by Joe Nobody
Ward grunted, “You don’t say. Now there’s a good turn of events for you Sam. It’s not every day dignitaries and powerful people drop in from the sky. What are you doing sitting out here, swapping words with an old fool like me? You should be back there kissing their asses and making nice.”
Sam had a good laugh at his friend's perspective. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
“I brought you back 100 pounds of flour, two bottles of some near-deadly moonshine whiskey, and as much ammo as I could scrape up. I’ll send you the bill for all that and the horses, too.”
Again the two men shook hands. “Ward, you’re a good friend. I won’t forget this.”
“Before you go, I can’t help but give you a word of advice. Things are getting back to the way they were. End this damn war you’re fighting, Sam. Life’s too short - the trail too rough. Get out of the business of killing and put things back where you can come over and spend a little time playing chess. I’ve not had the pleasure of kicking your ass in years, and it tasks me.”
Culpepper stared down at the ground and then smiled at his neighbor. “Sage advice, I’m sure, Ward. But we both know it’s not that simple.”
“Yes, I know. Things are rarely clear cut. But you know me, Sam. I’ve never been shy about telling another man how he should run his affairs. Still, by my way of thinking, I’m right more than I am wrong. Mull my words over, old friend. I think you’ll land on the exact same spot that I’m preaching from.”
Bishop thought it best that they rest more during the day while it was hot. While shade wasn’t an amenity, it seemed to help Terri and Hunter to take a break from riding every hour or so, consuming as much water as possible and stretching their legs. Hunter was happy being free of the papoose.
While it slowed their progress significantly, the Texan decided it was a much easier schedule for his family to tolerate.
During one of their “walk abouts,” Terri returned the conversation to her favorite topic as of late, how to deal with the Salt War.
“So if you had to pick one side or the other for the Alliance to support, which would it be?” she queried.
“I would go with the Tejanos,” he replied instantly. “The vast majority of people in the villages are simple, honest souls who only want to improve their life. Since the collapse, the border means nothing anymore. Why not add more self-reliant individuals to our fold?”
Terri laughed, enjoying the conversation with her favorite man in the world. “I would choose Culpepper,” she countered. “His folks are a textbook example of the American spirit, tough men making the best on a harsh and often unforgiving land. Everything about the Culpepper operation screams free enterprise and determination. Those are the type of people that will make the Alliance stronger in the long run.”
“Why not make both of them allies? Why does it have to be one or the other?”
Tilting her head as if contemplating his suggestion for the first time, Terri responded, “I thought about that, but then what would keep them from escalating their conflict? Working with the Alliance would make both wealthier and more powerful, and that could lead to a hotter war and spill over into our interests.”
Bishop understood, but he wasn’t ready to give up on brokering peace. “If I were in your shoes, I’d make the two leaders sit in a tent and lay it out to them. Either behave and play well with others, or the Alliance will isolate you and let you wither in the fires of war. At least give them a chance to stop this incessant bickering.”
Terri didn’t comment at first, Bishop’s watch indicating it was time for them to mount up and ride for an hour. After she was back in the saddle, she said, “That’s not a bad idea, Bishop. Let me mull that around for a while. After all, there isn’t much else to do right now.”
“I can’t believe this!” Mr. Culpepper screamed at his men. “I go away for a few hours, and when I come back, you’ve let them go. What on God’s green earth is wrong with you people?”
Reed and Whitey had seen the boss’s temper before, both men knowing that Mr. Culpepper really didn’t want anyone to answer the rhetorical question.
After stomping around for a bit, the honcho sternly peered at Reed and demanded, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I didn’t know, sir. No one told me Bishop and Terri were prohibited from leaving. He came in, said they wanted to leave, and asked for two horses. He’d stated that was his plan while we were riding back from the Tejanos’ village. It seemed righteous enough.”
Mr. Culpepper didn’t like the answer but knew it was honest.
