by David Wilson
Talon tried not to laugh but couldn’t help himself, “I had to do something to tone it down, my God, that thing looked like Rainbow Brite, and Hello Kitty got together and puked all over it. I’m surprised the space shuttle hasn’t complained about how bright it was.” With that, Maggie just about spit her coffee halfway across the living room.
Laughing, Maggie said, “Ok, it was a little bright even for me, but she fell in love with that pink saddle the first time she saw it and still refuses to get a new one. I don’t know if she will forgive you or not, regardless of everything that is going on.”
Talon nodded his head. “Alright, either way, she will get over it. I’m going out to check on the horses and gear. I plan on leaving here no later than 1800,” stated Talon as he walked toward the kitchen door.
Jake stood and cleared his voice, “Talon, one you should go get cleaned up, and you should lay down and see if you can get some rest. We have been over everything twice. Rest is a weapon, and you know it, you have a long ride ahead of you tonight, and you are not used to riding. Go lie down in the guest room for at least an hour or so. I know it, and you know it, you are not going to get much rest over the next couple of days, and you are already running on empty. Tried people make mistakes. Go get cleaned up and get some rest. I’ll make that an order if I have too.”
Talon stopped in his tracks and turned to Jake. Jake thought for sure Talon was going to tell him to stuff his request where the sun doesn’t shine, but Talon just nodded and walked back to the indicated guest room.
After Talon had gone into the guest room to get cleaned up and try and take a nap, Ben immediately dragged Don into the kitchen and explained his plan to go with Talon. Don objected and told him it was too dangerous. After several minutes of trying to convince Don, Ben gave up and left out the back door.
After talking with Jake, Talon had ended up picking Diane’s favorite horse to take along for her to ride home once he found them. It was a medium-sized sorrel that had intelligent eyes and had bonded well with Talon. Jake assured Talon that Red, the sorrel was plenty big at 16-2 hands and would not let him down. Jake also stated that Red would carry Talon if he had to ride him and could go as long as Talon could.
For himself, Talon went with the Belgian. At almost 6 feet 3 inches and 230 pounds, Talon was not a huge guy, but he wasn’t small either, he wanted a little more massive horse to carry his weight. The Belgian met those qualities, and then some, standing at over 17 hands, Shadow, was jet black and just radiated power and stamina. Talon wasn’t quite as pleased with the tack as he was with the horses. He was planning some hard riding, and none of the saddles Jake had was what you would call built for comfort. The saddle for the quarter horse was ok, but the saddle Jake used for the big Belgian was not the right size for the horse or Talon. This worried Talon a little, he hated that it would affect Shadow a hell of a lot more than it would him. Jake might weigh 180 pounds with rocks in his pockets, and Talon doubted that Jake rode him for more than an hour at a time. With the riding that Talon was planning, he had his own doubts about giving Shadow a sore back after hours of riding, but he figured they would both survive to be sore as it had been several months since Talon had ridden for more than an hour at a time.
Talon had packed a small day pack that he would wear all the time he was riding, this included most of his everyday carry (EDC) equipment, such as a water filter, fire starters, extra headlamp, batteries, power bars, poncho, and jungle hammock. He purposely was traveling extremely lite, as he planned to get in and back out as quickly as possible. The extra equipment was bagged and attached to Red, this included about 25 pounds of oats for the horses. As far as weapons, he was taking his M-4, Glocks, and one of the bolt guns in .308. He also added one more Glock 17 to his vest and stuffed a Remington Versa Max Tactical shotgun into the rifle carrier attached to his saddle, just because he could. Diane’s horse would be carrying the bolt gun, spare ammunition, a small two-person tent, horse oats, and most of the human food.
