, each of them shot through the head from behind as they knelt on the ground. From the expressions frozen on their faces, it was apparent that they had been crying and begging at the time.
Chance had gone home, and Gabriella had noticed that he seemed to be happy and excited. He never told her what he'd done, but she'd known he was interested in what happened to the girl, and she knew just how deadly he could be. When the news of their bodies being found was released, she knew, but never said a word to him.
His grandmother, who had come to live with them, had warned her about this. Chance had a need to see justice done, and if she ever tried to keep him from it, she would end up forcing him to lie to her, and eventually to leave her. Gabriella chose to accept Chance the way he was, and only prayed daily that he would never be hurt or caught.
Since then, Chance had been doing a lot of studying online about how to create false identities. He knew that there was still a detective back in Kentucky who would love to hang him for murdering the cartel members, so he wanted to keep as low-profile as possible. In order to accomplish that, he needed to have other identities to use whenever he decided to help someone out.
Ironically, it turned out to be much easier than he’d expected to create false identities. All that usually required was a birth certificate from someone who had passed away. If the death had been recent, the birth certificate would enable him to get hold of the Social Security card for that person, and then that, along with a few items of mail with the right name on it, would be enough to get a driver’s license. Over the past few months, he had already created half a dozen identities, each one to be used only once and then thrown away. He had a hidden vault in the bottom of his old pickup truck where he kept them in wallets that he filled with debit cards, photos and other kinds of wallet trash, so that he could grab a complete identity in a matter of seconds. He had even gone so far as to get Concealed Weapons Permits for three of them.
Of course, there were other ways. He had done a little research on the Internet and found where he could buy realistic looking “official” IDs, although they came at a hefty price. Chance had visited it not long after the incident with the truck drivers, and had added to his secret stash more than a dozen different ID cards and badges that he could use to pose as a cop, a doctor, and even an FBI agent. Of course, none of them would stand up to any real scrutiny, but he never intended to allow anyone the opportunity; they were only for when he might need a little extra push to find out what he wanted to know.
“That stew smells good,” Chance said. “Are the boys home yet?”
“Not yet,” Gabriella said. “School doesn't let out for another twenty minutes, and then the bus ride takes another hour.” She winked at him. “And your grandmother is down at Carmelita's place, and won't come home till the bus runs.” She smiled flirtatiously. “We are all alone until then.”
Chance grinned, then walked over and put his arms around her. Gabriella turned off the burner under the stew as she turned and kissed him.
“Mmm,” she said. “I get the feeling you have some idea how we can put that time to good use?”
“I sure do,” he said. The two of them walked up the stairs toward their bedroom, with Gabriella giggling all the way.
An hour later, they came back down the stairs and Gabriella began heating up the stew again. Chance got into the freezer and took out some frozen biscuits, then popped them in the oven and together, they would make a wonderful dinner for the family.
The school bus stopped just down the road, at the corner where it met the old, barely paved road that ran toward the highway, just before five o'clock as it always did. The boys, Tommy and Andy, arrived a few minutes later, and Grandma came walking up only moments after that. The two kids went to wash up while Grandma told Chance and Gabriella about her afternoon (“I didn't know you could eat cactus plants!”), and it was only a half hour later that they all sat down to dinner.
As always, Gabriella said the blessing, and Chance took the moment to count his own blessings. He wasn't sure where he actually stood with the Big Man upstairs, but he knew that he was one of the luckiest men alive.
“Chance,” Tommy said as they began eating, “I heard at school that there's a coyote problem, way too many of them coming down from up north. Mr. Jackson says they're hungry, and they're starting to find their way into town. The county put a sixty dollar bounty on every coyote, you think we can go hunting for them this weekend?”
“Sixty dollars?” Chance asked. “That's a lot of money for a nuisance animal. They must be really causing a problem.”
“That's what Mr. Jackson said,” Tommy went on. “He said it would be a good way to make extra money, right now, and sometimes I even see them running across our property. Me and Andy could probably shoot a few without even leaving the ranch.”
“Well, I'll tell you what,” Chance said. “If you do, I'll haul them in for you so you get paid, and you can put that money in your bank accounts. It's not going to be that much longer before you're thinking about what kind of car you're going to want when you start driving. Might be a good idea to start saving up.”
