A minute slipped away, two.
“Maverix. Spencer. I’ve got Ralph and Alice.”
“What?” It was Butch.
“Yeah,” Ramage said. “Look, I only want… what was stolen from me and a little help. In return I’ll… I won’t send you to jail.” That was a big boast, but he’d gotten good at spinning bullshit.
No response. The dust was literally settling, the sun bringing no warmth, the scent of animal crap prevalent.
“Here’s the thing.” He sighed loud. “I’m a fed. I can have thirty agents here in five… well, I can have them here. Short copter flight from the Provo field office.”
The push of the wind, sand scraping over sand like a windy day at the beach. Above two buzzards circled.
Butch yelled, “Bullshit. The FBI field office is in Salt Lake City.”
Ramage had no idea where the Utah FBI field office was, or if there was more than one. He always assumed they were everywhere, and nowhere. “Shows what you know, dipshit.”
“Piss off. I’ll—”
“Butch, you’ll shut up or you’ll spend the rest of your life in jail walking around with a limp,” Ramage said.
Butch said nothing.
The house’s front door opened and Ramage aimed the snubby over the open car door.
Marie stood there, hands in the air. “Timeout granted.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Marie strode from the house, right into his line of fire, sans snake, hips swaying, no hint of fear on her face. She looked odd to Ramage without the snake draped over her shoulders. “One rule, though,” she said.
Ramage thumbed back the hammer on the revolver. “I’m listening.”
“Cut the shit. You a fed?”
“No, but I work directly for one, and if I don’t check in everyday, he’ll send agents looking for me.” Ramage didn’t need to say anymore, the message was clear.
Marie waved a hand and Ramage heard a window close.
“You were going to have Butch shoot me?” Ramage said. “That’s some cold shit right there.” Ramage stood and eased the gun’s hammer down, letting the pistol fall to his side in a nonthreatening manner the way he’d been taught.
“What do you want Ramage?” Marie said.
“I need to talk with Maverix and Spencer. Alone.”
Butch strode from the house with Noah in tow. Neither man held a weapon that Ramage saw.
“Not happening,” Marie said.
“What do you want them for?” Butch said, falling in at Marie’s side.
Marie shot Butch a withering glare, and said, “Butch, shut it.”
Alice hooted and yelled. Ramage figured the chimps had run out of snacks.
This was going nowhere. Shift gears. “Where’s the Mustang?”
Marie waited.
“In the barn? One of those outbuildings?” Ramage said.
Marie said nothing. Butch’s face split into a smile, but Noah looked concerned, the man’s eyes shifting from Ramage to the barn.
Ramage started for the barn, the snubby still held at his side.
Butch stepped in his way. “Where do you think you’re going?” Not that it was necessary, but then the guy sealed his fate by putting a finger to Ramage’s chest.
Ramage swept his right leg in a wide arc, taking out Butch’s legs, and sending him to the ground in a puff of dust and sand. As Butch tried to scramble back to his feet, Ramage pivoted on his left foot and delivered a colossal blow to the man’s head.
Marie screamed. Yelled something.
Ramage heard only static as rage consumed him. He put his foot on Butch’s neck and pointed the pistol at Marie. “This asshat doesn’t understand timeout?”
“I didn’t say you could go anywhere you wanted,” Marie said.
Ramage lowered the gun. Bitch had a point. “Fine.” He took his foot off Butch’s throat and knelt next to the man as he struggled for air, holding his bruised neck. “That was your second warning. Third time you go to the hospital. You know what the next stop after that is?”
Butch made no sign. Ramage lifted his foot and positioned it over his neck, and the man shook his head no.
“The morgue,” Ramage said, but it didn’t sound right. What was the line from the Godfather? “They send one of ours to the hospital, we send one of theirs’ to the morgue.” Something like that.
An uncomfortable silence ensued, Ramage’s ‘hair-on-fire’ plan fizzling out.
