Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
“Here,” Ryan said to Paul Miller as he handed him, then Rudolph Royal, and the Firth brothers each a box of ammunition. He knew for a fact that they were all blanks, and that made him breathe easier. He didn’t need a bunch of men that didn’t know much about guns waving weapons with live rounds around.
“What’s this?” Royal asked as he took the box and opened it. He looked up with a grin, which caused Ryan to shudder.
“Extra rounds.” He paused, then shook his head at the four of them. “Can I trust you not to shoot us in the back as we make our way to our destination?”
“Yes,” Royal said as he scowled at him.
With his mission of passing out the fake bullets complete, Ryan gathered his gear, and put his rifle, with live rounds, over his shoulder, and joined the others. Everyone looked at him and he gave the signal for them to head out. The FBI agents were spread out, so when they walked, they took up about half a mile. Ryan made sure that he walked between Sanchez and Gould, with Duane on the other side of Scott. The sun was just coming up over the horizon as they left the barnyard of Donald Donaldson’s ranch. Ryan had been in the bathroom before he joined the others outside when he’d sent the text to Clark that they were getting ready to head their way.
He'd sighed in relief when he was informed that all parties were waiting for them to arrive. He’d also gone ahead and told Ryan that some FBI agents were with Jim Faulkner and they’d wait thirty minutes and come in from behind them. Ryan felt easier that they would be surrounded by agents. Thankfully, the only bad people were the four that were currently walking behind him, complaining all the way about the long walk. They hadn’t even gone half a mile yet.
Frustrated, Ryan kept glaring at Royal, Philip, and Paul, the biggest complainers. They’d shut up until one of them would twist an ankle, or step in some sort of hole. He kept shaking his head and kept to a steady pace as they moved forward. As soon as they reached the fence, he breathed easier. He had made sure while he’d sent the text to Clark that he’d put his button camera in, and had made sure Sanchez and Gould had one also. Duane said he and his buddies had their own. With the video, there was nothing the assholes with them could lie about, it was all being recorded. The only thing Ryan had to worry about was that he was on the tape as handing them the ammo, but all the agents present knew they were blanks, and that he was there undercover so when he was arrested none of the charges against the four would stick to him. That was the only reason he’d agreed to go undercover anyway.
“Finally,” Royal said as they stopped before the wire fence. “I hadn’t realized a mile was so long.”
“It’s only five thousand two hundred and eighty feet,” one of the agents said with a smirk to the man he was standing next to. That man didn’t wait for Royal to say anything. “Would you like to rest here, or make our way to those trees?” He lifted his hand and pointed to the set of trees that everyone but the four knew Clark, the men, Jake and his men, and possibly the police were waiting for them.
“I can make the trees,” Royal said, and was the first one to the fence. He reached out and grabbed it, then jerked his hand back and swore. “Fucking bitch!” he screamed. “How the hell can you have an electrical fence this far from anything?” He shook his hand, then looked around when someone found a battery about ten poles down.
Ryan turned his head to cover his smirk, as did almost everyone else. Duane was the only one with a straight face. “Ready?” He didn’t wait for a reply as he lifted his leg and did a hopping step over the fence. The others quickly followed him. The FBI agents, and former SEALs turned to wait for the others, and had to laugh when they made it over, and ended up falling on their asses when they made it over. They pulled out a water bottle and drank as the others gained their feet and their composure. This time, Royal glared at them, then turned and led the way. He was in the lead with Miller, Ernie, and Philip following him. It wasn’t long before they were several yards ahead of them. It was better that they led them because then they could rack up the charges.
“Armed trespassing,” one agent said as he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text. They waited until he got a response, and then he looked at them with a grin. “Our guys are waiting in the trees for them. The owner of the ranch and his buddies will call them to halt.”
“That would be Lieutenant Clark Riceman,” Ryan said. “The others with him served on the same SEAL team with him. He was our boss.”
“Good, our agents and people from something called Brotherhood Protectors will wait to see what those asshats do, then come out of the woodwork, or rather, the trees.” Everyone froze when a text came in, and the man speaking looked at his phone, and looked up with a scowl.
“What?” Ryan asked in concern.
“Something about some cows grazing in a nearby pasture, that Riceman will tell the others to halt. If questioned, he’s going to say that he’s protecting his herd.”
“Yeah, from my understanding last fall the Firths, and Miller tried to rustle Erin’s cattle. They’re going to take them to the summer pasture once this is over. They brought them with them as a way to try to trap Royal.”
“Good to know, do you know if they’ll attack?” The agent seemed a little scared when he asked that.
“Naw, from what I understand you just wave your arms at them and yell and they run away.”
“Good to know,” the other agents said, and they all started forward. Royal and the others had gotten quite a few yards ahead of them. They took their time to catch up, and they stopped when the people ahead of them entered the woods.
“Stop!” someone called out, and Ryan looked between Sanchez and Gould.
“Riceman,” Gould whispered. They all watched as several men came out of the trees and stood before Royal.