“Well, I was really thinking about Jimmy Lawson's four wheeler,” Tommy sai
d. “He got himself a new one, and he's got his old one for sale for only two hundred. If we could nail four coyotes, that would be enough to buy it and me and Andy could use it when we go up to check on the cattle.”
Chance looked over at Gabriella, who shrugged, telling him it was up to him. “I guess we can take a look at it,” he said. “Realistically, we can probably use one around here. Of course, a horse can go anywhere that thing can, and some places where it can't.”
Tommy grinned. “Yeah,” he said, “but not as fast.”
“That's what I thought,” Gabriella said with a smile. “My little speed demons want something they can try to break their necks on. If you get it, then I want helmets on whenever you ride it. No exceptions, you understand me?”
“Yes, ma'am,” both boys said. They were grinning so hard it was almost difficult to shove food into their mouths.
They talked as they ate, the way families do, and the big table was a place where they all felt at home and safe. When dinner was finished, the boys headed up to their room to do their homework while Chance, Gabriella and Grandma went into the living room and settled in to watch some TV. One of the things Chance had done with the money was to get a satellite dish, so that they were able to watch many channels rather than spending money to rent movies at Harold's Store in Clarksville. Since then, Grandma had gotten interested in some of the latest dramatic programs, and Chance and Gabriella enjoyed watching them with her.
“Carmelita is going to be by herself for a while,” Grandma said during a commercial. “Juanita is going to visit some of her family down in Albuquerque, and will be gone until nearly Christmas.”
“That's good,” Gabriella said, “that she has family to go visit. Carmelita doesn't really have anyone left, except her daughter down in Vegas. I don't think the two of them really talk a lot, but she mentioned hearing from her every now and then.”
“Yes, she mentioned her today,” Grandma said. “She said she'd been trying to get hold of her for the last couple of weeks, and the girl never answers her phone. I guess she had a problem with drugs in the past, and Carmelita is worried that she might be messing with them again.”
“That's one of the reasons I don't want to live in a city,” Chance said. “It's freaking drugs everywhere, like you just can't get away from it. You see all the shows about the zombie apocalypse? You want my opinion, that's exactly what the drug problem is, it's the zombie apocalypse. Just look at people who use meth, and tell me they don't remind you of the walking dead people on TV.”
“I feel sorry for them,” Gabriella said. “To be so addicted to something that you can't live without it? The only thing I want to be that addicted to is you.”
Chance smiled at her. “I can agree with that,” he said. “What do they call it? You're my ‘drug of choice,’ you are, and I'm hooked.”
Gabriella entwined her fingers in his and leaned against him. Chance put his other arm around her and pulled her close, then turned his head and pushed his nose into her hair. He couldn't help himself, but took a deep breath of her jasmine-scented shampoo and let out a sigh.
“You always smell so wonderful,” he said. “I love it when you sit this close, so I can really get a good whiff.”
“Yeah?” Gabriella said with a smile. “You smell pretty good, too. Of course, you smell like a man who's been out working on the ranch all day, but that's okay. I like it.”
Life settled into a routine at the Reddick Ranch, as it had recently come to be known. It was a comfortable routine, one that led each of them to fit into their own place, and kept them all covered under an umbrella of happiness.
Of course, Chance knew, whenever it seems that things are going perfectly, fate would surely be waiting to show his hand.
TWO
It was almost a week later, on a Monday, while the boys were in school. Chance was in the barn, taking the starter off the tractor and getting ready to rebuild it on the work bench. It had gotten to the point of cranking so slowly that the engine didn't want to fire up, but it was an older machine and easy to work on. Chance had rebuilt many starters as he was growing up, and it was the simplest and cheapest way to solve the problem.
Inside the house, Gabriella and Grandma were canning some of the garden's most recent gifts. Tomatoes, carrots, green beans and peppers were being cut and washed, preparatory to the boiling and seasoning necessary before they went into the ball jars to be vacuum sealed. They would have plenty of vegetables all winter long, and with November just around the corner, they wanted to get as much of their produce canned as they possibly could. This was something they did every couple of weeks, depending on what was ripe enough to pick from the garden.
At nine, Chance came in for a coffee break. He and the ladies ended up sitting in the living room, because the table was still covered in garden produce; nobody really minded, and they talked about their individual adventures of the day.
