Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
“There are only three people left alive that experienced what I went through.” Scott looked at Sara with a nod. “I need you to remember that if you talk with former military people, you might not get all the answers you want because you don’t have the clearance to know what we went through.” At her scowl of confusion, he shook his head. “We went through hell for our country, and civilians don’t know what we do, and are not privy to military secrets.” As she continued to scowl, he sighed, then asked, “Do you know everything that Julie went through when she lost her leg?”
“Well, no, she said it was a need-to-know basis, and all I needed to know was the bare minimum.”
“Exactly, for what I’m about to tell you, all you need to know is that I was on a mission with my SEAL team to take out some bad men. We got our orders, then was taken to our destination. Anyway, once we got there the mission went FUBAR from the second we were boots on the ground.”
“What’s FUBAR?” Sara asked then slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”
At the same time, both Julie and Scott answered. “Fucked up beyond all recognition.”
“Got it.”
“Anyway, I didn’t learn until later that we weren’t given all the information we needed. When we contacted HQ, they told us to proceed with the mission with what we had.”
Julie looked at Sara with a shake of her head. “No, that’s not normal. Usually, if you don’t have all the information, you wait until you have it.”
“Correct. Anyway, we proceeded to our target. A little background here might be warranted. All the SEAL teams from where I was based out of had six men on them. We went by numbers. Our LT was number one, Carter was number two, Sanchez was three, I was four, New Guy was five, and Newbie was six. Each of us either used nicknames, or our last names. I was with New Guy for several years, and his first day on the teams happened to be the team I was on and our LT at the time gave him that name and it stuck. Newbie, had only been with our team for six months before this mission.” He sipped his coffee and saw understanding in both their expressions so continued.
“Anyway, we proceeded to our location with only about three-quarters of the information we needed. As we approached, we were ambushed. The Lieutenant and Newbie were taken out immediately. Carter, New Guy, Sanchez, and I took cover and returned fire. When there was a lull in the shooting, we made our way to our downed men and tried to get them out of the streets.” Scott stared off into space and was back in that street as he continued talking. He hadn’t realized that Julie took his hand as he told them what he could.
“The four of us were captured, it wasn’t pretty, we fought as hard as we could, but we were outnumbered by at least twelve to one. I don’t know how they got us to the basement we woke up in, but it was dark, I mean it was so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. At first, once we were awake, we realized all four of us were together, but they had stripped us of our packs. They had our weapons also. Once I woke in that basement, I lost all track of time because we wouldn’t see the light of day for the next twenty days.” He didn’t want to talk about what happened and as he unconsciously tightened his grip on Julie’s hand, he talked in a monotone to get through it.
“I don’t know how many days we were together before they separated us. Carter and New Guy stayed where they were, while they took Sanchez and me to a different part of the basement. We didn’t let on that we could understand what they were saying. If they talked to us, we talked to them in English, and only gave them our name, rank, and serial number. We would repeat that over and over, never deviating from that. The more we wouldn’t answer the questions, the angrier they became. Then the torture started. It started out slowly, but would increase over time.” He shook his head and sipped his coffee while still staring off into space.
“As I said, Sanchez and I were together in one part of the basement, while Carter and New Guy were in the original part. At least we suspected that to be true. When they weren’t torturing us, we heard the screams from the other part of the building and assumed it was Carter and New Guy. We were correct. Again, we lost all track of time, and the only time we knew they were coming for us was when the lights flickered off and on. While they were torturing us, the lights were left on. When they weren’t, we were left in the dark. We had no way to see what our injuries were, we could only feel them.”
“How bad?” Julie asked quietly and kept her expression neutral when Scott stood, slowly unbuttoned his shirt, then before he removed it, he seemed to come back to them and shook his head. “I’m only going to show you, so you understand what I went through. I’m still healing.” Without another word, he removed his shirt, closed his eyes, and hung his head. He didn’t hear anything, but when he felt a hand on the biggest scar on his back below his ribs, he jerked, then smelled Julie’s perfume.
“I got you,” she whispered, and he sighed in relief. Two minutes later he put his shirt back on and slowly buttoned it up.
“The biggest scar on my lower ribs is when the fuckers tried to take my kidney. Apparently, while we were out of it when they first took us, they drew our blood, and then they separated us because Sanchez and I had the same type. We are O-.”
“The universal donor.”
“Correct. Anyway, while they were torturing us, they were doing the same to the others. We didn’t learn this until after we were rescued, but they disemboweled New Guy because they wanted to know where the kidney was in the body.”