“You’re on private property,” Clark called out, and held a rifle in his hands. He didn’t aim it at anyone, so there was nothing Royal could say about being threatened.
“Yeah,” Royal postured. “This is my property now, asshole,” Royal shouted, pulled the gun out of his waistband and started firing. The other three did the same thing, and Clark just stood there. He’d worn his Kevlar, as did the others, and the blanks didn’t really penetrate the vest. He did jerk a couple of times when the bullets hit his legs.
“That’s going to leave a bruise.” Sanchez grinned.
“FREEZE! FBI!” Shouts came from the trees, behind them, and to the sides of Clark and the others, and from behind Ryan and his group. Ryan stood back as the agents that came up behind him rushed by. He watched in glee as Royal, Miller, Philip, and Ernie were thrown to the ground, rolled over, and cuffed.
As they were dragged to their feet, the agents who held them started arresting them by telling them their charges.
“Why the fuck aren’t they getting arrested?” Royal tried to get away, and ended up kicking the agent and was able to run about twenty feet before he was caught. He was told that another charge of assault on a federal agent, resisting, and fleeing was just added.
“I want those men arrested,” Royal used his head to point to the men he’d brought from Los Angeles with him. He stared in shock as everyone except Ryan, Sanchez, and Gould pulled out a badge and hung it around their neck.
“What about him, Carter? He was in on it from the beginning.”
“Actually, he was there as one of my deputies working undercover for me,” Sheriff Jim Faulker said as he walked up to them and stood about five feet from Royal. “You’re being taken into federal custody because your charges are federal. I don’t trust our local yokels not to let you out on bond. You’re headed to Denver.” Jim stepped to the side when Royal tried to kick him, and the agent let him go, then said, “Oops,” when he fell flat on his face. This time, it happened to be in a cow patty.
“You’ll regret this!”
“No I won’t, the Feds have been investigating you for the last two weeks, Royal. I don’t have to tell you that because you brought assault weapons across state lines that they froze all your accounts. You won’t be making bail for any of you this time around.”
Jim stepped back and watched as the federal agents gripped their upper arms and walked away. Ryan grinned when several vehicles arrived and the four men were stuffed into separate ones. Jim turned to Ryan and stuck his hand out to shake.
“Thank you for everything you did. If you hadn’t done what you did, I don’t think we would have caught them.” They looked around and Ryan grinned at one of the men.
“Hey, Jammer.”
Lloyd Berry’s face turned red, then he hugged him, slapped him on the back, then did the same to the others. Jake looked at Duane and grinned as they greeted each other the same way.
“I have a question,” the man that had said the agents were behind them asked the group after greetings were completed.
“What’s that?” Ryan asked as he leaned his rifle against a tree.
“Do we have to walk back to the house we left?”
“Naw, we have vehicles on the other side of the trees,” Clark laughed. “While we were waiting for you guys, we cleaned up our camp.”
“What about Erin’s cows?” Ryan asked in confusion. “Don’t you have to take them to the summer pasture?”
“This is it,” Clark laughed as he motioned for them to follow him. It turned out that they were able to make it back to Donald’s place within the hour, and as the FBI agents cleaned up, packed up evidence from what Royal had been doing, they said they’d head into the local office to be debriefed, then they were heading to Denver before going back to Los Angeles.
“What about you, Manchester?” One of the agents looked at him with raised brows.
“I’ll go with you, but instead of going home, I’m going to come back here to see if this is something I want to do when I get out. I think once this goes to trial and a verdict comes in, I’m done. I’ve lost a wife to this job, I’m almost forty years old, and it’s time for me to live my life the way I want. Who knows, maybe working with horses will be therapeutic for me.”
“It is,” Lloyd said. He explained what happened to him with his PTSD and how they’d helped him. They parted ways and the only people left from California were Scott Gould and Manny Sanchez.
“You got a place for us to stay for a couple of days?”
“Absolutely,” everyone said, and they all left Donald’s place to go out to their trucks. Instead of going over the fields, they left by way of the road. Two hours later, Clark, in the first vehicle pulled into the driveway to Erin’s Way. He stopped before a house and smiled at a woman standing there. He put the truck in park, hopped out, grabbed the woman, and twirled her around.
“Who is that?” Gould asked with interest. He watched in shock as Clark only kissed the woman on the cheek, then Reid was right there. He laid a kiss on her that didn’t leave anything to the imagination.
“Got it, Reid’s woman.”
“Correct, but that’s also Clark’s sister, Erin Riceman. If you recall, he’d call her Rin?”
“Ah, I remember,” Sanchez said. Clark got back into his truck and looked at the others. “I’m going to the barn to see my woman.” He put the truck in gear, and started forward.
“Holy shit,” Gould said as they stopped on a rise and looked down at a barn with several horses, and vehicles. “What is this place?”
“This is The Broken Wheel Ranch,” Clark said with pride.