The old rancher paced some more, grumbling and cursing under his breath. His next orders shocked both of the men standing before him. “Get 25 men ready; we’re going after them.”
“What? Sir?” Whitey spoke up. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to split our forces when the Tejanos have been so active lately?”
But Samuel Culpepper wasn’t in the mood to debate the issue. “Do what I said, Whitey, and make sure they’ve got plenty of ammo.”
“Yes, sir.”
The boss started to turn away, but then stopped. “Oh, and Whitey, I’m going with you. I’ll need a fresh horse.”
The two stunned cowhands stood and watched their boss amble off. “What the hell is going on?” Reed muttered, puzzled by the strange behavior.
“Beats me,” the second in command replied. “That Terri-woman we brought in had messed with the boss’s mind somehow. He’s not been the same since she landed on our doorstep.”
“Her husband seemed like a fair enough man. Do you think they’re trying to hurt the outfit in some way?”
“No way of telling. What I do know is that we’ve got to put together a war party. Are you feeling up to a ride?”
Reed nodded eagerly. “Get me out of that damn bunkhouse, Mr. Foreman. I’ll go loco from boredom if I have to stay in there much longer. Besides, I’d like a chance at mending fences with Mr. Culpepper.”
“Get your saddlebags packed. I’ll put you on the list.”
Bishop noticed the dust cloud behind them an hour before dusk. Trying to remain optimistic, he’d pined for the disturbance to be nothing more than a dirt devil or robust current of air lifting sand from the desert floor. But those justifications faded quickly - this problem wasn’t going away.
He waited several minutes before pointing the development out to Terri. She wasn’t handling the cross-country trip all that well, unaccustomed to life in the field and sore from riding so many hours. He had to admit; his legs and backside weren’t exactly in rodeo condition either.
Hunter was probably having the worst of it, the lad’s discomfort within the confinement of the papoose making him fussy and grouchy. Of course, when the baby isn’t happy, the mother follows suit.
But they had plodded along, eating up the miles slowly, their mood elevated at the prospect of reaching the safety and comfort of Meraton.
Now, the following cloud was the center of his wife’s attention.
“What do you think it is?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“It’s a group of riders on our trail,” he answered calmly. “My guess is that Mr. Culpepper is unhappy that we absconded with his horses and violated his wishes.”
“Really? You think he’d be that pissed?”
“He’s like a lot of ranchers in these parts, tough as iron spikes and almost as bull-headed as his livestock. Besides, I think he was beginning to realize you were much more than just some random, stranded traveler. Between both of us opening our big mouths and dropping clues, he had to be putting the pieces together. He’s not stupid, you know.”
Terri chanced at glance back at the haze again. “So what if he did? I can’t do anything to help him if I’m isolated at his ranch. Why chase us down with a big posse of men?”
Bishop shook his head, proud of his wife’s faith in the virtuous nature of mankind, never understanding her innocence of the evil that lurked in men’s hearts. “You would comma
nd a fine ransom from the Alliance,” he replied evenly. “That, or he could try to force us to come down on his side of the war. Either way, I don’t think we would like his plans.”
“That’s silly,” she replied. “What makes him think I would go along with such a scheme? I think he’s underestimating me.”
“Really?” Bishop challenged. “Think about that little bundle of joy riding along with you.”
Terri glanced over her shoulder at Hunter, the realization of her husband’s meaning causing her face to distort in a grimace. “No! You can’t be serious. He’d threaten Hunter to leverage me? I don’t believe that, Bishop, not for a second. I was around the man for two days while you were off flirting with the señoritas across the border. No way – he’s not that kind of man.”
The Texan pulled up on the reins, turning to face his wife. “Terri, you are the love of my life and one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met… but… you have got to develop some apocalyptic street smarts, young lady. Culpepper is locked into a deadly war that he believes is lost. It might not seem like much to us, given all we’ve been through and endured. But to him, it’s a life and death struggle and the only thing that matters is his survival. If he could hold Hunter’s wellbeing over your head to survive, I bet he’d do it without hesitating one second. I know the man leading the Tejanos would do the same without feeling a thimble full of remorse or guilt.”