“Oh, shit,” Julie said.
“Yeah, and when Carter wouldn’t answer any of their questions, they removed one of his eyes. They didn’t give us any pain medication when they started cutting us to remove our kidneys. They wanted one from each of us so that we could still live. Anyway, as soon as they started cutting us to harvest the organ, the doors were kicked in, there was a loud boom and the last thing I remember before waking in the hospital was seeing several men enter the room we were in. It wasn’t until later that I realized it was three other SEAL teams coming to rescue us.” He shook his head and finished his cold coffee, then looked at them intently.
“I don’t have to tell you there were no survivors from that compound after we were taken away. Our rescue team was also able to locate our downed teammates and bring them home with us. The person that needed a kidney didn’t survive either.” He shook his head again, then looked at Sara. He hoped she wouldn’t ask any questions and he braced himself, but was shocked when she only asked one.
“I only have one question for you. I’m assuming here, but I’m sure you have nightmares, I know I would. Anyway, my question to you is this… What do you do to combat the nightmares you do have?”
Scott shook his head and sighed. “There’s no use telling you I don’t have them, because that would be a lie. However, before I go to bed at night, I make sure all the lights are on. I had never been afraid of the dark, not even as a little kid, but since my ordeal, I can’t stand to be in the dark. I’ve tried to keep it a secret from the others, but I think they know.”
“How long?” Julie asked.
“How long, what?”
“How long were you held captive?”
“Twenty days from the day we landed on that mission until we were rescued. I’m not saying we were tortured the entire time, but it was close to it.” He held up his hand to ward off anything they might have to say. “I am proud to admit that last night was the first night that I slept for six hours straight with no nightmare, and not waking up in a cold sweat. Do I think it will last? No, but it will eventually get better.”
“Good,” both women said, then instead of fixing another pot of coffee, Julie got bottles of cold water from the refrigerator and passed them out. The three of them sat in silence for several minutes before Sara spoke.
“Question?”
“What’s up?”
“I’m not being heartless, but what does what you just told us have to do with Colorado?”
“Oh,” Scott chuckled and looked around wildly. “Do you have some paper and a pen?” He waited until they got them for him, and he placed his hand over the paper, then looked at the two women. “I’ll try to keep the information to a minimum, but it could get confusing.”
“Go ahead,” Julie said as she took the seat next to him, and Sara stayed leaning against the island.
“Okay, picture this piece of paper as a three-thousand-acre ranch, entitled Erin’s Way. My former LT on Delta team is Clark Riceman. He retired almost a year before I was on the mission where we were captured. The one I just told you about.”
“Okay.” Julie nodded as she looked at her sister and saw she understood also.
“Anyway, years ago, before I joined Delta, I was already assigned to Echo, that team was deployed, but while deployed, they were asked to volunteer for a mission. However, if they volunteered, once they left the base, they were dark. Like pitch black dark.”
“Oh, shit,” Julie said, and looked at her sister. “Before you ask, and without giving away any military secrets, going dark means they are on their own. They are given the assignment, told where to go, and whatever they might need will be waiting for them when they get to their destination. However, like Scott just said, once they walk off the base, they are on their own. They have no back-up, they can’t call for help, no air support, no military support, and I believe that they can’t even have any markings on their uniform that they are American. No one knows where they are, how to get ahold of them, and it’s the same because the team can’t contact anyone either. No family, no friends, no commanding officers, nothing.”
“Oh shit, you really do that?”
“Yes,” Scott answered. “It probably happens more than you realize. Anyway, I wasn’t with Delta then. I only knew the mission code name and it was an unspoken rule that you didn’t talk about it. If anyone of the six members of Delta talked after that mission, it was grounds for immediate dismissal, and I’m talking a court-martial and they could have been stripped of everything. Sara, I’m only saying this because if you want to work with former military, then I’m stressing there are things they can’t talk about. They wouldn’t be disrespecting you as a therapist, they would be honoring their commitment to the military. The six former Delta team members that went on that mission currently all work for Erin Riceman in Colorado.” Scott paused as he allowed their shock to register, then he nodded.
“As I said, Clark Riceman was the Lieutenant of the team. While he and the other guys were dark, there was an accident back home, similar to your situation. Erin, Clark’s sister, was going out to dinner with her parents, when they went through the intersection on a green light, someone ran a red light and plowed into them. It turned out the driver of that vehicle had a massive stroke and was dead with their foot on the gas. It pushed Erin’s vehicle into the other lane of traffic and pinned them to the front of a semi. They lost their parents in that accident, and Erin lost her right hand. By the time they were able to get her out of the mess, and they found her hand, it was too late to reattach it.” Scott waited for them to register what he said and sighed in relief when they didn’t freak out.