“The place your sister started for people like us?”
“Exactly,” Clark said, and slowly drove down and parked beside the last vehicle in a long line. As they exited the truck, three other vehicles parked alongside them. The men got out, leaving their gear in the trucks and started forward. Before they could reach the inside of the barn, several horses came running up to the fences and the men broke off to go to them. Coming up behind them were Reid and Erin, and he hopped out of the truck, ran to the fence, climbed it, and hugged the horse that had brought him a ball. After giving the horse a hug, he tossed the ball.
“What the hell?” Sanchez asked in shock as he watched them.
“These horses are all rescue horses,” Erin said from beside him. “When they arrived here, they were broken. The horse with Reid wouldn’t lift her head more than three feet off the ground, and her ears didn’t perk up. One day, after being here about a month, Reid was walking in the barn and she threw a ball at him. They now play ball every day for about two hours. It’s been over a year.” She looked at him with a fierce scowl. “Her previous owner was Philip Firth.”
She turned and pointed to a different fence. “That’s Peaches. She saved Perry’s life when he was shot by the Firths while trying to steal my cattle. Lloyd saved Maxine, and her entourage from Ernie Firth.”
“And the others?”
“I haven’t seen anyone attached to the others like Katie, Maxine, and Peaches. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.” She looked up with a grin when the women came out and hurried over to their men.
“Damn,” Sanchez said as he saw Ryan hurry over to the redheaded woman he’d seen in the grocery store. He turned to Erin with a grin. “Do you need any more help?”
“I can always use help. I didn’t get the entire story, but how do you know the men?”
“We first served on Echo team with Jammer.” At her scowl, Gould laughed. “Lloyd Berry, that was our team name for him instead of a different fruit. After he was injured and retired, Echo team broke up, and we were transferred over to Delta.” He shook his head sadly. “We were captured with Ryan.”
“Ah,” Erin said, and they left it at that. When it looked like the men were done greeting their women, Erin started forward, and they ended up at the fence where Reid played ball with Katie. Introductions were made and once that was out of the way, the women started asking questions about what happened and how bad it turned out.
“Not bad at all,” Sanchez said. “All thanks to Ryan here. The only way I can describe it is that he got pissy with Royal yesterday and basically told him to shit or get off the pot. Royal wasn’t doing anything to come after Erin, and Ryan pushed the issue. After threatening to leave, Royal got off the pot. What he didn’t know was that Ryan was in constant contact with Clark, and in turn Clark contacted Jim Faulkner, and the agents with our boss.”
“Agents?” Marcia asked, then turned to Pru. “That’s what you meant by the FBI?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not with the FBI?” Erin asked the two.
“No, one of the agents is my brother-in-law, and I went to see him after we were released from the Navy. We went out for drinks, and one thing led to another. See, we had been in touch with Jammer about our release from the hospital in Germany. He told us about the trouble here, and we mentioned it to Duane. It turns out that he knew Royal and that’s why he and his team were undercover. One thing led to another, and we tagged along when Royal contacted them to purchase guns.”
“Was anyone shot in the confrontation?” Naomi asked, and looked at Clark with a frown when he winced.
“I was, but they had blanks, the FBI made sure of it. The assholes were the only ones with blanks, and the only ones who shot at us. We have our Kevlar vests on, but I took a couple rounds in the legs. Nothing penetrated, but I’ll be sporting some gigantic bruises for the next few days.”
Ryan looked up with a smile and walked over to a man who stood off to the side, he stuck out his hand to the older man. “Hi, I’m Ryan Carter, thank you for taking care of my girl while I was away.” They shook, then Ryan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Your house is still in one piece, and I don’t mean any offense by this, but I think it’s cleaner than when we first arrived. There was an FBI agent there that was bored, he cleaned the house from top to bottom. I swear there are no more cobwebs.”
“Damn, and I was collecting them for my Halloween decorations,” Donald laughed at Ryan’s expression of shock, then joined in on the laugh.
Ryan leaned in, and asked, “How was my Pru?”
“Perfect angel. She might say she’s messed in the head, but I didn’t see it. Other than being longwinded at times, she’s perfect.”
Ryan looked at the other man and thought he might be a little in love with his woman. He shook his head and slapped the man on the back. “You know you’re more than welcome to continue to stay with us, right? Or you can move over to one of the larger cabins.”
“So I was told.” Donald studied the man before him, and asked quietly. “Do you guys ever talk about what you’ve been through?”
“Sometimes, why?”
“I did two tours in ‘Nam. It’s been fifty years or more, and sometimes I still wake up to nightmares.”
“I hear you there. Maybe we can talk sometime.”
“I’d like that.” Donald nodded and slowly shuffled over to meet the other two men. They talked as others drifted away to do their chores, and after a few minutes, Sanchez and Gould went inside with Clark and received the tour of what The Broken Wheel was all about. By the time they headed toward home, everyone had made plans to meet at one of the larger cabins for an impromptu BBQ.