Chapter 22
“Are we ready for this?” Yvonne asked everyone in their security cabin at the beginning of New Double. It was Saturday morning, three hours before the arrival of their targets, and they were going over last-minute plans.
“Remind me again where everyone’s going to be?
” Harmon rubbed the back of his neck, trying to keep all the players straight in his mind.
In all his years working for the Bureau, he had never, not once, had such a coordinated mission.
The more he worked with these people, the more he thought he might come work for Erin Riceman.
He was only forty, so he still had a lot of good years left in him, but now wasn’t the time to think of it.
“Jake Cogburn and his Brotherhood Protectors are in town. They’ll call when your agents leave the town.
Your agents have Jake’s number. Ten minutes after they leave town, Jake and his men will follow.
That will give your backup, backup. And I’m sure you know this, but all of the men from Brotherhood are former military. ”
“Yeah, I realized once I started doing my own background checks on them. Go on.”
“The women you met that first day, sans Erin and Naomi, are divided between Broken Two and what we’ll be referring to as the Gibson Homestead for this operation.”
“Remind me again where that is?”
“It’s across the street. The area with three homes.
Laurie is the woman that brought you groceries on your first night here.
She does jobs like that for Erin, making sure all the new cabins are furnished.
She is dating and lives with Duane Manchester.
Her mother is Lois, who is dating Cole. Lois is the woman in charge of the garden this year.
Then the granddaughter is Lorissa. She’s a veterinarian, and farrier, she works on the horses’ hooves.
She’s living with, and dating Tom Stolls, who has his own vet practice in town.
He will be there, while Lorissa, Lois, and Laurie will be at their homes.
The female military will be there to protect them. ”
Yvonne walked over and refilled her coffee mug, and when she held it up, the others declined.
“Duane is doing his normal job at Erin’s Way, nothing suspicious there.
The regular hands there will be working close to the house.
Ducky, Erin, and Naomi are there. The SEALs are, or will be, in strategic places here on New Double. ”
“What did you do with the horses that were here when we toured? I don’t want to have to write up a fucking expense report to pay for one of them if there’s a fire fight and a horse goes down.”
“I hear you, but they were moved out to a pasture further out on the property. Some of the strategic places the SEALs will be is in those barns.”
“Where is Lassiter going to be?”
“He’ll be out at the area where they race the horses. The only other people are Myrna and Faith. They are out in the pasture keeping an eye on the horses out there, along with a couple of guys from Erin’s Way, they, the men, are armed.”
“Good, so we just have to wait for Shedrick to arrive.”
“Yes, and I’ll be going out to talk to them, then calling someone to come get them.
That will be Cole, who will be wearing a Kevlar vest, and have his gun on his hip.
This is still an open carry state, and he’ll look the part of ranch owner.
One of you guys will accompany Shedrick and Cole out to the racetrack. ”
Before anyone could say anything else, a phone rang, and Harmon looked at the screen, held up his hand for silence, and answered it. “Harmon.”
“Director, it’s Monte, subjects stopped twice and picked up more people.
Right now, there are eight subjects inside one SUV.
Callum is calling it into Cogburn. Late model Chevy Suburban, dark green, tinted windows, four-doors.
” He gave the license plate number, and Yvonne entered it into the computer.
The owner of the vehicle came back to one Chen Shedrick, the person they were after.
“Roger, how far out are you?”
“We’re roughly an hour and a half south of the original address you had us watch.”
“Roger, keep us posted.” He hung up, and Yvonne grabbed the communication device she had been given and put it in her ear. She signaled everyone to listen, and told them what Monte had said.
“Confirm eight targets?” came the question.
“Confirm eight,” Harmon said into his own communications device. He might come work there because these former military people had toys that worked better than his at work.
“Who’s with Cole?” Harmon asked in shock, that he was the only person that didn’t have a former military person covering them.
“Two of your guys. One of them will be escorting Cole here when I call him about Shedrick’s arrival.
Once the targets arrive, and are escorted further onto the property, I’ll be staying here to direct your undercovers and the Brotherhood where to go.
Thankfully, Jake did the tour the other day, and will understand where I send him.
I’ll be in constant communication with you guys and hand over the ones to Jake.
Your men, Monte and Callum will work with Jake to come up on your six. ”
“Perfect. You’ll be okay here by yourself?”
“Yes, I don’t anticipate anyone arriving, everyone that works for the Ricemans knows the situation and to stay away.
I’ll be armed and ready.” She shook her head, sipped her coffee and settled her hips back against the counter.
“Let’s just hope that this will go smoothly.
According to my calculations it’s like a trillion against eight. ”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. Do you know if the locals have been notified?”
“Yes, Stone said he read his wife into it, and she and the sheriff talked to Jake. It’s my understanding that this isn’t the first time the guys here, and Jake’s crew took on missions like this, then brought the locals in.
They, the locals, know this is an FBI sting, and will only come in when called.
However, they’ll be patrolling the area.
They might even stop by the Gibson Homestead, and Broken Two to be closer when things come to a head. ”
“The lawyers?”
“At Broken Wheel, the landlocked ranch. Where you’ve been staying these last few days.”
“Perfect, then that’s everyone.”
“Correct, now we’re in a hurry up and wait situation.
Kevin looked over at Ryan, and shook his head.
“What?”
“This is the hardest part of police work, or at least it is for me.”
“What is?”
“This hurry up and fucking wait situation. We have everything mapped out, everyone is in place, now we just have to fucking wait for these assholes to show up.”
“Yeah, I always hated this part while on a mission. However, the good news is that once the wait is over, then the bad guys will be locked up. Let’s hope there’s enough evidence to put these assholes away.”
