28. Chapter 28 #2
It was two o’clock in the morning when they noticed the cattle getting restless.
Mitch perked up and put his night goggles on to assess the situation.
Sure enough, six men on horseback came into view.
The roundup had begun. Mitch and Nick waited with bated breath.
These guys weren’t getting away this time.
Mitch pulled out his cell phone and called Curt and Cal. “Game’s on. Get ready, boys. The fun’s about to begin.”
Curt said, “I’ll give the sheriff a call and let them know we’re on the move. They have deputies in the area, but they’re about thirty minutes out. Can you wait it out?”
“We can,” said Mitch. “We haven’t seen any trucks yet. The drones are in the air. We’ll keep you posted. We’re just going to sit tight and see what goes down. I don’t want any of these guys getting away,” Mitch said. He felt his excitement build. He was ready for whatever happened.
They sat and waited, tension thickening the air between them. “Hey, Mitch—listen. You hear something other than the cattle?”
Mitch strained to hear what Nick had heard, and sure enough, trucks could be heard in the distance. Noise carried out here.
Jax tapped in from his location. “Three semis, double trailers, about three miles west of our location. Probably can take half the herd from the looks of it, if they squeeze them in. The sheriff’s five minutes out, coming from the east. They’ve got five vehicles on the way.”
“Thanks, Jax,” said Mitch.
Soon, Curt and Cal were in the air, staying back and out of earshot until Mitch gave them the go-ahead. “Two minutes out. Get ready to move!” instructed Mitch.
Jax broke in, “Sheriff’s holding back and waiting for our direction, Mitch.”
“Tell them it’s a go! Cal and Curt, bring those birds in.” He and Brice put the truck’s lights on and headed toward the men on horseback.
Mitch shouted out the window, “Game’s over, fellas. We can make this easy. Get off your horses now!”
Then all hell broke loose.
Choppers circled above, floodlights lit up the field.
The patrol cars circled the trucks. But these guys weren’t going down without a fight.
Shots fired—semi-automatic rifles. Bullets pinged off the truck.
One rustler pointed his weapon in the air and fired at the choppers.
The drivers of the semis fired a barrage of bullets toward the sheriff and his deputies.
But they had come prepared and were winning the fight.
With two drivers down, the other eight decided that they wanted to live to see another day and surrendered.
The rustlers in the field weren’t so ready. While the sheriff took care of business on the road, they got to work. Mitch drove into the mess. The cattle were frantic and a stampede was imminent. The horsemen and their dogs couldn’t control the chaos. They were going to try to escape.
A bullet whizzed by Mitch’s ear. That was too close for comfort.
Another round bounced off the truck’s hood.
The windshield shattered, and they were sprayed with glass.
Nick climbed out his window and fired back while Mitch chased after two rustlers trying to get away.
They fired at them over their shoulders.
He heard a grunt and Nick pulled himself back into the cab of the truck holding his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch got me. Keep going, Mitch. Don’t let them get away. Brice is right behind us, and the sheriff has rounded up two guys on horseback. These guys aren’t getting away if I have any say!”
Mitch drove behind the two riders, hoping that they were headed toward the cliffs that lined the south of the pasture. If they didn’t know the terrain, then they were in for a big surprise when they got there. They had them! More bullets flew. Nick kept firing back, blood pouring from his shoulder.
Mitch looked over, “How are you doing?”
“Just get them. It’s a flesh wound.”
“Looks pretty deep to me,” Mitch said. He remembered saying the same thing to Isla though when he was shot. He knew that Nick was made of the same stuff—he was going to forge ahead no matter what.
A chopper was overhead, pushing the riders forward.
The cliff was coming up quickly. More bullets flew through the night sky.
Brice came up alongside him, and they pushed the two riders further ahead.
The chopper’s searchlights lit up the sky and just as quickly as it had started, the riders stopped. They were cornered, and they knew it.
Bullets flew at them. Mitch felt one slam into his hip through the driver’s side door.
“Nick, I’m hit—left hip.” He tried to keep the truck under control.
His leg was numb. It’d hurt like a bitch once the adrenaline stopped coursing through his veins.
One more bullet hole on top of the four he already had.
He was going to look like a target at the firing range if this kept up.
Brice took his truck and pushed the rustlers to the edge of the cliff.
Cal and Curt landed their choppers in the field and laid down groundfire.
Brice and Jax jumped out of the truck and aimed at their chests.
“It’s over,” Jax yelled. “Throw your weapons on the ground and get off your horses now or I’ll shoot you both. ”
The rustlers dropped their rifles to the ground and climbed off their horses.
With lights shining on them, they looked ridiculously ordinary.
Just two guys with bad haircuts and dirt streaked on their sunburned faces.
The sheriff and one of his men pulled up beside them.
He jumped out of his cruiser, then quickly cuffed the two men.
“We got them all, fellas. What a night,” the sheriff said. “We haven’t seen this kind of action in twenty years.”
Curt landed the chopper and ran over to the truck. “You guys okay?”
“Nah, you better get us to a hospital,” Mitch said. “We’ve both been hit. I think the truck’s probably totaled.” Mitch grimaced in pain.
“Brice, Jax, load them up in Cal’s chopper,” Curt ordered. “They have a trauma unit in Billings. Cal knows the way. We’ll meet up with you two there, after we’ve sorted out this mess. Don’t either of you go dying on me now.”
Brice and Jax helped them into the chopper. They were in the air in seconds and on their way to the hospital. The pain in Mitch’s hip was excruciating. Jax had put a compression bandage around the wound, so hopefully he wouldn’t bleed out before they got there. He saw another surgery in his future.
The dizziness set in halfway there. Mitch wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay conscious till they got there. Slowly, he felt himself fall into a black hole. Then it was lights out.