by Liscom, Sean
“Yes, seriously.”
“Fuck. The old man is going to blow a gasket over this!”
“No shit! Hurry up and send it so that I can get on my way,” irritation hung on the edge of her words.
“Alright, I’ll send it but you know that it can take a while for him to respond. Might as well get comfy,” he said shaking his head and heading back down the hallway.
“Who’s this old man you two keep talking about?” Joy asked as she pushed away from the table and walked into the kitchen.
“He’s an old family friend. I’ve known him my whole life,” Melissa stretched her arms over her head. When she caught a whiff of the odor from her armpits, she quickly put her arms back down. “Jesus, I need a shower.”
“We have hot running water. If you’d like, you can use the shower in the bedroom,” Joy said as she turned on the sink faucet and began to fill a coffee percolator.
“Joy, if you’re making coffee, you just became my new best friend.”
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017
West of Lund, Nevada
After finally leaving the ravine the day before, I stayed on an easterly course until I got to the top of the next mountain range. Once I had my bearings, I turned the mustang mare slightly south and continued on toward Lund, Nevada.
After the sun had set, I let the horse have her head and she followed another game trail that intersected highway 6. That was about 1am. By 2am I had found a pretty well concealed ranchers pond and decided it would be a good place to camp for the rest of the night. I was exhausted, my back was aching, I was dehydrated and it had been far too long between meals.
I stepped down out of the saddle onto the short, green grass surrounding the pond and found an area devoid of cow droppings to sit and rest for a while. I was halfway through my last bottle of water when I must have nodded off. The exhaustion had finally won out.
I was jolted awake by the nightmares again. Only Jill wasn’t here to calm me down this time. I sat straight up in bed and tried to swing at the fading images with my right hand. I nearly jerked
my shoulder out of its socket when I reached the end of the short handcuff chain.
There was an I.V. hanging next to the hospital bed and a line running to my arm, which I promptly ripped out of the vein. My clothes were gone and I was wearing a hospital gown. In
my dazed and confused state, I tried jerking on the cuffs. The part of the cuff that was around my wrist only got tighter and the railing of the hospital bed showed no signs of relenting.
The door to the room flew open and a woman wearing Levis, a white t-shirt and a silver badge burst in. She was looking at me over the top of her drawn revolver.
“Settle down!” she ordered. “No one’s gonna hurt you!”
“Where am I? Who are you?” I asked the questions rapidly.
“I’m Sheriff Wagner and you are in the Lund infirmary,” she replied as she took two steps into the room to allow the nurse that was behind her to pass.
“What?”
“How about you lay back on that bed and allow the nurse to check you over? We don’t need any trouble and I hope you’re not going to give me any.”
“No….. No trouble,” I replied as I laid back down. “How did I get here?”
“We’ll get to that in a minute. Let nurse Finley do her job and then we can have a nice, long chat,” she said, holstering her handgun. I didn't have the energy to argue so I just let the nurse do her thing.
She checked the cut on my forehead then she proceeded to run a set of vital signs. She
seemed content that my blood pressure and heart rate were all in the normal range. She checked both of my pupils and then palpated my back where I had been shot. She was asking me basic questions the entire time. When she asked me what my name was, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Jack Kenshaw,” I answered.
“Alright, Jack. You're pretty beat up but I think you'll live,” she pronounced.
“That's good news,” I said flippantly.
“I am going to put that I.V. back in your arm though. You need the fluids.”
“Whatever, you're the nurse,” I said. She cleaned the blood off of my right forearm and moved the I.V. tree to the other side of the bed. She hit the vein in my left arm on the first try. A minute later and she was headed out of the room. The Sheriff pulled a chair up on the right side and sat down.
“Mr. Kenshaw is it?” she asked.
“Call me Jack. My father is Mr. Kenshaw.”
“Okay, Jack. I have a few questions for you. First, mind telling me about the bullet hole in your backpack and the damaged ceramic plate in your carrier?”
“Seems pretty self-explanatory.”
“C’mon, Jack. I'm trying to help you. I don't need any smart ass remarks. You look like you've been through hell and back,” she paused for a
second.
“It's been a rough couple of weeks.”
“Somebody shot you in the back. That tells me one of two things; they got the drop on you or you were running away. Which is it?”
“Sheriff Wagner, I appreciate what you are trying to do but trust me, you don't want the kind of trouble that's following me around. If you will just give me my clothes and horse, I'll be on my way.”
“Not gonna happen. You were so dehydrated that you were nearly dead when we found you two days ago. Anything.....”
“WHAT?” I nearly yelled. “I've been here two days?”
“We found you Tuesday afternoon, it's now Thursday. Yes, you've been here two days. Now, tell me who is after you?” she said evenly.
“Son-of-a-bitch.” I muttered under my breath. “Fine. You really want to know who’s after me, I'll tell you. Ever heard of a guy named Ray Judge? Except I ain't running from him. I'm
going to go kill him!”
“I know who he is. Is he the one who shot you?”