Ramage said, “Like I was trying to say before. I just need a little help and my stuff back then I’ll be on my way. I’m not interested in getting involved with your affairs. And you can have Ralph and Alice back, if you agree to let Maverix and Spencer keep and take care of them.”
Marie bounced on her feet, hands on hips, long black hair blowing in the breeze.
“Or, I’ll bring the hammer down and you’ll lose all of this,” he said.
“What kind of help?” she said.
“The boys back there miss you guys,” Ramage lied as he motioned toward the Charger. “I’m thirsty. How about Butch fetches us some refreshment, while Maverix and Spencer deal with the chimps?”
Not having any real choice, Marie nodded acceptance.
Ramage fished the chimps from the Charger. Marie took them in the house as Noah helped him hide the Dodge in one of the outbuildings. He felt much better when the Charger disappeared behind a black rolling garage door.
Cages with animals of all types surrounded the house, and the place did look like a zoo. There were oversized chinchillas lounging in plastic pools filled with dirty water, and wolfdogs and penguins stared through their cage bars like endangered species. Empty feed bags, tools, and dead vegetation filled in the gaps between the cages, and Ramage’s eye kept getting drawn to the large barn puffing white steam into the crisp Utah air.
“What’s in there?” Ramage asked. “Grow house?”
Noah shook his head and chuckled. “That’s what Butch wanted to do.” He looked at the ground, then appeared to make some kind of decision, his head jerking up. “The vehicles are in there, the tractor, a few cages for animals that need heat and light, like the lizards, gators, and cats.
“Can I see?”
Noah looked toward the house and Butch watched them from a window.
“I don’t think Marie would—”
Ramage lifted the snubby.
“You said timeout,” Noah said. He sounded like a little kid who’d just been beamed in the face during a pause in a dodgeball game.
Ramage sighed and lowered the gun. “Fine, we’ll check with the boss.”
Marie opened the backdoor and stood aside, holding it open, as Noah and Ramage entered a kitchen that looked commercial, everything big and stainless steel; the countertops, appliances, the huge sink.
Marie inspected Ramage as his eyes scanned the room, a smile creeping over her face. “It serves as a kitchen for us, and when necessary, as a medical support area for the animals.”
“Medical support?”
Marie said nothing.
Sandwiches, a pitcher of water and glasses, along with a bottle of scotch and a bucket filled with beers sat on the biggest stainless table. There were no chairs that Ramage saw, which was fine with him. He unzipped his jacket and slipped the .38 into its inside pocket.
He was munching on a sandwich, a cold Coors at his elbow, when Butch, Maverix and Spencer arrived.
“Howdy, boys. Bet you never meant to see me again,” Ramage lied.
“So what’s this shit about Ramage wanting his stuff back?” Butch said.
Marie and Noah looked on, apparently content to let Butch be the aggressor, despite the fact that Ramage had just put the guy down like he was eighty years old.
Maverix and Spencer said nothing.
“Where are Ralph and Alice?” Ramage asked.
Maverix said, “They’re upstairs resting. They’re fine.”
“Thank you,” Spencer said, then glanced at Marie.
“I asked a qu
estion,” Butch said.
“And I don’t give a shit!” Spencer blurted. He put a hand to his mouth like a southern bell who’d cursed, then let the hand drop as he stared at Butch with defiance.
“As I said before,” Ramage said. “It’s best if I talk to the boys alone. This isn’t your business.”
“It is now,” Marie said.
Ramage sighed, dropped his sandwich, and rocked back. He hiked his shoulders, and said, “Boys?”
“We stole something of Ramage’s. Just let us give it back and—”
“Shut up, Spencer!” Maverix’s voice was a tone harsher than Ramage had heard before.
Spencer flinched like he’d been rabbit punched, then nodded.
Marie locked her eyes on the boys, and both men looked at the floor. “What did you take?” she said.
The boys said nothing.
“Fine. This is the way it’s going to be? You’re siding with this guy? I think—” Marie started to say.
