by Kate Morris
“Wait,” Reagan states, a feeling of dread coming over her. “Didn’t Parker just tell you guys a few days ago up at Knox that the President isn’t camped at the racetrack?”
“Yeah,” Cory says with a nod.
“What if it is the President? Or what if it’s his other camp? What if there really are three thousand people there and he’s planning on using them against us again?”
Derek is the first to answer after everyone has thought a moment about it. “I don’t think he’ll move just yet. I’ll run this all by Dave. We’ll need to do a little deeper intel on that racetrack.”
“Agreed,” John states.
Paige adds, “I would bet anything that Isabella was going to tell on him to the general or that she was sick of him and ready to leave with her sister. Sofia may be in love with him, but she probably loved her sister, too.”
“And Dr. Avery told me that they only have each other now,” Simon tells them.
“And the senator and the highwaymen and the man in our milk house all thought Parker was the President already?” Hannah asks.
“Yes, I believe so,” Simon explains patiently. “I think he was the one using the radio at the bunker sending out the messages. He probably got lucky and hit communication with the senator. Remember, he and the car dealer lived south of us in Brentwood? They had it good down there for a while. If Parker made contact with someone he used to be friends with, then he could’ve sold him on the idea of power and wealth and a high position in government again, that life would get easier again.”
Kelly says, “Heck, selling that to anyone now would sound good. Just a hot meal sounds good to some. A bottom feeder like a former senator would eat that line of bull like candy.”
“No doubt,” Cory says and bumps his fist against his brother’s.
Simon continues again, “We think he formed this alliance with the senator for world domination. I believe he had the highwaymen recruiting so many soldiers because when the real President got here, he’d let the President go in and fight the general at Knox and whoever was left he’d kill the leader, blend his new army in with theirs, and take over.
Derek butts in to say, “Just like when we fought with him, I would guess that Parker would be either absent or running the show from somewhere safe and remote.”
“Yeah, real weasel,” Kelly says with disgust.
Simon just keeps going again, “It’s how any conquering general would handle something like this. He went to military school. I’m sure he studied military strategy, political coups, things of a dictatorial nature. If the general and the President fought it out for what would probably be days, then the surviving party would be weak, their lines broken, their soldiers exhausted and not ready for another fight. Then he could sneak in, kill whatever commanders and leader were left and take over. And they’d let him in. The President trusts him, I would assume. For all we know, he still has communications with the President, wherever he is. We know Robert trusts Parker. It’s not like it would be a difficult defeat for him. He probably wouldn’t even lose a single soldier. Then he could take over Fort Knox, force every town, including ours, and Dave’s and Pleasant View to surrender because he’d have the manpower to enforce it. He’d be essentially unstoppable because he’d have the highwaymen army from these suspected satellite branches and also whatever armies were left from the general and the President.”
“Except now he doesn’t have his highwaymen army,” John reminds them.
“True, but what if the highwaymen weren’t the only faction he was running? What if he really does have other branches, bases of operation per se?”
Cory interrupts to ask, “What if the Churchill Downs people are his people, too? He very well could’ve lied about that to throw us off. What other reason did he have for being up there? It was strange, too, because Robert said something in front of us to Parker about him being in Nashville. If he was supposed to be in Nashville, what was he doing in Louisville?”
Simon also puts forth, “What if there are other camps out there that he runs? He disappears a lot. Sometimes for days. He did that while we were at Knox. He did it when he used to stay here on the farm. He could have small armies all over.”
“Wow,” Reagan states, her mind blown by this. “That’s a lot to digest.”
“How the hell’d you come up with all that, Professor?” Cory asks and gets slapped on the hand by Hannah so fast that he doesn’t even have time to pull away. “Sorry.”
“I’ve…I’ve had a lot of free time lately,” he says sheepishly and looks at Sam. She, in turn, looks down at her lap. “Anyway, this car dealer seems to think that Robert is leaving everything to him if he passes away. I don’t think that’s the truth of it, either.”
Grandpa butts in to clarify, “I know for certain that it is not. My son and I had a lot of time to talk while I was up there recently. We have a different plan in mind actually. We’re forming contingencies.”
“What’s the plan., Grandpa?” Hannie asks.
“We’ll talk about it later, love,” he tells her. “We don’t have it all figured out yet. Soon. We’ll tell you all soon.”
“We need to get in touch with Dave and then Robert, sir,” Derek states.
“Yes, I agree,” Grandpa says.
“And what about the man in the milk house?” Reagan asks.
Grandpa addresses this, as well, “I’ve given it some thought. I also spoke with our sheriff in town. He’ll stand trial in front of a jury of his peers and our new judge. He’ll have to make his own defense pleas, but I’ll give him enough medicine to get him better to stand trial. Whatever the jury decides, and the judge sets forth the penalty for, we’ll go along with it.”
“We should just shoot him,” Cory says and then quickly adds, “Sorry. I was thinking out loud. That was inappropriate.”