“Yeah, I’m not saying I’m going to antagonize them, but I don’t want to be shot either. However, if I need to, I’ll take one for the team.”
Ryan gave him the stink eye with his one good eye, but only asked quietly. “You wearing your vest?”
“Yes.” He reached up and rapped his knuckles on his chest, then lifted his shirt to show him.
“Where’s Pru?” Kevin asked to distract himself from the nerves that were starting to creep in. According to the last time he looked at his watch, he still had an hour to wait.
“At Broken. She’s working with one of the horses, and keeping an eye on Jason and Ilsa.” They were silent for a long time, then Ryan turned to him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I know my sister was the biggest bitch of the entire world, but the two of you seemed to be in love when you first got together.”
“True, then she changed.”
“Was that before or after Caleb came along?”
“After, well after. I believe Caleb was in pre-K when the changes began, and it didn’t happen overnight.
It turned out, there was a rich family that lived on the other side of town, and she wanted to impress that mother.
She started acting like her, wanting to get her nails and hair done monthly, things like that.
It was a couple of years later that I realized what was happening.
I’m not saying I didn’t have any fault in the relationship, but I had just gotten my detective shield, and was trying to make a name for myself there.
She liked that my promotion awarded more money for her.
Looking back, I think I worked all the overtime I could to avoid going home to her.
Though I never neglected Caleb. Why do you ask? ”
“I want to have kids, and Pru wants them too. She asked me the other day when we can discuss trying to have them.”
“What’s holding you back?” Kevin asked in genuine concern.
“I don’t want to turn out like Karen did after Caleb was born.”
“You won’t.” Kevin was firm in his answer.
“How can you say that?”
“Because Karen was fundamentally flawed. Karen thought the world revolved around her from birth. What she wanted, she could have, regardless of anything around her. She was also extremely selfish. She never did anything unless it benefitted her. You are not like that at all. If you were, you never would have served in the military, nor would you have done most of the things in your life that makes you who you are. Personally, I think you would make a wonderful father, and I can’t wait to become an uncle.
” He grinned and saw relief come across the other man’s face at his words.
“I think that once this is over, you should sit down and talk with Pru. Be honest, and who knows, maybe by this time next year, you’ll be a dad, or close to being one. Just remember one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.” Ryan nodded as he got the reference and they froze when their communications started to crackle.
“Cogburn just called.” Yvonne’s voice came through their ear. “Subjects at gas station on outside of town, coming this way.”
“Roger,” several people said, and they all shook off the laziness and took up their positions. It was still almost an hour’s drive to the ranch, but they wanted to be ready.
“Show time,” came a voice forty minutes later, and everyone was ready, but they acknowledged the warning.
Yvonne stepped out of the building, held up her hand to the approaching vehicle, and looked down at her clipboard.
There was nothing written on it, but she had to play her part.
She also had her gun and security badge in plain sight, so these assholes couldn’t say they were entrapped when they were arrested.
“Hi, security, can I have your name and purpose for being here?” Yvonne used a bubbly voice, but felt anything but.
“Chen Shredrick, I have an appointment to see about a horse?”
“Let me check.” She looked at the clipboard, nodded, and looked back at him. “Yes, thank you. Let me call ahead and have someone come out to meet you.”
“I’ll just drive back there.”
“No, you will not. One, that’s not how this ranch operates. Two, do you even know where you’re going?”
“I thought you’d give me directions.”
“You thought wrong. I’ll call the owner, and he will come out and get you.
Wait here.” She started away, then turned back and gave him a cold look.
“You move, and I’ll shoot out your tires.
” She had put her hand on her gun when she said that.
It took everything she had not to sneer at his shocked expression.
Thankfully, one of the FBI agents was inside the cabin with a bead on the truck.
Yvonne went inside, exchanged nods with the agent, and pulled her cell phone from her pocket to call Cole.
“It’s go time.”
“Be right there,” he said, and Yvonne went back outside.
“The owner should be here in a few minutes.”
“Why can’t we drive back ourselves?”
Yvonne gave him a look and side eye, then asked coldly.
“Where would you go? There are several buildings on this property, how do you know which one to go to? It’s my understanding that you’re here to look at the horses for sale.
Again, there are thirty of them here on this property, where are the ones you are supposed to look at?
Where is the racetrack? Did you bring your trainer and jockey?
Did you bring your own equipment?” She threw that last question in because she wanted to see his reaction.
With each question, she could tell Shedrick was getting pissed.
Before either of them said anything, Cole and Harmon arrived in the golf cart.
“We’ll take it from here,” Harmon said, and he and Cole walked up to the vehicle.
“Shedrick?” Cole asked with his hand outstretched. “Cole Mercury, follow us, and we’ll lead you to where you need to be.”
It took everything Yvonne had not to laugh at the words Cole had said, however, because everyone could now hear what was going on, several of the men snickered in her ear.
The FBI agent came out of the building and swore.
“What?” Yvonne asked in shock. Before he could answer, Jake and his crew arrived.
“Thank god you’re here. They left a couple of minutes ago,” he said as he pointed to the direction Cole had left. “I haven’t had a chance to tell Wilson yet, but five guys slipped out of the back of the vehicle and headed in that direction.” He walked up and pointed to the tracks.
“Son of a bitch,” Yvonne said.
“We got this,” Jake said. “Tell the others to be aware. We’ll follow these tracks.”
“Thanks,” Yvonne said and talked into the comms, and sighed when Jake spoke into the ones she had handed him. With Jake and the other two agents, that was twelve men going after five. Yvonne had to trust that these men knew what they were doing.