“We took his laptop,” Spencer said. He looked at Maverix and stuck out his chin.
“Why the hell would you do that?” Noah said, joining the conversation.
“Because he knew the big man would come back and save them,” Butch said.
Marie’s eyes narrowed. “That true?”
The boys said nothing.
“Look,” Ramage said. “I don’t give a shit about any of your… marital problems. Get my laptop and…”
“What’s on it?” Butch said.
Ramage surged forward so fast Butch flinched. “You don’t ask me questions, dumbass. Or do you want a fist down your throat and a bullet up your ass? Nothing would give me more pleasure.” Ramage squinted. That hadn’t sounded right. What the hell was going on with him? “Putting the bullet in your ass, I mean.”
“I think they get it,” Spencer said.
Ramage lifted his eyebrow and stared-down Spencer, who looked away. “You boys with me,” he said.
Marie said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Ramage drew down the .38 and fired a bullet into the floor. Alice hooted from upstairs, and a dog barked.
“Lady, you’ve got stones of solid rock. I’ll give you that,” Ramage said. “You want to know where I’m going?”
Marie hiked her shoulders and nodded tightly.
“I’m going to pick out a car, and when I come back, we’re going to settle some things and I’m going to be on my way,” Ramage said as he headed for the door. As he passed Butch, Ramage punched him in the jaw. Noah screamed as blood splattered his clean shirt. “I wasn’t lying about having to check in, and the feds will find you if I go missing, so don’t do anything stupid, like go get guns, or call-in support. Because next time, where you going, Butch?”
The guy looked up at Ramage, blood dripping from his split lip, but said nothing.
Ramage hauled back his arm.
“The morgue,” Butch yelled.
“What?” Ramage said, arm cocked.
“You’ll send me to the morgue.”
Ramage patted Butch on the head. “Good boy. Same goes for you fools. Marie, this is almost over, and things can get back to normal, or…” He looked at her expectantly.
She said nothing.
Ramage smiled and harrumphed as he pushed through the screen door, the boys following.
“You really know how to make friends,” Spencer said.
“I’m not here to make friends,” Ramage said.
Two ostriches stood watching from a paddock next to the barn, and in the pen directly across from them was a pigsty with pink pigs rolling around in mud. The animals were so tiny Ramage had to look twice to ensure they were real.
The trio stopped at the Charger so Ramage could grab his backpack, then they headed for the large outbuilding. Maverix stopped before the barn door, and as he opened the combination lock, he said, “The laptop is in the trunk of the Mustang, and the car is in here.” He swung open the door and the three men stepped into darkness.
Spencer flicked on the lights, and fluorescent lighting hummed to life along the length of the barn. Cages and paddocks, some of which had their own lights, lined one side, bags of feed, tools, bales of hay, and five vehicles on the other. The turquoise Mustang GT, duct taped fender and all, was on one end, and there was an old truck with no load bed, a pickup that looked like it hadn’t run in a long time, and a second pickup that looked to be in good shape, but was far from new, and a dented blue Honda Civic.
Maverix opened the Mustang’s trunk, lifted the carpet, and fished out the laptop. “Here you go.”
Ramage accepted the computer, examined it, and put it in his pack.
“Look alright?” Spencer said.
Ramage nodded.
The three men stood there, questions growing on Maverix and Spencer’s faces.
“What do you want?” Ramage said.
“Take us with you,” Spencer blurted.
Maverix threw up his hands and looked to the sky for divine intervention, but none came, at least that Ramage was able to see. “Spencer, why did we have a plan? What was the purpose—”
“Zip it,” Ramage said. “You’re not coming with me.”
Maverix lowered his voice and looked around like the bales of hay had ears. “They’re onto us, and if you leave us here…”
“What?” Ramage said. “You’ll have to bathe Ralph and Alice?”
The boys didn’t speak, watching Ramage with pleading eyes. How is it he managed to be their last hope? A recent disturbing trend in his life.