“No, son,” Grandpa allows. “You’re right to feel that way. I must say that as much as I don’t agree with murder, this man has caused the deaths of many innocent civilians just for his own greedy benefit. My heart was quick to jump to the same conclusion as yours. However, we are a nation of laws. It is lawlessness that has caused all of this. If we are ever to regain our country as a place of laws and due process and hopefully, eventually, peace, then he must be afforded those laws outlined by the amendments of our great Constitution. He is guaranteed a trial by a jury of his peers. What punishment they choose or the judge chooses is what will stand.”
“I agree,” Derek says.
She notices that John is quiet. She knows exactly how her husband would handle this. His idea of a just punishment aligns with Cory’s. She would also agree with that. However, this is why Grandpa is here and why he is in charge of making the final decisions on such matters. His cooler head always prevails. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever be like him. As far as she’s concerned, the man who helped cause all of this turmoil and grief and the pain of others should rot away in their milk house until he dies. No punishment they decide should be swift or painless in her opinion. He doesn’t deserve it.
Chapter Fifteen
Simon
By noon the next day, they have already contacted Dave the Mechanic and General McClane and brought them up to speed on the situation. In addition, Cory and his brother have delivered the prisoner to their town to the sheriff for safe keeping. Reagan went with them to do a check on the Scarlet Fever kids, so they will still be a few hours before returning to the farm. He’d volunteered to go with her, but Derek said he wanted him on the farm until they returned. He’s also supposed to make another patrol ride with Samantha in an hour. They are riding routes three times per day now to keep watch. John already rode one this morning with Paige, who doesn’t even like horses. It doesn’t matter. They need all the hands they can get to keep the place safe. Herb even asked Sam to stay on for a few days to help out since Dave’s compound has so many more soldiers than they do.
General McClane calls back on the radio in Herb’s office right after Cory an
d Kelly leave for town with Reagan.
“We’ve arrested Sofia,” Robert tells them.
Simon is gathered with Derek and John while the others are out and about their chores, which is where they just were before Doc sent Huntley to find them so they could listen in on the conversation.
The general continues, “She isn’t talking. Seems to me that she has something to hide. If Simon’s hunch is correct, then we have a big problem. And Parker is gone.”
“What do you mean, Robert?” Doc asks his son.
There is a pause before he answers, “When the boys were up here last and discovered the people at Churchill Downs, Parker came back and then left before the boys left.”
Simon assumes that he and Cory are the ‘boys’.
“I haven’t seen him since. It’s been nearly a week.”
“Where do you think he could’ve gone? No ideas?” Herb asks.
Again, another pause. “I sent a group of men last night to check out the Churchill Downs location, and the entire group has been moved.”
“Damn,” Derek mutters under his breath.
“I’m also concerned that there could be other traitors among us here,” Robert continues. “I’m sending an envoy of my most trusted men with Sofia to Pleasant View where you can have your men question her. I don’t want her here. If Parker has figured out that we know, and I assume he has, then he’ll have someone kill her before she can be properly questioned and tell us helpful information.”
“That’s a smart move,” Derek praises quietly. He takes the lead and asks, “When can we expect her, Robert?”
“In a few hours. I’ve already dispatched the men with her,” he tells them. “I have two of my men trying to figure out if we have other moles among us. They already tossed Parker’s apartment and found other files. I sent them out to check on the emergency stash Cory found, and it’s mostly all gone. He must’ve been moving much of it over the past few weeks. I would assume once he believed the car dealer fellow was dead that he would be found out soon.”
Simon feels a certain, heightened level of frustration at their inability to stay one step ahead of Parker. He always seems to have the upper hand in this game of treachery, and Simon is sick of that. Plus, he wants to put an end to all of this so that he can get back to his normal life of fighting diseases and worrying about the coming growing season and figuring out how to win Samantha back.
“If he was in charge of the people at the racetrack camp, then he has moved them somewhere we probably won’t find,” the general says, continuing his theory.
“I agree,” Derek tells them. “Robert, we’ll send some men on patrols to look for them. I’m sure Dave will want to contribute to that, too.”
“I don’t know if it’s worth your time and effort, Derek,” Robert returns. “I doubt if anyone will find him.”
Derek looks at them and nods. “You’re probably right, but we have to try. We can’t let him make contact with the President. We don’t know what information he’s going to share. He knows your location, our farm’s location, Dave, the towns, everything. If he tells the President everything he knows, we could be ruined in a matter of days if he shows up with thousands of men to get the job done.”
There is a long pause as the general thinks about what Derek has said. Simon is doing the same. Derek’s right. The President could probably squash them all like bugs in a few days if he showed up with three to five thousand men or more. Simon’s heart actually skips a beat just considering all the ramifications of what this could mean. He could lose his McClane family, their practice in town, their friends, his sister, and Sam. The idea of losing her makes his heart skip more than one beat. It also turns his stomach sour.
Herb says to them, “You’re right, Derek. I don’t know how we could afford not to look for him. This man has been playing both sides of the aisle for far too long and has created more havoc than tranquility. We need it to stop.”
“Yes, we do,” Derek agrees.
“Stay in touch,” Robert says. “We’ll do the same.”
“Understood, son,” Herb says to him, and they cut the transmission. Then he turns to them and says, “We need to set up patrols and start a hunting party, as well.”