“We’ve just about got the tomatoes all done,” Gabriella said. “Grandma has been trimming the green beans, so they aren't too long to go in the jars. As soon as we get done eating, we’ll start on those.”
“One of the things I love about living out here,” Grandma said, “is that it's a lot like things were back when I was a girl. We did our own canning back then, too, but nobody seems to remember how to do that stuff anymore. If I'd known this was so much like when I was coming up, I would've made your grandpa move us out here years ago.”
“It's nice out here,” Chance said. “There are days when I almost feel like I've gone back in time a hundred years. I could just imagine John Wayne riding up and asking where the nearest cavalry outpost might be.”
Gabriella giggled. “When we first came out here,” she said, “I told Benito that this place reminded me of the old Western movies my father used to watch. He told me that was good, because life was so much simpler back in those days. I didn't know what he meant at first, but I came to believe that he was right. Life is a lot simpler out here.”
The sound of footsteps on the front porch got their attention, and then Carmelita knocked on the door even as she opened it. That was normal for her, and nobody ever took offense; Carmelita and her sister Juanita were a lot like family. Ever since Benito had died, the two old ladies had spent an awful lot of time with Gabriella and the boys, watching after the youngsters while Gabriella took care of her chores, or ran into town for supplies. Grandma Reddick had liked them almost instantly, and they had accepted her into their Old Lady Sisterhood.
Normally, when Carmelita came in, she would be radiating a beautiful smile. Today, however, her face showed the tracks of tears. Gabriella was the first to notice, and was instantly up and off the couch to wrap her arms around the old woman.
“Carmelita,” she said, “what's the matter? You been crying.”
“It's my daughter,” Carmelita said, her voice cracking. “She's been off doing whatever she does for a while, and she hadn't been returning my calls. Yesterday evening, she called me and told me this crazy story, how she woke up yesterday and went to work, but then found out that she's been gone for over a month. Somebody else got her job, and her boss accused her of just running away for a while, but she swears she doesn't know anything about it. I told her she must've started using the drugs again, but she insisted she did not do that, that she doesn't have any idea what might have happened.”
“Oh, Carmelita,” Gabriella said. “I'm so sorry…”
The old woman was shaking her head. “No, no, that’s not all, there is more. When she called me, it was a call from the jail. She said she went out looking for a job, but when she got home the police were there. My Yolanda, she has been arrested for murder. They think she killed a man in Henderson.”
Gabriella's eyes went wide and she turned to look at her husband. Chance got to his feet and walked over, then took Carmelita by the arm and helped Gabriella lead her into the kitchen. Grandma came running in to shove some of the vegetables aside, and they all sat down in chairs at the table.
“Carmelita,” Gabriella said, “what does Yolanda say? Did she do it?”
The old woman started shaking her head. “Yolanda, she says she cannot believe she would do such a thing, but she does not remember what has happened. At the place where she worked, they told her she has been gone five weeks, that she just didn't come to work. She swears that as far as she knows, she was at work on the day before and never missed any time. She called me in tears, she is so upset and terrified, because they are shouting at her and telling her she murdered a man. They will take her to the judge today, so he can get her a lawyer.”
“It's like that other woman,” Grandma said. “Just a couple weeks ago, there was another woman who said she woke up and found out a month had gone by that she couldn’t remember, and then she was arrested for murder, too. I can't remember her name, but it was all over the news for a few days there.”
“I remember something about it,” Chance said. “They said she claimed she didn’t know anything about where she’d been, but they had proof that she killed someone. Fingerprints on the murder weapon, security video of her at the place, all kinds of stuff.”
“This is what they say about my Yolanda,” Carmelita said. “They say she was seen, and that her fingerprints are on the knife. Oh, Mr. Chance, what can I do?”
Chance looked at her for a moment, then turned it to his wife. “Think you can do without me for a couple days? I can go down to Vegas, see what I can find out, and get her a real lawyer. I don’t think a public defender is going to do her much good in a case like this.”
Gabriella smiled at him. “Of course we can,” she said. “If anybody can help Carmelita and her daughter, I believe that’s you.”
“Oh, Mr. Chance,” Carmelita cried, “I cannot thank you enough. My Yolanda, she is so scared, and she does not understand what is happening.”
“I’ll go now,” Chance said, “and see what I can find out today. I’ll get her a real lawyer, and find out what we can really do.”