“If you don’t want to be married anymore, leave. Go start a new life. Based on what I’ve seen of this operation… and of Butch, I don’t think she’d have much luck finding you. Take Ralph and Alice and start somewhere fresh. It’s only a matter of time before all this burns down. Someday a customer isn’t going to be happy, or feel slighted, and you’re done.”
“It’s not that easy,” Maverix said.
“What do you mean?”
“When she found us in Price we lied, said we took off because of Ralph and Alice. Us not wanting to sell them. But she didn’t buy it, Ramage,” Maverix said.
“And we’ve got no car,” Spencer said. “No way to get away. Hard to get DriveME out here, without her knowing, with two chimps.”
“We thought of hiking, but it’s too far and Butch would round us up,” Maverix said.
“And I know you think she’s harmless,” Spencer said. “But she’s not. She said if we stole from her again, or left the ranch without permission, she’d cut off our peckers.”
Ramage sighed, a tinge of pain running through his groin. “How about this.” He dug in his pocket, brought out the Charger’s fob, and tossed it to Maverix. “Before I leave, while Butch and the others are focused on me, sneak out of the house with the chimps, and take the Charger. It’s most likely been reported stolen, but—”
“What good is that?” Maverix said.
“Yeah, we’ll be arrested, and Marie will come bail us out and we’ll be screwed,” Spencer said.
Now it was Ramage’s turn to look to the heavens for intervention. “Let me finish,” he said. “You take the car, drive twenty miles out of town, and call the rental company. Tell them you found their car on the side of the road. Just passing by with friends. Say the car looks OK. Beer cans in the front seat and a broken window. Offer to stay and wait for the cops. Then meet the police, tell them you’re bringing the car back to Price for the rental company. Then call the rental company back and offer to drive the car back to Price because that’s where you were going with your friends.”
The men looked at each other, then back at Ramage.
“Or come up with something better,” he said. “Point is, you say you found the Charger abandoned. They send a tow out, jump in with them, etc. etc., blah, blah.”
“You don’t think they’ll ask about Ralph and Alice?” Spencer asked.
“Come on. Work with me here. Come up with a story, a cover. They could be stress animals,�
� Ramage said. “You people are good at spinning lies.”
“You’ve got no idea,” Spencer said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Where does she keep the keys to the Honda?” Ramage said. If Marie didn’t see things his way, he was prepared to persuade her, and if necessary, force her to comply.
“Butch. No way you’re getting them,” Spencer said.
“Especially now, since he’s on high alert,” Maverix said.
“Leave that to me. Get on the road as soon as you can and I’ll try and be right behind you,” Ramage said.
“That’s it? You don’t want anything else from us? Why are you doing this?” Spencer said.
“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for Ralph and Alice, and you better treat them right or you’ll be seeing me again. That what you want?”
“No,” said Maverix and Spencer in unison.
“And we’re not done,” Ramage said. “Tell me about the business here? Where do these animals come from? How are they treated? From what I can see,” Ramage said as he looked around the barn. “Things here are clean and in order.”
“Depends on the animal and the demand for said animal,” Maverix said.
“Marie always says some animals prefer their cages, but that’s total bullshit because there’s no way to know. Snakes get taken from their natural habitat, along with crocs, monkeys, many of the exotics. You can’t tell me a tiger is happier chained to a pole next to a pool than it is out on the savannah.”
“You have tigers here?” Ramage said.
“Technically, only one lion. But there are two cheetahs, a mountain lion cub, three cougars—and not the fun kind—and one snow leopard that’s worth a fortune. The cats stay mostly indoors when it’s cold.”
“That what that truck is for?” Ramage said, pointing to the truck with no load bed.
“Yup, for the large and dangerous animals,” Maverix said. “We secure the storage containers with the animals in them right on the frame, and then we drop the container for the customer. Easy, fast, clean, and the animals are never out in the open.”
Sandbagged: A Theo Ramage Thriller (Book 2) Page 16