Ben approached Talon as soon as Talon walked back into the kitchen almost two hours later. He had surprised himself with being able to fall asleep with everything that was running through his head. Ben wasted no time in voicing his desire to go with him one more time. Talon had given it some serious thought and felt that Ben’s rationale did have some merit. Talon held up his hand as Ben approached him, and he saw the look of dejection across the young man’s face. “We leave in an hour, go say your goodbyes and get back over here with your gear so I can go over it,” stated Talon. Ben’s face lit up, and he started to say something again, but Talon stopped him again, “Thank me when we get this done, I just hope I’m not making a mistake,” Talon added as he made a shooing motion with his hands. With that decision made, Talon figured he had best go talk to Don and let him know.
Don wasn’t precisely doing flips over Talon deciding to take Ben with him, and he let Talon know, “Damn it Talon, you just told me not two hours ago that it was too dangerous to take Ben and now you are taking him, why?”
“For a couple of reasons, really. First, Ben is correct; if everything goes ok and you give me the verbal signal over the radio that everything is good to go down at the cabin when we get back to Winchester, then I will not be returning to the cabin. It would add at least three weeks to my trip to come down there and then turn around and trek back up north to get around the worst of the mountains. I will come down there but only if you are in trouble. If Jake comes through with everything he has promised, then you guys will do fine, and I can be on my way home. Ben wants to get home too, and he will be a lot closer to home if he goes with me. So the bottom line is either he travels alone next spring, or he goes with me right now. If you say so, I will leave him here to go with you, but I am not coming down to the cabin just to get him, and no, I’m not going to wait for him to come up. Either he goes with me now, or he will have to make the trek by himself later. Your call, what’s it going to be?” stated Talon.
Don hung his head for several seconds before looking up and meeting Talon’s eyes, “Well if you put it that way, I guess he will have to go with you. I just hate leaving you guys. I’m still worried about this winter, but I do know I'm selfish, and of course, I would feel better just knowing you would be around. Hell, I just don’t like any of this. Splitting up the group, you and Ben going back into that mess, I don’t like it, but I also know why you are doing this. It gets us the supplies we need for the winter, and it gets you off the hook of taking care of all of us and gets you on the road home.”
“Don, you guys are going to be fine. And yes, this gets you an escort to the cabin and winter supplies, so again, yes, it takes a lot off me knowing you and Mat are going to be ok. Also, I’m not superman, it will be safer for both Ben and me if we travel together. It’s been fun, but not real fun, you old squid. Just get to your cabin and stay put. Make some type of deal with Jake to get re-supplied in the spring. Keep your head down until you have to. You know as I do that it is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Do not share anything, I would highly recommend that if anyone comes to your cabin begging, shoot them. If you let them leave, they are only going to get their friends and will come back and burn you out if they cannot get what they want. I know it sounds harsh, but you know I’m right.”
Don stepped forward and extended his hand. Talon grasped it firmly but warmly and gave the older man a quick man hug. Stepping back, Don said, “I just want to say thank you again for saving my worthless old hide. You take care of Ben, and I sure hope you get back to Texas without all the problems we have had so far.”
Talon surprised himself for the feelings towards this man whom he had known for only a few days. He hesitated to speak, but he knew he needed to thank this man for his help. “Don, you don’t have to thank me, I need to thank you for the help. Without your help, I don’t know if I would have made it this far. Just get to your cabin and hole up. If for any reason, you guys do have to abandon the cabin, you know you are always welc
ome down at the ranch. Both you and Mat have directions and channels to pass any word by ham. Now I need to make sure Ben is good to go. Take care of yourself, you old sea dog.”
Walking out to the barn, Talon was thinking that Ben was going to have the same problem with finding a saddle his size. That’s all we need for one or more of the horses to come up lame from ill-fitting tack. Talon paused after coming through the stable doors. Maggie and Ben were standing beside a well put together quarter horse with what looked like a brand new saddle on it. Ben was grinning from ear to ear as he tightened up the front cinch.
“Talon, Maggie is letting me use her son’s horse, saddle, and tack. The other saddles were a little small, but this one fits perfectly, and it is one of the custom carbon fiber ones with the seat gel packs. You have to feel this one to believe how lite it is and those gel packs in the seat are unbelievable,” Ben blurted out in his excitement.
