Chapter 10
After so many of the men from Unity had almost been blown to bits in the decoy bandit camp, it took just over a week for things to return to normal. Jeff was delayed going out on patrol again due to the damage to his hearing.
For the third time in a week, Julie once again examined him.
“I’m afraid that some of the ringing might never go away,” she said at last. “This is the second time you’ve been so close to a blast that it tossed you like a rag doll. You must understand that eardrums are delicate.”
Jeff nodded. “I do, but I couldn’t help this one. Are you sure it’s going to be permanent? The ringing is very annoying.”
Julie sucked on her bottom lip, something she had taken to doing when nervous.
“Only time will tell,” she said soberly. “I don’t have much I can give you, only some herbs that might soothe your ears, but nothing more. Unless you would like some laudanum?”
Having taken laudanum before and found its effects to be too debilitating, Jeff shook his head. “No thanks. I’ll stick to the willow bark and anything else you have that won’t put me to sleep.”
Julie nodded. “Okay.”
She handed him a paper bag that contained several smoked glass bottles of tinctures.
Bonnie shot to her feet the moment Jeff entered the waiting room where she had been sitting.
“What did she say?” Bonnie asked as she walked up to Jeff. She gently put a hand on his arm.
He couldn’t help but smile at her. She was so caring, always worrying about him and her godfather.
“She gave me some things to try,” Jeff said. “Can we go now?”
“Sure,” she said and led him to the door.
“I just want to stop by Uncle Leo’s and see how he’s doing.
He was drawing up plans for the greengrocers.
Did you know he’s been speaking to the town council about it, and the farmers seem to like the idea?
Especially now that Joel has offered to do all the transportation. ”
“Oh, he has, has he?” Jeff asked. He still didn’t like Joel. Not one bit. The man smiled entirely too much, and he was always friendly. Who could possibly sustain that? It had to be an act.
“What?” Bonnie asked. She was getting to know Jeff’s tones and expressions well. She knew he didn’t like Joel. “He’s just trying to make a life for himself.”
“I know,” Jeff said. “But does he have to do it here?”
“Hey, Jeff!”
It was Hunter, jogging down the street to them. He looked worried.
“Hi, Bonnie, can I steal him for an hour or so?” Hunter asked.
Bonnie eyed him. “He’s not back on duty, you know.”
“I know,” Hunter said. “But I really need him to come to a meeting with Andrew and Michael.”
“I’ll be fine,” Jeff said. “You worry too much.”
Bonnie raised a brow, and then, standing on her toes, she planted a little kiss on his cheek that only left him wanting more. “I worry exactly the right amount.”
He was left in a happy daze as she headed around the side of the clinic to where the stairs to the apartment were. Jeff watched her climb the stairs and wished that she was still kissing him.
“Earth to Jeff,” Hunter said, bumping him with his shoulder. “Where were you?”
“I was just thinking about something,” Jeff said with a chuckle.
“That’s the kind of thing you have to think about on your own time; you’re on sheriff’s department time now,” Hunter teased.
Jeff nodded. Maybe spending some time out of the house again would be good for him. He was getting far too soft with Bonnie fussing over him like she did. He hadn’t had to lift a finger around the house since the incident. He was starting to get lazy.
Andrew, Michael, and several others were meeting in the newly repaired sheriff’s office.
Jeff and Hunter pulled up chairs and the meeting began.
“We’re glad you could all come,” Andrew said, looking from one to the next around the room.
“And thank you, Robert, for offering up your office as our meeting place,” Michael said.
“My pleasure,” Robert said. “Now, what is going on?”
“First, Troy has some news,” Andrew said.
Troy nodded. “I wanted to let you all know that whoever built those traps was very clever. He worked out the timing of the fuses so exactly that he gave a person a running chance to get away. That whole place could have been a death trap, but it wasn’t.
And the ignition mechanism is something else.
It’s engineering like I’ve never seen before.
It seems so simple, and yet when you open that little box?—”
“You know none of us will understand any of that,” Andrew interrupted. “Was there anything else of worth that you wanted to mention?”
Troy shook his head. “Just that whoever the engineer was is very smart and capable. And if he’s working for our good friend El Aguila full time, we can expect more like this.”
“I’d love to know where he’s buying his explosives,” Jeff said. “If we follow that trail, we could catch him.”