“I know our parents dying wasn’t a good thing, but they were alone in the car when it happened,” Julie spoke for the two of them. “I know what we went through afterward, I can only imagine what this Erin went through.” She paused, then looked at him with wide eyes. “Let me guess, she couldn’t let her brother know?”
“Correct. It’s my understanding they were dark for two years, and he didn’t learn of their demise until he got back to base. Anyway, instead of wallowing in self-pity, once Erin got home from the hospital, she made changes to the ranch. Oh, and I know this might not seem important to you, but it was at the time. When Clark was dark, he sent his will home, and for the first time ever, he left everything to Erin. Their parents went and changed their will, leaving it all to her. They are in the process of getting Clark’s name as half owner on everything now. He’s only been out since last November. Six months.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, anyway, as I understand it, Erin pulled up her big girl panties, and made changes. I don’t know them all, you’ll have to talk to her as to why she did what she did, but they owned a stud ranch. Most of their horses were studs, and they had a few brood mares. All I know is that something happened between her and the horses when she got out of the hospital. It took over six months, but she culled the herd, and opened an on-line business.” Scott shook his head with a smirk.
“I can’t really explain it all, because Erin won’t let me physically work until I get cleared by the doctor. All I can tell you is that she and her vet worked together and they were able to extract sperm from the horses she sold and now has an on-line business using that sperm. This is what I told you and Clem last night, Sara.”
“Cool,” Sara laughed. She looked at her sister with a grin. “I went to school with a guy that said his family purchased sperm from a really good stud horse. If they hadn’t stumbled across that website, then their family wouldn’t have been able to breed their horses to the stud they did. He made it all about genetics, and affordable prices.” Sara shrugged then turned back to Scott. “Please continue.”
“Okay, anyway, Erin will tell you that since she lost her hand, she isn’t disabled, but she is challenged. She had a thought one day, and it took another year to get the bugs worked out and that’s where The Broken Wheel was born.” He picked up the pen and drew a square on one side, and a rectangle at the top. He pointed to the paper again. “As I said, this paper represents Erin’s Way, all three-thousand-acres. Her brain-child, what we refer to as Broken, is actually The Broken Wheel. It is a ranch inside the ranch. On Broken, Erin hired someone who was a former barrel racer for the rodeo, and together they had a barn built, cabins for the employees, and when they were ready, based on Naomi’s recommendations, they went to the local SPCA and told them they would take in any horses that needed to be taken away from their owners. It turned out to be a lucrative deal, and she now has over twenty-five horses she was able to save from abusive owners or the slaughter house. The women she hired were former military and all had challenges, as did Naomi. With Naomi’s guidance she trained the women how to work with the horses. Now that everyone is ready, the purpose of Broken is coming to fruition.”
“What was the purpose of it?” Julie asked, awed by what she was hearing.
“The purpose of Broken is to rehabilitate the horses, and when they were ready, then to invite members of the general public in to use the horses as a rehabilitation exercise based on their doctors’ recommendations. Not just anyone can come to Broken, they have to have doctor’s orders.” He took up the pen again and began making squares on the other edge of the paper. From beneath his lashes he looked at Sara as he drew.
“This is where you would come in, Sara. Again, the same as I explained to you the other night. This is what we’re calling Broken Two. This will have a completely separate entrance from the road. Currently, you can only get to Broken if you drive past the main house on Erin’s Way.” He drew a line to indicate the road.
“With this new road they are putting in, it’s currently in the beginnings of construction, the people will come to buildings that will house doctor’s office. Erin was thinking therapists like you want to do, and physical therapists. I believe, but don’t quote me on this, but I believe one of the stipulations of you working there is that you would work with the clients and their family at a discounted rate, you’ll have to check with Erin on that, and also if one of the employees need to talk with someone, you would be available for them.”
“What about the rest of the time?” Julie asked.
“Then whomever works in these offices can see whomever they wish, it would be like a regular therapist’s office where you see regular clients.”
“Let me get this straight,” Sara said as she rose to her full height and scowled at Scott. “If Erin hires me to be a therapist, though I hate this word, but a shrink, I can have all the patients I want, but if someone from Broken needs to talk, I do that, then I have to work with the clients and their family coming in to use the horses for their rehabilitation?”
