by Tj Reeder
Jade said she would get Song on it right away and we should have something going on before long so we called it a night, cleaned up the lounge and went home.
Jody said he wanted to head for bed to think and would see us for breakfast, Jade and I headed for bed too, me with a million questions, her with a quiet look on her face, we decide to wait for morning also, sleep came fast.
The next morning as soon as Jade and I came upstairs Jody said lets get breakfast going, I plan to have a meeting this morning, here in the house, Jade started the meal while I set the table then went for the big 35 cup coffee maker, Jody was on the phone calling those he felt needed to be there.
Shortly after the dish’s were washed and put away, the big coffee pot making its last gurgling sounds the others started arriving.
Ellen was the first causing Jade to smile at me , who looked at her with not a clue, then John and Bob , Mary would be along in a bit as soon as the store crew showed up.
This group had become the “committee” as it were, Jody believed the more people thinking on a problem the better.
Jody stood up and addressed the group, “As most of you know we had a visitor last night and as soon as Mary gets here I will explain it better, which was when they heard Mary drive up, she came in and grabbed a cup and sat down .
Jody nodded to John who sat a small tape player on the table and hit play, they all then heard the meeting from last night with Jim the Deputy, even those who were there sat spell bound and listened to the mess unfold, tape done John clicked the player off and Jody looked around the room and said , ok, this could be a problem but I choose to think of it as an opportunity.
He went on to explain that since their long range plan was to change the powers that be in the county with honest people who would work to make this a very safe and well organized place to be anytime , but for sure after an “event”.
He then asked what the group thought about it so far. Ellen said she had no idea, that she had spent so many years buried in books and study’s that she was lucky to know who the president was, which got a laugh.
John with his LEO back ground spoke up next and said that he always believed in hit first and hardest, Jody looked at me , I nodded at John and said “ what he said”, Mary and Jade both remained quiet for the moment.
After waiting a moment Jody said ok, here’s what I spent half the night thinking on, While we know we haven’t broken any laws , the crooked leaders of the county commission seem to think if they are crooked then everybody else is too. So I think just what John said, attack first and hardest, and the way to do that is to start with the records in the courthouse, all the records pertaining to money, all moneys collected as tax’s, from fines, from grants to the County from the Feds, every dime coming in and going out, from whom to whom , and I bet it will throw a match into a keg of powder.
The way Jody saw it was to hire a big law firm to file freedom of information act papers at the county offices along with a court order preventing any of those records being removed from the building, this had everybody sitting with big smiles on their faces.
Sam asked if they needed to be turned down on seeing the books before filing, Jody said he was going over there the next day to start that ball rolling, whereas John and I both said not alone your not which ended the argument from Jody who agreed they should all three go but in different rigs and to wonder into the courthouse separately.
Then Ellen sorta dropped a small bomb into the mix by asking that if this was a “head em off at the pass “ sorta thing wasn’t Jody doing what he said going to show the Sheriff and the other county rats where the source of their problems was coming from?
This stopped the meeting for a few minutes while Jody looked at her so long the red started creeping up her neck, he then smiled and said damnit Ellen, you’re not just a pretty face ! bringing out a bigger blush along with laughs from the others , it took me a few more seconds of looking at my wife and Mary to figure out just what was going on, when I looked right at Jade she smiled and made a silent DUH face at me… Jody had not a clue, I almost felt sorry for him…almost..
It was then decided that they needed an outsider to start it moving but somebody who wasn’t known and yet would be willing to do it , Mary spoke up and said to Bob, Your cousin Bill !
Bob looked at her and grinned big and high fived her then told the others about his Cousin who was a Freelance Journalist who loved muck racking and hated crooked office holders, and who wasn’t scared of anything after three combat tours in Nam and then going back as a Freelancer civilian for another 2 years.
John agreed to head for DFW right away to meet with Bill and let him hear the tape and decided if he wanted in, Jody said he would ride along and talk to a Law Firm he knew of about handling the paper work attack, they left within 30 minutes, Mary and Jade headed to the store while Ellen headed to the clinic,
John looked at Sam and said come on Sam lets go to the range and burn some powder, you ain’t fired a shot since we opened it.
At the range Sam was surprised to see a lot of cars and trucks parked in the dirt lot and a bunch of guys talking or watching others shooting, After introducing Sam to some folks he didn’t know they headed to the office where John signed them in and the young man behind the counter asked what they were shooting, John said they would be down on the pistol range shooting steel, after a short drive thru the trees they came to a small clearing with several racks of steel plates and a covered roof and tables for gun bags and gear.
Bob asked Sam what he had brought to shoot and Sam pulled his shirt up and showed a 1911 commander ,Bob was also carrying a 1911 but full sized, they both laughed and taking their bags of gear went to the line and laying out their ammo and ear protectors, They decided to start at the 10 yard line with one holding the timer for the other and writing down the times as they shot, Bob explained that by looking at the run times one can see improvement or lack of it.