“That’s good, but we have news,” Andrew said, looking excited. “We have the location of another of El Aguila’s camps, and this one looks like the real thing.”
“How do you know?” Jeff asked.
“Because I rode out there myself yesterday,” Hunter said. “We aren’t taking chances now. We need to be smart, and we’re not taking the word of some wet-behind-the-ears boys again. It’s too easy for these bandits to trap us, it seems.”
It did seem that way. Far too easy. Jeff was nervous about this. “You’re positive that there are actual people in that camp?”
Hunter chuckled. “I’m not the one who got blown up, remember? There’s nothing wrong with me. All my faculties work just fine.”
“Yes, yes,” Michael said, gesturing for him to get on with it.
Hunter nodded and continued. “I saw men walking around; there were plenty of horses and cookfires, and I heard people talking. Granted, it was so far off that I could only really hear the loud bits, and those were jumbled, but they were real. It’s a camp, and we can hit it hard.”
“Okay,” Jeff said. “Any idea if El Aguila is there?”
Hunter shook his head.
“I didn’t see anything that suggested the camp leader might be housed there. You’d expect a nicer tent or at least more guards posted if he was. But I did see Miguel there,” Hunter said.
Jeff stared at him with his mouth hanging open. Only a couple of weeks earlier, Miguel and an older man named Alberto had been captured and held in the cells in the very office where they were now sitting. “You’re sure it was him?”
Hunter nodded. “In the flesh.”
“So he survived the hilltop fight when we arrived to free the women and children they’d caged,” Jeff said. It had been a brutal battle, made worse by the terrible conditions in which the bandits’ hostages had been found.
“It looks like it,” Hunter said. “Which means there might be others. But that’s not important now. The important thing is that we come up with a good plan to get in, find El Aguila or his whereabouts, and get out.”
“Well then, this should be more of a covert mission,” Michael said, looking thoughtful. “A bit more in the shadows than we’re used to. Don’t you think?”
“Why?” Andrew asked.
“So that we can try to get what we need without risking too many lives,” Robert said. “We have a limited number of fighting men, and if we use them all up quickly and get everyone injured, we will be in a terrible position.”
“You’re right,” Jeff said with a nod. “Three might be able to blend in with the bandits. Especially if we take care to dress like they do.”
Andrew shifted uneasily and shook his head. “I’m not happy with this. I would rather find some way that didn’t involve men risking so much. Whoever we send could be captured, tortured for information, or killed. We could lose so much.”
There was silence, and they all absorbed his words.
Jeff had to admit that the possibility of all those things Andrew had mentioned happening was very real for him.
The thought of never seeing his home and Bonnie again weighed heavily on his shoulders.
But so did the thought of El Aguila winning this war, and that was something he couldn’t stomach.
“I think we should risk it,” he finally said. “We should seriously try to get Miguel. I think without Alberto strengthening his resolve, he will cave in. We could get a lot of information from him.”
“Depending on what he knows,” Michael said. “If he knows nothing, then it would be waste.”
“I don’t know,” Robert said. “Alberto was clearly the more important of the two, but he showed quite a bit of respect to Miguel. I don’t think that’s nothing.
This is a good opportunity, and we should make the most of it.
You never know—we might even find out where that maniac is so that we can arrest him for all the trouble he’s caused. ”
Jeff was inclined to agree, as did everyone else. It seemed the idea for a small group to go to the camp and kidnap Miguel was approved.
Hunter spent quite some time describing the site where the bandits were camped.
It was against a ridge, which afforded the bandits some cover at their backs and high ground for them to keep watch.
That should make infiltrating their camp difficult, except that there was a creek that flowed right by their camp, and the land there was covered in trees and bushes.
It wouldn’t be difficult to blend in with some of the men going about their business.
“The group is so big, about fifty of them, so there’s little chance that they know everyone, especially if we sneak in at dusk, when the light is bad,” Hunter said. “Then all men in hats look alike.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Andrew said. “So, who’s going to be on the team?”
Hunter turned to Jeff. “Well, I would like Jeff with me.”
“You do?” Jeff asked. He frowned. Was this a good idea? His ears were still ringing, and it tended to get worse when he was worried or upset. What if Hunter said something and he didn’t hear him? He could get them both killed if he wasn’t careful.
“You don’t look like you want to go,” Hunter said.
