Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
A week later, Ryan was sitting at the kitchen table finishing his breakfast when he looked up with a scowl. He was tired of waiting around, and wanted some action. Plus, he wanted to get home to Pru.
“Hey, Boss,” he said as he looked at Royal, who was reading the paper Ernie had to go into town to purchase. Paul had to cook for the other man, and from the expression on the other man’s face behind Royal’s back, he was sick and tired of being bossed around. Philip was no good, he had been beaten by Royal yet again for drinking. Ryan shook his head when he looked over at the man with two black eyes and at least three splits on his lips. He winced as the guy moved and cradled his ribs. Ryan knew he had gained enough weight to be able to take Royal out if he went after him. He had gotten to know the other guys, and knew the only people he had to be worried about were Royal, Miller, and Ernie.
“Yes?” Royal looked at Ryan over his paper as he answered.
“When are we going to move on Riceman? We’ve been here for a week, no one’s coming to check out this property. We can’t get your revenge just sitting here on our asses. Are we waiting for more people to arrive?”
Royal took his time folding the paper, then laid it down beside his plate, and stared at Ryan. Ryan knew the look and didn’t even flinch like Miller and Firth did when they received that look. Ryan, feeling cocky, even raised a brow at the other man. When Royal quickly swung his arm to try and knock the look off Ryan’s face, Ryan grabbed the other man’s hand and slammed his arm onto the table. That got everyone’s attention, and Ryan said so coldly that several of the undercover FBI agents shivered.
“Bad move on your part, Royal. I’m not one of your lackeys you can beat. You forget, I was a SEAL for damn near fifteen years. I know everything you’re going to try. I’m asking about making a move on Riceman, because sitting around here is getting us soft. Back when I was on the teams, we would strike when the iron was hot. They never expected us to attack, that’s how we got our man. In my opinion, with us sitting here doing nothing, this gives the locals the opportunity to come looking for Donaldson, and if they find us here, then it could give our position away. Who knows if they’ll call the cops, then what will you do? Sitting on our asses is stupid. Again, this is just my opinion, but if we don’t move soon, like in the next twenty-four hours, I’m out of here. I can move my broke ass to a different location.” Ryan knew he was poking the bear, but for the life of him he couldn’t stop. He shook his head and tossed Royal’s arm toward him, he had held it down the entire time he’d spoken.
“Hell, I might as well go over to Riceman and see if she’ll hire me. At least I’d have something to do than sit around and watch you try to be the big man around here by beating up Philip.” Ryan shook his head, shoved his plate away, and jumped to his feet, knocking the chair over in the process. He had acted pissed, but Royal didn’t have to know it was a ruse. He headed to the back door and stopped before he hit the screen door to exit the house. “Twenty-four hours or I’m fucking gone. You talked a good talk when you told me how you wanted to take the bitch out, but I’m thinking you’re all talk and no action. Not my cup of tea.” He stormed out and went outside. He made his way slowly to the barn, and made sure that if anyone from inside saw him he was walking the outside perimeter, and almost an hour later he made his way to the barn and sent a text to Clark. It had been Clark’s idea to see if Ryan couldn’t spark any action from Royal. He didn’t wait for a response as he returned the phone to the rafter. Luckily, there was a rope hanging from the center of the barn and that was where Royal found him.
Ryan breathed easier when the man wasn’t alone, he had Duane and Sanchez with him.
“What’s up? You finally decide to put your money where your mouth is?” Ryan was at least twenty feet off the ground, and as he began to swing in a small circle, he smirked when Royal had to look away when he turned green. It made Ryan wonder if the guy had vertigo or if he was afraid of heights.
“Can we talk?”
“About?”
“Your ultimatum.”
“I guess,” Ryan sighed heavily, acting like he’d been put out, then did an actual somersault in the air before he climbed down the rope. He jumped off when he was still five feet away and landed two feet in front of Royal, who jerked back like he’d been struck.
“What?” Ryan growled out.
“You’re awful cocky for a hired lackey.”
“Yeah, but I’m just fucked up enough in the head to walk away from a poser. You hired me for my military experience, for what? To sit around some old guy’s home and do nothing? Hell, I can make a phone call and be hired out as a mercenary in a heartbeat. You talked a lot of shit about wanting to get some bitch back for some slight she did to you? It makes me wonder if you’re all talk and no action.” Ryan started to walk away, but Royal reached up and gripped his bicep. Ryan only looked at his hand, then at Royal with one raised brow, then his arm was abruptly released.
“Tell me, Royal, you can’t control me like you can the Firths and Miller, what are you going to do? They’re not here now to back you up, are you really going after the Riceman bitch?” Ryan sent a silent prayer that Erin never heard him refer to her as that, or in that tone. He didn’t know where his anger was coming from, all he knew was the waiting around was frustrating the hell out of him. “What are you waiting for? You have the guns, we’ve been practicing. If we keep practicing, we’ll be out of ammo and won’t be able to defend ourselves when we go after them. What are you waiting for?”
“I like to get to know the people I’m working with before I make my move.”
“So, that’s what this past week was? Getting to know if we can work as a team? If that’s true, then the only weak links I’ve seen are you, Miller, and the Firths. In case you forgot, I’m a soldier, I’m used to action. This sitting on my ass for no reason when the target is just a couple of miles away is stupid. Now, you’ve had a week to get to know the guys you brought with you. I don’t know how long the others have been with you, but I’ve been with you for damn near three months, and in my book it’s time to shit or get off the pot.”
Ryan turned on his heel to walk away, but stopped when Royal called out.