Terri stuck out her lower lip, the exaggerated pout intended to express her displeasure with the scolding, as well as an attempt to lighten the mood. Bishop didn’t go along.
“All the electricity, food, manufacturing, and rebuilding doesn’t mean squat out here,” he continued with a voice firm with resolve. “You need to start thinking like the desperate, downtrodden people that still occupy this land, or you’re going to be in for an extremely rude surprise.”
“I’m not that naive,” she protested. “While I haven’t seen some of the things you have, I’ve been through a lot, and just can’t see a man like Sam Culpepper kidnapping babies.”
Bishop sighed; Terri’s stubbornness and strong will made him love her, and yet those attributes could be a royal pain in the ass at the same time. Nodding toward the following riders, he quipped, “Do you want to wait here and test their goodwill? I’m not a tracker, but I would guess there are 20 to 30 men behind us. If they catch us out in open ground like this, you’d better be right.”
Terri’s gaze returned to the cloud and then back to Hunter. “I guess you’re right. Better to be safe than sorry, no matter what.”
He leaned across and kissed her cheek, taking a moment to pat Hunter’s head. “Let’s keep moving. I think we need to pick up the pace. Maybe we can lose them.”
Despite increasing their speed, the men behind them continued to close the gap. Darkness was falling when Bishop made his second unpleasant announcement of the day. “We can’t stop to eat. If they come upon us in the night, we won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”
“I understand,” Terri said. “Can you help me get Hunter around to my front? I can at least put the last of the goat’s milk in his tummy and get him out of that prison for a few minutes. I wonder if the pioneer women learned to change a diaper while riding on horseback.”
They both laughed at the concept. “We can stop long enough for that. I don’t want the boy to grow up with a complex against horses or the trail.”
“I think it’s too late,” she chuckled.
They continued on, Terri passing Hunter to Bishop, letting dad take a turn after she’d performed a change on the move.
Bishop judged the terrain flat enough to let the boy ride behind the saddle horn. Hunter seemed to like the change, his father humming various tunes helping to calm the little man’s mood.
Two hours after it was dark, the trio crested a hill and paused. Bishop needed to study the landscape and make a decision on the easiest route.
Handing his son back over, he pulled the night vision optic from his vest and began studying their surroundings.
Something looked familiar to the Texan; the dark shape of the distant mountains combined with the pattern of the foothills ahead caused him to search his memory cache to satisfy that flicker of recognition. He’d been here before.
With excitement in his voice, he turned to Terri and announced, “We’re on the ranch’s southwestern corner… the ranch I grew up on!”
“Really? Does that mean we’re close to Meraton?”
“Yes, but more importantly, we’re not that far away from our ranch. We could hole up in our canyon tonight, sleep in the camper. If the people on our trail happen to find us, we will have the bat cave for defense.”
The thought of being somewhere familiar brightened Terri’s outlook. “Hunter and I could take a bath in the spring and sleep on a mattress. Let’s go.”
Bishop plotted a course, trying to remember a land that he hadn’t visited for years. He then glanced over his shoulder, troubled by not being able to gauge how much distance still existed between them and the pursuit. The dust cloud simply wasn’t visible in the night.
Having no choice but to continue, they started down off the hill, heading into the valley that held Bishop’s land. As far as the Texan was concerned, they couldn’t arrive too soon.
The lights of Alpha served to lift Nick’s spirits even higher. The pickup’s cab had been mostly quiet during the return trip from Cartersville, each man’s mind occupied with what he wanted to do during the team’s upcoming downtime.
For his part, Nick had been mulling over his own future. For once, he’d had the opportunity to think about personal things, his mind free of the daunting, monumental problems facing the Alliance on what seemed like a daily basis.