“No. I'd just wiped out a squad of his enforcers when four more guys showed up in a Hummer. They chased me and my horse until they had us cornered. I started a fire that was
pushed by the wind and managed to kill all four
of them fuckers too. That's when I got shot in the back. Happy?”
“Hold on. Are you telling me that you killed 9 of his enforcers?”
“That's what I just said!”
“You're the one.....” her voice trailed off.
“What?”
“We have three enforcers here in town. You're the one that's gotten them all worked up. I don't think those sorry assholes have slept a wink in the past few days. The way I heard it was that there were two of you though.”
“Listen, Sheriff. I really need to get these cuffs off, get dressed and get the hell out of here. Preferably before they figure out I'm here,” I ignored her statement about there being two of us. The less she knew, the better.
“You're safe here. Ain't nobody gonna tell them anything.”
“Ma'am, keeping me here is only going to bring trouble your way. The kind of trouble that gets a lot of people killed. I can't have that,” I
said.
“I'll make you a compromise Mr. Kenshaw,” she started “I'll take these cuffs off and as soon as your clothes are cleaned and dried, I'll have them brought here along with your handgun. As soon as this bag of fluids has finished topping you off, you can get dressed. In return, you will stay at my place tonight. Eat a good meal, get a hot bath
and get a good night's sleep in my spare room. Tomorrow I'll have your horse brought over and you can be on your way. We can probably even rustle up some supplies for you.”
“Please, Sheriff. The longer I'm here.....” She cut me off with a wave of her hand.
“I said that you are safe here and I meant it, Jack. Even if the enforcers manage to stumble onto you, they won't live long enough to do anything about it,” I could see her demeanor changing before my eyes. “I've got people all over this town that are ready to end those bastards at a moment’s notice. Th
e ONLY reason they are still breathing is because I say so. You're safe and you can stand down for another night. Let us watch your back.”
“A hot bath and something other than canned dog food does sound pretty good,” I finally relented.
CHAPTER 28
Thursday August 24th, 2017
Ely, Nevada.
“Two days! I’ve been stuck here for two damn days!” Melissa ranted as she paced the living room.
“Relax, Melissa…..” Cory started to say but quickly and wisely shut his mouth when Melissa stopped pacing and glared at him.
“You DID send the message, right?” she questioned.
“Of course I did! You also know that it can take a while for him to respond.”
“Who did you talk to?”
“For the umpteenth time, I talked to Kari.”
“What did she tell you, exactly?”
“She said her father was out in the field. As soon as he checked in, she would pass your message on to him. She also told me to tell you to wait here for further instructions.” Melissa began to pace again.
“I’m not waiting another day! If we haven’t heard from him by tonight, I’ll start walking! I HAVE to get back to the ranch!”
“You’ll wait here. It’s what you were told…..” Cory abruptly stopped talking when there was a loud knock at the door.
“You expecting company?” Melissa asked.
He shook his head and began to move toward the front door. Melissa had her handgun out and covered him from the corner of the hallway.
“Who is it?” he asked.
“Singing telegram! Open the damn door, Cory!” came a female voice. Cory twisted the doorknob and peeked through the crack before opening it all the way.
“Kari! It’s always a pleasure to see you! Please, come in,” he said smoothly to the tall, raven haired woman. She stood as tall as Cory at 5’9”, her jet black hair was pulled into a single braid on the back of her head.
“Keep it in your pants, party boy. I’m here on business,” Kari said, pushing her way past him. She stopped and looked at Melissa who was re-holstering her sidearm. “I thought you were going to get him fixed so he would stop dry humping every leg he came across?” there was the slightest Spanish accent in her voice.
“I haven’t found a vet that’ll do it!” Melissa remarked with a genuine smile. She stepped forward and gave the statuesque woman a hug. “I was worried you guys weren’t going to get back to me!” she stepped back.
“That’s why I’m here. My father wants you to take my horse and get back to the ranch as fast as you can. He’s got orders for you once you get there,” she undid the top button of her tan polo
shirt and reached inside to remove a slip of paper
from her bra and handed it over. Melissa unfolded the note and read it quickly.
“I’ll do what I can…...” her voice trailed off.
“My father wants it done at all costs. This HAS to happen this way.”
“I don’t know if I can pull it off and maintain my cover though.”
“You have to keep your cover. Dad’s not ready, yet,” Kari said as she took a step toward Melissa. “You got this. You’ve been in some pretty tight spots. This should be a breeze.”
“Was that you guys the night we were at Adaven?” Melissa asked, staring into Kari's’ almond colored eyes.
“No, that was my sister’s team,” she replied gently.
“Did Isabella know it was us?”
“She knew it was you and Jason. If you had been a little faster getting there, you would have interrupted the little surprise party they were having for the crew of the comms station. She wanted to stop and pick you two up but she has a cover to maintain too. I’m sorry.” Kari apologized. There was a long moment of silence, they just stared at each other.
“If I take your horse, how are you getting back?”