Maggie saw the look on Talon’s face and gave a small chuckle, “Sorry Talon, really with so much going on I didn’t even think about it until I came out here to help Ben. We had put it away after he was killed in Afghanistan, but I think it’s time to put it to good use. It was too big for any of us, and just seeing it in the tack room every day was too much for us.”
Talon interrupted her, “Maggie, I completely understand, but thanks. It does help, and I’m sure your son would have wanted us to use it to go get his wife and child out of the city. Speaking of that, we need one more horse, more than likely, it will end up being a packhorse, but it should be one we can ride if we have to.”
Maggie turned and began walking down the center of the stable’s turn out aisle. Coming to a stop at one of the box stalls on the left, she turned to us and said, “This is Harper, he is a 12-year-old gelding and can pretty much do it all. I will warn you that he can just about untie any knot and is an escape artist. I cannot tell you the number of times someone has taken him out for a ride and he comes home alone,” turning once more she crossed the turnout area to another box stall and said, “This is Aries, he is also a gelding, come to think of it all of our horses are geldings, he is a great horse, a little older than some we have. Aries is either 14 or 15 years old, but he is solid. His only problem is he can be a little mean first thing in the morning. Oh, not killing mean, but he has been known to be a little nippy. But he can and will move at a trot all day long, and he is best friends with that Belgian you are riding.”
“We will take Aries if he stands still for the pack saddle,” Talon said as he reached for the halter hanging on the wall. Getting Aries set up with the pack saddle only took a few minutes, and with that done, Ben and Talon led the four horses over to the horse trailer that had all of their gear loaded.
Once they had everything they could think of loaded and secured to the horses, it was time to say our goodbyes. Talon and Ben made the rounds and was telling everyone goodbye, Talon could tell that Mat was dying to go with them, but he knew he had to get his Grandfather to the cabin and get everything set up for the coming winter. Beth just stood back and didn’t say much. She would not meet Talon’s eyes as he said goodbye, and Talon had the thought come into his mind again as he was talking to her. She is really having problems dealing with all of this. Hopefully, Jake could get her some help with dealing with everything that was going on in that pretty head and that it would be best for everyone if she stayed at the Armory instead of going down to the cabin. She was not adjusting well to this new environment, and Talon feared she was going to get someone else killed.
Pulling Don over to the side, Talon mentioned that he had talked with Jake about Beth and getting her some help and that if Beth did want to stay at the Armory instead of going to the cabin, to let her stay. Don was a little put out by that, but Talon explained to him that he wasn’t sure about her mental state. Better to be safe than sorry later on. Don stated that he would think about what was best for Mat and him to include Beth when or if the time came.
With the goodbyes said, Talon and Ben mounted their horses and turned them to head down the road when Maggie came bursting out of the kitchen door and yelled at them. Stopping, they both turned to look at the older woman as she came up between the two horses they were riding. Maggie handed each of them a small sack with a drawstring. “Hang those on your saddle horns, there are two roast beef sandwiches and an apple in each of those bags in case you get hungry. You boys take care and bring me back my Diane and my grandson.” With that, we again started off down Jake's driveway towards Fairfax.
Chapter Thirteen
Talon and Ben rode at a walk and in silence for the first 30 minutes. Stopping his horse, Talon let Ben draw up beside him. “You made copies of all the information,” asked Talon.
Ben nodded and added, “Yes, and Jake was able to find another road map, and I copied all the rally points. I have my compass, and if I had to, I could find all the places you marked on the map.”
“Next question and I should have already ask you this, how well do you know how to ride?” asked Talon.
“To be honest, I haven’t ridden much in the last four or five years, but I grew up riding. I rode on my high school rodeo team. So yes, I know how to hang on,” replied Ben with a smile.
“Last thing, where is your belt knife? I’m asking because you won’t have much time to react if that following horse gets hit. Don’t mess with trying to untie the rope, just cut it,” Talon said.
Ben raised up his jacket and showed Talon his belt knife, “Got it right here, I don’t go anywhere without it,” he said.