Shooting steel plates is a very simple way to practice, the plates are usually a round plate about 8” in diam. When hit they fall back , with six plates to the rack when you were done you pull a rope and it pulled a lever which set up the plates for the next shooter, it was fast and simple, if hit the plate fell, if missed it sat there glaring at you. The shooter faces the rack and when the RO ( range Officer) says “Shooter Ready?” the shooter nods and the timer button is pushed there are controls for instant beep or delayed beep, delayed prevents the person from knowing when it’s coming.
Bob went first and got all six with 7 shots in under 3 seconds, very good time, Sam was next and when his gun was empty he had fired 8 shots and only 4 plates were down in 10 second, Bob watched Sam as the fire started burning in his eyes and knew he had Sam hooked and now had a shooting Partner.
When they had enough and had picked up the brass for reloading they sat in the shade and had a cold coke, Sam opened with, SHIT !! I’m better then this, and Bob agreed with him but pointed out that Sam had not fired a round in how long, Sam had to think on it and looked at Bob shook his head and said, almost 5 years and then only at rocks and beer cans in the old gravel pit.
They agreed that this was going to become their morning thing daily, Bob said and how will “Princess Pie Killer” handle it you leaving home every morning alone? Sam said , well I’ll bet the first morning she don’t budge, the second she will try to keep me In bed and the third she will be here watching and the afternoon of the third day she will be in the store with John getting geared up to join us, both men laughed and Bob said ya know this is good, I been trying to get Mary out shooting but she isn’t interested, bet she and Jade arrive at the store together.
Chapter 13
Three days later and Jody and Bob were back at the ranch, in the meeting that was called the next morning, they both reported on how it went.
Bob’s cousin Bill after hearing the tape said that he had heard rumors of all this and would be more then happy to go to work on it but he wanted the exclusive on the sto
ry and since he would be dealing with very corrupt people including almost the entire Sheriff’s dept. that he would like somebody watching his back. That was easy to work out because he had a friend who was a retired Ranger and who would be happy to follow him around as he was so bored with retirement that he was about to get a job as a door greeter at Wal-Mart !! And he hated people , so that showed how desperate he was.
Jody reported that the Dallas Law Firm was willing to handle the fire works when they hit and would also handle and correlate the information as Bill got it dug up, their fees weren’t small but not as would be normally the case as the founder of the firm was an old line Lawyer who hated crooked cops and politicians and said so loudly at ever chance, he said he might look at replacing the County Attorney just so he could prosecute the bastards !!
The last thing to be decided was to hire a top CPA firm to help Bill wade through the books, that was handled with a call to the Law firm.
Now they only had to sit back and wait for the storm to blow in and that’s just what it did.
In the meantime all the work moved ahead as planned, the berry barriers were planted and growing, the fruit trees were all in and doing well, the gardens were doing very well under the care of the clan women who seemingly could make a rock grow.
The Clan hunters were having a wonderful time filling the freezers and smoke houses with wild pork, Jody had a bit of a problem explaining to them about game laws and about the difference between wild pigs and deer, but It seemed to work out most of the time, not that there wasn’t always fresh venison at the tribal feasts that seemed to occur weekly, Sam said it seemed if a frog croaked or an Owl hooted it was cause to kill and cook half the critters in the forest, earning him a sore rib or two from his loving bride who could hit with as much passion as she could kiss him which she did right after slugging him, Sam observed that kissing didn’t hurt and bruise!
It was decided that some fish ponds would be a good thing to build so that was started, they figured they could quietly just pipe free flowing water from the river thru the ponds and out the other side back into the river, not stopping the flow at all, just diverting it.
Jody and Sam decided it was better to ask forgiveness then permission so they just did it. And as time passed it would turn out to be a very good idea.
All in all the ranch was turning into a place that could feed hundreds of people and with rationing, maybe a few thousand.
As the outside gardens produced , the ranch built stands on the roads nearby and the clan women who wanted to live more normal so to speak ran them, the idea was to sell for a profit but less then most did so more folks could afford the produce.
Miss Ellie was drafted to provide the names of folks who were in need due to loss of jobs or sickness, these folks were given all they could use , unless it was a case of just being too damn lazy to work and provide, but there was a thin line there because kids need good food regardless of worthless parents, Miss Ellie handled that too, nobody knew just how but she did it.
The greenhouses were up and ready to run, it was kind of difficult to explain the greenhouse concept to the Clan women but Jade worked it out and soon they were all on the same page, I really never quite figured out why we needed greenhouses as the growing season was most of the year, but I figured if I could have fresh salad all winter then it was worth it.