“It’s not that,” Jeff said. “My hearing?—”
“It’s fine,” Hunter said. “We can use the hand signals we’ve been working with on patrol.”
Jeff nodded. That made sense. “Okay then.”
Hunter smiled. “And of course, I want Robert.”
“Sorry, is that wise?” Michael asked. “Then we’ll leave this town without a sheriff if something goes wrong.”
“That’s a good point,” Andrew said. “Can’t we ask someone else?”
“Like who?” Hunter asked. “We don’t want the farmers. They’re lacking in experience, and I think that’s why things went wrong at the other camp.”
Just then the door to the station opened and Hector came strolling in. “I brought you something to eat. Grace said you would be—” He noticed all the people and stopped speaking. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was a whole meeting happening.”
Silence spread like water dropped from a jug on the floor.
Finally, Robert shifted and smiled. “Hector,” he said kindly. “Don’t worry, we’re just having a meeting and probably need a break. What have you brought?”
Hector smiled as he always did when speaking about the food that he and Grace made. “Grace thought that you might be hungry. Don’t worry, she always sends enough for a lot of people.” He handed the basket he was carrying to Robert. “Here, take them. Then I’ll be out of your hair.” He turned to go.
“Thank you,” Jeff said. “This is very kind of you both.”
Hector gestured as though wiping his words out of the air. “You all do so much to keep us safe. This is a very small thing to do in return.” And with that, he hurried out of the room.
Robert handed out the food. It was an assortment of things. Some were fancy pastries that Jeff had never seen before. There were sandwiches and fresh fruit as well, and he took an apple and a chicken and cheese sandwich. He finished off his meal with a sweet sticky bun.
Everyone ate well, and when their stomachs were full, they returned to their discussion of the mission. Finally, everyone agreed that Robert was the logical third. He was the most experienced, and he, Hunter, and Jeff worked well together.
“We should go tonight,” Hunter said.
“But can we be ready by then?” Jeff asked.
“We’re ready now,” Hunter said with a shake of his head. “Think about it. All we need is a floppy hat, a blanket poncho, and we’re there. You know what the bandits look like. You look scruffy enough.”
Not having shaved for a couple of days, Jeff was sporting the beginnings of a beard. His flannel shirt and work pants were almost identical to what the bandits wore. This could work.
“Fine,” he said. “But I don’t know how I’ll explain it to Bonnie.” Convincing his wife that he was fine and would remain so when facing danger wouldn’t be so easy.
He was thinking about that when he heard a scuffling noise outside. It was faint, and he didn’t think he would have heard it if he hadn’t been sitting next to the wall.
The others were still talking about the mission to the camp. Jeff held up his hand urgently, and Robert and Hunter signaled Andrew, Troy, and Michael to stop speaking.
Jeff listened, and yes, there it was again. It sounded like someone trying to move around quietly outside.
“Keep talking, but not about anything important,” he whispered to them.
Nodding, they began to go over details that didn’t matter terribly. Jeff got up, leaving his chair in place and moved to the door. He took hold of the handle.
Showing a countdown with the fingers of his other hand, he went one … two … three …. and yanked the door open.
Joel stood on the porch, his hat in his hands and his eyes wide like dinner plates.
“Oh my golly gosh!” he said, taking a step back. “My goodness. You just about gave me a heart attack, opening the door like that.”
“What are you doing?” Jeff asked. “You’ve been shuffling out here for a while now. What is going on?”
Joel looked tongue-tied, like he had no idea what to say. He looked at Jeff with nothing coming out of his mouth. No sound, but his jaw went up and down as though there were words that were too scared to come out.
“Oh, Joel,” Michael said, coming to the door. “You didn’t have to bring everything here.” He moved past Jeff and went out onto the porch. “Gosh, you got it all.”
“I tried to make sure it was as complete as possible. Do you want to check it? Should I take it home for you instead?” Joel asked.
“What is all of that?” Jeff asked, moving to look around his brother at the crate.
“It’s some things I need to do some repairs around the house,” Michael said. “I’ve let things pile up, and since I’m feeling better, my wife wants me to start taking care of things.”
Sure enough, there were short wooden planks, bottles of nails, a hammer, a tin of varnish, and some other things.
Jeff relaxed. He was wound up, and he really would have to work on trusting Joel.
“Hey, fellows,” Jeff said. “Why not let Joel help us? We could use a good lookout.”