Diana was at the core of his thoughts, his longing to see her while away on the mission cementing emotions he’d ignored for too long. Glancing over at his son, Nick asked what he hoped was a very carefully worded question. “So what do you think of Diana?”
Kevin’s reaction was completely unanticipated. “I think she’s a perfect match for you, Dad. When are you going to ask her to get married?”
It took all of his training and willpower, all the discipline honed across the battlefields of the world to keep Nick’s jaw from dropping at his son’s response. “Umm… well… umm… I don’t know. I wonder if she would say ‘Yes,’” he pondered aloud. “What do you think?” he quickly added, internally cursing himself for the stumbling, undignified reply, and then looking away, not daring to meet Kevin’s knowing gaze.
“Well, of course she would, Dad. Can’t you see that she loves you?”
When did this kid next to me grow up? Nick wanted to shout. Who is this man riding in the passenger seat?
“I don’t know, son. Sometimes things like that aren’t obvious to a man.”
Kevin chuckled, shaking his head at his father’s words. “You can spot a sniper in the woods at 500 meters. I’ve seen you take out a hostile at 550 using iron sights on an AR15. You can anticipate which arm a man is going to use for the next punch, but you can’t see that Diana is deeply in love with you? Come on, Dad, do what you always tell me to do – open your eyes.”
Nick almost let the truck veer off the road, completely taken aback by his son’s comment. “Don’t get uppity with me, young man. You did a great job on this mission, but that’s no cause to get too full of yourself. I can still put you on your ass in the blink of an eye.”
Grim’s laughter from the back seat prompted Nick to remember they weren’t alone. “What he’s trying to say, Kevin, is that you just put your old man in his place, and he doesn’t like it.”
An irritated, “who asked you” pair of eyes bore down on Grim from the rearview mirror, but the ex-contractor ignored the threat. “Seriously, Nick, why haven’t you made her an honest woman? You two are like peas in a pod… everybody can see it. If I were your commander, I’d order you to get off your lazy, frightened ass, and get it done, soldier.”
The big
man’s first instinct was to pull the truck over, extract both of the smart-ass passengers from the vehicle, and issue both of them a first class, militarily-efficient shellacking – right there alongside the road. He was trying to determine how many bones he could break without permanently disabling Bishop’s team when Kevin came to his father’s defense.
“He’s not scared, Grim. He’s just cautious. I know he’s not afraid of women because he married my mom.”
“He’s going to caution himself right out of a good woman,” Grim mumbled. “He’s not the only single man in Alpha, you know.”
That did it! Nick hit the brakes, the veins popping out on his neck.
“Dad! Chill out,” Kevin said, reaching across to put a calming hand on his father’s arm. “We’re just giving you a hard time. Why are you taking this all so seriously?”
With his foot returning to the gas, Nick didn’t answer for several miles. Fortunately, for their well-being, the passengers decided silence was a virtue and quietened their friendly banter.
The thought of another man attracting Diana’s eye caused his gut to hurt. Was Grim just spouting off in his usually crude way? Had the contractor noticed something? The ex-Green Beret just couldn’t accept her being with someone else.
As the miles passed, Nick realized Grim was actually doing him a favor, making him acknowledge how he really felt about Diana. “My apologies, gentlemen. I’m exhausted and contemplating a big step in life. I shouldn’t have lost my temper back there.”
“Ask her, Dad. Seriously, you should propose.”
They stopped in front of the courthouse, Nick assuming Diana would be in her office despite the late hour. Grim agreed to drop the rest of the team off at their homes.
As Nick exited the cab, Grim stopped him in front of the truck. “You almost lost your son on this last mission. You know as well as anybody that shit happens. Marry the woman, Nick. Life is too short.”
Nick smiled at his friend, nodding his thanks for the honest advice. “I think I’ll do just that.”