We also hired some locals to locate and cut Oak trees that were dead or dying, this wood was stored in three sided wood sheds to be dry and ready when needed, not that much wood was needed as winters were very mild, but ya just never know.
It was hard to believe but we were coming up on the first year since we first started this, it seemed like just a few days, but I guess it was because we were all doing what we wanted and enjoyed doing so it was never like having to go to work and punch a time clock, in fact Jody made it a rule that all hands had to make it to the Saturday night whatever feast the Clan was putting on because most were spending too much time at work, that was sure a change in life styles.
On the Sat. night of the one year anniversary we were all spread out in the woods at tables for the dinner when Jody got a call on his cell, he walked away for a bit then looked at me, Bob, John and nodded toward the path to the house, I told Jade I’d be right back and left.
After we were all together he said Jim Daniels had called him from a pay phone to say that he had been pulled to the far side of the county for no good reason and he thought it might be smart to be on guard against somebody maybe breaking into the business area of the mall.
We loaded into Johns truck and slipped thru the woods without lights, after getting close to the back of the mall we unloaded and entered the back of the gun shop where we settled down to wait, we figured this was the target because if they could find anything illegal in here that was all they would need to worm into our affairs.
As the hours passed it got quieter and quieter, no traffic on the road at all, about 3:00 am we all heard the sounds of a vehicle approaching, standing in the dark we watched an extended cab pickup with at least four people in it slow down and drive by, we could see all the faces looking in our direction as it passed, but within 5 minutes it was back and moving even more slowly, it turned at the end of the mall and went out of sight.
We waited in the dark with our handguns on but also with baseball bats as we wanted prisoners unless they came in armed then it was gonna be bad.
The longest 30 minutes of my life passed before we heard the sound of somebody picking the lock on the back door which was a good trick as it was the best lock money could buy, and it did take a long time for them to get in, we held back in the shadows and waited, one voice was heard giving orders, he told one to find the gun sale paper works, another to place the gun’s in the rack and case, this seemed strange but then it became clear, the other man was told to go into the basement and look for a hidden vault that was filled with unlicensed full auto weapons.
After that there was just the sounds of people moving in the dark, this crew knew how to move and what to look for, after about an hour the one who went down stairs came up and said he found a vault but of course he couldn’t open it, the leader said don’t worry cause when the stolen guns were found in the cases they would get warrants to get into the entire operation.
Having heard enough Jody hit the lights and the four found themselves looking into four guns pointed at their heads, they froze until Jody said well boys best be getting down on your bellies, the leader started to say something but was stopped by a fist to the gut from one pissed off John.
After they were all face down and hand cuffed they were searched, all four had Special deputy’s badges, all had driver’s license’s showing all to be kin to the bad elements of the county Sheriffs dept.
The leader having got his breath back started yelling about how much trouble we were in and how we best let them up as they was the “Law”…
John planted a boot in his butt and told him he wouldn’t make a pimple on a real Lawman’s ass and to shut up before he got peeved.
Jody picked up the house phone and pushed a quick dial number and when it was answered said “ Officer Daniels” this is Jody Brown in Dogtrot, we have had a break in at the gun shop and have four men in custody at this time, we need you to come right now please, he then hung up and called the dispatcher at the Dept of public safety ( Highway patrol) and told them what was happening and that Deputy Daniels was gonna need back up. He then hung up and we settled down to wait, when asked what this was about the leader said he wanted a lawyer and that all of them did.
In about 30 minutes we could hear the sound of cop cars heading our way, the first to arrive was a DPS car with two Patrolmen in it, followed shortly by Jim’s county car, all 3 trooped in together and looked the whole thing over, we had all put our guns away behind the counter and the ball bats were in a closet by the bathrooms.
Jim asked the troopers to search the four while he got his camera from his car, which worked out real fine bec
ause when the DPS guys found the Special Deputies credentials they were pissed to say the least.
Jim came back in and upon seeing the creds said he was requesting the DPS guys to call in some of their investigators because this was way too big for him seeing as how these good ol boys were kin to half the County Sheriffs Dept.
The troopers agreed and one went to call it in, Jim started getting our statements and then went down to look at the poker table set up down stairs with money and beer bottles on it, he was smiling when he saw it and shook his head while looking at Jody who just smiled back.
After the State crime scene crew got there and did their thing and the investigators got through with their work, things weren’t looking good for the Sheriff and his Dept.
The four still hadn’t said a word and most likely wouldn’t but as soon as they were gone and the place cleared out we looked at the gun racks and cases and found 2 rifles and a shotgun that didn’t belong there as well as 3 handguns in a case they had really planned to nail us good, we didn’t mention any of this to the DPS guys because we weren’t going to offer anything we didn’t need to, but every thing from the time we arrived at the store was on film, all the talk between the four about hiding the stolen guns was on there and we figured the film might come in handy later.