“Ok, good. We will need to stay alert, I want you to ride on my right and slightly behind me. I see you are carrying that DP Twelve, that’s good. Also, remember we have no idea how these horses are going to react to any shooting. You keep that shotgun pointed and covering our right side, and I’ll cover the left. If shooting starts, we will try and hit the spurs and ride past it, make sure and keep the right covered unless I tell you otherwise. If we get hit from ambush watch me and if I turn into the ambush, turn with me and go straight at the shooters laying down as much firepower as you can with that thing. If you have to dismount, grab your AR-10 because chances are the horses are going to bolt. You sure you want to do this, it is not too late for you to go back and stay at the cabin this winter with Don and Mat.”
“No, I want to get home too. I doubt I would ever take off and try by myself and I really do want to get out there,” Ben stated, “This way I can learn the things I need to know so I can take off on my own after we get to Texas.”
“Let’s go ahead and get our night vision set up before it gets completely dark. As we talked about, we will leave the paved road right here and stay to the north of the built-up areas. Make sure your radio is on. If you see or hear anything, let me know over the radio with a double click. Remember, too, that I’m not much of a talker when it comes to shooting time. If we get stopped, and I decide the only way out of it is to shoot whoever has us stopped. You take everyone to the right of the person that’s doing all the talking, and I’ll take the guy talking and everyone to the left. Go after anyone holding a shotgun first. Any questions?” Talon finished with.
Just as the sun dropped completely below the horizon, Talon and Ben came to their first cross fence. Pulling their horses to a stop, Talon reached back to his saddlebags and pulled out his binoculars. Seeing no movement or residences in the surrounding area, Talon stepped off his horse and handed the reins to Ben. Reaching out, Talon tested the tautness of the four barbed wire strands. Satisfied that he had enough slack to close the cut, he drew a heavy set of wire cutters from a pouch on his chest rig. Cutting the top strand, Talon let go of the wire in his right hand but hung on to the left. Making a quick loop, he twisted the loop with his cutters before letting it go. Repeating this process for the remaining three strands took about 30 seconds. Taking his reins back from Ben, he led his two horses through the opening in the fence. Once Ben had cleared the fence, Talon quickly reattached the wire of the top three strands. The
bottom strand had been too tight to put back together, and Talon was not going to waste time to fix it. He hated that, but they didn’t have the time to fix every fence they came to right now. It sucked, but life was sucking pretty bad right now, and the faster he got Diane home, the faster he could get on the road to Texas and his family.
Swinging back into the saddle, Talon turned and looked at Ben as the younger man was pulling the skull crusher head harness on for the NVD. Talon noticed Ben already had the monocular attached to the mounting harness. Moving his horse over next to Ben, he said, “Ben detach the monocular while you are getting the head mount on, the monocular just makes it that much harder to get that skull crusher on. I’ll hold your monocular while you get the head straps set up.”
Ben muttered his thanks as he struggled to pull on the skull crusher mounting harness. Ben asked, “Do we want the IR light on?
Talon looked up at the sky and made a note of the lack of cloud cover, “No, let’s try and not light up ourselves if we don’t have to.” Talon waited patiently for Ben to get the head rig set up before handing him the monocular and watched him place the monocular on the mount. “Always, Always double check that your monocular is seated correctly, a lot of the time you think it has snapped into the mount, but for whatever reason, it didn’t. Also, always attach the idiot cord to your monocular just in case it becomes detached. So always double-check.” Talon watched as Ben checked the mount and even gave it an extra tug to be sure. Talon nodded and then removed his hat and began the process of getting his own skull crusher on, wishing for the hundredth time he had his Ops-Core helmet. He would have to see if Jake could get them a couple of the high cut helmets when they got back to the armory.
It was close to 10:00 PM when Talon stopped and dismounted from his horse. Ben was right behind him, as he had needed to stop for the last hour or so. Talon stepped over and took the reins from Ben as he could see that Ben was in more of a hurry then he was. After Ben returned with a smile, he took all of the reins from Talon so he could go relief himself.
