The Legacy Series (Book 2): The Ranch [A Legacy of Violence]

by Liscom, Sean

  “Jesus, Jason!” Melissa said.

  “Yeah, my aim was off.” I replied. “So, does anybody want to tell me what this place is? This is the last time I'm going to ask!”

  “It's a communications relay station!” the woman said loudly.

  “A relay station for who?”

  “We relay communications to and from Las Vegas. Mostly from our ground forces to the command center.”

  “I see. The truck that came from here earlier, when will it be back?”

  “Saturday. They will be back Saturday. That's when we change shifts and they bring out supplies.”

  “Hmm, that doesn't really fit into my schedule. We've got a long way to go and we're running short on time. Are there any other vehicles that come and go?” I asked.

  “No, that's the only one..... But,” she started to say when one of the other men cut her off.

  “Don't tell them anymore, Erin. They'll kill us!”

  “I have no intention of killing anyone, well, maybe him,” I said pointing the pistol at the leader.

  “Not you, Ray Judge,” he said with irritation in his voice. Erin looked at him.

  “I'm so sick of living under that bastards thumb, I don't care anymore. Let him show up here, let him kill me!” she yelled at her coworker. She looked back to me. “At the other end of the

  airstrip is a big steel shed. There are two quads and a dirt bike. The keys for the shed are hanging above the door, in there,” she pointed with her head.

  “I appreciate that, Erin. Did you say this was an airstrip?”

  “Yeah, it was abandoned long before the

  pulse. I guess the military used it for an emergency landing strip back in the day,” she replied. I stood up and walked over to her and cut the bindings around her ankles and helped her to stand.

  “Walk with me, we need to talk,” I told her.

  Thursday, August 17th, 2017

  The ranch.

  “Surely, not all of the conscripts will go along with that?” Jim asked.

  “No, but enough of them might,” Jill replied.

  “You want me to bet the survival of my city on a gamble? All it would take is for one communication to leak out and this whole plan of yours goes up in smoke, you realize that, right?” he pressured.

  “Jim, it's all a gamble! I can't sit here any longer and hope that we get a better chance at this! Now is the best chance we have and I'm not

  going to blow it. There are 20 men here at the ranch, we outnumber them two to one. If we take out the enforcers first, the conscripts will fold. There are 78 men holding your city hostage. Only four of them are enforcers and Don will point them out.”

  “You are putting a lot of faith in those three men,” Harold said.

  “I'm putting even more faith in our people! Listen to me, Ray Judge has grossly underestimated what we have here and in Elko. Jason surrendered this ranch so we would have a better chance to fight back, on our terms. The same as you, Jim. Judge is the one that has put too much faith in his conscripted army. I'm going to exploit that weakness and it's going to happen today. You can either get on board or get out of my way!” Jill said heatedly.

  “Dammit, Jill,” Jim muttered under his breath.

  “Is that a yes?” she asked.

  “Yeah. We're in. What's the plan?” he said with resignation. He knew that trying to talk her out of this would be futile.

  “One of the enforcers is in the shack, keeping an eye on the radio equipment. The other is in my house. I will take them out quietly, you be ready to take over the armor. Once that is done, we will sort out the soldiers,” she replied.

  “When?” Harold asked. Jill looked at her watch. It was 4:35 in the morning.

  “Now. The only ones on duty right now are the four gate guards, the two watching the armor and the enforcer in the shack. As soon as I take out the enforcer, you need to move, quickly and quietly,” she said, pushing herself away from the table. She went into the kitchen and got a coffee cup full of hot tap water.

  “What are you doing?” Darren asked.

  “Being friendly,” she said, opening the front door and stepping out onto the deck. She walked across the grass toward the shack and one of the guards standing watch over the Stryker’s stopped her as she tried to pass.

  “Where are you going with that?” he asked.

  “Oh, I found some instant coffee in our rations and I thought the guy in the shack might like some,” she said innocently. He started to walk toward her. “The guys in the barracks are making more if you want some,” she offered.

  “Really?” he asked stopping short.

  “Yeah, they should be out with it shortly. I should get this over there before it cools off,” she started for the shack again. The guard turned back toward the barracks. When she arrived at the door to the shack, she took a quick breath and then entered. The enforcer that was sitting behind the desk was instantly suspicious.

  “You're not allowed in here.” he said loudly.

  “Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought you might like some hot coffee,” she was quickly closing the distance. He stood and moved toward her.

  “Get out of here before.....” he started to say when Jill faked tripping and sent the now lukewarm water toward his crotch. He tried to sidestep and cover himself all at the same time. It was just human nature. Jill lunged forward, putting her shoulder into his chest, driving him

  backward.

  It was already too late for him to recover and stay on his feet and when he hit the floor, it forced the air from his lungs and his head bounced off of the hardwood. Jill quickly rolled off of him and on to her feet. She stepped toward the radio set. In one swift motion she jerked the radio microphone from the set and threw it across the room.