“Fine, let’s go back into the house and start planning.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Ryan said, and walked away. In the kitchen, he gave the FBI agents a subtle nod and grin when he filled his coffee cup. He had his hips leaning against the counter when Royal, Manchester, and Sanchez entered.
“Okay, I agree with Carter, we plan to take this bitch out. We need to come up with a plan and we move on it tomorrow.”
The men all moved to the dining room and showed Royal maps and started making plans. Several hours later, Paul Miller started to protest when they were talking about guns.
“Have you ever been to war?” Ryan asked the sniveling coward snidely. “War involves guns, guns shoot bullets, you get hurt.” He didn’t wait as he stood to his full height and removed his tee quickly over his head. Everyone in the entire room sucked in their breath sharply at the scars on his body. “This is the result of war.” Ryan pointed to his chest, abs, ribs, then turned to show the whip marks on his back. He pulled his shirt back over his head and ignored the looks Sanchez and Gould gave him. The whip marks he'd received when he’d been captured. Ryan then pointed to his face and growled out at Miller.
“This too is the result of war. The assholes that captured me dug my eye out with their own fucking fingers because I refused to give up secrets about our military. What’s one slip of a woman and three old men against all of us?” They had been discussing that Erin only had Wendel, Floyd, and Virgil working for her. The only people that knew about Clark and the former Delta SEAL team were Sanchez, Gould, and Manchester. Ryan didn’t know whether Manchester had told his fellow FBI agents about them or not. He’d have to wait to see what happened when they went onto Erin’s ranch.
“Sorry,” Miller mumbled and sat back down. When no one else had any objections, they continued until all the bugs were worked out. They decided to head to the fence line at first light in the morning. Everyone broke up and went their separate ways. Ryan went back out to the barn and started climbing the rope, he’d done at least ten rotations when he stopped on the beam and sent a message to Clark. As soon as he got a response, he put the phone in his pocket because the battery was less than ten percent. Because he had his own room, he figured he could plug the phone in when he went to bed, and have it on him the next morning when they started their plan.
He was doing another climb when he heard something and looked down to see Manchester standing there. He took his time climbing down, then jumped down beside him.
“First,” Manchester said as he held up his hand. “Are those scars from when you were captured with Scott and Manny?”
“Yes, and Broome died in my arms after they disemboweled him.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, what else?”
“Thank you for going off on Royal and getting this shit moving. I had orders to pull out if nothing happened in the next forty-eight.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that. I only did what I did because I have a woman to get home to, and I’m sick and tired of sitting around doing jack shit.”
“I understand.” Manchester nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you contact Clark?”
“Yes, phone’s almost dead, but I was able to get my message through. I figure I’ll charge it tonight and have it on me in the morning. Saves me from coming out here to get it.”
“Good plan. I wanted to tell you that when we pass out the ammo tomorrow, the four asshats will be handed blanks.”
“Great, I don’t think they’ll know the difference.” Ryan grinned at the other man, and they walked out of the barn and around the backside. They walked the perimeter together, continuing their conversation. “Do your guys know about mine?”
“Yes, I snapped a photo of them while we went grocery shopping and sent it to them on the way home. I’m sure they won’t be as clean cut as when the photo was taken, but they’ll know the gist.”
“Hopefully, with this time we’ve given them they can contact Cogburn and Faulkner.” Ryan continued to walk, making sure no one was sneaking up on them, but in actuality, he was looking to see if Royal, Miller, or either of the Firths were spying on them. When he didn’t see anyone, he nodded and walked over to a fence and looked toward where Broken was. He shook his head and sighed heavily. “I can’t wait until this shit is over.”
“Me too, I’ve been on this detail for over six months.” Duane looked at Ryan for several minutes in silence before he spoke sadly. “You know you’re going to be arrested, right?”
“Yes, I plan on it. What about you and your guys? Will you be arrested too, or will you pull out your badges?”
“We’ll be arrested along with you. Whenever you’ve sent any information to your Lieutenant, he’s relayed the information to my superior, who in turn sent it to the local branch. They’re out of Denver, but I’m hoping they’ll be here tomorrow and not fuck up this mission.”
“We can only hope,” Ryan said as he looked out toward the area they would be heading in the morning. With nothing else to do, Ryan and Duane made their way to the house, but before they reached it, Duane held him back.
“Once this is all over, I’d like to get a look at Broken. Maybe it’s something I’d like to do when I retire. I’m tired of this undercover work.”
“Aren’t you married?”
“I was, I’ve been divorced for about five years. I was married to Scott’s sister, but he still considers me his brother-in-law, even though she’s remarried. We never had any kids together. We divorced because she couldn’t deal with my work.” He shook his head sadly at his life. “Hell, we were only married for three years and I might have seen her for a total of six months all that time.”
“Shit, that must have been hard.”
“Yeah, but I’m good at my job, and I think after this goes to court and a verdict comes in, I should get out. I know both Sanchez and Gould want to talk to you about Broken when this is over.”
“That I can do. Maybe you can stick around after the arrests and we’ll all talk.”
“Sounds good,” Duane said as he slapped Ryan on the back. They made their way to the house, and when they walked in, it seemed like a fog had been lifted, and everyone was in a good mood that they were finally going to move forward with Royal’s plans. Ryan excused himself to go to his room, and he plugged in the phone he’d been using for Clark, and made sure that it was beneath his bed so no one would find it. There were only four people he had to worry about. Back downstairs he was asked to get the steaks ready for dinner, and when asked where he’d learned to make them so tasty, he told them about a former teammate in the SEALs that had taught him.
Ryan was happy that everyone seemed to go to bed by nine o’clock that night to get an early start the next day. If everything went as planned, then by this time the next day, he’d either be in jail, or on his way home to his Pru. He couldn’t wait to see her again.