“Agreed,” John says. “I can take Simon and go now.”
Derek corrects him by saying, “Wait. Let Simon and Sam ride a patrol around the farm first. The top priority right now is the farm. It sounds harsh, but that’s just the way it has to be for now.”
“I’ll radio the sheriff in town and let him know what’s going on now, too,” Herb states and sits at his desk again. “And Dave and Paul, as well.”
Simon joins John and Derek out in the hall to give Herb some privacy.
“Simon, go ahead and leave with Sam now for the afternoon patrol,” Derek orders. “I want you to take a wide berth. Come out on the road down by the Johnson’s. I’ll radio Zach and let them know not to take a shot at you. He said last night that they’d join the perimeter patrols tomorrow. They’re finishing their fencing in their east pasture. By the time you get back, I’m hoping the others will be home, and we can lay out a plan of hunting this asshole down.”
“Yes, sir,” Simon utters.
“Take your time,” Derek says. “I want to know if this jackass or any of his minions have been on McClane land in the last week.”
“Other than the murder that took place a mile off of it?” John jokes with sarcasm and gets a dirty glare from his older brother.
“Just check everything out. Fresh tracks. Markings in the mud, scuffs on trees, broken branches.”
John stops him when he turns to go. “Be careful out there. Watch out for Sam, too.”
“Yes, sir. Wouldn’t dream of anything less.”
John smirks and says, “And try to stay focused. There’s time for all that later.”
Simon furrows his brow for the slightest of moments until it clicks. “Right. Yes, sir.”
He rushes upstairs where he knows she went earlier to work on something in her room, probably art. He knocks and waits for her to call out for him to enter.
“I knew it was you,” she says.
“How?” he asks, hoping she’ll say they are psychically linked or something.
“You’re the only one whoever knocks around here.”
He tries not to let his disappointment show on his face but feels his hope falter anyway. “Oh, right. Just trying to be courteous. Derek says we’re to ride a patrol now.”
“Now? Shoot, I was in the middle of something.”
“What are you working on?”
Simon steps closer and peers over her shoulder. It’s a fantastic sketch of Herb holding Mary on his lap. The side of the old white farmhouse is visible off to the right with Herb in profile in one of the rocking chairs with his back to the viewer. In the distance of the sketch is the big red horse barn. She must’ve just been drawing out the chickens and a few goats when he interrupted her.
“I’m going to add in some of the kids playing in the barnyard, too,” she tells him, looking up and over her shoulder at him from her chair.
“Wow, this is fantastic, amazing really,” he praises. He even has to choke back emotion as he gazes upon the sketch that so wholly encapsulates the farm and the life on it. Herb is the oldest living McClane, and she has shown Mary, who is one of the youngest. She has even included in her drawing Herb smoking a pipe, which is resting in his gnarly-knuckled grasp on the arm of the rocker. Herb’s hair is colored in grays and whites, the scruff of his five o’clock shadow just barely viewable. Mary’s black ringlets. The soft pink of her baby cheeks in slight profile. She has started in with color already. The red barn with its weathered siding that is faded and chipped in places. The new chicken coop that Cory mostly built. The med shed off to the right with the rose garden beyond that. Even the chickens have color, brown and white and black feathers that look as if they were drawn in with a single hair paintbrush. The detail is incredible.
“Thank
s,” she says softly, her gentle face mirroring the way he feels. It’s not just a drawing of the McClane family or the farm or the finer details of farm animals. It’s their legacy she has drawn, and he knows it, and Sam knows it, as well.
“You drew his legacy,” he says openly.
Tears form in her eyes before she swiftly turns away from him. “I don’t know. It’s silly. I just saw Grandpa holding Mary the other day this way in his office. I remembered all the times I’ve watched him pick up the little ones on the back porch and hold them. It just…I don’t know.”
Simon lays a hand softly on her shoulder and says, “I know.”
“This all needs to end, Simon. We have to put this behind us. We have to secure their future.”
He knows who she means. She’s talking about the little ones on their farm, the little ones on their neighbors’ farms and the other children from town. They need a fighting chance. They deserve that much. They sure as heck didn’t deserve the hands they’ve all been dealt so far in life. They owe them this much.
“We will,” he swears, as she stands and faces him directly.
Her delicate brow creases with worry as she bites her lower lip, “What if we can’t, Simon?”
“We will. I promise.”
Sam doesn’t answer but nods. He rests his hand on the outside of her right shoulder just briefly trying to offer her some sort of solace.
“Ready? I’ll meet you at the barn in a few minutes,” he says, turning toward the door to leave. “Dress warmly. It’s chilly out today.”
“Got it.”
He almost has her horse saddled and ready to go by the time she reaches him dressed in her winter riding breeches and matching black jacket and stocking cap. He’s only wearing a thermal undershirt and flannel button up. It’s not as cold today as it has been, probably hovering near fifty degrees, and he doesn’t want to get too hot. His body has finally acclimated to the cooler weather of Tennessee versus the never-ending heat of Arizona. He doesn’t miss it as much anymore, either. Not like his sister, who often complains about the cold temps.