  She spun around as the man was trying to sit up and she delivered a savage kick to the side of his head. He rolled across the floor, ending up face down. Jill stepped over him and removed his Glock pistol from the holster on his right thigh and then stepped back. He was clutching his head with both hands and letting out a low groan.

  She delivered another blow to his head, this one rolled him onto his back. It was also the knockout blow. Jill quickly stepped into the back room where the equipment lockers were, opening the first one she found the flex-cuffs that she was looking for. Taking two sets, she returned to the front office. Before she rolled the unconscious enforcer onto his stomach, she frisked him for weapons but found nothing more than a pocket knife and two spare magazines for the Glock.

  She proceeded to roll him over and cuff his ankles and wrists. She was pretty sure that he

  wouldn't wake up for a while but she wasn't going to take the chance. She picked up the microphone that she had thrown across the room and put it in one the lockers in the back room. Next, she untucked her shirt and put the Glock in her waistband. Pulling her shirt over it made it nearly impossible to spot. She picked up the coffee cup and left the shack. A glance across the parking area and the two guards were nowhere to be seen.

  When she got to her house, she didn't even slow down as she opened the door. The lights on the first floor were still off, it was a good bet that this enforcer was still in bed. She crept up the stairs and quickly found herself outside of her bedroom door. Standing to one side, she slowly turned the handle and pushed it open. Slipping into the room, she could see that the bed was empty but heard the shower running in the bathroom.

  Jill pulled the Glock from her waistband and inched her way toward the bathroom. She stopped when she heard two suppressed shots and two shell casings hitting the floor. Then there was the thud of a body hitting the floor. The sound had come from the bathroom. A moment later, young Alex Perez stepped from the room. In his hand was a suppressed Sig Sauer 1911.

  “Thought you could use a hand,” he said, stepping past her into the hallway. She looked

  into the bathroom and could see the dead man in her tub. The water was still running so she turned it off and joined Alex as he was walking dow
n the stairs.

  “Where's everyone else?” she asked him.

  “Samantha, Dale, Mark and Bill all slipped into the other barracks where the rest of the troops were sleeping. They should have things under control over there,” he replied as they went out the front door. She could see that all of the guards had been rounded up from the other gates and all of them were on their knees in the parking lot. Jim Calvert approached her.

  “The ranch is yours, Jill. Nice and quiet like you wanted it,” he said.

  “Any casualties?” she asked.

  “None.”

  “Very good! Now, I want every one of these men stripped to their underwear, tied up and gagged. Put them in the horse barn and post

  guards. If anyone tries anything, kill them,” she ordered.

  “Even the ones that gave you information?”

  “All of them, no exceptions.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Thursday, August 17th, 2017

  Southern Nevada.

  The woman named Erin had proven to be a wealth of information. Once I had separated her from the group she really opened up about how the relay station worked and she gave me the locations of other such stations. She told me that there was a logbook kept in the building with all of the radios that I should probably take a look at. Once I was done questioning her, I left her sitting, hands still bound, in the middle of the runway.

  I returned to the group and fetched one of the other men and repeated the process. His information corroborated hers. After I interviewed that last man, I was sure that I had learned everything that there was to learn from them. I left them sitting on the runway with about 100 feet between them. Melissa had made herself busy gathering up a backpack full of supplies. There was enough food and water in there to last the two of us a week. I pulled her aside to speak with her.

  “I want you to go get one of the quads and bring it over here. Get these supplies strapped to it, make sure it's full of fuel and ready for a road trip. When that's done, round up the weapons

  and body armor. Strap those to the quad too. If you can find a fuel can, fill it and find a place to put it. It'll be daylight in another hour or so and I want to put some ground between us and this place,” I ordered. She acknowledged me and got right to work. Both of us knew that we wouldn't have the cover of darkness for much longer.

  I looked at the weapons and other gear that were already arrayed on the asphalt. There were three more 9mm pistols in addition to the two that Melissa and I had taken. Two more AK-47 rifles, four sets of body armor, an assortment of knives and a lot of pistol and rifle magazines. I was looking at the canned food and the majority of the labels had been torn off of the cans. When Melissa returned with the quad, I asked her about it. She said they were that way when she found them. I guess each meal would be a surprise.

  She started loading stuff on the front and rear rack of the four wheel drive quad and I asked her to give me one of the Glock pistols. I dropped the magazine and removed all but one of the rounds. I racked the slide to clear the round from the chamber and let it close again. I pointed it at the ground and pulled the trigger to make sure it was de-cocked. I slid the magazine in and put all of the loose rounds into my pocket.

  When Melissa had the quad all ready to go, I walked back out on the tarmac and gathered up

  the three prisoners. I had them all stand in front of their former leader, who was still bound and on the ground. Walking behind each of them, I cut the restraints that held their wrists. Moving in front of them again, I spoke.

  “Melissa and I would really like to stay and enjoy some more of your hospitality, but we really must be going. We didn't take all of the food or water. You won't starve or dehydrate between now and Saturday. If you decide to stay here that is. In the shed you will find the other quad and dirt bike,” I paused to pick up the one gallon gas can that Melissa had filled from the generator. I walked into the communications building and started pouring gasoline on the equipment.