“I’m not. I have to stay here and coordinate the ground offensive,” Kari said. This time she
reached her hand out and stroked the side of
Melissa’s face. “Demasiado tiempo ha pasado mi amante,” she spoke softly.
“Mucho tiempo, Te he echado de menos,” Melissa spoke in flawless Spanish. “Please, be careful.”
“I always am. Let’s finish the mission and then you and I can get on with our lives, together,” Kari’s voice had taken on a husky, almost raspy tone. The two women were only inches apart now.
“Te quiero mucho senora,” Melissa said standing on her toes to give the taller woman a passionate kiss.
Cory quickly evacuated the room and joined Joy in the kitchen. When he heard his bedroom door shut, he looked at Joy in open mouthed shock. She simply smiled back.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked. “I don’t speak Spanish…..”
“Kari said too much time has passed my lover. Then Melissa said, a long time, I missed you. Then she said I love you so much, lady,” Joy non-nonchalantly replied.
Thursday August 24th, 2017
Duckwater, Nevada.
“Yeah, I saw this guy and his daughter four days ago. They came in just before I closed up the shop for
the day, wanted to trade. Guy had some good stuff so
we worked out a deal.” The burly man said. Jill picked up the Polaroid picture of Jason off the counter and tucked it back in her sleeve pocket.
“Can I ask what he traded for?” she politely asked the trader.
“I try not to make it a habit of disclosing what people bring in here to trade. It keeps things nice and neat if you know what I mean.”
“Please sir, I'll make it worth your while and we'll keep it between the three of us,” she said as she pulled a gold coin from her pocket. She glanced at Dan and he nodded his approval. The trader eyed the coin on the counter for a second before he picked it up.
“That’s a pretty hefty price to put on some information. This man, did he do you wrong?” he asked as he put the coin back on the counter.
“No, it’s nothing like that. He's my husband and the young lady with him is a very close family friend. We thought they had been killed a couple of weeks ago and we came to retrieve their bodies if we could. They are on the run from some pretty bad people. We are trying to find them so that we can bring them back home with us.” Jill said. The trader eyed both her and Dan. There were a few seconds of silence before Jill put another gold coin on the counter. “Please, we really need whatever information you have.”
“Go lock the door and pull the blinds,” he finally said to Dan. Once Dan had returned to the counter the
trader produced two gold coins from his pocket that were identical to the ones already on the counter. “He
gave me those, one AK-47 with six full magazines, two sets of body armor, and two Glock 19 pistols. He wanted a horse and tack, fifty feet of quarter inch steel cable, 5.56 and .45 ammo.”
“Did you make the trade?” Dan asked.
“Of course, like I said, he had some good stuff and it was an easy decision to make. It kind of threw me a little because I offered him the big quarter horse I have but he wanted the little mustang mare. It didn’t really make a difference to me, I just found it odd. There was one other thing that he wanted. He said that some assholes on dirt bikes were following them, he wanted me to tell them exactly which way he was headed when he left town.”
“Did you?” Jill asked with evident concern on her face.
“I did. They showed up the next day, five of them. They trashed my store and stole some food and water before they left in a big hurry. Seemed like they wanted this guy and his friend pretty bad.”
“Were either of them injured when they came in here?” Dan asked.
“The big guy was favoring his right leg pretty good and both of them looked exhausted but there were no obvious injuries.” Dan and Jill shared a quick look. They knew that once Jason's leg started bothering him, it could slow him down considerably.
“Which way did they go?” Jill asked.
“That was four days ago?”
“Yeah. With what they paid me, I offered them a room for the night but they declined. I filled up their water bladders and threw in some jerky. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
“Thank you for your time and information and thank you for taking care of my friends.” Dan said as he put his hand on Jill’s shoulder. She looked at him and he nodded toward the door. She reached across the counter and shook the traders’ hand. Both of them turned and headed out the door.
Once outside they were immediately assaulted by the late August heat. Both of their horses were tied up in front of the store and they mounted up. It was only noon and they knew the heat was only going to get worse. They turned their horses north to follow the road out of town. They were finally on the trail of Jason and Melissa. This was the only solid evidence they had gotten so far that they were really still alive. By the look of it, they were headed north, headed home.
“So, they left here the same day that we left the ranch, right?” Jill broke the silence as they neared the last building on the street.
“That's what he said.”
“If we’re four days behind them, they could very well be back at the ranch by now.”
“It's a definite possibility. You're missing the bigger point though, Jill,” he paused when she looked
at him. “We know for certain that they survived the ambush down south and as of four days ago, they were
alive.”
“You're right!” she said with a smile.
Dan was worried about the five bikers that were after them but he wasn't about to say anything to Jill. Let her have a little hope is what he was thinking to himself. They followed the highway north until it turned from asphalt to dirt. They rounded a slight curve in the road when Dan pulled on the reigns of his horse. Jill did the same and looked over at him.
“What's the matter?” she asked. He had his head cocked to one side and was looking intently at the road ahead of them. He turned in his saddle and looked back the way they had come.