“Yes, it’s my understanding you would work with those clients only if they need it. If they have their own therapist, then you wouldn’t have to work with them. However, because I have about less than five percent knowledge of how Erin’s brain works, I think if you offered to talk to them when they arrived, just to get a feel for what they’re going through, it would go a long way in Erin’s book.”
“I could work with their outside therapist to see if there are any red flags when they are at Broken?”
“Exactly.”
“Wow, I can see doing that. Where will these clients be staying. I’m not saying my patients would need a place to stay, but if there are kids working with the horses, then there must be a hotel nearby?”
“Not really, that’s part of the construction for Broken Two. Erin thought of what she referred to as a bunktel. It is a combination bunkhouse and hotel. There would be rooms, like hotel rooms, you know, two beds, a TV, a bathroom, a sitting area, however, they wouldn’t be able to cook in the rooms. That’s what the common areas would be used for.”
“Got it.” Sara nodded then cocked her head to the side with another scowl. “What about Julie? What would she be doing?”
Scott grinned and pointed to the top of the paper where he had drawn the rectangle. “This is the bordering ranch that again, I don’t know all the details, but Erin was able to come into possession of it. Naomi owned a ranch in Wyoming that raised racehorses, and they were thinking about getting into rodeo stock. Something happened, and she brought everything over to this spread here.” He tapped the paper. “I believe, but don’t quote me, there are almost thirty horses, but only one or two workers. She would like at least a dozen. When I get back, I’ll oversee the building of more cabins for the workers to live in, and Erin will look into hiring more people.” He looked at the paper, then at both of them before he continued, “The man you saw me with Friday night was once a worker for Naomi’s grandfather, but after her accident, it was decided he would leave to be safe. He is now on his way to Erin’s Way to reunite with Naomi and her ranch manager, Cole Mercury. They will help out, but more people will be needed. One sure fire way to get hired in Erin’s eyes is that you have a challenge. However, you can’t be an asshole about it.” He looked at both women with a decisive nod. “What I mean by that, is you can’t be like that guy from Friday night. I haven’t seen anyone that isn’t former military except for Naomi working there. Oh, I can’t remember if I told you this or not, but remember those six men I told you were on that mission that was dark?”
“What about them?” Julie asked.
“They are all currently working for Erin. All but two of them have challenges. She accepted them because Clark sent them to her. I know this doesn’t mean anything, but they’ve hooked up with the women there, so if you are worrying about anyone hitting on you, it won’t happen. As far as I know, I am the only single man, besides Cole and Clem working there.”
“That shouldn’t bother me,” Julie said as she waved it away. “My only concern is that I can’t just pick up and leave here. After our parents were killed, Sara and I inherited the house. It was paid off by then, so I didn’t worry about Sara trying to pay all the bills when I left for the Navy. Her college was only a thirty-to-forty-minute drive away, so she lived here while attending school. I sent what money I could home to her to help with the bills, but again, Mom and Dad had been very thorough with their finances, and we were set-up for several years.
“I’m not turning down your offer, but I would like to see if I can’t come to Broken, talk to this Erin person, and see what the job would entail. I will be the first to admit that I have no idea how to work with horses. The only thing I know the difference is between the front end and back end, other than that, I know nothing.”
“I’m sure everyone would take you under their wing. I too don’t know a lot about them. Erin won’t even let me muck out a stall until I get medical clearance. However, I can see where you’re coming from. I can tell you that Erin won’t hire you until she does an extensive background check on you.” Scott flipped the paper over, pulled out his phone, accessed his contacts and wrote down Erin’s cell phone number. After he put his phone away, he moved the paper over to Julie.
“This is Erin’s cell phone. Give her a call, she told me to have the both of you call her. Tell her that I was the one to talk to you. My name is Scott Gould.” He grabbed the pen and wrote his name below the number, then added his own cell number to the paper. “Give Erin a call, talk to her, then call me if you need anything. I totally understand that you can’t pick up and leave. I’m leaving here tomorrow, and I hope you can come up for a visit. If you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. If you happen to decide to move to Colorado, if you need help packing up, I can come and help you.” He shook his head and held up his hand to stop them both. “You’re not asking, I’m volunteering. Let me tell you that the people that work at Broken are family, and we help family.”
“Thank you,” Julie said, knowing that he wouldn’t accept anything less than that. Scott left minutes after that, leaving the sisters standing there in shock.