  “I'm going to give you two options,” I continued as I poured. “You can stay here and wait for the shift change, or, you head out on your own. Consider your term of servitude concluded. Either way, the choice is yours. Before you ask, no, you cannot go with us,” I stopped and fished around my pants pocket for the matches Melissa had given me. Finding them, I set the plastic gas can down and lit the end of the spout on fire and threw it into the communications building. Everything inside instantly began to burn.

  “Leave us some of the guns,” one of the men said.

  “I'll leave you one gun and one bullet,” I paused to look at their leader. “How you choose to use that bullet is up to you,” I handed the Glock over to Erin. “You could shoot me and be the hero, well, until Melissa killed all of you with that AK-47. Or, you could.....” I let my voice trail off as I climbed onto the running quad. Melissa was sitting behind me and I told her to hang on as I gave it throttle. When we left the small airport and turned onto the dirt road, we heard the single gunshot.

  Thursday, August 17th, 2017

  The ranch.

  The sun was coming up by the time the prisoners had been stripped, bound and put in one of the horse barns. Ten of the security people from Elko were standing watch over them. Jill felt slightly guilty for lumping Don, Torrance and Rob in with them, but right now, she trusted no one. Leaving Bill in charge at the ranch, she saddled her horse and lit out for the caves at a full gallop. While they had seized the radios, it still wasn't safe to transmit on them and she had to talk to Braden.

  She reached the meadow and pulled her mare to a stop about halfway across. She climbed out of the saddle and jogged to the cave entrance. She turned on the flashlight that she

  had taken from a prisoner and proceeded down the narrow cave. She knew where the security people should be staged at so she stopped short and called out.

  “Ahoy the cave!” she said loudly. There was no reply. She pointed the flashlight at the ceiling of the cave and began walking forward slowly, both hands in the air. She'd made it another 15 paces when she was lit up by multiple weapons lights.

  “Are you alone,” a voice said.

  “No,” came her answer.

  “Good, get your ass in here so we can turn these lights off!” Braden said lowering his rifle. “How'd you get out of there?” he asked as they made their way down a side corridor.

  “We took the ranch this morning, now we're going after the city. I need your help,” she came to a stop as they entered the main cavern.

  “Yeah, anything,” Braden said.

  “They took Jason and Melissa to Vegas, but they never made it.....” she spent the next 10 minutes telling him what she knew.

  “You want me to go find them?” Braden asked.

  “No, I want you to lead the charge back into Elko so that I can get out of here. I'm going to go bring them home, one way or another.”

  “C'mon, Jill, seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. You're probably the least

  recognized Sterling. I can't go down there, the townspeople will spot me right away. You can pull it off. Jim, Harold and Darren will be able to back you up. They just need you to gather some intelligence for them.”

  “What sort of intelligence?” he asked. She spent another 10 minutes explaining about the enforcers. “We need to know where they are so that they can be taken out first. We need an accurate count and location of the armor and men. Under no circumstances can we allow any communications to come out of the city. Jim and Harold will handle taking out the enforcers, Darren will secure the radios at city hall, Alex and a couple of the security force guys are going to handle the jamming van. I need you to locate all of it for them,” she finished.

  “Jill, this is way out of my league, I'm not sure.....”

  “Suck it up, Braden!” Jill cut him off. “Make it up as you go, improvise and adapt! The people of this city need your eyes and ears and they need them now. If you don't do this, the security forces will be hitting the city blind.
All that's

  going to do is get a lot of people killed,” she scolded.

  “Jill, I'm not you or Jason. I can't.....”

  “Dammit, Braden! You don't think that you have what it takes, let me tell you something,” Jill planted her finger in the middle of his chest. “You

  got seven people 1200 miles across this country, you got them all here alive! That didn't happen by accident! It happened because you were able to think on your feet, you made split second decisions to keep them alive. Now, don't you stand here and tell me that you don't have what it takes! I know better. Your brother knew better, that's why he put you in charge up here!” Braden seemed to shrink under her verbal assault. By the time she was done reading him the riot act, he couldn't even hold eye contact anymore.

  “Braden, I'm asking you to take over the ranch because I have to go find my husband. Whether he's dead or alive, I have to go find him. Every minute that I waste here, is another minute that my chances dwindle. I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think you were capable,” Jill softened her tone. “Please.”

  “Okay, I'll do it,” he finally said.

  Thursday, August 17th, 2017

  Southern Nevada.

  We didn't waste any time putting distance between us and the airstrip. The quad was overloaded with all of the equipment and the two of us but that didn't stop me from applying generous amounts of throttle. It was so overloaded that it was having an adverse effect

  on our fuel economy. We were going to take it as

  far as we could, as quickly as we could.

  A couple of miles from the airstrip, the road forked. One fork headed in a northwesterly direction, the other went northeasterly. That's the one we took. It worked its way up the mountain range and finally took us over the top. We stopped long enough at the peak to get our bearings on the map that Melissa had taken from the communications building. It looked like the nearest town was Rachel, Nevada. Nearly 100 miles away by road.